Yeah, yeah, I know what you're thinking...
"Snuggly, when will you stop jumping ships like that?"
...well, this time, it's slightly different. Sure, I did switch back to my Black Mage duties, but then again, I was already fulfilling that on the occasional Zi'tah party. Nah, the switch is on a different level.
...I've become a drill sergeant!
Wai-wai-wait! No! I didn't fall down to my dark side! I keep that for my Dark Knight days. Heck, if you were to compare me to Rongelouts, it'd be like comparing a grain of sand to Valkurm Dunes. Nah, I'm working on a much more microscopic level.
One rookie. That's it. A Galka too.
And never mention the word "subservient" around him. He's not pretty when he gets angry and throw a tantrum... and even less 2 minutes later as he's crying it all out.
So, true to my militaristic mentorship, I gave him a drill soldier name.
Snuggleh.
Real name? Maedaro. Hume-given name is Wet Onion. But he seems to not mind me calling him Snuggleh.
The drill training isn't that hard. After helping him out for his first 10 levels, I accompany him as either a support job or a melee one, depending on which role he's taking. His progress has been interesting (and even moreso my own.) He's currently a lvl22 Monk and lvl18 Warrior. Current program plans are :
Monk to 30
Dancer to 37
Samurai to 75
Ninja to 37
I've also signed him up for taking my spot in our Lightsday evening static, both for his Warrior and Paladin.
So far, he's followed orders well, and performed well at keeping mobs' attention away from my spellcasting. Only incident so far was he attacked a new notorious monster (I share the blame, I told him to pull *all* the birds at the camp.) Let's hope he keeps this up.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Sunday, November 8, 2009
I Saw the Sign
Snuggly has a new flavor of the month!
Slowly but surely, gutting anticans open started losing its appeal. So I wondered what else I could do that would be a fresh start on something entirely new. A week past, I tried my hand at Red Mage'ing, but alas, all those spells I needed to cast to somehow manage to deal decent damage didn't do me in. So I kept pondering for a while.
Last night, I got really tired and decided to go back to Windurst back in the Shadowlord Era, and train myself on my Black Mage upon the invading Yagudo forces. Suffice to say, my nukes weren't strong enough to make a noticeable difference. So I stepped back into the role of "gimped healer". How often I wished I had my Paladin's Cure IV at the very least...
That's when it hit me. Like a hammer blow to the back of my skull. Either that or a Yagudo got the jump on me. Why not try out White Mage? Once the battle was over, that's exactly what I did. I Warped back to Jeuno and geared myself up. I even crafted my own Holy Maul seeing how none were available on the Auction House. All I'm missing right now is a Holy Breastplate.
Signal and Tactics Pearls in hand, I swiftly 'ported myself to the desert to give this a shot. Target : Giant Spiders. Boy, those things are really squishy! Now I see why Mei-chan wants to melee that badly : hammer blows to the head are fun-fun-fun! I don't understand though how come it feels easier to do this as a White Mage than a Red Mage, but heh, no use complaining, right?
So far, I really appreciate the ease with which I can move about, with all those teleport spells handy. I can Haste and Erase myself, even Shell and Protect Sahyu! This is really cool.
Let's cross fingers that hype'll last longer than a month or two.
Slowly but surely, gutting anticans open started losing its appeal. So I wondered what else I could do that would be a fresh start on something entirely new. A week past, I tried my hand at Red Mage'ing, but alas, all those spells I needed to cast to somehow manage to deal decent damage didn't do me in. So I kept pondering for a while.
Last night, I got really tired and decided to go back to Windurst back in the Shadowlord Era, and train myself on my Black Mage upon the invading Yagudo forces. Suffice to say, my nukes weren't strong enough to make a noticeable difference. So I stepped back into the role of "gimped healer". How often I wished I had my Paladin's Cure IV at the very least...
That's when it hit me. Like a hammer blow to the back of my skull. Either that or a Yagudo got the jump on me. Why not try out White Mage? Once the battle was over, that's exactly what I did. I Warped back to Jeuno and geared myself up. I even crafted my own Holy Maul seeing how none were available on the Auction House. All I'm missing right now is a Holy Breastplate.
