Who doesn't like it rough?

Do you have a partner in-game that you do everything with? Do you know that feeling of just clicking and everything going perfectly or as it should?

That's what I have with Jacinda. We are at the point where we will go up against something we probably shouldn't and develop a strategy to win without saying a single word.

The last time I had realized how far we had progressed, her and I were still working on Sobek for our empyrean weapons.

On a particular run, she had run ahead and popped Sobek while I was still getting my Atma and Cruor buffs applied. She doesn't say anything, but I notice her HP is taking small hits, so I can only assume she's fighting something. I take the conflux and arrive in the area. She's not only taking on Sobek, she has Gukumatz in tow as well. Gukumatz, if you don't know, is a timed spawn NM used for a key item to pop Sobek, so there is a constant battle for claim.

Nothing had to be said. I cast Flash on Gukumatz so she can focus completely on Sobek. So now here we are fighting two NMs, one of which can instantly kill either of us. She's subbing dancer, and she's removing my poison effects as I fight, just as I'm curing her from across the way. I hit the red weakness on Gukumatz and she calls out that the yellow weakness on Sobek is Light. Without thinking, without changing targets, I select Holy and sub-target Sobek. Instant trigger. I finish up Gukumatz, which gives Jacinda the key item for another Sobek. I run over and we finish off the Sobek we already had popped.

It was such a great feeling, knowing we didn't have to bark out orders to each other in order to adapt and succeed. It was such a new feeling, I figured it was going to be rare.

Apparently not.

Just a few days ago, Jacinda and I decide to try and duo Bennu, the Altepa Mega-Boss, for some of her +2 items. It's not a terribly hard fight with a proper group, but Jaci and I were going with an unconventional setup:  A NIN/WAR  PLD/RDM duo.

The fights were actually going fairly smooth. Cures here, refresh on occasion, and a haste when it needed to be recasted.

Then our third fight. We're fighting fairly close to where you spawn the NM, so we were still close to other monsters. As it turns out, the notorious monster Ouzelum decided to pop right next to where we are fighting.

Now, Bennu already takes a fair amount of our focus. He's got a nasty terror ability that makes it a bit rough on a NIN. Ouzelum can also be problematic for low-man situations because he casts high tier magic.

Now we were facing both of these. At the same time.

But wait! There's more! We also had to deal with two additional, normal monsters that decided to tag along! That's right folks!  Four enemies! Two high damage NMs and two regular roc type mobs. Things went from calm to chaotic. But we never lost our focus.

Ouzelum had attacked from behind, so I couldn't see it. All I saw was "Ah shit" from Jaci in the chat log. I wheel the camera around to see Big Bird pecking away at me. All that was said was "Stay on it" by me. She stayed on Bennu and I changed target to Ouzelum. We killed off the weaker mobs easily enough.  One or two weaponskills via sub-targetting.

But now we had to face the two NMs.

Things were rough. I was stretching my MP to the max. Cure IV was the only thing that could sustain either of us, and at 88 MP per cast, it's very taxing on a PLD's MP pool. I used my abilities that allowed me to refill my MP pool, but things were still going rough. Luckily, both her and I had enough temporary items to maintain. Healing Mists, Elixers, Ethers, Potions, the works. And boy, we used all of them. But we won. She was able to polish off Bennu and help me finish up Ouzelum, with a red weakness trigger for another Bennu key item.

We sat for a bit in stunned silence. It was hard to believe what just happened and that we survived. We felt good. Damn good. Another group would have wiped. WE would have wiped. But we had experience and teamwork on our side.

We're discovering new tricks everyday to augment our partnership. Just the other day, we discovered how to deal out over 10,000 damage in a single skillchain. Over 18,000 if we have another ninja with us. Empyreans are very powerful when wielded properly.

I'm truly grateful to have a friend like Jaci. We can tear just about anything up and have fun doing it. You can argue til you're blue in the face that we aren't being efficient and that a job change can make things go smoother. But why? We have fun, we succeed, and we've done so much under our own power that no linkshell or group can lay claim to. We're a powerful, unorthadox duo. And we're proud of it.

Sometimes you are so in tune with your partner, you can still maintain order in chaos.

