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31Aug

Suquamish attains level 75!

“Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it.”
– Greg Anderson

Suquamish is officially a level 75 Paladin. Level seventy-five did not come roaring in after an epic battle with a beast. Instead, Suquamish reached the level cap in Final Fantasy XI in a Campaign battle working for another bit of Iron Ram gear, solo’ing one of the standard enemy soldiers.

The feeling about reaching level cap was mixed.  Relief and a fair amount of pride in saying I went the distance in a MMO known for it’s grind.  However, there was that small amount of remorse.  As the quote says, it’s the journey, not the destination.

It was serendipity that 75 came with the Campaign battle that allowed the purchase of the Iron Ram hose so there was a small bit of celebration to have.  Without further ado, here’s Suquamish — 75 Paladin:

29Jul

Field Support almost makes things too easy.

I’m currently leveling RDM as a sub to my Paladin for solo work, and a couple days ago I hooked up with a Level Sync Qufim party, Ninja tank, Beastmaster, Ranger, Black Mage, Red Mage (moi!), and White Mage.  A nice balanced party.  Things went okay, except the Ninja was having problems keeping hate off the Mages.

With only Utsusemi: Ichi, our Ninja was bound to take some heavy damage.  To boot, although I was successfully Slowing, Paralyzing, and Blinding our prey, the poor guy was having a tough go of timing his Utsusemi casts to get shadows back up.  So the White Mage or myself would throw out a big cure and the Crab/Pug would come after us.  If it wasn’t us, it was the Black Mage after tossing out an unresisted Thunder or Blizzard.  Ever single one of use managed to get KO’ed as a result.

Then our Ninja disconnected and never came back.  No tanks were seeking, so I offered to bring in my Paladin if the party leader could find a mage to replace me — which he did pretty easily.  The party wasn’t happy though.  With the Ninja we had been getting some okay XP, sometimes getting up to chain 4.  It was clear they considered bloodtanking passé.  There was much whinging about how the XP was going to go down, but everyone would put up with it just to get the next level.

I was pissed off.

I’d been through Qufim on my Paladin, Thief, Warrior, Ninja, Bard, White Mage, and now Red Mage.  Qufim is exactly the place you want to have a Paladin.  The monsters hit hard, and with the Pugils, they hit fast too.  The critters are high defense, so battles aren’t going to be rapid.  You want a tank that can take in the face, and survive for awhile under the beat down.

  • It’s worth noting that SE has introduced “Fields of Valor” (FoV) to FFXI, and part of the FoV mechanic is “Field Support.” This allows you to get some advanced support for your character.  The Ninja had opted for Regen, I picked Refresh and Regen.

We level synched to our lowest member — the mage that replaced me, which put us at exactly the same level the Ninja was when we started.  I was hell bent to show them that Paladin was the better tank in this circumstance.  I knew the field support was going to help, but hory crow!

I NEVER dropped below 50% HP, and I never dropped below 25% MP.  I almost never rested, and the only reason we didn’t chain endlessly is because we ran out of monsters.  With Refresh at that level, I could cast Cure on myself with wild abandon.  Nothing could peel the hate off me, and I’m pretty sure the White Mage was bored.  Losing 50% of my HP because of the Pugils TP attack?  *yawn*  Losing 50% of my HP because of a Puglis TP attack and the Black Mage getting Blizzard to land unresisted?  No problem-o. A quick Weapon Skill made the monster quickly forget the mage.

In no time we burned through 2 levels, and everyone in the party was now high enough level that we weren’t getting good XP.  We finished off our last FoV assignment and called it a night.

Just to rub it in, I sent the two biggest whinners a /tell saying: So, would still rather have had a Ninja tank?

I got no answers, which made me feel even more smug.

05Jan

Energy is equal to desire and purpose.

So I’ve been very silent on the blog as of late.  I’d like to blame it on the holidays.  Christmas and New Years were busy — I went out of town, and I didn’t have as much opportunity to log into FFXI.

However, I’ve been completely absent from the game.

I lack a desire to play FFXI currently.  Perhaps I’ll get out of this funk, but as I look at it, FFXI has turned into a game I’m no longer interested in.

I do have a purpose — a couple in fact.  Hitting 75 on Paladin, and to get that damnable Iron Ram armor from campaign.  The problem is, hitting 75 on Paladin, for the most part, means doing it via level synch since most people don’t want to fight things that require a tank at the upper levels.   Likewise, getting the Iron Ram armor means endless time in Campaign raising the next 100K Allied Notes for the remaing bits.

I have little desire to do either.

Level synch parties are wonderful sometimes, but I really want to be able to skill-up my sword and shield.  To do that, I need to go after things that (A) are close to my true level, and (B) going to try to hit me back.  Putting parties together or simply finding ones that are willing to be anything but TP burn have become just this side of impossible.  TP burns are difficult for Paladin’s to compete in against Dragoons, Samurai, Warriors in terms of DD, and they do nothing to advance ones shield skill since the objects is to not get hit at all.

