Fiat Lux – The Battle Against the Shadow Lord

Let’s start with what just occurred recently. This past Tuesday I pulled off getting the Medal of Altana. Making all of that Campaign Battling I do pay off, lol. And with that came a real surprise.

This past Saturday, the Japanese player base on Carbuncle pulled out an all-out assault on the northland areas, and by some miracle, by the time 11am hit, San d’Oria had pulled off a major coup, and took over all of it.

With this, the chance finally came for a showdown with the Shadow Lord in the past. Of course, with all Shadow Lord gear being mostly designed for jobs I don’t have leveled up, I figured a Hecate’s Cape would be a nice consolation prize for not getting some crazy looking great sword.

I became the sacrificial lamb of sorts, and had to Diaga the shadows the Lord put out of himself, and go run to a corner and die. And die. And die some more.

All this dying helped out the rest of the group though, led by super WHM, Bubbo, and we pulled off the win in typical style of groups I’m in — at the last minute. We had all of 1 minute and 7 seconds remaining in the battle.

Our reward?

Maybe next time, lol.

So What Else Have I Been Doing?

Before going to the Throne Room [S], it was off to the present day Throne Room to assist my darling Destiney (<3 Destiney) in battling Riko Kupenreich in getting a new Moon Cap.

Much like the battle against the Shadow Lord later, I ended up dead somehow, but even with that shortcoming for me we still pulled off the win.

Also, since my last post, I have become part of yet another new linkshell, TranslucentArmy. With TA I have seen Dynamis for the first time in almost 18 months (although no drops for me just yet), it’s looking like I am going to see an Ultima pretty soon, and other assorted things. While getting a lesson in Spanish everyday, since most members do speak the language, I’ve been enjoying my time with them thus far. Now if only Ennayram would bring his Kiwi ass back online, lol

Leveling up other jobs in an attempt to try and mix things up. Samurai is now up to 21, and Dancer to 20. Will I level further into these jobs? Probably. When? Who knows.

Did I mention how awesome Destiney is?

That’s About It

And finally, I leave you with random screenshots. Enjoy!

Ok, let’s get through the things to update about:

Scholar

Now at level 56.  All of my leveling has been done exclusively through campaign battles.  It’s kinda funny when you sit there whacking on a wall for about 10 minutes for 0, 1, or 2 points of damage (with the occasional critical hit for 4 or 6) and noticing about 10 minutes later I “earned” 1300 experience points.

I never claimed to understand exactly how the calculations work to determine how much experience and allied notes you earn in these campaign battles, but it’s funny to see it working in my favor somehow.

And as for why I am going through this only in Campaign battles, well it’s kinda simple. With the introduction of the “Level Sync” system in the last update, it seems whenever I actually do put up my LFG flag, it seems the only people who notice are those in the dunes, roughly levels 10-16.  And the reason I catch their eyes is because of the sub job I mostly use (White Mage), and it lights up in their head that I could possibly be their healer.

Now, I am certainly not a prick in this regard, and I like to help people as much as I can (That is the whole reason I had leveled White Mage in the first place).  But seeing everything that I had worked so hard to enjoy sitting there shaded in gray because I’m level 12 and not 56, is kinda depressing.  I mean, if it was a group of friends, I would probably do it and not think too much of it.  But for a random group of people, who have no tank or clues as to how to do their respective jobs, to be demanding of me to have stuff cast upon them because they think I can due to what my original level was? No thank you.

Whew. That felt good to get out.  Here, have some screenshots:

Work

While things in FFXI have seemed rather progressive, this situation at work seems to have become regressive.

It almost feels like I am in the middle of a mass exodus, but in reality, it just seems at though children are being children, and cannot seem to understand that in order to earn a day’s pay, you have to do some work.  Kids nowadays seem to think that they can treat things like it’s social hour, talk for an entire shift, do what is essentially the bare minimum of work (if they even do that), and expect not to receive a scornful look from other people who actually are busting their asses to make the money they need to get by in this god awful economy.  And don’t even get me started about cell phones…

I feel like a grumpy elderly person saying all these things.  But then again, why shouldn’t I be?  I feel as though I am a babysitter of teenagers and young adults, and I myself am only 25, lol.

Vacation…Again??

You know, it is never too early to think about the next time you’re planning a getaway for some relaxin’ time. Here’s the thought process running through the ol’ mind:

We have the recently announced FFXI Fan Festival 2008 on December 5th and 6th in Hollywood, California.  I would love to go to this, as just being surrounded by those who enjoy the game much like I do, seems like a veritable wonderland of sorts.  And Hollywood? I would just love to visit California.  And for the short time I would be there, I wouldn’t have to adapt too much to the terrible air quality in the area.

And then there is the idea/plan to vacation out to the Lonestar State (Texas for the uninformed).  For this, I am aiming to head out at roughly the time time I went to Canada earlier this year (Mid-to-late February).  South Texas heat –SHOULDN’T– be an issue in February, so it should be a comfortable trip, at the very least.

It’s interesting to note all the traveling I have done the past year or two.  I seem to have become a nomad of sorts, lol.

Anyways, I think this will finally wrap up this post.  Needless to say, this is the longest post I have made by a long shot.  Think of it as a way to make up for not posting ANYTHING since the beginning of the month.  I would post more often, but I think it would just be sorrowful repetition of the same things over and over again.  As in, “Did some stuff on FFXI, gained no levels. Still working. Probably traveling. Blah blah.”  I appreciate you reading this (I sincerely do), but I am sure you wouldn’t want to be bored with just reading essentially the same thing over and over, am I right?

Ok, this is really the end.  Please leave comments, or sent me a /tell, POL message, e-mail, whatever you can and let me know what you think.  Thank you for reading!