Tag Archives: Orophen

One step at a time…

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There has been a lot on my mind lately, and when I get around to writing my thoughts down I often feel that they are disjointed and incomprehensible because of how jumbled they are. They don’t connect or mesh well with other thoughts, and I often become frustrated because then I will end up writing what amounts to gibberish. Not that I don’t do so already. It almost makes me wonder if doing a vlog would help, but then I’d have to worry about getting the images or props ready to show vs. my ugly mug on the screen. I’ll try to narrow my field of focus today to XIV, since that is the topic that has been popping up a lot as of late.

Currently in our little group we have myself, Orophen, Reiokyu, Frei, and Shouri. Two people have either recently left or have been kicked out because a.) they just stopped coming and have refused to engage in conversation with anyone from the LS when they do pop on Skype or b.) were only around to get power leveled and then proceeded to ignore us and only help our their other LS. I had a lot of choice words for the later and many more for the former, but none of that will be shared here. Then there is another guy, but he’s usually busy and hardly ever on. I’ve asked to team up with the Nightblades since, at the moment, they are also down a few of their members due to server lockout and to tag along with Jeff’s group if they will let me. It is a nice setup, I think, and it allows me to get to know the people who have been on my twitter list for awhile. I’ve already met Jeff in real life when he and Mai visited Seattle for a few hours. I often get worried, however, worrying if I am a decent enough player to be able to play with them. Even if I don’t have a lot of time to play like a hardcore player or have the achievements of one, I still worry a great deal about my abilities and skills as a player. I’m even making an attempt at leveling Weaving just so I can try to make my own triple meld gear for my BLM and WHM! Crazy considering that I am not much into crafting in the first place…

What is sort of driving me crazy right now, however, isn’t just the lack of people in our group to do end game content with, but the disparity of level between certain members and the core members. It reminds me of CoP and when we were starting the CoP group up with Reiokyu, Hiroshiko, and my brother. It was really different then, with half of us playing in a way that we could read each other and go into a fight without a huge exchange of words going on and then worrying about the other half and if they would be able to do what was needed of them. I still remember getting incredibly pissed off when people weren’t listening to directions on the Diabolos fight and causing a wipe that could have been prevented. Eventually two of the three became really solid players and I don’t think any of us felt the need to worry as much if our backs were being covered as much as we did the first half of our CoP run.

I find myself somewhat in the same place now as I did then, but not as ornery at the moment. There are several reasons for this: 1.) I am a lot more mellow then than I used to be. Anyone who knew me then knows I have a nasty temper. It is very explosive and volatile to the point I am heard outside and I’ve actually used weapons to hit people. ^^; 2.) I am a little more busier. Back then I was a full time student and was often too busy to play very often. I am back in school again but I have other commitments to take care of, too. Often they are on my mind while I am running other things at the same time. Which, to be frank, is probably for the best considering #1. 3.) I am a little more patient. I am trying to see where things are going at the moment. I’m concerned, yes, but I’m also willing to give the benefit of the doubt and look to see if there are improvements. If not, then… well… I guess I’ll cross that bridge when it gets there.

Goodbye 2011, Hello 2012!

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After pushing this back further and further, I now bring to you my Year-in-Review 2011 edition! More specifically, the video game/online edition since this is my gaming blog and all that ish. I’ve debated how I wanted to format this review, and I think the best way to go about it is to break it down one MMO/online game at a time.

Final Fantasy XI
I’m starting with this one because at the start of 2011, we (as in me and my LS) had made a comeback to the game after a few months of waning interest in FFXIV and feeling nostalgia over our lives in Vana’diel. We found that Rubicon was already on our server (Ragnarok) and Frei was cool with the idea of transferring if it meant he would get a chance to finish our favorite expansion storyline: CoP.

It was a rather tumultuous journey in here… I ended up gaming with Chakura more often during our stint in FFXI, losing a friend, playing with the person that brings nightmares to the server, greeting Kimiko onto Ragnarok, and getting having our group nicknamed Derp Squad/Team Derp because of stupid things said/done on Skype during event runs. Not that they usually ended in fail (on rare occasion, I believe), but it was the kinda actions that either brought upon a ton of laughs or a few facepalming actions on our resident Monk.

