That which does not kill us makes us stronger

My current guard skill-up gear setup:

/equip main "Black Adargas"
/equip sub
/equip range
/equip ammo "Tiphia Sting"
/equip head "Genbu's Kabuto"
/equip neck "Guarding Torque"
/equip ear1 "Coral Earring"
/equip ear2 "Coral Earring"
/equip body "Temple Cyclas"
/equip hands "Ochimusha Kote"
/equip ring1 "Woodsman Ring"
/equip ring2
/equip back
/equip waist "Tilt Belt"
/equip legs "Temple Hose"
/equip feet "Suzaku's Sune-Ate"

Not much more time has been spent on leveling guard, but I have finally been buying some more equipment that should help me out in my quest to cap this thing out. I tried spending some time up in Wojaom Woodlands as MNK/DNC; even though I got some experience and plenty of items to sell on the AH or to NPCs, skill-ups were practically non-existent.

I'm still only sitting around 136 though. /sigh

Well, at least with the XP I earned, I got a 3rd Merit point and decided to unlock Invigorate. Turned out to be pretty nice for when I'm soloing too. My next merits will probably be dumped into Penance (4 and 5 points for the next upgrades) unless I still can't find a Salvage LS to join... in which case, I will just start filling up STR (9 points for the next upgrade).

As for my blackbelt items... I have been to all 3 camps several times over the past few nights/mornings and still haven't had any luck. I haven't seen Excellence claim an HNM yet. /cry And worse yet, apparently there's some guy ("Hanzo"?) who's been telling every HNM LS out there that he's willing to pay 5 million for his blackbelt items. So clearly it's gonna be a little longer til I can get mine. /sigh

Be vigilant...

... guard your mind against negative thoughts." - Buddha

This weekend was a Guard skill-up extravaganza! I'm really trying to keep a positive mind on skilling-up my guard because I KNOW it will be beneficial in the long-run for me. Especially during Salvage runs.

I started off by spending some time getting my PUP from 40 up to 42 and constantly seeing my Guard skill-up as I went along. Obviously I can only do this while tanking, which meant I had to solo again, but it was fun. I even started toying around with various heads and bodies on my automaton and finally started skilling up Lobo's ranged skill... although I doubt I will ever really cap this because it just doesn't seem all that useful. He'll probably always just be my back-up mage while I solo. But once my Guard hit about 94 (?) I decided to head back to SSG as MNK/RDM and see if my Guard started proc-ing more. And whaddayaknow?! It DID! :-D

Well, actually, I spent some time running around to various zones and trying different mobs before heading back down to SSG. (Davoi, etc...) Lower-level mobs (my guard skill / 3 = mob level) will get a better guard proc rate. Unfortunately, mobs in the 30's basically cannot hit me due to my high Evasion, and when they COULD get a swing through, I would counter it basically every time.

So I decided to head back down to SSG and use the same tactics I had used before. Now that I had GREATLY increased my Enhancing magic skill, hopefully my Phalanx and Stoneskin would be a little more effective too. (and yes, they were.) I think a set of Sahagins (typically 3 Marsh/MNKs at a time; I'd get a Bog/DRG every now-and-then when I couldn't find 3 MNKs, but the DRGs tend to hit me for a lot more, so I'd always end up deliberately killing them before my counters took them out.) would typically last around 20 - 30 minutes. In general, I got about 1.0 skillups per hour. There was a stretch where I was getting about 2.0 skillups per hour, but I decided to log off at that time because someone was running through killing everything in site, which meant I couldn't "target something in the distance" and make my mobs last longer.

My Guard skill is currently sitting at 135, which makes me feel pretty good. I'm still getting the majority of my skillups anywhere from 0.3 to 0.5 so I figure I can stick around SSG to do this for still quite a while before needing to find somewhere else to go.

Since this skillup procedure is pretty boring (I could engage and then walk away from my computer for 5 minutes at a time without the slightest worry of dying) I ended up watching a lot of tv (SciFi had a Land of the Lost (from the mid 1970's) marathon) and doing more reading up on some randomness. While surfing around, I found someone else's tips on how they got their Guard skill capped.
Funbard's Guarding Gear Sets: http://funbard.livejournal.com/20898.html
Funbard's Guard Camp Summary: http://funbard.livejournal.com/16613.html#cutid1

Unfortunately for me, his camps don't start until around guard level 160, but I guess I can start looking at those once I level up a little more. Hopefully I'll be up around that range by the end of this coming weekend.


In other news:
Our sky LS has been fairly uneventful due to the holiday weekend, but hopefully people will be back online and up in sky tonight.

Nomar gave the bank that he was holding to Lilmama and she started handing out payments. She also started giving out payments frmo last week's runs too. It was only about a 3.4 million gil bank, but only 6 of us asked for it, so we're still getting a nice payout.

Shiiga mentioned that she and Zal are finally moved in together and will probably be back online by this coming weekend.

