Holy Fucking Shit Part I: That blew me away...

It is obvious that Square-Enix wants to save Final Fantasy XI now.

I said they had to come big -- they came GIGANTIC today.

VanaFest 2010 just wrapped up, and it's three hours that will resonate over Vana'diel for a LONG time to come.

I would like to go over several things while I finish up some work on Ro'Maeve before I (*FINALLY*) go to bed.

1) They have finally thrown in the towel on getting new players for FFXI.

They have made FFXI "75 or GTFO", in a number of ways.

-- 75, it is already being discussed online, may now be no more than MIDGAME. I mean, I've discussed it here before, and Square-Enix finally admitted that the game no less than _starts_ at level 75. 2/3 to 3/4 of all the players online in-game are on a 75 job.

And now, what, 5 new Genkai jobs, 24 new levels (and we all want to see the XP curve -- and does this mean the XP curve TO 75 changes as well??), and then what the Hell are we going to get if we get to 99????

-- They have basically now publicly told the players that most of the new content from this point on in FFXI is endgame content. And then they go and explain why...

-- And what does a 99 situation now leave for stuff that 75's would have a lot of trouble with? Soloing HNM's more often?

-- And then, a pay-to-play mini-expansion new AF3 endgame zone, Abyssea.

Like, WTUF???

2) It is clear that they are ready to allow more low-man situations.

-- Abyssea could be done with a party.

-- Think of (current-) endgame situation of choice at level 99.

3) They are finally addressing (some of) the server problem...

We are basically about 3 1/2 weeks (the date I've heard floated is March 23) from losing 1/4 of the FFXI servers. The list is in the other post (which I hope is somewhat freaking readable... Sorry!).

ABOUT FUCKING TIME!

Of course, this isn't even talking about the 3PP stuff I've been speaking of since SE spoke of it themselves two months ago.

(Of course, they're also admitting that RMT was propping up a number of these servers, because reducing the number of RMT has meant that they now have to kill 1/4 of the servers anyway.)

So how many REAL characters are there on FFXI? 500K, MAYBE 1M???

4) The playerbase finally gets some key things they have been asking for...

-- More endgame content and more stuff to "pwn".

-- BLM will get Meteor in the highest levels.

-- SMN _finally_ gets their 2 summons...

and many many more.

Let's just say this is going to take some time to sink in. There will be an HFS series on this blog -- when I get around to it.

Now, a few more fights, and I go to bed.

VanaFest Thoughts...

This post will be edited as news is made available, should I be awake and on the Net.

-----------

0220 PST: Nomad Mog Bonanza

Rank 5: 7

Rank 4: 68 (DAMMIT!! I had 69!!!) As many people who submitted things back in the January Bonanza saying the same thing -- well, it happened to me. Had I been born ONE YEAR EARLIER....

Rank 3: 524

Rank 2: 8447

Rank 1: 59163

Won nothing.

And the Small Onions are coming out -- about one hour left, and most of it will probably be this.

0144 PST: Special Task Force/RMT

Because RMT has been reduced, so has the server populations. (NO SHIT SHERLOCK!)

Server mergers are imminent!! MARCH UPDATE, WE LOSE EIGHT SERVERS.

They are taking 8 low-end servers and merging them with 8 mid-sized servers. Siren is not affected in any way -- but Asura is being added in to.

Here are the servers:

Sylph gets Fairy

Valefor gets Kujata

Leviathan gets Remora (Remora, I am sorry...)

The Q server no one can spell gets the M server no one can spell

Cerebrus gets Hades

Bismarck gets Seraph

Lakshmi gets Garuda

and Pandemonium drew the short straw -- they go to Asura.

New NMs coming as well.

Giant slime/clot -- huge crab!!!

New items for Feast of Swords this year.

New Mog Bonanza items -- stuff from PW probably in this as well.

More Synergy/Evolith levels and recipe are coming.

Job-specific emotes coming too...

Job adjustments:

SAM: Possibly lowering Sekkanoki so that /SAM can use it easier.

