How'd we ever solo before /DNC? (FFXI)

[thistlechaser]

It's been a very Blue couple of days. Blue Mage-y. I spent Thursday-Friday XPing. Soloing was... rough. I wanted to work in the past for the sigil refresh bonus, but dammit, I started to suspect that the CoP writers were the ones who designed the Wings zones. What the bloody hell were they thinking putting IT++ beastmen in with EP-- to 45 mobs? Oh, not that many beastmen, just enough to be a big threat to death all the time. Made for relaxing soloing. NOT.

Friday I got three levels in a random party. Amazingly, it wasn't the most horrible awful party ever! Guess there's a first time for everything. :P Oh, it wasn't good, one person was playing two party members and the PL, so basically only one of those three characters was active at once. And nope, he didn't put either of the two melee job party members on auto-attack while dealing with one of the others. Plus he disbanded the party the moment he dinged, when I said repeatedly I was @400. Guy's name was Greatness, which unsurprisingly he wasn't.

Latter half of Friday and Saturday around Dynamis was spent hunting spells. Yay LS people (Beanie and Nif) helped me with two I couldn't solo, and I got six or seven of them on my own. Tomorrow I'm going to get the last one I'm needing, Stinking Gas, in Phomiuna Aqueducts. Hate the zone, but at least a BLU can solo it there. (Looking ahead on the BLU spell list, it's amazingly daunting how many I'm going to need help getting. I hate asking for help! :/ )

Last spell I'll need before 50 is Ice Break, but I can solo that. I'm just going to wait until I'm a little closer to 50.

I have no idea how a non-75 BLU soloed spells pre-DNC. By mistake twice I went out as /NIN, which is a bad joke next to /DNC. I could hold a mob endlessly with /DNC, feeding it TP to use its moves while building TP myself for curing. Man, TP-based impossible-to-interrupt curing is the most broken thing ever.

First piece of darned BLU AF (feet) is going to be mighty tough to get. Tons of sneaking/invisibling through aggro to get to the fight. It's at the Navukgo Execution Chamber, which I think is that horrible, horrible BC from ToAU missions (had to sneak path moths and such?). I'm thinking about skipping it, but then I wouldn't be able to store the AF. Bah.

I'm really enjoying BLU for the sense of accomplishment. Everytime I get a new spell it's like 'Wheeee! I did something today! Yay!'. XPing is still meh, but I have to XP so I'll open up access to more spells. (No clue when I'll be able to. Monday is CoP static, Tuesday is CoP Dynamis. Guess Wednesday is the earliest.)

Damask is at cloth 71, but that was done on Wednesday or Thursday and I haven't touched him since. Did 15 or so levels in a day, now I'm all blah and don't want to touch it. That's not so bad, since he still doesn't have his glasses or apron (at 50K/70K on glasses), and I'd like to get those before going much further.

Still haven't finished up all the crafting I need to do. x.x Lord, this game is a lot of work. I took tonight off to RP on the MUX though, yay! (Though I did learn a spell during it, since I had been planning to do it post-Dynamis.) Tomorrow is learning Stinking Gas and getting the last of that crafting done.

Comments

[achika-soladia.livejournal.com]

Greatness is a running joke in my shell right now. I forgot who started it, but they said he sucked total ass. =p

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I couldn't disagree with that. He was pretty sucky.

[quistie.livejournal.com]

I'm convinced that anyone with the word "great" in the name, actually isn't.

Yes, TP-based, uninterruptable curing needs to be on a 30-second timer. Not a 5-second one...

[veloxe.livejournal.com]

As a 64 DNC who is incredibly biased in this I would care to disagree. At lower levels it does seem a bit over powered but the closer and closer you get to endgame the worse off you get.

Since DNC only has moderately proficient skill in Daggers, which aren't exactly known for being awesome in things like Sky, Sea, and HNM, it becomes increasingly difficult to get the TP needed to keep up with the cures that are required of you at those higher levels.

As a sub it's a bit over powered I will agree (especially in the hands of someone like a SAM) but DNC is so much more than cures, lets not gimp an entire job just because people choose to overuse a part of it. Hell, if that was the only criteria, SE would have changed shadows years ago.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

SE has said DNC is meant to be a subjob, so it makes sense that the higher it gets the less powerful it is.

Feels like DNC is another piece in SE's quest to let people solo more.

[veloxe.livejournal.com]

Ya but SE says PLD isn't a tank job because no tank jobs exist in FFXI. Which is clearly bullshit, no matter how you look at PLD, that job is designed to get punched in the face one way or another. So when SE says something about their own game, I tend to take it with a grain of salt now adays.

It probably is a piece to allow people to solo more so that we can slowly turn it into World of Fantasy XI: Rise of the Treasured Wings of the Litch King but it's only a few tweaks away from being an actual job. It would just need better skill in dagger or maybe a high leveled 2 handed skill (hell, even staff skill at high level would help their endgame melee o.O).

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Ya but SE says PLD isn't a tank job

Wait, wait, wait. PLD is a tank job? I guess it it went /NIN it could tank? Maybe? ;) :D *runs*

World of Fantasy XI: Rise of the Treasured Wings of the Litch King

*falls over* Hee!

[quistie.livejournal.com]

Another thing...I don't think Navukgo Execution Chamber is that difficult to get to. Getting past the wamouras is not too bad—you do have a fair amount of space to work with. Just don't get lost in the Halvung portion.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I get lost in my own bathroom! :P I'm sure the trip will be, um, exciting.

[liavin.livejournal.com]

BLU seems fun but reading this looks like a pain in the ass. :(

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Well... if you'll find BLU fun depends what you like to do in the game. Do you want to rush rush rush to 75? Then BLU isn't for you. You have to learn your spells off mobs as you go, so there's a ton of forced "soloing" to slow you down. I enjoy things like that, so I like the job. :)

[kamalloy.livejournal.com]

There's an alternate route to reaching Navukgo that involves going through Alzadaal Undersea Ruins and Bhaflau Thickets. You have a bit of aggro-dodging in places, but there are *no* Wamoura and *no* Dahaks on the southern side of Mount Z. It may be a slightly longer route, but it's far less stressful. I hated doing ToAU 22 until I figured out the alternate route.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Oooh, are these the right directions for that?

Easiest way to get to Execution Chamber is to simply go to the famous "Bird Camp". Take the Runic Portal to Nyzul Isle, use the portal at (G-9), then the portal on your left, and finally exit at Bhaflau Thickets. Zone to Halvung at F-5, then just go North and you will end right to Mount Zhayolm. From there, travel to (D-8).

That looks a lot easier. Nothing truesight/truesound on that route?

[kamalloy.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's it. There's some Mamool in Bhaflau, scorps and trolls (and a mirror, but mirror guards aren't truesight) in Halvung, and bombs in the tunnel to the BC. But absolutely nothing truesight/truesound.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yay! Whew! Maybe I'll actually get this done! Thanks. :)