Yes, I am officially necroing the blog because of all the Endwalker whining... GET OVER IT!

(Posted on my sports-conspiracy blog, but I thought it might be good to put it here too!)

I could probably go into any number of sports-related rants regarding the entitlement of fans and the like -- up to and including my increasing anger at the idiots who do not understand a sports fan has no right to a legal, lawful, nor fair contest.

Really, they don't.  Mayer!

But what I have seen the last almost-five days now in video-gaming has to take the cake.

I know I probably said here (and I know I said elsewhere) I was never going to play Final Fantasy XIV again.

The coronavirus and the need to kill copious amounts of time while staying the fuck at home (thank you, Samuel L. Jackson!!!!) changed all that.

Today is the official release date of the final expansion of the first story arc, Endwalker.

I do not know when I will complete it, or whether I will be able to.  More on that in a second.

I have been considering doing another video-game post on the death of Activision-Blizzard, and the DESERVED death of the company, as a going concern.

I may, well, soon.

But this is one factor in what is going on here.  Because a lot of people, disgusted with the sexual-harassment/assault culture at Blizzard (as well as increasing microtransactions, including pay-for-gold (which the company which owns the game DOES have the right to do -- unlike Real Money Trading outfits!)) have left World of Warcraft in monstrous numbers, leaving WoW with a player-base, by some estimates, of less than 2 million subscribed accounts.

By comparison, Square-Enix and FFXIV, this weekend for the "Early Access" of Endwalker, have reported, and by quite a distance (some metrics say the record could be by a multiplicative factor of at least two, if not more!!), the highest server load in the history of the game.

Which has created massive problems.

One of which, which will probably take a back seat, is a very real issue with certain processors (like mine, AMD models appear to be reported as having problems) with the game, at best, dropping or stuttering sound.  At worst, like mine, the computer will randomly freeze and force a complete reset of the system!

But that's nothing compared to their more glaring problem:  Full worlds and massive server queues.

And everyone says "This is normal for a launch!!", etc.  And they are right -- TO AN EXTENT...

The problem is, the mass exodus out of Blizzard and into Square-Enix was never foreseen.

The second problem is that the development team knew they couldn't do anything about it.

Some blame COVID, I blame Bitcoin.  There's also a definite scalper motif into this, which has bled into the high-end gaming consoles as well.  It's one of the reasons I may have to quit for a while:  Upgrading systems has become impossible because of the semiconductor shortage which has gone on the better part of 12-18 months now.

I have friends of mine who would like to update their video cards.  Here's your problem, as evidenced last June at a store in Dallas.  I want you to take special note of a gentleman in the mob just in front of the cammer before it attempts to stampede the store, upon notification that, between all the Bitcoiners and scalpers, there's no prayer there's enough video cards to get everybody one:

(Look at about 1-2 seconds into the video.  Look closely at his hand, you won't see it for long...)

There's at least one person in the damn line who has BRASS KNUCKLES!!!

That's how bad that is.

But the reason I made this post is another kind of entitled jackass...

"I WANNA PLAY WIGHT NOWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!  WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!"

Just a short list of what has been going on on the Official Forums of the game (and thank God I'm banned from those several times and characters over, because somebody would get threatened with a punch to the mouth):

• "I want to thank you for making bethesda and fallout 76 look good. I was going to type a lot more, but why bother. you and the company decided that you would loose more money from player leaving then from getting more servers."
  
• Another thread:  "I don't accept your apology"
• Calls for lawsuits...
• "Shame on you Square"
• I know there was at least one all-caps profane rant on the question -- which was probably allowed to remain far longer than it should've...
• "Get over it?  No, I don't think I will."
• And on
• AND ON
• AND FUCKING ON!!!!!

The only way Square-Enix was going to get this right was not to release Endwalker for AT LEAST ANOTHER YEAR.

That's how bad the gaming console/semiconductor/video card/chip market has been FUCKED, between the scalpers and the Bitcoin geeks, with a small nod to COVID, in the last two years.

If you don't think they would've done something if they could've, you're even more arrogant than I thought.

FUCK OFF.

 

So the update has come and gone for May 9...

And I can't say I'm the World's Happiest Camper with most of it...

Voidwatch:

Tried once, and died miserably to the worm because the status of when you are in a Voidwatch Operation Battle is the same as a Confrontation in some other mechanisms (Fields of Valor Elite Regimens, some WotG fights, etc.) -- hence, it wiped my pet and it hits like a truck.

Don't like that it sounds like it's bringing some of the Abyssea stuff over here. Hopefully, once we learn some more on this, it'll improve.

Grounds of Valor/Revamped (High-Level) Monster Placement:

Gee, they really don't want low-level players in the dungeon areas anymore. Once you go up the spout in Dangruf Wadi, you're in 90-land now, Toto! Wasn't paying attention, and a 90 goblin ate me for lunch.

Be interesting to see the benefits you get from continuous GoV work, but gotta get a rhythm going on that.

Neo-Dynamis:

YE-OUCH!!!

Someone's trying to kill Dynamis.

I can understand lowering the drop rate on singles.

But effectively eradicating it entirely??? 45 minutes in Bastok Monday night, just completed 70 minutes in Xarcabard. ZERO coins.

That said, if they can balance the drop rates, the action is soloable for a careful 90, and there are some other changes as well:

• Killing a pet's master kills the pet.
• If all on a monster's hate list dies, the monster despawns effectively immediately.
• Beastmen and Xarcabard demons link with each other, but NOT with Statues or Eyes.
• The 2-hr can be really quick. Watch out on the summoners!! (Learned that night 1.)
• Regular mobs can now be snuck and invised against -- no more True Sight and Sound.
  