Respect

You know what I truly enjoy? Respect. I don't mean "Oh look at me, I have a Relic/Mythic/Empyrean. Kneel before me." That's call being an Elitist Prick.

What I mean is when someone recognizes your skills and says so, even for the most mundane thing.

A mate of mine needed some seals, so we went to Abyssea-Uleguerand to start farming them up. He was on BLU and if you didn't already know, BLU can turn out some pretty awesome damage. Needless to say, he was bound to grab hate from going all out.

Now when he took hate, he ran behind me. Out of instinct, I use Cover, which directs all damage from him to me as long as I'm between him and the mob. The response I got was heart-warming to say the least:

"Woah...Cover...you must have been playing long before Abyssea came out. Even then, only the really good PLDs used Cover."

Now I try not to have an inflated ego, but this made me feel really good. PLD already doesn't get enough respect, and for someone to compliment my ability to play my favorite job is a wonderful feeling.

This has been happening more and more recently, and I don't know if it's because people actually want to compliment my skill/playstyle or if they're just kissing up because I have a final weapon. There are people like that, hoping to get something out of you.

But really, I'm grateful for his kind words and the kind words of others. It's nice knowing that, even if the job I play isn't at the top of everyone's want list, I can still perform well and impress people from time to time. :)

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

I'm afraid I'm going to have to take a page out of Jaci's book and rant for this post. There's a little something that bothers the ever loving hell out of me.

If you're a Ninja, please stop solo'ing crap that many people need. Especially if they're offering to help you kill it just to speed stuff up and don't want an item in return. You're being nothing more than a tool.

You wanna solo something? Cool! Great! I love to do so on my PLD. But come on, if you have a line of people waiting for the NM you're on, quit being a twat and accept the damn help. I would post a big "Fuck you" picture here but I can't find one big enough to represent my hatred for the toolbags that do this stuff.

I was out helping collect +2 items for a LS mate. He needs cards of voyage and there are at least two NMs in the area that are reasonably easy to kill; Ovni and Caraboose. Now, we kill Ovni, don't get a drop and move on to Carabosse. We take our time, farm up the pops, kill her nice and slow (and mind you, we're trio'ing so our killing is a bit slow anyways, but there are two other ??? that she can be spawned from, so we aren't hindering anybody.) and eventually beat her. A single card drops. Cool, but now my group is getting kind of tired. We don't have time or patience to farm up another Caraboose drop, so we go back to Ovni.

We get there, and a Ninja is solo'ing Ovni. Ok cool, whatever. Alas, he's taking FOREVER. We ask if the cards were available. "I'm sorry, I'm busy right now."

...

Not the "Yes" or "No" answer we were hoping for. Now we've been there about five minutes and his progress has been painfully slow. We offer to team up with him to help him kill faster, without taking any items for ourselves.

No response.

We weren't willing to deal with someone like that, and it was already getting late. We just warped out and decided to end our run there.

Ninjas....what the hell? Beastmasters don't do it. They're the premier solo class and even they get into groups. Quit being twats and cooperate, or you'll start to wonder why you're getting invited to less and less as your name gets tossed around for being a tool.

That is all. Please resume your daily lives.

Slaving away in the mines...

It just dawned on me that, even though I described her, I never gave the glorious story of how Jacinda and I met!

Oh it was so romantic...the dusty cavern walls, the groans of undead throughout the mines, the ghosts of dead children drifting around....

Yes, I met a low level Jacinda in Gusgen Mines.

A mid-low level Black Mage, not even remotely close to the Jacinda we know today, but still the same collected personality.

I enjoy this story because it also shows how much of a boob I was back then.  See, I had just recently hit level 75 (the then level cap) and I was really enjoying struttin' my stuff so to speak. I tried to pour all my Paladin charm onto Jacinda, while at the same time helping her with the reason she was in the mine to begin with.

There is this armor called RSE or Race Specific Equipment. It comes from chests around Vana'Diel and only appears for your race at certain times. This was what Jacinda was after, so we were in the mines for quite a while. We talked, poked around at some skeletons and generally kicked back while we waited for this chest. Friends ever since, so I guess I didn't scare her off. Though I'm not entirely sure the Paladin charm worked either.

I've tried applying the charm again recently and it doesn't seem to work, so I dunno. /shrug

At any rate, I made another friend whom I cherish more than most people I've encountered in real life.  And her navigational skills are...similar to Firinia's and mine. I'm detecting a common factor with the friends I make...

