Tag Archives: FFXI

I Think I Hate the FF-Wiki’s Forums

Posted on November 1, 2009 by | Leave a comment

I’ve been noticing a trend lately, especially in the General Forums, where people just want to start a fight all the time.

I had a discussion (well I can’t call it that really) about whether a smn’s auto refresh counted as the first –1 perpet cost or if the lowest you could get the perpet cost was 1, with auto refresh covering the last 1mp/tick.

They even went so far as to say “you’re arguing against an established and provable fact that the minimum perp cost for any avatar is 1”.  I guess the past oh 3 years or so of having a lvl 75 smn to your lvl 40 smn makes you know all of the established and provable facts.  Because, of course, #1, it makes no difference in practice which of us is right, and #2, I can make up ‘facts’, declare them ‘established and provable’ and throw them out there, then edit the wiki to match my point of view too.  The guy even went off onto a rant about FoV refresh and I’m not sure what else just to prove me wrong – when I specifically didn’t mention FoV refresh in my original comment.

This isn’t the first time either.  I know I pick fights when people deserve it or when I’m just really, really, bored, but the number of fights and the quality of posts on that forum, and especially General, have gone down so much lately.  The mods don’t help, but at least charitwo has mostly shut up at this point.  Tahngarthor interjects his opinion into everything, and is usually just wrong.  Sadly my ‘foes’ list keeps growing, but I can’t add Tahn to the ignore list.

If it wasn’t for my overwhelming boredom at work, I’d likely never check those forums again.

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I Just had to Post – 3/5 Homam

Posted on October 3, 2009 by | Leave a comment

Yeah, long time no post don’t care.

Homam Body = MINE!

homam_body

And just a few days after I managed to get myself a pair of Thief relic gloves +1.

Good week for me.

Also, my friend Gilg got his Homam Pants today.

with_gilg

Overall, it was a fairly good day in FFXI-land.  RL, not so much.

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Revisiting the Past

Posted on August 25, 2009 by | Leave a comment

I was discussing some things on the FF Wiki forums today and the discussion about the Crags came up.

Some people were saying that they have always had the shattered telepoint and the portal, or nothing was there before.

I disagreed, but had nothing to back up this claim.  So I went searching.

Sadly, when CoP was released I was still a newbie.  It has been nearly 5 years since the expansion, and way back then, I didn’t take a lot of screenshots.

What I did find, however, was my earliest screenshots.  Complete with an absence of proof that there ever was ‘something’ where there is now the entrance to sea or the entrance to the hall of transference.

This is the first screenshot I can find.

Ata040815002825a

This is the first image I can find.

Sadly, it from the SE screenshot maker and the quality is low.  The file name suggests Aug 15, 2004, which is a full month before the CoP release.  I think you can faintly see a telecrystal on the pad.  But it is far too difficult to make out.  But there is ‘something’ there.

In the sense of curiosity, I went to find this place.  5 years later.

This is what I found.

5_years_later

Or so I thought.  It is close, but this is the west side of the crag.  I thought this was the right spot due to the ground markings, but I was wrong.

The real spot is here.

5_years_later2

And it took me an hour to find this place.

This is the North side of the crag.  Which is still a telepoint today.  Which neither proves, nor disproves what I was going for.

If anything, it just shows how little does change over the years.

-pyra

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If Servers Were Cities

Posted on August 11, 2009 by | 2 comments

Last night, a friend and I were discussing which city best represents each server.

It started when discussing Quetz and my friend described it as the “Alabama of servers”.  I, being the smartass I am, asked “so what would be the Mississippi of servers?”, and without hesitation, he replied “Fairy”.

Which started a small discussion of which city represents each server.

Odin, it was determined was NYC.  Very popular place to be, lots of people.  Remora was therefore North Jersey.  They so badly want to be Odin (NYC) but, like the real Jersey, is where those not quite good enough for NYC end up.

We had a hard time trying to figure out where that would make Bahamut.  I suggested Boston, which was quickly responded to with “No, I like Boston”.  My friend suggested London.  I didn’t know how to respond to that, so we let it just sit.  London may have been due to my friend’s dislike of both London and the BG crowd.

Diabolos (my original server) is Detroit.  The place sucks like no other, but if that’s the only server you’ve been on, it doesn’t feel so bad.

