GUPS 004

So I have been leveling Fishing extensively again; however, it seems to be a bad period to fish at the moment. Since half-moon phases seem to be the worst times for Fishing, I am hoping that things will pick up during the next moon phase. Personally, I believe that I have been hitting Fishing fatigue earlier than usual with my latest fish or that the other fishermen in the zone are snagging all my would-be bites.

In other news, I have decided to start a third Crafting mule in hopes of further aiding my Guttler fund. I have also managed to win Pelican Rings for my two other mules thanks to a week's worth of Emperor Fish. Hurray!

Other Stuff



























Guttler Updates

Currently, I am working on Stage 2 -> 3 of my Guttler.

I have acquired:
[1/1] Leonine Axe
[1/1] Tabar
[1/1] Darksteel Tabar
[1/1] Tabarzin
[1/14] Montiont Silverpieces

Gil towards next 100-unit currency (subject to change):
[650,000/~900,000] Montiont Silverpiece
Status: 72.2% Complete


Crafting Status

Khaki
[78/100] Fishing Skill (+8)
[5/100] Woodworking Skill

Fishmule #1

[14/50] Fishing Skill (+3)
[11/100] Cooking Skill (+7)

Fishmule #2

[11/50] Fishing Skill
[15/100] Smithing Skill

Secret mule

[10/100] Alchemy Skill

Impostor Decu

Have you seen this elusive Elvaan before? Why it is Tecu, a Decu impostor that I have created to stalk and visit other BST bloggers with! To be honest, I have been somewhat bored and disappointed with my own BST activities as of late, so I have decided to investigate what BSTs on other servers have been up to. As you can see above, my new Elvaan boasts a sexy new hairstyle, but I felt rather awkward playing on a lvl 1 character again. In a way, it faintly reminded me of my low-level BST days, and those were not exactly the best of times. Perhaps I will start another BST someday to relive the experience anyway.















Sadly, Tecu has gone missing, and you probably will not be seeing him again. There is a small possibility that he might be spotted on Asura, Carbuncle, or Cerberus in a few years, but unfortunately, he was last seen dragged off by many, many small Rabbits of Ronfaure.

Fashion Fantasy

Khaki


















Have you ever wished you could customize your character's gear? Would you have mind-blowing items? Or perhaps something purely for aesthetics? If I could have all the items above, I would stop playing BST for a few days and just marvel at what I was wearing. Of course, there is a lot of custom apparel that does not exist in FFXI yet, so I have decided to design some for Lia below. But first, I decided to sketch Snippy again!

Snippy


















Some of you might remember this critter, shown on Snippy Cam, as a belated Valentine's Day image. Although it was not meant to be awe-inspiring as a simple doodle, I think it turned out alright for something I drew on a whim. In total, it took me about ten minutes to draw.



















However, I tend to be unsatisfied with my pictures after a glance or two; I really wanted a more realistic-looking Crab. Using Model Viewer for help, I attempted to sketch a Crab-like shape on Paint.net, but there is a limit to what I can achieve with a 2D medium. What you see above could probably be used in a coloring book.



















This is my attempt at shading the previous image. Since I am by no means a professional artist, I still rely on guessing how everything should fit together as a whole. At first, I thought I might have been overkill with the shading, but in the end, I decided the picture was alright despite lacking more shades of gray.

Liabelle














This is my very first sketch of Liabelle, ever. Originally, I was trying to draw her with a manga-esque style; most of my time was spent getting her outline right. Like Snippy, I ended up wishing she looked more realistic, so I started planning my next attempt in advance.















This is Liabelle after several hours of adjustments. Most of my friends said she looked fine, but I felt she did not look cute enough. Eventually, one of my friends said, "[n]ot bad, but definitely could be better." I immediately asked him what was wrong, and he told me that the head was disproportional with the body -- among other things.















I did not want to scrap the previous picture at first, but after trying to salvage Liabelle #2, I decided it would be best to redraw everything (like my friend recommended). For this picture, I was told Lia resembled a "barbarian princess from Conan," something I definitely was not aiming for.















The main problem with Liabelle #3 was the face. Although I corrected her eye height, my friend told me her nose was too long and her shoulders too wide. This is when the copy and paste tools in Paint.net came in handy. By making a few adjustments, I managed to lower her shoulders and alter her hair in the picture above.