Actually did have a decent run in Xarcabard. One time extension gave me a total of 70 minutes in there, and I killed the WHM demon NM and got a pop item drop. Got 3 AF2 in Xarcabard, and 2 I could use (RDM and MNK -- BLU was the other.) MNK now 5/5 AF2.

If they get the coin rates balanced, this could be a godsend. Until they DO....

Protip to Square-Enix: Coins are what make people money and get them to come back. Most of the AF2 gear is either gotten a couple times over, obsoleted by AF3, or both.

Adventuring Fellows:

I really need to break out Sharlene some day. She's hot. :)

Abyssea:

I thought they ninja-nerfed the drop rates on Pursuer's Wings just before the update.

I do like the knowledge on lights -- each light has a 0-255 strength list. /heal - ing shows you that along with your time left.

And the NPCs coming to the home nations?? Let's just say I finally moved my home point back to Bastok! :)

Battlefields/KCNMs:

Haven't tried any, but will take the Inventory Space +6 from finally getting to trade all those buggers in! :)

Other administrivia:

Got my Prishe statue. She's now pointing at nothing in particular. All hail Prishe fan-service.

Working on Axe WSNM points after finishing Staff, Polearm, and Dagger. Club next, then some Shinryu soloing.

Ninth Vana'versary:

Ring is different, now a 9000 point bonus limit, 12 hours to use it up, 10 charges.

Another Dinner Jacket uselessness, sounds like. Early indications: Looks cool, though.

Mog Bonanza:

A number of changes, mostly to Empyrean stuff and rescaling the game to Abyssea. A number of items have been removed, as well, as a result. This is mostly about changes to additions to level changes.

Rank 5: No changes. Mostly battlefield entries and statues.

Rank 4: A number of changes.

• Joyeuse has been reduced from Level 3 to Level 4. And there was a time that was one of the most sought-after things in the game!
• Same with Valhalla Helm, Yinyang Robe and Nocturnus Helm.
• Carbuncle's Pole and Redeyes added to the list.
• Most of the craftables removed from all levels, except for HNM stuff/Black Belt stuff (Behemoth Tongue, etc.) here.
  
• Bahamut V.2 "Wyrmking Descends" Orb added.
• Also downgraded: Kupon B -- Beaucedine Dynamis AF2 armor -- Rank 3 to Rank 4.
• Also added: Kupon S. Win this, and you can pick any one job of your choice and gain all the necessary seals (but the seals only -- still gotta buy the rest and farm the feet!) to upgrade any one job's AF3 to a full +1 set. This is cool. And doing this at Rank 4 keeps things from getting too far out of hand. That's for later!

Rank 3: Gil breakdown for the top three tiers is the same. Downgrades already listed, plus the following...

• The Great Sword "Nightfall" from the Fiat Lux BC (remember that obsolete situation?) has been added. Aneiro, if he didn't get it before, really might want that one!
• Nocturnus Mail has also, as the Helm, been dropped one Rank, from Rank 2 to Rank 3.
• Byakko's Haidate, elite body-piece, downgraded one Rank, from Rank 2 to Rank 3.
• King Arthro's Velocious Belt (Haste +6%) also similarly downgraded from 2 to 3.
• The Synergy item Galley Kitchen has been added for that chef who needs everything.
  
• Level 4 Sarameya ZNM drop Hachiryu Haidate downgraded one Rank, from Rank 2 to Rank 3. Anyone still doing ZNM's at all?
  
• Roundel Ring (Oztroja (S) SCNM drop) has been added. Great curing piece!
  
• The Nomad Moogle Rod (an exclusive item to Japanese events) has been put at this level. But you can't give the Moogle Pies to yourself, and, unless they vastly upgrade the "gift" you can give, why the Hell is this a Rank 3???
• Odin drop: Valhalla Breastplate downgraded to Rank 3 from Rank 2. Which see Abyssea obsoleting a lot of other things, like Einherjar.
• The Elite Salvage gear: Ares' Cuirass, Skadi's Curie, Usukane Haramaki, Morrigan's Robe... Downgraded to Rank 3 from Rank 1! Talk about an admission as to the obsolete nature of Salvage!

Rank 2: Downgrades already listed, plus:

• Tier 4 ZNM Tinnin staff drop, Alkalurops, downgraded one rank, from Rank 1 to Rank 2.
• Dynamis Lord drops Shadow Ring and Shadow Mantle both downgraded one rank, from Rank 1 to Rank 2. And if Dynamis isn't fixed tout suite, it could be completely obsolete.
  
• Shinryu drops Twilight Mail and Twilight Cloak added.
• Jailer of Love "drop" Novio Earring downgraded the same one rank. Rank 1 to Rank 2.
• Ebisu quest items stay up at this level, as does the Pandemonium Key (for those suckers who want to try Pandemonium Warden).
• There's an item called a Cat's Eye, which is a jewel, which has been added in the May 9 update, added to this tier. Apparently, the .dat people (got this from FFXIAH) have said that it will automatically complete the alexandrite leg of any Mythic weapon. But you do not get the alexandrite you've spent back.
• The most interesting addition, though, to this tier, is the Kupon EA. Now, of course, you can conclude that this is not a preview of the Peyton Hillis Madden 12, but this has to do with Empyrean Armor. Like the Kupon S, you select a job. But with the Kupon EA, you receive ALL FIVE AF3 +2 PIECES COMPLETED from that job! WOW!!!!

