Snow Covered Shadow

What do you find in the cold desolate region of Xarcabard[S]? A big bad flying dragon, that's what.

I was invited to help kill Zirnitra recently, and I got to tell you, it was a fun fight. We had summoners spam Garuda on it as it has this Aoe knockback TP move that it uses alot and it resets hate as well if you get hit by it, although it does no dmg.

The first 50% of the fight was easy with each Garuda's predator claw doing 2% off its hp. Below 50% it did this AOE that silenced everyone in range and did alot of dmg, killing a few people, knocking my hp down abit as well.

But we recovered and kept on sending Garuda to keep knocking off its hp bit by bit.

It dropped some materials and two Ebur Pigment, but sadly it didn't drop the Hightail Bullet they wanted. I got one of the Ebur Pigment since no one really needed it. At least now, I can make my Ebon Jerkin into a Ebur Jerkin.

Crawling Forward

That is what it feels like when you want something to drop.

I've been camping this scorpion NM for three days cause it drops two items which I need, well, actually one more than the other. If you are wondering what it is, it drops two different items that is needed to make new Ebon Harness to Ebon Jerkin and Ebon Frock to Ebon Tabar, both of which drops off this NM, but the one I want more is the one to make Ebon Jerkin.

This NM only uses Cold Breath as its only TP move which does flat 125, 250, 500dmg depending on its HP and binds.

My first attempt was soloing this on Bst/Nin but it has its risks as a mischarm may be dangerous as I don't have movespeed to run away. After a few sucessful as well as unsucessful runs, I decided to try it out as Smn/Nin as I have Herald Gaiters to keep my distance.

Was easier on Smn/Nin as you do not have to worry about mis-charms, but Carby sure takes a while to solo it on its own. I decided to try something new after a few times of Carby soloing, something riskier but faster, Garuda kiting.

The plan was simple, pull the NM out of the room with Carby and then keep your distance with the NM. Once you have a good distance, summon Garuda and predator claw the NM when it gets close, which is why /nin helps. This method has its risks as you may get cold breathed when you predator claw it. Once Garuda has done its blood pact, keep running and recasting shadows if needed and unsummon Garuda and keep running to regain MP using elemental siphon when you have good distance to cast the elemental and siphon. Repeat till NM is dead.

Drop rate on it is horrible though, I went 1/11 on the Ebon Jerkin item, but at least it is a two hour repop NM, so it wasn't that bad I guess. >_>"

Of Cinder And Fewells

This new synergy is quite fun, that is if having something blow up in your face is your ideal of fun.

As this is a new craft, everyone, their dog and their dog's flea was trying it out. But first you need to complete a quest before you can start.

So off I went to the Metalworks in Bastok, and along the way I can say hi to my old man, Cid, not like he'll notice since he's always soooo busy.

Next, I had to gather some materials, some had already shot up in price due to everyone trying to get a head start. Good thing the other stuff can be easy to get.

So after a while, I gathered all the materials needed for the quest and I'm now a member of the Synergy guild, yay !
I found Synergy kinda fun as you only need a supply of Fewell to skillup since failing the Synergy does not lose the materials, and Fewell can be replenished with crystals or Fewell Orbs which being a Alchemy item, I was able to make and HQ easily.

Ok, so now the catch, while you are synergying ( is that even a word? ) you can overload the furnance and it will blow up and damange you, yes you heard me, DAMAGE you. So much for crafting mules lol.

So that being said, skilling up was as easy as spamming the "enter" button as all you need is to feed it Fewell untill the furnance's HP reaches zero, which ende in automatic failure. Refill your fewell if needed and repeat till it reaches cap.

It took me about two days, but I reached the current cap of Lv50 Synergy and made my Alchemist's Apron into an Alchemist's Smock.

Booming In The Ruins

The new patch that FFXI had around November came with alot of new NMs, so many in each zone.

One of them dropped something a friend needed for his Pup. Off we went to fight Boompadu, some big hulking golden ( looks more like piss colored to me ) robot thingy.

