Blah, Monday.

[thistlechaser]

As previously mentioned, my brain is very odd. I also suspect that it's working against me. How else would you explain going from deep asleep to fully and totally awake in a second? Especially when that second was an hour or more before the alarm was due to go off? My eyes snapped open, and my brain came totally and fully online just like that. Because really, who needs more than four hours of sleep before work? (Me me me me! Stupid brain. *kicks it*)

I didn't feel like playing on Friday night, so I had the chance to watch the two Stargate shows with most of my attention! (A highly rare thing, I usually just listen to the TV while playing the game.) But stupid SciFi channel was doing an odd thing and the shows were messed up (even at 100% volume, I could hardly hear anything on the shows... but the commercials were fine). Other channels were normal, so I think this was something with the SciFi broadcast. :/ I still don't know the SG:A characters well, but I'm finding I dislike the women a lot. Especially the top woman (is she totally weak and ineffective, or am I not seeing the whole picture yet?), and that other one (who was doing the negotiating during Friday's ep) did nothing for me either. I also had thought I would like that guy with dreadlocks, but the more I see of him, the less I like him. On the other hand, my love for every other character aside from those three is growing by leaps and bounds!

FFXI: My whole weekend can be pretty much summed up in one screenshot. So if you look at this screenshot, you can skip the rest of this post! Okay, I'm not serious. *sniffle* Please don't skip or all my words will feel lonely and sad and get all angsty. And no one likes angsty words, right?

Can you spot all the good new things in that screnshot? If not, here are the answers: 1) Rank 8! Woo! 2) Level 61! Yay! 3) G4 complete! Woo! 4) And best of all: Yag hat! Woo! I also like how the screenshot works -- the figure balanced with all the text. And did I mention my cool hat? ("Don't you think I look cute in this hat?")

The rank 8 fight was fun (and I got to do it twice, because we had people who needed it the next day!), even though I feel bad that I was low level to be doing it. I'm not trying to mooch off people, honest. It's just easier for everyone if I go now while runs are being done, instead of making people take time later to help me.

The Sandy mission storyline is really... blah. (Though I can totally see how DRG Aurian would be bouncing over it.) Non-players: Sandy is the home city of the game's elves (elvaan, I call them elves cause that's what they look like). Elves hate EVERYONE. They probably even hate themselves. I've spent more than a year on the game being talked down to by them. I've done countless missions and quests for them, only to be insulted before and after doing the work for them. They have hated me for more than a year, now I'm supposed to care what the elf royalty is doing? That their (ugly) princes is coming of age and needs X because she can't go get it herself? (End of non-player foo, you all will likely get confused by the next sentence. Sorry!) Problem is, now that we have an outpost teleport to Windy, I don't expect that I'm ever going to change nations. I had sort of wanted to move to Bastok to see the hume storyline, but... Man. I can't give up an outpost teleport to Windy! (Do you even get those back when you switch back to the first city?)

Over the weekend I tried chocobo digging for the first time in many weeks. Made three runs, spent 15K on greens each time. Made a total of about 2-4K from the stuff I dug up. Not profit, total sales. I went at good times, in zones that weren't too popular. There are currently too many people digging on Midgar, and it's not worth trying anymore. I've thrown away millions trying to level digging, but that's it. I sold all of my chocobo riding stuff. If I want to do something boring, I can farm. At least you'll always make money doing that, not lose 40K+. Bah.

Our static XP party was Sunday, and it went much, much, much better than last week. We returned to A-whatever Chasm (I really need to look up the spelling of that name...) and it was mostly fine. We just chained VTs (lizards and flies) all day. While the XP was what I would consider poor (90-160, depending on critter and chain), we killed things fast enough we ended up with about 15K XP in 5 hours. Not bad, considering we never got 200/kill even once. The crystals were oh so good (fire and wind, ants drop dark but we killed only two of those). There was one death, but that can be chalked up to "Life's hard when you're a Taru NIN".

I had been carrying my yag hat around for ages, and I finally got to put it on! I love it! It looks like it's made to go with my AF! :D It goes so well, sometimes it looks more like a Yagudo is wearing DRK AF than it does me in a mask! (Sorry that one is a little dark, I messed up something on the game and now I can't see anything and all my screenshots are too dark.) I changed my mog into a Yagudo, and when I returned home last night she was missing, so I did a cute little pose about her being gone.

So the big game-things ahead of me are: Finishing the O-Hat (three more eyes, some of which in bad places; getting them synthed and hopefully not lost, the boss fight), G5. G5 worries me lots. I have no idea how DRK Maat is (why are there tons of write-ups for other jobs but none for DRK?), and I worry about... well, everything. I wish the fight wasn't 10 levels away; I've already been plotting and planning for 20 or more levels, and I know I'll spend the next 10 thinking about it even more. Bah. Hope I can do it. Hope I can do it in not too many tries. Hope I don't have to bug people to farm tests lots. :(

Comments

[loneguardian.livejournal.com]

Though I can totally see how DRG Aurian would be bouncing over it.

