RL and then FFXI

[thistlechaser]

It's sort of surprising to suddenly find a giant penis in front of your face. Sometimes I open Firefox windows and then get back into the game and forget what I have open, only to tab back to the browser and run face-first into something like this image (NOT WORK SAFE). Just tends to surprise me a tad. :P

I like how the one guy has a hole in his shirt perfectly placed to expose his nipple. Ride 'im, cowboys! (NOT WORK SAFE image.)

Believe it or not, these images don't belong to me. They come from a blogger in NYC (Little in his journal is work safe! Many displayed NWS images!), a very interesting gay fellow who sells a lot of adult stuff on eBay. Unfortunately he hasn't been writing as much in the last few months, just posting images of stuff he has for sale. But hey, if you ever find yourself lacking in pictures of mostly naked men, that's the link you'll want to have!

In unrelated news, I can't believe how badly I ate today. I had chocolate not once, but twice! And the worst part: For the last year or so, when I eat high-sugar things (candy, cake, chocolate) it makes me feel sick. It's too sweet, it makes me want to throw up. But today I ate chocolate twice and felt fine, which means my body quickly readjusted to getting high sugar crap. :( I've been "a little bad" a lot lately, but today I was just awful. I need to get that under control very, very soon.

---

I got a fun screenshot of three of us after tonight's Escort run. Looks like Yossy, Sylf, and I have arms linked and are strolling along together. I wonder when I'll stop boggling at myself in my high level armor? It just doesn't look like me, only high level DRKs can wear that stuff! And I'm little!

And I sort of have to laugh at myself. For a long time I've been mentally kicking DRKs who XP in their AF (there's so much better stuff out there!), but I might have to start wearing my AF hat during XP. (Eh, at least till I level once, then I'll be wearing my o-hat c.c .) The problem is, I have like +74 or +76 attack, and so much less +str. At 72 I'll get two +4 str rings, but that's a long long time off. I'm not skimping on +acc (I'm at +60 acc with food, +50 without it), but I'm just... unbalanced. Or at least I think I must be. Is it known how much str you should have per att? How much dex per acc?

Tonight was another casual night. A rougher-than-usual LS Eco run, then a smooth Escort run (other than poor Nif not having accepted the quest). Tomorrow I need to XP, gosh darned it. I've not XPed since... Friday? Thursday? I got an invite tonight (while not seeking), but it was a half-hour before I had to go so I couldn't take it. Hopefully I'll get one tomorrow, I'm about 25K to 70. (Gah, eek, that cannot be right. How in the world could I be close to level 70? That's insane and makes no sense! I'm little!)

Comments

[jehryn.livejournal.com]

dot dot f'n dot at those pictures.......

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Indeed. :P

[sukashi.livejournal.com]

Your whole entry is NSFW. @_@ Don't really mind... but I would have had le weird looks if I opened this up in the computer labs.. >_

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Sorry, I forgot that stuff behind a cut shows when someone replies to a post. I changed the cut image to a link.

[loneguardian.livejournal.com]

Uhm, Thistle, put that picture as a text link? I can't reply to this without seeing a whole bunch of cowboydick as soon as I hit 'reply to', and I kinna didn't want to see it... You're going to get people in trouble for just wanting to reply to you. ;3

Otherwise! You're not so little anymore. ;3 And don't be ashamed to wear your AF! If you think you're having trouble in the STR department, by all means, load on the STR. I use my Spike Necklace still in EXP, and that's like level 21. STR only seems to matter to me in WSes, since when I have all my +STR gear on, it only ups my cap damage like 5 points. It's hard to judge tho, 'cause one hit will be like 50 damage, and the next will be 150. x.x It's really inconsistant for me, I just don't have the kind of +attack equipment available that you do. :x So... Yeah! :3 +STR works for me, try swapping out some attack gear for STR gear sometime and see what your numbers look like. Wish I could help more, but a DRG's way of doing damage is a ton different than a DRK's. :/

[lokyst.livejournal.com]

Bah! Aurian's lying! Her damage is anything but inconsistant.

Look at this:
http://ffxi.lokyst.net/battlestats/20051105/hist_hitsdealt_normal_Aurian.png
You see that peak just under 120 for about 60+ hits? She's hitting it an awful lot :P

[loneguardian.livejournal.com]

Butbut! Look at all the other bars below it! ;3 Inconsistant dammit!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Bah, sorry! I totally forgot that cut stuff shows when one replies. I changed it into a link!

[loneguardian.livejournal.com]

Yay! :3

[zubis.livejournal.com]

You've got to work on your definition of NSFW -_-

People get fired over this sort of thing.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

And what's wrong with my definition of NSFW?

I forgot things behind a cut show when one replies, yes that was a mistake. I corrected it as soon as I woke up and saw these comments.

[zubis.livejournal.com]

Ah, okie, thought you just cut it for friends pages.

Anyone can make a mistake ^^;

I was in a net café when I clicked your cut o.o

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Sorry if it put you in a bad situation or made you uncomfortable. I never try to force these things on unexpecting people.

[wanderingscribe.livejournal.com]

Oh, hey! I thought that second picture looked familiar.

I've seen art like that in a queer studies book from Borders (I tend to go there just to read because I can't afford to buy books a lot of the time) and the artist is very popular among members of the gay community. Not only that, but he does a lot of varied subjects, from construction workers to police officers.