We had tried it as Blm/Nin but hate was kinda wonky and it was hard to cast spells with a big robot chasing you down as it always like ot switch target when I am mid-casting. We won the first time but not after calling in a few more friends to bring it down, and not before I had my face on the floor more than once.

Round two !

This time I came Cor and did the usual run, quickdraw, run quickdraw around the four teleport rooms. This time it was so much easier with each quickdraw doign 2-3% of its HP.

I had held it at 3% so my friend could change to Thf and come back, it dropped the pants he needed, which was good.

Cor is so fun some days lol.

When It Rain, It Pours

Two weeks ago, we had our very first usukane (35) feet drop since the salvage group started, which was in March this year.

The problem with Bhaflau Remnants is that you have to go tru some trouble to trigger the "warp" to the room where this Rampart will keep popping monsters, it has the chance to pop a NM, which has a chance to drop the required salvage piece.

With that said, we have been getting trouble with the 2F Rampart popping all normal bees and not the NM for a long time.

So that day, we saw our first NM bee in months and maybe we broke salvage but, it actually dropped the usukane (35) feet.

So, two weeks later, I had managed to saved up some gil for my Ares's Cuirass, which I have had all three pieces long ago since I got the 35 piece cause everyone else in the group already has it.

Then the following day, we went to Bhaflau Remnants again cause another member also needed the usukane (35) feet. So like any other run we did the required stuff, and poped the Rampart. It seemed like another "lolbee" run with nothing but nq bees popping, but then, the NM popped and it dropped our second usukane (35) feet, then soon after that, a second NM popped and that one also dropped. This time Eragon got it as he was next in line.

So they said if a third NM popped, it was mine since I have the 15/25 pieces and I went "Yeah right". So, just to spite me, a third NM popped. This time I went "As if it will drop lol". Ok, so salvage has a great sence of humor cause the NM also dropped another 35 feet.

Remember Rikku's Law? Well its true.

So yeah, I got two salvage gears in under two days. And I think we just broke salvage, if you know what I mean hehehe.

Into Darkness ( Part 3 )

Today I decided to get the last part of my Drk AF quest done as my Drk is 60. I farmed up the item needed in Beadeaux which is needed to pop the three NM, yes you read correct, three NMs for the quest.

I was contemplating between going Pld/Dnc, Rdm/Blu or Rdm/Dnc for this part. I ened up deciding on Rdm/Dnc cause I would put the TP to better use with waltzes as oppose to using MP to cure myself.

So geared up, I made my way to Middle Delkfutt's Tower and got ready for the fight. It was against two skeleton and a weapon NM.

Decided to take out the Blm skeleton first then the other skeleton and finally the weapon. I ended up having to recast stoneskin alot but the fight gets easier once I've killed the Blm skeleton, since there is only two left. I then took down the other skeleton without much trouble, then the weapon NM.

Was a rather fun fight though.

Look Who Had The Last Croak !

Croak.... I mean.... laugh.

After so many months of Zhayolm Remnants not dropping my morrigan (35) feet, it finally dropped last week. This is our first morrigan (35) feet drop as well.

Run was like any except the 5F frog dropped usukane (35) hands, when it usually drops nothing for all our effort.

So we got to the 6F frog and as usual I felt as if its gonna be another "no-drop" run, but I always had that small hope it would, so when it was down to 5%, I closed my eyes.

I opened my eyes after I heard the battle music stop to see:
You find a pair of Macha's Pigaches on Poroggo Madame.
Everyone was "OMG DROP!" in party chat.

This puts me at 3/5 complated Morrigan with me only missing the (25) hands for 4/5.

It looks really nice too and so does the stats:

Into Darkness ( Part Two )

Now that my Drk is pass Lv 50, its time to complete my second of three quest.

This was a rather straightforward quest, I just have to go to Ordelle's Cave to kill three NMs.

First one was a weapon, which I had to trade a darksteel ingot to pop, I had actually forgot to read up on the part about the darksteel ingot and had to go back to town to get it. It dropped an axe, which I needed to pop the second NM.

The second one was another weapon, this one dropped a sword when killed.

Third and lastly was a ghost, not much there otehr than it has ice-spike which I couldn't dispel.

