Final Fantasy XI Then...

[Darwock]

Saw this Q&A with the developers on the page about the FFXI event in New York (I got sucked in by the promise of pictures of bikini-clad women wearing ridiculous fluffy ear-hats. I was cheated!)

Crowd: How does the exp. for the NPC friend works?
Devs: Without going too much into details, the number of xp the NPC gets upon a kill is 70% of the xp you would get if you would kill it at the NPC level. But their level curve is different from a PC. There are more NPC updates coming soon. The NPC also stays up to a define number of fight or maximum time allowed. The higher his level is, the longer it can stay around.

[vwilsonuk]

The higher his level is, the longer it can stay around.

Handy

[Darwock]

Haven't done it yet so difficult to say (and I don't want to give the game away for you!), but I think there is some consistency in how the quests are started/finished.

I'm slowly coming to realise patience is a good virtue to have with this game... anyway I've managed to continue the quest now, thanks for the subtle hint Hic!

I also managed to get both my Eldieme coffer key *and* open the coffer yesterday.. although I had to be a little sly about it. I joined a skill-up party which had two other key hunters in it - when we arrived at the camp there was a coffer there and somebody else with a key disbanded and opened it immediately just for the normal treasure, another of the folk there said they also had a key and were hoping to do the same.

After about an hour and a half we got the second key, which fell to me. One left to get so we were continuing to fight. During one of the battles I snuck off to the back and noticed a coffer had respawned in one of the other rooms, so I quietly disbanded and popped it open without anyone knowing ^^

About five minutes later I noticed the skill-up guy with the key running into the same room - ha! too late sucker!

[Darwock]

More AF tasks out of the way - starting on Saturday night I camped out in Garlaige citadel waiting for an opportunity to open the gates, the place was deserted though so I logged off about 2am hoping to try again in the morning. Was back on at 10:30am, and there was an xp party there who opened the first gate for me. There was a beastmaster soloing mobs in the corridor outside gate #2, so it was fairly safe for me to hang around there. Eventually another couple of people passed by and through a fair bit of auto-translation was able to work together to get the doors open. I ran around inside for a bit, but no coffers - just lots of coffer hunters. Quite a lot of camaraderie between us all actually, it transpired that 2 of them and a 3rd friend of theirs had popped one 3 hours previously and none had been seen since. I was on the laptop so I could watch the F1 while searching... that was my undoing as I got distracted at a crucial time and got sent packing by a chamber beetle, delevelled in the process >< The other folk had gone afk so no option but to return to Jeuno.

Got back in, again with co-operation from some non-english speaking Japanese players.. more by luck than anything though. The place was still hoaching with coffer hunters so I logged off. Back on after the race, everyone else had seemingly given up, and the coffer was sitting there behind the tainted flesh. Woohoo! Had one of those adrenaline-buzzing moments as I ran to a safe spot to apply blink and aquaveil, hoping nobody would beat me to it - got there, dropped invis, opened chest for key item, warped.. no problems!

10pm last night I got a dark spark party so went off to fight the thing for myself, which was done with no problems. Back in Jeuno and there was a shout for a Davoi coffer key party, which is the last one I need. Only one other guy needing it and he was the one making the party, so I agreed to let him have the first one.

When we got there, the key dropped on the first kill! We'd passed a coffer on the way to the camp so he got his AF body instantly. We killed two more orcs and then one of the party went off on his own after a squabble about skillchains, and didn't come back. He eventually just d/c'd without saying a word. Somebody else went afk for their dinner, leaving their character on a spawn point. Orc spawned, we tried to save them but also got killed... white mage decided to go off and do something else since there was nothing in it for them, and that was that. Could have been a perfect day but I wound up getting pissed at the lack of co-operation, and ruing my decision not to lot on the first key.

Still, can't complain - those AF gloves ROCK! Elemental magic +15.. who needs sly gauntlets!

[talizker]

A substantially less sucessful weekend than you Darwock. I was looking and hoping for a Castle Oztroja Coffer Key party without any sucess at all. I ended up joining Experience Points parties but these were fairly poor (your GL about the 2 x SAM party was spot on Tobal ><). I ended up with 6k exp all weekend, 1 death and a couple of near deaths /sigh

So, I am going to try and sort out a LS Castle Oztroja Coffer Key / Skill Up party sometime this week. As far as I understand there are some good drops (spells etc) off the Coffer Key mobs here so should be a decent run for everyone that goes. I'll stick a LS message up tonight. The best nights for me would be either tonight! or Wed/Thu.

