Crawlers' Nest. Level 49. Defeats = 0
Western Altepa Desert. Level 49. Defeats = 0
As I feared, level 49 was just as bad as level 48. Well, not quite. This time I wasn't defeated at all. But it was excruciatingly slow. This week every time I checked Labyrinth of Onzozo it was occupied, so I had to try other areas. I am not sure I wanted to go there anyway, since I really don't like getting hit by Baleful Gaze.
My first attempt was back to Crawlers' Nest. I have never had good luck here, except perhaps my first visit some ten levels ago. I tried going to the Labyrinth Lizard rooms on the second floor. This is actually a decent camp. There are lots of lizards in each of the two rooms, ranging from Even Match to Tough. There is a small corridor between rooms that is safe to pull to, only containing two Witch Hazels (Saplings), both always Tough. I would Charm an Even Match Lizard, send it at a Tough Lizard, and use Heel to pull it to the corridor to fight. The best part about the lizards is they have very good drop rates. I got lots of Lizard Eggs, Fire Crystals, and a few Lizard Skins as well. This is a good place to level and make some cash at the same time. Though it should be noted that sometimes this area is farmed by high level characters, leaving you high and dry.
There are several dangers as well. First, all of the Labyrinth Lizards both agro and link. I few times I had to use Sneak to move around safely. But keep in mind the using Charm breaks Sneak, so you have to be very careful. The Lizards have a very small agro range from what I could tell, but a large linking range. Pulling them was very hazardous. Another danger was of course, Baleful Gaze. If the lizard uses this move on you, you will almost certainly be defeated. If your pet gets hit by it, you may have to prepare for a dangerous mid-fight pet swap. On the other hand, if your lizard pet uses it, the fight becomes way easier. Another danger is the Witch Hazels in the hallway. They link, but usually leave you alone, but if you use Sic and your pet does a area TP move like Fireball, you'll be fighting both saplings as well. Lastly, since you have to drop down into the lizard room, escape from the area is all but impossible if you run into trouble.
However, with all that said, my biggest problem with this camp was that I was just a little too low level. Far too often, everything in the area would spawn as Tough. This left me with no viable pets, and would have to try to convert them. Converting agro, linking Lizards is not the most fun of experiences. The one time I came close to defeat was when I was trying to convert a pet and got a Mischarm followed by a link, and then Tame failed. I was losing health fast and didn't have enough space to safely cast Cure III. I called a Crab Familiar using Call Beast, had it fight both Lizards and used Snarl, then quickly moved away to log out. I barely made it out in time.
I had terrible luck converting the pets to Even Match that day. They kept coming back Tough every time! Soon I got fed up and decided to leave. However, I think this place would be good at level 50 or 51. It would really help to be able to use the Witch Hazels in the hallway as pets. So reluctantly I headed back to Western Altepa Desert. The plan was just to grind it out on the Desert Beetles out there. It was very slow, but very safe. I was able to easily keep my Axe skill capped due to the ridiculously long fights. In fact, I got a new Weapon Skill out here called Spinning Axe! It is only one hit, but it's pretty powerful. I think I can finally retire my trusty Raging Axe. After I capped Axe, I tried to level Scythe out there too. My Scythe skill is way behind though, and that made the fights even longer. I had to switch back to Axe against Tough Beetles, otherwise my pet might uncharm mid-fight. Occasionally, I would break up the monotony by taking on an Antican Eques or Antican Retiarius. Antica are formidable foes. They have annoying TP moves like an area Blind, area Silence, and area Petrification. Also the Antican Eques would spam Cure III like there was no tomorrow. Still it was worth it to fight them sometimes just to get away from Beetles for hours on end. All I can say is thank the Goddess for the Empress Band! In fact, as I neared level 50, I even burned a charge off my Anniversary Ring to get though those last few fights.
But it was all worth it in the end. I am finally level 50!! I need to take some time off to farm up some cash to get several items, most notably an Apollo's Staff. Other items on my wishlist are Valkyrie's Mask, Spiked Finger Gauntlets, and Jaguar Mantle. But most importantly, I need to do some quests and missions and try for the mighty Gaudy Harness down the line.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Darksday, 7/20/1035
Western Altepa Desert. Level 48. Defeats = 0
Labyrinth of Onzozo. Level 48. Defeats = 1
Crawlers' Nest. Level 48. Defeats = 0
Gustav Tunnel. Level 48. Defeats = 1
Goddess, I hate level 48! It took several unsuccessful attempts to find a decent place to level. Actually, I am still looking for a good place. I ended up just grinding it out in Gustav Tunnel after traveling the whole world for a better place.
My first location was way out in Western Altepa Desert. I tried leveling in the desert once before, but I didn't like how far apart the enemies were. Not much changed this time around. I headed out to Revelation Rock in the middle of the zone. The first thing I noticed were several Incredibly Tough Antica roaming around. Okaaaay, so this place might be more dangerous than I was led to believe. I then noticed Very Tough Cactuars and Incredibly Tough Scorpions also patrolling the perimeter of the rock. They were far enough apart that I could avoid agro, but the place made me nervous. As I got closer to the rock, I noticed several little valleys along its sides. In each of those, I would find two or three Decent Challenge - Tough Desert Beetles. This was pretty convenient, because in each valley I would find a pet and prey. Theoretically, I could just run around the rock over and over again killing beetles with beetles. And that is exactly what I did for about 1/3 of level 48. It was slow. Really slow. Beetles have to be amongst the worst pets in the world. While not as actively dangerous to use as Bees, beetles have high defense and evasion, but really low attack. Each fight would take forever. Worse, for the first time in a long time, I would regularly take hate from my pet when it would go on a missing streak or just hit like a pansy for a while. Even worse than that, one fight lasted so long that my Charm on an Even Match beetle actually broke mid-fight! Not being a very patient Mithra, I soon got fed up and left for new areas, hoping for a faster ride. As it turns out, I probably just should have stayed.
A big problem with level 48 is that the camps I know of are pretty far from my base of operations, Jeuno. For a while, I Searched zones like Gustav Tunnel and Labyrinth of Onzozo only to find Beastmasters in my level range already there. Onzozo was particularly bad because often high level farmers would kill everything in the area, making the long trip there completely pointless. Today however, I got "lucky" and found Onzozo relatively free. I made the long Chocobo ride out there and arrived to see my camp was open. At this point the goblins were a little low, so I tried to go for the Cockatrices instead. The first cockatrice I saw was Very Tough, but I had a lot of Labyrinth Leech pets to throw at it. The fight was way harder than I thought it would be. I sent pet after pet only to see the beast rip them to shreds. Finally, I got the cockatrice down to about 15% health, so I sent a fresh pet and decided to help melee it down. Big mistake. Early in the fight it used Baleful Gaze on the leech, essentially leaving me petless. Then it double attacked me mercilessly while I desperately used Call Beast to get a Crab Familiar. I used my new ability, Snarl, to allow the Crab to get the cockatrice's attention. Things looked like they were going well again, and soon I joined the frey again, hoping to finish the beast off. I had to be at less than 10% health now. My crab was getting hit hard, but between the two of us we would be able to kill it. Or so I thought. I didn't want to take hate again, so I was waiting on the Snarl timer, ready to use it as soon as it was ready. Just as I was about to hit it, the cockatrice turned on me and used Baleful Gaze! I was petrified and helpless to stop the slaughter that hen ensued. The best crushed my pet, then turned on me, beating me to a lifeless pulp. A shameful defeat.
Of course, I had no Reraise, so I had to home point all the way back to Jeuno. (/cry) I swore off Onzozo from then on. I then took a short trip to Crawlers' Nest hoping to fight some Soldier Crawlers in the basement. That hope was quickly dashed as I saw several small parties fighting down there, and a few farmers to boot. With no prey to fight there, I had to abandon that place as well. Right about now I was thinking that maybe the Desert wasn't so bad afterall. Frustrated, I took a last ditch ride to my last successful location, Gustav Tunnel.
Fortunately, I found the area free. Unfortunately, there were a lot of Decent Challenge enemies around, and only a few Toughs. I then decided to try something a little more dangerous. I went after the Goblin's Leech pets of the Goblin Shepherds in the basement. This was incredibly dangerous, because if the goblin caught me it would make short work of me. Heck, even the Goblin's Leechs were Very Tough - Incredibly Tough. While pet mobs are weaker than normal and tend to have much lower health, their attacks are still pretty nasty. Each Leech could break 100 damage pet hit on me with ease. After a very near defeat in my first fight, I decided that melee with the goblins' pets was just not worth it. I would instead just send my own pets after them until they were dead. Each Goblin's Leech usually only took two of my own to defeat it. Even better, they would regularly give 200 experience points per kill (300 with ring). However, there was bad news as well. Each goblin pet was really hard to pull. Sometimes, they were nearly impossible to pull. You have to be careful of the Goblin Alchemists and Goblin Mercenarys in the area, as well as the Robber Crabs. Agro from any of these would mean a fast demise. All this danger meant that although I would get good experience from each leech, the fights were so far apart that the overall experience was still pretty slow. Soon, I started to counteract this by fighting some weaker stuff on the top floor while waiting for the goblin pets to move into a more favorable position below.
Things were going well for a while, but it did not last. One time I got a little impatient and wandered a little further below in an attempt to get to a goblin pet. I used a prism powder to get past a Goblin Mercenary. As I approached the pet, walked near a Robber Crab and I thought: "Hmmm I wonder if those crabs agro?" Just then of course, it attacked me and broke my invisibility. Justs as I was about to send my Labyrinth Leech pet it, the Mercenary I passed on the way down saw me and joined the battle. Three hits later I was defeated. Creatures in the basement hit me for upwards of 200 damage per hit! After eating dirt for a few moments, I use my Reraise and carefully made my way back to the relative safety of the tunnel. No more going deep into the tunnels for me.
After I recovered, I went back to business as usual. Soon though, a level 75 tarutaru Ninja/Thief showed up and started killing the goblins. I guess he was a farmer, or maybe was skilling up or something. I was hoping he would leave the Goblin Shepherds so I could still level off their pets, but no such luck. While even he could not kill the goblins super fast, his farming or whatever still disrupted my camp there. For a while I could fight the pets while he fought the goblins, but eventually the area became clear of goblins. I had to abandon the area and go back to the first floor. There, I just decided to grind out the rest of the level killing almost everything is sight, Decent Challenge or not. Well, I avoided the Labyrinth Lizards most of the time because of their nasty Baleful Gaze and tendency to link, but I killed everything else. My favorite prey were the goblins and the Makara. The Empress Band made the speed of this experience grind at least tolerable. And it was ridiculously safe. Eventually, I reached level 49 with a buffer.
Hopefully 49 will be a little better, but early reports are not promising. (/sigh)
Labyrinth of Onzozo. Level 48. Defeats = 1
Crawlers' Nest. Level 48. Defeats = 0
Gustav Tunnel. Level 48. Defeats = 1
Goddess, I hate level 48! It took several unsuccessful attempts to find a decent place to level. Actually, I am still looking for a good place. I ended up just grinding it out in Gustav Tunnel after traveling the whole world for a better place.
My first location was way out in Western Altepa Desert. I tried leveling in the desert once before, but I didn't like how far apart the enemies were. Not much changed this time around. I headed out to Revelation Rock in the middle of the zone. The first thing I noticed were several Incredibly Tough Antica roaming around. Okaaaay, so this place might be more dangerous than I was led to believe. I then noticed Very Tough Cactuars and Incredibly Tough Scorpions also patrolling the perimeter of the rock. They were far enough apart that I could avoid agro, but the place made me nervous. As I got closer to the rock, I noticed several little valleys along its sides. In each of those, I would find two or three Decent Challenge - Tough Desert Beetles. This was pretty convenient, because in each valley I would find a pet and prey. Theoretically, I could just run around the rock over and over again killing beetles with beetles. And that is exactly what I did for about 1/3 of level 48. It was slow. Really slow. Beetles have to be amongst the worst pets in the world. While not as actively dangerous to use as Bees, beetles have high defense and evasion, but really low attack. Each fight would take forever. Worse, for the first time in a long time, I would regularly take hate from my pet when it would go on a missing streak or just hit like a pansy for a while. Even worse than that, one fight lasted so long that my Charm on an Even Match beetle actually broke mid-fight! Not being a very patient Mithra, I soon got fed up and left for new areas, hoping for a faster ride. As it turns out, I probably just should have stayed.