WAR: Getting some tanking abilities. (DUH! It's a _WARRIOR_!)

WHM: Possibly getting some Divine/Healing spells or more chances to cast Divine Magic.

THF: Enhancement to TH and perhaps a new steal ability is possible.

SCH: TBD

PLD: TBD

NIN: TBD

COR: 11 probably becoming more a lucky #...

DNC: New TP gain effects. And maybe FINALLY getting to cast Waltzes outside the party? YES!

BLM: Meteor up in the new level cap levels?

Moblin Maze Mongers stuff.

0137 PST: Here comes part two of the Dev Team...

March-June-September-December -- four updates planned this year.

NEW END GAME CONTENT -- Abyssea -- three new battle zones (Visions, Heroes, Scars). Three new endgame zones in an Abyssia add-on situation.

New mobs for the zones...

AF3 in Abyssea, apparently. Adventurer will focus on huge battles, etc.

Abyssea can be done with ONE party. (Please Instance this, then...)

Each update, starting in June, one Abyssea zone -- and it's $9.99/zone. (YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!)

Visions of Abyssea in June

Heroes in September

Scars in December

0104 PST: Nobuo in a freaking doorag???? ROTFLMMFAO.... :) :) :)

Leading into the "Tokyo Business Men" -- who are we kidding: THE BLACK MAGES have taken the stage for FF XIV music.

0050 - 0103 PST: FF XIV Special Stage starts -- rr break rq.

FF XIV in-game video.

Beta info, apparently. They're giving first-wave preference to JP VanaFest participants for the FF XIV Beta. MARCH 11 BETA START for XIV.

0035 - 0049 PST: Job adjustments... Aiding in endgame content (not hard to see with 3/4 of all players on being 75s)

SMN: ALEXANDER -- new summon!

AND ODIN...

The two new summons -- finally revealed. ALEXANDER and ODIN (MARCH VERSION UPDATE).

Alexander's Astral Flow reduces damage and prevents status effects.

Odin's: Kills everything in AoE. NM damage depends on MP involved.

Even with that, they ONLY can Astral Flow...

PUP: Valoredge and another frame are getting more durability. Hand-to-Hand skill of puppetmaster will be A instead of C.

RNG: Possible decrease-emnity effect, or a double-damage attack that uses double the ammo.

MNK: Possible ability which would grant Subtle Blow and accuracy up in exchange for a TP and weaponskill-limiting penalty.

RDM: More enfeebling spells. (YES! More things to play with the Besieged opponents with!)

DRK: Possible adjustments to magic accuracy for dark spells, and possible ways for DRK to get MP back.

DRG: Possible fourth Jump ability, possible enhancements to Wyvern. (BLEH!)

GALKAS IN SUBLIGARS?? RUN!!!

0026 - 0035 PST: GIGANTIC NEWS:

NEW LEVEL CAP?????

In the June, 2010 update, the level 75 cap is finally being removed!

And, already, I can see a problem: Lots are talking about it now. There are many jobs in this game where the defining ability of the job comes at about level 40. So if we get an 80/40 situation...

NEW LEVEL CAP IS 99!!! To combat camp concerns, a variety of situations are being considered...

Oh, this could be the Big Announcement???

0020 - 0030 PST: Brand new branching quest system: Trial of the Magians.

Quests will be in a number of categories, progress in each means rewards, dependent on category and progress therein.

Appears there will be Weapon and Armor enhancements in this, and the players get to choose what statistics will be enhanced.

80 different patterns, 500 different combinations -- even Relics and Mythics are in play on this.

Magian Moogle shown in demo right about where Maat is. Mechanic appears similar to FoV weapon situations.

THIS IS NUTS!!! ("Fun" nuts, or just crazy... Not sure which.)

0008 - 0020 PST: First subject: Wings of the Goddess. Major clash in Valdeaunia, all three nations involved. Castle Zvahl (S) appears to be there for the new update. Meteor cast on San d'Oria, Atomos' ability to influence the future??