How did the Promy run go last night?

[C']

My weekend was a contrast of good and bad.

Friday evening was good. Did a good dose of farming and purchased a further 3 stacks of each of my debuff ninja tools (bar Slow) and got them bundled up meaning I had 4 stacks of each along with loads of Shihei.

Saturday morning was an early start and started off with levelling my NPC in Eastern Altepa Desert. Nyoneme is kind enough to synth my Kaginawa (Slow) tools if I get him the ingredients the most expensive of which is Manticore Hairs. I had 4 in my mogsafe so needed a further 5 drops so decided Manticores would be good to level my NPC off. Got all the drops I needed just as my NPC decided enough was enough. Got all the ingredients sent over to Nyoneme and he did his thing.

I was all set for EXPing.

Got my first party which was a Japanese group (NIN, RNG, THF, BLM, RDM, WHM) and we killed Dhalmals and Goblins in Bibiki Bay. Dhalmals seemed to be taking a while to kill but once the THF hit 66 and got Sharkbite we were able to create Light skillchain (Sniper Shot >> Blade: Jin >> Sharkbite) which sped things up. Felt good in this PT as even though we had a THF, no first Provoke meant they didn?t bother with SATA at the start but I held hate like a PLD. My Emnity gear is actually paying off. In fact before the THF got Shark Bite, they were doing Distortion (Slugshot >> Dancing Edge) with the intention of turning the mob with the Slugshot and landing SATA Dancing Edge on me. Slugshot wasn?t turning the mob though so they asked me to remove some enmity + items (which allowed me to equip in my STR+4 ring instead of Mermaid Ring). I had to give a sly grin at being asked to LOWER my enmity This PT disbanded with me needing 6k EXP to next level.

Got another party late in the evening. Had a ?different? setup to usual (NIN, 2 WAR (both with NIN sub), DRG, BRD and WHM). WHM expressed his concerns of the setup but again we went out to Bibiki Bay this time Goblins and birds and we tore the place up. 4 melee and a BRD meant it was constant weapon skills and having 3 Utsusemi users meant we took little to no damage). I got level 66 (6k EXP) in less than an hour (I was still on my second serving of sushi). However at 66 the birds went down to VT and as more of us levelled our EXP return dropped so couldn?t maintain the high EXP return. Still I got level 66 which was my aim for the day.

Sunday was where things went south.

Wasn?t too bad a start. Began with some crafting. Got woodworking to 58 and used 2 stacks of Fire Crystals I got in the EXP parties to turn Iron Ingots into Iron Sheets (should be 20k profit per stack). I then levelled my NPC some more whilst waiting for things to sell. All the stuff I synthed never sold and my inventory was in such a mess I couldn?t do anything substantial so I capped my Throwing in Gustav Tunnel (which cost me more ninja tools than I planned on), completed a quest in Eldieme Necropolis and obtained a Dash Sash off of Mirua. Oh and to compound my misery the Conquest results stated that all 3 nations were at a deadlock which I think means the that travelling band thingie (that usually resides in the first place nation) will be absent all week, and I need to visit one of its members to get my ninja tools bundled. The region map does state that Windurst is first so I will check there tonight but I?m sure in the past, a deadlocked result means they are gone for the week.. Bundled ninja tools makes my job much easier. ;_;

Despite the setbacks, the thought of attempting Promyvion-Holla kept me going.

Then came a System Message, less than 2 hours before our planned 7pm start, informing us that at 8pm they were due to commence emergency maintenance. That pretty much killed our plans for the evening and I logged off slightly annoyed.

Not really sure what to do about Promyvion now. Not even attempted one yet and I?m already fed up with the difficulty in trying to get this thing going. Seems like a lot of hassle in that we have now had 2 or 3 aborted attempts.


Anyway rant over. Tal, this is going to sound somewhat selfish so feel free to tell me to **** off, but any chance we could make this coffer key hunt a joint venture between the 2 of us? I don?t need a coffer key but one of the mobs that can drop keys (Yagudo Assassins) can also drop a Ninja?s Testimony which I am going to need to break the level 70 cap soon.

