Why do I bother rushing out of work in the evening? (FFXI and RL)

[thistlechaser]

67 has been one rough level. Three days of seeking, a minimum of four hours a day, one single party invite and one party I made. Neither lasted more than two hours. Grand total of 5K XP made.

Total hours seeking: 12 hours.
Total hours XPing: ~4.
XP gained: 5K
XP to level 68: 21K.

Of course the weekend is coming, and the last two weekends I've spent 10-11 hours a day seeking without a single invite or able ot pull a party together, so these stats can only "improve".

I tried (and failed) to pull together a party three times tonight (other people snatching the WHMs up before I could finish asking them). I checked the /search no less than once a minute (for THREE HOURS) trying to catch a healer and tank seeking at the same time. There were four of us seeking when I logged on. The other three got invites, so I did the "...well now they have no choice but invite me..." thing, but of course others started seeking and so they got invites instead of me. Two MNKs, a THF, a DRG, WARs... all invited, me left standing along. Three times I became the last person waiting for an invite, and no one asked me.

Finally, after three hours of tearing my hair out, I get a tell:



And that was just the end of it. I can't put into words how much I hate everyone (myself included). I will never, ever, ever, ever do Dynamis because how the hell would I ever get the XP back that I lost? What's going to happen to me when we hit CoP 6-whatever and die over and over and over again?

I really, really, really hate this game. I seek for 4-5 hours on a weeknight and 10-11 hours on a weekend. I've done this for WEEKS now. And I've gotten a grand total of THREE invites. In three weeks. Fucking shit. What the hell more can I do to get invites? (Besides level the fucking GS, I KNOW, I KNOW.)

I really wish WoW interested me more, because I'd so quit FFXI if I had another option to fill my evenings (I was this close to deleting Thistle when I logged off tonight, my finger was on the button and I wanted to push it, but I figured that would be a bad decision to make on the spur of the moment). Maybe I should look into ... I don't know. I was going to say that City of Heroes game, but that doesn't really interest me much.

---

RL: Not much better than FFXI. I've spent the last few hours trying to put my damned exercise bike together. There might as well be no instructions for as helpful as they are. Hours spent on it, some pieces impossible to put together alone. And I'm still not done with it.

Comments

[fyerio.livejournal.com]

I have trouble seeking as a PLD as well. Not getting a pt for hours really do suck, and even if you do get one, that party will end up being crappy. I've been 57 for a really long time, took me like 6 pts just to get to 58 o.o

[niffy.livejournal.com]

I really think you might be pushing yourself too hard to level. ;; If it makes you feel better, you really do seem to be going faster than most people at your level-range. I dunno, seems like you're just getting frustrated with the grind. Have you thought about doing a few ENM? There are some really easy ones that'll give 2-3k xp a win. There's even a solo one in Mine Shaft #whatever that'd be good practice for your maat fight. >.>a All you have to do to get there is gamble with the moblin and pay him 2k to warp you. The drk reward from that fight is a ring with enchantment: tp regen. o.o; That'd be nice for CoP.

Also, the vahzl enm would he reallyreally easy to get to every five days. I'd love to get a static for that. @_@

[gbeans.livejournal.com]

I agree with Nif 100%, Thistle. I think you're pushing too hard and getting frustrated. Don't sweat it. Take it slower.

And I'd love to do the Pso'Jxa ENM regularly...

[http://users.livejournal.com/_orz/]

Thirded. There were several times when I was grinding out the higher lvls (65+ in particular) in FFXI where I either stopped leveling for weeks at a time or just didn't play at all. It took me 3 weeks to get from lvl 72 to 73 because it just got to be too painful to xp every night. Usually when I returned from a break, I had a lot more fun, and grinding felt less stressful.

I could say the same about WoW. Trying out a new job, leveling an alt, or even taking a complete break from the game helps me get out of slumps.

I'm in a WoW slump at the moment, and really craving a new, good online game. I've been filling my normal WoW time trying out some free online Korean games. Ok, I admit that they aren't great (as in I wouldn't pay to play) and the Engrish can get annoying, but they're good for free games. I can post links if you're interested.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I haven't found yet what you'd be fighting in that ENM (I'm distracted by one of the rings you can win: HP +10/Accuracy +7), but I'd be up for a static for that.

It'd be nice if we could just take the Escort static and do it after Eco/Escort, but Yossy is EST so it might be too late for him and Yun has work-issues.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Ah ha, found the fight info (and it's 50 capped, woo). Doesn't look too bad, especially since we're good at folowing tails and hopefully could make the trip up smoothly.

[loneguardian.livejournal.com]

Ehm. Thistle, sweetie? Calm down and stop trying to get/make a party. ^^ You're completely stressing yourself out over something that you shouldn't, and it's not fun watching you work yourself into a frenzy over something that's pretty much an expected part of gameplay. You won't get a party every time you seek, simple fact. Even as PLD and BRD, I had days where I'd seek for 6+ hours and get zero bites. Melees have it far worse. FAR worse.

Just chill, hon. Please? It's not worth working yourself into a frothing rage over. ;3 It's not.

[reynardstruan.livejournal.com]

Just level another job that's more in-demand for a while, then come back to drk when the rage wears off.

I got bored with levelling brd (seriously, 30k tnl? How am I supposed to get psyched about levelling for 4 hours with no reward?), so switched to ninja for a while. Makes a big difference.