Instead of proactively approaching the new expansion of Abyssea, the esteemed leadership circle of my current HNM ls have instead sat on their hands about it and decided to get upset with the ls population when other people provide the framework for runs and it interfers with ls activity as a result.
I have no sympathy for them. Really they should have been more on the ball.
Abyssea is a surprisingly varied and rich environment that appeals across the board, you can do things solo, you can do things in groups, you have to do other things as a team.
It is so varied and there is such a wealth of gear and opportunity that it can be VERY difficult to police it effectively as a group. Again, it challenges the traditional concepts of how you run and divide rewards up in your linkshell.
It has definately been high stress trying to figure this out for our little bunch. Finding a middle ground where if you can't please everyone, then at least you can aim for merely surly rather than outrage and indignation. hehehe.
I think it is always like this at the start of anything new though. Everyone angry and upset and at loggerheads with each other. After its been around awhile and there is a familiar pattern, people deal with it a whole lot better.
BLEH!!!
Wednesday, 11 August 2010
Eating carrots will let you see in the dark!
I have been reading this FANTASTIC book called Bad Science
Its written by a very entertaining columinst for The Guardian newspaper in England, well versed and accessible, it casts a bright light on the dark spots of medical science and research that certain people and companies would rather you didn't see.
If you are too cheap to spill for the book but still want a taste of this excellent insight into the world of research myth and fact, he does have his own website that you can peruse and is kept regularly up to date.
The Bad Science website!
Anyway! lol, the reason I decided to write about this is because of an intriguing little fact buried away in the book as an annecdote which I found highly entertaining.
We are all familiar with old wives tales. Things that apparently have no logical sense behind them but people swear by. One of these was the things parents told their kids to get them to eat their vegetables! "Eat your carrots up and you will be able to see in the dark"
If you ever wondered where these things come from, in his book he tells you.
It was a story invented by the British in the 1st World War and spread to the Germans to hide the invention of radar from them. Their explanation for the accuracy of the targetting at night was, our pilots were eating lots of carrots.
I thought that was brilliant!
Its written by a very entertaining columinst for The Guardian newspaper in England, well versed and accessible, it casts a bright light on the dark spots of medical science and research that certain people and companies would rather you didn't see.
If you are too cheap to spill for the book but still want a taste of this excellent insight into the world of research myth and fact, he does have his own website that you can peruse and is kept regularly up to date.
The Bad Science website!
Anyway! lol, the reason I decided to write about this is because of an intriguing little fact buried away in the book as an annecdote which I found highly entertaining.
We are all familiar with old wives tales. Things that apparently have no logical sense behind them but people swear by. One of these was the things parents told their kids to get them to eat their vegetables! "Eat your carrots up and you will be able to see in the dark"
If you ever wondered where these things come from, in his book he tells you.
It was a story invented by the British in the 1st World War and spread to the Germans to hide the invention of radar from them. Their explanation for the accuracy of the targetting at night was, our pilots were eating lots of carrots.
I thought that was brilliant!
Friday, 8 May 2009
Something Unexpected
There are always times in game where you do something that you aren't quite sure will work, and they do, but you are not quite sure why, and it exceeds all expectations.
I had one of those moments the other night.
Salvage time but most of the crew were either MIA, unavailable, dabbling in the heady world of real life or just not around so we went in with only 6 members, and a slightly inventive party.
Dragoon
Dragoon
Thief
Red Mage
White Mage
Bard
Both Dragoons were /SAM. We went and did Arrapago Remnants and took the Soulflayer route.
We killed every rat on every floor we could, we took down the soulflayer, chariot and the boss and we finished the entire zone with 16mins left on the clock.
Dragoons are devastating in Salvage. I had an ENORMOUS amount of fun as well, true this quite possibly could have been because I was one of the aforementioned dragoons, lol and I derive a great deal of pleasure from playing my favourite job but even hardened Dragoon haters like Iceblazek had fun. By his own admission he had to grudingly admit that as a job class the Dragoon has come a long way and no longer deserves or merits the lolDRG moniker of yore.
I guess some people would wonder how you would tank the chariot boss with just Dragoons, and this is one of those nasty bosses where Mortal Revolution can be easily absorbed by shadows that as /SAM we simply didn't have. Agreed neither of the Dragoons are what you could call gimpy, Qtipus is running around with a Gungnir, both of us have taken a lot of effort and time to strive for the best gear and equipment for our job but a lot of that can be removed from the equation in Salvage as gear particularly from Arrapago is slow and erratic to land.