Rank 1: Most of the items have been changed, as a number of the other items got downgraded from previous versions of the Mog Bonanza. With the gil, you get the choice of, for the Grand Prizes:

• Kupon A: For an AV drop. (As in the previous Mog Bonanza.)
• Kupon P: Pandemonium Warden drop. (As in the previous Mog Bonanza.)
• The Ridill, the Kraken Club, the Defending Ring, and the Ebisu Fishing Rod are also at this level, as before.
• Kupon EW is a slight change from previous Mog Bonanzas. It grants a fully completed (to this point) Empyrean Weapon of your choice. A winner of a Kupon EW would get a more completed weapon than a Kupon E winner did before, but it's the same concept. The list of trial completions is on the website linked above.
• Two mega-additions from the Nomad Mog Bonanza from Vana'Fest 2010: Kupon RW and MW. I don't think I need to say much more than the Relic or Mythic of your choice, respectively!
• Two new Grand Prizes have been added to the gear set. The Ochain (effectively the upgraded Aegis), and the Daurdabla (basically the best stringed instrument in the game). Not known if these two items will be level 85 or level 90 -- my guess is the latter.
• Three final Grand Prizes have been added for the person in need of lots of cash that even the gil prize might not satisfy: Each Dynamis nation's TEN THOUSAND-PIECE (the one you would normally have to collect to gain the final part of your Relic Weapon). Let's put it this way, the gil prize is usually about 100,000,000 gil. The Sandy and Windy ones of these could be worth, at pre-Neo prices, 120-150,000,000 gil!

So salivate over all that. Sales begin near the end of the month and the numbers come out mid-July.

My choices:

Rank 5: A statue I do not have.
Rank 4: The seal set, job unknown.
Rank 3: Tough call, though I no longer see equating Xarcabard Dynamis drops to the same level as elite Salvage gear.
Rank 2: The AF3 +2 completed set, obviously. Job becomes a real pain to decide at that juncture!
Rank 1: OH DEAR GOD... Call me if I win, after I am revived.

Catching up Starcade...

Well, we are less than seven hours from the restart, and I'm about to get a nap before the game restarts.

Before I do, a quick update on where Starcade stands...

Six jobs are level 90.

DRG (fully capped and merited), DNC (fully capped and merited), SAM (fully capped and merited), BST (fully capped and merited -- all hail the Power Sheep!), RDM (not capped, but fully merited), and MNK (my first job in the game, my 6th to 90, neither capped nor merited).

WHM got to 77 -- just got my Raise III in a BCNM before the stoppage. NIN is 50-ish, others getting there.

Dynamis: Lengendary is still going, though for how long after the Dynamis changes, I dunno. Got my polearm to level 2, and now working on the 16 100-Bynes to get it to level 3 (farming for gil, mostly Abyssea pops like the Orobon Cheekmeat and Pursuer Wings). We got our Xarcabard win, finally, so we're branching out a bit. Next run is supposed to be Windurst. Only win I do not have is Tavnazia.

Abyssea: Shit-ton of DD atmas (have Razed Ruins, Voracious Violet, and many others). Have all zone bosses, Caturae, and the Discernment Abyssite and Crimson Traverser Stone. The only win I don't have is The Wyrm God himself.

AF3: No +2's. +1's abound, including four on DRG and three on DNC -- but I still don't have the base feet for DNC, even though I've had the eight seals for quite some time!

Wings: Got stuck on the last Bastok mission, so got Sandy a fair way up until I got stalled on a mission that needs help there! So haven't gotten to the end of that.

ToAU: Does anyone do that any more?

Zilart: On Apocalypse Nigh.

So that's a quickie update. Off to bed.

And I see the GM's are in fine form...

Walk of Echoes post Dyna today...

Went in, got wiped, and got the message that all party members had fallen in battle, and that we would be removed in 3 minutes and 514000 seconds.

As GM Bublex later put it, that's almost a year, apparently.

But it's what he suggested we do after I told him we had all seen the same message -- after I had asked many of the players who were there...

He wants us to do File Checks, thinking it might be the files being corrupted...

Eh????

Another nice deflection by the GM Force...

---------------

Quickie update:

No Dynamis either Sunday (Father's Day) or Wednesday (Dreamer did Abyssea instead).

DRG now to 76, DNC to 77.

Some early thoughts, now that I've had the chance to play some of the new material

-- Genkai VI is not unreasonable, though those who recently merited might think otherwise.

-- Actually got a meritpo with five other people, and ran like Hell to Caederva (after all bird camps were already taken 10 minutes after the restart!!), and did imps and the like til I got my 3 merit points.

Then, with a Besieged starting, ran out to kill a couple birds. DING 76 DNC! Return, change, repeat. DING 76 DRG!!

Already a number of 77s on Siren.

16 78's on, as of 2:30 AM PDT.

3 79's.

NO 80's.

-- Started the Bastokan finale line, and need a Castle Zvahl Baileys [S] cutscene next. But I got a bit sidetracked.

-- Walk of Echoes. You have GOT to be kidding me.

Campaign on Steroids.

A bunch of antlions ran over about 10 of us for breakfast. :)

It's got potential, though -- let's see what happens with larger groups.

-- Abyssea is a TRIP!! Did Konschtat for my first run. If you go in alone, or use one Traverser's Stone, you get 30 minutes before you get kicked out. Another stone cannot be given to you for a full 24 hours, it sounds like (minimum 20).

Lower level monsters con EM-DC to a 76, meaning they probably are 74-76. Fought three Shadow Lizards -- quite a challenge, but no real danger. Just think of a 75 as a level 1, and you get the idea. :)

They do spawn chests, which can have items! Combination quests apply here as well.

(Got Eft Blood and a Giant Bugard Tusk, which are used in crafting L76-80 items.)

However, they do tell you the amount of time you have left and the number of guesses left, and the list is only 11-77 -- you must guess to get a clue. A guess gets you an additional clue, other than higher or lower.