Things fell apart as they usually do for me when my cousin came over for the month of August. No matter what I try, things just get shaky and weird. It was around this time things went into decline for longer than intended and for different reasons that started off with that month. Which may have been a blessing in disguise since FFXI overall seemed to be going into a direction that was more of a chore rather than fun. Which seemed to make all the more sense when we saw that Tanaka was back on the helm for FFXI, and appeared to be steering it towards more of a senseless grind with no hope for a future expansion. Here is hoping I’m wrong and the new year brings about news of one…

Final Fantasy XIV
This MMO has been interesting to say the least. I’m honestly at a love/hate relationship with the game, and I don’t see it letting up anytime soon. Yoshi-P is certainly an interesting character to say the least, and I look forward to his letters from the producer and translated thoughts from him. If things were different, he is the guy I would have loved to see make a MMO from the scratch vs. cleaning up someone else’s mess. But this isn’t about Yoshi-P as it is more about the game itself. Final Fantasy XIV was spurned by some of us before, taken in with open arms, and then spurned again at times with a tug o’war type of fashion. There is no denying that we are eagerly awaiting 2.0. While I have some doubts of what 2.0 will change and fix, I am still in the belief that it will at least change many things some of us have been suffering through over the course of a year and a half and will continue to suffer through until the release of 2.0.

The Market Ward changes are welcome but still unpolished, the graphics are gorgeous but buggy with its terrain issues, and I’m hoping to the man above that Yoshi-P and the Dev team aren’t listening to the rubbish of including that stupid wyvern pet and other useless additions that don’t really need to be added onto the game. However, since that voice almost seems to be in the majority because of how vocal they are, I am actually starting to believe they might be dumb enough to include something stupid like that damn wyvern. Yes, I hate it and I hate every single moron that firmly believes it would be a good addition to the game. Just listen to the podcast if you wanna hear me spew hate and venom, because I can and still will spew hate and venom for that retarded vocal minority that wants to ruin the future of Dragoon with a silly pet.

Am I paying in a few days? Yes. Despite playing SWTOR and enjoying it a bit, I find myself drawn to FFXIV and wanting to at least be prepared to tackle on content pre and post 2.0. I’m still a little hesitant and I still have my gripes, but I honestly want to see this through and hope that things end up falling into place for FFXIV. There are many GOOD things Yoshi-P and his dev team have done for the game, and I’m in the belief that as long as they don’t give into the demands of the vocal retards (aka the people wanting wyverns) then they will be fine through the year of 2012. Lets just hope I don’t look back on this and regret everything I say…

World of Warcraft
I came back to this game during the tail end of 2011 (October – December), after feeling nostalgic from reading and responding to tweets from players currently playing WoW. My feelings are mixed on this venture. The game has many good points, and I would be a fool to disregard them. I am choosing not to return to Azeroth for a time because of a few reasons:

1.) Its not fun playing without Orophen. I am happiest when I get to play with him. Yes, I play other games without him but its harder for me to stay interested in them when he isn’t around to share that interest with me.

2.) Someone I am trying to avoid started to pick it up again. I think in the future I may try to talk to this person, but I’m not so sure… Things were left in a lurch and I was blamed for things that I felt I shouldn’t have been blamed for when constant invitations were sent and consistently declined. Its a situation that leaves an awful taste in my mouth, and almost makes me want to regurgitate my food just thinking about it. I could pay for my character to be transferred, but its not like I have the money to waste for something that could be used on bills, books, and tuition. Meh.

3.) I don’t have the time. I could do x, y, or z in WoW but I’m focusing on several things at once and I’m not sure raiding can fit into the picture of what I have without sacrificing something I am currently doing (XIV, the podcast, other games, school, work, etc– school and work being the #1 priority here). I honestly don’t like half assing things I am serious about; it leaves a really awful taste in my mouth and raiding would take up focus I could and should spend elsewhere.

So while I really like WoW, its going to probably take a back burner here for me until I can foresee myself being able to commit more time or go to another server without having to level characters from scratch again.

League of Legends
Playing this probably led to me breaking my mouse after so much clicking. I am looking forward to going back to play after I get a new mouse (been holding off on it because I am still on the fence as to which to get), but its a great way to kill a bit of time. Especially against bots. Bots. Bots forever. I still wanna go back in and do try Dominion out again. I’ve only done it a few times, but it wasn’t enough to whet my appetite for it. I’m still needing to perfect how I play with Akali; it would probably do be a butt load of good if I actually remembered what I would make my builds out when I found one that worked. orz

Star Wars: the Old Republic
I had actually a much longer entry for this, but it was gone after the iPad WordPress app ate it. I have my issues with the game I haven’t been vocal about as others thus far; the lack of data log on damage taken and dealt, the lack of brackets in PvP, certain class issues (so far I’m not seeing many abilities that utilize the Stealth ability as an Assassin and that bugs the SHIT out of me), etc etc etc. However, despite my gripes with the game, there are reasons why I play and may continue to do so for a time:

1.) My sister is playing. My sister is NOT an MMO player. She is very much a casual gamer in many ways, but I still love and cherish her. To have her play this game tickles my fancy and I stick around to help guide her into hopefully cultivating interest in other games. Though I have my reservations that will happen since SWTOR appeals to her for the fully voiced cut scenes and because it is easy enough for her to pick up and enjoy without worrying about number crunching and so on.