First real juicy piece appears to be that the March update will be the FINAL nation-quest storyline stuff for Wings. Items planned.

Castle Zvahl, both zones (S), probably Throne Room (S), new Campaign Ops.

Battles in Castle Zvahl (S) areas may involve the Shadow Lord himself! Sounds like Zvahl (S) will function like Oztroja (S), Beadeaux (S) and the like. You may win items, and earn a specialized weaponskill only available in Campaign...

0005 PST: Dev Team comes out for Part I of their two-part effort.

0000 PST: VANAFEST -- START!!

2355 PST: 5 minutes to kickoff, and decided to add the PFC/LBR audio Ustream. Might regret that decision later.

2345 PST: Poor Pikko on the JP Button thing. I have that thing in one window, I have the live stream (cycling those commercials for the last 45 minutes and the next 15) in another, this in a third, and the EN Twitter feed in a fourth.

We somehow got to the subject of Galkas in subligars, and I announced that Elmer was making me wear a subligar on his page for April Fools... (I have no freaking idea WHAT I'm going to do for April Fools to get back at Elmer for last year's shenanigans... :) )

2330 PST: JP Button is running a poll about what people are looking for on the live chat/VanaFest: 33% FFXIV, 29% FFXI, 38% both. 30 minutes to go.

2315 - 2320 PST: Elmer: "Breaking news. Starcade is upset." My response: "Since when is that Breaking News?" Event apparently doesn't start until 0000 PST Sunday morning, or 1700 JST Sunday evening.

2306 PST: Lots of ads for SE stuff: FFXIII, FFXIII OST, FFI/II for the iphone, Dragon Quest VI for the DS... Probably the same stuff they're seeing in Japan right now.

Just about 2300 PST Sat night: Essentially showtime, and the roomie is done and going to bed. Updates will continue as long as I can stay awake myself, and I've already had a long day. Let's see some real stuff in this.

Approx 1815 PST Sat night (1115 JST Sun morning): Just starting up a rolling blog post for VanaFest. It's been raining and we had to unplug at the apartment for a brief thunderstorm, but that's supposed to clear out of here Real Soon Now. My roommate, however, IS working tonight, approximately 1930-2300, but her work can (and often DOES) go later, so I _WILL NOT_ be on until she finishes, so don't expect me here at 2300.

VanaFest is scheduled to start at 2300 PST tonight (1600 JST Sun afternoon). You can follow it at any number of places, including a PFC/LBR Skype discussion (should slots remain!), JP Button chat, and the official at-site stream from the official POL site. Check the appropriate sites for more information.

It sounds, from Elmer the Pointy in Japan (through his JP Button chat), that Square-Enix has wanted to make it clear that this still a FF _XI_ event, though there will be "Extra Stage" for XIV. This almost certainly rules out the XIV Release Date as the "Big Announcement". Elmer actually said that, if the Announcement is a new full expansion, it may not be JUST a full new expansion.

So, I'll be back on as soon as my roommate's work permits me to. Going to play with my new toy: My refurbished PS3. (I thought to blazes that they weren't selling, but when I went to get one, a refurbished one at GameStop was all I could find.) Console works great, small interference issue worked out (nothing to do with the console), but the controller L3 and R3 buttons are a bit loose and the L3 doesn't quite center right.

So, BBL as conditions allow and news permits, and may I win the mythic polearm I want. :)

*yeah and right*

Quick update before VanaFest takes over the news...

SAM almost 53

SMN almost 35

150K to full merit DNC.

CoP: 2 BC's from the end.

Screw the trivia contest and it's 200 messages in the first 30 seconds. No Chocobo Beret for Starcade.

Got another Maze Voucher (02) for MMM.

And, today, finally bought myself a PS3. Refurbished, yes. Not going to put it on the home network (thank Linksys and it's shitty software!). But it's home, dry, and good.

Official VanaFest 2010 Prediction Post

First off, ANYONE who tries to silence my roommate on the Net does so at their serious peril.

-------

OK, that said...

