Paladin's Ascension

Sometimes...

Pictures say it all.

The creation and destruction of Haubergeon

It's been a rather exciting week, sort of, with lots and lots happening. The main focus of my entry today is my recent expeditions into having a signed Haubergeon+1 synthed for me.




The signing in question was to be done by a good friend of mine, Muramasamune, known as Murameows and also known as Breaker of Damascus for reasons which will soon prove apparent;



First synth NQ, second synth almost critical break. Not the best start ever, but at least we've got the worst part out of the way now! I'll be sure to get him to break some more of my ingots soon. Of course, as if this wasn't enough insult to injury... Haubergeon +1 is a tier 1 synth. He goes to craft GP items, and when he synths the next item (also tier 1)...



THAT WAS MY HAUBY +1! Argh. So yeah, 0/2 thus far, we'll see how much further it goes next week or so. Damascus Ingots are spiked at the moment so I'm going to leave it alone for a bit. Let's see... what else did I get up to?

Well, after a lot of levelling recently... my RNG subjob is finished!



Style shot beneath! Gonna miss the look of Noct and that...



I do enjoy RNG to an extent, though it's woefully uncomplicated at this level, which is true of most DDs. I didn't use any set other than TP since it's just a subjob, but if I were to go back to it I would use full RACC for Barrage (HATE missing hits or even worse, full Barrages), then a meleeTP set to swap into between shots. Kinda perfectionistic but meh. No point really with a WS set yet since I'm struggling just to make the WSs land! Some epeen shots (all at level 32 due to level sync);





Just for reference, my RNG gear when it was finished;



Hawker's Knife/Hawker's Knife/Great Bow +1/Horn Arrow
Empress Hairpin/Peacock Charm/Drone Earring/Genin Earring
Noct Doublet +1/Custom M Gloves/Horn Ring +1/Rajas Ring
Nomad's Mantle/Brave Belt/Noct Brais +1/Bounding Boots

Custom M Gloves vs Noct Gloves +1... unsure. 3STR vs 2Racc at this level is sort of so-so; Noct+1 is probably better for TPing at the end but couldn't be bothered with it to be honest. Nomad's Mantle and knives aren't HQ'd but I didn't want to bother with that resale rate. As for PCC vs something like Ranger's Necklace, it is true that RNG gets a lot of accuracy and accuracy bonus traits, but this is something people exaggerate or don't abuse properly in my opinion. 5racc => 5ratk (pcc => rng necklace) is NOT a good tradeoff. The same RNGs who boast they have too much accuracy are those trading too much of it off and then eating sushi.

You have accuracy. USE IT. Eat meat. Do damage to your finest. Don't think "I have too much acc, let's remove a load of it for a bit of ratk/str" ... meat is your ultimate attack enhancer in this way, especially vs NMs with huge defence. A lot of RNGs are content to lose 5racc here, another 5racc there... and before they know it, they're eating sushi. I would strongly caution you against doing this. Equipment like Archer's Jupon, Venturer's Belt and such are all trash and should not be used in any serious situation.

Another thing I do not understand for the same reason is using a Staff in most situations... and then using sushi. Onehanding a Fransisca -- the cheaper of the two axes -- gives you 7racc/7ratk, vs 8str from Vulcan's Staff/Axe Grip. Cancelling str=>atk benefits, we get 7racc/3ratk vs 8str. One will obviously perform better on WSs, whereas one will help with DoT a lot more and produce more WSs for more overall damage, plus can be used to build TP. This gap only widens when you /nin with two Axes and get Kreigsbeil on top of that -- 6~7racc and 8ratk on top of that. 13~14racc/11ratk vs 8str. VERY easy to make that choice... plus Axes are good at building TP, far moreso than with a Staff (they can do fair damage over time too).

I would argue Staffs are only really best on mobs you never actually get the chance to hit.

In terms of other stuff I've done this week, it's been the debut week for my Nyzul Isle static, and in our very first set of runs;



Yay for a weapon whose WS I won't unlock until getting floor 100; I value my sanity too much to work on 5,000 WS points or so. Wish I could afford the Mythic too... Burtgang is broken. Lots of NMs to farm new weapons, lots of awesome drops;



Yeah, thrilling I know. WHM weapon dropped for Kirsteena and a second Brave Blade for Ruman, so it's all good. Congrats guys~

On the subject of swords, in related news... my Great Sword DRK is no longer gimp!