Campaign is a nice diversion, but I’ve grown quite tired of it having gotten my first 100K allied notes (and two pieces of Iron Ram armor).  It offers nothing new, and frankly is more of a grind than standard XP.

Then there’s the latest updates.  On paper they’re good, but the implimentation has given FFXI a slightly different flavor that doesn’t sit well with me.  The game is longer allows me to enter a state of suspended disbelief.

Perhaps a break will let me get more excited about advancing, until then, I think I stay out and catch up on reading, programming, and generally doing all the things I suspended to play the game.

09Oct

I won?

On Wednesday 08Oct2008 @ 10:49PM Pacific, Suquamish of Bahamut, a level 70 Paladin, faced off against Maat and emerged victorious.

It was on a whim I decided to give Maat a try.  I had planned on camping for a Jelly Ring, and farming up some Gil to get some new equipment… But I had this testimony burning a hole in my Mog Safe, so I geared up, and decided to give the old man a shot.  I went in with the following, fully expecting I’d need a second round:

Chemical assistance:

Gear Worn

That’s right.. I went in with almost full AF.  I eschewed my Haubergeon hoping to evade a few of his attacks with my Mithra’s Agility ( which, in hindsight, seemed to have worked out).  I also used my Smilodon Mantle over my beloved Amemet Mantle for the small defense boost.

My strategy for the fight was to use as little magic as possible for curing, saving my MP for the skill I feared most — Asuran Fists, and for using Flash against Maat every chance I could.  Likewise, I’d save Invicible for his TP move.

There’s a superstition that says Maat gets the same stats you do when you enter — including gear, so I went in nekkid.  Once I was in the BCNM, I used Protect IV, Shell III, and rested to full MP equipping my Parade Gorget.  Once I was at full MP, I geared up (swapping the Parade Gorget out for my Shield Torque), ate my Rabbit Pie, and started running toward Maat.

After my first swing, I Flashed, downed the Au Lait, the Yagudo Drink, and cast Reprisal.

While Reprisal was up, I concentrated on keeping my HP full using Hi-Potions, and using Flash as often as possible.

When Reprisal wore off, I popped Sentinel, and continued the Hi-Potions and Flashing.  If a Hi-Potion didn’t restore me to very-near full health, I’d use a low tier Cure (I or II).  As I used Sentinel I noticed my TP was over 100%, but Maat used Invicible, so I saved my TP.

Shortly after he used his Invicible, Maat had enough TP to use Howling Fist, which made a mess of me.  A Shield Bash and Cure IV got me out of trouble.  In the mean time, I just waited for Maat’s Invicible to wear off.

Once Maat started taking damage again, I returned Maat’s the favor of Howling Fist by using Vorpal Blade (swapping in/out the Fourth Gauntles and Royal Guards Collar) - which chewed up a decent amount of Maat’s HP, putting him below 50% HP.

I was at almost full HP.  By this time I was really happy I had gone in with my Carnage Sword instead of farming up Gil for an Espadon +1: The HP Drain had triggered several times was indeed a help.

I kept an eagle eye out for any message starting with “Maat readies…” With Sentinel gone I used Rampart and continued the application of Hi-Potions and Flash as needed.

About the time I ran out of Hi-Potions, and Rampart had worn off, I saw Maat’s HP was getting a bit low (35′ish percent?).  I was still at near full HP, but I popped Invicible on the intuation that Asuran Fists was coming.  I certainly didn’t want to get one-shotted having come this far.

I also had over 100% TP, so I Flashed, saw Maat use Asuran Fists as I unloaded another Vorpal Blade.  In reaction I used my Icarus Wing, and as I was mashing my Vorpal Blade macro I saw:

“Hm. That was a mighty fine display of skill there, Suquamish. You’ve come a long way…”

I put away my sword, got teleported to the BCNM exit, and sent the following message to my LS:

>>> I won?

07Oct

Level 70 Paladin comin’ through!

So I hooked up with a tremendous party last night.

They weren’t just good, they were video-game-god-like.  Level 65 sync, we were chaining well into the teens.

One Samurai subbed Thief, and constantly made sure to WS using Trick Attack off me (as available). Likewise, the Thief split his Trick Attack and Sneak Attack by TA’ing off me, then moving to behind the monster and SA’ing.

Fights rarely lasted more than one hate building cycle (Provoke, Cure, Flash, Cure), and we weren’t focusing on pink feather dusters (a.k.a. Colibri).  We taking monsters that actually have some teeth (and fire) — Magmatic Eruca and Sicklemoon Jagil.

What was particularly funny was the second Samarai subbed Ninja.  Given the other Samurai’s help, and the Thiefs assistance, with my own work to keep hate, he never was able to gain the upper hand on enmity, thus his shadows (and and subjob) were useless.

The party took me from 12K into level 69 to 13K into level 70 inside of 2 hours.  I ended up dying twice because of particularly strong Incinerate TP moves from the Magmatic Eruca (on Firesday), but who cares, it was intense and fun.

…And I’m at a point I need to gear up and face Maat for Limit Break 5.

