Monthly Archives: June 2011

Blurring the lines between online and off

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In my own little group, I have met three people from the ls:

1. My own boyfriend (duh)
2. Hiroshiko; I grew up with him since he was a wee little ankle biter
3. Reiokyu during Sakura Con 2010

Well, make that four:

4. A friend of Kiln’s who was in my Chinese History class at the University of Washington and whom I remember fondly as the guy who turned in his final paper just minutes after the final had started.

Other than that, I have known players to live close to or around the area, but have never really met any of them. Then in comes Maiev who isn’t even from Ragnarok and whom I have only played briefly with during my brief stint on the Fenrir server. I’ve known the guy mostly due to the fact we are bloggers (go go blogger community!) and at one point we were on BBM and working on FFXIVblog.com together.

Last Saturday we met in downtown Seattle along with Nomnom from the Dalmatica Network. It was fun listening to stories about Ragnarok then and of course now, and then talking about the state of XI as it is now. Its a conversation piece that seems to be prevalent in many circles I am in, but one I will not explore here since its now isn’t really the time. But it made me think of just how much more fun the people I meet online are than those I know offline. It has been a realization I have come to when talking to people I know locally, because although they are great people… they just aren’t as full of super-duper awesome sauce as the more competent players I’ve met on FFXI (cause the dumb ones are just that: dumb). Sure we’re talking bits of code and digital data, but… even so, a lot of people had a lot of passion for what they did. Its always fun to see that passion in people’s eyes and in their intonation when they speak. The good, the bad, and the downright ugly is all there and you can’t help but relate because part of you has also experienced that to some degree.

I guess what doesn’t help me at all is that a lot of my friends in real life are mostly, um, older ladies who have a spouse and kids. Ring on finger? Nope. Carrying a child for nine months and popping them out from between my legs? Most definitely no. Sure its hard talking to others about my gaming life, but… when I actually do talk to these people who understand, its like a whole new world of excitement and joy.

I guess that’s why I can’t seem to be thankful enough that I got TeamDerp on my side and was able to meet Maiev and Nomnom in person. They get that part of you that not many in the “real” world would, and are much easier to be yourself around because, hey, we’re all dorks/geeks/nerds/whatever anyway, right?

Now if only I can think of a cheap way to get the rest of TeamDerp onto the west coast for a convention get together.

Welcome back, Hiroshiko!

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For about a month and a half, TeamDerp just didn’t feel the same without our little servant boy er, kick ball.. no, um… “friend” around. Not that any of us really missed him…

In all seriousness though, we did really miss the guy and we really happy to see his brief return until his internship is over sometime this week. His presence really helped especially during our Ultima run the night he dropped in, and allowed everyone in the party who didn’t already have it to get:

Next week will be interesting once Hiroshiko comes back full time for sure. :D Hopefully we can add another day of events and maybe finish up the stuff we’ve been unable to finish up outside of the TeamDerp nights. Here’s hoping…

Frustrations abound…

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Since I have made my Twitter private for an undisclosed amount of time, some intrepid followers may have noticed my weekly grumblings on the days of Mondays and Tuesdays. It is on these days that I am with another LS doing Abyssea events, of which I had been invited into the LS by my friends who had been in this particular LS for a number of years doing other events with them. It has also been an LS that had helped me get many atma, clears to Shinryu, and a number of goodies I would not have otherwise gotten. Which is why I feel conflicted and utterly pained when I feel like I have to drag my ass and force myself not to complain so much with the turn of events as of late.

For a number of weeks we we will typically see the insides of Altepa or La Theine (it was formerly Misareaux) farming for (or attempting to) Empyrean weapon items. Once in awhile we will go do something else, but… I am so honestly sick of those two zones that I feel like its pulling my teeth to go. It doesn’t help when I feel people are ignoring the memo on farming Tiger King’s Hide out of Gold Pyxis is better than killing that stupid Ansherekh over and over and over again and week after week. But what do we end up doing week after week? Killing that damn tiger in hopes we get the hide to get the pops, to get the KI, and then to get the items needed for someone’s weapon. I honestly wouldn’t mind this if it were more efficient, but its not… and its driving me batty. I guess I just need a change of pace as well. There are other members who could use +2 items or more of it, but we hardly go out to get those items. Even my friend is put off when she is overlooked for getting seals for her Empyrean armor, but feels like she can’t say anything because of the same situation I am in.

Meh! At least me going to the gym to workout has proven to be a good exit out of runs I am starting to find tedious and displeasing. It also gives me fuel to work out intensely once I get there and want to burn off some steam… so, eh? Other than that, it did make me think about what Hiroshiko had said before and why he felt the need to join another LS. I’m wanting to do the same myself, but finding the time for it is what seems to be the most challenging of all… I already have enough on my plate that I either have to do or would rather do because its with great people that I can laugh and have fun with (yes, that’s a shout out to mreh/TeamDerp!). Now if only Hiroshiko and Kimiko would stop acting like they were too good to hang out with us~ ;o; We need more lulz thankyouverymuch!

A Calaera-style Welcoming Party

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Well, probably more of a… “Here, let me show you how I can lower your IQ points by THIS much.” If you are following me on twitter, most likely you have seen how I refer to my LS as #teamderp. That is not just because I have a separate LS named TeamDerp, but because Reiokyu has made claims we can severely lower IQ points if we really go at our hijinks I get tired and just go to the deep end. The sad thing is, I barely remember what I say and I’m pretty sure I will be horrified when someone does tell me the specifics! On the other hand, I do remember laughing! Laughing and lots of fun! I just hope Kimiko and Chakura’s friend decide to come back and not be scared off cause I was undeniably crazy last night.

mreh/TeamDerp has had a wonky time for the past few weeks. Hiroshiko had left for a two month break (the little snot lied about coming back mid June!), people traveled, I had found my hands full of work, and in genera things were a little crazier. Thankfully it picked up again thanks to Rubicon simply voicing what I had been thinking for awhile: we needed to go back into the swing of things. Though we are pretty much a casual LS, we still have our laundry list of things to do that we would like to get done! There are a few of us who still do not have complete +1s on our primary jobs and there are some who want to get more atma. Thursday and Friday was a push towards those goals by getting more Limbus out of the way for fabricated atma, and then going off to Vunkerl Inlet to hunt feet seals. Mekare has now completed her WAR feet, Orophen has his RNG feet completed, Lexshu is now 6/8 on DNC, and (sadly) Rubicon had barely made a dent on his by netting only one or two last night.

To try and make things a little better for the Ragin’ Cajun, we had also made a venture into Dynamis-Bastok late Friday night/early Saturday morning. It was the first time I had gone inside since the update to Dynamis and Rubicon’s first time in there at all! My thoughts on the new version of Dynamis? It was definitely not what I had expected at all! We got the boss within minutes of entering, we were able to get time extends without demolishing an entire zone (just having to deal with nasty pulls and links; something we were dealing with quite frequently in Vunkerl anyway), and even netted some gear and a few coins for people. It also just felt really nice to wander in without having to kill every. single. damn. mob. in existence. I’m looking forward to more ventures into Dynamis with smaller parties and walk away with old but still attractive gear!