Here we go again

Looks like it's time to dust off the old Magus Bazubands once again.

Looks like we're getting Plenilune Embrace (AoE heal spell), Animated Wail (AoE Haste), and a new water-based breath spell to name a few. There could very well be more in the second phase.

Here's a video showcasing the new effects so far. Here's hoping Animated Wail isn't a dumbed down version of refueling. You know the recast is going to be balls either way. Plenilune embrace seems to have potential, but I'm not sure about the whole moon phase thing. The healing effect is most powerful during a full moon. That ability is part of the reason I like moonfang campaign battles so much. Those things are practically immortal, meaning shitloads of EXP/AN. One of the few times I enjoy campaign. Speaking of which, I need to re-cap my BLU buffer.

Just kill me now...

Here we go, possibly our last encounter with Kirin before the big update. But something is amiss.... WHY WHY WHY are we kiting a Kirin (let alone three of 'em) in 2010!?!? The numbers were indeed available to TP burn the bitch. I know it was togi city last summer every time we zerged. Ironically enough, when I got my w.legs back in October, it was on a kited one. We did two that night and both put out. So we try that again on subsequent encounters and get worse results than d-body. So yeah, just kill me now.

Wait, why do I still have this Nuevo with fast cast and enmity+5 on me?

Eve of the revolution

Vana'diel shall be rocked to its very core! OK, well maybe not THAT dramatic, but this is some pretty big stuff coming down the pike. So in preparation, many of us have been hitting East Ronfaure (S) rather hard. Nothing is at 49 here yet, but NIN is close at 47. I figured I'd take that one to 49 first given that it's always been my least favorite. I'm sure there are many folks with BRD/RDM/WHM/BLM/SCH/PLD that plan to leave one or more of those parked at 75 after this update. I know I may fry for this, but my PLD is staying parked at 75. Nearly two years of having it at 75 and I still suck at it. I really don't use it that much outside of campaign and I just don't really care enough about it. If it's something where atonement isn't viable then a RDM is usually the better option if there's someone more comfortable playing the job that way. If it IS an atonement-friendly fight, a SAM could do it better. Even then, one could still defer to RDM. No I'm not exping RDM. Blow me.

As for which of the three remaining that will go past 75 first, definitely BLU. Of course I'll probably end up soloing most of the time. And the hang-up with SAM and DRG will be the fact every melee DD and their mother will be flagged up for the first few days/weeks. It will be interesting to see how congested exp camps get. But god help you if you don't do things during the "January sale rush" that is the first few days following an update. Which reminds me: I won't be able to go to walk of echoes on day 1! Oh noez! A few friends and I were doing Wings missions around early-April, but we stopped around "Crossroads of Time" for some reason. Shouldn't be too bad getting to that point with the level caps going up. That is, assuming the BC fights aren't capped at 75.

Cost-benefit analysis: Samurai

So it appears the last few months have found me bouncing back and forth between perfecting my DRG and my SAM. Actually this seems to happen with my other jobs too, even my largely-ignored PLD. However it is even more so prevalent between the two-handers. At one point, toward the end of last year, my SAM had been all but "retired" until roaring back to life around February. I'd seriously considered doing that to my DRG around October/November.

Yilbegan revisited

Last night, Beyond took two more shots at the void-walking Yilbegan. Our first encounters taught us two important things. The first big thing we learned was that PLD/NIN tanks were useless in this fight. Another thing was there wasn't enough incoming damage to keep up with his high regen. A faster Yilbegan kill is what we sought. But how do we get there? It was "back to the drawing board" so to speak.

Magi-what?

While several of my colleagues have been dutifully hacking away at magian weapons over the past month, there are a number of us (myself included) that have elected to boycott these pains in the ass altogether. Some of them are nice and give options to jobs that didn't have them previously (i.e. a multi-hit for BLU) but others are just WTF. Kill triple-digit mobs under weather conditions? Camp NM's with bullshit pop conditions and kill them x number of times? No thanks.

In other news, the past few days have found me plugging away at DNC sub, which as of this posting is 33. After hitting around level 20, the feeling of "why didn't I do this sooner?" began to set in. Certainly would've made my life on SAM a bit easier while leveling it up.

Yilbegan sucks

So last night Beyond took a crack at the new "big daddy" VNM, Yilbegan. The first time we popped, it despawned at 89% after the popper went too far away. The second time, we tracked it all the way to Xarcabard where a battle of epic proportions ensued. What did we get for our troubles? A gold ore and a couple dark crystals. So I've learned in the case of BLU, /THF and shoot cannonballs up its ass when it's casting.

Time to exp RNG now I guess. >_>