Final Fantasy XI Then...

[Tobal]

/Shug's/ i didn't know why you dropped out of CoP, i just assumed you didn't want to do it anymore as nothing really explained in Tsing post why we were another man down as it was the first i had heard of it. If you still up for it i have no problem waiting a couple of weeks, we still have wedge to do the setup yet and find a 6th member so this weekend was always a no-no.

[Kerushi]

I need to do Holla nd mea prommy so ill be willing to help

[Tsingtao]

I'm quite happy to wait I just thought you'd decided to drop out of CoP, theres no rush. Even replacing Talizker we need to redo the mammets to get Iceze up to us and then he has to do the NMs. We're not in any mad rush here, my hopes were to get to chapter 4 by New Year. That basically means we have 6 weeks to get a viable party together for the next BC.

In the interim I also want to try to get started on the road to sky, so lets face it I'm going to need some substantial play time to do those 2. Be good to have you back in if you're still interested Darwock, didn't really want to see you go

[vwilsonuk]

Darwock - it did seem when Tsingtao mentioned "at the weekend or next week" as though that would be feasible, although as I'm sure you've read in the intervening posts the cutscenes and NMs in both Sandy and Windurst are a bit more time consuming than any of us anticipated when we'd just completed the Mammets fight.

"It looks a lot like I'm not going to be able to get it done. Think I'll have to make my apologies and bow out of it."

... came a good few pages further down the thread. Coupled with your disappointment at Talizker leaving and no mention of a timescale (ie "not going to be able to get it done by x") it really did read as though you had lost interest after playing so little recently. Tsing and I were both a little confused by how disengaged the note seemed, and of course pretty disappointed to be losing another good friend from a linkshell event everyone really enjoys. After your frustration at feeling rusty in the mammets fight that also supported the idea that you might even be going off the game altogether, which is something none of us want to see. So it seemed quite plausible that what you said should be taken as it read - you just wouldn't be able to get it done.

The whole group has made efforts in the past to ensure nobody gets left behind and has waited for everyone to be ready several times now. We're hardly going to just exclude you unless we think you no longer want to be involved. That after all this time and all the different battles we've taken on together you think we're "prepared to wait until replacements have been ushered through Promyvion" but "not prepared to wait for me to find a way of beating the NMs?" is a little unsettling.

[Darwock]

I may perhaps have missed discussions that have taken place online, but I did think you were still pushing for this weekend, so obviously a bit of a misunderstanding arose. Sorry.

[Daragon]

FYI, but if anyone needs one more for a CoP thing on the other side of Promyvion, I only need to beat holla now (again! >< after my light of holla disappeared from my key items menu ; . If anyone wants to help out with that for an hour or so whenever, I have 2 animas rdy so I'd be prepared for it.

[vwilsonuk]

{Clothcraft} 49 O

{Guildmaster} {Rank} {Journeyman} O

{Magnifying Spectacles} O

[C']

Tobal and Wedge. Would you be interested in trying to put a group together for Rank 9 tonight? Equipment is as good as I can realistically achieve for the time being and not really up for farming. Also with progress being made on Zilart missions I want to have the San d?Oria ones out of the way so I can focus on the improved stories on the expansion mission packs rather than the ?errands for the royal family? crap we seem to be stuck with in San d?Oria.

I?m not sure what exactly is required (although I do know we have to find a fountain in Quicksand Caves) but think Tobal is more aware of the details. I have a bit of gil after bankrupting myself on Saturday so can afford the Silent Oils to get around.

Let me know what you guys think. I will be getting online at around 7pm as usual which gives us a few hours to get this done.

Also, Apathye, I need to speak with you regarding a couple things too. Have to take a trip through Ifrit?s Cauldron (not O.Hat related, although that still hangs over me too) to get to a battle and speaking with Bayan last night he seemed to think me, him and a mage should be able to trio it easily and it would be easier this way than with a large group of people as chances of picking up aggro would be lower. Would you be up for this?

[Tobal]

Im good for tonight for rank8-1, we can't do 8-2 as there's a time limit set(12 midnight for japan) before we can start it.

[mikewl]

Sure, tonight is good for me.

Will be on about 6pm.

[mikewl]

Tobal, Rare are we doing more Mission tonight.

I wanna get these rank ones out of the way, then concentrate on ZM and CoP.

Rank missions are quite rubbish really, found again that the difficulty balance was ruined by there being no level cap.

Just wanna get them finished with.

[C']

I?d like to Wedge. Like yourself, I want to have the boring rank missions out of the way to allow me to focus (in terms of paying attention to the story) on ZM. I have 3 storylines on the go right now and it is hard enough to remember what needs doing, what I was told last etc. due to the massive gaps that can occur between doing one mission to the next. This is made no easier by having 3 storylines.

Completely agree regarding the lack of level caps making things dull too. Last night was a prime example. No attention was paid to making sure tank kept hate and using a strategy to battle the NMs. It was just a case of everyone (about 10 of us?) piling onto one mob killing it as quick as possible then moving to the next one. Because of that there was no semblance of control in the battle, just lots of crazy special effects going off and the mob using AOE after AOE. It?s no surprise that the healers struggled to keep HP levels up. I know you asked what songs we wanted beforehand but did you have any clue what to use mid-fight? I know I never even bothered trying to use Ninjutsu after 1st cast as it seemed pointless.

I do think the second battle was more fun as we were basically one party and the battle seemed much less hectic (although again I didn?t really do much).

Imagine that battle but with a lvl70 cap and limited to 6 people? I think it would have been much better. As it turns out, getting enough people to turn up and trying to organise them to bring what they need, be prepared was the hardest part.

Promyvions were much better for this reason as every person in that battle played a part and had to work hard for us to win. Sadly the whinging from the playerbase at large regarding CoP being ?ruined? by level caps leaves me fearful about the next expansion. Guess I?m lucky to be in a LS with people like you who seem to have the same desire for challenge.

So anyway, rant over. {San d?Oria} {Mission} 8-2 tonight? {Yes, please}

[Tobal]

i'll be on.

[Tsingtao]

Its a shame I didn't catch you guys in time, was hoping to join you to finish up Sandy missions.

In other news are we ready for ZM4 on Sunday, I think its time we just did this. What do you guys think?

As far as I know we have (levels are as best as I can remember)

Mosley - WHM or SMN (if we could find another WHM a 72 SMN will help)
Darwock - 60 BLM
Tsing - 67 PLD
Rare - 70 NIN

So we have 2 places either for 2 DDs or a DD + a WHM. I think another melee for rare and I to SC with would help, we can go nuts on dark and light skill chains if we get another melee over 65.

Not having sky now is becoming a problem for parties, had to reject a couple on invites so far but its only going to get worse. I propose an expedition to get our moongate passes as well.

[Daragon]

Well, I'd certainly be up for getting Sky access too. Am I going to need to have beaten a number of ZMs or rank missions first tho?

Also, on an unrelated note, I'm happy to announce that last night I finally beat Promyvion Holla