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!