We saved our jumps to serve as provokes for the bard pulling and rotated them instead of using them for tp build, which proved to be a surprisingly effective strategy save the occasional blip where we both went at the same time, although this didn't really cause any real upsets on the whole run.
And we bounced light skill chains back and forth between the Dragoons and the thief all the way to the top. If you haven't experienced it yet, well timed and effective skill chaining in salvage can have a devastating effect on the mobs, they just melt in your path as you push forwards. Of course you can't be sat around constantly waiting for skill chains, but a bit of communication and skill chaining when the tp is available and ready yields some fantastic results.
I had one of those moments the other night.
Salvage time but most of the crew were either MIA, unavailable, dabbling in the heady world of real life or just not around so we went in with only 6 members, and a slightly inventive party.
Dragoon
Dragoon
Thief
Red Mage
White Mage
Bard
Both Dragoons were /SAM. We went and did Arrapago Remnants and took the Soulflayer route.
We killed every rat on every floor we could, we took down the soulflayer, chariot and the boss and we finished the entire zone with 16mins left on the clock.
Dragoons are devastating in Salvage. I had an ENORMOUS amount of fun as well, true this quite possibly could have been because I was one of the aforementioned dragoons, lol and I derive a great deal of pleasure from playing my favourite job but even hardened Dragoon haters like Iceblazek had fun. By his own admission he had to grudingly admit that as a job class the Dragoon has come a long way and no longer deserves or merits the lolDRG moniker of yore.
I guess some people would wonder how you would tank the chariot boss with just Dragoons, and this is one of those nasty bosses where Mortal Revolution can be easily absorbed by shadows that as /SAM we simply didn't have. Agreed neither of the Dragoons are what you could call gimpy, Qtipus is running around with a Gungnir, both of us have taken a lot of effort and time to strive for the best gear and equipment for our job but a lot of that can be removed from the equation in Salvage as gear particularly from Arrapago is slow and erratic to land.
We saved our jumps to serve as provokes for the bard pulling and rotated them instead of using them for tp build, which proved to be a surprisingly effective strategy save the occasional blip where we both went at the same time, although this didn't really cause any real upsets on the whole run.
And we bounced light skill chains back and forth between the Dragoons and the thief all the way to the top. If you haven't experienced it yet, well timed and effective skill chaining in salvage can have a devastating effect on the mobs, they just melt in your path as you push forwards. Of course you can't be sat around constantly waiting for skill chains, but a bit of communication and skill chaining when the tp is available and ready yields some fantastic results.
Saturday, 11 April 2009
Elfaria
People come and people go from FFXI, it is a very transient population. There is an on-going joke in my ls that you never really quit, and that if you say you are quitting (specially if its for WoW) then its met with the "sure sure, you'll be back" sort of retort.
I think how much you immerse yourself in the game, the people you meet and the roads you take greatly influence how much of a draw FFXI can be if you do decide to quit. A lot of the people I have know to quit have come back occasionally and dabbled but mostly stay away, but they also never really got as involved as myself and some of the friends that I have now made.
Of course, there are many many varied reasons to leave, from being served divorce papers, to a change in circumstance that makes your departure involuntary.
One such was Elfaria, who had a drastic change of circumstance resulting him taking a break from FFXI. Sadly this seems to have been a greatly extended leave of absence. There are people who I really do wish were still around, one such being Elfaria.
Crazy, French and Taru! He was just a lot of fun to be around, with his sly remarks which were always spot on, his determination and dedication to his jobs, insane magic bursts or busting out the WS on his SAM he was intense and hilarious and I miss him ooodles >.<
So a toast to those who have gone on and yet still remain in our memories. Wish you were still here. I think a nice red would be appropriate about now LOL and some fine cheese.
I think how much you immerse yourself in the game, the people you meet and the roads you take greatly influence how much of a draw FFXI can be if you do decide to quit. A lot of the people I have know to quit have come back occasionally and dabbled but mostly stay away, but they also never really got as involved as myself and some of the friends that I have now made.
Of course, there are many many varied reasons to leave, from being served divorce papers, to a change in circumstance that makes your departure involuntary.