Heard a rumor some of these chests are mimics!!!

One possible bug I saw: In the chat log, it will show the maximum number of attempts allotted, but will not decrement that number when an attempt is made. In the mini-game window, it will decrement, however. Has been reported to a GM.

There are quests here, and I completed about two of them in the time allotted.

-- Interesting ninja addition (pun intended, in this case): The Utsusemi icon now shows how many shadows you have left in your last casting.

More later. My bed calls me... :)

One quick EDIT before bed:

Sounds like there are two BCs in each finale line. The reward is an L80 ring. San d'Oria's is HP +25, Reduces Critical Hit Rate.

Well, another 90 minutes, I guess...

... and that's not for the download and install. That's the maintenance.

What was supposed to be a 1 PM PDT restart is now 6:30 PM PDT, after several extensions.

Taking bets??

So screw me for having a real life...

This is reminding me of the updates before the last year or so...

Had RL business to attend to this morning, and now basically CANNOT get in to do the goddamned update.

And I know if I wait, it'll be Thursday or so, because of a combination of emergency maintenances and every damn player downloading all the new stuff.

Literally spamming the Retry for 20 minutes now (now over a dozen POL-1160s, and the occasional POL-1161), and I've gotten to start the download ONCE.

EDIT #1: 3:17 PM. 25 more minutes, one more try in, got frozen out the moment everything got checked before the first file could be downloaded. Two reboots, a de-crapify, and a disk defrag later, trying to get back in to where I was to start the process AGAIN!

EDIT #2: Two hours after I finally got in, sounds like it's almost done!! Off to get Merit Points, sounds like!! :)

New Update Quickies

-- THERE IS A SIXTH GENKAI QUEST.

SE lied to us on this one, saying there would be no sixth Genkai. From the official update news:

To increase character job levels to 76 and beyond, players must complete the new limit break quest "New Worlds Await" offered by the Nomad Moogle stationed at the Ru'Lude Gardens.

I can only hope that this doesn't turn ugly real fast. No fetch quests -- for the love of God, no fetch quests...

EDIT: CONFIRMED through the dat mining: Five Kindred Seals, Three Merit Points.

-- Walk of Echoes

Battle time limit is 30 minutes (clock starts on engagement). The transport there is in Xarcabard [S], and you must purchase a key item to access WoE -- however, the limit is one per _Vana'delian day_.

Five minutes from either victory or chest-opening to leave.

Because of a "known issue", you need ToAU installed for the time being to do Walk of Echoes.

Perhaps something having to do with the code being somewhat Besieged-like???

-- Aquaveil now prevents against a certain number of interruptions of spells.

-- Emnity generation on Sleep, Bind, and Blind spells has been adjusted.

-- New VNM's

Probably above Yildebegan.

The title screen has been changed. The expansions will be on the right -- the menu will be below the main game title now.

That'll take some getting used to.

Update before the update, again...

Well, unless something unforeseen happens tonight, I should be 1 TNL 76 on DRG and DNC, as planned.

Doing "Into the Beast's Maw" at the moment as we speak. A victory there basically puts me at "Darkness Descends". Hopefully, I can get that done tonight too and be on "Adieu, Lilisette" to be on the final nation quest set tomorrow.

No Dynamis today, last Wednesday was Buburimu -- another win, DRG belt dropped, and the OTHER Dragoon got it.

Did some VNM's with a new all-DNC linkshell that Kiana put together -- did a couple Urds, got another DNC a Choeria Earring...

Tried to get some of the Sunday Dyna shell caught up on WotG, but Adelheid was being stupid again.

Wings progress!!

Thank you to Darkmage of my Wednesday Dyna shell, Husband and a third I forgot the name of (sowwy). We got two of the three Battle of Xarcabard missions done. Now the Count Bifrons (or whatever his name is) and then the second Help-Lilisette fight...

----

Speed Gamers (just to tell you, because no one reading this is probably up now):

They're STILL going. Extensions will continue for the foreseeable (at least until 5 AM CDT this morning) because they now have exceeded their goal and reached $51,000. Another $1,000 before 5 AM CDT (3 AM out here) adds two MORE hours.

After that...

Couple of little bits of stuff...

1) Blogger acted up today -- sounds like a couple of Volkai's comments got eaten.

*Blogger burps*

2) Speed Gamers now in the homestretch.

$33,121 with about 20 hours to go. Can't see them making it to $50,000 -- $40,000 might even be a reach... Good work on them in any event, but I do think they have to be disappointed.

And here come the job adjustments...

They basically wrapped up the update info today (at least the non-ninjanerfs...) with job adjustments, mostly for the 76-80 crowd. Now, I don't play every job, so I don't have expertise in them all, but it sounds like everybody gets at least one.

Info taken from the official site.

Abilities and some comments:

Restraint (WAR 77) Increases your weaponskill power with each attack, but disables critical hits.

Risk-reward. Problem is, you better be able to consistently hit to get to a weaponskill against the L80s of the world.

Perfect Counter (MNK 79) Next attack within 30 seconds gets countered.

And with a 60 second recast, you can see that up quite a bit, I think.
Mana Wall (BLM 76) Allows damage to be taken with MP.

Oof. Rendering the Black Mage all but useless, I fear, with one good hit. One hit and there you go with your mega-magic.

Despoil (THF 77) Steal + Status Effect

Nice! Same delay as Steal (5 minutes), but now they make it MORE useful.

Divine Emblem (PLD 78) Increases next divine spell's accuracy and increases emnity.

Hate mechanics always help PLD.

Nether Void (DRK 78) Enhances Absorb-??? spell.

Still trying to figure out the point of the Absorb-statistic stuff -- the enhancement better be quite nice.

