New blog location!

http://littletaruthatcouldnt.ff11blog.com/

If'n you're still coming here and hoping for updates, the blog has been moved.

Thanks for reading!
-Pas

Double /sigh

So in the week I have been back, I have gotten to play a whopping 3 hours. It's my fault, really, I just happened to chose the worst week ever for my return.

My parents left for a two week Florida vacation today, I have to stay and house-sit their house. My dad didn't want the home to be empty for 2 weeks, and they needed someone to take care of the dog.

I didn't want to bring my computer over, because I don't like moving it. I also didn't want to go two weeks without playing ffxi, so I spent the part of last night I wasn't drunk installing it on my brother's computer:

That was taken this morning. At this rate, it should be done installing Tuesday.

As I said before, I did manage to get a few hours of play time in once this week. This is how it went:

00:01 (hours:minutes)
-Log in, find myself in Upper Jeuno. Head for Airship to Windy.

00:03
-Miss Airship. Violent swearing.

00:05
-Swearing stops. Check remaining gear/gil. Find very little of both. Swearing resumes.

00:12
-Hop on Airship, fly to Windy.

00:15
-Arrive at Windy. Head to MogHouse to switch jobs.

00:20
-Staring at job list.

00:27
-Still staring at job list.

00:32
-Decide on Monk (lvl 9) for some reason. Grab gear and head over to Spiny's spawn point to solo for a while.

00:58
-No sign of Spiny. Ding level 10. There was much rejoicing.

01:15
-Spiny spawns while I am in the bathroom. I return to find him claimed. Resume violent swearing.

01:23
-Linkshell mates need lvl 32 WHM. I switch jobs and head out to Garliage.

01:34
-Join party.

01:35
-(Death)

01:36
-Swearing resumes.

01:37
-Forgot to switch HP to Jeuno, forced to wait for raise. I suck.

01:50
-Friendly Taru PLD provides raise.

02:05
-Party resumes fighting. Experience points everywhere.

03:29
-Search for replacement for myself, so I can go to bed. Find one WHM. Invite him.

03:33
-Informed by party that the WHM i invited sucked, and that I was her replacement when they kicked her from party. Oops.

So yeah, that's pretty much a play-by-play of my first night back. Hopefully I'll be able to play today, assuming this fucking thing finishes.

Vana'diel 5-0

Time for that big exciting 50th post I promised you.

First things first, I quit FFXI earlier this week. I don't have the free time I used to and I don't feel I'm accomplishing anything when i do log in. It's been great making new friends, but as far as the game is concerned, I'm pretty much done.

I didn't want to skip my 50th update, so I made a To-Do List of things everyone else has done in-game except me. Here goes:

1. Catch a fish
Yeah, seriously. I've been playing for three years, and I've never fished once. I felt like an ass, but I had to ask for help, because I didn't know how to do it.

The first thing I caught was a monster. I hate fishing.

2. Redecorate
Ok, this one isn't something that everyone does, but I thought it would be cool to pile all the furniture I've acquired in the corner. It took forever, but it was worth it.

I'm lying, it wasn't worth it. Halfway through, I realized it was a stupid idea, but for some reason I finished. /sigh

3. Overpay at the AH
You always hear horror stories about someone accidentally buying something for way too much gil. I've never done that, so i went to the Auction House and this happened. Totally accidentally, of course.

Whoops! Boy, is my face red.

4. Besieged
I've done these before, but I wanted to get one last one in before I left. I was only in it for half an hour, but I died seven times. I think that's a personal best.

I'm gonna miss besieged. I always felt like a WW nurse helping wounded soldiers. (Nurse? Damnit, I mean Doctor. Doctor.)

5. Sweet, sweet LinkShell drama
I've always tried my best to avoid fights with my linkshell. I wanted to go out with a bang. Thanks to Myrrh for hooking me up.

6. Cuddle
It sounds lame, I know, but it is something that everyone does, so I figured I'd try it once. I couldn't find any hot Mithra, so my friend Neville volunteered.

That has Christmas card photo written all over it. Adorable.

That's it. I killed Spiny again, just to say goodbye. The cape didn't drop. That bastard is defiant to the end. Thanks for reading/commenting/sending me tells. You guys were great. If you ever want to talk, you can reach me at jasonisawesomexi on AIM. If you ever need something to read, check out my website, www.superawesomecarnivalbears.net.

See ya around!
-Jason

Bwah?

So this week's update, Pasquale vs WoW, has been postponed, possibly indefinitely. When I went to re-set up my old WoW account info, I was informed that I had been banned.

***Notice of Account Closure***

Hello,

Account Name: (my account name)

This is a notification regarding your World of Warcraft account. Access to this account has been permanently disabled for exploitation of the World of Warcraft economy or for being associated to accounts which have been closed for intended exploitation. While we try to be as lenient as possible in our assessments of the results of exploitation investigations, exploitative endeavors on your account have ultimately lead to its closure. The recurring subscription on the account has been disabled to prevent further charges.

I honestly don't know what "exploiting the economy" means. The only part I understood in that whole email was "permanently disabled."

I haven't used the account in forever. I did, however, let my brother use it since I didn't want to play anymore. He swears he did nothing wrong, but who knows.

I e-mailed the douches at Blizzard Support to get a clearer explanation of what happened, but that was a week ago, and no one has responded. I'm sure it's my brother's fault, but I guess I'll never know.

One of these days, if I feel the WoW itch (not bloody likely) I'll get a new account and start from scratch. Until then, this update goes on the back burner.

Next update is number 50, and I have to do something huge for it. That being said, Pasquale vs City of Heroes is on hold for a week, because my 50th update has to be FFXI-licious.

Pasquale vs The Matrix Online

I just want to start by saying that the screen shots used in today's post are not mine. One of the reasons this update is so late is because I couldn't figure out how to get my damn screenshots to work. I knew how to take them, but they were always just black screens. (At first I thought this was because The Matrix Online (TMO) was just too awesome for screen shots, but you'd better believe that is a lie.)