[Darwock]

Hmmm, if you're annoyed with Promyvion already I'd think twice about attempting Holla first - it will make you cry..!

[talizker]

Not really sure what to do about Promyvion now. Not even attempted one yet and I?m already fed up with the difficulty in trying to get this thing going. Seems like a lot of hassle in that we have now had 2 or 3 aborted attempts.

Damn thats annoying... Doing the three Spires was hard work and at time fustrating for us. I think the point when I realised I needed to level BLM from 20>30 and WHM from 1>15 in order to have any chance with Holla was the lowest point for me.

...But please stick with it! The feeling of accomplishment as we completed it has been second to none so far in the game. And when you consider the first COP mission after that in my opinion is the best mission so far (i've done it twice so far and can't wait to do it again with the LS). I really can't wait to push on with the story!

Anyway rant over. Tal, this is going to sound somewhat selfish so feel free to tell me to **** off, but any chance we could make this coffer key hunt a joint venture between the 2 of us? I don?t need a coffer key but one of the mobs that can drop keys (Yagudo Assassins) can also drop a Ninja?s Testimony which I am going to need to break the level 70 cap soon.

Hell yeah, that sounds like a plan dude! With you needing the Testimony, me the Coffer Key and loads of other drop-goodies on offer this should be a fun one! Anybody else?

[Tobal]

In theory 2xsamurai in a party should work well... the problem is the competition between fellow players to out do each other leads to mistakes,the only 2xsam party that ever worked for me was with Toxicforce, a Pld,whm,brd,nin,sam,sam did just above average exp an hour(4.5k), with constant skill chains between the sam?s and the nin, making loads of damage, without a blm/rng.

Dinged 71 at last night through a crazy half static party(whm,nin,thf) the ninja was the best I?ve ever partied with never lost hate, unless i used SA Gekko?s(and sometimes even kept hate doing that), gear was quite normal outside of the scorpion harness mainly agi+emi gear, the thf was plain nuts he would always every fight run off before it ended pull in the next mob to fight often with links, there wasn?t a single bit of down time until 1 hr in we all needed the toilet ^^.

Finally upgraded my bow and got new +str belt to macro in, got Tachi of Trials for the weapon skill quest and got 50 of 300 points in an hr of letting of solo weapon skills. Also im pretty much free to be anyone?s DD/tank with in reason ^^, need to get this WS thing sorted, and increase my parrying skillups.

[C']

Hell yeah, that sounds like a plan dude! With you needing the Testimony, me the Coffer Key and loads of other drop-goodies on offer this should be a fun one! Anybody else?

Well I should be free any night this week (barring Promyvions if we try to rearrange them for an evening) and considering I am after something out of this too I will volunteer myself for tanking duty

[C']

Hmmm, if you're annoyed with Promyvion already I'd think twice about attempting Holla first - it will make you cry..!

Perhaps but I?m not really that bothered about failing, it?s just the complete inability of even getting going that is frustrating me.

As for why we are doing Holla (Supposedly the hardest) first, well I discussed this with 4 of the 6 members and it was felt that as we had such a lot of anima (I think we have about 7 or 8 between us) that we should attempt this first. People seemed to like the idea of getting the hardest out of the way first.

[vwilsonuk]

*sigh* the ongoing saga of the lag continues. Got up to do some coding yesterday on a project I've been working on - an applet - where I've found the animation starts to lag after a while. It struck me that given FFXI lags, my applet lags, and even mouse movements on the desktop sometimes lag, I should spend some time checking the PC out rather than possibly waste a whole day debugging something that's perfectly fine.

After a few hours battling with Windows Update I managed to get SP2 installed, ran a chkdsk, made some amendments in the registry so Windows used its memory more wisely and did a disk cleanup. The system does run a little quicker but it hasn't fixed the lag. There are a couple of worrying factors; most recently the soundcard seems to be having problems - when the laptop tries to play its startup or shutdown noises the playback skips. Also the first 3-4 attempts to "Disk Cleanup" resulted in the whole machine powering itself off.