We are now about 36 hours or so from VanaFest 2010, and what do I think is going to happen? Let's take a look at some possibilities...

First possibility: A new expansion?

Especially given the recent (debunked yet still reported) rumors that FFXI is done the moment FFXIV comes out (so much so that Massively actually came out with the theory that the March 2010 Update would be the last update), Square-Enix, if they really want people to believe that "the evolution of Final Fantasy XI is not over!!", is going to have to do something BIG.

I mean really big.

And there are those people proposing that they are actually looking at a full-scale new expansion.

Probability: Quite low. I can't see it.

First, you have to convince me that they are able to feasibly run one MMO, much less two. That's the main reason I think there is this rumor (and not even the denials of Square-Enix are good enough for some people (like me)). Show me something on Sunday that indicates that this corpse is being revived.

Second, that will take something of this level. It really will. You have a bunch of little cretins (especially on the American side) who have turned this game into a pile of shit. If you really want us to continue to pay our $12.95/mo, we need to see something. A new expansion, especially if it's an idea as to exactly what they're going to do.

Second possibility: New jobs?

Probability: Essentially zero, without a new expansion. 20 is a nice, round number, and I can't see them tinkering with any new jobs without a whole new situation to meld them around.

That said, it'd be another "something" of the level needed to make some of us believe they desire a game of the future.

Third possibility: Job adjustments, which jobs next??

They've already hit WHM, NIN (though I am shocked that, in exchange, they didn't nerf Utsusemi a bit), BST, and SMN (without any new avatars).

My guesses: They'll finally rule out new avatars once and for all. They'll claim game balance, but I think it's more that they've basically gutted the resources from XI for XIV.

If I had to guess, they've been talking for a couple years about RDM -- and I would not be surprised to see someone like either PUP or DRG to get an upgrade to make it a bit more viable rather than a "lol-job"...

Exactly which and what jobs and adjustments, though -- anyone's guess. I predict RDM and DRG, but we'll see Saturday night or Sunday early morning (our time).

Fourth possibility: Campaign adjustments in the new update...

Campaign has become unplayable.

It simply has. Most of the mid-week, you can't even really play the zones because no one wants to actually Campaign anymore. The Union System hasn't worked, Beaucedine and Xarcabard Shadowrealm are a freaking sick joke, and the whole Wings of the Goddess mechanic is falling flat -- on -- it's -- ass.

So, what are they going to do?

Predictions: I would think they're going to be have to bring back the Fortification XP, as abusive as it is. I think they are going to HAVE TO seriously nerf both the Campaign and native monsters in Beaucedine (S) and Xarcabard (S) -- especially if they do intro the new endgame zone and mechanic this update (and I think they will!).

What I would like to see: I'd like to see a more punitive approach, not only in Campaign but in Besieged as well. You don't care about winning zones in the past? It affects the zones in the present negatively. You lose the Astral Candescence? The effects are felt across Aht Urhgan, in that the zones become SIGNIFICANTLY harder to navigate and work through.

Fifth possibility: The Big Announcement

So what's the big announcement?

My prediction: Completely underwhelming to the FFXI community, unless you're into FFXIV. My prediction is the release date and beta schedule for FFXIV. I really think the under-the-table attitudes of Square-Enix (in vino veritas-style) is coming out, and they're going to do what they should've done a year ago -- quickly phase out FFXI.

I'd like to know where they got the figures, but our LS was talking about it last night: FFXI has only about 3% of the MMO market -- WoW has two-thirds of the market.

Out of the box theories: Making FFXI Free to Play, making the uber-equipment easier to get (perhaps even Square-Enix RMT?), using the "soccer field" for a new game mechanic, Windower becomes legal and first-party supported, and I'm sure I'll come up with others before Saturday night/Sunday morning.

So what do you think will happen?

And I'm serious about that one tweet too, VanaFest...

I counted at least 75 tweets that beat mine, and it didn't take 30 seconds for me to post it.

Frankly, if the questions are that easy, forget making them up for 60 minutes -- you can leave it up for 60 SECONDS and get at least 300 tweets (if not 1,000 or more).