I only put in maybe 10 or so hours but I feel I got a pretty good grip on how things work.

First off, let's talk about character creation and training.

This is the character creation screen. You're probably admiring her ass. I want to repeat, these are not my shots, someone else took a picture of this chick's ass.

There are a handful of choices to make when creating your character. First you pick what type of person is taking the red pill.

Secluded Introvert
New Age Hippie
Suspicious Cynic
Fanatic Self-Improver
True Believer
(Assorted others, all with equally stupid names.)

As far as I can tell, the only thing that changes when choosing one of these is your stats, and it doesn't change by much. After this, you go to the character creation screen pictured above. You can make a male or female, and then pick one of two different shirts, pants, shoes, and sunglasses. Needless to say, when you first start, everyone looks the same.

After you make your guy, its time to learn how to play. TMO is actually really easy to pick up: Move to bad guy, press "1," kung fu his ass off. Repeat as desired. Training lasts a few minutes and then it's time to 'jack in' (a phrase that made me laugh every time I started the game up) and begin your adventure.

After walking around for a little while, you'll come across some street thugs who need to be taught a lesson. After teaching said lesson, you'll find new clothes on them, and you can change your look. Within 10-15 minutes, you'll already be finished looking exactly like Neo.

Here's a shot of me standing next to Morpheus.

There are three types of characters in the game. Hackers are the mage-type, Coders are crafters, (seriously, you're sole purpose is to craft items for other people), and whatever the warrior type is called. Soldier, I think. I forgot, it was boring.

As you level up, you can buy abilities to learn depending on which of the three you choose. As you get higher, you can branch off into other aspects: Hand-to-hand or guns, black or white mage, make clothes or make potions. (Seriously, how lame is that?)

The hand to hand combat is fun to watch for a few minutes, then it gets repetitive. Seeing the same jump kicks and karate chops gets old pretty fast.

This is a shot of me getting kicked in the face. Yowza! (/sigh)

Combat in TMO requires almost no skill whatsoever. You can basically press any buttons you want, and whatever you are fighting will die.

When 'casting' a spell, your character will type on an imaginary computer until the fancy green grid (shown above) appears. Then a virus will infect your enemy, causing whatever type of damage your spell is supposed to do. (While typing on your invisible computer, your character will look like he is flailing his arms, because he is afraid of spiders.)

I expected to find a lot of players with names like Neojunior and Tr1nitygirl, but that proved impossible, because there was never anyone on. Once in a while you see a flash of what you think is another player, but when you chase it around the corner, you see that it was nothing.

One time I saw a pretty big group of high level players, and every single one of them looked the same. They all had matching long black coats, black pants, and black sunglasses. If their names weren't hovering over their heads, I'm confident they would have had no idea who was who.

Missions are pretty standard; Run to building, click on person in building, kill someone, win mission. It probably gets a little more difficult later in the game, but I highly doubt it.

The only spot I had lag was when i was running around in the city. I would be lag free until a car would drive by on the street. For some reason, cars cause massive lag to all players around them. This made traveling very difficult and tiring.

In case I hadn't made it painfully obvious already, this game sucked. The idea of paying monthly for a game where the cars cause lag and the buildings dissapear if you look at them the wrong way blows my mind.

Next week, Pasquale vs World of Warcraft.

An MMO, by any other name...

Yowzers.

Too much crap going on, and I haven't had a chance to sit down and devote hours to FF. Hopefully that changes next week, as I would like to hit 75 before I die of old age at 28. (Long story, don't ask.)

In order to spice things up a bit, I gave three other MMOs a 'trial run' the last few weeks. I picked MMOs that can be played in small intervals, because if I had ever had hours of free time, I would have played FFXI.

Starting tomorrow, I will review the first MMO I tried, The Matrix Online. On Tuesday, I will review World of Warcraft, and on Friday of next week, I will review City of Heroes.

After my CoH review, I'll be back with FFXI stories, hopefully involving more level-ing and less crying.

I was rummaging through old LiveJournal posts (rummaging, as if they were tangible /sigh) and I found a post about what may be my favorite FFXI moment. It was a brief conversation I had while arguing with someone in my party. I can't remember if I posted it on my blog here or not, so here it is:

Player: "Dude shut up or I'm totally gonna fuck my hot mom"
Pasquale: "Um... tell her I said hello?"
Player: "Oh, I will."

There was a long pause here. No one in the party said anything.

Player: "YOURE MOM NOT MY MOM. YOURE MOM NOT MY MOM!"
Pasquale: "Whatever, Oedipus."

----
Back tomorrow with "Pasquale -vs- The Matrix Online.

Take THAT, To-Do List!

Two days ago, I started to assemble a team to give Fenrir another go. I had tried twice in the past, but both times ended in failure. We met in Windurst and headed out.

After a bit of running, we made it to the tower.


We ran down some hallways.


Ran through a cave.


Ran up some stairs.


I took this picture thinking it was going to be a good group shot. Now I realize I'm totally blocked by Roadkill. My photography fails.


I had to sneak/invis, because everything here wanted me to die. That Rotten Sod had a mean look on his face. He was thirsty for blood.


Sure enough, seconds later, we had to kill him.


When we got to the Fountain, our tank disconnected. I pretty much had a heart attack that lasted the ten minutes he was gone.


He came back and it was killin' time. Here's a shot of me not helping.


Here's another great action shot of me.


Roadkill died, but shortly after, Fenrir suffered a similar fate.


After I got Fenrir, the first thing I did was walk outside Windurst to use my 2-hour on a Tiny Mandragora. 1036 dmg. Take that, baby plant.


