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.