I knew her when she was THIS little.

My next insomnia induced posting shall be dedicated to a friend I've been playing FFXI with since...well...I started playing.

There I was, an impressionable, rosy cheeked little WAR/RDM, full of hopes and dreams. Running around one day, I met a little brunette mithra by the name of Firinia. Low and behold, I was only level 15 and I had an adventuring buddy already!

Now, there is something magical about this friendship here. Neither of us have any sense of direction. At all.  I mean none. We would go running off somewhere green and sunny and somehow end up in a mine with skeletons trying to kill us.

And this didn't happen just once. It happened multiple times. Daily. Good times, good times.

Anyways, one day we were running around Sarutabaruta as she introduced me to the Windurst area. I had been there once before, but my guide hadn't shown me around. We eventually come across another player. A Galka by the name of Xyraphius, who also happened to be Firinia's brother.

Now, at my level, I was very impressionable. I hadn't decided which job I wanted to be my "main" and when I met Firinia, she was on her summoner. Of course I thought this was the coolest thing EVAR, and wanted to be one.

But that is a post for another time.

The point is, Firinia and Xyraphius were the two people I could call my earliest XI friends. They were people I could get along with, go adventuring with and die next to. And believe me, there was a lot of dying. In caves. In the mountains. Miles underground....

ANYWHO, I want to express my appreciation for the friendship and good times Firinia and Xyraphius have shown me. Xyraphius has since moved on the things in real life, but even to this day, I can still count on Firinia being there.

When her and I met she was....13? I was 16. Now we're 20 and 23. It's such a weird thing how you see time go by in other people.

Still, it's so nice to have friends you can count on. I can talk to her about anything and she keeps me entertained with new music that gives me goosebumps and eargasms. :D

Thanks for being awesome dear!

Pirate of my Heart

I've tried blogging many times. The problem was that I've never really had anything to say that I felt anybody would want to read. Well, several years ago, I started reading a blog by a dear friend of mine from in game. I found her blog extremely awesome and I loved to read it. The most surprising thing was that it was a blog of her rants.

Now I know what I want to blog about.  I want to blog about the people I've met and the adventures we've had. The people and adventures who have given me the most fun of my FFXI career.

My first blog post will therefore be dedicated to my best friend and adventuring companion.

Everyone who knows her probably knows her as Jacinda, even if her character name has changed. She will always be Jaci to us. She is probably the most modest person I know. Holding two empyrean weapons among a plethora of other notable gear, she doesn't see herself as "Elite" or "Veteran". Her cleverness is unsurpassed among any of my friends. If ever there was a demigod child of Athena, it would be Jaci. I can say with 100% certainty that many of my most memorable FFXI moments have been out in the field with Jaci. Because of the hours of friendship and entertainment she has provided me, I have no trouble saying she is my best FFXI friend and I can only hope to find a woman like her.

Now, all my experiences with Jaci can be broken down into three eras. The Samurai Era, The Corsair Era and the newly emerging Ninja Era. When we were on Hades server and early into Cerberus, I only knew her as a Samurai. Every time I would meet up to go adventuring with her, you could count on two things. An Askar body and a corsage in her hair. Eventually, this changed into the Jaci I know today. The Pirate, The Scoundrel, The Corsair. The Askar has gone away and a crimson empyrean frac now displays her power. Armageddon in hand, she brings ruin to the battlefield from afar. But what makes Jaci the way she is has not changed. You can still find her in her corsage, a symbol I now relate directly to her. Her personality is unchanged. Modest, kindhearted, sweet and clever.

Her focus recently has been Ninja. Through many late nights, rough battles and unpleasant pickup groups, we accomplished a goal I never thought possible. We completed two empyrean weapons together. I received my Almace and she received her Kannagi. I cannot express how proud of her I am. I know she had her Armageddon, but Kannagi was done under her own power. No linkshell could lay claim to it and nobody could touch her Ninja.

She'll never admit it, but she is a truly accomplished player who deserves recognition for her hard work. It's my honor to call her a dear friend.

Jacinda, never doubt that you are important to your friends. We are with you all the way, because we know that you would support us in the same way.