Let's see: ACP in April, Gobbie Satchel in May...

OK, my FFXI purchases are set...

And, yes, I am purchasing the Security Token -- and, no, I do not trust that Square-Enix can keep the system robust enough to keep it entirely secure, even with the token.

So, as I said before, it all came down to what the in-game item is.

AND HOLY FREAKING CRAP...

The in-game item is the Mog Satchel.

The Mog Satchel is ANOTHER MOGGIE BAG.

And that's what it is. If you have a moggie bag with 70 items, this gives you ANOTHER 70 items to work with. If it'll have 80 by that point, another 80...

Release date is with the update. $9.99 with the shipping on the token...

So, RDM and SMN get royally screwed, I see...

Got a comment a couple days ago from one of the other prominent TTTO bloggers about why the Hell I'm so negative about a lot of what I post about this update...

Updates like today's are a good start.

Today, they announced "updates" on SMN and RDM...

After making WHM into a stud of Vana'diel, it seemed, people were looking forward to the updates for RDM and SMN since FanFest...

And what they got... KER and SPLAT.

RDM first:

Composure: Lvl 50 RDM -- 5 min recast and duration (so it can be on all the time).

Increases (magic) accuracy. Increases effect of buffs you put on yourself. Penalty to casting time.

Ooh brother...

And that penalty to casting time is on ALL magic, including ninjitsu. RDM/NIN ain't gonna like that one.

En-spells level II -- Lvl 50-60. Increases elemental damage strength which each initial strike up to a limit + resistance to its opposite element lowered.

WHAT THE F....??? Almost no one uses En-level I's - and now you think they're going to get in line for these???

(We interrupt this message for a PSA from Starcade:

CLEAN UP THE FUCKING RMT!! That's the fourth son of a bitch in about 48 hours on Leviathan from the same goddamned website!!!

We now return you to our scheduled programming...)

And that's apparently all for the Red Mages.

Summoners:

Of course, the big holding of breath is for the two new large summons...

Breaths are still being held. I begin to wonder if those new summons are EVER coming.

Basically, buff Pacts are now going to be about the area of effect of Protectra.

The buff Pact Hastega will, in fact, nullify slow when Haste itself does.

The large-scale Rage Pacts will have their damage adjusted...

And that's it -- at least for this update.

WHERE ARE THE NEW SUMMONS?

WHY DO WE EVEN PLAY MELEE JOBS IN YOUR WORLD???

Sheez... Lame...

I can see I'm not the only person aggravated about the Internet...

Too many more of these goddamn pigs, and you probably won't have to worry about me being around.

I see enough of this fucking shit in FFXI, and my roommate and friend really doesn't need the aggravation.

My roommate was on an online carnival for a cancer charity she works for and supports (please help support the Relay for Life), and, several hours ago, a bunch of little motherfucking children decided they wanted to disrupt the event.

Griefers.

And they ran off before they could get banned and ran right back onto the area to disrupt things further the moment the admins of the area left.

Now, why do I mention this?

First, if you ever see my name in the evening news (again) for getting myself arrested for bloodying some faces, please be not surprised. Hell, I came thisclose to having a major incident at an anime convention two years ago (ever heard of the poem "A Day Late and a Gun Short of a Shooting Rampage?" That was me about Memorial Day 2007 in San Jose, CA).

Second, I see so much of this shit in FFXI (the incident above was NOT in FFXI) that I'm about to lose what little remaining restraint I've had the last several years.

If some of these idiots want real grief, they'll get it -- from me or someone else.

I'm sick and tired of a bunch of fuckwad little children who basically feel they are above everything. Sabotage, griefing, me-first, ninjar-ing lots, botting, cheating, duping, the RMT fuckwads on that one website -- another one today...

I mean, what, you guys want to be "G" or "hardcore" or that...

Trust me, you don't know "hardcore".

Spend a year in Riker's Island and then get back to me about fucking "hardcore".

Lose your soulmate to cancer and then get back to me about fucking "hardcore".

Try to carry on with a lot of you little boys and girls out there (who know who you are) and then get back to me about fucking "hardcore"...

I don't know if you want to descend into the ghetto culture or whatever the fuck you want, but, trust me -- you are descending into a place (and this is talking simply economics here, not to mention the "Mad Max" which is coming soon to the entire culture) from which you will not return. You really want it that bad? It'll cost you everything.