Caitsith, as I described it, is “vacation”, especially after being on Diabolos for so long.

That wasn’t good enough, and my friend being a Caitsith native asked me why so many people were migrating from Diabolos to Caitsith.  I thought about it and realized that there were quite a few, although as far as I know, I was one of the first to move over.  It is almost trendy to move here now, especially from Diabolos.

So we came up with the best city where it is trendy to want to move to and the people are generally friendlier (than Detroit).  Our answer was Sydney.

As to the others?  Neither of us really had any experience with them, so I invite others to compare your server to a city and give a reason why.  You can even disagree with me, although your chances of changing my mind on Diabolos are small.

-pyra

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Posted in FFXI, Random Thoughts

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It All Began With a Cut Scene

Posted on August 9, 2009 by | Leave a comment

Something mysterious flying around Jeuno.  A mysterious and powerful kid who talks as “???”.  Possibly the end of the world as we know it.

CoP was great wasn’t it.

So great, we get to play parts of the story again.  Sort of.

A Crystalline Cut Scene

Having been away from the game, then on vacation, I’m only getting started on this mini-expansion now (as well as working on the various parts of the kupo desteak).

I think I spend $1 on this

The opening CS has a lot of things flying around.  From what I’ve seen so far, this crazy title was probably where $1 of my purchase price went.

One thing CoP didn’t have was a gawker who didn’t know when to shut his mouth.

Ok, you can close your mouth already

Seriously, go watch it again, he keeps his mouth open and his head shaking for a good 20-30 seconds longer than the rest of the people.

Then for some reason, Aldo is there.

Hi, I'm Aldo, I don't get any face time anymore, so I show up whenever I can

Holy foreshadowing batman.  At least Aldo keeps some of his composure.

We then had another special effect, which I’m also convinced was where $1 went to.

I probably also spent $1 on this effect

But unlike the first effect, this had a strange kid with too much power and knowledge.  Who pointed at my tail for a while.

Stop Starring at my Tail

Yes yes, it is a very nice tail.  Are you going to send me on some crazy mission like CoP 1-3?  Do I get to climb the inside of the crags in a strange and mysterious level capped zone?  No?  I get to go kill level 20 monsters in 3 widely separated areas for a few hours until I get a few items?

Then I get to the fun stuff?

But who are you?

who is young aldo?

And probably just as important, how did I figure out your name without you actually telling me?

Overall the ACP has been very easy, but far too much running around.

I really just want the item at the end.

-pyra

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A Spork in the Road

Posted on July 22, 2009 by | Leave a comment

Why a spork?  Because I’ve always been amused by that word.  As my first aside of this post, do a google image search for “spork in the road”.

My tagline on the blog has been “There’s a lost soul coming down the road, Somewhere between two worlds” which sometimes loses the apostrophe in “There’s” during WordPress upgrades (the original tagline was “Updated Reguarly, Except When It’s Not”).  It comes from a song by “Bruce Hornsby” named “Lost Soul”, and was included on the album I purchased “Greatest Radio Hits”.  It is a very good song, but somewhat depressing (one of the lines is “He said he was a lost soul didn’t fit in anywhere”.

The original reason behind it was the two worlds we all exist in – the real world and the game world – and how we are all divided into two existences, and the balance that must be achieved to do what you want to do and need to do in both.

Or I might have been drunk and thought the song sounded good.

At another point, it may have been to describe being torn between two games, FFXI and WoW.

And now, oddly enough due to some of the people I met in WoW, it describes two servers in FFXI.

As horrible as my original experience was on Diabolos, I’ve always been somewhat torn after leaving the old server.  As much as I love Caitsith, there were a few friends on Diabolos who I still miss, much more so after playing WoW.

I’ll explain.

The group who I joined up with in WoW used to play on Diabolos.  I was briefly in their shell, and I didn’t really know them well at all.

A few of the people I met in this WoW guild went back to Diabolos.  One of them was someone who I really became good friends with.  We had the same classes on WoW and would compare gear/notes/builds.  Ok, so more often than not I was doing the learning.

While playing my 14-day trial for FFXI, this player helped us out, getting our sub-job items.  His THF is very well geared.  It made me miss mine, which is not as geared, but still a lot of fun to play.