2.) Because I have a handful of friends who are playing at the moment. I have found that no matter how frustrated I can be with a game (XI, XIV, SWTOR), I can find myself enjoying the game when I am in the company of good friends. I didn’t have that same kind of backing in WoW. Not to say I couldn’t have made the attempt, and in retrospect I could and possibly should have. But then it would go back to the time issue and me feeling guilty that I wasn’t spending enough time in said game. I’m also a person who is rather loyal, and the guilt of abandoning friends who have dealt with my whims for over a year or more seems insane to me at best.

3.) The storyline. I’m sure certain things would have ended up the same despite my choices, but I’ve delighted in some of the choices that have ended up changing things altogether: the Black Talon flashpoint, the Marauder quest line, either sleeping with or killing targets as an Agent have all surprised and delighted me at the same time. There are also interesting ways that crew skills have been utilized in the game, and have I mentioned that I’m in love with my companion? Khem? He may not be the best, but he entertains me and doesn’t judge my being evil unlike Vette. Even though Khem things I am too big for my britches, I still love him like the big flesh eating thug he is.

The previous entry I had written went over in detail my gripes and things I’ve thought about games launching post WoW. I may or may not write this again, but in the end things boil down to this: enjoying the game you are playing and the people you are gaming with. The bigger determining factor for me is and always will be who I am gaming with. It may not be for other people, but no gamer is alike as is proof in the titles we have given ourselves and others: casual gamer, mid-core gamer, normal gamer, hardcore gamer, etc. 2012 will probably change my gaming habits to back to my college days when I was trying to transfer from a junior college to a University. Maybe more so since I am trying to get into a competitive market/field of study. This probably means less gaming overall vs. the surge I had in 2011, but something has to give since I’m going back to school out of my own pocket this time around. Or maybe I’ll win and won’t have to change anything. We’ll see!

So, there you have it. A four page document in Word pasted smack dab in my blog. Expect my next entry in four months or so, hah!

Team Derp Returns to FFXIV

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We’ve talked about it and we did it. We came back to XIV. To what capacity? I have no idea. At the moment we are currently on Mysidia which seems to be a server largely populated by the Japanese. Some are ranking up quite nicely while there are others like myself and Orophen who had waited to level up together and then managed to get levels pretty quickly thanks to the patches.

Right now its a good change of pace. There are still things wonky in XIV, but its also apparent things are different and are changing. There are a handful of changes that have been good and others that aren’t as much. Personally, I’m enjoying the auto-attack. My boyfriend has been very adamant against it and still doesn’t seem to like it very much. He even scorns those that now complain the battles are slow because of the introduction of auto-attack. I don’t personally see it, especially since I’ve had to deal with cool down timers a lot as a mage. What DOES suck is how much more easily I seem to get hate now than I did then (unless I am remembering things incorrectly). Curing, for example, can easily get me killed if I don’t let Orophen establish enough hate via weapon skills. It is almost as though I have dumped a bunch of Cure IVs on him and bam! I’m mowed down like a punk ass. Nuking in and of itself is also a crazy mess but it has also inadvertently saved the day many times thanks to the high amount umbral and astral damage it does; definitely more than I remember it having done when I was leveling THM aeons ago. However, I’m still eagerly waiting for BLM as it is far more potent and suits my tastes far more than the debuffer position that THM holds. Though I guess I should be more aware of how many more deaths I’m going to eat when I do make the switch over…