Thanks to Neyla, Darklion, Aserati, Roadkill, and Ishadow for making this possible. You guys mauled Fenrir like a bunch of bears mauling ...whatever bears maul. Campers perhaps, maybe forrest rangers. (Except Aserati. His mauling was really the opposite of mauling, as he kept everyone healed and breathing throughout the fight.)

I'm currently sitting and waiting for Spiny to spawn. I want to introduce him to my new friend.

Crash and burn, I hate you.

Its been roughly eight years since my last update and for that I apologize. (Insert generic work excuse here.)

So I get home Friday to find my computer off. I almost never turn it off so this surprised me. I pressed the little gray 'On' button, and went to make some dinner, expecting to see my bitchin' '300' wallpaper on my monitor when I returned.

Instead of seeing scantily-clad Spartans stabbing savage scoundrels, I was greeted with a black screen with some white text and a little blinking line at the bottom. Confused and scared, I waited to see what would happen.

15 minutes later, as I sat with a plate of now cold chicken, I realized this screen was not going to change. I went into a panic. I had too much stuff on that hard drive that I didn't want to lose.

I tried everything to get the computer to start up: Swearing, kicking, hugging, swearing, restarting while swearing, and kicking and hugging at the same time (that one was a little tough).

Finally I gave up and went to pick up a new hard drive. I spent a sizable amount of the drive to Best Buy silent, even though the radio was blasting my favorite Cake cd.

On my way home, I stopped by work and ganked a copy of Vista from a big box in our IT dept. (Stealing is wrong, kids, unless you're in a bad mood.)

After spending some time putting in my new hard drive and installing Vista, I stated to reinstall FFXI. Seven hours later I was good to go, aside from the fact I no longer possessed a CoP disk. (Luckily I found it at my brother's place, or I woulda murdered someone.)

I logged in yesterday and was immediately killed. For a second, I couldn't remember why I was standing in the middle of an area full of Puks and other pain-inducing mobs, but then it hit me:

My last login, I hit 62 on my SMN. I hadn't hit a level on my SMN in a long time so it felt good. That good feeling quickly passed, as I was dead the next fight. PLDs who don't provoke are pretty much jerks. I got a raise and wasn't too discouraged. It would only take a few fights to get my exp back, so no worries.

Before my 'weakened' wears off, our puller grabs another Puk, who, as he was flying past me resting, used one of his AoE moves which instantly re-killed our hero. Needless to say I was furious, so I found myself a replacement and I logged there. A taru SMN has seriously 50 hp when weakened you asshole. (Even though I was pissed, I still replaced myself before I logged, because I'm a gentleman like that.)

So after logging in and dying yesterday, I HP'd back to town and was about to throw my flag up when i noticed all my macros were gone because I had to reinstall everything. I didn't feel like re-typing everything, so I switched jobs again, this time to DRK.

At the ripe young level of 10, I found myself wailing on ep/dec mobs around Spiny's camp. I was hoping for a crack at him, because frankly its been a while, and I miss him.

Sure enough, about an hour into my levelling, he spawns, and yet another epic battle occurs.

Pasquale misses Spiny Spiri.
Pasquale misses Spiny Spiri.
Pasquale misses Spiny Spiri.

Friggin dark knight. While I was using my Scythe to cool off Spiny, he was using his face to beat me to a pulp. I had to 2-hour to get my health back, but afterwards the fight started to turn in my favor.

A few minutes later, he was dead and I was dying. His poison wore before it killed me, but not before I got to see the drops:

Pasquale finds a Spool of Silk Thread.

I believe that puts me at 0/16? I hate him. I hate him so much.

Master of Puppets?

First off, sorry my title is so lame, I... ugh worst post title ever.

I know I've said this before, but I swear every time this happens, a GM gets his wings:

So I haven't played much in the last two weeks because of work and health issues, but I was finally able to dive back in this week. I started this week as SMN, where I honestly feel my best skill is looking like a badass on a chocobo.

The above picture clearly agrees with me.

Unfortunately, I seem to lack the 'skillz to pay the billz' when it comes to Summoner. In all honesty, I'm a lousy healer and I always pull hate and eat dirt. ( I would like to apologize for the excessive use of the letter 'z' in the previous statement.)

While I haven't counted out SMN completely yet, I think it's fair to say that job is going to be on hiatus for a little while.

I liked Blue Mage while I was taking it to thirty, but the thought of getting more BLU spells makes me want to stab a fork through my hand, so I don't think I'll be doing that again.

I tried Dragoon, but I would get greedy and fight with low health, which resulted in numerous deaths of the 'very-painful' variety.

Last night I think I made my decision. Brace yourself, you're not gonna like this...


I know what you're thinking, but honestly after playing as PUP for a few hours, it started to grow on me. After I figured out how to make my puppet heal me, that is. (The first three hours were brutal.)

I didn't have any gear for the job, so I headed to Jeuno. After grabbing gear for the next few levels, I headed to the boat to take me back to Windy.

Every time you miss the Airship, a GM gets an erection.

I spent some gil on new attachments for Allouette, which left me a little low on funds. I needed Gil, so I turned to the streets, to make Gil the best way I know how.

I make one adorable hooker.

Sometimes...

Sometimes, people level, find a replacement, and leave their party.

These people are normal.

Sometimes, people get disconnected and leave their parties.

These people are unfortunate.

Sometimes, people level and immediately force d/c.

These people are douche bags.

Sometimes, people level and leave the party, without looking for a replacement.

These guys? Also douche bags.

Sometimes, you want to leave a party because you are tired and the exp isn't that good. You search and send /tells for an hour with no luck finding a replacement.

This happened to me last night. I must have sent out 15 /tells to different people with no luck. I felt bad leaving the party, as I was main heal, but in my defense, I gave them an hour's notice, and I seriously sent /tells to everyone online.

Today's post is going to be some tips on 'How to Seek.'

