doink! will be going through a revamp within the next few weeks. I’m looking to update the layout (again), convert my entries from categories into tags, and possibly re-doing my subject titles. I’m not sure. We are also going to go through a server change, as our current host has been giving less than stellar service as of late. Any recommendations for a good host would be welcome!

You know what the Level Sync system is like? Its like a system where you scratch your friend’s backs and you expect them to scratch yours or kiss your feet. Me? I like the idea of them kissing my feet more, because I’m the supreme ruler and still have not forgone my plan of conquering Vana’diel one person at a time with my Cuteness +1 attack.

Well, ok, it doesn’t have to be taken that way, but it does help in my LS (theSyndicate) since a lot of us have jobs we want to level up but don’t really want to waste our time with other people. So sometimes we go out with four or five people and mess around, and it often ends up really well. Unless I happen to be leveling THF and then I feel like gouging my eyeballs out. I really admire Mekare for leveling THF, Reiokyu for MNK, and Orophen for RNG because I don’t think I could do those jobs. I actually went crazy for awhile because I wanted to do EVERYTHING. I wanted to heal, I wanted to debuff, I wanted to buff, etc. It was actually driving me crazy! So eventually I started to think of ways to take the mob off of Hiroshiko who was leveling WAR and NIN, but… then I stopped because I didn’t want to grieve anyone. Poor me, right?

Poor me indeed! I then decided to change to DRK and I went from :< to :Q very quickly. I seriously didn't expect to have so much fun playing DRK in a party, and Orophen was laughing at me on the phone when I started to complain about my DMG output vs. his SAM. He said I sounded like the very person I detested when I was first leveling BRD, and that he never thought I would get so competitive over my DoT numbers. I actually got flipping mad when I saw his WSes were 10 pts higher than mine! Do I plan to continue DRK? I'm not sure. I want to finish BLU first, and we're planning to do a level up party this upcoming weekend. I do know that I'm liking the idea of seeing my Taru wield a scythe and looking dark and evil instead of cute and cuddly. Plus, maybe it will give the boys in the LS more reason to fear me... PS: I think the DRK job is getting to me because I was willing to kill my boyfriend when he crossed me during the level up party last week. I won't even go into details the extent of what I did to try and get him killed in the party... <.<;

When playing BLM, I can’t help but think of 1.) Mr. Crazy in Al Zahbi (Gadalar) and 2. Dilandau from Escaflowne. And every time I think of those two, I think of もえる (moeru). It was something Dilandau said a lot when he pretty much burned things up, and pretty much means to burn. Which is why another reason I hate playing BLM and was glad to be one step closer of getting rid of it after the introduction of Level Sync.

Level Sync, in short, is a god send. I can play with my friends for a quick, fun exp and not stress out about this or that. I already trust the people I am playing with, so I don’t have to worry about a mix bag of goods. I even managed to get my BLM from 32 to 35 in a day! Which I couldn’t be more than grateful to my friends for, especially staying until I got my level 35. The fact we had Bubumuri to ourselves sans the Leech farmers were a blessing to boot. Especially since many of the other camps are maxed out at the moment…

During the course of my bitter ranting towards BLM I found it funny I have been considering leveling DRK. Yeah, don’t choke on your food/drink/whatever there… its true. I really feel weird about it myself, but I have found that so far I kind of like it. Sure it takes a mighty LONG time to swing a weapon about and don’t even get me going on how long it took me to unlock the job (I’ve had the quest for so many YEARS I lost count), but I found it cathartic to swing my sword around and watch the mob die either in one hit or in two. Well, as long as I wasn’t fighting something that could seriously kick my Aketon and Beret wearing Taru butt.

My LS has pretty much agreed to do a get together set once in awhile to work on subs and jobs that we want to, but are typically too busy to get a pick up party for. I’m sure I will get sick of seeing the mugs of some of those boys, but at least I can count on them for some good fun without stressing out too much. I just wish that we could use our emperor bands more frequently so that we could get all the charges we want in one day instead of having to wait 16 hours when we most likely will be busy doing other activities or attending to other obligations outside of FFXI. :

Over at JP Button, they have some questions asked by NA players for JP players that were posted on an anonymous BBS. Some of the answers are pretty consistent with what I remember reading from Dreams in Vana’diel a few years ago (primarily concerning /check and why Japanese go JP only), but there are some other interesting things in here too!