Signal and Tactics Pearls in hand, I swiftly 'ported myself to the desert to give this a shot. Target : Giant Spiders. Boy, those things are really squishy! Now I see why Mei-chan wants to melee that badly : hammer blows to the head are fun-fun-fun! I don't understand though how come it feels easier to do this as a White Mage than a Red Mage, but heh, no use complaining, right?
So far, I really appreciate the ease with which I can move about, with all those teleport spells handy. I can Haste and Erase myself, even Shell and Protect Sahyu! This is really cool.
Let's cross fingers that hype'll last longer than a month or two.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Even More Decisions
People wondering why the sudden break? The short story is I broke my back... somehow. Must be all those repetitive swings as a Dark Knight. That scythe is hardly balanced. I'm still currently recovering, and pondering if I should add "Ouch! My aching back!!!" whenever I use Souleater.
Otherwise, this break gave me the time to take some perspective over what I'm currently doing. Right now, I have mainly three fields of focus :
- Getting my Dark Knight's level up (nutty-gutty);
- Getting my Black Mage's level up (pukey-nukey);
- Getting [--------this--------] much closer to my Maat's Cap.
Why Dark Knight? Because I've set my sights on the Ares Cuirass set in Salvage, and I might as well have more than my Paladin job enjoy that.
Why Black Mage? Because Mei told me to get it up. And it's fun watching stuff burn down. =^-^=
And why Maat's Cap? Well... uh... I guess it's for the power trip of being able to say "I did it"?
...Is it worth getting all those jobs to 66 (or more if I suck against Maat), and neglecting some other fun jobs like Puppetmaster? ...And yes, that job IS fun, just not all that useful compared to my Monk, Bard, Paladin, Blue Mage or Thief (and soon Dark Knight or Black Mage).
I'm starting to think that, if I do take a job to 66, I might as well go all the way, and not put too much focus on that accursed cap. I'm not travelling all over Vana'diel so I can get into some inner circles of "look at me, I'm über cool"... well, I do it anyways, BUT STILL!!! I'm doing this mostly for the fun and the laughs (otherwise known as "the lolz").
Being bossed around by Mei-chan is fun.
Seeing Booty and Bucer argue about menial stuff is fun.
Competing against Erin (and losing) over who's the better Monk is still fun.
Going out with Sahyu killing beetles and cactuars is also fun.
Hunting down testimonies to no end, and being forced to level jobs against my will just because I can get a reward from the old geezer? ...Anyone who says "priceless" gets my fists to their face, and if it's a guy, my foot to their crotch as a bonus.
...I still might get a Maat's Cap someday, seeing how I *DO* enjoy all those jobs, but I won't say no to a detour on my Corsair if given the chance anymore.
Yeah... now if only my back could stop phail whailing me...
Otherwise, this break gave me the time to take some perspective over what I'm currently doing. Right now, I have mainly three fields of focus :
- Getting my Dark Knight's level up (nutty-gutty);
- Getting my Black Mage's level up (pukey-nukey);
- Getting [--------this--------] much closer to my Maat's Cap.
Why Dark Knight? Because I've set my sights on the Ares Cuirass set in Salvage, and I might as well have more than my Paladin job enjoy that.
Why Black Mage? Because Mei told me to get it up. And it's fun watching stuff burn down. =^-^=
And why Maat's Cap? Well... uh... I guess it's for the power trip of being able to say "I did it"?
...Is it worth getting all those jobs to 66 (or more if I suck against Maat), and neglecting some other fun jobs like Puppetmaster? ...And yes, that job IS fun, just not all that useful compared to my Monk, Bard, Paladin, Blue Mage or Thief (and soon Dark Knight or Black Mage).
I'm starting to think that, if I do take a job to 66, I might as well go all the way, and not put too much focus on that accursed cap. I'm not travelling all over Vana'diel so I can get into some inner circles of "look at me, I'm über cool"... well, I do it anyways, BUT STILL!!! I'm doing this mostly for the fun and the laughs (otherwise known as "the lolz").
Being bossed around by Mei-chan is fun.
Seeing Booty and Bucer argue about menial stuff is fun.