One such was Elfaria, who had a drastic change of circumstance resulting him taking a break from FFXI. Sadly this seems to have been a greatly extended leave of absence. There are people who I really do wish were still around, one such being Elfaria.
Crazy, French and Taru! He was just a lot of fun to be around, with his sly remarks which were always spot on, his determination and dedication to his jobs, insane magic bursts or busting out the WS on his SAM he was intense and hilarious and I miss him ooodles >.<
So a toast to those who have gone on and yet still remain in our memories. Wish you were still here. I think a nice red would be appropriate about now LOL and some fine cheese.
Monday, 16 March 2009
Salvage Superstars!
The natives are getting restless and to be quite honest this was just such a spectacular moment lol I don't mind if it gets posted twice. Ring can wax lyrical about Izman's Ares Legs finally dropping and a huge congratulations go out to Izman, Mr. Anti-Legs-Dropping himself for finally getting his mitts on these sexy legs.
I know it might come across as kind of smug, but we all agreed there is a degree of satisfaction gaining them before the update is due, we got them the "hard way" although how significant the adjustments for SilverSeas Remnants and Bhaflau Remnants are remains to be seen, all we can do currently is speculate.
Celestria and Blaize have been doing Salvage for a very very long time, and it was down to just 2 more remaining drops, Ares 35 from SSR and Marduk 35 legs from BR so we have been doing a LOT of both zones. With Izman's success in SSR we were just down to spamming the heck out of the Bhaflau run, with poor Blaize being a class act every single time on the timed gears floor.
We have been through so many runs where we got to the floor, and just saw no Peryton at all, and quite frankly I was at the point where I didn't even really think that they were going to drop even if we did get the big bird, we would just be inundated with Skadi bodies, which while marvelous isn't what I was looking for LoL.
ALL that changed!!! With this stunning end to our Salvage run the other week. 8 Perytons not a sniff of a drop from 7 of them, Ring d'cs and an 8th spawns with 60 seconds on the clock. Ring reappears JUST in the nick of time, but we STILL get the "This mission has failed, leaving the area" message when Iz busts out a Raging Rush and boom! EVERYTHING drops, AND POOLS.
What a night! You guys are SOOO cool! I can't thank you enough. I do feel bad that I ended up with the Skadi body when it could have gone to better use, but we will be back! I of course, immediately got lost in the Undersea Ruins in an elated high trying to get back to Whitegate so I could FINALLY go get my Marduk legs made. I have been waiting even longer than Iz has for his Ares pants for these, but I was always unlucky on the lots or it was just a plain old no-show on the NM's. SUPER sexy for bard though. I am thrilled to bits AND I can shelve all that horrible bard af.
Here is the moment, in glorious technicolour!
*dances again* I am soo grateful to all you guys and Celestria for helping me get them, and not threatening to kill me for doing Bhaflau for the umpteenth time!
In a different vein, I want to spend a moment talking about Thazienne. Thaz is a super cool guy for all those who have crossed paths with him, while he won't sit there and tolerate nonsense, if you get close to his fuzzies you can find out what an awesome guy he is with a razorsharp wit. Ah Kallo, you love it really ^.^ Hahah.
Totally selfless in his willingness to come along and help you out what ever it is you need, be it a bit of TH for farming, or some random quest, so it is always fun when I can help him out! And this time we managed to get him his full set of sexy SAM af. This was NEARLY doomed when the quest was blocked by the final mission in the Celestrial Nexus, but I hijacked our ZNM group (Big thanks again to Celestria, Blaize and Izman) to go knock this fight out for him so he could finish it all up. And as you can see he is looking miiighty fine in it all now ^.^ Congratulations Kitty ^.^
I know it might come across as kind of smug, but we all agreed there is a degree of satisfaction gaining them before the update is due, we got them the "hard way" although how significant the adjustments for SilverSeas Remnants and Bhaflau Remnants are remains to be seen, all we can do currently is speculate.
Celestria and Blaize have been doing Salvage for a very very long time, and it was down to just 2 more remaining drops, Ares 35 from SSR and Marduk 35 legs from BR so we have been doing a LOT of both zones. With Izman's success in SSR we were just down to spamming the heck out of the Bhaflau run, with poor Blaize being a class act every single time on the timed gears floor.