Make the questions harder, or I quit your little Twitter contest.

Important stuff, lost in all the Twitter-cheese...

As I said in my Twitter this afternoon:

Can anyone tell that I'm learning how to use the stupid thing? Never was a big fan of it, but if I get a Chocobo Beret out of it, so be it... :)

Not today, though. Couldn't do the first three -- overslept the first, the next two my roommate was working during. And then the fourth one came while we were talking.

Couldn't get on til 3:05 and the answer was RIGHT IN THE DAMN WIKI.

And THEN, my "Twitter for Dummies 101" session began:

My first attempt at submitting the answer got both the response thing and the hash wrong (inserting spaces)...

Only saw the hash error, corrected it, resent, goof #2.

Then I saw the response error (where you have to send it), corrected IT, but failed to correct the hash... Error #3.

THEN I finally got it right -- but the thing was that it was already about 3:05 before I started that mess... So no Beret for me today, I would not think.

(Especially because you could find the answer to the last one right in the FFXI wiki.)

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

But, in burying the Twitter full of that cheese, something happened last night that I put it in:

For the last several weeks, six of us (probably, more, four, with two people who have already completed CoP) were doing a static to get the rest of us Sea access.

Well, last night, we finished it off, AND got 8-1 (which gives us Palace access) and the first Al'Taieu map done too. Of course, half of them were dead in the water by the time we were done.

Congrats and thanks to:

Keichan (our fearless leader, already done with CoP)

Medicinebox (who I think also was done with CoP)

Chaite

Alohilani (who only wanted to do the Airship fight, but stuck it out for us, because...)

Razuka (...who we were hustling to get things done for, because his wife is back and his playtime is going to go down, so we tried to finish this for him, at least to Sea access, quickly)

Anyhoo, Sea is incredible to look at -- and the agg dynamics are just SICK... (UFO's you can't go below or you get agg, blue "Sharks" you can't go over or you agg, and all these pink things which are following you (but NOT agg-ing), just waiting for you to decide to jump them...)

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

So that's Sea and Limbus access. Congratulations and Thanks all around!!

And today Square-Enix finally announced the (mid-)March FFXI version update.

Unlike most of the hype sessions, most of the main announcements for this will be made in Tokyo on Sunday at VanaFest (which I will probably be on to cover, in between configuring and early play of my new PS3 I'm getting for the release of FFXIII here in the States March 9).

I would have to think we're either looking March 15 or 22 for the biggie update.

Some administrivia and update extensions...

The Twitter is going to get a little cluttered next week with messages for the VanaFest trivia contest.

My friend is sick (probably minor flu + earache). Please give best wishes (and some chicken soup). :) I have a bit of a cough now and scratch in the throat as well. Probably something going around...

Quick update:

SAM 49

Wanted 50 tonight, but something happened as I got on after my friend slogged through work in honor of her soulmate tonight...

Three Paths completed, as we did a late run on Ulmia's Path (someone really hated the world when he made Attohwa Chasm!!! :P ). Next stop -- Airship fight Monday!!!

Well, anyway, onward into the night...

Wild week...

My roommate's being called in tonight to work (tonight's project workers -- the loving couple who run the place -- have bronchitis and can barely speak). So, no CoP static again tonight.

Some updates on a crazy week:

1) Me:

SAM to at least 47, might try to get a couple more before the week is out.

SMN to 34.

Still about 180K from full merits on DNC.

CoP static has now finished Two of the Three Paths (Ulmia remains). Probably get that done Monday.

In a move which will almost certainly result in my roomie wanting to kill me: In response to the VanaFest Twitter Contest, I have finally joined Twitter.

Watch, all the questions will be posted when I'm asleep.

Nothing on Nyzul or Assaults this week. Really dry week...

Except for two things FFXI:

1) It is beginning to look more and more like yesterday's long emergency maintenance was the result of a DDoS attack. It looks like someone was able to get into the core POL/FFXI system and screw everything up.