Personally, I also feel the same way they do about communicating in party. I know some people do not mind it, but as someone who has elementary understanding of the Japanese language, it is very frustrating to see a wall of kana fly past your screen and not fully understand what is going on. Or when you ask a basic question in alt-tab and the question goes ignored (which the one who was able to understand and communicate in Japanese exceptionally mad…). Then again, who knows? Maybe what I asked didn’t come out correctly on the other end. Kind of like how it took ages for S-E to release a (|Reward:|) tab to replace the BST Command (|Reward|) to make sense to JP what the heck EN were going on about.

I also agree with the rudeness that is sometimes in NA parties and I sometimes wish things were different. Sometimes I am also guilty of it! I caught myself a few times, and as someone who is always trying to teach 2 – 6 year olds to say please, thank you, and you’re welcome, I try to remember to do the same even to those people I am close and familiar with (Haha, like Orophen). It is a hard pill to swallow, but I also don’t think it helps with the culture differences. The Japanese are pretty high on the politeness scale, but many NA don’t quite understand all the distinct mannerisms or what could be offensive or not. I think more could be done to harvest some understanding, and I kind of wish that S-E could have given us tools to help understand what might be offensive or not instead of letting us run loose and letting chaos ensue. But I guess that would require a whole class on etiquette and mannerisms that I doubt many players would have the patience for…

So, on one of the FFXI LJ communities I help to moderate, they were talking about the most WTF moment ever experienced in the game. Readers of doink! who have been following me since my days on Livejournal may remember this one. I still remember getting tells about this screenshot in game because of how WTF worthy it was (or maybe still is).

I’m going to link the image, but do not click and read it if you don’t LIKE explicit stuff. Its NC-17, NOT SAFE FOR WORK, or anyone who has just eaten food. So… you ready? Ok. Here it is.

I don’t know why, but whenever I remember this screenshot or when I remember seeing this person’s name in game? I always felt as though I was somehow being molested. srsly. -_-;

Since overcoming our hurdle of getting to BLU 60, we picked up where we last left off in CoP: the Three Paths. I am probably going to remember this as the mission where I had to sit and watch CSes at least twice because of my lazy younger brother and then at least a third time because Orophen’s connection was down the night prior to our organized meet time.

I let Hiroshiko lead this time, kind of because I was sick and partly to let someone else have a hand at it after being teased about being a dictator. Of course, then the boys decided to cry foul since the ONLY person I seem to treat with any kind of affection (that doesn’t involve violence, pfbt) is Mekare. Which TOTALLY isn’t true, but I will let the boys believe what they will- they will know true fear when it comes back to my turn to lead.

Already a little more than halfway done with CoP, I can honestly say I know I am going to miss CoP when its done and over with. The days we were able to meet and do missions was always exciting and filled with anticipation of what will come next. Its great that even Meka, who had already completed CoP, is excited to join us and do battles with us. Its this excitement that always makes me so damn excited, and I hope it can pass onto ToAU when we try to finish that together! Though I think most of us are on the verge of a panic attack at the idea of the big air ship battle that is coming up…

Of course, now we can hopefully (if my brother isn’t a douche), party together with the new LEVEL SYNC SYSTEM!! OMG! Will it mean additions to our BLU setup? Maybe. Maybe not. It will definitely mean we can probably level up other jobs we have been wanting to level up but couldn’t because of level discrepancies and for that I’m grateful for! :D

Camp: Bhaflau Thickets
Targets: Lesser Colibri
Spells to have handy: MP Drainkiss

This is pretty much straight forward. The sad thing is, we aren’t able to successfully pull off a self skillchain… yet. We’re working on it, and I will most likely talk to Orophen on ways to both pull off a self renkei plus keep chain flowing smoothly. Let me say that Wizard Cookies + Dark Staff is a GOD send before Vermy. In fact, it is still a great combo even if you don’t have one (which Orophen doesn’t).

