Iceday, 7/9/1038

Sea Serpent Grotto. Level 53. Defeats = 0

Laziness wins again. I really didn't feel like traveling across the face of Vana'diel in search of a new camp, so I decided to stay here in Sea Serpent Grotto. Also, since I was close to Norg, this would be a good opportunity to finally start doing some of the Ninjutsu scroll quests. Leveling Ninja in the future is sure to be a good idea, even if it is only as a possible support job.

It seems this camp is known to at least one of my rivals: a Tarutaru Beastmaster who has been around the same level as me for as long as I can remember. He doesn't seem to be a bad guy though, and has never stolen a camp from me, unlike some others I could name. A couple of times I broke camp only to find him there already leveling. In those situations I just went back to sleep (logout) and resolved to come back later.

On Iceday I awoke to find the camp free at last, and went back to business as usual. At level 53, this camp is even easier and safer. Now all of the Sahagin Parasites were Decent Challenge or Even Match. The Sahagin now ranged from Decent Challenge to Tough. It was not the ideal situation for fast leveling, but like I said before I was lazy. In retrospect I probably should have moved to a better camp. I'm beginning to notice that each level after 50 requires a lot more experience points than the last. This camp turned out to be a very long, slow grind. Once again, I thank the Goddess for the Empress Band, which kept me from going mad with despair. But at the same time, I told myself I had to get tougher. The road to 75 is long, and each level on that road is just going to get worse.

Not much changed from my last adventure here. Even though it was a little easier to kill each Sahagin, the grind was actually slower because each yielded less experience points. Also, experience chains were tougher to come by since fighting any Decent Challenge mobs would break the potential chain. Every once in a while I would slay all of the nearby Sahagin and end up waiting for a new spawn. In these cases, I would sometimes take on a Rock Crab, almost all of which were Tough to me. These fights were often very slow, similar to fighting Marsh Sahagin, and not very worthwhile. Crabs have a lot of hit points and defense, and are also constantly boosting their defense with abilities like Scissor Guard and Metallic Body while lowering the Strength of me and my pet with Bubble Shower. We were never really in danger when fighting the Crabs since they have lousy offense, but that didn't stop those fights from taking too much time. I recommend fighting the Rock Crabs only when you have nothing else to fight in the area. However, occasionally an Even Match Crab would spawn. These are definitely easier to take down than the Tough ones, so knock yourself out. Also, the Even Match crabs make decent emergency pets if you ever find yourself in a pinch.

Oh, there is one thing I forgot to mention last time. My new Apollo's Staff really, really helped with my Charm success rate here. One potential danger of using camps with Leech pets is that there are usually a lot of leeches in the area, and they all link. Often, an untimely mischarm could mean a very quick defeat for you. With my new staff, I had maybe 3 mishcarms in 3 whole days (Earth time), out of literally hundreds of Charm attempts. I felt confident enough that I could Charm a leech even if it was surrounded by its leechy friends. I highly suggest getting at least a Light Staff if you don't have one already. There is no easy escape path from this camp, so if something goes terribly wrong (like a mischarm), you'll likely end up eating dirt.

After a long, long, long, boring, but safe grind I eventually hit level 54. As usual, I stuck around for a bit to get a buffer, which was also very slow. Far too many of the Sahagin are Decent Challenge at level 54, so it is time to move on.

I went to Norg and started working on the Ninjutsu scroll quests. I managed to pick up Utsusemi: Ichi, Hojo: Ichi, Dokumori: Ichi and Tonko: Ichi so far. I still need Jubaku: Ichi (which requires me to travel all the way to Horlais Peak), and Kurayami: Ichi. Why the hells is this guy looking for Rusty Subligars anyway?! Oh well, I'll try to get those last two scrolls next time.