I'm not bouncing over this mission, honestly. It's just a 'filler' mission as far as I can tell, unless the CS have a plot twist or something. The missions in KRT had me bouncing giddily because it involved Ranperre and his Dragoon (or rather, his ghost). This mission? Not so much. ;3 But from an IC standpoint, yeah, I imagine Aurian is much more glad to do it than Thistle. After all, DRKs don't serve Sandy royalty, DRGs do. ;3


I had sort of wanted to move to Bastok to see the hume storyline

Hume storyline? What Hume storyline? It's all about the fracking Galka! :E

[aelice.livejournal.com]

Hahaha YES. XD That's Hume Storyline.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

After all, DRKs don't serve Sandy royalty, DRGs do. ;3

But we'd serve service the princess just fine! ;)

But I meant the whole entire Sandy plot as a whole, not just this upcoming silly princess thingie. The whole 'Last Dragoon' or whatever the heck all the Ranperre/Lightbringer thing is about.

Hume storyline? What Hume storyline? It's all about the fracking Galka! :E

Ha ha, in a way that's too bad, but more: Woo! I don't care about the Galka, I don't like them, I do not want to see plot about them. All the more reason to keep my butt firmly in Sandy even once done with rank 10 there!

[aelice.livejournal.com]

Windurt Storylines > Everything. XD Bastok is about a whiny president who is equally bitchy about other races like the Elvaans and the musketeers who for some reason need a newbie adventurer's help every 2 seconds. Windursts are KIND of errand-ish, but the story kicks Bastok and Sandy's arses :3

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

They really should release all three storylines on DVD, then we could watch them without having to change nations and deal with all the missions.

And then I woke up!

:P

[gbeans.livejournal.com]

So far I have to agree that Windy is the best (if you don't include expansions. Love CoP!). But Windy and CoP share the "farm for drops for every little advancement you wish to make" syndrome. It's kind of annoying. And D should become Windurstian since the story goes into Fenrir and Summoners a lot :3

[mirramithra.livejournal.com]

{Congratulations!}x4!~ Totally missed the Yagudo hat when I ran past you in Rulude last night, it looks so cool with the DRK AF armor. :D

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Thank you! And I think it does, too! :)

[fealu-bryne.livejournal.com]

...DANG. That's hot.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Isn't it? *strut* :)

[zubis.livejournal.com]

I love the storyline explanation behind why the San d'Orians are so rude to foreigners.

The Kingdom once spanned the entire world of Vana'diel, with only the Tarutaru of Windurst and the Humes of Bastok resisting in small enclaves. Eventually, the Windurstians and the Bastokians defeated the San d'Orians and regained their lands. This reached a climax at The Battle of the Second Konschtat, where the Bastokan Army, which was heavily outnumbered but was armed with Muskets and advanced weaponry, crushed a much larger force of San d'Orian Light foot-soldiers and Royal Knights.

That's what you get for trying to take over another nation...

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

*snickers* That makes so much sense. Is that from the Bastok mission storyline?

[zubis.livejournal.com]

Nope. There's a giant (1000+ pages) FFXI bible that was released in Japan a while back. Naturally it was never translated, but some information was.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Battle_of_the_Second_Konschtat

[gbeans.livejournal.com]

Once you change you don't get your outposts back unless you re-deliver supplies there. That was the "sacrifice" of leaving Windy for Sandy. It was a bit rough for the first couple weeks 'cause I had no outposts in all, but 2 weeks ago I delivered supplies to the last outpost I was missing. Now I'm back up to where I was when I was Rank 10 Windy + another nation's starting zone. I know people have been like "I don't want to change, I'll never get my outposts back!", but I think for the 'standard' ones (not starting nations) you can get those back in a month or two. Our server is getting better about regions shifting control on a regular basis.

[linmayu.livejournal.com]

Except for Kolshushu. ;_; I need to get Windurst to retake that.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Right, but if you start as Windy and get all your outposts, then go to Sandy, then switch back to Windy, I wonder if you get all the ones you originally had for Windy back?

[southern-hell.livejournal.com]

Nope.

[morinotokei.livejournal.com]

Ooh, you're watching SGA too! *_* Are you watching BSG? I assume you're talking about Dr. Weir? Yeah, she hasn't really done much for me in the first season or this season so far except for maybe a few bits of potential. I totally agree that Ronon Dex (aka dreadlock guy) gets worse every time I see him. I just hope he doesn't end up annoying me, because they got rid of another main character in the first season to shoehorn this guy in.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I just started with SGA, just saw my third ep on Friday, but I'm loving it! <3

Since I watch SGA and SG1, I've been seeing the promos (lots and lots of promos) for BSG, but I haven't given in on that one yet. No reason at all, really. Maybe this coming Friday I'll check it out.

Ronon Dex (aka dreadlock guy) gets worse every time I see him. I just hope he doesn't end up annoying me, because they got rid of another main character in the first season to shoehorn this guy in.