As for our XI exploits, they will sort of be haphazard during the month of August. My schedule will be chaotic due to a visiting relative, and I’ve left care of the team in the hands of Hiroshiko, Rubicon, and Orophen. Two of them I know I can count on. One of them is questionable at best, and has me worried if anything will happen at all during my absence. There has also been an issue within the linkshell itself, of which I go into detail here. Since then more bits of drama had been pasted onto it, and I’ve found that neither party is willing to make its move; which is fine by me. I’m OK with a stalemate because I personally see no reason to do any chasing and I’m sure the other person is feeling the same way. My only desire at this point is for my members/friends (for me and my ls the two are synonymous) to stop being stalked and checked up on for absurd reasons. Example of absurd reason: fear of being replaced despite having a.) left and b.) me asking members to overlap on jobs if they are both willing and able even when said person was still with us. We are a small LS that fills in holes for others when they aren’t there or needing to cover other areas; I would be doing us a disservice not asking them to cover jobs if they are willing and able to do so. There are also people that just want to level the job because they want to without me having to poke and prod them; who the fuck am I to tell them to stop? That is their prerogative and I won’t kick them just because they are doing something that the other person does out of sheer boredom.

/sigh Now I need aspirin…

This podcast is rated M for Mature

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For a long time I have been wanting to get back into podcasting. I like the engaging conversations and also being amazed at what stupid non-sense I can spout out. I won’t even hide it; I am a potty mouth. Not just because I like to curse, but because I can say the most absurd things and relate them to gaming. Breasts and male genitals are two off the top of my head that I have talked about. Not that I’m a pervert. Well, actually, I am. I am a darn pervert that can really let loose at times without a blush until I am awake enough to realize what I said and how juvenile I can be in comparison to my male counterparts. Don’t believe me? Just check out the new podcast on: zantetsuken.net.

I swear a lot, I laugh, and I like to bitch and complain about stuff I most likely outdated on. Do I do it alone? Heaven’s no! I have Orophen, Rubicon, and Lexshu/Frei to keep me company! Our focus will be on FFXI and FFXIV, as they are primary MMOs we play together as a group. Just be warned; you might not want your mom listening in on this cast!

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.

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!

Hidden Trait: Vs.Mandragora DMG+60%

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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!

Waiter, there is a fly in my soup!

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These past few weeks have been pretty crazy busy that I’ve started to think I need to cut back in some areas of my online gaming (primarily XI stuff) to focus on other things. Trying to figure out what to nix, however, is the tricky part since I enjoy all of it… but it needs to be done since I do have other commitments to attend to.

Enough of my woes, however, and onto the meat of things!

Since there are more people in mreh (the XI linkshell name), I’ve been feeling a little overwhelmed as to what to do and how to schedule things and decided to put up a poll. I wanted to cover as many things as possible that people were interested, but also keep in mind that we have other things to do to help a wide scope of my friends.

Sooooo… since the poll was leaning towards XIV earlier in the week, I decided to go ahead and schedule it in for Tuesday. Its been awhile since I had even touched the game and was a bit surprised at some of the changes. I don’t honestly keep up with all the news nowadays, because they aren’t the huge changes in game play and such I am hoping to see at the moment.

There were other changes that were kind of neat and scary at times. Changing the mob size didn’t seem like such a huge thing to me at first, until we had actually gone onto the field saw saw a Fat Dodo and my first response was, “Wow. That’s a fat dodo!”

Its more impressive when you are fighting against Gnats and well… they end up looking more hideous than they did before.

It was most definitely strange going back into Eorzea after the hiatus from the quake and self imposed due to lack of interest or time. Healing is still a pain and totally not fun at all. Then again, neither is playing an Archer solo… I really wanted to just bang my head on something when I switched to my Miqo’te and was unable to play without feeling disgruntled. About what? I wish I knew. Archer probably isn’t my job of choice anymore, but neither is the idea of wielding an axe and getting my kidneys plucked out by Dodos.

On the XI realm of things, I’ve been trying to do what I can to maximize my damage. I guess I have an e-boob (you know, because I don’t have a penis?) problem in that regard but at the same time am too darn lazy to change some things (my macros) or go out and get my staff trial done and over with. My progress on upgrading all my Goetia pieces to +1 is slightly halted in attempt to get other people their +1s as well. Am so far rocking out in my Goetia Petasos and now this little gem:

I had quested most of the seals for this one, since I had found a pretty easy quest to do so. With this quest, I was able to upgrade my Goetia Gloves to +1 and my Mavi Bazubands to +1. Although it was quite frustrating during the runs for my very last seal when I would get nothing BUT bolts, caller’s, or bale seals to be thrown away like trash. Yet the wait and time put into it was well worth it since I was able to push my damage up closer to 4k without Ascetic’s drink. Searing Cape also helped, and I’m cursing myself for having given up the opportunity to lot on it before during the other times it dropped when fighting Turul. Oh well. I have it now and am more than happy to strut around with it.