2) Perhaps the reason why? There is a report out there (which Square-Enix has since debunked) that overheard one of the main Japanese makers of FFXI basically admit that once XIV comes out (still "sometime in 2010"), XI _is_ gone...

Of course, Square-Enix came out quickly and debunked it, but why (ANEIRO!!) is it so fucking ridiculous to think they'd pull the plug on XI as soon as XIV comes out???

Why, when it's been clear, through their own conduct and ignorance of the mass cheating of the player-base, that they can't even maintain ONE MMO -- and now you expect them to be able to maintain TWO?

Yeah... Really... Let's see what they claim a week from Sunday (I still think the Big Announcement will be the release date of XIV and the beta schedule, as well as a proposed end date for XI -- no new expansions, no new areas (probably not even Walk of Echoes)...), and we'll go from there.

--------

One outside-game comment:

If you think what happened yesterday is not terrorism, you're fooling yourself.

You're fooling yourself even more if you don't think there aren't a million behind that guy in Texas, about willing to do the same thing if the situation presents itself.

Well, there goes our CoP static for tonight...

Emergency All-Worlds Maintenance to be piggy-backed on Emergency Registration Server Maintenance and problems with the GM Petition Service as well.

Here's what I've been able to piece together, largely through the BluGartr syncophants:

About 2 PM PST, both the GM Service and the Registration Server reported "technical difficulties".

About 4 PM, people could no longer log in or out of the game easily, and, by the time I got home to begin farming Cluster Cores and such, I couldn't log in at all (about 5:30).

About 5:30, an emergency maintenance was declared for 7-10 PM, simply for the purposes of the Registration Server.

About 6:50, though, players were reporting that, in fact, all players were going to be thrown out for an emergency, unannounced, and what looks to be somewhat-stealth All Worlds Maintenance.

One BG poster from Garuda said that the Registration maintenance was related to Content ID's and POL accounts.

I've got a sick hunch, and I've discussed it before. Could we be looking at some forced server consolidation (with a possible side of 3PP banhammers?)?

Probably not, but this is not a good result.

One person on BG got it right...

Someone decided to troll-bait a thread (and probably got banned for it) about whether FFXI is dead...

Someone got it right on the head when they "fixed" another person's opinion to read:

"No, there are more RMT'd accounts now than ever before."

On top of that, there are more RMT accounts now than ever before.

How can I say this with such assurance? The last Mog Bonanza...

According to the wiki, using information posted from the results of the just-completed January 2010 Mog Bonanza, the total number of gil received was about 10 1/3 billion gil.

This means that just over 5.1 million marbles were selected.

Fully realizing that not every player played 10 marbles on every one of their characters, would this number, in any way, jibe with Square-Enix' claim that there 2.35 million characters in the game last May?

I THINK NOT!

If there are even 2 million characters in the game at all, over half of them are either absolutely dormant and/or RMT. They have startlingly few active characters, if this is any indication.

If every character had 10 marbles, that's about 510,000 active characters. Pump that number up a small amount if you wish for those who did not, but that's not promising for the future...

The Next Bonanza: Wow, some of you guys just figured this out NOW??

Dying game, etc.

DUH!!! The only reason, after most of the prominent US player base was exposed as a bunch of cheating tards 13 months ago, that Square-Enix is continuing the game is for the Japanese player-base and to get enough money to foist XIV on us.

And I still find people shocked that people see this.

I also applaud Square-Enix for basically attempting to incorporate the American player-base into VanaFest, rather than granting them the privilege of a live event which, through the American player-base's conduct, it does not deserve!

But it might be more than a dying _game_, if something Kimiko told me about in the linkshell last week is any indication:

Within about 6 weeks of the release of the Japanese version of FFXIII (I'm getting the American version, and a PS3, upon release!), Square-Enix has cut the price of FFXIII to about $40-50, about $40 less than what it was (and importer sites like the ones I visit have lowered their prices too).

This can mean either:

The game is selling so well that it's already a Greatest Hit

or

Square-Enix is in trouble.