I'm not even sure what they could do to improve him. I liked him in the ep from two? weeks ago, where he was training people to fight, but this week's just totally didn't work for me.

[pomr.livejournal.com]

I used to love SG:1 -- but now they've gotten rid of the characters I liked best, and though I love Ben Browder and Claudia Black, I miss the /real SG:1/. I miss Colonel O'Neill, I miss Major Carter, I miss General Hammond.

I do have to give the new general some props though; when the annoying Goa'uld in last weeks ep was like 'What could possibly compel me to help you?', his reply of 'Hunger' was delivered with enough cold finality that he went up on my estimation by several notches. :)

Atlantis has been cool, and Ronon is not much of a character. Got to love Rodney McKay, Doctor Beckett and Colonel Sheppard. And I like Teyla too. Honestly...why do they need Ronon? He adds nothing that wasn't already there except for some serious Marty Stu action.

NOW...Battlestar Galactica is my favorite show. :) Possibly ever. :) It is just that good. I love how people get beat on, and they /pay/ for their mistakes. They took a barely viable concept from the mid-seventies, and turned it into something brilliant. Seriously. It is well worth seeing. :)

On an FFXI note -- The yag hat is PERFECT for your AF. So cool. :) Though I bet Bernie wants his head back!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

'What could possibly compel me to help you?', his reply of 'Hunger'

Yeah, I loved that line, too!

And man, you people are going to get me hooked on Battlestar Galactica, too! :D

Oh? Is Bernie a yag? I had no idea! I figured with 'bubbling' he was a pug or something water-related...

[gechmir.livejournal.com]

A BIRD IS EATING YOUR HEAD!!! D:
Ok :d **skips your post**
OR DID I?! I am not speaking via psychic prediction of what your post said. Because I skipped it. Worship me. Please? ;_;

Rawr! Choco-digging is my schtick, bro/chica :d I have roughly 60 in every craft, so digging can be nifty. I used to fish up Silver Rings and Rusty Picks in Yughott's Grotto, but I grew bored with it. The desynths of the rings to silver rubbed me wrong and lightning crystals went up in price ;.;

I used to Choco Dig in Yuhtunga & Yhoator. Problem is they are commonly explored. First off, what's yer' digging rank? I'm down to zero dig delay and maybe am A40 or A45. Not glorious but not shabby either! ^^ The jungles were frustrating for me so I took my rather fat gil-bag and tromped over to Bastok. I am halfway to my Goldsmithing shades (Fishing Apron + Shades + Choco Pants, Boots, & Gloves = Pimp Galka :d Pic shall follow...?) and whilst I do this, I am diggin'! Digging levelling ain't based off what items but rather the tiers of rarity on items you pull up. Rosewood log won't give you the same skill in one zone as it will the next! So, I went through Gustaberg South, North, and Konschtat. Now, the first two are crappy profits unless you dig up some of the nicer items in North or accumulate beastcoins in South (or get a white rock! <3 goldsmithing). Konschtat has Elm Logs. I hit it lucky and dig up anywhere from six to ten per trip. Synth to Bast Parchment and voila, 13-17k profit per log! If you wanna nail Orichalcum or lotsa wood (lolz) in the jungles, hold back until you can kick the keister of any competition digger. I am central, and digging around 10pm => 10am seems to be a lost cause due to heavy JP digger presence. So that twelve hour window is a no-no.

But if you are A15 or some junk and am wondering what this n00b is squabbling about, PLEASE BE GENTLE ;__; I am full of chocolate!

But, really, worship me. Someone ;\

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

First off, what's yer' digging rank? I'm down to zero dig delay and maybe am A40 or A45.

That's where I am, too. I was A45 last I checked, but I used to dig a few hundred stacks a day (hours and hours) and for weeks I didn't level. *boggle* I haven't checked in a while.

Yeah, digging elm logs had been good at one time, but I did two rounds there and got nothing but pebbles and lizard molts (which never sell anymore, for some odd reason). I know two rounds (20 or 30 stacks = 1 trip = 1 "round" for me) isn't enough to judge on, but it is enough to frustrate the heck out of me.

I read someone's idea about objects' rarity being important for leveling, and that made sense to me, too. I did the majority of my digging in the Jungle since the logs are so nicely $$$ there, but that may have been hurting my leveling efforts.

I am full of chocolate!

*drools on ya*

Which server are you on? And yes, pictures are keen!

[evilgrayson.livejournal.com]

With the poor XP leading to lots of XP after a while, when XPing it's the XP per minute that counts, not the XP per kill. If it takes you a couple of minutes to recover after killing a hard mob, that's time you're not spending getting XP - and what seems like much smaller kills can rack up if you're getting a lot of them.

A lot of people don't realise this.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's exactly the theory we were working under, and of course it worked. It just feels worse to be getting only 90 or 100 or 120 a kill when 200, 220, 240 (with chains) is more the norm.

And hi, too!