Well, we beat Odin last night

...but we got the worst loot pool conceivable!! H.Body, D.Feet, and P.Legs. Got the dead sexy title at least.

Real progress!

As of yesterday, I am 1/5 of the way through the hellhole that is Nyzul Isle. I'll be cracking off my first Expiacion/Drakesbane/Atonement soon enough! I still need a windslicer for SAM and a death sickle for DRK at some point though that'll be a while.

Dark knight revisited

After completing STR merits, I decided I was going to do something I'd wanted to do for a while - take DRK to 75. I've been exping on it in between events and KV camps and it's currently at 45. Yeah, I know... still a way to go. I need to ding into that abyss burgeonet that rotted to me in Xarcabard the other day.

As far as merits go, I still have yet to finish divvying up my combat merits and will likely hold off on that until I finish DRK. I must be crazy leveling this since my LS has 2 stage 4 scythes in the works, both of which looking to finish by year's end.

I can't say I'd NEVER get to use it, since I've been on SAM a number of times over the past couple months, even with an amano. Lately however, my PLD has been taken out for a spin for one or two events each week since getting those speedy pants. And yes, it still has zero merits put into it. Now I really, really, really hope I don't end up having to tank Odin next time we fight him. I may have been rebuilding my PLD in the past couple weeks, but I am nowhere near comfortable with that fight. If I do end up with such a burden, I'll be forced to rage-log that night.

Ha ha Fool you!

Over 1 million gil for such a neglegible upgrade!? No way!

Ludicrous speed! GO!

So tonight Beyond went up for a jaunt in ye olde Tu'lia and we beat on a few sky gods.

Once we murdered them for their items and seals (Byakko was spared however), it was off to go a couple rounds with our old pal, Kirin in the bowels of Ru'Avitau. Do we TP burn it as per our usual encounters? No. We do it 2004/Fisher-Price sky shell-style and kite it. I hope this doesn't become the norm. So damn boring. >_> In those situations, I'd just grab my DS and look at the screen every so often.

After we won on the first, this happened.



And the second one....



Now to hold on to this for 6 months until I can snag an HQ. Yes, I went there.

So of course this means I won't have enough points for those homam cosciales when we fight Omega this Sunday. Considering how often we fight Kirin vs Omega, and the fact we haven't seen a pair of c.legs in a while (not since I've been in the shell), and the fact it benefits every job of mine except SAM, I think it's a worthy trade-off. I can still try and cash out what I have for the hands though. :P

So apparently we're lacking people with those speedy pants to serve as runners for those situations where we kite and it drives Vandyr nuts. So it looks like every so often I'll be called upon to do the "Behemoth relay" in future meetings with ol' Chlevnik. PLD for life eh? Not my damn fault if you like putting your alliance in grave danger. Hey, some people actually get their rocks off that way.

I guess this means I'll have to give a flying fuck about my PLD and merit the damn thing. On the subject of merits, I am now 4/5 on STR merits and need 6 more to finish it off. Maybe I'll do HP after that. We'll see.

We did it again.

So we return to Valgrind for round 2 with the Dark Rider. This one actually went better than last time. We managed to take him all the way down to 1%, but in the end it wasn't enough, as the valkyries came on the scene to pick people off. The lack of manpower did us in once more, coupled with the fact he was maybe one or two good weapon skills away which didn't connect. Had we another tank or DD, things would've certainly gone in our favor.

I leave you now with the aftermath of our encounter.

What's next?

So, yesterday evening we were planning to use that Ultima pop set we've had for over a month, but the person that had it (who was a former sackholder) wasn't around. Therefore plan B involved our old pal Proto-Omega. So off to central Apollyon we went, and what do we find in the crate?



Now, one of those would've been mine, but I was outbid by a paltry 100 points. So close. >_> A brief twinge of buyer's remorse came over me for that N.body from our last Kirin but it was quickly assuaged when I get a tell saying "you're the only one needing legs with 750+ points." Or am I? N.body is a solid piece for DRG pre-Zahak's and is also nice for wheeling thrust so I'm happy. With all this time in Apollyon, the number of people needing homam is shrinking. It wouldn't surprise me if we end up doing Ultima chips for the rest of the year.

Yesterday was also a good day since I finally closed a chapter on BLU by getting the last group 2 merits I needed. I'm thinking of doing STR next, which is a whopping 360,000 limit points from start to finish.

Lately I've pondered my future in the endgame circle God forbid my current linkshell goes by the wayside. No (real) mage job? BLU, PLD, DRG, SAM? We got about 65536 of those. Sorry noroom4u. So let's look at some of the possible back-line options.

BRD - Probably the easiest trip to 75. Play songs, surf the web, rinse, repeat.... and repeat. Fuck no! On the other hand, you can be a total ass when it comes to merit parties since you're the onecontrolling the pace. I guess this is how some BRDs who are on said job 24/7 get heir kicks. "Everyone /NIN or I ain't pullin!"
RDM - Heal/haste/refresh slave. I'll pass. Though in a merit setting, you practically hold everyone's lives in your hands. Gimp DD? Let his ass die.
WHM - See RDM, minus refresh.
BLM - Blow shit up, make things go nighty-night in Dynamis. God help you getting this to 75 though. Assuming you don't live in East Ronfaure with friends. Of course that'll just mean your elemental skill will be gimped as cardinal sin by the time you reach 75.
COR - Expensive gambling pirate. Also see BRD, but with guns and dice. Not unless I get alchemy up to where I can make my own ammo. We already have a glut in those. Next!
SMN - Not your daddy's summoner from FF games of yore. Oh hey! Astral burn! Not long before SE wises up and fixes that.... then retroactively slaps everyone that did it with a big fat LM-17
SCH - You can change the weather? You must be a god! This one seems the most attractive one to me. And hey, the AoE stoneskin is even better than a BLU's diamondhide if you gear for it right!

But, this is all for another time. I need to "invest in the future" in another way by doing some more much-needed meriting first. No matter what, I'll still be a blue mage at heart.