We have been through so many runs where we got to the floor, and just saw no Peryton at all, and quite frankly I was at the point where I didn't even really think that they were going to drop even if we did get the big bird, we would just be inundated with Skadi bodies, which while marvelous isn't what I was looking for LoL.
ALL that changed!!! With this stunning end to our Salvage run the other week. 8 Perytons not a sniff of a drop from 7 of them, Ring d'cs and an 8th spawns with 60 seconds on the clock. Ring reappears JUST in the nick of time, but we STILL get the "This mission has failed, leaving the area" message when Iz busts out a Raging Rush and boom! EVERYTHING drops, AND POOLS.
What a night! You guys are SOOO cool! I can't thank you enough. I do feel bad that I ended up with the Skadi body when it could have gone to better use, but we will be back! I of course, immediately got lost in the Undersea Ruins in an elated high trying to get back to Whitegate so I could FINALLY go get my Marduk legs made. I have been waiting even longer than Iz has for his Ares pants for these, but I was always unlucky on the lots or it was just a plain old no-show on the NM's. SUPER sexy for bard though. I am thrilled to bits AND I can shelve all that horrible bard af.
Here is the moment, in glorious technicolour!
*dances again* I am soo grateful to all you guys and Celestria for helping me get them, and not threatening to kill me for doing Bhaflau for the umpteenth time!
In a different vein, I want to spend a moment talking about Thazienne. Thaz is a super cool guy for all those who have crossed paths with him, while he won't sit there and tolerate nonsense, if you get close to his fuzzies you can find out what an awesome guy he is with a razorsharp wit. Ah Kallo, you love it really ^.^ Hahah.
Totally selfless in his willingness to come along and help you out what ever it is you need, be it a bit of TH for farming, or some random quest, so it is always fun when I can help him out! And this time we managed to get him his full set of sexy SAM af. This was NEARLY doomed when the quest was blocked by the final mission in the Celestrial Nexus, but I hijacked our ZNM group (Big thanks again to Celestria, Blaize and Izman) to go knock this fight out for him so he could finish it all up. And as you can see he is looking miiighty fine in it all now ^.^ Congratulations Kitty ^.^
Saturday, 28 February 2009
Intermission
One of the oddest things that struck me when I was at the Fan Fest this year was the prevelance of comments along the lines of "Oh your from THAT server that is always crashing."
It was such a random thing to be told, considering that crashes and downtimes on Odin are NOT that common, after all I have spent 5+ years on the server now, I would have a good idea wouldn't I. Infact it was with some amused excitement we got to witness large chunks of our sever keel over and die on Wednesday evening. Whitegate was the first to go swiftly followed by Xarcabard, Dynamis-Xarcabard, Kuftal, the Woodlands and Arappago that I KNOW about.
Since we experienced this down time, I thought a little intermission might be in order to fill the void.
Normally you would get the "Best of Burt Bacharach" for your intermission, but sadly all I have are these few morsels for your delectation and delight ^.^ Enjoy.
Quotes out of Context Series 9 - 14
It was such a random thing to be told, considering that crashes and downtimes on Odin are NOT that common, after all I have spent 5+ years on the server now, I would have a good idea wouldn't I. Infact it was with some amused excitement we got to witness large chunks of our sever keel over and die on Wednesday evening. Whitegate was the first to go swiftly followed by Xarcabard, Dynamis-Xarcabard, Kuftal, the Woodlands and Arappago that I KNOW about.
Since we experienced this down time, I thought a little intermission might be in order to fill the void.
Normally you would get the "Best of Burt Bacharach" for your intermission, but sadly all I have are these few morsels for your delectation and delight ^.^ Enjoy.
Quotes out of Context Series 9 - 14
Monday, 23 February 2009
MrBooboo's Big Day
This is not going to be a particularly wordy post. Shocker I know. I am going to let the pictures do the talking for me, that is all it is going to need.
Aside from 1 hiccup where Boobs decided to d/c right as he traded the coins this all went off without a hitch.
Enjoy these as much as me and not nearly as much as Mrbooboo.
And what do you do after all that hard work? Well...
Aside from 1 hiccup where Boobs decided to d/c right as he traded the coins this all went off without a hitch.
Enjoy these as much as me and not nearly as much as Mrbooboo.
And what do you do after all that hard work? Well...
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