Double Shot (RNG 79)

Pretty much self explanatory.

Sengikori (SAM 77) Bonus to chains and bursts with next weapon skill.

Sengikori and Sekkanoki??? SICK!

Futae (NIN 77) Double the tools for more damage.

Never have been a fan of the Ninjitsu elemental spells.

Spirit Jump (DRG 77 -- 90 s) Jump + suppressed Emnity. Additional effect if Wyvern is present.

Nice. A third Jump to gain TP with for my DRG, and I won't grab so much hate with it!! :)

Blood Pact: Holy Mist (SMN 76) Light elemental damage. (Probably Carbuncle)
Lunar Bay (SMN 78) Darkness. (Not sure on this one)
Night Terror (SMN 80) Darkness. (Probably Diabolos)

Yeah yeah... Not like that many SMN 75s didn't commit TOS violations to get there. (I didn't say they all did...) Useless like Holy, frankly.

Bolter's Roll (COR 76) Enhanced movement speed. (to party members in AoE)

Something most players want, but might be of more limited use than some other COR rolls.

Caster's Roll (COR 79) Enhanced "Fast Cast". (ditto)

This, however, could be of quite some use to casters, especially the higher up you go.

Tactical Switch (PUP 79) Master TP <-> Puppet TP

That's got some nice possibilities.

Presto (DNC 77 -- can always be up) Enhances next step effect and grants an additional finishing move.

OH HELL YES!!! Not just the extra effect enhancement, but now it's 2 step hits to get 5 finishers than 3 for DNC 77+ main.

Divine Waltz II (DNC 78)

Self explanatory -- and ABOUT DAMNED TIME!

Climactic Flourish (DNC 80) Allows you to perform critical hits. Expends finishing move.

What is this? Limited Mighty Strikes?? Next hit you do after a Climactic is automatically critical??

Libra (SCH 76) Examines the current emnity level.

Of all individual players in the combat, or just the SCH?? Kinda semi-useless if the latter.

Some other changes:

-- Six new BST Jug Pets, probably at least 80 cap.

-- Sekkanoki is going from SAM 60 to SAM 40.

Wow. That's going to be interesting. DNC 80/SAM becomes a possible play.

-- DRG Spirit Link now will give the Dragoon half the wyvern's TP!!

WOW!!! That's huge!

-- The bonus on a COR roll of 11 is that the effect will be increased to ten minutes.

This was what they were probably talking about at VanaFest to increase the gambling aspect of CORs.

-- DNCs can now Cure Waltz non-party members.

Part II of "IT'S ABOUT DAMNED TIME!!" Lengendary and Dreamer may want me to come DNC more often again.

-- DNCs to get Dual Wield at 20, with increasing job traits as levels go up.

Sounds to me like DNCs might be the big winners here of this round of adjustments. I won't complain about that!!

Restrictions on support jobs for abilities:

-- WHM and NIN won't be available at all. (No Yonin, Innin, or Afflatus)

-- Shadowbind gets an accuracy penalty.

-- SCH Accession and Manifestation will triple the casting time for /SCH.

New job traits:

(I have to be careful on some of these -- the way they listed them might make it confusing as to which jobs get which traits...)

Critical Attack Bonus (WAR, THF 78; DNC 80)

Critical Attack Defense (PLD 79, BRD 80)

Tactical Parry (NIN, DNC 77): Grants TP upon a successful Parry.

Tactical Guard (MNK 77, PUP 80): Grants TP upon a successful Guard.

Shield Defense Bonus (WAR 80, PLD 77)

Stout Servant (BST, PUP 78): Reduces damage taken by pet.

True Shot (RNG 78): If from an "appropriate distance", increased damage by ranged attack.

Blood Boon (SMN 60): Decreases (sometimes) the MP costs of Blood Pacts of non-Astral Flow abilities.

Skillchain Bonus (DNC 45, SAM 78)

But why DNC 45 if SAM (the King of the Skillchains) has to wait to 78 to get the bonus on SC damage?

Fencer (WAR 45, BST 80): Increases critical hit rate and adds a bonus to weaponskills, but must only be wielding with the main hand.

Conserve TP (DRG 45, DNC 77, RNG 80): Occasional reduction in TP cost of weaponskills.

YEOWCH!!!

Occult Acumen (DRK 45, SCH 78): TP bonus when doing damage with dark or elemental spells.

Magic Burst Bonus (BLM 45, SCH 79, NIN 80)

Divine Benizen (WHM 50): Speeds up any status recovery magic (Esuna, Erase, etc.), and grants a bonus to emnity reduction.

Resist Amnesia (BST, PUP 15; COR 30)

New Spells:

Baramnesia and Baramnesra.

Protect V, Shell V, Cure VI.

Stone V, Water V

Aspir II for DRK

Foe Requiem VII, Army's Paeon VI, Knight's Minne V

Aisha: Ichi (effect currently unknown).

PLD gets Phalanx and Shell IV

RDM gets Regen II

DRK gets Stone and Water III

RDM gets Stone and Water IV

(All past 75)

and more BLU spells.

Monday can't come fast enough!!!

Walk of Echoes announced...

As one of the final update things before the big update to take us to level 80, they finally announce Walk of Echoes, what it will be, and what restrictions...

First off, the restrictions:

You must be level 70 or above.

You must have progressed at least to "Cait Sith" in the Wings of the Goddess storyline.

(But I think that's like mission 3 or something...)

What is the Walk of Echoes?

Basically, from what I read, a combination of Campaign and Besieged...

There will be a number of progressive battlefields, each with fearsome foes. There will be a participant limit AND a time limit.