Tip 1 - Search comment.
Search comments are great because they can give people a glimpse of what you have to offer when they are looking for someone to party with. I usually put my exp tnl and the length of time I want to party. Also, with the last line, a link to this blog, because I'm a whore.

Some people throw up a seek flag and write poetry in their search comment. O captain, O captain, I clearly don't want a party; My seacom is too cool for info, Poetry makes me look like a smarty.

Tip 2 - Be ready.
I understand that sometimes you get an invite while shopping, and need a few minutes to get ready and head out. That's not a problem. Your party would rather have you a little late and prepared, than on time and useless.

It is not ok, however, to tell me that you need an hour til you can party. Why bother throwing up your flag if you can't party for another hour, you fake replacement bastard. Seriously, I hate you.

Tip 3 - Afk=mdk. (murder death kill) (Demolition Man ftw) (Worst reference ever?)
When you are looking for a party, for the love of god, stay near your computer. Everyone knows waiting for an invite is boring, and even I am guilty of watching TV or reading while seeking. There is a little chime that goes off when you get a /tell. Turn up your speakers you deaf bastards.

/ma "Cure"

Sorry I haven't updated, but I have nothing to update with. I've been sick since early Monday, and I haven't been on FF since the Garrison I did on Saturday.

Today is the worst so far, and I actually left work early because of it. I was thinking about logging in for a bit, but I think I'd rather hit my head with a mallet and then pass out until I go to work tomorrow.

Both good, we'll see.

New post next time I get to log in, I swear.

Thanks,
-Pas

Dawn of the Dead...Taru.

So I logged in yesterday to find my LinkShell doing a subligar run in Pneumonia Aquaman, and I decided to join them. I ran to Port Jeuno, where I discovered I had just missed the boat. 10 minutes later I was on my way home to switch jobs and grab my SMN gear out of storage. After getting everything set, I used a warp cudgel to take me back to Jeuno, so I could get a teleport.

Pasquale uses a Warp Cudgel.

=== Area: Windurst Woods ===

Damnit. I could tell right away it was going to be a long day.

I was right.

I finally make it over to the zone my ls was in. On the way to meet them, I managed to aggro a Stegotaur, and was promptly and painfully pummeled.

Death count: 1 (Oh yeah, it's back.)

One of my ls mates came to rescue me and we headed up a ladder to rest.

Apparently, Stegotaurs can climb ladders.

Death count: 2 (Also, this SS is awesome.)

We finally made it to our linkshell to find them battling two Stegos. I hid in a nearby hallway to avoid any AoE attacks, as I was still very much Weakened.

Suddenly, the most adorable assassin ever came up from behind and one-shotted me. Adorable, you ask? I'm talking of course about the Fomor Monk.

Death count: 3 (Not my SS, found it online. But seriously, look at his tiny fists. Adorable.)

I got raised again, and my linkshell started to fight the Monk. He used some fancy AoE move, and apparently I was too close. I was still very much Weakened from my last death. When I am Weakened, I only have 60 HP.

Death count: 4

Once again I was brought back to life, and we rested to full. Weakened wore off and I was finally able to contribute to the group. We had four Fomors going at a time, because of the aggro. We had linkshell members kiting two of them, while I had Carby kiting the third. It kinda reminded me of my level 20 avatar fights, so it went pretty well. Eventually everyone who needed a subligar from that spot got one, and we headed to a different camp.

We were only at the new camp for a few minutes when my screen suddenly shifted. It went from a nice hallway filled with friends, to this:

Yeah. That's me staring at the Minotaur. I don't know how it happened, but it sucked. We quickly charged into battle. There were swords and axes flying everywhere. I even managed to get my 2 hour off before I got murdered.

I died right after taking that SS, but we managed to get a win in the end. This was nice, because I am on 2-3, and now I don't think I have to kill the Minotaur anymore.

Death Count: 5

We made our way to a Fomor Bard and killed it, and the subligar dropped. We were finally done.

I died 5 times, but it was totally worth it.

Dr Jekyll, and Mr Died.

So I have been leveling BLU for the last two weeks. My linkshell is doing a Garrison at the end of the month, and I need to get it to 30. Leveling to 30 would probably take most people a few days, a week at the most, but I think I can honestly say I am the worst level-er ever. (Level-er ever, that's kinda fun to say.)

Party Pasquale
My BLU party experiences have been different than what I am used to. I have spent almost all of my playtime with SMN, BLM, and WHM, and with the exception of BLM, am not used to doing damage while partying. BLU is different. With BLU, its all damage all the time, with a light sprinkling of Healing Breeze if something bad happens.

Now because this is my first time seriously using a DD job, I of course don't know how to do it right. I am not used to attacking, so I do it too much. As far as I'm concerned, my job is to hurt the mob so bad, his own mother won't recognize him. And for the most part, Mission: Accomplished.

Massive damage also brings massive hate, which brings along with it massive beatings, followed by some pretty massive death. When I learn the ability "Self-Control," I'll be in good shape, but until then, {Raise} {Can I have it?}

Something strange happened in my first Qufim party the other day. We had just killed our first mob, and we killed him with a vengeance.

Player: Finally, a BLU that knows what he's doing.

It took me a few minutes to realize I was the BLU he was talking about. I got all excited, because this clearly meant I was the best BLU ever. I thought about what I had done during the fight, and decided to keep doing it, so that everyone would love me.

I decided to turn up the heat:

/ma "Bludgeon"
/ma "Helldive"
/ma "Headbutt"
/ma "Bludgeon"
/ma "Helldive"
/ma "Headbutt"

Needless to say, the mob was not a fan and I was murdered. In one fight, I had gone from "knows what he's doing" to "zOmg, worst BLU evar."

Solo Pasquale
Blue Mages are very powerful. They can unleash a lot of hell in a little bit of time. This makes soloing both fun and easy.

This also makes our hero both cocky and stupid.