After talking with him again, it made me somewhat torn.  There is much I miss from Diabolos (people mostly, and most of those I couldn’t stand have left the game/server).

I said my goodbyes today as my 14-days will be up before I am able to play again.  But it got me back into the game, so I guess it wasn’t a total loss.

He did say something interesting though – if he didn’t have so many friends on Diabolos, he’d probably join me on Caitsith.  In a way, I feel the same.  If I didn’t have my friends on Caitsith, I’d at least consider moving back.  My former shell regrouped, and I was basically given an invitation back (not sure I’d join though, but I hadn’t thought about it really).  I know for one thing, I’d miss my Dynamis shell.  They have been around for a while and can get zones cleared and relic to fall.  And its fun.

Not even going to think about how much I’d miss my Limbus group.  Without either group or the people in it, there would probably not be much of a decision.  While I wasn’t playing, it was the people I missed the most.

But, I have not felt this torn between the two servers since I initially left Diabolos.  And all due to some people I met playing WoW.

Whodathunk?

Like when I originally planned my departure, I am presented with opportunity no matter which decision I make, and will (probably) be missing out on good times with whichever group I’m not a part of.  It is kind of sad in a way, but I can’t see me leaving Caitsith anytime soon.

I hate this feeling.

-pyra

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Looks like I am playing again – well after I get updated

Posted on July 20, 2009 by | 2 comments

On a side note, photoshop doesn’t appear to be handling my screenshots anymore.  It is really slow when opening anything over 6MPix in size.

Last Saturday while playing on my 14-day trial, I was invited to attend a Dynamis with the group I used to play with on Diabolos, now called LastBoss.  I went as a White Mage and it is the first time I’ve been a White Mage in Dynamis in nearly 2 years.

Not shown -- me letting everyone die

It really was like riding a bike.  I guess since I’ve been playing White Mage since summer of 2005 it was all muscle memory.  It probably also helps that I had a backup copy of my macros from my old computer and was able to get back to what I was used to quickly.

The group is new, and had some trouble.  They also only had about 20 people in the zone, excluding myself.

At least we got to the Angry Tuna…

Pictured -- everyone dead

At least it wasn’t my fault?

Anyways, after this, I was ready to restart the Pyra.

I logged on to Caitsith just in time to go kill Roc.

Its like the Rocky Horror Picture Show, except it isn't.ToD was sometime that doesn’t matter anymore because the server was reset.

I then got to go and do Limbus with my old group.  I missed them.  But lets not tell them that, it makes it harder for me to negotiate for more cookies.

I have to admit, losing my Thief and Monk macros made this tough.  I barely remember what gear I had to switch and when (if I remember right, both had significantly more gear swap macros than my White Mage ever did).  I was casting spells and using JAs and WSs from the menus again like a common noob.  I might be somewhat nooby again, but I’m far from ‘common’ :).  Limbus was really fun, and it was hardly about the items, it was just about having fun with some old friends.

On Sunday night, I went back into Dynamis with KillerInstinct.  We did a Jeuno.  After I’d spent half the day writing new Thief macros, I ended up going as a Monk.  However…

eesI was a little disappointed.  The other one only hit me for 700ish.  My monk has ~1600 HPs in Dynamis gear (and I was /WAR)

I noticed a few things after my extended absence —

  1. I can’t remember what is ‘good’ for damage anymore.  My asurans were hitting for ~450-500, and I was pulling hate, but I thought they should be double that
  2. The economy has gone crazy.  Most ancient currencies have doubled in price while I was away.  I’m sure not complaining though, as I had a bunch on Pyra which I’ve sold to gain some pocket change.
  3. Thief evasion is still as amazing as always.  Because I need inventory space, I went and completed the first two Young Griffons quests.  The second requires you to fight a NM with a high counter rate.  Well, he barely hit me on my Thief (ok so I added about +17 evasion skill and wore some of my normal +eva gear).
  4. I need to completely rewrite my Thief and Monk macros.  They needed it before, but it feels like such a daunting task.

Anyways, enjoy your Moogle Coup of State and update.  I’m going on vacation in a few days, and so won’t be even starting the 2 mini expansions for about a month.