My friend also suggested improving Liabelle's facial features because he felt they looked too simplistic, so here is an attempt at giving Lia more realistic eyes and lips. The nose was still giving me a headache, so I decided to leave it alone.















Above, I have attempted to draw a flower strap (I know it sucks) as part of Lia's camisole. I wanted the camisole itself to be shaped like a butterfly, but I found it difficult to imagine what it would look like. As a compromise, I decided to meet my goals halfway.















Here we are at Liabelle #7. She has a slightly adjusted nose, another flower strap, and shading to the best of my artistic abilities. Unfortunately, I would need more shades of gray than Paint.net offers to improve on this picture; however, I believe it is suffice to hint at how Liabelle might dress on her non-adventuring days.

Note: The picture above might look awkward until you click to resize it; some of the shading on her neck might appear blurry from the preview.

Ischemia XIX

With the introduction of two Limbus and Dynamis runs weekly, I will be losing a free day every week, and some events are starting to get troublesome attendance wise. Nonetheless, we managed to get eighteen people for Dynamis - Beaucedine last week, and our maiden voyage was met with...















... Orcish BSTs! I swear, it is so unfair that mobs can "Charm" players. Whether it be dragging a newbie through a dangerous zone, having your cabaret dancers, or simply disposing of annoying persons, the ability to "Charm" players is a definite plus. I envy that Orc; he "Charmed" us good (Tarutaru casualties not shown).















Ah yes, the big boss of Dynamis - Beaucedine; I think we did fairly well on him. After our THF dragged his pet Dragons to the entrance, we destroyed him in a mere ten minutes. This particular NM is annoying because he teleports around periodically, and it can be difficult to track him down when he does, which is exactly why I should be allowed to go BST for this event.

Angra Mainyu also casts "Death" repeatedly, so your alliance members tend to drop dead as you progress through the fight. Although we managed to clear this run and even obtained a RDM AF piece, Ischemia probably will not press for Dynamis - Xarcabard anytime soon; we do not seem to have enough members given our current roster.















A Dynamis - Windurst run from the same week. If there is one thing my BST and BLM have in common, it is expecting to die a lot. My BLM's exp buffer consists mostly of exp scrolls that I earn on my BST, so the sheer number of deaths that took place at this event proved to be unsightly. One solution I have in mind is to use BLM for all LS events, even the Sky farming ones, to make my life easier.















We also decided (to my discontent) to try the "Divine Might" quest for the third time, this time going 2/4 on our runs. We wiped on the first two runs because Ark Angel EV did not die fast enough and because our supertank died early. After attempting this quest three times, I give the following tips to anyone who wishes to succeed at this battlefield:

1. The supertank is to have his or her back against a wall. From what I can tell, you seem to get hit a lot harder taking hits from the rear. 
2. Go all out on Ark Angel EV. Have your secondary PLD use "Invincible," and just zerg the NM with 2hrs and nukes. This is key as the odds of survival are against both the primary and secondary tanks. If Ark Angel EV has high HP, she can one shot your secondary tank using "Spirits Within" -- do not give her the chance. "Rampart" and "Shell V" can reduce her WS damage, so prepare accordingly.
3. Have all BLMs cast at the maximum distance possible to avoid AoE moves; I would suggest unloading nukes around 75% HP for any Ark Angel. If you are BLMs are out of MP, have them run until they can no longer see the NMs because abilities like "Mijin Gakure" can devastate an alliance unexpectedly. Keep "Stoneskin" up at all times.
4. Ark Angel MR will use "Charm" on her aggressors if she does not have a pet out during her 2hr. "Sleep" the "Charmed" person immediately (I got pummeled to death by a MNK thanks to this ability).
5. Beware of Ark Angel MR's pets. A Mandragora pet can cast "Sleepga" and other annoying BLM spells while her Tiger pet can use AoE "Paralyze."
6. Our setup consisted of two PLDs (the supertank went /BLU), three BLMs, two RDMs, one BRD, two WHMs, and a pile of miscellaneous DDs. The suggested kill order is Ark Angel EV --> Ark Angel GK --> Ark Angel HM --> Ark Angel MR --> Ark Angel TT.