You know what's great? Having MP. You know what's not so great? You guessed it... Not having MP.

EXP chains are nice, but impossible with out MP. I have learned that the hard way several times over the last few days. Nothing sucks more than starting the fight with this message:

Pasquale does not have enough MP to cast Wild Oats.

Those fights tend to end poorly, and usually with me crying and HP-ing back to Windurst, because I keep forgetting to set my Home Point to Jeuno. (Three fucking times last night >< )

Links are also fun. I'm a big bad BLU, I can handle a Decent Challenge Bee and his EvenMatch friend at the same time, no problem...

...Or so I thought. After Bee #1's Final Sting nailed me for a third of my HP, I tried to use Pollen.

Pasquale cannot cast Pollen.

What what? Oh, right, I took it off while I was partying, to make room for Healing Breeze. Why not just use Healing Breeze then?

Pasquale does not have enough MP to cast Healing Breeze.

Balls. Aaaand cue Sharp Sting. And death. End scene.

Office besieged.

I typically spend most of my work day with other people in my office. This makes Internet usage very limited, as there are always people watching everything.

At lunch time, I am free to do whatever I want, because I finally get half an hour to myself. That is usually the time I write these updates.

A few days ago, one of my bosses retired. My other boss, who ate lunch with him for 30 years, was now lunch-buddy-less.

Somehow, I managed to aggro my boss on the way to my office yesterday, and he followed me all the way back to camp. I was hoping he would go away when I zoned into my office, but I was wrong.

He spent the next 15 minutes talking about light fixtures, and I decided I had to use one of my job abilities. I slid my cell-phone to my lap and sent my friend a /tell.

Pasquale: Dude, call me right now, I can't take this anymore.

I patiently waited for my phone to ring and my friend to save me, but I was met instead with three beeps, which was an incoming /tell.

Friend: What's wrong? Is everything ok?

I quickly replied, as I was just about ready to Mijin Gakure myself.

Pasquale: Douche, call me now, I need to get away from my boss.
Friend: Fuck you, douche.
Pasquale: !!

Finally my phone rang, although it was not my friend, but my mom. I regretted answering, "About time, douche."

My boss resisted my cell phone attack, and just sat there stunned until I was done. All hope was lost for our hero.

Just before my boss cast "Boredom" on me one last time to finish me off, the power went out in our building, and that pulled enough hate to get him away from me. I'm currently resting as I type this, because I probably would have deleveled had I had to sit there much longer.

(Sorry for the non-FFXI post, but I can't get five minutes to myself anymore. I did my best to make it have a FFXI feel. New post later this week.)

Special thanks.

So I'm done with the Dunes. Forever.

I had originally written up this huge "I hate the dunes" entry, but frankly, I'm tired of complaining about it. And I'm sure you're tired of reading about it.

Just a few last highlights of my last days in the dunes, then that's it, I swear.

These guys, Tayven and Rubio, are great. When we disbanded I was still a few hundred away from leveling, and they stayed and we took down crabs, pugs, and damselflies for a while. I managed to hit my level and learn three Blue Magic spells. It was awesome. Thanks again guys.

Yesterday, I was headed into the dunes for a party, when I met an untimely death at the hands of a Will-o-the-Wisp, that seriously came outta nowhere. Tugg was nice enough to raise me as he was running past.

I accepted the Raise and stood up. As I turned to rest near a wall while I waited for Weakened to wear, that same Will-o-the-Wisp came flying at me, and annihilated the small HP I had left.

Tugg did his best to kill it before re-raising me, but he too fell to the clearly unkillable King of the Bombs.

'A' for effort, Tugg. Thanks for trying to save me^^ (Also, thanks to Awakened for raising Tugg and I when that douche Bomb finally left.)

What's that? You noticed my slick new hairdo? That's right, he's so hot right now. Here's some shots of the new hotness.

I've never messed with the DATs before, because I was always afraid I would mess something up and have to reinstall everything. I decided to give it a try, with sexy results.

I ended my night with a little soloing in the Maze of Shakrami, and I discovered that a Blue Mage is pretty much invincible when he has a little MP.

OneDarkFlame and I duo'ed down there for a while, and it was good times, until we got greedy and tried to take a Tough bat with no MP. Funny story, a SMN and a BLU make a good team, but not when neither of them have any MP...

Sorry today's post is kinda lame, but I was at work for 13 hours today and I'm tired. I wanted to get something up, and these "thank you"s seemed like a good fit.

Feeling BLU.

Hey all,

Sorry for the lack of posting, I was in Las Vegas for a few days throwing all my money away. But I'm back, so here is today's post.

For starters, is there anything more annoying than this?

The answer is yes.


So shortly after my last post, I decided I hated Beastmaster. I know I was all 'woo Beastmaster,' but clearly I'm just a huge liar. My next BST attempt had me with four deaths, all of which had me going back to my HomePoint and walking back, which I hate. See you in hell, Beastmaster.

Out of the ashes of my Beastmaster came my Blue Mage, who up until yesterday I hated also. My biggest problem with this job was learning the enemy skills. I decided to give it another try, even though it meant Dunes leveling.

I hit level 12 and decided to leave the comfort of Windurst for the bitter coldness of Sandy, so I could learn Queasyshroom, Battle Dance, and Power Attack. (I also wanted Sand Spin, but apparently worms hate using that weapon skill.)

This of course meant a lot of waiting...


And waiting...


Sometimes, I would forget to stop hitting the mobs, and they would die before using any abilities. I hate when that happens.

Eventually, Power Attack and Queasyshroom were mine. I also managed to learn Helldive, although I didn't even know that was a learnable skill. I went three hours without seeing Battle Dance used once, and was convinced it was a joke being played on Blue Mages. Finally, one Orc used it one time, and I didn't learn it. Surprise, surprise. After not learning it for three and a half hours, I left, angry and angry.