Despite some heavy competition, we managed to find a nice little camp where we were hardly bothered. Which is kind of hard when competing against typical leveling parties. Usually they are much faster than we are, and we struggle to keep up. We had no problem this time around and were able to keep our own set of mobs apart from the other two parties that were near us.

I also have screenshots with us posing in full AF, but with WordPress not wanting to cooperate those shots will have to come a little later. :

Now that we are level 60, CoP is going to be coming at full swing once Hiroshiko has moved into his dormitory. We’ll be picking up where we left off (the Three Paths) and plowing our way through as fast as we can now that we will be doing Besieged frequently in hopes of learning a spell or two without having to subject Reiokyu with the torture of putting his meat shield skills to the test. ;o

Camp: Toraimarai Canal
Targets: Impish Bats, Fleshcraver, Mindcraver
Spells to have handy: Bludgeon, Smite of Rage, Geist Wall

To greatly reduce travel time, becoming a Certified Rhinostery Venturer and having a Rhinostery Certificate is a must! This allows you to gain access to the Canal from Windurst Walls and get to the camp within seconds! All we did was zone in, walk down the steps, and basically sat at the bottom of the steps as we pulled mobs to our camp.

This is a very nice, neat little spot and we were hardly bothered by anyone. The only thing to be wary of are the Flesh/Mindcravers. It is very easy for things to go wrong here, and there were times I was only able to survive because Orophen and Mekare were curing me both at the same time before I was dealt a killing blow.

Even at level 57, there were still some VT mobs lingering about before they finally reached a peak at level 58. All in all a great camp because of its location and shortened travel time. Some of our highest skill chains (combined with Magic Burst) would push 1,000 at this level, so it was pretty much fun to watch our damage fly in this area especially thanks to Undead Killer ability!

We now have two more levels to get before we reach 60, and that should take us too long since we have six more charges left on our Anniversary Ring and Colibri are now our target mob for levels 58+. ^-^ So here’s hoping we get to level 60 next weekend!

What, you thought I was dead? Pfbt! Things have been hectic on my end, despite not doing all of the things I thought we were going to do! We still went to Disneyland, California Adventure, and did a heck of a lot of driving and riding ferry boats just to get from point A to B. My cousin has taught me a bit of Spanish, and I probably taught her how to stand up for herself more and curse a lot more than she should. Sadly, my cousin will be leaving on the 25th of July, but it also means one thing: return of precious weekend MMO gaming time!

There are a few games I have tried out since the last time I posted and here are my thoughts on them:

Wii Fit

I actually JUST got this a few days ago, and I am totally loving it. Granted I have poor balance, my right leg isn’t very stable at times, but I am liking that it has basically helped me track where and how I can improve without having to go out to the gym (at least just yet… I will go one day). I wish there were more games, but I guess that’s why I am keeping my fingers and toes crossed for an squeal to be released in the very near future!

the Umbrella Chronicles

Let me get this clear: I hate zombies. HOWEVER, I have a morbid curiosity about Resident Evil games that make me both amused and horribly freaked out at the same time. This game allowed me to enjoy playing a Resident Evil game without having to go through all the suspense alone, and get the gist of the story without having to feel too overwhelmed by being paranoid about everything going on. The solo stories I could do without, however, but I guess that’s what my brother is good for…

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance 2

I love this game. I love this game so much I am very frustrated I haven’t had as much time to devote to this game as I would like. I often only have time on ferry boat rides, and… that’s pretty much it. There is one thing I am extremely frustrated over, however, and that is being unable to UPGRADE certain weapons whenever I want to. At the moment I have weapons for many other classes other than the ones I REALLY need. My thieves, for example, have been hurting for a good weapon for several levels but an opportunity to upgrade has been at a constant zilch for awhile.

