When something changed

I'd been fishing for a few days since my reincarnation.

Aside from building up a few Imperial Standing points, I hadn't done much of anything else since I'd returned. I had a lot of excuses for this: not enough time, on too late, not enough money, not enough focus. A lot of those deficiencies were real, and still are, but somehow making excuses to myself seemed defeatist... in a really absurd way.

Why would I log on to convince myself of what I cannot do? What would be the purpose in that? I had a reason for playing, and I was trying to remember it.

In a sense, I'm still trying to remember it. An MMO continues to be such a strange thing for me. It definitely fills a gap in my activities, but it's one that I still can't manage to pin down or articulate.

So anyway, I fished.

I found that activity oddly more satisfying than the crafting labor afterward. Perhaps it was the simple interactivity of the fishing rod telegraphing my catch, or the sense that I was pulling pure profit out of the water. Or maybe it was the fact that it was subtly changing my attention, clarifying through idleness.

I noticed that I started pausing at sights. At statements. At people.

Something about listening to my friends talk and laugh while I gazed at the water, waiting for my next catch, made me feel like I was on vacation. It introduced something I hadn't felt in the game before, perhaps because it was obscured by my own worries and perpetual sense of fighting the clock, of imminent temporal bankruptcy.

I remembered the feeling of dozing on the beach and hearing the voices of my family over the roar of the surf, the sound of a small, intimate space briefly etched upon a gigantic landscape, something that made me feel vastly fortunate but equally insignificant.

Maybe this was why I had returned.

I realize many people delve into these worlds with the intention of attaining some sort of stature or significance however virtual or personal or simply fun, but I've realized that I dove into this particular one for almost the opposite reason.

I want to grow this character, and I want to explore. But perhaps because my personal life holds enough in the way of significant decisions and paths, or because I simply don't have the energy once I manage to enter Vana'diel, but whatever the reason: I don't care to aim for significance.

Or rather, I don't want to hold significance in the future, dangling in front of myself like a carrot on a stick. That's fundamentally disempowering and frustrating for me, specifically because of the limiting parameters that surround my play time.

I want to enjoy the game, and everything it entails as I play it, and I want to fully own the way I choose to play.

The cynical part of me thinks that this almost flies in the face of what most people consider to be an MMO player, but another part of me thinks this is simply the more honest way to go. I've come to discover it's one of the reasons why I entered this world from the very beginning.

With FFXIV a ways off...

I'm waxing nostalgic over this game. How is everyone doing? What is the state of this game? Is the player population still healthy on Ifrit? The economy, still stable?

I'm honestly thinking of re-activating old Frohike and going on another journey.

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

I'm still around...

Just not in Vanadiel.

But I'll be back when the holidays blow over...

Just thought I'd take the chance to wish all of you happy holidays.

To the friends whom I've left temporarily while my life stabilizes, know that I miss you. To the friends who've left the game but drop by here periodically, know that I appreciate the chances I get to talk to you and share a bit of my life and yours. To those who've vanished into the woodwork, know that I think about you even years after you typed that last /logout.

I'd say it seems silly to say so, but that would amount to false snobbery, so I'll just say it outright: my life really has been altered in subtle ways, and for the better, by the folks I've met in this strange melding of casual passtime, monumental collaborative achievement, mild to depraved geekery, and virtual treadmilling.

To supplement your merriment this holiday, I give you a LARP/RPG/MMO defiled staging of the nativity scene. Merry Xmas!

20238 Files Remaining

Just ... kill me now. Go ahead, I've got reraise up. -_-;

Anyway, my WotG disc finally arrived yesterday and I attempted to install it, only to be greeted by an "invalid drive Z:\" error due to a recently mapped then disconnected network drive that for the life of me I could no longer find anywhere in any registry on the hard drive.

Stupid Windows...

A re-install did the trick, but of course that also meant a complete rebuild of FFXI from the original version up. Hence the file count.

But not all is technical doom and gloom. In the few sessions I managed to steal over the past week, I've raised my BLM to 30, my WHM to 43, and my fishing to 40, and had the privilege to welcome an old friend, Thitond, back to the game. He began his long hiatus before the ToAU expansion was released, so I've been having fun introducing him to a few Aht Urghan related activities and quests.

I should be back in the saddle in the next few days.

Thank you, Brandson! TYTYTY

He updated both the font and map packs for the latest version:

http://brandson.livejournal.com/

Now my eyes can stop bleeding!

{Hmmm} USB SchmUSB

Having the USB devices plugged in doesn't seem to matter.

The drivers are causing the problem, and these are enabled despite the absence of the external devices.