Competing against Erin (and losing) over who's the better Monk is still fun.
Going out with Sahyu killing beetles and cactuars is also fun.
Hunting down testimonies to no end, and being forced to level jobs against my will just because I can get a reward from the old geezer? ...Anyone who says "priceless" gets my fists to their face, and if it's a guy, my foot to their crotch as a bonus.
...I still might get a Maat's Cap someday, seeing how I *DO* enjoy all those jobs, but I won't say no to a detour on my Corsair if given the chance anymore.
Yeah... now if only my back could stop phail whailing me...
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Early Retirement?
I love being a Thief. A lot. But it seems it might be up for early retirement already. Why? Did I find another new flavor of the month? Not this time. No, the reason stands at the very opposite end of the spectrum than that for my usual job wagon jumping.
...I felt useless.
Last night started off as usual. We began with assaults, followed by a Salvage run, both of which I was definitely more useful as a bone-crusher than a throat-slasher. But then, I knew Dynamis would be my time to shine... until a series of deceptions struck me down.
I studied the maps for pulling Dynamis-Beaucedine prior to the event. I love to study route and pulling orders so I can be mostly prepared for what I was about to face. Alas, a group decided to forego procedure and went into that Dynamis in spite of our group having it called a month ahead of time. That group's leader went as far as calling us swines for complaining that he decided to destroy our planned run for his own, small, random-picked-up group's benefit.
Next, we decided to go for a Dynamis-Jeuno run, seeing no one had called it out for our scheduled run's time, thus the transposition wasn't going to harm any other group. However, I wasn't ready to pull that run, so I asked Mei-chan if I could have someone calling in the shots for me. I was initally told that Ketsuchi would be coaching me. That got retrograded to me watching Drfeelgood do his thing. And as I watched, I saw how much more professional he was, and how I was a long way from ever becoming that good.
But that wasn't the final nail in my coffin, oh no. My biggest gripe came from someone else in my immediate group that kept complaining about Dr's pulling, someone who's opinion I do value. Left and right, that person found flaws in his methods, criticized openly to our small group each and every action he undertook. So, by transposition, I wouldn't have liked to know what that person had to say about my pulling behind my back, were I not part of our small group.
Add to all that the fact we had 5 Thieves in last night's run.... All of which examined me at some point during the run... And yeah... I felt as useful as a nail planted deeply in my foot. As we were pulling the boss of that Dynamis zone, I looked at my knives, and how little use they were, especially my Thief's Knife, considering there were better Thieves in our group that were more aptly geared and experienced for trying to acquire more currency and relic armor than I would ever be.
It saddens me deeply, all of this. I'm starting to feel there is no job whatsoever that I can bring to those Dynamis runs that'll be more useful than my old dusty Bard. I'm pretty much stuck in that role... if I keep going to those events. I'm having a hard time managing that schedule as it is, especially last night with my head throbbing from my yearning for slumber. There isn't much I really desire to acquire from those events, getting relic armor merely being icing on the cake, cake which initially was supposed to be the event itself.
Now the cake has a very sour and dry taste in my mouth, and the icing isn't sufficient to compensate for that. I realize how pitiful a puller I really am in the shade of some other attendees, and how even those experienced pullers aren't sufficiently satisfying for some members of our group. And quitting Dynamis means my Thief career loses 80% of its usefulness to my eyes.
...I'll probably have a talk with Mei-chan first before I decide to sell back my gear. It feels like such a waste after investing myself so much into it. I guess I'm stuck being a Monk for the rest of my life.
...I felt useless.
Last night started off as usual. We began with assaults, followed by a Salvage run, both of which I was definitely more useful as a bone-crusher than a throat-slasher. But then, I knew Dynamis would be my time to shine... until a series of deceptions struck me down.
I studied the maps for pulling Dynamis-Beaucedine prior to the event. I love to study route and pulling orders so I can be mostly prepared for what I was about to face. Alas, a group decided to forego procedure and went into that Dynamis in spite of our group having it called a month ahead of time. That group's leader went as far as calling us swines for complaining that he decided to destroy our planned run for his own, small, random-picked-up group's benefit.