I'm almost beginning to bet on the latter -- we haven't seen any real indication yet of when the Beta for FFXIV is actually going to _start_, they are definitely trying to bribe the living shit out of players to continue to play a game which the player-base has little regard for (this is, what, the second out-of-season Bonanza they've had, and the in-season one is now less than three months away?), the next version update looks on course for a minimum of _April_...

Things are not all they seem in Vana'diel, people.

The Next Bonanza: You too can win a Relic or a Mythic!!!

Well, the next big production of Square-Enix, VanaFest, has announced it's latest Mog Bonanza, Nomad Mog Bonanza.

Same numerical rules apply (Rank 5, last number -- Rank 4, last 2 numbers -- etc. to Rank 1, all five numbers), except the methodology for picking a number has changed:

1) One number _per Square-Enix account_.

2) Once a number has been chosen, it cannot be changed.

Rank 1 prize this time: A RELIC OR MYTHIC WEAPON!

That's right -- all the relics and mythics are in play. Match all five numbers with your one choice, and you win one!

Rank 2: Basically look at most of the mega-money drops: D. Ring, Ridill, Hofud, Valkyrie's Fork/Coat/Breastplate, Valhalla Helm/Breastplate, Black Belt, Velocious Belt, and several others. (Full list is at the official VanaFest website, which you can access from the official POL FFXI site...)

Rank 3: Kinda the next step down, but still a whole lot of neat shit!!!

Ranks 4 and 5 will be announced at VanaFest, but it really sounds as if they're pulling out a few more stops for this event.

You can apply for your number Real Soon Now at the official VanaFest site.

Something which really pissed me off this week!

Before I get to another rant:

Week in Review:

SMN 34 (finally not gimped for Besieged for the moment)

RDM 67

CoP Semi-Static: Did 5-1 and 5-2 (Promyvion-Vahzl) Monday. A start on Three Paths will have to wait til this Monday because our husband-wife team in Hawaii couldn't make it Thursday night.

Whoops, one more thing on Edit: Now a Lance Corporal for that bitch-cat with the spiky mace...

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

I'd like to start out with what I believe to be a very prescient quote. It was made during the heat of a very controversial wrestling angle which resulted in the classic "Montreal Screwjob" between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels (who, finally, after all this time, have personally and completely reconciled their differences over the event -- now if only we can convince that curmudgeon HHH to keep his ass out of it)...

It was during an in-ring promo when Shawn Michaels, in describing and deriding Bret Hart, pretty much described much of the American Internet "Warrior" mentality:

"I do this because I like it. You do it because -- in your mind, Mark-Man -- you really think all of this is yours!"

This isn't just a Final Fantasy XI rant about the cheaters and RMT,

This isn't just about my roommate, who just about quit her Net projects because of the griefers and those who would like to call her family and then stab her in the motherfucking back...

(And to the latter jackasses, there ain't enough of a back left to stab... Go pick on someone your own size -- very small...)

This isn't just about the asshole on the new sports board I now post to who actually revelled in the sick death of that Georgian luger.

This isn't just about the 2-chan and 4-chan idiots and the illegal-anime-downloaders and all that crap...

It's what we've become on the Internet. A bunch of little children, without accountability, who believe that everyone else's experience -- Hell, our very lives... -- belong to them!!

They don't like that I scream about their cheating, but they want to impose their style of play (and all which results from it) on the rest of us -- right down to that we aren't even worthy anymore to play THEIR fucking game!

They don't like that I have a roommate who has very few passions left in her life, but most of them are trying to create the best Net project experience she can, several times a week.

They don't like that I find it an abject sickness to see someone (even if he's doing it just to get a reaction -- and doubly worse if he IS doing it just for that!) DIE chasing their dreams and saying they deserved it because they accepted the risk -- oh, forget that the fucking track was deemed unsafe to the point that the corner he was killed off of was named "50-50", as in the odds of a fucking crash!

They -- don't -- like -- ME.

And I don't have a problem with that, because I consider the source.