A big problem with level 48 is that the camps I know of are pretty far from my base of operations, Jeuno. For a while, I Searched zones like Gustav Tunnel and Labyrinth of Onzozo only to find Beastmasters in my level range already there. Onzozo was particularly bad because often high level farmers would kill everything in the area, making the long trip there completely pointless. Today however, I got "lucky" and found Onzozo relatively free. I made the long Chocobo ride out there and arrived to see my camp was open. At this point the goblins were a little low, so I tried to go for the Cockatrices instead. The first cockatrice I saw was Very Tough, but I had a lot of Labyrinth Leech pets to throw at it. The fight was way harder than I thought it would be. I sent pet after pet only to see the beast rip them to shreds. Finally, I got the cockatrice down to about 15% health, so I sent a fresh pet and decided to help melee it down. Big mistake. Early in the fight it used Baleful Gaze on the leech, essentially leaving me petless. Then it double attacked me mercilessly while I desperately used Call Beast to get a Crab Familiar. I used my new ability, Snarl, to allow the Crab to get the cockatrice's attention. Things looked like they were going well again, and soon I joined the frey again, hoping to finish the beast off. I had to be at less than 10% health now. My crab was getting hit hard, but between the two of us we would be able to kill it. Or so I thought. I didn't want to take hate again, so I was waiting on the Snarl timer, ready to use it as soon as it was ready. Just as I was about to hit it, the cockatrice turned on me and used Baleful Gaze! I was petrified and helpless to stop the slaughter that hen ensued. The best crushed my pet, then turned on me, beating me to a lifeless pulp. A shameful defeat.
Of course, I had no Reraise, so I had to home point all the way back to Jeuno. (/cry) I swore off Onzozo from then on. I then took a short trip to Crawlers' Nest hoping to fight some Soldier Crawlers in the basement. That hope was quickly dashed as I saw several small parties fighting down there, and a few farmers to boot. With no prey to fight there, I had to abandon that place as well. Right about now I was thinking that maybe the Desert wasn't so bad afterall. Frustrated, I took a last ditch ride to my last successful location, Gustav Tunnel.
Fortunately, I found the area free. Unfortunately, there were a lot of Decent Challenge enemies around, and only a few Toughs. I then decided to try something a little more dangerous. I went after the Goblin's Leech pets of the Goblin Shepherds in the basement. This was incredibly dangerous, because if the goblin caught me it would make short work of me. Heck, even the Goblin's Leechs were Very Tough - Incredibly Tough. While pet mobs are weaker than normal and tend to have much lower health, their attacks are still pretty nasty. Each Leech could break 100 damage pet hit on me with ease. After a very near defeat in my first fight, I decided that melee with the goblins' pets was just not worth it. I would instead just send my own pets after them until they were dead. Each Goblin's Leech usually only took two of my own to defeat it. Even better, they would regularly give 200 experience points per kill (300 with ring). However, there was bad news as well. Each goblin pet was really hard to pull. Sometimes, they were nearly impossible to pull. You have to be careful of the Goblin Alchemists and Goblin Mercenarys in the area, as well as the Robber Crabs. Agro from any of these would mean a fast demise. All this danger meant that although I would get good experience from each leech, the fights were so far apart that the overall experience was still pretty slow. Soon, I started to counteract this by fighting some weaker stuff on the top floor while waiting for the goblin pets to move into a more favorable position below.
Things were going well for a while, but it did not last. One time I got a little impatient and wandered a little further below in an attempt to get to a goblin pet. I used a prism powder to get past a Goblin Mercenary. As I approached the pet, walked near a Robber Crab and I thought: "Hmmm I wonder if those crabs agro?" Just then of course, it attacked me and broke my invisibility. Justs as I was about to send my Labyrinth Leech pet it, the Mercenary I passed on the way down saw me and joined the battle. Three hits later I was defeated. Creatures in the basement hit me for upwards of 200 damage per hit! After eating dirt for a few moments, I use my Reraise and carefully made my way back to the relative safety of the tunnel. No more going deep into the tunnels for me.
After I recovered, I went back to business as usual. Soon though, a level 75 tarutaru Ninja/Thief showed up and started killing the goblins. I guess he was a farmer, or maybe was skilling up or something. I was hoping he would leave the Goblin Shepherds so I could still level off their pets, but no such luck. While even he could not kill the goblins super fast, his farming or whatever still disrupted my camp there. For a while I could fight the pets while he fought the goblins, but eventually the area became clear of goblins. I had to abandon the area and go back to the first floor. There, I just decided to grind out the rest of the level killing almost everything is sight, Decent Challenge or not. Well, I avoided the Labyrinth Lizards most of the time because of their nasty Baleful Gaze and tendency to link, but I killed everything else. My favorite prey were the goblins and the Makara. The Empress Band made the speed of this experience grind at least tolerable. And it was ridiculously safe. Eventually, I reached level 49 with a buffer.
Hopefully 49 will be a little better, but early reports are not promising. (/sigh)
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Windsday, 2/30/1035
Gustav Tunnel. Level 47 (BST). Defeats = 0
Lost for Words, The Three Kingdoms. Level 25 (PLD). Defeats = 0
Damn Yhoator Jungle! I must have caught some form a exotic fever there, because I have been coughing and miserable for the past few weeks. The medics say I can do nothing but wait it out and get plenty of rest. Bah! I am an adventurer, I can't be lying about in my mog house all day. I bought some medicine from a shady dealer and it seemed to make me feel a little better, so I headed off for further adventure. After buying a new Viking Axe and Brigandine Armor from the Auction House, I made my way out to Gustav Tunnel.
Gustav Tunnel at level 47 kinda sucks. I should have come here earlier. Don't get me wrong, it is almost custom designed for Beastmasters. There are many beasts roaming around that can be charmed, including Makaras (pugils), Hawkers (flys), Greater Gaylas (bats), Labyrinth Lizards, and Labyrinth Leeches. Goblin Poachers, Goblin Reapers, and Goblin Robbers roam around as prey, and they are fairly spread out so there is little danger of them linking. And perhaps best of all, only the Goblins and the Pugils agro. However, at 47 the creatures are just too low level in general, with many Decent Challenge pets and prey roaming around. It would be better if I could venture further in and take on Goblin Shepherd's pets, but they were often taken by another Beastmaster or other solo job. This seems like one of those places where you just have to grind out the experience slowly. As I wasn't feeling very well, I quickly became bored and frustrated with this. I made it about halfway through level 47 before I had to set up camp briefly for rest. I had to recover some strength for my upcoming Mission.
I broke camp a couple of days later feeling a little better. I was due to meet up with Pitaya, Chili, and Papaya in order to finally complete our Windurst Missions for Rank 3. As I was equiping my Warp Cudgel, another level 47 Beastmaster ran by and rather rudely inspected me. I guess he thought I was trying to steal his camp or something. Well, I didn't have time for that nonsense and used my cudgel to Warp out to Jeuno. I switched to Paladin, then took a Chocobo out to meet my friends at the Maze of Shakhrami.
The Missions were a rather long series of adventures. I am not going to go into my usual detail for it would take too much parchment to write it all down. Moreover, I still need to get some rest to fight off this disease. Anyway, we went to the Maze at the behest of Nanaa Mihgo to get a Lapis Coral from the fossils there. She was not to be trusted, but this was the only way to get her to tell us about the Book of the Gods. After a few trivial fights with the weak Goblins there and a somewhat stronger Scorpion, we found what we sought and went back to Windurst. Having gained Mihgo's trust, she asked us to meet her at her hideout where she would return the Book. I smelt treachery afoot, but reluctantly agreed. Of course, when we arrived, she and her cohorts immediately mugged us, demanding that we drop all of our possessions and leave empty handed. During our standoff, Three Ace Cardians arrived, also in seek of the Book! Things were getting bad. Reluctantly, Mihgo told them it was hidden in the House of the Hero in Windurst. Then the Cardians double-crossed her and decided to kill them (and us) where we stood to eliminate any witnesses. I thought we were goners for sure, but we were saved by an unlikely source: Ajido-Marujido. His powerful magic destroyed one of the three Cardians. After a brief standoff, they retreated. Our party also made a hasty exit before the Cat Burglar and her cronies could rob us blind.
We went to the House of the Hero to investigate, only to find Ajido-Marujido already there. He had found the book, but claimed the pages had turned blank! This was the portent of another great War or something like that. We returned to the Optistery to report our findings, thus completing Mission 2-1.
Fortunately we had enough Rank Points to skip mission 2-2 and we proceeded to do Mission 2-3. We reported to Heavens Tower where were were to be given a very important task. In fact, since we were only Rank 2, the bureaucrat behind the desk, Kupipi, was unsure about giving us the assignment. Then I turned and to my delight saw Semih Lafihna - the Semih Lafihna - leader of the Sibyl Guards approach. She was, no, she is my idol! Apparently Lefihna-sama overheard the conversation and had taken an interest. She then asked to see my file, read it over, and said she was impressed with my resume!!! I almost fainted right there on the spot. I dared not speak lest I stutter incomprehensibly. I instead tried to stand tall and proud as I imagined a Paladin Knight would in the face of such an honor. On Semih Lefihna's command, we were assigned the mission despite our relatively low rank. We were to travel to the other nations, visit the consulates there and find out about the troubles plaguing those nations. We were to assist in out capacity as adventurers, but were reminded that Windurst was to remain a neutral nation.
As I was already an experienced White Mage, travel to the nations was pretty easy. I went to my Mog House and switched to White Mage, and cast Teleport-Holla on our party. Our first stop was to be San d'Oria. We arrived there and went to the consulate, where we ran into a female Hume adventurer on her way out, apparently on a similar mission. Her name was Lion, and even I have to admit she was pretty hot... for a Hume that is. The consul then explained that the orcs were gathering strength and using weapons beyond what their primitive technology was capable of. We were to report to Chateau d'Oraguille and get further instructions. We did so, meeting an extremely rude and conceited Elvaan nobleman named Halver. He (indirectly) called me a fur-ball!! I held my rage in check, though. It would do no good to get thrown out of Chateau d'Oraguille in disgrace and fail our mission. Semih Lafihna entrusted this mission to us. I would not let her down!
Halver told us to go the the orcish stronghold Ghelsba Outpost and defeat Warchief Vatgit there. I switched to Paladin and then we headed out. We made our way past the weak orcs roaming about and eventually found the warchief. At that time, we saw another group of adventurers, also Rank 2 but from Bastok. Figuring they were on a similar mission from their nation, Pitaya formed a temporary Alliance with them and our parties made short work of the Warchief. With our foe defeated, we triumphantly returned to the consul with news of our success. We were given a report to hand return to Heavens Tower in Windurst once our mission was complete. But first, we had to make a stop by Bastok.
After a quick Teleport-Dem and Chocobo ride, we soon arrived in Bastok. We went to the consulate there only to find it much less organized than its San d'Orian counterpart. Eventually, after some fumbling around on their part, we were instructed to talk to Pius at the President's Office for our mission details. Pius was also needlessly rude to us, but told us a bit about how the Quadav in Palborough Mines were becoming more organized and gathering strength. We talked to one of the former Galka miners, Grohm, who told us the sad tale of his fallen comrades. I was determined to avenge them. I switched back to Paladin, we checked our gear, and then headed for the Mines.
We quickly made our way through the mines to the upper levels. Regretfully, I completely forgot to bring some pickaxes along. It looked like there might be some Mythril Ore in the mine veins there. It did not matter though, we had a mission to complete! As we went further back, the Quadav were getting stronger and we had to battle past a few of them. It seemed as if we were on the right track. Pitaya cast Sneak on us so that we would have to fight every step of the way, and we arrived at what seemed to be the source of the evil driving the Quadav - a strange, unnatural burning circle.