Hopefully with all of this good news, people will begin to start spamming sky again and we can start using up all of these Kirin sets that we are sitting on.

In closing: life is good. I'm still leveling and therefore making slow progress on the AH rankings. (Yeah Pimpsterer, I'm ahead of you again! haha!) My guard skill-up is proceeding as planned (although, a little slower than I had initially expected). The weather is nice. The Cavs have been playing well. And I am in good health. Game on!

I scream, You scream...

We all scream for icecream!
er... I mean for Screamineagle!

That's right. Screamin finally FINALLY got his Byakko's Haidate last night! Woo hoo!!! Which, unfortunately, means he will probably no longer be joining us up there anymore, which *gulp* means Treu is more-than-likely done with sky too. I suppose he may stick around for another week or so just for payouts because we still are sitting on a couple Kirin sets, but then I'm sure he's out like a fat kid in dodgeball.

His BRD and SAM shall definitely be missed for Kirin burns, as will his RDM for farming, but he deserves a break. 4 years of sky tends to cause mental issues. (And I know this after only spamming sky for ... what... 8 months?)


Also, three cheers for Lastok! Bastok took over Sarutabaruta! So that was one more Supply Run Mission (outpost) that I can cross off my list. Only Ronfaure and Tavnazian Archipelago to go!


As for personal progress: I did end up putting that next merit into STR, taking it up to 2/5.

My whole "skill-up guarding" plan though... well, long-story short, it didn't work out like I had expected it to.

I went out to Caedarva Mire to kill some Chigoes. I MNK/RDM and throw up Stoneskin... which lasts all of 4 - 8 hits and it's gone. (not NEARLY as effective as I thought it was supposed to be.) And even worse, I would counter them every now and then and take out a third of their HP. (and this is me fighting barefisted too!) 6 Chigoes later, I decide to take this elsewhere because I had only gotten a single 0.1 increase to my Guard skill.

Next stop was SSG beyond the Mythril Gate to fight some MNK Sahagins. These worked out alright at first... until 2 respawned right behind me and took me out before I even realized what was going on. Again, Stoneskin basically made no difference. Hell, even Phalanx didn't seem to do anything. I swear, with Phalanx up, they were hitting me for 25-28. When Phalanx wore, they were hitting me for 22-25. WTF Mate? So I die. Had to bring Screamin down to Raise me. Then I start using him as a PL. Step 1: I attack 1 BRD Sahagin and run him around to aggro 2-4 MNK Sahagins. Step 2: Take out that initial BRD and the target something in the distance and, while still staying engaged, face the MNKs so that the only hits they're actually taking is from my counters. Step 3: Screamin cure-bombs me... and never takes hate because I haven't touched the other mobs. ^^ Well, after probably around 2 hours, I had still only gotten a single 0.3 skill-up. /sigh

So I give up and decide to get back to PUP. Yes, PUP. Fought a few randoms in Korroloka Tunnel and headed out to Altepa to kill Spiders. It actually went fairly nicely. With my h2h capped and fully-merited, I really didn't have any issues with my accuracy at all. And my automoton (Lobo) is pretty smart in knowing when to cast Silence and DoTs and nukes.... Having a PL helped because I was just soloing, but I ended up getting all the way up to 38 this past weekend. The Field Manuals helped a ton too. Att+ Food. Regen. Niceness. ^^

Pretty sure I'll be getting the White Turban once I hit 40 because I can then use Lobo as a backup healer in any party I join. ... OR I could go for the Black Turban and use him as a nuker, but then there's always the problem of him taking hate and dying on me. Yeah, probably WHM, but still not 100% sure. I also decided to get my RNG automoton head and body... but I don't even know why considering I will more-than-likely NEVER use them. Whateva.

Using Maneuvers more and more is definitely helping me understand how they work and how you can use them to control what Lobo does next. (Thunder to cast more often and for magic attack bonus. Water to reduce hate. Light to regen himself and to cure me. Dark to refresh himself. Earth for stoneskin. And obviously all of this depends on the attachments you have active too.)

Oh, and btw, while leveling PUP, my Guard skill increased about 3 full points. This might just HAVE to be the way for me to go... at least until I get my Guard up to around 100 or 120 and then start trying again on my MNK.

Another note: It definitely seems like a Full Moon helps with skill-ups. Again, it could be a coincidence, but whenever I'd see multiple skill-ups within a minute of each other, I checked the time and yeah... Full Moon. And just because I was curious, I did 3 quick little Leatherwork synths... and 2 of them gave me a 0.1 skillup. I'm about 95% convinced a Full Moon helps skillups now. But what do I know. I'm just a n00b. lol

THF @24. Almost have flee!

Aight. Enough for now. Back to work. haha

I bathe in their blood

And no, I don't look red from leveling my RDM lately...