08Sep

Campaign and the solo Paladin

I want the entire Iron Ram Sallet armor set, for my Paladin.  The trick to getting it is that you have to accumulate Allied Notes — which can only be acquired in the past.  Besides doing experience points parties in the past with Sigil on, the only way to get Allied Notes is to participate in Campaign battles and operations.

With work so busy and intruding into my game time, I was presented with a perfect opportunity.  I’ve been doing nothing but Campaign battles and operations with my Paladin to raise up the Allied Notes to afford the starer piece I want (the Iron Ram Sallet itself ).  As of now, I’m on the cusp of earning the head piece (only 2K notes to go), and I’ve taken my Paladin from level 67 to 68 (29,000 experience points).

This has also given me time to experiment a bit with subjobs while doing Campaign Battles.

Warrior, the standard subjob for Paladin, is useful for the STR and VIT boosts, as well as having very useful Job Abilities and Traits for upping damage (which earn you more experience and allied notes).  The downside to /war is that it really is a party support subjob, and doesn’t significantly give the solo Paladin any boost in survivability.

Ninja, as a subjob to Paladin is almost worthless in Campaign.  I know it works in some end game applications, and merit parties.  In campaign there are so many AOE attacks from the various monsters that Shadows go down way to fast.  Dual wield is okay, but if you happen to take hate, having a shield is more valuable.  All in all, /nin gives the solo Paladin in Campaign little of value.

Thief is interesting.  Sneak Attack is fun for the damage, and Trick Attack allows you to put the hate you’d get from a critical hit on somemone else (and absolutely no one expects this from a Paladin).   Thief also provides a boost to DEX, AGI, and evasion — not enough to be really noticable, but I suspect it makes a difference.   Finally /flee provides you the ability to get out of a sticky situation if need be.  Overall /thf provides more survival tools than /nin, but gets edged out by /war in ability to produce damage (which in Campaign is essential).

The last job I tested with was Dancer.  Dancer as a subjob versus Warrior is almost a wash in stats, save for STR.  Dancer’s Drain Samba and Curing Waltzes are also ideal in making Paladin one of the ultimate survival job in Campaign.  Dancers curative abilities combined with Paladin’s normal curing abilities and damage mitigation allowed me to tank the non-notorious monsters in Campaign for an extended amount of time.   However /dnc also gives you access “Animated Flourish” which is a lot like Warriors Provoke.  For Campaign, this ends up being useful because you also receive experience and notes for damage taken.  For me, /dnc was the hands-down winner for the solo Paladin.

11Jun

What to do?

Don’t do what you sincerely don’t want to do. Never confuse movement with action.

Ernest Hemingway said that to Marlene Dietrich. Like Marlene, I find those few words to be an excellent razor to apply to everything I tackle — including FFXI.

Lately, I find myself perpetuating a great deal of movement in the game. Amongst all this churn and turbulence I create, I see little headway made on any front.

Now that my static has disintegrated ( it’s not a bad thing, as many of the static members have positive RL events that keep them from the game ), I have time to pursue other options.

Grow the linkshell? Level my other sub-jobs (Thief, Dancer, White Mage) to 37? Forge another static? Go solo with Paladin to 75?

23Apr

Getting whooped is a great reminder

So one of the things I really love as a Paladin is the whole notion of being a knight engaged in brutal combat, holding back the enemy from my softer (but more potent) counterparts.

I’ve also posted previously about my attempts at balancing my gear being full defensive (turtle) and damage dealing.

I thought I had a pretty decent set up.  I’ve focused on +attack gear, with decent defense, and eating food that primarily improves my accuracy.  Using this strategy I’ve been able keep hate with a minimal amount of healing (MP lasts longer), and continue building enmity through damage (better hate management).  The added bonus is that I’m actually contributing to making the fight go faster (moar XP!).

Then there was last night.  We decided to go to Kuftal Tunnel and attack Robber Crabs — which were checking at low IT.  I had enough defense to survive, but at times I was using my Cures as much for survival as I was for hate build up.  We weren’t doing enough damage, so TP build up was slow.  That in turn didn’t allow us to set up our Skillchain + Magic Burst very often, nor did it allow our Dancer to be able to heal much.  All this means fights lasted far too long, and XP was slow, and there was more downtime.

There wasn’t much to do about this camp — the simple fact was that our party wasn’t optimal.  Although we had PLD, SAM, and WAR on the frontline.  DNC and COR in the support positions.  This left our backline alittle anemic — the mighty Flick was covering the entire backline with his SCH.  It’s not a bad set up at all — but we shouldn’t have been in Kuftal Tunnel.

So we decided to move along and tackle Lizards in Kuftal Tunnel.  Suddenly we’re doing plenty of damage, but so are the Lizards — to the tune of 140-200 damage a strike.  TP attacks were in the 500 damage range.  In short I was getting torn through like wet paper bag and turned into a MP sponge.

So lessons (re-)learned.  I’ve really got to start carrying around a full turtle set up as well as my damage dealing gear.  If I had, the higher defense could have made the crabs slightly less edgy, but would have definitely made the lizards far more doable.