We entered the burning circle only to be transported across dimensions to another chamber. There, we saw a Mythril Musketeer, Ayame, facing off against an vile looking Evil Eye called a Seeker. Apparently, it was somehow behind all this. It summoned a Dark Dragon using the evil powers of the Dark Lord. Ayame attacked, but even she would be no match for them alone! Pitaya quickly came up with a plan and we charged into action just as we saw Ayame fall. I Provoked the Seeker to get its attention, while Papaya used Elemental Seal and Sleep to stall the Dragon. I tanked the Seeker for a moment, giving Chili time to power up. I could actually see the chi energy flowing from her when she used Focus to increase her accuracy, Dodge to increase her Evasion, and then unleashed her mighty Hundred Fists! The little tarutaru's hands and feet became a blur as she pummeled the Seeker again and again. I hold little hope of keeping hate off of her in the face of such damage, but it did not matter. A quick Combo from her made short work of the Seeker. I turn and Provoke the Dragon briefly getting its attention while Chili then laid into it with her kung-fu skills. Pitaya and I easily kept her alive with Cure IIs while Papaya blasted away with her magics. In an emergency I was prepared to try and take hate with Invincible but it was not necessary. Chili's fists quickly beat the Dragon into submission as well. Victorious, we then went to check on Ayame only to find that Lion had already arrived and was tending to her. I looked like Ayame was alright. She said she was careless to let herself get hit like that, but thanked us for saving her. The Seeker, in its death throes, mocked us as it faded away, and claimed another Great War was on the horizon.
With everyone alive and our enemies defeated, we return to report to the consul. There, we received another report to hand back to Heavens Tower in Windurst. With our journey to both nations completed, we triumphantly returned to Windurst. We turned in our reports to the bureaucrat Kupipi, who was strangely rude to us for some reason. Oh! we forgot to bring her a gift from our travels. Oops, no wonder she was in a bad mood. Despite the lack of a gift, with a little reminder from us, she awarded us with official Adventurer's Certificates, 3000 gil, and Rank 3! We were all now Certified Adventurers!
Lost for Words, The Three Kingdoms. Level 25 (PLD). Defeats = 0
Damn Yhoator Jungle! I must have caught some form a exotic fever there, because I have been coughing and miserable for the past few weeks. The medics say I can do nothing but wait it out and get plenty of rest. Bah! I am an adventurer, I can't be lying about in my mog house all day. I bought some medicine from a shady dealer and it seemed to make me feel a little better, so I headed off for further adventure. After buying a new Viking Axe and Brigandine Armor from the Auction House, I made my way out to Gustav Tunnel.
Gustav Tunnel at level 47 kinda sucks. I should have come here earlier. Don't get me wrong, it is almost custom designed for Beastmasters. There are many beasts roaming around that can be charmed, including Makaras (pugils), Hawkers (flys), Greater Gaylas (bats), Labyrinth Lizards, and Labyrinth Leeches. Goblin Poachers, Goblin Reapers, and Goblin Robbers roam around as prey, and they are fairly spread out so there is little danger of them linking. And perhaps best of all, only the Goblins and the Pugils agro. However, at 47 the creatures are just too low level in general, with many Decent Challenge pets and prey roaming around. It would be better if I could venture further in and take on Goblin Shepherd's pets, but they were often taken by another Beastmaster or other solo job. This seems like one of those places where you just have to grind out the experience slowly. As I wasn't feeling very well, I quickly became bored and frustrated with this. I made it about halfway through level 47 before I had to set up camp briefly for rest. I had to recover some strength for my upcoming Mission.
I broke camp a couple of days later feeling a little better. I was due to meet up with Pitaya, Chili, and Papaya in order to finally complete our Windurst Missions for Rank 3. As I was equiping my Warp Cudgel, another level 47 Beastmaster ran by and rather rudely inspected me. I guess he thought I was trying to steal his camp or something. Well, I didn't have time for that nonsense and used my cudgel to Warp out to Jeuno. I switched to Paladin, then took a Chocobo out to meet my friends at the Maze of Shakhrami.
The Missions were a rather long series of adventures. I am not going to go into my usual detail for it would take too much parchment to write it all down. Moreover, I still need to get some rest to fight off this disease. Anyway, we went to the Maze at the behest of Nanaa Mihgo to get a Lapis Coral from the fossils there. She was not to be trusted, but this was the only way to get her to tell us about the Book of the Gods. After a few trivial fights with the weak Goblins there and a somewhat stronger Scorpion, we found what we sought and went back to Windurst. Having gained Mihgo's trust, she asked us to meet her at her hideout where she would return the Book. I smelt treachery afoot, but reluctantly agreed. Of course, when we arrived, she and her cohorts immediately mugged us, demanding that we drop all of our possessions and leave empty handed. During our standoff, Three Ace Cardians arrived, also in seek of the Book! Things were getting bad. Reluctantly, Mihgo told them it was hidden in the House of the Hero in Windurst. Then the Cardians double-crossed her and decided to kill them (and us) where we stood to eliminate any witnesses. I thought we were goners for sure, but we were saved by an unlikely source: Ajido-Marujido. His powerful magic destroyed one of the three Cardians. After a brief standoff, they retreated. Our party also made a hasty exit before the Cat Burglar and her cronies could rob us blind.
We went to the House of the Hero to investigate, only to find Ajido-Marujido already there. He had found the book, but claimed the pages had turned blank! This was the portent of another great War or something like that. We returned to the Optistery to report our findings, thus completing Mission 2-1.
Fortunately we had enough Rank Points to skip mission 2-2 and we proceeded to do Mission 2-3. We reported to Heavens Tower where were were to be given a very important task. In fact, since we were only Rank 2, the bureaucrat behind the desk, Kupipi, was unsure about giving us the assignment. Then I turned and to my delight saw Semih Lafihna - the Semih Lafihna - leader of the Sibyl Guards approach. She was, no, she is my idol! Apparently Lefihna-sama overheard the conversation and had taken an interest. She then asked to see my file, read it over, and said she was impressed with my resume!!! I almost fainted right there on the spot. I dared not speak lest I stutter incomprehensibly. I instead tried to stand tall and proud as I imagined a Paladin Knight would in the face of such an honor. On Semih Lefihna's command, we were assigned the mission despite our relatively low rank. We were to travel to the other nations, visit the consulates there and find out about the troubles plaguing those nations. We were to assist in out capacity as adventurers, but were reminded that Windurst was to remain a neutral nation.
As I was already an experienced White Mage, travel to the nations was pretty easy. I went to my Mog House and switched to White Mage, and cast Teleport-Holla on our party. Our first stop was to be San d'Oria. We arrived there and went to the consulate, where we ran into a female Hume adventurer on her way out, apparently on a similar mission. Her name was Lion, and even I have to admit she was pretty hot... for a Hume that is. The consul then explained that the orcs were gathering strength and using weapons beyond what their primitive technology was capable of. We were to report to Chateau d'Oraguille and get further instructions. We did so, meeting an extremely rude and conceited Elvaan nobleman named Halver. He (indirectly) called me a fur-ball!! I held my rage in check, though. It would do no good to get thrown out of Chateau d'Oraguille in disgrace and fail our mission. Semih Lafihna entrusted this mission to us. I would not let her down!
Halver told us to go the the orcish stronghold Ghelsba Outpost and defeat Warchief Vatgit there. I switched to Paladin and then we headed out. We made our way past the weak orcs roaming about and eventually found the warchief. At that time, we saw another group of adventurers, also Rank 2 but from Bastok. Figuring they were on a similar mission from their nation, Pitaya formed a temporary Alliance with them and our parties made short work of the Warchief. With our foe defeated, we triumphantly returned to the consul with news of our success. We were given a report to hand return to Heavens Tower in Windurst once our mission was complete. But first, we had to make a stop by Bastok.
After a quick Teleport-Dem and Chocobo ride, we soon arrived in Bastok. We went to the consulate there only to find it much less organized than its San d'Orian counterpart. Eventually, after some fumbling around on their part, we were instructed to talk to Pius at the President's Office for our mission details. Pius was also needlessly rude to us, but told us a bit about how the Quadav in Palborough Mines were becoming more organized and gathering strength. We talked to one of the former Galka miners, Grohm, who told us the sad tale of his fallen comrades. I was determined to avenge them. I switched back to Paladin, we checked our gear, and then headed for the Mines.
We quickly made our way through the mines to the upper levels. Regretfully, I completely forgot to bring some pickaxes along. It looked like there might be some Mythril Ore in the mine veins there. It did not matter though, we had a mission to complete! As we went further back, the Quadav were getting stronger and we had to battle past a few of them. It seemed as if we were on the right track. Pitaya cast Sneak on us so that we would have to fight every step of the way, and we arrived at what seemed to be the source of the evil driving the Quadav - a strange, unnatural burning circle.
We entered the burning circle only to be transported across dimensions to another chamber. There, we saw a Mythril Musketeer, Ayame, facing off against an vile looking Evil Eye called a Seeker. Apparently, it was somehow behind all this. It summoned a Dark Dragon using the evil powers of the Dark Lord. Ayame attacked, but even she would be no match for them alone! Pitaya quickly came up with a plan and we charged into action just as we saw Ayame fall. I Provoked the Seeker to get its attention, while Papaya used Elemental Seal and Sleep to stall the Dragon. I tanked the Seeker for a moment, giving Chili time to power up. I could actually see the chi energy flowing from her when she used Focus to increase her accuracy, Dodge to increase her Evasion, and then unleashed her mighty Hundred Fists! The little tarutaru's hands and feet became a blur as she pummeled the Seeker again and again. I hold little hope of keeping hate off of her in the face of such damage, but it did not matter. A quick Combo from her made short work of the Seeker. I turn and Provoke the Dragon briefly getting its attention while Chili then laid into it with her kung-fu skills. Pitaya and I easily kept her alive with Cure IIs while Papaya blasted away with her magics. In an emergency I was prepared to try and take hate with Invincible but it was not necessary. Chili's fists quickly beat the Dragon into submission as well. Victorious, we then went to check on Ayame only to find that Lion had already arrived and was tending to her. I looked like Ayame was alright. She said she was careless to let herself get hit like that, but thanked us for saving her. The Seeker, in its death throes, mocked us as it faded away, and claimed another Great War was on the horizon.
With everyone alive and our enemies defeated, we return to report to the consul. There, we received another report to hand back to Heavens Tower in Windurst. With our journey to both nations completed, we triumphantly returned to Windurst. We turned in our reports to the bureaucrat Kupipi, who was strangely rude to us for some reason. Oh! we forgot to bring her a gift from our travels. Oops, no wonder she was in a bad mood. Despite the lack of a gift, with a little reminder from us, she awarded us with official Adventurer's Certificates, 3000 gil, and Rank 3! We were all now Certified Adventurers!
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Firesday, 11/21/1034
Yhoator Jungle. Level 46 (BST). Defeats = 0
Qufim Island. Level 23, 24 (PLD). Defeats = 1
I broke camp and checked out the area around my camp at Yhoator Jungle one more time. I thought that if I saw a lot of Decent Challenge goblins, I would leave for other areas. Fortunately for me, many of the goblins were still Tough. I stuck around for a few more days, fighting the Goblin Poachers using Worker Crawler pets, just as before. When there were many Tough and Even Match Poachers, I would get some very good chains and the experience would be nice. However, many times my chains would be broken by the spawning of several Decent Challenge Poachers. Also, the single Goblin Reaper and the wandering Goblin Digger were always Decent Challenge to me. I avoided them, but they can still agro if they see you.
The camp was fairly slow but very safe. I think I just stuck around because I didn't feel like traveling all the way across the world to a new camp just yet. The only issue I had was a strange string of mischarms on the Crawlers about 2/3 of the way through my level. It was weird. I started to mischarm about 1 out of every 4 Crawlers. (I had almost no mischarms for over an Earth hour before that.) Maybe I just got really unlucky. However, I did notice the mischarms started when the day switched over to Earthsday. My theory is that the Crawlers, being Earth-based, are more resistant on Earthsday. It is something I may have to test further in the future. in any event, I eventually hit level 47 with a minimal buffer, and decided to finally get out of there. Too many of the goblins spawn as Decent Challenge at level 47 to justify staying any longer.