They weren;t much of a kick although I took some damage when they managed to take down my stoneskin but nothing serious.

After killing all three NMs, I zoned out of the cave, got my cutscene and my AF feet.

Into Darkness ( Part One )

Nothing much has happen lately worth posting about, so I went to do my Drk AF quest to spice things up. First up is the Lv 40 weapon.

Another one of those go here talk to this guy and go there and talk to another guy and go way over there and kill some NM.

So I went over to Giddeus to fight the NM when I bumbed into "an old friend", a NM that drops Monster Signa (staff), who apperently was up and UNCLAIMED. Poked it a few time and he went down, not staff though...

Went on to kill the quest NM with ease and returned back and got my Raven Scythe, which I tossed on the spot cause it sucks. Hehehe.

Croak !

Zhayolm Remnants is annoying sometimes...

The other day we went for Zhayolm Remnants for salvage. On our first run, the 5F Poroggo Madame kept on spamming his charmga move which wasted alot of time. Sad to day we didn't have time to kill the 6F frog for my morrigan (35) feet.

On our second run, we did one of the 4F Poroggo Madame for marduk (15) legs for one of our members as she has both the (25) and (35) pieces. But since in order to pop this frog, we have to reach that floor in under 30mins, which means we will be unable to kill the other NMs, so we decided to go for the boss after the 4F madame.

The second run went rather smoothly. We killed the Chariot Boss with ease and it dropped two skadi (25) hands, which apperently is what we really wanted form the boss today, hehe.

I got one of them and another one of our member got the other, completeing both our skadi hands.

Now... if only Long-Armed Chariot would actually drop my morrigan (25) hands......

Don't Fall, It's Rather High Up Here

Just the other day, I got invited to my friend's sky LS. It was my first time up there for a long time, so it was nice to do something different for a change.

They asked me to get Pld/Nin so I went back to town and changed and came back up. We killed Brigadish Blade and tried to pop Despot, but another LS had gotten it. So we moved on to the next task, Susaku.

Susaku wasn't that bad other than a Rdm/Nin dying to chainspell. I ate some firaga III myself but survived. Too bad Susaku's evade is very high and I was missing quite abit even with sushi, but we managed to get that bird down.

After that we went to farm some Diorite to pop the(lol)Ulikumimi. We managed to get 2 Diorite (did they change the drop?) and some merits for a few members.

Overall, it was fun being back up in sky again after so long. Amazingly I can still navigate sky without having to always look at my map.

Oh well, I heard next week we're going to do Byakko, let's hope I don't die hehehehe.

Two Yagudos With One Stone

So I did some campaign today on Pld/Dnc. Its really fun compared to my other jobs I use in campaign cause I can easily tank two to three yagudos at a go and actually survive (Excluding the Boss) and thus getting alot of exp.

I have been camping in Garlaige Citadel[S] cause its one of my favorite spots as (depending on the week) yagudos keeps coming in waves and their attack path is very pridictable.

Only bad thing is campaign yagudo is the TP move that removes a random equipment slot (and its usually my weapon / shield ) and that usually makes me lose my TP.

But being able to cap the Exp every campaign is quite fun actually. I think I got like three merits today.

I'm Charging Ma Lazor !

What an exciting day, today was my Limbus LS's first Proto-Omega and we were (or maybe its only me, I don't know) scared yet excited at the fight. I spent alot of time the pass week reading up everything I needed to know about the fight since this is my first time planning a Proto-Omega.

I had planned all the apollyon battle strategies for all four zones and we managed to farm all four zones with seven to eight members with little difficuties, although it was abit rought at first when we were getting used to it.

The tougher one was NW Apollyon where the top three floors had boss like adamantotise , fafnir and a king behemoth at the top that cast meteors. We did pretty well on all floors skipping fafnir and made the win with 5mins to spare.

And then it came to the big one, Proto-Omega. We had both tanks, a Pld/Nin and Nin/Drk ping-pong Omega between them while the Blm did light nukes. I was one of the blm supposed to nuke gunpods when they appear.