-pyra

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Posted in Caitsith, Diabolos, Dynamis, EternalMemories, FFXI, KillerInstinct, Limbus, Random Thoughts

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And We’re Back(ish) (maybe)

Posted on July 15, 2009 by | Leave a comment

Well, I’m having trouble sleeping and decided to make this post.

After my last post about being off for a month, temptation got the best of me and I signed up for a 14-day trial.

saratoga1

I can admit that there have been many changes since I last really paid attention, and most of them have been for the better.  In only a few days I’m already level 14 and have my subjob items.  My gear is still total crap, as it took just about all of the money I had managed to accumulate (a vast sum of 7K) to buy the basic armor.  Oh and I accidentally found a check box in the config which will disable your sound.  And then I somehow unchecked this box.

I’m playing with some people who I got to know from WoW.  I have to admit, this is the first time in a while I’ve really said that I need to go reactivate Pyra now.

At the same time, its quite sad that my friend from WoW (who is a THF in FFXI) far outgears my own THF, even though he had stopped playing a year or so before I did.  They are quite a good group of people.  Maybe I can convince them to move to Caitsith.

It is, however, disappointing that the friend to whom I loaned my WHM account to has decided to sell some of my old items and keep the money.  The account was loaned so he could PL himself and run a salvage group with 1 less person.  He was also free to use the crafting skills or use the character to farm with as much as he wanted.  I don’t even mind that he made money in the server transfer (our original deal was that he could transfer the account to his server, but would pay to transfer it to a server of my choosing when I took the account back).  But not to sell the items and keep the money, at least not yet.  Especially when he asked me if he could sell it and I said ‘no’.  At least he didn’t unsign my gear.

It really was my fault.  I knew how he is and I let him use the account anyway.  Oh well, if all I lose out of this is a few items I wasn’t really using even when I still played, I’m doing well, and in reality, all I know for sure that he sold was my Uggalepih Pendant (which is worth 700K on Diabolos and only 480K on Caitsith) and some misc crafting materials that I wasn’t able to sell.

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Herro

Posted on May 18, 2009 by | 4 comments

hello

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The FFXI-ification of WoW

Posted on October 23, 2008 by | Leave a comment

Many people in the FFXI world talk about how the game has become too WoW-ified.

While it is true, FFXI is a lot easier than it used to be, and I don’t feel that it is completely a bad thing, no one thinks about the other way around.

When the news of the 18 hour Pandemonium Warden hit, the FFXI world was mad at SE for making another impossible to kill monster.

The reaction in WoW was a bit different — they viewed it as an epic battle, something that does not exist in WoW, at least not to the same scale.  Most bosses in WoW (that I have seen), you kill in 5-10 minutes or less, or you wipe.  It simply comes down to the way WoW is designed.  While you will always be regening your health and mana (mp) in WoW while you are not fighting, when you are in ‘battle mode’ you do not regen health.  And while you are casting a spell, you do not regen your full magic.  There is also no way to exit battle mode without running far away (unlike FF where you just disengage and run and hide while you kneel for a bit).

So anyways, in an effort to add more storyline to WoW, they have added Cut Scenes.  There is one I heard about for one of the 5-man instances.  Then there is this one (which is not really a Cut Scene, because everyone sees it, and it changes the music for the entire zone too).  Movie!  It is really creepy too, I love it, and it reflects a large amount of lore (story) in one quick event (the models for the characters have been updated since this movie was made).  It also made Sylvanas my favorite NPC in the game (or as I said to some people, she is my ‘Shantotto’ of WoW).

Now they have created this Cut Scene when you hit a certain stage in the next expansion.

[This is a huge spoiler if you play WoW.  If you don’t, its just a cool Cut Scene]

Movie!

So it looks like they are trying to add more story and make the feel of WoW more epic.  In FF, you have to save the world in every expansion.  In WoW, you don’t have this.  With the expansion, you actually invade one of the Horde cities for a quest — on both sides.  They handle it through what is being called phasing, where two people can be in the same place (and are on the same server), but they can’t see each other (and may see different NPCs and/or monsters).  It sounds really neat.  It is like instancing in place, and I’m excited for it.

In the end, the mixing of ideas from FFXI and WoW get us an easier FFXI and a more epic WoW.  Doesn’t sound too bad to me, more for me to enjoy.

-pyra

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