I didn't even die kiting him that time, though I had a few close encounters... Firespit manages to do huge damage very frequently and busts through shadows. Very annoying. Smartass of the week:



AH price ~300-350k! My 1h zerg DRK is happy. My aforementioned Haubergeon smash was probably to counteract my rare good luck I found here.

Been fighting some of the new NMs on a whim from the update to enter the BCNM for a shot at Gnadbohd's Helm (such a nice Hecatomb Cap alternative)... 3/8 items so far!



We would've gotten a fourth but we wiped to Cogtooth Skagnogg (warmachine, think Jagidbod's but 100x worse) at 1%. One. Percent. So yeah. Finally, for the main bulk of this post, I was called to fight Tinnin, aka the tier 4 Hydra ZNM. A very fun and epic fight in a unique battlefield... I loved the setting.



A shame the drops were so wretchedly awful. Oh well, very good fun. I died near the end to a rogue Serpentine Tail and the other PLD fell shortly thereafter so it turned into a BLM zerg. Nice and frantic. On a side note I hate Nerve Gas/Pyric Blast spam (Curse/Poison and Paralyze with large damage each respectively)!

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MIAH MENTION

She demanded one so here it is. She was finally planning to come back to the game to level her COR (I have AF needs... so sexy) but then it turned out her .dats rejected level sync. After a long struggle we rectified it then she logged in mortal fear of losing the effect of her Anniversary Ring before it was spent. She also doesn't like bald men.

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I may well add another section to this since I was requested to explain fSTR a little, but I'm tired now. Maybe later!

~ Raen Ryong

Tyranny

Tyranny. For those looking to join LSs, do NOT join one without a point system. Open /point LSs are too prone to tyranny, favouritism and discrimination.

Nice lootpool, especially when you are only missing those two pieces to complete your Homam set. Not when you are hated by your LS... yet again I was not allowed to lot these. Let's give a bit of background information though...

I have been a member of CetraSanctuary for nearing 13 months and have been fairly good with regards to attendance and effort invested at events. As such I had received a few drops... however, within the last 5 months or so, it has been intolerable. My Valor Surcoat has been given to a retired PLD (though no hard feelings towards him -- his was not the fault here), and they have cockblocked me on drops time and time again.

What's more, due to a disagreement with one of the sacks with regards to the starting time of an event, the following occurred;

Sorry for the small pic but if you can decipher that... yeah. Everyone I've spoken to agrees it was too harsh and hey, it just cost me rare Homam pieces and potentially future drops. I love how my thirteen month stint in the LS is so easily forgotten with a chance to abuse power. So, would you turn up for two weeks under a harsh unjust punishment knowing you are getting nothing out of it nor are likely to get things in the future? Yeah, I thought not.

Normally the thought of getting big drops and doing events with my friends propels me and excites me. However, given my bad drop record as of late and little hope for any future (if we get big drops from Einherjar, there is no way I would even be in consideration, simple as that... let alone this comparatively less valuable Homam and AF2 I hope goes freelot so I have a chance), along with not enjoying the general animosity of the LS... I am far from enthusiastic, put it that way.

Of course people from my linkshell will invariably read this but hey, this is my blog, this is where I state my very frank views. Of course the side of the story I am telling is onesided, so use your own judgment to decide. I'm not perfect, but I don't deserve to be treated as a trial member.

Angry. Disappointed. Confused.

Oh, and for the record, 0/2 X's Knife -_- empty box.

~Raen Ryong

And so it begins...

And so it begins I guess! I have thought about writing a blog of sorts for a long time, but just pushed the idea aside. I finally decided to give in and, well, this is the result.

My blog will consist mainly of ramblings about FFXI and other games, maybe a few mentions of real life stuff here and there. I have no idea how often I'll update the blog, or whether anyone will be unfortunate enough to stumble upon this and bored enough to read it, but meh.

May as well say a few things about myself since you all don't have the misfortune of knowing me!

I play Raenryong on the Bahamut server in FFXI, and have been doing so since October 2006. I actually owned the game for a much longer time than that, but I always put it aside because monthly fees scared me. Eventually I decided to give it a go and have never since looked back.

