I served five years in the Republican Guard

So, I've read (multiple times) what Genome has written on the subject. I've also seen ElmerThePointy's YouTube video. All really good stuff and I'd be COMPLETELY lost without it. I'm pretty sure I understand what needs to be done here:
(1) aim for mobs at a level around ({your guard skill} / 3)
(2) wear as much EVA- and Guard+ gear as possible
There's not much more to it than that. Right?

So at skill level 82 I should be aiming for mob level 27 or so. (82/3 = 27.333...)

Well, after spending the majority of this weekend trying to level my Guard skill, I think I have come to the conclusion that either (a) SE has changed something regarding guard skill-up with this latest update a week or two ago [HIGHLY doubtful] or (b) I am screwed because I waited too long to level my Guarding skill.

My situation: I'm a 75 MNK. My Guarding skill is REALLY low (85). My Evasion skill is capped (256). My Counter Rate is fully meritted (5/5).

My gear: I'm wearing very little gear and no weapon (so the mobs last longer). Total of EVA-19 and Guard+10. (Something weird to note: the gear makes my combat skills now say Guarding=95 and Evasion=256. Why would the gear make a modification to one skill but not the other?)

My camps/attempts:
(1) Fort Karugo-Narugo [S] fighting Lycopodiums (Mandragoras lvl 22-25): 45 minutes and 0 skill-ups. I figured they were a little too low leveled so I moved on.
(2) Sauromugue Champaign [S] fighting Lycopodiums (Mandragoras lvl 28-32): over 90 minutes and 0 skill-ups. I figured maybe with the guard+ gear I should aim for higher levels still, but according to your posts it's only the base-skill level that makes a difference.
(3) a few other areas were attempted with various mobs at an appropriate level (jungle, etc...) but all of those were completely unsuccessful as well.
(4) Bibiki Bay fighting Alraunes (Mandragoras lvl 37-40): 6 hours and a total of only about 2.5 skill-ups. Skill-ups were 0.1s, 0.2s and 0.3s. (Which seems like just the perfect range for me to be getting them frequently, no?) I also got 0.8 of it all in a span of about 3 minutes. (Very beginning of 2/29/1071, Watersday, Full Moon (100%)... if that makes any kind of difference to anyone researching when it's best to get skill-ups.) The rest of the skill-ups were spread out and probably 45-60 minutes in between. /sigh

My method: (Same as I've seen/read.) I'd pull about 8-10 mandys and run near a wall or onto the pier to get them to line-up properly, then aim myself at (a) something in the distance (which just got annoying because I'd have to reposition frequently if the mob moved) or (b) one of the mandys that was slightly off to the side, then angle myself so I'm facing the rest of the group, but the targeted one was just ever-so-slightly "unable to be seen" so that I was engaged but not actively killing anything. I could get a group to last around 30-40 minutes until they would start dying off from my counters or until I started getting worried about my health from lack of TP (I was /DNC for Curing Waltz II).

So... Am I doing something wrong? Or am I just screwed because my other defensive skills/abilities are just too high? (Guard can't proc unless EVA and counter are bypassed.) They were missing a LOT but I'm pretty sure Guard was procing fairly often; I wouldn't necessarily see the animation, but they would consistently hit me for 10-22... and then sometimes (25% of the time perhaps?) they would only hit me for 5.

Am I just going to have to go level PUP and slowly build my guard on that job? (because my EVA will be capped MUCH lower) Or maybe just go find a character to borrow to {Level Sync} myself down to force my EVA down too??

I'm kiiiiiiinda getting frustrated here. Especially when I read that other people are getting 22 levels in a matter of 3 hours. /sigh

Suggestions: {Yes, please.}

Rehab is for Quitters

Ara (who's blog I just realized late last week, I can finally view again) has finally stated that he is definitely not going to be coming back to FFXI.

Then, purely coincidentally I might add, Hybrid tells me Friday night (heh now that I think about it, it was probably only like 5 or 6 hours after I found out about Ara) that he will most likely be quitting FFXI for good also.

Ara's reasons were somewhere around the lines of: (1) having too much fun in other online games and (2) not wanting to pay for an FFXI account (and paying-up on an outstanding balance or something too).

Hybrid's reasons: (1) woman issues (in order to spend more time with the gf, he's gotta quit the game. it just takes up too much of his RL time.) and (2) monetary issues (it's tough to hold down a full-time job and make rent, car payments, school payments, buy groceries, keep the lil' lady showered in gifts, etc... and still try to live it up as a P.I.M.P.)

So, my Friday night was kind of a downer.

I was actually going to purchase the security token and the ACP expansion, but now that 2 people that I can really trust in-game are definitely not coming back, I'm hesitant. Plus the fact that Treu's chickie will be graduating in a couple months and will probably also try to drag him away from the game... I just may not have anyone left! ; ;

Well, not really. I still have good times with all of my {sky} buds. (ie. gettin constantly kicked in the shins by Nomar... randomly screaming "Hooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"... giving nicknames to people...)

But I'll tell ya, once Treu quits the game, life at work will get uber boring. I mean, what the hell are we gonna surf for and talk about all day at work from then on?!? D:

Well, on the bright-side: Disdain is finally making appearances online more and more frequently now. And he's still got 2 friends he's bringing into the game. So I guess I have that to look forward to. :)

Only 2 more weeks until I can finally get my Monday and Wednesday early-evenings back again, and thus can get like 6-8 more hours of game-time (or sleep-time!) per week. :)