I headed to the Dunes hoping to get some levels in so I could leave as soon as possible. I was only seeing for two minutes when I got an invite. I excitedly accepted and while on my way to the party, I decided to check the group out.


Yeah. WHM/MNK. Right there I knew I was in for a good time. (Granted, after my BLM/PLD experience a few months ago, nothing really shocks me anymore.) When I got to the party, I found out it was even worse than I thought.

Check out that 1337 gear. This guy clearly went all out on his whm/mnk. I hate the dunes.

When I got there, one of our members was dead, and the group was arguing about Benediction. I casually asked the whm/mnk why he didn't have any gear on.

Pasquale: Hey, (name of whm/mnk), why no gear?
Whm/mnk: I'm lvlin' my magin.
Pasquale: ...?

Right here he left the party because of my party members giving him shit about Benediction and my apparent newbness because I didn't know what 'magin' was.

It took some rebuilding, but I managed to get two levels last night, which takes me two levels closer to leaving the dunes for good. (At least until I switch jobs again.)

I hate the dunes.

Back to basics.

After a week of bad parties, I decided to switch jobs for a few days. I saw it as a way to flush the negativity out, because instead of being mad at SMN, I would be mad at something else.

Mission: Accomplished.

I started with Thief, because I always thought it would be cool to have Flee. My Thief was level six when I started releveling it the other day. When I hit level 10, I was surprised to find I still didn't have flee. {Hmmm.}

A quick search at alla let me know that Flee was a lvl 25 ability, and that I was an idiot.

Immediately after finding out how far I was from Flee, I switched to BRD. I'm still not sure why I switched to BRD, because I was never a fan, but I figured I'd give it another try.

Ten seconds later, I was lying dead after being brutally murdered by a decent challenge Bee.

Next on my hitlist was Corsair. As I was gearing my level 12 COR up, I remembered all the work a Corsair had to do when in a party, and quickly changed jobs once again. (Poor Corsair, didn't even make it out of the Mog House.)

I was gonna try PLD, but I was level 20 and that meant partying, which I didn't want to do. The same went for WAR and SAM. I thought about Ranger, but the thought of pulling for a party horrified me. If you have ever done anything with me, you understand that I am not someone you want bringing mobs to your party, because my mobs never travel alone.

I decided to give Beastmaster another go. Last time I attempted this job, there was a lot of mischarming and crying going on, but I decided to try again, without failing at everything. The 'no party' aspect had a nice ring to it.

At first it was going pretty well. I fought all the way to 10 without having any mishaps. Spiny spawned while I was leveling in his area, and thanks to every rarab and mandragora within a ten mile radius, I was able to take him down. Still no cape drop, and I still hate him.

I think my favorite part about Beastmaster is your ability to save your ass if something goes wrong. I was resting when a goblin decided to try to end me. I ran away and started throwing charmed bees at him like they were bullets coming out of a machine gun. Several minutes later, I was victorious. It was a good feeling, to live through the same goblin aggro that has killed me many times before.

After my triumphant win over that sneaky goblin bastard, I decided I'd farm myself a pair of Bounding Boots. After three hours of losing claims to people without subjobs, I gave up. (Man, I wish I had Flee.) I am pretty much the worst camper ever. (I know three hours isn't much time. I once helped my brother camp Lizzy for six hours, it was awful.) I hear there's a BCNM that also drops them, and that it's pretty easy. Maybe I'll try that.

I'm starting to miss SMN, but I think I'll take BST to at least 20-ish before I switch back.

The MND is a terrible thing to waste.

If there's one thing I can't stand, its main-healing. I do it all the time, because I have to, but each time the little SMN inside me dies a little.

Despite the fact that I strongly dislike doing it, I do do it, and I do it pretty damn well. (Whoa, that's a lot of "do.") Obviously I never thought my healing could compare to that of a WHM, whose sole purpose in a party is to keep everyone alive, but the other day I was proven wrong.

I was seeking in Whitegate, debating if I wanted a party or if I wanted to just wait for the upcoming Besieged, when I got an invite asking if I wanted to start a party. Normally I turn these down, as they are usually a waste of time when it doesn't get filled. This time was different:

Player>> You want to start a party with me?
Pasquale>> If I'm still seeking when you're a little fuller shoot me another tell.
Player>> I'm a WHM, and I already have a tank, it shouldn't take that long.

I haven't partied with a WHM in forever, and this would give me a chance to fully take advantage of the Rage/Ward BloodPact system, without needing my MP to heal. I accepted and within minutes we were off to Aydeewa Subterrane, a place near Wajoam, with a name impossible to spell without the Auto-Translator. I want to say it out loud, but it makes my mouth hurt.

We met at the entrance and I noticed the WHM was wearing a pretty cool looking piece of body armor. After checking it, I was suprised to see the MND- stat, but I figured it was just travel gear, and didn't say anything. When we got to camp our puller pulled a Defoliator (something like that, those green crawler things), and we started.

For some reason, we had a PLD and a NIN in our party. Maybe that's regular practice and I didn't know about it, but I've never been in a party like that before. As we fought the mob, the WHM was spamming Cure IVs all over the place, and understandably ran out of MP halfway through the fight, leaving our hero to finish the fight main-healing.

We rested after the fight, because someone went afk, and I took the time to /check the WHM again. Not only was he still wearing the MND- gear, he didn't have any MND+ stats on anything but his pants, and he used a Dark Staff while healing. Needless to say, I was a little confused.

We started our next fight and the same thing happened. Our WHM ran out of MP halfway through and I had to do his job for him. After this fight our WHM disappeared for 20 min while looking for someone who had sent him a /tell asking for a Raise. We kept going while he was gone, because I was doing all the healing/Hastega-ing anyway.