While the participant limit has not been reached in a battlefield, anyone can join it, much as in a Campaign or Besieged battle.

There is a series of foes, and, at the conclusion, three (apparent) levels of booty:

1) Items dropped by monsters (lotted by any and all participants in that fight)
2) Items dropped at the end of a successful run via a Campaign Union-style chest...

(OH FUCKING GREAT!! JUST GIVE THE FUCKING BOT-LOTTERS FIRST REAL CHANCE AT THE 76+ GEAR... WHY NOT JUST TELL US ALL WE NEED FUCKING BOTS TO PLAY THIS FUCKING GAME???)

*rant over* Where was I...

3) Sufficient participation can give individual players further loot (*perhaps to combat #2*).

I think you see my main complaint above. Will be fun to _try_, but...

-----------------

Couple of other things:

Forgive me, Aneiro, if I have no sympathy for your "open letter". First off, we have our strong differences. Second, you've got graduation and beyond come August. At some point, much like some of the other programs, new people are going to have to come in.

But make no secret: I have very little respect, now, for the people who represent us, the players. I know there's at least one podcast AND the main information portal for the game which openly coddles cheating and misconduct. I just seem to find that it's more important in life to have friends and to have people with you than have any sense of integrity or reality in this world.

That's fine. It's one of the reasons I'm certain that something is going to come up -- and I'll be banned from this game in about three months. Someone is going to finally piss me off (and I estimate it'll be about the time of second Abyssea), and I'm going to be gone when I finally tell them to, bluntly, piss off.

I do not trust the FFXI community, nor the rank and file playerbase.

Speed Gamers: Two hours short of halfway. $17,152 -- probably about $7,000 or so short of where they need to be (I'm not certain they can get the "end of telethon" bump that's going to make up what probably is going to be the difference between getting their goal of $50,000 and getting a more realistic idea of $35,000...) if they want to make the $50,000 they made in last year's Final Fantasy marathon.

Couple of updates...

This World Cup has SUCKED, by the way... Level of play far down...

-----------

Speed Gamers update: Slightly behind, and this is the weekend part. Goaling for $50,000 in 7 full days of Mario gaming. 2 full days in, and about $12,700. Stream, donating link, and more info here.

-----------

Updates:

SAM to 66

2nd Evasion merit taken care of.

WHM to 43 or 44 -- got a level on that, forget which.

Dynamis 6/6: None. Locked out of all relevant zones.

6/9: Very boring Snow run. Got a win.

6/13 (today): Sandy win. 2 100s dropped, got neither.

---------------

Update in a little more than a week.

Abyssea trailer released -- sales begin. Update is June 21.

That's pretty much all, but it does sound like that we will not have to have Walk of Echoes access to get Abyssea.

Trailer, on the add-on site, seems to show both Meriphataud [A] and La Thiene [A], seeming to indicate that we are looking are more "alternate reality/timeframe" zones of what we already have.

Also, introduction of the third mega-weapon set -- and it is basically Magians... The Emperyal Weapons are the third mega-weapon set, and they do appear to be Magian-based. Probably Abyssea, after the current content.

Update IS the 21st -- preparatory update is on the 10th, but no change in game til the 21st.

Abyssea on sale now.

Week-end update and some odds and sods...

A light week today, as I'm keeping eyes out for RL stuff at the moment.

A few things:

2 Dagger merits and an Evasion merit.

Sergeant Major rank acquired and first rank point from there as well.

Dyna Sunday: Bastok. 8 AF and 6 Wootz, none of it to me.

Dyna Wednesday: Valkurm, for Tavnazia access.

Yeesh. Ow. Chainspell-Stun is important on the Mega Boss... Lost.

No progress on Verthandi nor on What Price Loyalty, though there seem to be six interested if we can get all of us on at the same time for the latter!

==========

Odds and sods:

-- Before I begin, read this:

Up 50-0, powerhouse team forfeits to first-time team, all parties benefit.

An all-you-can-eat buffet to a starving man indeed, Mr. Reilly. I needed that pick-me-up, badly.

-- To Kimiko: Sad to hear the big-time shell didn't work out, but, given how much a lot of these shells spend for illegal shit to even be "allowed" to "play" the endgame, am I surprised that they would want your real life to be subjugated to their HNM camping and all that shit?

They would NOT want me around. Seriously...

-- Nyzul Isle loves spitting in everybody's face.

Earlier this week: 1-5 run to help three people get started. Floor 1: Family -- three SOULFLAYERS!! We win only the one floor and take the rank points, my 1 being the 25th for rank-up! But isn't that a wonderful way to introduce new players to Nyzul Isle?

Who playtested this shit?

Friday I: A 20 run. Four puddings on 18.

Friday II: A 40 run. FIVE chariots on 38!

Someone doesn't want people to get to 100 or get the A/D/G gear, don't they?

Again: WHO PLAYTESTED THIS SHIT???

-- To reiterate: Your gear is your rep. And if they have the ability and willingness to ninjar your lots (or bot them outright, something making Campaign Unions abjectly worthless!!!), who are they to care about your perception of their reputation?

It really makes me wish I could reach through the screen and choke them out.

-- Promathia being "unchained" is a big topic of discussion lately. I'll be interested to see how it works out -- there are definitely ways it could help (including a couple of long-standing quests I've been holding off on), but...

-- Extension of Magian quests to include tweaking of requirements? Perhaps cutting the number of drops needed from VNM III's to 5? 3??

-- Will get Mog Bonanza Inventory Space -10 next week. :) (Final date for ticket purchase is next weekend.)

-- Wed. shell is getting into Limbus on Tuesdays and looking at a lot more...

Have a safe holiday weekend, and thank you to BP, for fucking killing the entire Gulf of Mexico!