This is all from a perfectly scholorly point of view, of course. Really.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Ah! And: Heehee! Of course it is. ;) :)

[zubis.livejournal.com]

Is it known how much str you should have per att? How much dex per acc?

This is what I was originally going to post before I was, ah, distracted @.@

Apologies if I don't explain this correctly.
There is a relationship between STR and ATK.

STR effects the damage cap, for example if you have no +STR equipment the most you can hit for is 200 (just picking a round number here). By increasing STR, you can increase this number to say, 210.

Of course, you won't hit for 200 every hit by just increasing STR, that's what ATK is for. ATK allows you to increase your average damage so it comes closer to your damage cap.

Right now, you have a lot of ATK equipment which means that on average, you'll hit close to your damage cap, but you won't really ever go higher than the numbers you are putting out right now.

If you want to break through your maximum damage cap (and have WS's do more damage), you'll need more STR equipment. A DRK in my party was complaining last night that he had only +25 STR :)

By the way, you might want to think about using STR/ATK food on VT mobs (you'll be fighting more and more of these as you get closer to 75). You have more than enough Acc already, I'm jealous.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Woo, thanks for the info, that makes sense!

By the way, you might want to think about using STR/ATK food on VT mobs (you'll be fighting more and more of these as you get closer to 75). You have more than enough Acc already, I'm jealous.

Yeah, I really need to look into a new food, which is sad since Jacks are eaasy for me to make and darned cheap (nearly free if I make them!).

Thanks for the info!

[gbeans.livejournal.com]

The general rule of thumb for melee (might be different for DRK, but I don't really see how...) is that you want +30acc from gear + acc food before you'll start running into the "decreasing returns" problem. If you have +50acc from gear without acc food, either start munching on some non-acc food or swap some acc gear for att/str. (This is especially true at the higher levels when you're fighting mostly VT mobs. You won't really encounter this until 72 iirc.)

Swapping str gear in for WS is also a win. Though, to be honest, I'm kind of at the point with MNK where I don't bother ^^; It's extra gear to carry (when I already carry a lot) and chaining the crap out of VT peons for hours... [sigh] I spend 90% of my time blinded when fighting skeles and have no problem ripping hate off the tank every fight just with DoT. Have I mentioned how boring XP can be at 75? ^^;

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

is that you want +30acc from gear + acc food before you'll start running into the "decreasing returns" problem.

Yeah, makes sense. I really need to lose my sniper's rings now, not wait till I hit 72 and get those str rings. (The good/bad part about my armor is that all of that acc is tied to the att stuff. It's sort of "free" with the +att.)

Meat chiefkabobs have +5 strength on them, but people would boggle at me if I ate those at 69. Coeurl sautee would be the next step up (also +5 str) but it has more +att ... which I don't need. The final stage recommended str/att food is yellow curry (also +5 str), which has even more +att which I still don't need. So chiefkabobs would be the "best" food, but people would laugh at me. :/

Have I mentioned how boring XP can be at 75? ^^;

Heehee, sounds like it!

[zubis.livejournal.com]

They certainly wouldn't laugh at you.

Food that gives attack (or defense) usually gives you a great amount, more than equipment can give you.

It's all about balance ^^;

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Maybe it's just me then. :P I always think of 'kabobs as really low level food. I think they may have worked out well tonight, but I need to test them further before deciding.

*smooch!*

[gbeans.livejournal.com]

It's not silly to use the food that's best suited for what you need. PLD eat fishkabobs in Dynamis 'cause they're cheap and they're not out the price of a taco if they die often. Honestly, at 75, finding people who even bother to use food can be a trick in random parties...

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

That's kind of sad... Oh well, guess I'll grab a stack and see how it goes! Thanks! :)

[gbeans.livejournal.com]

Well, the sad part is that there aren't XP equivelent in XP given and difficulty to, say, Kuftal Robber Crabs. That's really where the problem is. The mobs are all lower level so they give less XP or they're way too difficult for the effort (see: Aerns in Sea). Sea would be a *great* place to XP if the mobs were a bit more agreeable to it...

So you're left with T-VT-very low IT mobs to XP on. Ones that you can hit easily without food... they're just one step above skill up fodder. With sushi going for 50k/stack, would you be inclined to throw that down your gullet for what might be 2-3k in a poor party? Especially when your performance can be just as adequate without it? I personally don't do things that way, but it's hard to bark at people if they have no problems hitting the mob...

I really hope the TAU expension adds some *real* XP mobs @ 75. Not this Reraise Aern crap or ones that only give 130xp unchained. I want something juicy like you get in Kuftal... where you could get 300xp on chain 2 :/

[gbeans.livejournal.com]

I shouldn't reply when this tired.

"Well, the sad part is that there aren't XP mobs..."

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yeah, all that makes sense.

I really hope the TAU expension adds some *real* XP mobs @ 75.

I wouldn't be surprised if they do. S-E seems to be getting better about filling holes like that...

Not this Reraise Aern crap or ones that only give 130xp unchained. I want something juicy like you get in Kuftal... where you could get 300xp on chain 2 :/

Man, I don't know what we're doing wrong, but that's been how my XP's been for many levels now. 90-120 XP for unchained mobs (with long, multi-minute fights), XP approaching 200 as you near chain 5. Hitting 200 XP is amazingly amazingly rare for me, I might see it once in multiple nights of partying. :/ 300XP per kill would likely make me fall over dead of joy. :P