Everything went smoothly except for the last pod when it switched into its final form. Both of us were casting but it ran out of range from the other Blm and well, the Pod raped me, litterally. You could say I was iPod-ed. Hehe.

By then we were already chainspell stunning Omega and I only managed to reraise and fire off a Burst II before it was dead. Dropped Omega's hind legs and Omega's tail.

I had won the bid and got the (Homan) legs, while the feet was free bidded by the other members.

Nothing like the smell of lazor (as if it has a smell) in the morning. Hehe.

Please Be Gentle, It's My First Time

First time always hurt doesn't it? Well, not this time.

We found Cerberus up, and as we were gathering (including job chaning), another LS had claimed, but they were low on members. They were doing alright untill I looked away for a moment, looked back and their paladin was down. Cerberus proceeded to rampage the rest of them.

We claimed shortly after the other LS wiped, and we managed to hold it till the rest of the members changed to their respective job and came back up. I was kind of scared being my first time on paladin taking Cerberus, although I have tanked him as Nin/Drk before.

After a while, we got a Drk/Nin to co-tank and I was asked to get Rdm/Drk. The time it took for me to run back to town change and run back, they had gotten it from 80% down to like 25% (Gate of Hades mode). I barely made it back in time to be in the second stun cycle and good thing I did he was in a GoH spammy mood today.

Cerberus went down pretty fast after that and Algol dropped.

As for the screenshot, I couln't get a better shot when you are tanking something this big.

Did You Get The Number Of That Horse

That's what most people will say when they get killed by Dark Ixion, well, it's either that or "MAN DOWN !".

Ixion is one of the HNM I like very much, only cause it is the few times I get to come as Ranger.

I'm starting to move towards Rng/Sam for long fights over Rng/War cause SAM sub-job gives me a 5-hit built letting me WS more, which is bad sometimes cause I end up pulling hate alot and I always keep forgetting to use my seigan/third eye macro before Ixion plows me down.

Spamming sidewinder is so much fun, 750 dmg a piece (if it doesnt miss), with arching arrow hitting on average at 600 dmg. Although this isnt the best dmg I've done on Ixion, the best being a 1,600 dmg sidewinder with WAR sub, I do seem to be putting out more WS over time so I guess the dmg adds up.

There are still some stuff I'm missing on my ranger, namely Vali Bow (I hate you Eastern Shadow) and my {dream} {gun}, the Annihilator. Something that I am slowly working my way towards, for those of you who know me, yes I know its been three years but I'm still trying, its just that money isnt as easy to get as it was three years ago before the great RMT slump.

Ah well, another Ixion down, doesn't look like anything else to do, I think I'm going to skillup my shield.

Om Nom Nom Nom

That's the sound Sandworm makes when it sucks you in, well, at least I think it does.

{Time for Work}

We got Lambton Worm inside and other than a few unfortunate death (including mine) we took it down rather well.

We were low on members so our black mages had to nuke and nuke and nuke. Well Lambton worm didn't like it and ate me up (litterally). Blm exp buffer going down.......

The same can't be said for the drops though.....

A pair of Oily Trousers,
Guivre's Skull,
Damascene Cloth
and a Venomous Claw.

I was hoping for an Ancient Torque though but at least we got the kill.

A Marid And Some Pamamas

What has a bunch of pamama got to do with a marid?

Apperently a certian ZNM marid likes it, so I decided to go have a look. And so Iriz Ima was found.

Was a rather long fight around 1hr 15mins, since I don't have top end gears for my Corsair's quickdraw setup, but I was averaging 330 dmg Ice Shots. Just kept running around the tower at the secret enterance to whitegate.

Rather smooth fight start to end, only resisted heavily at 1% making my Ice Shots do 36 dmg. Considerding it was my first time, I think I did ok.

Now I can pop Dea, though I think I need abit more work on my Corsair before I decide to solo Dea.

Rikku's Law 101

Have you ever wondered why in Vana'diel do you spent hours (if not days) farming coffer keys while other people seem to get it to drop on their first few kills?