Next, we decided to go for a Dynamis-Jeuno run, seeing no one had called it out for our scheduled run's time, thus the transposition wasn't going to harm any other group. However, I wasn't ready to pull that run, so I asked Mei-chan if I could have someone calling in the shots for me. I was initally told that Ketsuchi would be coaching me. That got retrograded to me watching Drfeelgood do his thing. And as I watched, I saw how much more professional he was, and how I was a long way from ever becoming that good.
But that wasn't the final nail in my coffin, oh no. My biggest gripe came from someone else in my immediate group that kept complaining about Dr's pulling, someone who's opinion I do value. Left and right, that person found flaws in his methods, criticized openly to our small group each and every action he undertook. So, by transposition, I wouldn't have liked to know what that person had to say about my pulling behind my back, were I not part of our small group.
Add to all that the fact we had 5 Thieves in last night's run.... All of which examined me at some point during the run... And yeah... I felt as useful as a nail planted deeply in my foot. As we were pulling the boss of that Dynamis zone, I looked at my knives, and how little use they were, especially my Thief's Knife, considering there were better Thieves in our group that were more aptly geared and experienced for trying to acquire more currency and relic armor than I would ever be.
It saddens me deeply, all of this. I'm starting to feel there is no job whatsoever that I can bring to those Dynamis runs that'll be more useful than my old dusty Bard. I'm pretty much stuck in that role... if I keep going to those events. I'm having a hard time managing that schedule as it is, especially last night with my head throbbing from my yearning for slumber. There isn't much I really desire to acquire from those events, getting relic armor merely being icing on the cake, cake which initially was supposed to be the event itself.
Now the cake has a very sour and dry taste in my mouth, and the icing isn't sufficient to compensate for that. I realize how pitiful a puller I really am in the shade of some other attendees, and how even those experienced pullers aren't sufficiently satisfying for some members of our group. And quitting Dynamis means my Thief career loses 80% of its usefulness to my eyes.
...I'll probably have a talk with Mei-chan first before I decide to sell back my gear. It feels like such a waste after investing myself so much into it. I guess I'm stuck being a Monk for the rest of my life.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Slashy-Lashy?
Last night was bound to be exciting for my Thief's career.... But as it figured, only half of it was rewarding.
First half was Nyzul investigations. As per the usual, we targetted floors holding notorious monsters that possessed pieces of Goliard, Denali and... was it Askar?
Snuggly looks it up
Ok, had to make sure. Anyways, as per tradition, we had a missing member. And no, Waddles wasn't the one missing this time. In fact, we were missing two in our roster : Bucer and Booty. Far from falling to desperation, Meilin recruited Lourkrina and Zoar to fill in those spots. Sadly, that meant I had to come Monk to fill in that extra firepower.
*stares envily at Zoar*
Our first climb went smoothly, until we got to the NM's floor. Just our luck, we got afflicted by a pathos restricting White Magics. And it was Fafnir, not Adamantoise, so Waddles couldn't solo it. Meilin was fuming. But instead of running away, we did things the Akai-Tenshi way : we went in guns blazing... and got miserably slain. To add insult to injury, the damned dragon felt like taking its damn time to walk away from the slaughter, so Meilin didn't have room to reraise.
However, that would have been underestimating Mei-chan's determination to think she'd just give up and lose her Reraise effect from being ported out of the ruins. Taking into account the time warnings, she got up just before the magic seal took effect and warped us to Alzadaal. Yay Mei! Next two runs, we simply couldn't muster past the required four "regular" floors to reach the NMs, and Bucey made it for the last run, just in time to fill in a Sea-bound Waddles.
After that deception, I headed to a rent-a-room in Windurst for a power-nap. I needed all the rest I could use seeing I was the designated puller for our Dynamis-Windurst run this time, Drfeelgood taking the night off to celebrate Dharmayka's birthday. I was pretty nervous for our run, especially seeing how we only had one successful Windurst run so far with Krab Battlers. Even worse, we went into that Altana-forgotten place with only 18 alliance members. ...That didn't look good on paper.