[ For some quick/somewhat-disturbing humor: http://www.explosm.net/comics/1636/ ]

I think I'm finally done leveling my Red Mage!
I FINALLY hit 34 last night (I just haven't had much time to spend on getting RDM from 20 up to 34 lately), which means I can now cast Stoneskin and proceed with increasing my Guard skill. (MNK/RDM ftw?)

Well... I might not be COMPLETELY done with RDM just yet... because I think there was SOME reason for me to possibly want to get it up to 35. (Fast Cast II?? whatev.) I'll eventually be taking it up to 75. Eventually. It still won't be for a long long time though. Not til after SAM and SMN are there first.

{sky} has been keeping me busy lately (as always) but at least I'm finding time to spend on other important things... like CoP missions! I've already made it up to the 3-5 fight, which we will hopefully be doing tonight, assuming Sana and Nomar are online at a decent hour and aren't too busy. Otherwise I'll be heading off to {Dynamis - San d'Oria} with HellsBells and then off to start using /RDM.

I can only imagine that progressing through PMs will be easier and easier as we go along because I've had people constantly asking to join our group when we catch up to them. (someone is at 5-1, someone else at 5-2, someone else at 5-3, etc...) Oh goodie! Maybe I'll actually get to complete this!

The AH site shows that I have been making some progress in achievement points... and yet I'm getting ranked lower and lower each day on our server. WTF Mate? I still can never tell if this means that more people are signing up on the AH site or if more people are just progressing faster than I have been. /cry

Whatev. I'm happy with the progress I've made lately. :)

Other random progress I've made over the past few weeks include finally capping-off my Counter merits (5/5) and leveling PUP up to 30. And yes, soloing PUP is hella easier than trying to solo RDM... and a lot more {fun}! Those lil automatons are pretty smart, knowing when to cast Silence or finish off a skillchain, etc.... I also have another 6 merit points to dump into something tonight... which will more-than-likely be STR, taking it up to 2/5. I COULD get 1 merit in 2 other MNK Group 2 areas... but I figure STR would probably be a better choice for me at this point because it can still help out with other jobs (ie. SAM) and I don't really need those other Group 2 merits. They'd be nice to have to better my MNK and might possibly be a little helpful in Salvage if we ever start back up again... but I think I'm gonna stick with STR and THEN maybe into those other areas, because my next STR will cost me 9 merit points. ugh!

Treu and I have also been discussing possibly starting to get a gruop together for Salvage runs again. And after hearing last night that Lilmama now has all 3 items for her Marduk Feet (still needs crafting items) I think I'm really wanting to start up Salvage again. I crave Usu so badly, it hurts sometimes. /cry

We have a few people in mind that we are going to ask to join us. Some we really would like to have; some we will take just because we know they are good people that have jobs that we'd need and they wouldn't try to screw us over (ie. get their gear and then split). We're aiming to maybe start up our runs again in a couple weeks, but obviously that depends on everyone's schedule.

We'll see. We'll see.

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. :)

Nothing's right, I'm torn

ARGH!

Not so much the ARGH! as in "the Castle of Aaaaagh..."

You know, the kind of ARGH! that Charlie Brown yelps out when Lucy pulls away the football right when the ol' cueball is about to kick it.

Treu just pointed out to me the news about the new Square Enix Security Token.

Good news: Account Security - You will never have to worry about your account being hacked again (well, probably. There's always the chance that someone figures out what the root/random-key is to your account and can still get in.)

Bad news: Account Security - You will never be able to share your account with anyone. Like, when Treu is out of town, I won't be able to abuse him as my own personal PL. (heh, stop laughing. I know my PL skills suck. :-P) Or, like he already asked me to do for him this coming Sunday, I won't be able to get him into Dynamis - Buburimu (correction: Dynamis - Valkurm) (while he's at his v-ball game) so he can get his final Dynamis-clear to get access to Dynamis - Tavnazia. What if I'm still at work and the LS I asked to get my black belt items is killing Adamantois RIGHT NOW! ... Too bad. I'm at work. Treu won't have my password to log onto my char and run me out there to pick up my goods.

Good news: Inventory space - Inventory space OUT the WAZOO!!!

Bad news: You need this extra inventory space in REAL LIFE cuz you're now gonna have to carry this keychain around with you everywhere. No more spur-of-the-moment stopping-by Treu's house and gaming on his PS2, unless I take this thing to work with me every day.

I guess we could always just make sure we have our cellphones with us and then just TEXT my code to Treu when he asks. /shrug Assuming the text messages can be typed, sent and received quickly.

I'm torn. Don't know what to do. Inventory space would be godly... but at what cost?! (and i'm not referring to the $10 cost; the same price as an expansion pack.)

It has been discussed that we may just purchase the keychain for our primary characters (Khrone, Treubond, etc...), but NOT for our group-characters (Screamineagle, Annel, etc...). We'll see. We'll see.