Finally, after a week's worth of hard work, I was lucky enough to find a manaburn PT where I could recap my BLM buffer. In total, I lost 8k exp during the "Divine Might" runs alone, so Wamouracampa burns helped ease the pain. What is interesting about this particular manaburn is that we would gather a bunch of Wamouracampa and then use "Thundaga III" on the lot for quick kills.

GUPS 003

Since I have been falling behind in my studies, I will be operating at a minimum output level until I catch up. Although I feel that building a Guttler is still my ultimate goal in FFXI, I have neither the time nor stamina to be building at the pace of other BSTs; I am hoping to make a larger push during the summer.

Other Stuff








Originally, I wanted to expedite my mules' Fishing skill-up rates, but after lengthy skill-up sessions, the effort proved futile due to how random skill-ups can get. Although I have decided to leave my mules in Nashmau to continue Fishing Istiridyes, I could truly use some Pelican Rings to help my skill-up rates in the long run. On an interesting note, additional skill-ups under the Enchantment: Fishing effect seem to stack with natural ones, as shown when I caught the Dil below:



Do you remember that Fish Ranking contest I told you about two GUPS ago? Well it is that time of the month again, and this month's request is:






Now these fish are not easy catches for my skill level. Given that the winning requirements happened to be the Emperor Fish of the heaviest weight, I have decided to start Fishing early. For the most part, Trout Balls and Peeled Crayfish seem to provide similar bite rates; however, I would advise against Fishing them in Jugner Forest because you can catch other fish there.

Guttler Updates














It has been about a month since there were any Tabars on the AH, so I decided to camp the Trickster Kinetix NM and got the Axe on my first try. Unfortunately, my LS KS99 run got canceled today due to a lack of healers, so I have not been able to afford my second Montiont Silverpiece.

Currently, I am working on Stage 2 -> 3 of my Guttler.

I have acquired:
[1/1] Leonine Axe
[1/1] Tabar
[1/1] Darksteel Tabar
[1/1] Tabarzin
[1/14] Montiont Silverpieces

Gil towards next 100-unit currency (subject to change):
[364,000/~900,000] Montiont Silverpiece
Status: 40.4% Complete


Crafting Status

Khaki
[70/100] Fishing Skill (+3)
[5/100] Woodworking Skill

Fishmule #1

[11/50] Fishing Skill
[4/100] Cooking Skill (+4)

Fishmule #2

[11/50] Fishing Skill
[15/100] Smithing Skill

Name Changes

In an effort to look slightly more professional, I have decided to go through all my posts and attempt to capitalize letters correctly. However, since I am not an English major and since I have difficulties understanding grammatical rules, it is up to you -- the reader -- to throw large, stone-like objects or to leave comments (preferably in this post) whenever you notice anything incorrect.

The following posts have had their titles altered:

KSNM30 Runs -----------------------------> KS30 Runs
And They Crowned Him King ------------> Coronation Day
Re-enter the Abyss ------------------------> Return to DRK
Guest Post #1: Kyli ------------------------> Guest Post: Kyli #1
Another word regarding my Blog --------> Khaki Recommends Firefox
Reflections III ------------------------------> More About Liabelle
Call it "Campaign" -------------------------> Campaign Calls
Exit the Abyss ------------------------------> Dark Subordinate
Decisions, Decisions... --------------------> Tough Decisions
And the results are in... -------------------> The Haidate Field Test
"A" is for Antican --------------------------> 'A' is for Antican
How to Play "Tag" with Snippy ----------> Snippy Tag
I'm a maniac, maniac, yes I know--------> He's a Maniac, Maniac on the Floor
Countdown ---------------------------------> A Small Break
Aymur-Nyzul Axe--------------------------> Aymur 

Where "------->" represents a crude 2D arrow.
Updated September 2010. 

Return to Stellar Fulcrum

Warning! The following post contains spoilers from ZM5 through 12.














So just how far can one PLD (Kearick), RDM (Masani) and BST (me) progress through the Zilart storyline? You are about to find out because Kearick just so happened to request help gaining Sky access, and I was eager to assist. With "Snarl," Snippy literally managed to tank over half our major battles while the rest was left to our trusty PLD.

For the most part, a BST should be able to solo all the fragment NMs for ZM5, with the exception of the NM pictured above unless your BST happens to be insanely skilled. For all other NMs, I would advise popping with "Sneak" and/or zoning the NMs to duel them on equal grounds; the Cape Terrigan NM can be defeated using local pets if preferred.