To my astonishment though, not only didn't we wipe every 20 minutes, we actually managed to get the win! By our teeth's skin, but we did it nonetheless! I was congratulated for my excellent pulling-
Snuggly's self-inflated ego goes up 0.3 points
Snuggly's self-inflated ego reaches level 7
...err... Never mind that. In any case, it wasn't a one-Thief effort. We've all put ourselves to the task to pull that win. Heck, we even survived the northern time extension stone's train, something we were never able to pull off beforehand. And as to congratulate me for my valiant efforts-
Snuggly's self-inflated ego goes up 0.2 points
...damn... Just wanna say I'm the proud owner of my very own Assassin's Bonnet! Yay! More decorations for my mannequins! ^^; I guess the only reason I'm going for all those relic sets is so I can get a set of spare gear if I ever retire the job. Hopefully that won't be any time soon for my Thief.
...Though Samurai is quite tempting...
First half was Nyzul investigations. As per the usual, we targetted floors holding notorious monsters that possessed pieces of Goliard, Denali and... was it Askar?
Snuggly looks it up
Ok, had to make sure. Anyways, as per tradition, we had a missing member. And no, Waddles wasn't the one missing this time. In fact, we were missing two in our roster : Bucer and Booty. Far from falling to desperation, Meilin recruited Lourkrina and Zoar to fill in those spots. Sadly, that meant I had to come Monk to fill in that extra firepower.
*stares envily at Zoar*
Our first climb went smoothly, until we got to the NM's floor. Just our luck, we got afflicted by a pathos restricting White Magics. And it was Fafnir, not Adamantoise, so Waddles couldn't solo it. Meilin was fuming. But instead of running away, we did things the Akai-Tenshi way : we went in guns blazing... and got miserably slain. To add insult to injury, the damned dragon felt like taking its damn time to walk away from the slaughter, so Meilin didn't have room to reraise.
However, that would have been underestimating Mei-chan's determination to think she'd just give up and lose her Reraise effect from being ported out of the ruins. Taking into account the time warnings, she got up just before the magic seal took effect and warped us to Alzadaal. Yay Mei! Next two runs, we simply couldn't muster past the required four "regular" floors to reach the NMs, and Bucey made it for the last run, just in time to fill in a Sea-bound Waddles.
After that deception, I headed to a rent-a-room in Windurst for a power-nap. I needed all the rest I could use seeing I was the designated puller for our Dynamis-Windurst run this time, Drfeelgood taking the night off to celebrate Dharmayka's birthday. I was pretty nervous for our run, especially seeing how we only had one successful Windurst run so far with Krab Battlers. Even worse, we went into that Altana-forgotten place with only 18 alliance members. ...That didn't look good on paper.
To my astonishment though, not only didn't we wipe every 20 minutes, we actually managed to get the win! By our teeth's skin, but we did it nonetheless! I was congratulated for my excellent pulling-
Snuggly's self-inflated ego goes up 0.3 points
Snuggly's self-inflated ego reaches level 7
...err... Never mind that. In any case, it wasn't a one-Thief effort. We've all put ourselves to the task to pull that win. Heck, we even survived the northern time extension stone's train, something we were never able to pull off beforehand. And as to congratulate me for my valiant efforts-
Snuggly's self-inflated ego goes up 0.2 points
...damn... Just wanna say I'm the proud owner of my very own Assassin's Bonnet! Yay! More decorations for my mannequins! ^^; I guess the only reason I'm going for all those relic sets is so I can get a set of spare gear if I ever retire the job. Hopefully that won't be any time soon for my Thief.
...Though Samurai is quite tempting...
Sunday, August 2, 2009
I'm in love again
It was bound to happen. All that job jumping had to land me back on my Thief career at some point. And all of that due to a lucky lot on a free-lot Assassin's Vest in our last Dynamis - Bastok run. I got home, put it on my mannequin, and...
...I had the urge to get experienced enough to wear it.
My Thief career had been laid to rest at lv66 since... well, pretty much forever now. I barely took the knife back for a whirl when I needed to salvage something from a notorious monster, or had to go ram hunting. Otherwise, my Rogue's Attire stayed in storage.
