Welcome back, Hiroshiko!

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…

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

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!

Hidden Trait: Vs.Mandragora DMG+60%

No, that’s not a real trait. Well, maybe in the minds of Kyoshin, Hiroshiko, and Reiokyu who know my strong desire to one day have a ginormous Mandragora (larger than Chloris mind you) try to destroy the world and me fighting it in amazing glory. Because there is no one else better to rule the world than moi and I ain’t letting no damn onion do it! Unless it wanted to be my pet, then that’s another story!

These numbers don't really exist. It is just a part of your imagination!

The comment about my supposed hidden traits came last night after a fluke which I will stay firm on until the day I die. After all, the mob was DC AND an onion! So of course it would just magically spike up that way! That is going to be my reasoning and excuse for Reiokyu who just laughed with the others when I feebly cried help after I aggroed a mob and didn’t have buffs up after I pulled those numbers out of no where. TT_TT I swear, maybe it was just the whole Friday the 13th vibe because I did damage that I normally wouldn’t do that night.

At any rate, since the merger I’ve seen so many new faces on the server that I have to at times take a double take because there are either names close to people I actually know or knew formerly. One name that had me nearly choking on water was the thought that Cozma had come back. I distinctly remember so many people practically celebrating with delight when they found she was leaving the server so many years ago. To think it was that long ago that I was playing, too!

The numbers itself on Ragnasith is in and of itself phenomenal. It has been such a long time since I have seen the server so full of people that it had brought back many memories of being a lowbie in the crowded areas of Lower Jeuno for the first time and being awestruck at the higher level gear at the time. I had that nostalgic feeling seeing more people in decked out +2s and Level 90 Empyrean weapons and being in the gear that I am in. Though I am only thankful I haven’t been told outright I am a gimp because I know that has happened to a few friends of mine since the merger…

The increase in competition hasn’t affected us so far though, since we were able to get Orophen and Newbus their +1 hand seals, get Lexshu a zone clear, and even fulfill my desire of killing Amarok. Didn’t get the seals I was hoping for, but at least I have the Steaming Cerberus Tongue for when Hiroshiko returns and we can get people in the LS their Atheling Mantles. I just hope I can get the seals before I get 9/9 on Jewel of Ardor from Prophecy…

Oh, and one last bit of news! I am back on TTO! Thanks to the admin (Erik) for getting my details back onto the server! Huzzah!

And we’re back!

Coming back from the break has been really interesting. I say this because a lot of people around me seemed pretty happy about the break and seemed to question why they were still playing and were kinda eh about the whole idea of it. Which was hard for me to relate to, since I had just come back three months ago from my own hiatus. Sure I know the feeling, but I guess my current feelings were clearly opposite of numerous friends. Not that I was grumbling about the server downtime; more like… itching to go blowing things up to oblivion again. I am especially happy about blowing things up after getting a hold of the Atma of the Minikin Monstrosity.

I did a quick check to see how much more damage I did to buffalo and saw about a 200 dmg increase with Beyond equipped. Working on getting Atma of the Ultimate, but I think it will probably be many weeks until I can finally get a hold of that one. Right now trying hard to get my Goetia set upgraded to +1 by any means necessary. I would like to work on BLU, but its frustrating when you find your character is suffering from a learning disability…

It has been pretty interesting with Chakura making a return to XI, Lord Palom from FFXIV moving from the Fenrir server to the Ragnarok server, and having more fun in a more intimate party vs. a huge and (sometimes) annoying pickup alliance party. I am happy to see others make a return to XI, as well on other servers. The game is very different than when a lot of people left it, and I still find it fun to find the new things here and there since my absence and also sad that there are still people around (and possibly more of them as of late) that just make me want to /facepalm.

My Luck is Magically Delicious

When I made my return to XI, I wasn’t sure at what capacity I would be coming back. After all, I have a full time job and its one in where I work extra hours because I both have and want to do so. There is also XIV to consider, which has been made into a weekly event between friends to do leves. So I am here chipping away at getting my BLU, BRD, and WHM to 90, getting Atma, gear, doing missions for friends and for myself, and doing Dynamis for gear and money. Its been a fun ride, especially since my little group has expanded to the people I met and played with on XIV, or have talked to during my short tenure at ffxivblog.com.

I am not even sure where to start concerning my adventures, so I will first start with Tuesday from last week and work my way down the week.

For a few weeks, a friend had been asking me to join her and a few of my other friends in another LS to do Abyssea NMs. At first I said I wanted to wait until I reached 90, then I held off on it for a few other reasons, and then decided to go on a whim just to see how it was going to be. To be honest, I was very worried at first. I think I am a so-so player, and I can be ok at times but… I hadn’t read up on anything concerning Abyssea NMs and knew nothing except for what my friends had told me briefly.

We did several NMs, ended up with clears to Abyssea – Konschtat and Abyssea – Misareaux as well as a slew of Atma I didn’t think would fall onto my lap. I even ended up helping to kill Arimsapi and freaking out when I found myself having to kite him around a few times since only a RNG and I were able to do damage to him. Needless to say, it was fun and I was really happy to be invited to tag along. It surprised me further, despite messing up a few times due to a misunderstanding concerning a Stun macro, that I was asked to come back and that I did an alright job. Then again, I had to interact with players that really made me want to face palm at times and actually helped change how I see myself as a player at times. Which, sad to say, is not as dumb and hopeless as I usually think I am.