While fighting some weird looking spider mob, I used Cure II on the PLD, who was apparently afraid of his MP. After the Cure II hit, I got a face full of spider leg, and my health dropped to almost nothing. The PLD voked and I used Cure II on myself and was promptly reacquainted with that spider's leg. Thankfully the mob died before I did, and I could fully heal myself before we began.

We had two tanks, a NIN and a PLD, and one single Cure II pulled hate. I asked the PLD if he could start healing himself, but he replied that he didn't want to take hate..

Our Paladin didn't want to take hate.

I shot him a tell asking him to main tank, because the NIN couldn't keep hate, but I didn't get a response. The next three fights were all the same. I would use Cure II, I would get mauled by a spider.

Finally our WHM decides to come back to us and nothing changes. It took forever and a half to kill anything so I found a replacement for myself and bailed. I felt bad for the guy I got to take my place, but I did warn him to watch his hate and that the WHM sucked.

So yeah, I had a party with a WHM and 2 tanks, and I still ended up almost eating dirt. Anybody want a duo partner?

Coff Drop.

About a year ago, while I was still leveling BLM, I started the AF Hands quest. Little did I know I would soon stop leveling BLM for SMN, and that the Hand quest I had started would haunt me for months on end.

After countless attempts to get a group together to go to Garliage, I sometimes managed to gather three others for the Banishing Gates, only to end in failure. There was always something wrong; either other coffer hunters beating my slow ass to the claim, or death, lots and lots of death.

All that changed last night. After a year of being stuck on the BLM AF Hands quest, I am proud to say I can finally move on to something else.


Soulstar, Ruffyreborn, Ishaela, and I gathered at the entrance of Garliage Citadel determined and angry. (They were determined, I was angry. I seriously hate that place.)

We moved like ninja through the Citadel, swiftly and completely undetected. After the second gate, we split into two groups to look for the coffer chest. While Ish and I were having success finding the coffer, Ryffy and Soul were having success aggro-ing a bunch of beetles, and some huge giant blob-frog thing.

I opened the coffer and got the old gloves, while my escorts fought vailiantly against several mobs. After getting the item, I tried to help, but forgot to change my macros, and succeeded in doing nothing. Summoner macros are pretty much useless while on Black Mage, and by the time I realized I was an idiot, it was too late, everything was already dead.

After a quick stop in Jeuno, we headed to Castle Zvahl to kill Dark Spark. We made it to the torches, spawned the Bomb, and kicked his ass.


Here's a shot of our awesome kill-tastic team. It appears Soulstar is a little camera shy, or I'm the worst photographer ever. Both good.

The coffer good times didn't end there. Ishaela and I went to Toraimarai Canal to get my SMN boots coffer. This trip was much less smooth than the Garliage expedition.

While killing skeletons and hoping for a key to drop, I managed to aggro five Canal Pugils. (Funny story, when Sneak wears off, things can hear you. Things that can hurt you.)

Ish was whm/nin so there was no provoke. While she was fighting the pugils off, I used Astral Flow twice, and brought the health of the group down a bit, while also drawing a ton of hate to myself. When all the smoke cleared we stood triumphant. Wounded and angry, but triumphant nonetheless.

Seven hundred skeletons later, this happened:

Note my manly cheer upon finally getting a key. The extra exclamation points are for extra excitement.

After this, Ish and I parted ways and I hooked up with some linkshell mates to do the longest Besieged ever. We had a good group, except for this red mage who tagged along. He was useless. What was his name... Nermal? Neville? I forget, but oh man, useless. (Naw, I'm just kidding. He did a good job, um, guarding the corner of town from Mothra attacks. He was like one of those British guards, motionless and brave.)

During the Besieged, I felt like an old Civil War nurse, running from wounded soldier to wounded soldier, curing and raising left and right. I tried to use Astral Flow, but I only managed to do an embarrassing 24 dmg.

(Nev- That's for claiming to be 'awesomeerthanjoo.' You can't see it, but I'm shaking my fist in anger.)

Little bit of... (Part 2)

Back in September, I made a post called 'Little bit of...' and used it as sort of a dumping ground for a few things I had mulling around in my head. Today's post is gonna be the same thing, hence the 'Part 2.'

Bonecrafting.
This past week I decided to use my newly acquired wealth to level a craft. I chose Bonecraft for two reasons. First off, Neville needs some arrowhead something crafted if I ever get my skill to 50, so I already know my craft will be useful eventually. Secondly, no matter how boring Bonecrafting gets, every time the little message that tells me my Bonecrafting skill has gone up, I giggle, because it says 'Bone.' (Mmmm... Jr High maturity at its finest. I suck at being twenty-two years old.)

Despite it's hilarious name, Bonecrafting has been less than good to me. I bought stacks of mats and crystals, and despite getting Advanced Synth. Support, I still seem to fail at almost every attempt. I've tried everything to make it better. I've changed directions, waited out new moon phases, surrounded myself with mithra (hot), surrounded myself with galka (unpleasant), and even whispered sweet nothings to each crystal before synthing with them. I honestly think that last one helped a little.

TCB.
In the past, it was very rare for me to accomplish more than one quest/mission a week, because I'm just so lazy. Because of this, I am very behind on everything. This week was very different.

This week, I managed to finish my Promys, and take CoP to 2-3. I wanted to keep going but Neville informed me that I, in fact, could not take the 2-3 Minotaur alone. While exploring inside Tazmanian Devil, I also managed to do a map quest, providing me with... a map. (I am a wizard with words. /sigh)

But that's not all, I am now the proud owner of a Olduum Ring, which, even though I can't use it yet, is still pretty sweet. And I also managed to finally turn in G3. That's like five quests/missions in one week, which is huge for me.

Operation Human Shield.
Leader>> Party?
Pasquale>> Sweet god yes^^

I had only been seeking for 20 minutes, and I was obviously too excited to get an invite so soon. No worries, my hopes were dashed seconds later.

Leader>> Ooooh, sorry man, party wants to go with WHM.