I gotta say, those people are serious about keeping our gear in mint condition. Even after that long, my old set felt as comfy as the day I said goodbye to it. I bought a Demon's Knife, and headed out for the desert. Scorpions and Goblins were my prey, a chance to finish skilling up my bonecraft.
In two weeks, I made it to lv69. At first I felt like cheaping my way through, but after a talk with Meilin, she convinced me I could become a career Thief without my Monk experience overshadowing it too much. ...Not like my Bard skills aren't casting their own shadow over pretty much everything I do...
This feels like falling in love again. I won't dedicate myself blindly to it either, like if we get Blood of the Vampyr as a Kupower, believe me I'll work a bit on my Summoner. And I'll get off the paperwork in three weeks' time, for one week of vacation. I was thinking of taking care of my other mage jobs during that time.
Yeah... still an awful lot of fun left to go, but most of all with my Thief. We'll see how I manage through all those jobs getting at lv75. I already retired my Blue Mage alongside my Paladin because of that renewed love. ...unless my love proves being ephemeral again.
...I had the urge to get experienced enough to wear it.
My Thief career had been laid to rest at lv66 since... well, pretty much forever now. I barely took the knife back for a whirl when I needed to salvage something from a notorious monster, or had to go ram hunting. Otherwise, my Rogue's Attire stayed in storage.
I gotta say, those people are serious about keeping our gear in mint condition. Even after that long, my old set felt as comfy as the day I said goodbye to it. I bought a Demon's Knife, and headed out for the desert. Scorpions and Goblins were my prey, a chance to finish skilling up my bonecraft.
In two weeks, I made it to lv69. At first I felt like cheaping my way through, but after a talk with Meilin, she convinced me I could become a career Thief without my Monk experience overshadowing it too much. ...Not like my Bard skills aren't casting their own shadow over pretty much everything I do...
This feels like falling in love again. I won't dedicate myself blindly to it either, like if we get Blood of the Vampyr as a Kupower, believe me I'll work a bit on my Summoner. And I'll get off the paperwork in three weeks' time, for one week of vacation. I was thinking of taking care of my other mage jobs during that time.
Yeah... still an awful lot of fun left to go, but most of all with my Thief. We'll see how I manage through all those jobs getting at lv75. I already retired my Blue Mage alongside my Paladin because of that renewed love. ...unless my love proves being ephemeral again.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Awesomeness
Today, we did our usual runs of Nyzul Isle Investigations. We figured we might as well just stick to surveying those floors known to harbor the nasty bosses. Floor 20 was a pain in the ass, we encountered the dragon, which simply didn't want to die. We barely scrapped our way past it, and it did drop the Askar boots. But since Booty already had them, it was pretty much free lot amongst those who had a heavy armor job high enough... go go Paladin Snuggly? Heh, it's a great piece, so I'll keep it, even if it'll gather dust on my mannequin until my tanking skills are required.
Next run, we made a climb to floor 40, only to meet the gigantic turtle.... and a pathos on White Magic. Meilin was raging. She got dressed to kill, seeing there was little else she could do, but she fainted under the pressure of the pathos, and it was left to the rest of us to finish the Adamantoise off.
That's when pure awesomeness shone. Using his Black Mage tactics, Waddles kited the hulking turtle around, nuking it down progressively, while us melees could only chase after it, landing glancing blows left and right. Waddles practically solo'ed the whole fight. No drop, but knowing we actually got through a boss floor with a pathos on our sole source of healing power...
Priceless.
There are things you can't beat. For everything else, call Professor Xy.
Next run, we made a climb to floor 40, only to meet the gigantic turtle.... and a pathos on White Magic. Meilin was raging. She got dressed to kill, seeing there was little else she could do, but she fainted under the pressure of the pathos, and it was left to the rest of us to finish the Adamantoise off.
That's when pure awesomeness shone. Using his Black Mage tactics, Waddles kited the hulking turtle around, nuking it down progressively, while us melees could only chase after it, landing glancing blows left and right. Waddles practically solo'ed the whole fight. No drop, but knowing we actually got through a boss floor with a pathos on our sole source of healing power...
Priceless.
There are things you can't beat. For everything else, call Professor Xy.
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