A couple of theories now in play, I downloaded Motherboard Monitor to tell me how hot my CPU was, but it couldn't detect the stats. A little while later I found HMonitor and tried that instead, and was informed that my CPU was running at a staggering 75?C. It probably has been for some time. At this point it was the middle of the night but feeling like I may have found the problem after a few Googles I set about unscrewing the fan panel to clean the cooling system. The screws it uses are T6 Torx screws which initially suggested I was scuppered, then I spotted the T6 screwdriver just along the desk which I bought to replace the cover on my SonyEricsson mobile last year ... winner! Sadly, its bargain price shipped direct from China obviously had quality implications as it sheared the moment I tried to turn it ... bummer! Fortunately one of my trusty "Woolworths" precision screwdrivers (purchased when my *first* laptop had a hd failure) with an elastic band wrapped around it did the job, and I had soon dusted both fans with some old paintbrushes and even tried hoovering (with a pop sock over the end!) but that didn't really achieve much.

Fitted it all back together again and powered back up, but again it was still running hot. Decided to register HMonitor as it allows thermal CPU throttling, but right now am having problems with their auto-registration process >.<.

The way I see it the possibilities are as follows:
1. The overheating is the cause of the problem (lots of google results showing Toshiba laptop cooling is not up to scratch) and can be remedied by thermal throttling software (if they let me buy it!)
2. The overheating is the cause of the problem but has been going on for so long that it has permanently damaged the kit (melted the thermal grease all over its innards or something). The lag has been going on for about five months now, and it regularly runs hot during FFXI.
3. The bluetooth keyboard I installed middle of the year is the cause of the problem - the software doesn't seem too reliable and while switching some hardware around earlier this year the bluetooth manager did manage to crash the whole pc - could be causing some kind of strange interrupt.
4. A theory suggested by a colleague this morning - there could be a problem with the motherboard. This would be the deathknell for the box, but I do remember registering for a warranty. This machine is about 13 months old, but it is still running, and if the warranty is only 12 months I might be able to buy an extended one before it croaks. Its possible it could be a hard disc fault, which has similarly drastic results on stability, but having been able to run a chkdsk without problem right now it seems more likely to be the motherboard.

Right now the plan is to try and run some hardware diagnostics when I get home. This could work out to be an expensive problem. I just hope it keeps running long enough for me to save my data somewhere; if the problem is severe it might be worth me going for that ?600-?700 self-build option on 0% for the next 9 months and try and get the data transferred directly from one box to another. One last thing; in perfmon I've examined some more data and the CPU usage peaks seem to coincide generally with peaks in "% Privileged time", which would again suggest a hardware problem.

Didn't get to bed til gone two last night in the end - I really want this sorted.

;_;

Additional suggestions/analysis/sympathy/donations all welcome. XD

PS. I was kidding about donations ;-)

[Hohum]

I completed Promyvion-Holla last night, and have to say it was a walkover for us... all I used was 1xholy water when the boss used its curse ability. Setup was PLD/WAR (me)/RNG/SMN/SMN/WHM. Buffed at start (no shadows as it can absorb them apparently for its own use), drank poison potion followed by pear au lait. Summoners went in first and started with astral flow , and the avatars were left to tank. Me and the RNG used our 2hr, psychoanimas/hysteroanimas were then used from this point. Summoners regained mp via ethers and did astral flow again, at which point PLD used invincible (although it wasn't necessary really). Boss got a curse ability out on us, removed that quickly, although prolly didn't matter as it died a few secs later Neither me or the PLD really tanked at all, lol.

I'd say from easiest > hardest: Dem, Holla, Mea. Dem was pretty easy despite only having 5 party members.

Piccy

[Tobal]

any promey going to be cake walk with 2 smn 2hrs spamming blood pacts its a no brainer, if like most you have a normal exp setup its going to be much harder relying on Animas while you chip away.

[mikewl]

My weekend was quite good, made level 40 Bst and did all three promyvion ENM's.

Did a God run on Saturday which got me a Genbu's Shield, lvl 74 +10 Evasion -10% physical damage being its strong points, it can be used by mages and brd.

Lost Behemoth last night after maintenance, I was just eating a quick snack, had my controller down when I heard the ground shaking, h spawned but we didn't claim.

Hicory, I too have overheating problems with my laptop a does someone from my work, I bought a thing that lifts the laptop off the table so there is more airflow around it.

I also noticed lag when I used to play ffxi on it.

I have basically given up on laptops though, had three of them and they all had something major go wrong with them.