Later that week, I teamed up as a Paladin with my pals Chili (Monk), Papaya (Black Mage), and Pitaya (White Mage) in a quick attempt to get those jobs to 25. Very soon we will attempt to do our Windurst Missions and finally reach Rank 3. Our party leader this time was Chili. She recruited a Samurai and a Thief, both elvaan males. Our entire party was in the level 23-24 range. I was little worried about holding hate with that many powerful damage dealers, but I figured it would be a good test of my Paladin skills. After preparing in Jeuno, we headed out to Lower Delkfutt's Tower on Qufim Island.
We started fighting outside of the Tower. The Thief was the puller, starting us off with the Giant Ascetics, Giant Hunters, Giant Rangers, and Giant Trappers wandering around outside. We took on the giants with relative ease. The Samurai was slashing the giants hard, with several of his regular attacks exceeding 60-70 damage. The Thief was Sneak Attacking at every opportunity, sinking his dagger into the soft flash of our enemies. Chili, our monk, was also laying the smack down with her kung-fu combos. Papaya blasted the creatures with Fire, Blizzard, and Thunder! Nevertheless, I found that I could hold hate pretty well. My own damage was nothing to sneeze at, and I also had Cures, Provoke, and Shield Bash at my disposal for hate. I think I have to agree with some of my Paladin peers on the forums; a DD-hybrid tanking build can work well even at low levels. (Things might change after the Samurai gets Hasso. Our party broke up at level 25 so I didn't get to test it.) If you are curious, here is my Paladin Gear.
After a couple of fights, we decided we could definitely take on the Greater Pugils as well. After a few long pulls, we moved our camp a ways to the east, closer to the coastal area where the Pugils roam. There, we started to lay into the Pugils are a good pace. The Thief was a good puller, and our party made short work of each Pugil with our high damage output. I tried to Skillchain with Chili (Fusion) or the Samurai (Liquification or Distortion) whenever possible. (I swear I am a Samurai in a Paladin's body.) Papaya would Magic Burst with her spells as well. The Samurai gained TP faster than the rest of us, of course. But I found that I could keep up with the others TP-wise despite having to use Cure and Provoke in my tanking duties. Our party ran very smoothly. In fact, it was one of the best I have been it at these low levels. We were regularly hitting chains #4-#5 and getting excellent experience. I have to give credit to each of our party members; everyone did their job very well.
Experience points per kill slowed down a bit when we hit the level 24-25 range, but we were still going strong and getting good chains. Our only mishap was sadly my fault. Were were fighting an Incredibly Tough Pugil and I accidentally let me health get too low. As I was reaching for my Cure II macro, I found myself defeated, thanks to - you guessed it - Screwdriver. It hit me for over 250 damage, taking my from yellow health to defeat. (/sigh) Pitaya was not level 25 yet, and no one in the area could Raise. So I just when to my Home Point in Jeuno and ran back as fast as I could.
When my friends and I were about 1/3 of the way into level 24 (on average), the Samurai had to leave. We continued on as a party of 5 at the same camp. Things went slower without the Samurai's damage output and we could no longer reliably hit chain #5 (still chain #3-4 though). Since we were not going to stay much longer, we stuck it out there with just 5 (rather than invite someone only to disband 30 Earth minutes later). As night fell, we also started to fight the Wights that spawned in the area. I was impressed as Chili snapped the Wight's bones with her powerful strikes! I also got to use my Holy Circle for the first time in a party setting. We continued to fight Pugils, Wights, and Giants until most of our party was level 25. Papaya was a still a little behind when we disbanded, but she stayed behind in Qufim to solo the worms there.
Next stop on our party adventure: Rank 3!
Qufim Island. Level 23, 24 (PLD). Defeats = 1
I broke camp and checked out the area around my camp at Yhoator Jungle one more time. I thought that if I saw a lot of Decent Challenge goblins, I would leave for other areas. Fortunately for me, many of the goblins were still Tough. I stuck around for a few more days, fighting the Goblin Poachers using Worker Crawler pets, just as before. When there were many Tough and Even Match Poachers, I would get some very good chains and the experience would be nice. However, many times my chains would be broken by the spawning of several Decent Challenge Poachers. Also, the single Goblin Reaper and the wandering Goblin Digger were always Decent Challenge to me. I avoided them, but they can still agro if they see you.
The camp was fairly slow but very safe. I think I just stuck around because I didn't feel like traveling all the way across the world to a new camp just yet. The only issue I had was a strange string of mischarms on the Crawlers about 2/3 of the way through my level. It was weird. I started to mischarm about 1 out of every 4 Crawlers. (I had almost no mischarms for over an Earth hour before that.) Maybe I just got really unlucky. However, I did notice the mischarms started when the day switched over to Earthsday. My theory is that the Crawlers, being Earth-based, are more resistant on Earthsday. It is something I may have to test further in the future. in any event, I eventually hit level 47 with a minimal buffer, and decided to finally get out of there. Too many of the goblins spawn as Decent Challenge at level 47 to justify staying any longer.
Later that week, I teamed up as a Paladin with my pals Chili (Monk), Papaya (Black Mage), and Pitaya (White Mage) in a quick attempt to get those jobs to 25. Very soon we will attempt to do our Windurst Missions and finally reach Rank 3. Our party leader this time was Chili. She recruited a Samurai and a Thief, both elvaan males. Our entire party was in the level 23-24 range. I was little worried about holding hate with that many powerful damage dealers, but I figured it would be a good test of my Paladin skills. After preparing in Jeuno, we headed out to Lower Delkfutt's Tower on Qufim Island.
We started fighting outside of the Tower. The Thief was the puller, starting us off with the Giant Ascetics, Giant Hunters, Giant Rangers, and Giant Trappers wandering around outside. We took on the giants with relative ease. The Samurai was slashing the giants hard, with several of his regular attacks exceeding 60-70 damage. The Thief was Sneak Attacking at every opportunity, sinking his dagger into the soft flash of our enemies. Chili, our monk, was also laying the smack down with her kung-fu combos. Papaya blasted the creatures with Fire, Blizzard, and Thunder! Nevertheless, I found that I could hold hate pretty well. My own damage was nothing to sneeze at, and I also had Cures, Provoke, and Shield Bash at my disposal for hate. I think I have to agree with some of my Paladin peers on the forums; a DD-hybrid tanking build can work well even at low levels. (Things might change after the Samurai gets Hasso. Our party broke up at level 25 so I didn't get to test it.) If you are curious, here is my Paladin Gear.
After a couple of fights, we decided we could definitely take on the Greater Pugils as well. After a few long pulls, we moved our camp a ways to the east, closer to the coastal area where the Pugils roam. There, we started to lay into the Pugils are a good pace. The Thief was a good puller, and our party made short work of each Pugil with our high damage output. I tried to Skillchain with Chili (Fusion) or the Samurai (Liquification or Distortion) whenever possible. (I swear I am a Samurai in a Paladin's body.) Papaya would Magic Burst with her spells as well. The Samurai gained TP faster than the rest of us, of course. But I found that I could keep up with the others TP-wise despite having to use Cure and Provoke in my tanking duties. Our party ran very smoothly. In fact, it was one of the best I have been it at these low levels. We were regularly hitting chains #4-#5 and getting excellent experience. I have to give credit to each of our party members; everyone did their job very well.
Experience points per kill slowed down a bit when we hit the level 24-25 range, but we were still going strong and getting good chains. Our only mishap was sadly my fault. Were were fighting an Incredibly Tough Pugil and I accidentally let me health get too low. As I was reaching for my Cure II macro, I found myself defeated, thanks to - you guessed it - Screwdriver. It hit me for over 250 damage, taking my from yellow health to defeat. (/sigh) Pitaya was not level 25 yet, and no one in the area could Raise. So I just when to my Home Point in Jeuno and ran back as fast as I could.
When my friends and I were about 1/3 of the way into level 24 (on average), the Samurai had to leave. We continued on as a party of 5 at the same camp. Things went slower without the Samurai's damage output and we could no longer reliably hit chain #5 (still chain #3-4 though). Since we were not going to stay much longer, we stuck it out there with just 5 (rather than invite someone only to disband 30 Earth minutes later). As night fell, we also started to fight the Wights that spawned in the area. I was impressed as Chili snapped the Wight's bones with her powerful strikes! I also got to use my Holy Circle for the first time in a party setting. We continued to fight Pugils, Wights, and Giants until most of our party was level 25. Papaya was a still a little behind when we disbanded, but she stayed behind in Qufim to solo the worms there.
Next stop on our party adventure: Rank 3!
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Lightsday, 10/25/1034
Yhoator Jungle. Level 44, 45. Defeats = 0
I had a short but sweet adventure this time. I returned to Yhoator Jungle and continued to fight the goblins there using Worker Crawlers as pets. My primary prey were the Goblin Poachers, which ranged from Tough to Very Tough. I would also occasionally fight a Goblin Reaper or Goblin Digger, but both were usually Decent Challenge (sometimes Even Match) so I tried to avoid them. The Crawler pets were Decent Challenge - Tough. There were many Crawlers available in the area so most of the time I did not have to bother to convert them to Even Match. The battles were pretty straightforward. I would send a pet, let it fight the Poacher for a while, then engage myself. The two of us could take down all goblins except the high Very Tough ones without a pet swap. Against the Very Tough+ ones, I would swap between two Crawlers instead. It usually only took a single swap to take out even the strongest goblin. All in all, it was a very safe and decently fast camp.
The biggest danger was of course the possibility of an untimely mischarm. There are lots of Crawlers around and they all link. I was always nervous when I had to throw out a Charm on a Crawler when it was hanging out with 2 or 3 of its buddies.
My very first battle was almost a disaster. It was the closest I came to defeat during my time there. I emerged from a cave to find a Very Tough+ Goblin Poacher standing there. I knew I would need a pet swap, but there were three perfectly good crawlers inside the cave, and one near the cave opening next to the goblin. I charmed the one near the goblin, sent it after the goblin, then used Heel to pull the battle a little closer to the other Crawlers. Soon, the goblin had taken my pet down to about 15% health, so I hit Leave and went to Charm another one. Mischarm! And it linked with another nearby Crawler!! Not panicking, I immediately Tame the one I had tried to Charm and backed off so it would not link again. Unfortunately, I backed up too far and the Crawler attacking me linked with my former pet! Remember, I also had an angry Goblin beating on me during this time too. I thought I was going to be defeated for sure. Luckily, I had already cast Blink and Regen before this battle started, so I had a little more time. Unluckily, that also meant my MP was already low. I didn't have enough for more than a single Cure II. I ran back for a few seconds trying to buy time for my Charm recast timer. This worked well, because the Poacher (job = Ranger) would sometimes stop to shoot at me with its crossbow. The crossbow bolts were much less accurate and less damaging than its normal attacks. The instant Charm goes back up, I charmed the stronger Crawler and sent it against the Goblin, then backed out of their melee range. Then I waited on my Fight timer, and as soon as I could, sent the pet from the Goblin to engage my former pet. Now my pet Crawler was fighting both mobs. Whew, that was close. I was down to about 70 health when I finally got both of them off me. But I wasn't out of the woods yet. The goblin and crawler would soon make short work of my pet. I backed out of agro range and cast my Cure II. (Like a moron I forgot to Divine Seal it.) I was down to 14 MP, which wasn't enough for a fresh Regen or Blink. I knelt down to rest (and wondered if I should just log off and try to cut my losses). Unfortunately, I did not have enough time to even get a single tick on MP before the former pet came up to me and hit me once, then went back to fight my pet Crawler. I guess I wasn't out of agro range afterall. I backed up some more and tried to heal again. But then my pet died and both enemies were coming after me again. I stood up - still at only 14 MP - and Charmed the surviving Crawler, and sent it after the Goblin. That Crawler had very little health remaining and would only last a few seconds. The Goblin was almost dead too, but then again, so was I. I ran back into the cave and passed the last crawler in there, but it was Tough! I decided it wasn't worth risking a mischarm so I ran out of the other side of the cave into the huge clearing near the Telepoint. At this point, the goblin was chasing me, and I heard the whooshing sounds of its crossbow bolts wizzing by my head! My Mithra reflexes served me well that day as I dodged bolt after bolt until I found another Crawler. It was only Decent Challenge, but I Charmed it and sent if after the Goblin. I stayed away from the battle as best I could and tried to recover. At long last, my newest pet finally took down the Goblin. It was a tough battle and in retrospect I could have done things differently to make things easier. Nevertheless, I was glad that I somehow managed to survive.