So, what about other stuff? Well, I won third place for the Moogle Lottery Thingy-Ma-Jiggy and will hopefully be able to take my BLU up several levels without having to stress out too much over funds. As for WoW, I FINALLY have a mount but am desperately trying to get Exalted (kind of like getting Hero rank) for the city of Night Elves. I also got severely pwned after logging back in after logging out on the road in a desert zone. Orz I kind of learned my lesson after that, but I’m hoping to extract my revenge on that giant someday…

Oh, and before I finish: WATCH THE DARK KNIGHT. <3

Health update: I’m currently feeling a lot better than I did earlier in the month. Besides the flare up of the mono, I had bronchitis AND a sinus infection that made my eyes super red! Can’t a girl catch a break? Jeez! I get exhausted easily, but as long as I take things at my own pace I often do fine. Though I still need to do a blood test to make sure my liver is doing ok…

Anyway, now you pretty much know why there haven’t been as many updates recently! I have been getting back into the groove of things lately, and we have even managed to get some things done with BLU. The specifics of the BLU leveling will be on its own post, but I am so glad we are able to get together again to do BLU stuff! Even though I play WoW on the side, I can’t give up my Taru as easily either and I still have a love for BLU and BRD (despite saying all the shitty stuff about BRD at times). It also made me glad for some things I have on FFXI compared to WoW at the moment.

Doing a lot of quests on WoW as of late, I end up finding myself having to run from point A to point B. This is kind of problematic for me because I tend to be impatient and frustrated easily when I have to keep doing it over and over and over and I think you get the point here. So having something like Mazurka + Sprinter Shoes is like a god send because I can get to areas a lot more quickly. Sure I have something like Mazurka on WoW’s Hunter, but its still not the same and I am just grateful I am getting closer to being able to get my own Mount (kind of like a chocobo).

On WoW we currently have an event that is called the Midsummer Fire Festival. It is based off of a real festival of the celebration of the solstice, but with some WoW twists added in there! Some of the things we do on WoW is pole dancing, where you twirl around really fast and look like a helicopter. Its ridiculously funny the first time around, and you even get a bonus of slightly higher exp for killing beasts the longer you do the pole dance! We also have to talk to people around the world to get more Burning Blossoms that can be traded in for items. However, unlike in FFXI, these don’t stay the whole year! So you can’t just save them up and decide to use them later on. You actually HAVE to use them or they will just disappear! A total bummer, but I think I can live with it and just hope I have enough time to get the remaining blossoms I need to get the item I want!

Back to the talking to people to get more blossoms… now you can choose to do one of the following: Honor or Desecrate. Of course you can’t desecrate your own faction’s flame, but you can go to the opposing faction’s (Horde vs. Alliance) and desecrate their flame! Which is kind of fun but also freaky as hell if you are just a low level person like me who is on a PvE (Player vs. Enemy) server. I actually had instances where Horde players waited to see if I was on my way to their flame, and I would have to covertly look like I am busy trying to kill mobs so I wouldn’t be bothered! The first time I did it, however, I tried hard to make it to a sanctuary before a Horde could get me. I found my way to a retreat with a bunch of level 40 Night Elf guards surrounding me. Haha, but then a single Horde player tracked me down and was actually patrolling the area to get to me. ;o; I totally freaked and logged off for awhile because I didn’t want to get my ass handed to me. Yes, I know, I’m a wuss.

It was also really fun trying to get flames as Hunter since Hunter has so many ways to do espionage. I can either control my pet to let me see into Enemy territory or I can just an ability that lets me zoom in really close to the area of my choice and seek out what is going on. Cool, huh? I actually did this a few times before getting a flame so I could plan out my moves and either wait it out or go in and piss all over the flames. Its probably not as cool as this Tauren player who shrunk himself down to midget size and ran all over the place by himself to douse flames! He was so cool, and I couldn’t stop laughing for awhile just seeing him work the guards and everything.

For the next month, my schedule will be pretty chaotic. My cousin is visiting from Spain until July 25 and there will be times I will be away from home and visiting Canada (I always look forward to visiting because its so beautiful!), Oregon, and hitting up Disneyland. So while I may not be able to play MMOs at this time, at least I have my trusty DS! Haha!