People are having positive results when they disable all "HID-compliant" devices in the Computer Management console. I've done it, and it doesn't affect my current ability to use either the native laptop keyboard or the external keyboard + mouse.

This absolutely worked for me. No more chugging, even while windowed.

Here's the thread on alla.

I'm on a MacBook Pro
Intel Core Duo 2.33
the adapter through boot camp is currently: ATI Mobility Radeon X1600

Now I'm working on the ghetto anti-aliasing problem. I'm testing slight increases to values in the Overlay resolution to account for the additional pixels from the window "box." If I can compensate accurately, I think the windowed can be made to look fine. Will post details here as soon as I get them.

Addendum (12/5/07): I've discovered that, for whatever reason, 1360 x 768, seems to be the maximum resolution supported by the native windowed mode. When the overlay resolution is set to this, and the gamma is adjusted appropriately, everything works fine. It's disappointing that the windowed mode seems to be subject to the same problems with Vertical Sync as the unofficial windower (i.e. Vertical Sync doesn't really work here). But at least it doesn't look like butt anymore.

/fume framerate

Maybe SquareEnix should have consulted Cliff Spradlin before implementing their sloppy version of windowing.

The windowed mode sucks. It essentially downgrades the resolution rather than intelligently adjusting the window size to accommodate the resolution set in the configuration, resulting in unsightly blur, otherwise known as ghetto anti-aliasing. For instance windowing in 1440x900 actually "squeezes" that resolution into something like a 1440x800 window.

Not only did they get the windowing wrong but they crippled the framerate in all modes for no discernible reason.

I've achieved some amount of playability by disabling mip mapping and forcing vertical sync off (rather than "app preference"), but it's still choppy.

I'm also grumpy because I can't use Branson's font pack anymore, but that's the nature of dat-swapping.

Black Mage - To the Jungles and Beyond!

My time, as usual, has been a bit limited, but I've used what I could to level fishing from 35 to 39 over the past week or so.

And... Black Mage from 21 to 28 since Friday! I phased from risky solo experiments in Delkfutt, to lucky party invites, to solo'ing less riskily with my NPC on worms, to unlucky party invites (WHM/THF... enough said), to duo'ing with a friend. A nice party this afternoon even gave me a chance to Magic Burst for some very satisfying damage.

A big thank you to my friend Cozmos for helping out a party in Qufim, and to my friend Katella for staying up later than usual and duo'ing bats with me until I got to level 25 and could eat my Aspir and Tractor scrolls. I'm lucky to have such patient and generous companions in Vanadiel ^_^

All in all, despite all the educational solo deaths (each one taught me something different), the experience has been quite pleasant. Even, dare I say, addictive.

On another note, I couldn't resist those red glasses everyone's been wearing, so I joined the pseudo-NM camping fun and got my Fancy Specs. Their red color gave me an idea for an outfit...

Snazzy no?

Why Frohike hasn't been on much

/check
{Impossible to gauge}!
Aggressive. Detects by Sound+Sight.
Special ability: {Charm}

This little one has required my attention at night lately. Until she's completely weaned from night feedings, yours truly has been the one to console her back to sleep. The process is nearly over, but until then, I can't really do much besides fish... Partying is out of the question, since a WHM who needs to go AFK at a moment's notice probably wouldn't work out so well.

Not that I mind. I'm {charm}ed, remember? ;-)

She's grown quite a bit since the last picture I posted here...

Spend spend spend! /giggle

Um I mean... /laugh maniacally! Ahem...

Between fishing and teleporting, and a parting gift from my friend Lexxi, I've built up a hefty nest egg. I was planning on buying a Lu Shangs when I'd gathered a 300k or so buffer (and live like a pauper while I put the rod to use), but an idle shout from someone selling a Berserker's Axe for 500k (100k below AH price) proved too tempting to resist.

I purchased this and, since the momentum had taken me, I also bought a Pole Strap for 100k. The spending bug had bitten me early last week as well, when I upgraded my Venerer Ring to another Woodsman, and finally ditched the Spike Earring for a Merman's Earring.

Unless I start to work on a haste build or want to tweak some STR here & there, this pretty much completes my purchasable equipment collection for my Warrior.

To Cozmos's delight I'm sure, I'm entertaining the idea of leveling my WHM further. Must... resist... BST!

But for now, I think I'll need some more gil. 1 mil seems respectable, but I'll be more comfortable with 1.5 mil or so before I resume spending activities.

A great retrospective on Gametrailers.com

Just came across this on the destructoid feed and found it quite interesting. A video retrospective of each of the Final Fantasy iterations.

Something nice to watch while LFG ^^

Enjoy!