The rest of the day was fairly routine after that initial hair-raising encounter. Soon after that first fight I reached level 45. I considered moving on to a new camp, but ultimately decided to stick it out there for another level. As long as I was careful of mischarms and links, the area was very safe. The Goblins kept to themselves for the most part, which made fighting them very easy. And sometimes they would blow themselves up, allowing for faster chains. I made chain #4 twice that day, and regularly was doing chains #2 or #3. Between the chains and my Empress Band, I cruised through level 46 and soon found myself at level 46! I decided it was time to camp for the day. At 46, some of the goblins and most of the crawlers started to spawn as Decent Challenge, so it might be time to move on now.
I had a short but sweet adventure this time. I returned to Yhoator Jungle and continued to fight the goblins there using Worker Crawlers as pets. My primary prey were the Goblin Poachers, which ranged from Tough to Very Tough. I would also occasionally fight a Goblin Reaper or Goblin Digger, but both were usually Decent Challenge (sometimes Even Match) so I tried to avoid them. The Crawler pets were Decent Challenge - Tough. There were many Crawlers available in the area so most of the time I did not have to bother to convert them to Even Match. The battles were pretty straightforward. I would send a pet, let it fight the Poacher for a while, then engage myself. The two of us could take down all goblins except the high Very Tough ones without a pet swap. Against the Very Tough+ ones, I would swap between two Crawlers instead. It usually only took a single swap to take out even the strongest goblin. All in all, it was a very safe and decently fast camp.
The biggest danger was of course the possibility of an untimely mischarm. There are lots of Crawlers around and they all link. I was always nervous when I had to throw out a Charm on a Crawler when it was hanging out with 2 or 3 of its buddies.
My very first battle was almost a disaster. It was the closest I came to defeat during my time there. I emerged from a cave to find a Very Tough+ Goblin Poacher standing there. I knew I would need a pet swap, but there were three perfectly good crawlers inside the cave, and one near the cave opening next to the goblin. I charmed the one near the goblin, sent it after the goblin, then used Heel to pull the battle a little closer to the other Crawlers. Soon, the goblin had taken my pet down to about 15% health, so I hit Leave and went to Charm another one. Mischarm! And it linked with another nearby Crawler!! Not panicking, I immediately Tame the one I had tried to Charm and backed off so it would not link again. Unfortunately, I backed up too far and the Crawler attacking me linked with my former pet! Remember, I also had an angry Goblin beating on me during this time too. I thought I was going to be defeated for sure. Luckily, I had already cast Blink and Regen before this battle started, so I had a little more time. Unluckily, that also meant my MP was already low. I didn't have enough for more than a single Cure II. I ran back for a few seconds trying to buy time for my Charm recast timer. This worked well, because the Poacher (job = Ranger) would sometimes stop to shoot at me with its crossbow. The crossbow bolts were much less accurate and less damaging than its normal attacks. The instant Charm goes back up, I charmed the stronger Crawler and sent it against the Goblin, then backed out of their melee range. Then I waited on my Fight timer, and as soon as I could, sent the pet from the Goblin to engage my former pet. Now my pet Crawler was fighting both mobs. Whew, that was close. I was down to about 70 health when I finally got both of them off me. But I wasn't out of the woods yet. The goblin and crawler would soon make short work of my pet. I backed out of agro range and cast my Cure II. (Like a moron I forgot to Divine Seal it.) I was down to 14 MP, which wasn't enough for a fresh Regen or Blink. I knelt down to rest (and wondered if I should just log off and try to cut my losses). Unfortunately, I did not have enough time to even get a single tick on MP before the former pet came up to me and hit me once, then went back to fight my pet Crawler. I guess I wasn't out of agro range afterall. I backed up some more and tried to heal again. But then my pet died and both enemies were coming after me again. I stood up - still at only 14 MP - and Charmed the surviving Crawler, and sent it after the Goblin. That Crawler had very little health remaining and would only last a few seconds. The Goblin was almost dead too, but then again, so was I. I ran back into the cave and passed the last crawler in there, but it was Tough! I decided it wasn't worth risking a mischarm so I ran out of the other side of the cave into the huge clearing near the Telepoint. At this point, the goblin was chasing me, and I heard the whooshing sounds of its crossbow bolts wizzing by my head! My Mithra reflexes served me well that day as I dodged bolt after bolt until I found another Crawler. It was only Decent Challenge, but I Charmed it and sent if after the Goblin. I stayed away from the battle as best I could and tried to recover. At long last, my newest pet finally took down the Goblin. It was a tough battle and in retrospect I could have done things differently to make things easier. Nevertheless, I was glad that I somehow managed to survive.
The rest of the day was fairly routine after that initial hair-raising encounter. Soon after that first fight I reached level 45. I considered moving on to a new camp, but ultimately decided to stick it out there for another level. As long as I was careful of mischarms and links, the area was very safe. The Goblins kept to themselves for the most part, which made fighting them very easy. And sometimes they would blow themselves up, allowing for faster chains. I made chain #4 twice that day, and regularly was doing chains #2 or #3. Between the chains and my Empress Band, I cruised through level 46 and soon found myself at level 46! I decided it was time to camp for the day. At 46, some of the goblins and most of the crawlers started to spawn as Decent Challenge, so it might be time to move on now.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Firesday, 8/7/1034
Yuhtunga Jungle. Level 42. Defeats = 0
The Sanctuary of Zi'Tah. Levels 43, 44. Defeats = 1
Crawlers' Nest. Level 43. Defeats = 1
Yhoator Jungle. Level 44. Defeats = 0
It has been a rough few days. It has been over a year (Vana'diel time) since I was last defeated as a Beastmaster. Well, I guess I was due, because I just suffered three defeats in the last week. Still, I did make some decent progress on my way to level 50.
I picked up where I left off in Yuhtunga Jungle. When I first arrived there was a Blue Mage soloing at the camp. Luckily he did not stay long and I started fighting when he decided to leave. I put up my camp in my Search Comment, buffed up, and sent one of the two Soldier Crawlers in the cave against the Very Tough Goblin Robber there. It was then that I truly noticed that Robbers (who are Thiefs) have really high Evasion. The Easy Prey Crawler pet could barely manage to hit the goblin at all. I really should have converted the pets to Even Match before starting. Oh well, there was another Crawler pet to use. I switched back and forth between pets using Leave as I described in my last log entry. However, I screwed up and let one pet get too low on health and it was defeated by a Goblin Rush. The second pet was defeated soon after and the Robber still had about 15% of its health left. Thats was still too much for me to take out alone, so I ran down the path to get another pet, only to find my path blocked by a Goblin Poacher! Luckily I backed off before it could see me. I ran out of the cave in the other direction with the Robber hot on my tail, desperately seeking another pet. I ran by a level 47 Puppetmaster on my way, but she did not help. No matter, there were some Young Opo-opos around that I could use in a pinch. I was just about to Charm one when the Goblin threw a bomb at me but blew itself up. Whew, that was a lucky break. But it was already the start of a bad day.
I immediately ran back to the cave only to discover the Puppetmaster fighting a Crawler that must have just spawned there. That was a bad sign. I figured she was a farmer or something, since the crawlers had to be mostly Easy Prey to her at 47. I tried to recover as soon as possible, sensing I might have some competition. It turns out I was right. I spent an unpleasant day or so fighting for the limited spawns in the area. I probably should have just left, but I hate it when someone tries to camp on top of me. I was fighting goblins while she was fighting the crawlers at first. This might have worked out ok, but I needed some crawlers to use as pets. Several times I was almost defeated because she would claim a Crawler just as I was about to Charm it. For now I'll assume she wasn't intentionally trying to kill me. Still at this point I was pretty annoyed. I was running for my life while she was killing a Crawler for less than 50 exp. (/sigh) Anyway, I won't go into more details on our little feud. She eventually hit level 48 and started fighting the goblins too, for a while. That was tough, but she eventually left soon after that (I guess she got a buffer or something). At least I managed to avoid defeat despite some close calls.
Once I had the place to myself again, things picked up considerably. This is a pretty good place to fight at level 42. I was regularly hitting chains #2-#3, and sometimes chain #4. I could kill the goblins even if they didn't manage to blow themselves up. I could even fight alongside a single pet against an even Match or low Tough goblin. Soon, I managed to reach level 43 with a buffer, and decided I needed a change of scenery. In retrospect, I probably should have just stayed until 44.
I went back to Jeuno and noticed that I had over 100 Beastmen's Seals in my Mog Safe again (I have several more in my furniture Storage in Windurst). Well, I still needed money, so it was time to try for an Astral Ring again! I got some minimal gear and made my way to do the level 20 BCNM. I never really had much trouble in the past soling this, but this time it ended in defeat! It turns out I didn't bring enough Hi-Potions. In my past 3 successful attempts, I had only used 3-4 Hi-Potions per fight. I brought six with me this time. It wasn't enough. This time around, I failed my first three Charm attempts in a row! This is really bad, because I had all three bats beating on me mercilessly during that time. I had to burn most of my Hi-Potions at the start of the battle just to survive. I actually managed to get out of the rough beginning and almost turned it around. I got Colo-colo down to a tiny sliver of life, then missed my Raging Axe that would have finished him off. Defeat came shortly thereafter. This was the first time I had ever lost that fight as a Beastmaster. I was pretty upset. But worse, I had lost some of my buffer experience points.
I decided to start leveling again, and I heard that The Sanctuary of Zi'Tah was a decent place and made my way there. It is a beautiful area, with tall, majestic trees and a secluded, serene atmosphere. I rode my chocobo to the outpost and saw a few high level adventurers hanging around. I also saw a level 34 elvaan Blue Mage there too. I though for sure I would be the lowest level character in the area, but I was wrong. As it turns out, he was leveling off the Goblin's Leech pets of the Goblin Traders. That was a risky proposition, but the experience was probably pretty good at level 34. I made a note to keep this area in mid for later when soloing with one of my other jobs. I thought about leaving for another area after my previous poor experience with another player, but decided to give it a shot. It worked out pretty well actually. I mostly targeted the Goblin Robbers in the area, and tried to avoid the Goblin Traders so the Blue Mage could kill their pets. Sanctuary of Zi'Tah has lots and lots of viable pets roaming all over the place, including Myxomycetes (Funguars), Goobbue Parasites (Leeches), Ogreflys (Flys), and Lesser Gaylas (Bats). The Lesser Gaylas are the lowest level pets, but they are also the most annoying because unlike the others, they will agro if you get too close. The bats only seem to come out at night, but there are lots and lots of bats roaming around. Between them and the goblins, it can be pretty dangerous to roam around the area at night. But at least there was no undead. The area is much safer during the day; in fact it is one of the safest areas I have ever adventured in. The best part of the area is the pets are all good, and tend to have excellent TP abilities. Many of these abilities affect an area though, so it is best to utilize the Heel command to pull your battle away from any potential additional monsters.
Focusing solely on the Robbers was a little slow for my tastes however. And the Robbers were perhaps the most irritating of the goblins with their crazy Evasion. Once I ran out of goblins, I would carefully fight some of the other creatures in the area. Be careful doing this though, because they all link. I made it about 1/3 of the way through level 43 when I decided to leave, thinking the experience was a little slow. It was about 2k per hour... not too bad but I've done better. I though hte experience would probably have been acceptable if I had the area to myself.
I think part of me just wanted to try out a lot of different camps today. I went back to give Crawlers' Nest another try. This time I dropped into the main room and walked down a corridor leading to a room full of Killer Mushrooms. In the corridor there were two Worker Crawlers that would make the perfect pets. Learning my lesson from my fiasco in Yuhtunga Jungle, this time I used Leave to convert both pets to Even Match before starting. This turned out to be a very good decision, because those Mushrooms are nasty! They were all Tough-Very Tough, and as I alluded to before, Funguar have very good TP moves. Frog Kick is a high damage single target attack. Spore is a strong Paralyze effect. Dark Spore is an cone-area Blindness effect that also deals nearly 400 damage. Silent Gas is like Dark Spore, but Silence instead of Blindness. They have several other abilities ("-shroom" attacks) that deal single target damage an also cause a status effect like Paralyze or Poison. When fighting here, always try to stay opposite your pet so you don't get hit. Losing half your health in a single attack and getting Silenced to boot is not a fun experience.