I've had a very Chinese day today...

Guess this will probably have to do as the end of week update:

THF to 24.

Done with the Hippogryphs, and now to the 10 Eyes of Verthandi, which I presume will take about a year to complete.

Dagger skill over 250.

Final Polearm merit gotten, now on to Dagger merits.

I've gotten crap (except about average gil from the first two Moggiebag pulls) from the Anniversary event -- no, I DON'T want another Silver Moogle Belt.

Sunday Dynamis: Snow, pull got fracked up again, and I learned why we don't farm Snow after the run -- Dragons up the arse for the loss!

Wednesday (Dreamer) Dynamis: Qufim. Win. Another SCH piece (what is it with me and SCH pieces and CoP Dyna?)

Next Wednesday: Valkurm, and Tavnazia access.

Monday: More VNM's, this time starring Flies with massive AoE damage. Ow.

Still stuck on "What Price Loyalty"...

--------------

As I said, I had a very Chinese day today.

As in, "interesting times", and cursed "interesting times" at that.

Had an interesting Net read on an asshole this morning, a confrontation with a neglecting parent this afternoon, and a tactical nightmare tonight!

This morning: Read BG some more, and tend to like watching the drama and the squirming in the "Player Warning" fora.

So, color me unsurprised when I see a name from the last weeks of when I was on Siren: Saio.

He apparently decided he didn't want to spend 50 million gil on a KClub, jacked it, jumped servers, and a GM had to be fished up to get it back.

I had my problems with Saio on a Nyzul run, then got told he was on one of the big HNM shells on Siren (little surprise the guy comes across as an abject prick), so even less surprise that he would do something like this.

This afternoon: Out in RL. So I'm walking along, minding my own business, when I hear:

"FUCK YOU!"

And we're not talking about the type of FU from a 20 year-old punk.

This punk was about 9-10 years old -- and by no means any ghetto or street attached to him. White and with the glasses that would appear to be a professor's.

His mother (wheeling a wheelchair), was trying to get the little brat to mind and come back...

The first time I heard the little idiot say that, I was looking around like Booker T would: "Tell me you didn't just say that!"

The second time: "FUCK YOU! I'M TIRED OF THIS SHIT!"

Now, as I told the mother, I'm more than willing to swear a blue streak. But this is a nine-year old brat doing this to his mom -- in public!

The only reason I didn't belt the kid 10 across the ass is because I'd go to jail.

Talking to the mother, he only reason she isn't is because she believes that's illegal even for the mother to do in California. So she has to ask God for strength (ha ha -- He's got enough keeping someone like me from going postal.)

Then, I ask her to consider what this kid is going to be like when he gets a bit older...

Then she tells me not to false witness the kid -- at which point (and I make sure both kid and mom hear it) I leave, basically telling myself that I better get out before I do something to get myself put in prison.

Basically, if I wanted to do it within the law, I'd have been tempted to call CPS on the pair.

If I didn't, 10 for the kid, 10 for the mom, 10 more for the kid.

Let's just say, in about five years, if you see a kid (about 15) in the Inland Empire murder somebody, I'd lay odds on this one, if someone doesn't (within reason) get this kid in line.

Tonight: Nyzul. (After yet another failed attempt to get a group together for "What Price Loyalty".)

First run: 2 All floors, a Chariot, a Soulflayer, and a Lamps Order floor with Gears (penalty for killing) all over the bleeping place near every lamp! This on floors 6-10!!

Somehow, we win the damn thing.

Second run: First floor (11) goes down in about 45 seconds (spec. enemy). We get two more floors, and then get an All floor where discovery by Gears is a penalty.

So we tiptoe through the tulips, our main healer dies (again!), and, once we somehow win the floor, there are under five minutes left.

Oh, did I tell you that, in the middle of the run, I was told I had to go do something?

So, odds are, we go up with a weakened WHM, we lose...

So guess how many people in the group want to exit, take the tokens and the rank point, and get something out of the run?

Me.

1.

I won't name names -- the blame is not specific.

This happens ALL THE FREAKING TIME when I go to Nyzul.

We literally suicide the run by going to the last floor with badly insufficient time.

I never understood the tactics behind it. Odds are, unless we luck out in the draw, we lose if we go up.

We get an All Floor? We lose.

Get a leader floor? Chances are, we lose.

Lamp Order? We lose.

Lamps, same time. That's what we got. We lost.

Any Gear restrictions? Probably lose.

Very few win options with about 4 minutes to go, and, EVERY DAMNATED TIME we go through this with groups, I get stiffed out of a rank point and tokens because everyone else just thinks that THIS TIME will be the Free Floor.

Never understood the strategy.

Oh, and will someone explain to me how the Kaiser Behemoth has a range of what has to be about 40 yalms on that AoE spam of his???

So I _should_ update this, with Abyssea's contents becoming somewhat evident...

So what did I do last week:

Sunday Dynamis: Windurst, of all places. We did win, a bit sloppily near the end.

One afternoon this week: Camped the Headlong Belt NM, Chonchon. Seems to be a popular little bloke. (Wonder why... His drop is a poor-man's Swift Belt!! :) )

2/3 on the pop (go or sub BST or RNG for Wide Scan -- helps a ton in finding it), 1/2 on the drop.

Wednesday Dynamis: Buburimu. Won it, and a SCH piece of equipment. Wish that damn DRG belt would've dropped for them like it did the run before that they had there!

Friday night: VNM's, featuring Urd. She's a bitch!! :)

But, once we got a PLD to properly tank the thing, it was easy. No change to the Yellow Abyssite for the one I need for Magians though. 2/3 on the earring drop, though, so both Kiana and I got that earring for our DNCs.