You will need someone on kite or "Sleep" duty for the ZM6 fight (above). We went with the latter and decided to kill the BLM first, the PLD second, and the RNG last. Ultimately, this battle felt analogous to fighting three VT mobs with copious amounts of HP, but if you can keep hate under control, they are not too bad. Shadows are advised for the RNG mob unless you are a PLD with high Defense; "Eagle Eye Shot" can really hurt.















Ah yes, the "younger" of the Zilart princes. I must say, "Paralyze II," "Dia II," and "Slow" made real short work of this boss. On average, I managed to pull off 680 damage "Rampages," and occasionally, I got to see a 900 damage "Rampage" when some Critical Hits kicked in. We managed to clear the fight in eight minutes; not too shabby for a three-man effort. A special thanks goes out to Snippy for sacrificing herself twice in this battle.















Last but not least, the Magic Pot NM of death: Ancient Vessel. I have tried soloing this NM before as a level 72 BST but failed quite miserably on multiple occasions. I would not recommend trying to solo this NM without "Beast Affinity" merits and a lot of pet food -- Ancient Vessel can hit CC for ridiculous amounts of damage. Although there are some local pets near Ancient Vessel, they are not very reliable because they are unlikely to survive a mere three hits from this NM.

Overall, I am quite impressed with my gear improvements and what they have allowed me to do compared to when I first cleared these missions almost two years ago on my first character and a year ago on Khaki.



Notes:
a) The duke of Jeuno, Kam'lanaut, has an older brother who resembles a child. Unfortunately, his brother, while childish and playful, is pretty manipulative and deadly later on.
b) Bring about a dozen Courier Carries and Pet Food Zeta biscuits if you wish to attempt soloing the Ancient Vessel NM. You will probably need the same number for the Doomed Pilgrims NM, but only two or three biscuits for the Evil Weapon or Opo-opo NMs. Slightly more might be needed for the Shadow NM.
c) We did not attempt ZM4 as a group, but I think we could have done it in a similar manner as ZM6.

Ischemia XVIII

What is big, purple, and ugly all over? That is right, it is a Behemoth! However, Ischemia has not moved into the HNM scene just yet; the one pictured above is actually Chlevnik from the KS99 "Horns of War." We managed to do eight runs on Monday, and overall, the runs were smooth with the exception of our last run. For our final run, there was a lot of deaths and struggles to pull off a win -- we only had six seconds to spare! Below are the KS99 drops that we obtained; see if you can guess which one is mine.
































































If you said, "[s]illy BST, gil is for real jobs"; you are correct! Actually, we did not have enough time to finish all sixteen orbs in the queue, so I am hoping for some luck and success on round two next Monday.

Snippy Tag

Other than select Limbus runs, Sky might be the only endgame area where I get to utilize my BST. After spending two hours with my LS hunting Diorites (we only managed to get one in three hours), I decided to challenge Snippy to a game of tag. If you happen to be interested in running your own game of Snippy tag, the following describes how you can do just that.

First, find a medium to large-sized object that you can run laps around without Snippy cutting you off. This means finding something with a decent radius or cross-sectional width.















Snippy will attempt to catch up, but your goal is to keep running around the perimeter of the object in vigilance. If the object is large enough, she will always be behind you so long as you can keep up the pace. If she starts running in the opposite direction, you have a medium sized object, and you will need to reverse direction to avoid being caught.















If you have gear that increases your movement speed, take into consideration that you will be moving faster than Snippy. Once you have played several rounds of Snippy tag, you can apply the same idea to monsters in the wilderness if you ever need to stall them for time. Some monsters, like Tigers, have naturally enhanced movement speed, so you will not be able to outpace them easily. Do not even think about playing Snippy tag with a monster that has "Draw In"; you will lose every time.















Snippy always wins unless I can outlast her for 30 minutes, which is almost never, so here I am giving up for the day. I usually reward her with a picnic basket full of fish if she wins, but unfortunately, she gets offended if I do not eat the fish alongside her. I suppose it takes a while to get used the raw fish, but after a dozen or so, it is not so bad.



Notes:
a) "Draw In" is a unique ability used by NMs that can teleport anyone with enmity directly on top of said NM. This makes running away from the NM pointless.