On the eve of another short hiatus...

I decide to update. So Fallout 3 came out last week, and I'm deeply addicted, which means most if not all of my available FFXI time has gone... for now.

So to all of you on Ifrit who read this occasionally, I haven't quit again. I'm just busy playing something else ;-)

Most of my activity since the last post consisted of leveling Alchemy, from 62 to 70, and making up the skillup cost in steady sales of consumables and a few Halcyon Rods.

Other miscellaneous accomplishments/activities include capping my sword skill (finally!) and taking up Dancer which I was able to level from 1 to 10 in a couple of sessions. Hooray for Drain Samba!

Anyhow, back to post-nuclear Washington DC! I'll see you all in a few.

Level Sync = Parties for BLM

After another hiatus, I logged in once more to find a large patch awaiting download, coincidentally the day after it had gone live.

All I've got to say is... where was Level Sync two years ago? Better late than never, I suppose. The effects of the new system were immediately obvious when I received a party invite to the jungle within minutes of seeking on my BLM. Unfortunately for me, an incompatible DAT modification caused my game to crash the minute I targeted a Level Synced player, so a lengthy file check and re-download killed my partying for that evening.

The next night was spent with Cozmos, Katella and the gang, skilling up sword (to 246) on crabs in the tree.

The subsequent two nights have been spent manaburning with a random pickup and partying with friends.

A couple of hiccups I can forsee with Level Sync partying:

Mage macros will be annoying to adjust in the lower stages. And it'll be easy to forget those adjustments, causing you to throw a lolStone2 at a mob in a level 60 party. Automatic "downgrading" of tiered spells would be nice, but probably isn't going to happen.

Skills (weapon and magic) are going to take a nosedive if people Level Sync too much, as far as I can tell. For instance I'm unable to cap much of anything at level 38 in these jungle parties.

But the fun factor has certainly received a much needed boost.

Zitah... Not this place again

I've logged a couple of sessions and milked the Attowah Chasm camp for all it was worth. What an awesome, godforsaken, deserted & spacious, easy solo EXP camp.

I'll miss it dearly.

In the single session I spent in Zitah, I've had my BLM solo fun and leveled the job to 35. However, the pulls are much slower due to the bats and the Goblin Trader's tendency to either cluster around another Trader, or turn at really inopportune times. Many an ES+Sleepga+logout, and chains are more a matter of luck than rhythm.

I enjoyed the happenstance company of another suffering BLM solo'er and had to watch him die a couple of times from unavoidable bad pulls or "sliveritis" moments. I think BST are familiar with sliveritis, and believe me, it's supremely painful on a mage/NIN job.

I haven't been able to clock very many hours due to various RL job duties, but I'm feeling the itch to return to BLM and level it further. Something about the risky solo factor just keeps drawing me back.

Busy Workin'... & Brewin'

In character with the Warrior side of Frohike, I've been busy brewing beer. And while enjoying my brew, I've been slaving away at supplemental work I'd rather not do, yet needs to be done.

Drinking. Making bucks...

BLM can wait a bit.

Tumbleweeds

This old server is getting rather empty, and many of my friends are gone. I'm kind of hanging around for the few folks left on DarkEden, but even that pearl has been mostly empty when I'm online.

I'm tired of being the lone US player in a sea of jaded JP. I'm tired of entertaining activities other than partying because I simply won't get invites in my time slot.

I'm tired of logging into a ghost town full of endgamers.

So I'm looking at fresher servers with more EU players. Possibly Sylph.

I'm not making any rash decisions yet, because I suspect that much of this is caused by the age of the game itself. But I'm getting that feeling that it's time to move on to different pastures.

Ah, that's better

After banging my head senseless, I returned to Bibiki Bay to regain my lost experience points. I waited for about 30 minutes for a DNC solo'er to finish, and used my /dance1-4 animations which I'm sure he found extremely funny and had never seen before (yeah, he probably wanted to throttle me). I eventually got the camp and went about 1k into level 31.

Then I moved out to Attowah Chasm L-8 and wished I had done so sooner. The fly pets were giving me 180-200 EXP on average, and I could get chains up to around 3 or so. I didn't heed the guide's advice to bring a Reraise Earring (probably had to something to do with banging my head earlier), and of course eventually had to Warp my way back to town to get one. A couple of deaths notwithstanding, this is the best solo EXP camp I've had on BLM so far. Guess I'll be staying here through 33-34.

BLM. 30. Solo. Bang Head Here.

I ramped up slowly on my first few days back and basically tele-taxi'd and chatted with the LS. Then it was down to business, and frustration, as I picked up BLM again to carry it from 30 to 37 (or maybe 40, who knows). I'm not sure if any of you remember solo'ing BLM at this point, but there appears to be only one decent camp for 105-180 EXP per kill: Bibiki Bay, H-6, Goblin's Rarab.

One decent camp + any random number of people leveling BLM, WAR, SCH, or any fucking thing at level 29-30ish (since apparently no one parties at these levels any more) = extremely limited camp availability. Every time I logged on, someone was there. Once I actually got the camp, it was decent and I leveled into 31 with a moderate buffer. OK, 300 exp. I was tired of the place.

I rejoiced, ate my Sleepga scroll, misread the solo guide, OP warped over to Zitah, paid 4000 gil to set my HP, and promptly got my ass handed to me by a leech pet.

Huh... weird that he resisted my Sleep. Must be a fluke. No problem! Dust myself off, HP to the outpost, run to the next pet... and grab Goblin agro. I've now deleveled back to 30, am clearly in the wrong EXP area and don't want to go back to Bibiki. But I pretty much have to, or explore some camps in Beaucedine or Attowah that are for 31+.

Guh...


It's good to be back!

The compulsion of memory

I've re-activated my character with some vague plan to log back in and... reconnect somehow. I'm not sure if my resolve will continue, but I'm currently in the process of re-installing XP onto my laptop and getting all of the drivers set up, etc.

My main worry now: will these same memories that impel me to return cause me to feel all the more lonely... and willing to leave again.

Guess there's only one way to find out.

In case you hadn't guessed

I've decided to cancel my content ID's for now. The decision to quit playing stems from a number of factors in my life which I won't go into detail about, lest I bore most of you to death. Those of you in the "inner circle" know what I've been going through for the past 6 months or so, and probably understand why I'm doing this.

Much of it also goes back to the reasons I discussed in my polemic awhile ago. FFXI hit the floor during yet another juggling act, and by the time I came back to it I realized that my motivations for keeping that particular object aloft were growing obsolete.

Of course any of my readers are welcome to stay in touch with me via email:

psbauman AT gmail DOT com

or on Yahoo IM:

paulsbauman

Ciao, and thanks for reading! Maybe I'll see some of you in a more ... Cimmerian environment? Nudge, nudge, wink wink.

/salute
/shutdown