I chose Windurst because I liked the idea of a natural utopia of sorts (the hippie in me), and... well, err, because Mithra looked appealing! I decided to play as a Hume as an online persona of myself in a way, and chose the face model I use because it resembles me in a way (long hair etc) and in the most masculine way possible, I like the idea of a sense of grace and I feel that character has it.

That and the other face models either look like convicts or pre-pubescent boys.

At this time, my sister and I were playing using the same account and as such had to share, which was incredibly bad. She came under the name Sakurarules and eventually bought another account and now goes under the name Sakurawr, formerly Sakuraryong. Sakurarules is a mule of mine now!


I first began the game as a WAR and, like all noobs, had absolutely no idea what I was doing and probably died about 10-20 times on the way to level 7, which I was really excited about getting! A friend of mine, Masaeus, whom I met at Sarutabaruta's outpost sold me his leather equipment for cheap and I thought it looked so awesome and showed that I had come so far when I first wore it. Sadly, I am having trouble with finding pics like that so you'll have to look at me in subligar;

Hot I know. That picture there was from my very first proper Valkurm Dunes party for the record; not sure if the people above still play. I know I befriended Nyss after a very long party but she disappeared after that day and never reappeared...

Losia also there became a friend and disappeared for about a year and then reappeared!... then disappeared again. It's a shame really, when I think of how many people I have known and whom have disappeared. Such is life, I suppose. Carrying on this theme...

This is a screenshot showing another of my early friends, Koreana, who also disappeared not long after we met... we grouped up to hunt Spiny Spipi since we heard that it dropped this awesome 120k cape (we never found the worm).

One thing I really loved, and still continue to love about the game is the way it goes through different periods of days and night and just looks so visually good. I really loved the Sarutabaruta area and hoped it was much larger than it was; it was a whole world to me when I started playing and the gentle yet adventurous music I still adore today. It was just the embodiment of adventure: open plains, filled with both danger and enterprise and under a sky with different weathers and times of day and all of that. I'm a sucker for day/night systems in games, but I especially loved how it would seem more stormy on some days than others... the subtle effects really enthralled me.

Tell me this isn't awesome. A shame it doesn't actually rain and that... it would be even more amazing. Oh, and also...

... for the record, I did eventually find Spiny Spipi much later on and killed it -- very gratifying given how long I camped the damn thing. Never seen it drop to this day though...

My very first LS was DiveatFive which I got at level 26 (a stranger's generosity granted me my Magicked Skull for my subjob), and it was in this LS that I met a lot of people whom I would spend a lot of time with in future times, notably Seylie and Castille, who became long-term friends (though me and Seylie have since very regrettably fallen out, the friendship between me and Castille remains). A CoP static would eventually be formed from this linkshell; one which would endure up until the very end, when Neficus, one of the members, suddenly had to quit.

Had to finish CoP without Neficus sadly and he has not reappeared to this day. It was sort of because of this static that I got to know Miah so well, and would go on to form a long-term relationship with her that has endured to this day and hopefully will for a very long time still. She is really a wonderful person.

Another old screenshot...

We were trying to get Imani a Minstrel's Coat for his Bard but we ended up going 0/3 in the end... Imani still plays but takes month breaks at a time, really a shame. As you may have deduced from the above screenshots, my first job was Dark Knight due to a love for dealing damage, liking the utility of both magic and melee, and just because I thought it was cool. It was going to be between Paladin and Dark Knight, since I liked tanking and doing damage as my WAR (both roles were used in my first levelling experience). I did however come back for Paladin!

I really do and did love the look of Paladin! Thief was my third job and newest love and I have no idea what should be my fourth.

Well, hopefully this hasn't been too boring! It hasn't even touched on many aspects on my ingame life but it's not too bad of an introduction I hope. My Dark Knight guide is on ffxiclopedia so avoid at all costs! Feel free to critique it or anything. Also, my current jobs and their progress are listed alongside this blog so you can check at any time. Constructive criticism welcomed, though note that not all possible sets are shown.

The Dark Knight one will work as soon as Blogger realises it's not a spam blog, having to put it up for review now because it got locked...

But yeah. I will hopefully write more, look forward to it!

~Raen Ryong