I was a little upset, but I understand. I wouldn't want me healing me either. A few minutes later, I get a /tell from the same leader, and I thought my luck was beginning to change.

Leader>> Changed our mind, you still want in?

My heart sang with joy as I gladly accepted the party invite. Much to my surprise we were actually almost full, and not one of those parties that consists of myself and someone looking to snag the only available healer.

(Leader) Out tank d/c, so we need a new one.

After 20 minutes of searching, all hope was lost and we disbanded. There was to be no experience for our hero.

Seriously, you guys need to start leveling Tank jobs. I have a legitimate allergy to pain, so I can't do it, otherwise I totally would. {Meat} {Shield} {Can I have it?} {Yes,please.}

When bad jokes go bad...der.
I'm not gonna lie, I hate farming. Whenever I find myself low on gil, I would grind a low level job and use my beastman seals in an attempt to rake in more cash. Sometimes this plan works, sometimes I get murdered by three pugils spitting water all over me. Usually I get murdered by three pugils spitting water on me.

My brothers quit a few months ago, and I decided last week to reactivate one of their accounts to see if they had anything I needed on them. Upon logging in, I checked the gil and my jaw hit the ground. I fired up a second Windower and traded myself all the gil and expensive equipment. (Is graverobbing your brother's character bad? I vote yes, but I'm petty and lazy, so I won't lose much sleep over it.)

Upon logging back into Pasquale, I was getting antsy to spend money. Minutes later, the logic center of my brain shut off, and away my money went.

I don't remember what my cousin and I were arguing about, but I do remember purchasing a Royal Cloak to rub it in his face. A 4.5 million gil burn. I was satisfied. It feels good being a horrible person.

After the awesomensess of my 'rubbing in' had settled, I threw the cloak in the AH and patiently awaited my 4.5 million to be returned to me.

A few days later, my Royal Cloak was returned instead. I tried to sell it again, but was met with no success.

So now I'm wearing it while I level SMN. My newfound wealth viciously cut down in its prime, because I have a horrible sense of humor. Every time I look at it I think two things: 'Man, I'm an idiot,' and 'Man, I look fucking awesome.'

Giving back.
Last night I helped some people in my LS and a few others with their Carbuncle Mitts. I remember how grateful I was to get help when I got mine, so I wanted to return the favor. I logged into the Temple and headed to meet my LS mates. I threw up Invis and Sneak and off I went.

I ran into a door, and had to take Invis off. As soon as I opened the door, I was met with an angry Torama. I tried to run back, but the door had closed. By the time I had gotten it open, the Torama had managed to eat half of my face.

While running/crying towards the zone, an Opo-opo aggro'd me. Just before I made it out, the little bastard murdered me. (And to think I once used the word 'adorable' to describe them.)

After being raised and escorted (I seriously can't do anything by myself) to where we were going, we started killing the NM for the mitts. We did it three times, and all three times we kicked its ass. Congrats to our new Carbuncle Mitts owners!

This weekend I am going to learn how to solo bombs. I've got a bad feeling about this. See you in-game.

Anima-niacs

So, despite my general dislike for all things Promyvion, I decided to join my LS in a series of Promy runs to take place on Saturday. These things don't always end in happiness and high-fives, but I need to get them done eventually, and the sooner I finish it, the sooner I can swear off all things CoP.

I logged in today to do a little farming, as I needed some animas for when we got to the bosses of each crag. (Funny story, I actually had them all in Storage, but recently dropped them because I needed the space to hold my new Christmas festival items. I pretty much hate myself.)

When I logged in, I was still by the Mission 5-1 burning circle, which meant a lot of travel to get home. After checking to see if I'd delevel, I bloodported home, as I am way to lazy to do any actual walking. After I grabbed up some gear for the lvl 30 cap, I headed to Dem to start farming.

I get in, and right away spot a Wanderer sitting by himself, waiting to be destroyed. Ifrit and I made quick work of him, but nothing dropped. Determined to get my animas, I targeted another Wanderer and began another battle.

While Ifrit and I were fighting Wanderer 'A,' there were two other Wanderers slowly making their way over. It was as if they had decided to aid their weakened friend.

Wanderer B: Hey, it looks like 'A' needs some help.
Wanderer C: Yeah, we should head out, whose fighting him?
Wanderer B: Looks like a lone SMN, with some pretty lousy gear.
Wanderer C: I'ma make him bleed.

Within seconds, I had three Wanderers wailing on me, and needless to say, Ifrit did not last long. While he was fighting them, I did the noble thing and ran like a little girl.

I approached what I thought was the exit, but when I stepped on it, nothing happened. This was the result:
Of course I didn't have Reraise up, so I had to run all they way back and try again. After killing a few more, I finally got the Pain Recollection. I kept fighting for a little while to try to score at least one more Recollection. It wasn't a total waste of time, however, there were some good things.

For starters, I was getting killer exp, which helped make up the tons of exp I lost having died twice already.

Sometimes, I got exp and an item. I don't know what a 'remnant of a malevolent memory' is, but I'm sure it will sell for millions when I take it to the AH. Totally banking right now.

And who doesn't love skill-ups? Communists, that's who. Although it made me kinda sad that I was getting skill-ups, because it reminded me that my Club skill was embarrassingly low.

After an hour of killing and no luck with another Recollection, I decided to kill one more guy and then leave.

In the past, whenever I decided to 'go for one more,' it usually ended with my own death.

This time was no different.


The arrow on the right shows our health just before I bite it. You'll note I have considerably more than him, but still manage to die a horrible death. The arrow on the left shows the numbers of the massive damage I was dealing to him with my club, after I had run out of MP and Ifrit had to go away. (Click for larger image.) (I think.)

I seriously suck at fighting everything. Seriously.

(Sorry this update was so late, I was internet-less for two weeks, then it was all woo-holidays. Back to usual schedule next week.)