This was a very difficult camp for me, but I managed to hold my own for quite a while. I had to make frequent use of the pet swap. Against a Very Tough Killer Mushroom, I had to swap between pets at least two times and sometimes as many as four times. And you have to be very careful with melee. I tried to only enter the fray when I was reasonably sure my current pet and I could finish off the Mushroom without an additional pet swap. This is because if I fought alongside a pet then found I had to swap, the new pet would take a while to get hate from me. The Mushrooms hit so hard and have TP moves that can take 40-50% of my total health in a single hit, so they can make short of me if I have hate. Long story short, it is very important not to take hate here if you can help it. I made frequent use of Blink and Regen here, which made pet swaps much easier.
None of the enemies agro in this little area, but they all link. The room has about 5 or 6 Killer Mushrooms in it, which make some of the pulls a little dangerous. However, once you start killing the Mushrooms it gets significantly easier to pull them out of the room and into the tunnel. Despite this area being very stressful and difficult, I actually liked this camp quite a bit. I am not sure I could have pulled it off solo as any other job. That said, it was not very fast. While each Mushroom gave 150-200 experience (usually 200), it was almost impossible to chain them. The Crawlers just took too long to kill the funguars. I think the highest chain I managed was #2. I think I might try again after level 45 when I can Charm the Killer Mushrooms and have them fight each other.
I felt like I was walking along he edge of a knife the whole time. Eventually, I slipped. I pulled a Very Tough Mushroom and started the fight as normal. During the battle, my Reraise Earring effect wore off. Of course it did. I go to make a routine pet swap and... Mischarm! The Mushroom starts beating on me as I immediately hit Tame on the mischarmed Crawler. It missed. Both are beating on me and I finally manage to Charm the Crawler and send it after the Mushroom. But just as I do, the Mushroom double attacks me and the next thing I know I'm eating dirt. Of course, in hindsight I might have survived if I had done things differently. I could have summoned a jug pet and had it buy me some time while waiting on my second Charm timer. I could have tried to Charm the Mushroom instead and used Leave to make it despawn. Oh well, I figured defeat was only a matter of time in that place. Since I had to go back to my Home Point (/sigh), i checked Sanctuary of Zi'Tah and saw that the Blue Mage was gone. Time to give it another try.
My second stint at Sanctuary of Zi'Tah was much faster than my first. I was now pretty sure where each goblin spawned and could run to each spawn point and take them out as they popped. When I first arrived, some higher level players were farming the bats, which made my life far easier as well. Soon, I was level 44 and cruising along and nearly 3000 experience per hour. At level 44, the experience slows down quite a bit as several of the goblins start to spawn as Decent Challenge. I thought the area's relative safety would help make up for it though, so I continued to grind it out. I made it about 5000 experience into level 44 and to be quite honest I started feeling pretty cocky and invincible. Then Reraise wore off. And you can guess what happened next (/cry). This time I was fighting alongside my pet while fighting a Tough Goblin Robber. I was out of MP and already somewhat hurt, so I had no business fighting. But like I said, I was feeling overly confident. It somehow managed to kill my pet Ogrefly and turn to beat on me with a Goblin Rush. I grabbed another nearby pet immediately and sent if after the goblin. But it just could not take the goblin's hate from me before I was defeated. It didn't help that the Robber went on an Evasion spree and started dodging our attacks all Matrix-style! I knew I should have bought a Woodsman Ring or two...
I Home Point, again. By this point I was pretty exhausted, but also determined to recover my lost experience. This time I decided to go for Yhoator Jungle in the vicinity of the Telepoint. I needed that Yhoator Gate Crystal anyway, so I killed two birds with one stone. One again, my pets were Worker Crawlers and my prey, Goblins. The Goblins here were slightly higher level than their Yuhtunga Jungle counterparts. While there was a party fighting at the Telepoint, I moved a little ways to the west and found a decent secluded campsite. There, I fought Goblin Poachers and Goblin Reapers until I got my experence back from my most recent defeat, plus a little more. Part of me really wanted to go for level 45, but I could hardly keep my eyes open and did not want to make another mistake. I made camp for the night and resolved to pick things up again soon.
The Sanctuary of Zi'Tah. Levels 43, 44. Defeats = 1
Crawlers' Nest. Level 43. Defeats = 1
Yhoator Jungle. Level 44. Defeats = 0
It has been a rough few days. It has been over a year (Vana'diel time) since I was last defeated as a Beastmaster. Well, I guess I was due, because I just suffered three defeats in the last week. Still, I did make some decent progress on my way to level 50.
I picked up where I left off in Yuhtunga Jungle. When I first arrived there was a Blue Mage soloing at the camp. Luckily he did not stay long and I started fighting when he decided to leave. I put up my camp in my Search Comment, buffed up, and sent one of the two Soldier Crawlers in the cave against the Very Tough Goblin Robber there. It was then that I truly noticed that Robbers (who are Thiefs) have really high Evasion. The Easy Prey Crawler pet could barely manage to hit the goblin at all. I really should have converted the pets to Even Match before starting. Oh well, there was another Crawler pet to use. I switched back and forth between pets using Leave as I described in my last log entry. However, I screwed up and let one pet get too low on health and it was defeated by a Goblin Rush. The second pet was defeated soon after and the Robber still had about 15% of its health left. Thats was still too much for me to take out alone, so I ran down the path to get another pet, only to find my path blocked by a Goblin Poacher! Luckily I backed off before it could see me. I ran out of the cave in the other direction with the Robber hot on my tail, desperately seeking another pet. I ran by a level 47 Puppetmaster on my way, but she did not help. No matter, there were some Young Opo-opos around that I could use in a pinch. I was just about to Charm one when the Goblin threw a bomb at me but blew itself up. Whew, that was a lucky break. But it was already the start of a bad day.
I immediately ran back to the cave only to discover the Puppetmaster fighting a Crawler that must have just spawned there. That was a bad sign. I figured she was a farmer or something, since the crawlers had to be mostly Easy Prey to her at 47. I tried to recover as soon as possible, sensing I might have some competition. It turns out I was right. I spent an unpleasant day or so fighting for the limited spawns in the area. I probably should have just left, but I hate it when someone tries to camp on top of me. I was fighting goblins while she was fighting the crawlers at first. This might have worked out ok, but I needed some crawlers to use as pets. Several times I was almost defeated because she would claim a Crawler just as I was about to Charm it. For now I'll assume she wasn't intentionally trying to kill me. Still at this point I was pretty annoyed. I was running for my life while she was killing a Crawler for less than 50 exp. (/sigh) Anyway, I won't go into more details on our little feud. She eventually hit level 48 and started fighting the goblins too, for a while. That was tough, but she eventually left soon after that (I guess she got a buffer or something). At least I managed to avoid defeat despite some close calls.
Once I had the place to myself again, things picked up considerably. This is a pretty good place to fight at level 42. I was regularly hitting chains #2-#3, and sometimes chain #4. I could kill the goblins even if they didn't manage to blow themselves up. I could even fight alongside a single pet against an even Match or low Tough goblin. Soon, I managed to reach level 43 with a buffer, and decided I needed a change of scenery. In retrospect, I probably should have just stayed until 44.
I went back to Jeuno and noticed that I had over 100 Beastmen's Seals in my Mog Safe again (I have several more in my furniture Storage in Windurst). Well, I still needed money, so it was time to try for an Astral Ring again! I got some minimal gear and made my way to do the level 20 BCNM. I never really had much trouble in the past soling this, but this time it ended in defeat! It turns out I didn't bring enough Hi-Potions. In my past 3 successful attempts, I had only used 3-4 Hi-Potions per fight. I brought six with me this time. It wasn't enough. This time around, I failed my first three Charm attempts in a row! This is really bad, because I had all three bats beating on me mercilessly during that time. I had to burn most of my Hi-Potions at the start of the battle just to survive. I actually managed to get out of the rough beginning and almost turned it around. I got Colo-colo down to a tiny sliver of life, then missed my Raging Axe that would have finished him off. Defeat came shortly thereafter. This was the first time I had ever lost that fight as a Beastmaster. I was pretty upset. But worse, I had lost some of my buffer experience points.
I decided to start leveling again, and I heard that The Sanctuary of Zi'Tah was a decent place and made my way there. It is a beautiful area, with tall, majestic trees and a secluded, serene atmosphere. I rode my chocobo to the outpost and saw a few high level adventurers hanging around. I also saw a level 34 elvaan Blue Mage there too. I though for sure I would be the lowest level character in the area, but I was wrong. As it turns out, he was leveling off the Goblin's Leech pets of the Goblin Traders. That was a risky proposition, but the experience was probably pretty good at level 34. I made a note to keep this area in mid for later when soloing with one of my other jobs. I thought about leaving for another area after my previous poor experience with another player, but decided to give it a shot. It worked out pretty well actually. I mostly targeted the Goblin Robbers in the area, and tried to avoid the Goblin Traders so the Blue Mage could kill their pets. Sanctuary of Zi'Tah has lots and lots of viable pets roaming all over the place, including Myxomycetes (Funguars), Goobbue Parasites (Leeches), Ogreflys (Flys), and Lesser Gaylas (Bats). The Lesser Gaylas are the lowest level pets, but they are also the most annoying because unlike the others, they will agro if you get too close. The bats only seem to come out at night, but there are lots and lots of bats roaming around. Between them and the goblins, it can be pretty dangerous to roam around the area at night. But at least there was no undead. The area is much safer during the day; in fact it is one of the safest areas I have ever adventured in. The best part of the area is the pets are all good, and tend to have excellent TP abilities. Many of these abilities affect an area though, so it is best to utilize the Heel command to pull your battle away from any potential additional monsters.
Focusing solely on the Robbers was a little slow for my tastes however. And the Robbers were perhaps the most irritating of the goblins with their crazy Evasion. Once I ran out of goblins, I would carefully fight some of the other creatures in the area. Be careful doing this though, because they all link. I made it about 1/3 of the way through level 43 when I decided to leave, thinking the experience was a little slow. It was about 2k per hour... not too bad but I've done better. I though hte experience would probably have been acceptable if I had the area to myself.
I think part of me just wanted to try out a lot of different camps today. I went back to give Crawlers' Nest another try. This time I dropped into the main room and walked down a corridor leading to a room full of Killer Mushrooms. In the corridor there were two Worker Crawlers that would make the perfect pets. Learning my lesson from my fiasco in Yuhtunga Jungle, this time I used Leave to convert both pets to Even Match before starting. This turned out to be a very good decision, because those Mushrooms are nasty! They were all Tough-Very Tough, and as I alluded to before, Funguar have very good TP moves. Frog Kick is a high damage single target attack. Spore is a strong Paralyze effect. Dark Spore is an cone-area Blindness effect that also deals nearly 400 damage. Silent Gas is like Dark Spore, but Silence instead of Blindness. They have several other abilities ("-shroom" attacks) that deal single target damage an also cause a status effect like Paralyze or Poison. When fighting here, always try to stay opposite your pet so you don't get hit. Losing half your health in a single attack and getting Silenced to boot is not a fun experience.
This was a very difficult camp for me, but I managed to hold my own for quite a while. I had to make frequent use of the pet swap. Against a Very Tough Killer Mushroom, I had to swap between pets at least two times and sometimes as many as four times. And you have to be very careful with melee. I tried to only enter the fray when I was reasonably sure my current pet and I could finish off the Mushroom without an additional pet swap. This is because if I fought alongside a pet then found I had to swap, the new pet would take a while to get hate from me. The Mushrooms hit so hard and have TP moves that can take 40-50% of my total health in a single hit, so they can make short of me if I have hate. Long story short, it is very important not to take hate here if you can help it. I made frequent use of Blink and Regen here, which made pet swaps much easier.