Wednesday was a Dynamis San d’Oria run, and had me rushing due to a work place meeting. I usually take at least an hour nap before hand, but was yawning so much and so tired I had dozed off a few times for a minute before realizing what was going on. Sleep = good and it seems as I age I do need more than the typical five hours of sleep I get. Either that or I end up waking up with a corner of drool wanting to dribble out of my mouth…

What I was really looking forward to anything else was Thursday and helping Lexshu/Frei and Rubicon finish their CoP mission. The last time I had done this was when I did the clear for myself, Reiokyu, Hiroshiko, my brother (Makai), and Orophen. I was BRD at the time but I remember clearly how my brother had helped save the day thanks to my BLM. Its sort of funny how I had came back to fight Promathia not as a support job but as the very job my brother used to irk me as. It was most definitely shorter than the run I had gone through, and made me miss the longer and much more epic fight we had to endure when we were still 75. It didn’t help any that we didn’t even get to see Promathia deal any of his deadly attacks, since most of the time we were just whacking away at him and watching him poking someone and keep going on.

Afterwards we decided to go hunting down my BLM shoes inĀ Abyssea – Attohwa and then got my WHM to 70. Of course, getting to that level meant a whole new stress and worry with wanting to get Raise III. Although it isn’t as necessary due to the fact EXP is a non-issue with Abyssea, I get uneasy not having spells. Heck, I’m still distressed that I don’t have Fire V, Blizzard V, and Firaja. I could and might buy it, but knowing I could potentially get it free is what prevents me from wanting to fork over the cash that could be used to gear up my WHM for leveling or what have you. Anyway, back to the talk of spells, Reiokyu, Lexshu, and I decided to go tackle E-VASE-ive Action for a chance at Raise III.

It took three tries and the scroll dropped! I find this amusing especially in light of last night. Orophen has been going on and on about my luck. I used to joke about it before because I would sometimes out lot just about everyone in the party with insanely high lots. I was even accused of cheating some how because of how consistently I would lot high numbers and gank just about everything from the treasure pool. I had even (for kicks) put myself into the same party as my friends so that someone could have a chance at Peacock Charm dropping. It dropped then, much to my astonishment, because I didn’t really think much of it. So its with surprise that we managed to go into Assaults the other night, found Jaggedy-Eared Jack for the second time during our second run, and found that the ??? Necklace that dropped was actually a Rabbit Charm. Its the item that my friends have hunted out of principle (the rabbit has usually bested them), and here I was seeing the mob for the second time in my time on XI and seeing the item get into pool easily. Needless to say, it was that very reason I was asked to go Blizzard IV hunting in KRT and found 2/3 of the scrolls we needed dropped. Luck? Maybe. Considering my friend claims that he’s bad luck, maybe it is. Or maybe someone in XI heaven decided to smile upon us and treat us to something good?

I just wish that whatever luck people think I have would apply to my ability to learn spells. Cause BLU spells? Yeah. Not really happening unless I get help. -_-; And even then its not even me who will learn the spell…. /facepalm

I’m really enjoying my time back in XI though. I just wish there was more time in the day to do more stuff. Even more surprising is how much I have fallen in love with BLM. I had come back with the intention of being more in love with my BLU but am more enamored by my BLM and am wanting to do nothing more than dote and learn more as BLM. I still have a long way to go in terms of pushing my damage numbers, but in the meantime? I’m having a blast, and am really happy to have more friends to surround myself with. <3

My right isn’t your right; its your left.

As many people know, I have come back to the world of Vana’diel. I haven’t really abandoned Eorzea, but Vana’diel IS holding my interest more firmly at the moment and has brought about much amusement with old and new friends.

Since my return in late December, I have leveled a little bit here and there, tried to skill up here and there, joined a Dynamis shell, and tried to help along friends so that we can tackle more things together. First off, the jobs I’ve leveled:

BLU 68 > 84
BRD 76 > 81
BLM 64 > 81
WHM 62 > 69

Yeah, I’ve flip flopped a lot and had a hard time focusing for awhile. I’m a little more settled on BLM at the moment, since I am enjoying the idea of nuking things to death. I have a LONG way to go, however, in order to be a competent and better BLM. I’m hoping to get there one day, but so far am pleased that I am able to get my nukes up past 200 in Abyssea Ule. with the help of Teal armor and Ascetic’s Tonic. Though, despite what Reiokyu and Orophen are claiming, I am STILL deciding to hold my right to complain. They state I can’t with the damage I doled out, but I say I can since its not nearly as consistent nor as high as I would like for it to be.

And that damage was done while I was level 80 or 81. One of the two. Atma of the Beyond, however, is my friend sometimes and is probably the only reason why I was lucky enough to deal out those numbers along with Ascetic’s Tonic and the Teal gear. Now to work on getting more Atma and Lunar Abyssites to push that damage higher…

I am still intent on wanting to level WHM. It sounds sadistic of me, considering my good friend Hiroshiko has told me numerous times NOT to fall into that trap and to just run away. Yup. Not walk. Run. Run far and fast. I don’t blame him, really. He is usually stuck as that job and has reminded of me of the times I’ve wanted to stuff dirty diapers into the mouths of needy DD who think their needs is more dire and of importance than of the entirety of the party. Though I think I’d need to take it slow since the very idea of main healing sometimes gives me anxiety attacks. Sort of like when I was summoned to be a BLM in Dynamis last Wednesday and was worried to death I was playing like a total noob. I’d rather play as BLU but some part of me wouldn’t mind attempting to play as BLM again in the future.

As for XIV adventures, I think Reiokyu is really putting himself in the position of a sheep/goat conspirator. It is the ONLY way to explain how the hell he has managed to walk by a NM goat in Nophica’s Wells and not get a single scratch on him. Or the fact that sheep were spamming Sheep’s Song like it was no one’s business in Dynamis today. I’m thinking maybe he has beat them on the head too many times that they are scared of him and have offered instead to be his evil little minions…