Also dropped about 350K on Ancient Beastcoins to finally pick up a Brutal Earring. Double Attack GO! :)

Saturday was not fun. I tried to tell my Wednesday Dynamis shell that I was no good at Ninjitsu, and they didn't listen. At least it was my orb they lost -- and they won't take me back out on UO again. Not with their uber-RDM doing the kiting.

Had my first good Besieged blow-up again -- Square-Enix needs to take that abusive bullshit skill-up situation out of Besieged and make these people either go out and do it in the field (here's a hint: Trial of the Magians for your weapons -- that thing is going to cap my dagger skill for DNC before I leave it (over 251 now)).

So, is it not surprising that I log in this morning and it's "Cure Bomb the One Remaining General" time!! Whoo-hoo!! Kiss the Candy goodbye, Leviathan, because the shitheads don't care!

(Not yet, but you know it's coming -- Phoenix, apparently, just lost the Candy with 1500 people on the server...)

Did the Moggiebag quest. Good first pull.

Will delay the "Inventory Space -10" as long as I can. Not like I'm going to win more than a Statue anyway, it seems.

Got my 7th Polearm merit -- about 9.7K to the last one, then we start Daggers.

Magians: About 20 Hippogryphs to go. Then, the decision, which I'm vacillating on. It's going to take a lot of time for me to kill 400 Amorphs, 500 whatchamacallits, and 300 Peistes. But can I get enough Verthandi groups to get 10 Eyes in that time frame?

Hmmm...

=============

And then, today, we get our first look at Vision of Abyssea proper.

Looks to be a third parallel world, and you will need Zilart AND Wings to purchase it.

New Cavernous Maws are going to appear, and, from the two screenshots they gave us, it appears as if the new zones will be, once again, rehashes of the current zones.

June update release, $9.99, and there will be quests in this battle add-on, but the battles are 75+ -- the quests will require a 30+ job, but the battles are supposed to challenge 75+.

=============

One stumper:

I know everyone's going to say that it was on POL or on the VanaFest site, but I, for the life of me, cannot find this one piece of information:

I've heard basically everybody and their brother say that Square-Enix has confirmed the June level cap increase will only be five levels, to level 80.

If so, precisely where is it so confirmed? I've checked POL, I've checked the VanaFest site -- including most of both videos on the Special Talk Session and the English updates...

So where is it confirmed for 80?

Me, I'd prefer 85...

ON EDIT: Nope, it's 80. Thank you to Volkai for pointing out the subsequent interview that Elmer posted snippets to in ZAM -- link is in his comments to my post.

Over 250 RMT shitheads served...

So it's Vana'Versary time...

Got the ring, got the dinner tux (what, other than a small quest and two inventory slots, is that supposed to mean?), and got my adventuring info...

Most interesting? 262 GM calls.

So, I figure, that's about 255 or so RMT screams and a few other things...

---

Magians down to about 110 Hippogryphs. Probably going to cap Dagger in all this.

6 Polearm merits, going for a 7th now. After 8, then start Dagger.

Provided I get on to be one of the first 36 that can go, doing my first CoP Dynamis tomorrow with our combined forces: Buburimu. Should be vewy interesting.

Quick update and two charity efforts to report about:

First, was in Vegas for a few days for some R&R and P&Q... God, has the world gone mad...

Anyhoo, quick update on my first week back on Leviathan:

Sunday Dynamis: A real rough run through Ice -- five drops, only a few NMs defeated.

Wednesday Dynamis (Lengendary + Dreamers): Snow -- Boss pull got screwed up. Will explain policies of Dreamers later. They're pretty close to Lengendary's.

Got the Allied Ring, and have used two charges to go SAM 61 -> 63.

THF has been taken from 15 -> 20.

Will finish the Arcana level tonight on the Magians dagger.

===========

Two charity efforts to push this weekend:

1) thespeedgamers.com -- The Speed Gamers are back again, doing a Mother marathon for the Susan G. Komen Foundation for breast cancer. As of writing, at 11 PM Pacific, the marathon had gone for 7 hours even and had raised $2,420 of a goal of $10,000.

EDIT: As of the end of the marathon: $10,400+ -- Congratulations!

2) For three reasons, I post this second one:

a) Always an affinity to this performer
b) It'll piss at least one reader of the blog off
c) And it's such a unique and wonderful idea, I couldn't pass up posting it...

www.deborah-gibson.com -- the official website of Deborah Gibson -- is doing a unique auction between now and May 12th, is doing an auction: "Only in My Jeans". (Yes, she cues the cheesy joke several times in her video -- in which she also explains her "Gibson Girl Foundation", who awards tuition to an entertainment camp (not sure if it's necessarily Gibson's "Camp Electric Youth". She also tells the story about how her camps have changed the life of one 16 year old autistic youth.)

No, she hasn't broken out the closet, but she's asked a lot of other people to help her.

Yes, she did put one pair of her own up, but got help from the likes of these celebrities who autographed jeans for the effort:

-- Jonathan Knight of the New Kids on the Block
-- Rob Thomas
-- The cast of "Glee"
-- Hayley and Hilary Duff
-- Lance Bass
-- Rick Fox of the Lakers
-- Ryan Seacrest

and a number of others. By the actual auction site, it lists the closing date (and at least some of the items (if not all) do have a clearly-stated reserve price) as midnight eastern at the end of May 25th.

So, there's a second charity thing to look for...

But I do have to say: Shaq didn't get the memo.

Shaq does have an item on Deborah's auction. But, Shaq-Fu, the idea was an auction for jeans -- Shaq autographed a single sneaker and sent it for the auction. It's up there -- and has some bids on it!