None of the enemies agro in this little area, but they all link. The room has about 5 or 6 Killer Mushrooms in it, which make some of the pulls a little dangerous. However, once you start killing the Mushrooms it gets significantly easier to pull them out of the room and into the tunnel. Despite this area being very stressful and difficult, I actually liked this camp quite a bit. I am not sure I could have pulled it off solo as any other job. That said, it was not very fast. While each Mushroom gave 150-200 experience (usually 200), it was almost impossible to chain them. The Crawlers just took too long to kill the funguars. I think the highest chain I managed was #2. I think I might try again after level 45 when I can Charm the Killer Mushrooms and have them fight each other.
I felt like I was walking along he edge of a knife the whole time. Eventually, I slipped. I pulled a Very Tough Mushroom and started the fight as normal. During the battle, my Reraise Earring effect wore off. Of course it did. I go to make a routine pet swap and... Mischarm! The Mushroom starts beating on me as I immediately hit Tame on the mischarmed Crawler. It missed. Both are beating on me and I finally manage to Charm the Crawler and send it after the Mushroom. But just as I do, the Mushroom double attacks me and the next thing I know I'm eating dirt. Of course, in hindsight I might have survived if I had done things differently. I could have summoned a jug pet and had it buy me some time while waiting on my second Charm timer. I could have tried to Charm the Mushroom instead and used Leave to make it despawn. Oh well, I figured defeat was only a matter of time in that place. Since I had to go back to my Home Point (/sigh), i checked Sanctuary of Zi'Tah and saw that the Blue Mage was gone. Time to give it another try.
My second stint at Sanctuary of Zi'Tah was much faster than my first. I was now pretty sure where each goblin spawned and could run to each spawn point and take them out as they popped. When I first arrived, some higher level players were farming the bats, which made my life far easier as well. Soon, I was level 44 and cruising along and nearly 3000 experience per hour. At level 44, the experience slows down quite a bit as several of the goblins start to spawn as Decent Challenge. I thought the area's relative safety would help make up for it though, so I continued to grind it out. I made it about 5000 experience into level 44 and to be quite honest I started feeling pretty cocky and invincible. Then Reraise wore off. And you can guess what happened next (/cry). This time I was fighting alongside my pet while fighting a Tough Goblin Robber. I was out of MP and already somewhat hurt, so I had no business fighting. But like I said, I was feeling overly confident. It somehow managed to kill my pet Ogrefly and turn to beat on me with a Goblin Rush. I grabbed another nearby pet immediately and sent if after the goblin. But it just could not take the goblin's hate from me before I was defeated. It didn't help that the Robber went on an Evasion spree and started dodging our attacks all Matrix-style! I knew I should have bought a Woodsman Ring or two...
I Home Point, again. By this point I was pretty exhausted, but also determined to recover my lost experience. This time I decided to go for Yhoator Jungle in the vicinity of the Telepoint. I needed that Yhoator Gate Crystal anyway, so I killed two birds with one stone. One again, my pets were Worker Crawlers and my prey, Goblins. The Goblins here were slightly higher level than their Yuhtunga Jungle counterparts. While there was a party fighting at the Telepoint, I moved a little ways to the west and found a decent secluded campsite. There, I fought Goblin Poachers and Goblin Reapers until I got my experence back from my most recent defeat, plus a little more. Part of me really wanted to go for level 45, but I could hardly keep my eyes open and did not want to make another mistake. I made camp for the night and resolved to pick things up again soon.
Friday, November 9, 2007
Watersday, 7/15/1034
Crawlers' Nest. Level 40. Defeats = 0
Yuhtunga Jungle. Level 41. Defeats = 0
Time to start leveling Beastmaster again! I researched the adventure logs of some adventurers that came before me and decided to try my luck in Yuhtunga Jungle. I went to Jeuno to board the airship to Kazham, but first I used the Search function to see if anyone was already there. No one. Good. I boarded the airship, arrived in Kazham, bought supplies, and went to the Chocobo lady. Checked Search again. Still no one. Good. I hopped onto a Chocobo and wandered around the Jungles for a while looking for the camp described by my predecessors. I always get lost in that blasted jungle. Anyway, I finally found he camp, only to see a level 43 Tarutaru Beastmaster already leveling there! Argh, she must have arrived a few minutes before I showed up. Dejected, I rode back to Kazham and had to think of a plan B.
I heard good things about Crawlers' Nest, so I decided to make that my next campsite. But I realized that I did not have a Magical Map for the Nest. Rumor had it that the mayor of Selbina had one. I switched to White Mage, cast Teleport-Dem and rode a chocobo out to Selbina to pay him a visit. The mayor, Abelard, wanted me to complete a task for him in return for the map. I was a little annoyed, but questing was part of my duty as an adventurer. I was to follow in the footsteps of the famous explorer Gwynham Ironheart, who created many of the maps of the mainland that we adventurers enjoy today. Ironheart inscribed accounts of his travels upon several stone monuments scattered about the lands of Vana'diel. Abelard gave me some Selbina Clay and asked me to find each of these monuments and make a Clay Tablet imprint of each monument. In my travels I had already encountered some of these monuments, including the one in East Sarutabaruta that described Mithra as "unsophisticated" (/angry). Nevertheless I accepted the quest, thinking it would be a nice change of pace from the normal slaying of monsters.
The quest was easy, but annoying and time consuming. The worst part was that I had to return to the mayor after each imprint. I pleaded with Abelard to give me more than one piece of Selbina Clay at a time, but he would have none of it (Selbina Clay is Rare/Ex). Fortunately, I had the White Mage's Teleport Spells, the Black Mage's Warp, and the ability to use the outpost teleportation services from Windurst due to having done Supply Run Missions for my nation in the past. This made travel throughout the land much faster than if I had to rely on Chocobos and boats. Still, it took my almost 4 full days (3 hours 40 minutes Earth time) to track down the necessary monuments and imprint them. A long time to be sure, but then I remembered it originally took Gwynham Ironheart over 30 years to complete his explorations. The mayor rewarded me with the Map of the Crawlers' Nest after I turned in the 15th Clay Tablet. Apparently there are still two more stone monuments out there, but I think I will require some assistance to get to them. That will have to wait for another day.
So with Map in hand, I went back to Jeuno, changed back to Beastmaster, and started back on the path to experience points! I rode to Crawlers' Nest, which is found in the southwest portion of Rolanberry Fields. It was my first time setting foot into the Nest and I did not know exactly what to expect. Well, I knew to expect Crawlers of course, but I wasn't sure what else to expect. As it turns out, there are lots of giant Bees in the area as well. Even though I had a Map, I did not want to delve too deep into the Nest, for the creatures near the entrance were already Even Match - Very Tough to me. In fact, the tunnels near the entrance seems like a good place to camp. I started using Even Match Death Jackets (bees) as pets against Tough Worker Crawlers. The good news about the area is that none of the Death Jackets or Worker Crawlers in the early section of the zone agro. The bad news is that they all link. Sometimes 3 or 4 Bees would gather together in the same area, which made fighting and charming far more dangerous. I am glad I bought a Corsette +1 before coming out here. Not only does it lift and separate, but the added Charisma made mischarms far less likely. It's really, really tight though, so I have to take it off for fighting in favor of my Tilt Belt.
It was my first time using Bees as pets and prey for experience points since my very early, pre-teen levels levels. Bees are very interesting pets. By interesting, I mean terrible. Ok, not terrible, but annoying. They have three TP abilities: Pollen, Sharp Sting, and Final Sting. Pollen is the best by far, regularly curing the pet for at least 200 hp. Sharp Sting is pretty bad. It only deals about as much damage as a regular attack. Even worse, it has terrible accuracy. My Bee pets hit two Sharp Sting attempts all day (must have missed 15+ easily). Final Sting is downright awful. If the bee uses this ability, pray that it kills the target, otherwise you're going to have to try and find a new pet. Oh, did I mention that everything in this place links? My worst nightmare was for the pet to use Final Sting early and then have to scramble through the zone trying to find another pet with an angry Death Jacket or Worker Crawler beating on me, linking with any of its buddies along the way. Luckily, my pet only used Final Sting once all session, and I was prepared with a backup pet ahead of time, so it was ok.
Bees are even more interesting prey. Again, by interesting I mean annoying. First of all, enemy bees almost never miss Sharp Sting, of course. But the most irritating thing they do is spam Pollen. The Tough Death Jackets could use Pollen and heal over 400 hp in damage! This can really extend a fight and turn a routine kill into a dangerous situation. I fought one bee that used Pollen 6 times in a row. That was over 2000 more hit points that my pets and I had the fight through. When the bees do that, you may have to turn away from the battle and find another pet in a hurry. On the other hand, sometimes the bee would use Final Sting. That was the best case scenario, because it shortens and otherwise long fight and can allow for some nice chains. The other prey and pets, the Worker Crawlers, are much more stable and reliable. They have all the usual Crawler abilities, and were my preferred targets. However, the bees were much more plentiful.
The biggest problem I had while in Crawlers' Nest was the competition. It is a very popular zone to fight in for experience or other reasons. Normally the parties don't bother with the stuff I was fighting; they typically go a little further into the area. However, my main competition came from higher level characters who were either leveling up their NPC companions, skilling up offensive or defensive skills, or, worst of all, farming the bees and crawlers for money (silk, beehive chips, honey, etc.). After I had been there for about a half hour, a level 51 Mithra Paladin came through and started killing the bees and crawlers indiscriminately. (She had the same face as me but with blond hair... I think I may have found my evil twin.) Farmers like her were really problematic, as a few times I would need to find a new pet only to find everything in the area dead. The competition also broke any chance at decent experience chains. Near the end of my day, one guy came through and killed a few bees before he noticed me. He nicely apologized for killing my potential pets and went on his way. I think he was a Puppetmaster. I guess us pet jobs have to stick together. :)
Eventually I hit level 41 and things became a little easier. I tried to fight through the various issues I mentioned above, but the experience gain was just too slow. I was also getting fed up with the Pollen spamming Bees. I think I'm going to try to avoid fighting with/against bees for experience points in the future (farming is another story). I made just over 2000 experience into level 41 and just had to get out of there. I may come back later when I can go further into the Nest.
I did a Search on Yuhtunga Jungle, found no competition there, and decided to try my luck again. I ran to Jeuno, got on the airship, arrived in Kazham, hopped onto a Chocobo, and rode to the camp just as before. This time, there really was no one there! I jumped off my Chocobo and immediately got to work. My pets were the Decent Challenge - Even Match Soldier Crawlers in the area, and I fought the several Goblin Poachers and one Goblin Robber wandering around. The goblins ranged from Tough - Incredibly Tough. This is a really nice camp for a Beastmaster. I think there are six crawers available as pets, 2 in the cave, 2 just as you exit the cave, and two in the clearing. There are also 4 goblins to fight: one Robber in the cave, 1 Poacher just outside the cave, and 2 Poachers in the clearing. I was a little worried because some of the Goblins were Incredibly Tough, but I decided to give it a shot anyway. I had enough pets in the area to keep throwing pets at a goblin until it blew itself up with a bomb. All of the creatures repawn pretty fast too. By the time I finished my 3rd or 4th goblin, the1st one would have respawned.
It's a little tricky to make this work perfectly, and you have to be careful because one mistake can lead to defeat. The Incredibly Tough Goblins hit hard! Against the Tough goblins, I would charm a Crawler and fight with it normally, trying to stay behind the goblin. When I saw the goblin ready an ability, I would run back in the opposite direction to avoid bomb explosions. Against anything Very Tough or stronger, I avoided melee and instead threw pets at the goblin until it blew itself up or until the pets defeated it. It usually took 2-3 pets to defeat a single goblin. In battles like this, it is really important to build as little hate as possible. The last thing you want is for the goblin to ignore your new pet and continue beating on you after a pet swap. This is the reason I avoided melee. Well, that and the bombs. I tried to keep Blink up at all times in these fights too, because you'll usually take a few hits when you have to switch pets. Casting Blink actually gives you quite a bit of hate, so try to cast it either before the battle or out of range whenever possible. At first, I fought by sending a pet at a goblins until it dies, then getting a new pet until it died, then getting a new pet if necessary, and so on. Then I remembered that I have the mighty ability, Leave! If I fought the goblin in the Crawler's roaming area, I could send a crawler at a goblin until it the Crawler was almost dead, then Leave immediately releasing it as a pet; the goblin would come after me, but I would Charm another Crawler in the area and send it after the goblin. The best part is my recently released pet heals very rapidly while out of combat. So when my second pet was almost dead, I used Leave again and recharmed the first pet and sent if after the goblin. At that point, the second pet, now released, would heal rapidly while out of combat. Basically, I could reuse the same two pets over and over until they defeated the goblin. I think I have discovered the true power of the Beastmaster! The main danger of this method is a possible mischarm. Crawlers link, so if you fail a Charm on you second pet it will come after you... and so will your first pet if it is in linking range. That's the worse case scenario, where you'll have all 3 mobs beating on you. This never happened to me, but I recognized the theoretical possibility. It isn't too hard to keep your potential pets out of linking range though.