Oh, and note to self: stop equipping full attack atmas when seal hunting. ;o; Am pulling too much damage off of the MNK…

Here we go, again! Seal Hunting Take 3

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Well, at least I think its take three… either way this time it was a little more productive than the last time we attempted seal hunting in Attohwa. The last time I believe everything BUT the seals we were looking for dropped. We still have had no luck at all with Sylvan seals dropping for Orophen, but we managed to finish off Mekare’s Estoqueur’s Chappel +1 and get myself all 8 Goetia head seals to complete this beauty:

Thanks to Orophen, Reiokyu, Mekare, and Hiroshiko for helping me getting the rest of the seals today! Also want to thank the other Linkshell there that allowed us to alternate popping Wherwetrice. It was mutually beneficial as we allowed them to lot on the WHM seals we managed to get, and they let us lot on their RDM seals for Mekare. Its more than what we can say for the other Linkshell that decided to just swoop in, take the pop, and proceeded to, well…

I was on Skype with Orophen and Reiokyu at the time, and was laughing my head off for a good while due to this. Now, I wouldn’t have laughed so hard if a.) they hadn’t had just swooped in without saying anything to either Linkshell b.) they had looked like they knew what they were doing (the BLM didn’t seem like he knew what he was doing to trigger yellow !! and they took an awfully long time just to kill the damn thing) and c.) they would have at least the sense to pull Wherwetrice in a less aggro prone area. They ended up having to let their RDM run off, and uh… I don’t know what happened after that. My party and the other Linkshell, however, managed to resume business as usual soon after the ordeal and thankfully (or sadly? I could have used more laughs) didn’t see the other party again after that.

For Orophen, we might just have to tackle Nightshade since Kharon didn’t want to put out on Sylvan seals. Which is fine by me since Nightshade looks awfully cute! However, judging by the responses from Hiroshiko and Reiokyu it doesn’t seem like a NM that they are particularly fond of tackling. Which makes me more excited to fight it since it seems cute and dangerous/pain-in-the-ass. :3

Omnomnom Pink Mandy-mallow

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Anyone who had read my blog when it was known as doink! will probably remember the banners I used to have depicting my battles with giant Mandragoras. I LOVE Mandies. I love them to bits! I had always thought the best HNM that could ever exist would be a Mandragora. Just imagine if it kicked you in the face!? Or if it used Dream Flower to sleep half the zone? If anything, I think it would be the coolest thing ever to exist! So I was pretty stoked when Kyoshin invited me out with TTGL to kill Chloris. Although I mostly sat and watched, I couldn’t help but feel giddy and excited. Pink + Giant Flower + Mandy = LOVE Just thinking about it makes me extremely happy and excited, and just in absolute LOVE all over again. Thanks again to Kyoshin + TTGL for allowing me to watch Chloris fun! :3

Needless to say, I have already bugged Orophen/Derrick to make me a new banner with Chloris in it. I <3 epic battles with me and Mandy. If only they brought in the other varieties of Mandragora from FFXII. My world would be utterly complete then! As for this weekend, I have been frustratingly trying to learn BLU spells in Promyvion areas. Yet no matter how long I spend in there, I can't seem to learn anything. It has gotten rather frustrating and if it weren't for the fact I am taking it into Dynamis... I would be apt to just not try for awhile longer. I'll probably go at it again tomorrow, but that will depend on whether or not I am feeling any better. Staying out in gusty 20 degree weather for long periods of time wasn't exactly a great idea for someone with as bad asthma as I have. : Despite my frustrations with trying to learn BLU spells, I have found that working on BLM has helped to alleviate my annoyances easily. I'm still far from being a decent BLM (I still have merits, gear, and skills to work on), but I'm pretty happy to see my damage spike at times. Doesn't seem to want to do so all the time, but I will take what I can get:

For the most part, I am able to solo dolls out in Altepa but… eh… I am tempted to stop accepting party invites out there. Its so horribly over camped and people who go out there with 30 minutes remaining is just kinda eh. Because then the PT leader gets antsy, people are cursing, and ah… I just don’t wanna deal with that kinda mess. Reminds me a little too much about work in some regards… After tonight, however, I may just end up being forced out of BLM. Seems like the seals that love to drop for me are the ones I need the least at the moment. I have plans for Orison, but seeing it in the lotting pools in abundance is darn frustrating. Couple that with the fact Orison feet dropped after killing Gieremund? I think the game is strongly hinting at something here… Orz