You wanna know why the rest of the world pisses me off to the point that, someday, I WILL get violent??

(Like that one guy who I saw coming home tonight who just had to ask me: "What you looking at...", acting like he's all inner-city tough. He had more of my attention afterward than he did beforehand!)

Read this, from the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/magazine/03trolls-t.html

When I read this for the first time, and actually was able to process it, I began to understand a lot of things...

1) They don't care if they kill people. They believe they own our very lives if we choose to basically go on their Internet without acknowledging them as the little Gods they are.

2) As the article puts it, the whole Internet seems to come down, for these little scum, to this one precept:

“If you don’t fall for the joke, you get to be in on it."

I can't count the number of times over the last 2 years that I have lived with my roommate down here in Southern California that we've seen this time and again. Never mind the grief, the harassment, the belittling because these scum (and FFXI has some of the more virulent communities of scum I've seen!) feel they "PWN" the Internet, our computers, our experiences, our lives.

3) They don't even care for their OWN lives. They feel life (as a concept) is essentially expendable. One, after one of his trolling "experiments" went awry, had to make plans for escape with a firearm because of what he has done.

When I got in trouble and got put in jail in 1998, there were people threatening my life all over the place -- one even went so far as to walk up to my apartment and try to "talk me down", and threaten me if I didn't.

These fuckers think they're Superman. (or is it Captain America?)

After reading that article, and incorporating various media from across the Net, I came to the conclusion that if people think I'm a troll, they have two options:

1) Eliminate me from the direct situation (ban from FFXI, ban from the Internet, jail sentence, what have you...)

2) Kill me -- eliminate me from it for good, this time...

And people will lol at that, saying my life simply exists for everyone else's "lulz" -- the thing is, I've learned a lot about the type of person people think I am, and it's not pretty.

The end is even less so. I look at the little "warriors" like Adam from earlier this week (and I'm still waiting for my arrest warrant, BITCH!), and all I can think is...

"One day, even if it's not me, you'll get yours..."

I don't have to "admit to" anything. I see it in the BluGartr cheater corp and their RMT specialists...

I see it in the type of people which make me not trust even getting access to Sky nor Sea (to which one of the other main members of CloakAndDagger and I had an animated discussion on why I wouldn't get at least Sky in 220 days when he did in 22...) It's not a function of that I am incapable. It's a matter of (that I don't) trust not to be in the next bit of endgame banhammerville if I am not very careful in what I do and who I associate with as a player.

But it's all about the gear and the accounts/gil that you can sell, right? (Oh, and the latter which you can have a GM rewind after you fuckers sold it!! Talk about criminal theft!!)

I see it in the little "clones" who need to "Have a take and not suck...", so they support all the criminals, thugs, and inner-city garbage heaps who have made sports abjectly unwatchable, for the most part.

You do it because -- in your mind, Mark-Man -- you really think all of this is yours!

FFXI...

Our lives...

The Internet and it's experience itself...

Yeah -- right...

A quick side charity comment...

I know they're in Sweden, I know it's not as well known as a lot of the American groups:

But check out the Random.Gamers at www.random-gamers.net

They're doing a one-week Final Fantasy marathon for charity. Their Chip-In does not indicate anyone has given yet, but that might be an exposure thing.

The charity is (Sweden's) "Childhood Cancer Fund".

Be vewy quiet, I'm hunting Tigers...

So, with that, how did this week go??

SMN 32

PLD 41

SAM 42

CoP to 5-2 and we're going in for that on Monday.

About halfway up the Superior Private rank situation -- damn thing timed out on us seconds before we had another win too.

Perhaps more schadenfreude?

Tried to get on the FFXIclopedia wiki tonight...

Got two malware warnings on the first two pages I tried to visit tonight, and was able to safely back out.

Someone actually going after the FFXI Net community? Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of people, if so...

ON EDIT: Upon a closer look, it sounds like someone has decided to get into wikia itself, as about 100 wikia domains, according to the Google Safe Search page I was able to put up, have been apparently hit. Perhaps malware on the ads or something?