I was getting 200 experience every kill, and over 300 with the Empress Band active. I was also getting pretty good chains #2-#3, and I was being extremely cautious. After all, the biggest danger of this area is the complete lack of a nearby escape route. I think the nearest zone is Sea Serpent Grotto, which is quite a long hike with an Incredibly Tough goblin on your tail! (I cold be wrong; there might be a closer zone to Yhoator Jungle.) I may have hit higher chains if I had been a bit more reckless (for example, I could have melee'd with the Incredibly Tough goblins when they were low on life). But a lot of it depends on if the goblins blows up or not. If not, the fight can take quite a long time and break the chain. Still, the experience was excellent and soon I was level 42! However, the best parts is my support job White Mage was now level 21! I now have access Cure III and Regen! I am sure both spells will will help get me out of a jam somewhere down the line.
I set up camp at what I hoped was a safe place, and made plans to return to action soon.
Yuhtunga Jungle. Level 41. Defeats = 0
Time to start leveling Beastmaster again! I researched the adventure logs of some adventurers that came before me and decided to try my luck in Yuhtunga Jungle. I went to Jeuno to board the airship to Kazham, but first I used the Search function to see if anyone was already there. No one. Good. I boarded the airship, arrived in Kazham, bought supplies, and went to the Chocobo lady. Checked Search again. Still no one. Good. I hopped onto a Chocobo and wandered around the Jungles for a while looking for the camp described by my predecessors. I always get lost in that blasted jungle. Anyway, I finally found he camp, only to see a level 43 Tarutaru Beastmaster already leveling there! Argh, she must have arrived a few minutes before I showed up. Dejected, I rode back to Kazham and had to think of a plan B.
I heard good things about Crawlers' Nest, so I decided to make that my next campsite. But I realized that I did not have a Magical Map for the Nest. Rumor had it that the mayor of Selbina had one. I switched to White Mage, cast Teleport-Dem and rode a chocobo out to Selbina to pay him a visit. The mayor, Abelard, wanted me to complete a task for him in return for the map. I was a little annoyed, but questing was part of my duty as an adventurer. I was to follow in the footsteps of the famous explorer Gwynham Ironheart, who created many of the maps of the mainland that we adventurers enjoy today. Ironheart inscribed accounts of his travels upon several stone monuments scattered about the lands of Vana'diel. Abelard gave me some Selbina Clay and asked me to find each of these monuments and make a Clay Tablet imprint of each monument. In my travels I had already encountered some of these monuments, including the one in East Sarutabaruta that described Mithra as "unsophisticated" (/angry). Nevertheless I accepted the quest, thinking it would be a nice change of pace from the normal slaying of monsters.
The quest was easy, but annoying and time consuming. The worst part was that I had to return to the mayor after each imprint. I pleaded with Abelard to give me more than one piece of Selbina Clay at a time, but he would have none of it (Selbina Clay is Rare/Ex). Fortunately, I had the White Mage's Teleport Spells, the Black Mage's Warp, and the ability to use the outpost teleportation services from Windurst due to having done Supply Run Missions for my nation in the past. This made travel throughout the land much faster than if I had to rely on Chocobos and boats. Still, it took my almost 4 full days (3 hours 40 minutes Earth time) to track down the necessary monuments and imprint them. A long time to be sure, but then I remembered it originally took Gwynham Ironheart over 30 years to complete his explorations. The mayor rewarded me with the Map of the Crawlers' Nest after I turned in the 15th Clay Tablet. Apparently there are still two more stone monuments out there, but I think I will require some assistance to get to them. That will have to wait for another day.
So with Map in hand, I went back to Jeuno, changed back to Beastmaster, and started back on the path to experience points! I rode to Crawlers' Nest, which is found in the southwest portion of Rolanberry Fields. It was my first time setting foot into the Nest and I did not know exactly what to expect. Well, I knew to expect Crawlers of course, but I wasn't sure what else to expect. As it turns out, there are lots of giant Bees in the area as well. Even though I had a Map, I did not want to delve too deep into the Nest, for the creatures near the entrance were already Even Match - Very Tough to me. In fact, the tunnels near the entrance seems like a good place to camp. I started using Even Match Death Jackets (bees) as pets against Tough Worker Crawlers. The good news about the area is that none of the Death Jackets or Worker Crawlers in the early section of the zone agro. The bad news is that they all link. Sometimes 3 or 4 Bees would gather together in the same area, which made fighting and charming far more dangerous. I am glad I bought a Corsette +1 before coming out here. Not only does it lift and separate, but the added Charisma made mischarms far less likely. It's really, really tight though, so I have to take it off for fighting in favor of my Tilt Belt.
It was my first time using Bees as pets and prey for experience points since my very early, pre-teen levels levels. Bees are very interesting pets. By interesting, I mean terrible. Ok, not terrible, but annoying. They have three TP abilities: Pollen, Sharp Sting, and Final Sting. Pollen is the best by far, regularly curing the pet for at least 200 hp. Sharp Sting is pretty bad. It only deals about as much damage as a regular attack. Even worse, it has terrible accuracy. My Bee pets hit two Sharp Sting attempts all day (must have missed 15+ easily). Final Sting is downright awful. If the bee uses this ability, pray that it kills the target, otherwise you're going to have to try and find a new pet. Oh, did I mention that everything in this place links? My worst nightmare was for the pet to use Final Sting early and then have to scramble through the zone trying to find another pet with an angry Death Jacket or Worker Crawler beating on me, linking with any of its buddies along the way. Luckily, my pet only used Final Sting once all session, and I was prepared with a backup pet ahead of time, so it was ok.
Bees are even more interesting prey. Again, by interesting I mean annoying. First of all, enemy bees almost never miss Sharp Sting, of course. But the most irritating thing they do is spam Pollen. The Tough Death Jackets could use Pollen and heal over 400 hp in damage! This can really extend a fight and turn a routine kill into a dangerous situation. I fought one bee that used Pollen 6 times in a row. That was over 2000 more hit points that my pets and I had the fight through. When the bees do that, you may have to turn away from the battle and find another pet in a hurry. On the other hand, sometimes the bee would use Final Sting. That was the best case scenario, because it shortens and otherwise long fight and can allow for some nice chains. The other prey and pets, the Worker Crawlers, are much more stable and reliable. They have all the usual Crawler abilities, and were my preferred targets. However, the bees were much more plentiful.
The biggest problem I had while in Crawlers' Nest was the competition. It is a very popular zone to fight in for experience or other reasons. Normally the parties don't bother with the stuff I was fighting; they typically go a little further into the area. However, my main competition came from higher level characters who were either leveling up their NPC companions, skilling up offensive or defensive skills, or, worst of all, farming the bees and crawlers for money (silk, beehive chips, honey, etc.). After I had been there for about a half hour, a level 51 Mithra Paladin came through and started killing the bees and crawlers indiscriminately. (She had the same face as me but with blond hair... I think I may have found my evil twin.) Farmers like her were really problematic, as a few times I would need to find a new pet only to find everything in the area dead. The competition also broke any chance at decent experience chains. Near the end of my day, one guy came through and killed a few bees before he noticed me. He nicely apologized for killing my potential pets and went on his way. I think he was a Puppetmaster. I guess us pet jobs have to stick together. :)
Eventually I hit level 41 and things became a little easier. I tried to fight through the various issues I mentioned above, but the experience gain was just too slow. I was also getting fed up with the Pollen spamming Bees. I think I'm going to try to avoid fighting with/against bees for experience points in the future (farming is another story). I made just over 2000 experience into level 41 and just had to get out of there. I may come back later when I can go further into the Nest.
I did a Search on Yuhtunga Jungle, found no competition there, and decided to try my luck again. I ran to Jeuno, got on the airship, arrived in Kazham, hopped onto a Chocobo, and rode to the camp just as before. This time, there really was no one there! I jumped off my Chocobo and immediately got to work. My pets were the Decent Challenge - Even Match Soldier Crawlers in the area, and I fought the several Goblin Poachers and one Goblin Robber wandering around. The goblins ranged from Tough - Incredibly Tough. This is a really nice camp for a Beastmaster. I think there are six crawers available as pets, 2 in the cave, 2 just as you exit the cave, and two in the clearing. There are also 4 goblins to fight: one Robber in the cave, 1 Poacher just outside the cave, and 2 Poachers in the clearing. I was a little worried because some of the Goblins were Incredibly Tough, but I decided to give it a shot anyway. I had enough pets in the area to keep throwing pets at a goblin until it blew itself up with a bomb. All of the creatures repawn pretty fast too. By the time I finished my 3rd or 4th goblin, the1st one would have respawned.
It's a little tricky to make this work perfectly, and you have to be careful because one mistake can lead to defeat. The Incredibly Tough Goblins hit hard! Against the Tough goblins, I would charm a Crawler and fight with it normally, trying to stay behind the goblin. When I saw the goblin ready an ability, I would run back in the opposite direction to avoid bomb explosions. Against anything Very Tough or stronger, I avoided melee and instead threw pets at the goblin until it blew itself up or until the pets defeated it. It usually took 2-3 pets to defeat a single goblin. In battles like this, it is really important to build as little hate as possible. The last thing you want is for the goblin to ignore your new pet and continue beating on you after a pet swap. This is the reason I avoided melee. Well, that and the bombs. I tried to keep Blink up at all times in these fights too, because you'll usually take a few hits when you have to switch pets. Casting Blink actually gives you quite a bit of hate, so try to cast it either before the battle or out of range whenever possible. At first, I fought by sending a pet at a goblins until it dies, then getting a new pet until it died, then getting a new pet if necessary, and so on. Then I remembered that I have the mighty ability, Leave! If I fought the goblin in the Crawler's roaming area, I could send a crawler at a goblin until it the Crawler was almost dead, then Leave immediately releasing it as a pet; the goblin would come after me, but I would Charm another Crawler in the area and send it after the goblin. The best part is my recently released pet heals very rapidly while out of combat. So when my second pet was almost dead, I used Leave again and recharmed the first pet and sent if after the goblin. At that point, the second pet, now released, would heal rapidly while out of combat. Basically, I could reuse the same two pets over and over until they defeated the goblin. I think I have discovered the true power of the Beastmaster! The main danger of this method is a possible mischarm. Crawlers link, so if you fail a Charm on you second pet it will come after you... and so will your first pet if it is in linking range. That's the worse case scenario, where you'll have all 3 mobs beating on you. This never happened to me, but I recognized the theoretical possibility. It isn't too hard to keep your potential pets out of linking range though.
I was getting 200 experience every kill, and over 300 with the Empress Band active. I was also getting pretty good chains #2-#3, and I was being extremely cautious. After all, the biggest danger of this area is the complete lack of a nearby escape route. I think the nearest zone is Sea Serpent Grotto, which is quite a long hike with an Incredibly Tough goblin on your tail! (I cold be wrong; there might be a closer zone to Yhoator Jungle.) I may have hit higher chains if I had been a bit more reckless (for example, I could have melee'd with the Incredibly Tough goblins when they were low on life). But a lot of it depends on if the goblins blows up or not. If not, the fight can take quite a long time and break the chain. Still, the experience was excellent and soon I was level 42! However, the best parts is my support job White Mage was now level 21! I now have access Cure III and Regen! I am sure both spells will will help get me out of a jam somewhere down the line.
I set up camp at what I hoped was a safe place, and made plans to return to action soon.
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