Well, I have discovered a couple of theories from all my time adventuring around the great lands of Vana'diel, and most if not all of those theories are extremely accurate (at least to me).

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Chapter One : Items

The item you want will not drop (at least not without hours and hours of camping) when you want it to drop.

The said item, when dropped will usually drop off the next monster that you kill (which would be after hours of farming).

On the other hand, stuff that you were NOT camping for (this includes junk) will always usually drop very fast.

When farming (coffer keys/ quest items), the said item will not drop even after hours of camping, but when you have finally given up and decided to kill the last monster before leaving, the chances for said item to drop is extremely high (either that or the following monster AFTER the one you killed would drop it).

Chapter Two : Monsters (Including NMs)

The chances of finding a random NM up, unclaimed, is extremely high when you are either not prepared (wrong sub-job or lack of gears), or when you are on some low leveled job incapable of killing said NM.

Lottery pop NMs you are camping would either not pop or in the even it does pop, will not drop the item that you are seeking (unless it is a 100% drop).

When camping 21-24 hr repop NMs, when you have the luck (or lack of ) of getting the TOD and there is no one else camping, the chances for a server maintenance the next days is morderately high.

When a 21-24 hr NM(HNM)'s window is going to be open within your time zone after weeks of being stuff in the other end of the time zone, the chances of a server maintenance to reset all TODs is high.

When camping NM and there are other people also camping the same NM, the chance for it to pop BEHIND you (resulting in a lost claim) is greatly increased.

When pulling monsters (in EXP PT) the chances for the monter to link with other monsters increases the more you don't want it to link.

When pulling monsters (in EXP PT) the chances of a monster poping near the camp (which would result in linking/ aggroing) is very high.

When trying to sneak your way pass sight based monsters, the chance for it to turn around and see you as you walk pass increases the lower your level is compared to the monster, and in the event you do not aggro it, the chance increases for each other PT memeber atempting to do the same.

Chapter 3 : Travels

When taking airships/boat the chances of it leaving just as you reach the door is greatly increased when you are in a rush.

When you require a specific teleport, you would be unable to get it even after shouting for a long time (this includes Retraces). The chance increases the greater you are in a rush.

When you are rushing off to somewhere, the chances of finding unclaimed NMs is high. (see Chapter 2)

When adventuring off in the far (and deserted) corners of Vana'diel, the chance of forgetting an Instant Warp scroll (or any form of warp) is very high. This applies to jobs incapbale of teleporting/warping.

You would more likely run into Besiedged while walking towards the Chocobo Stables in Al'Zahbi to grab a chocobo then you would when you actually want Besiedged to skillup.(see Chapter 4)

Chapter 4 : Combat

While fighting in massive battlefields (Campaign/Besiedged), the chances of dying right after you re-raise from some random unseen AOE is very high.

The chance of having you buff removed in one second after spending the last 5mins buffing up is high.

After fighting in a long Besiedged/Campaign, the chance to D/C is proportional to the amount of EXP you would have earned if you didn't D/C.

Just when you think this is going to be a nice long campaign battle, it ends just as you get your allied tag.

The chance of the enemy using a deadly TP move at the moment you have no shadows up (which would result in your death or that the next hit would kill you) is high.

The chance of the enemy using AOE to wipe your shadows just after you have casted it, is also as high.

You would usually get killed not long after your re-raise wears.

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There is actually more, but this post is already long enough, I'll save it for the next time. Hehe.

Rikku's Back !

Thats right, I've dusted up my old blog after years of neglact.

Alot of things have changed in the lands of vana'diel. During this span of time, new lands were found and even time paradox discovered.

Well, thats enough of the world ! Rikku has grown as well. My current list of Jobs are (in order of getting it to 75)

Warrior
Ranger
Ninja
Summoner
Corsair
Black Mage
Red Mage
Paladin
Thief

Yeah, thats alot of jobs and my moghouse is being stuffed to the ceiling at the moment with all my gears (and junk).

Well, I'll try to post some glamor shots of my jobs when I find that Soultrapper 2000 I have somewhere in that pile of junk in my moghouse. Now... if only I remembered where my moogle put the key to the door......