I haven’t really blogged about it before, but 35-37? Still in Eastern Altepa Desert. Those Beetles and Dhalmels? They last a LONG time. Which is why I didn’t really feel like blogging about it before, because really? That area is like my playground and has been every time I was in the 30-35 area. 37-41, however, is another trip altogether. It had both good and bad points to it, with the good points happening mostly for a bit of 38, most of 39, and all the way up to 41.

37-38 > Crawler’s Nest

I had my reservations of this area. I undoubtedly hate this area and have since I took my first job through here. The hanging, pulsating sacks hanging on the ceiling, the grouped parties, the links, and just the entire atmosphere of the place simply screams, “PLEASE HELP ME GET OUT OF HERE!” Lizards are a lot of fun to go after as long as you are able to single them out on their own. Crawlers? They were so-so but even better when we were able to Blank Gaze them. I had a screenshot of Mekare, Orophen, and myself all casting Blank Gaze all at once for the first time. It was hilarious and yet shows how much fun we have when we get our new spells.

38 > Phomiuna Aqueducts

Don’t look at us like we’re crazy, because we’re not. Not really, anyway. We wanted to play around with the Taurus, but were disappointed that they conned Even Match and Tough. Deciding it would be better to wander further in and fight Stegotaur, we did just that and managed to take down a few. Only once did we have a close call, but it was easier than I thought it would be. All three of us merely kept our backs to the mob and spammed magic like it were candy. Its not the most efficient way of doing things, but it was a lot of fun regardless. Especially considering we were below the 40 cap for the area. We decided to farm for a key for our CoP 2-3 run, and took down a Fomor SMN and NIN with relative ease. BST? Not so much. We wiped and decided to level up a bit more before trying again.

38-39 > Crawler’s Nest

Lizards, Crawlers, and Beetles? The later is definitely more trouble than it is worth, but as the other camps were flooded and we had very little choice, we had to do what we could to keep the EXP up and going. Beetles were, by far, the worst choice, but after taking a nap and finding our camp was taken we decided to move onto the main room and try our hand at chaining everything. Its at this point that I have to say I miss BRD pulling. Me pulling as BLU? Not really the greatest of ideas. I pulled a link of Crawlers, died, and ended up Home Pointing to gain back lost EXP. With 2k into 39, we wanted change and fast.

39-40 > Xarcabard

I wish I had known of this sooner, and would have taken us here before having taken us to the hell pit that is Crawler’s Nest. Head Butt, Bludgeon, Jet Stream and Smite of Rage were our main damage dealers here. We were really tired after a long day of leveling, but we managed to get through to this last bit and finally open up our AF1 quest. Mekare and Orophen had to wait until the next day to get the second half of their quest, but I managed to get mine completed the same night and obtain my sought after reward:

Although not the best weapon there is, it marks the start of being able to get the rest of my AF set. Its something to look forward to, and gosh dammit I can’t wait to be able to strut around in those blue threads! Only 19 more levels to go…

40-41 > Phomiuna Aqueducts

This was an unintentional experience points party, in that we were mainly looking to get the key for CoP 2-3. We ended up getting decent experience off the Fomors, Diremites, and had an insane amount of fun playing around in an untouched camp area.

We managed to get quite a few subligar while down here, and I even managed to pick myself up another pair of BRD subligar! I had already turned my previous one into a Gaudy Harness, but have always wanted to get it back in order to wear the lacy panties on a whim. Wish fulfilled and now I get to flaunt my lacy covered ass all over Vana’diel!

Finally, on food, gear, and spells:

Food has pretty much stayed on a constant in terms of Sole Sushi. There was one change, however, and that was when I was subbing WHM in Crawler’s Nest from 37 – 38. I had to do this in order to save on Antidotes, and as the only person with the least amount of HP? I needed to make sure my butt was covered in case hate went out of control. Which it did on occasion…

Equipment has been pretty random. Mekare has chosen to use MP gear in mix with other items (Attack+, EVA+, and Acc+). Orophen and I are pretty much STR and Accuracy heavy, and have been able to keep up in terms of damage with Mekare and occasionally out damaging her. Orophen and I need to start saving up on more accuracy gear, as we never really found the need to have it beforehand (well, he has r. accuracy gear and I have a lot of instruments). We also have all agreed to work on getting Vermilion Cloaks, so that means more farming when Orophen and I are able to fit it in our schedule.

Spells? Also random. My main concern was boosting up my STR as much as possible. Yes, it cut down on quite a bit of spells, but it also helped pushed my damage as high as 200+ when we hit 40. Quite often we find that one person will have a spell equipped that the other person will not seem to have. Orophen would have Chaotic Eye, Mekare would have Sheep Song, and me? I only took a screenshot of our last “session” and that was from 40-41:

This week will be insanely busy, but I hope we can get things squeezed in before our run on Saturday, July 7. Hiroshiko, that means you better be there or we’ll eat you ALIVE.