Wake up and smell the coffee, children, and get right.

You know, I'm legitimately shocked I'm not banned from FFXI yet for the contents of my blog. I sense that won't be the case much longer...

A small update, and a little note I wrote for the Special Task Force...

First things first:

Really didn't get that far this week. No levels, that I remember.

Basically did some Campaign Ops that I've never done before, planted the Cerrunos Bulb, gotten 2 more DRG merits and almost a third, several quests which had been hanging for a while...

Wed. Dynamis: Sandy. Not going to be able to finish Wed. Dynamises for some time, but did help in a very effective win.

====

Well, needless to say someone has to poke Square-Enix with The Sharp Stick again. Two more RMT fuckwads from that same website got nailed again tonight.

So I wrote this, taking the website name out of it:

I've said it before -- I'll say it again.

CLEAN UP YOUR DAMN GAME!!!!

I'm serious. Two _MORE_ SITE DELETED people were all over Leviathan tonight, and, about an hour or two after the first one went off, the second followed.

Here's a hint if you haven't figured it out yet: RMT has adjusted their strategy to remain one step ahead (at least!) of Square-Enix. They do not give a damn about losing individual characters. That strategy does not work anymore.

It is time to go after the damn websites.

It is time to go after the damn websites.

IT IS TIME TO GO AFTER THE DAMN WEBSITES.

Clear enough for you? Your company just got a six-figure judgement against several companies illegally selling swords similar to ones in other FF games. Why you can't go after these websites is beyond me.

And if you truly cannot, then it's time to throw in the towel and legalize RMT. I said it.

Any action which does not shut down the _company_ behind these organized RMT rings like SITE DELETED will fail. WILL fail.

Or are you too damn scared, like you are about the bots and third-party software you're supposed to be banning people over (which has gotten so bad that some of these bots are almost certainly polluting the connection on _your side of the equation_), that if you actually try to enforce your rules, you won't have a game left because so few people play legitimately??

Wake up and smell the coffee. Ban botters, sue RMT out of existence, or do yourselves a real favor and devote all your energies to making Rapture robust and pull the plug on what is, more and more, becoming a freaking farce!

====

And that's not even The Letter, which is sitting, completed, in my computer, awaiting if I can find an actual place to send the whole damned thing.

We have a date, a Bonanza, and a trailer...

... and I'm only moderately impressed by the second, and not at all by the third.

First, the date for the update and the release of ACP is Wednesday, April 8.

Usually, these updates are on Mondays, but they decided to put this one on a Wednesday. Well, there goes our Wednesday Dynamis for the week.

Second, the trailer for ACP (A Crystalline Prophecy) is up on the FFXI Add-On site.

*waffle*

Ehh, it certainly can't do much of anything to reassure players about the long-term future of FFXI. It almost appears that, once the mini-expansions run their course, that's about it.

This seems almost to be a "full circle" effect -- "It all began with a stone, or so the legend says..."

It now appears it's all going to end with one as well. Perhaps this is the "prophecy" of Vana'diel's Armageddon.

(With the way the players are acting, I almost wish it'd come much faster than it is.)

But the trailer doesn't seem to add anything -- it almost seems to indicate that the Beastmen we've become so familiar with will change (probably become stronger) as a result of this huge crystal shining in the sky or something...

And, is it just me, or does every character in the artwork look like the world just ended??

We'll see... If I'm not banned by April 8 for my blog or something I say in a Besieged, I'll find out along with you.

And then, the announcement of the Mog Bonanza for the seventh anniversary.

Several changes, but not the fundamental one I thought would happen (the fact that it's still a lottery, of sorts).

Basically, here's how it works:

For 2000 gil, you purchase a 5-digit number on a Bonanza Marble. It can be, like a normal lottery, either a Quick Pick (random number) or your own pick.

You can buy up to 10 per character.

At the end of the lottery, five 5-digit numbers are drawn, one for each level of prize.

For the 5th level prize, you match the last digit (only) of the 5th-level prize number drawn.
For the 4th level prize, you match the last two digits of the 4th-level prize number drawn.

and so forth, each level up to the 1st-level, the Grand Prizes, being all five digits of the 1st-level prize number drawn.

So that's all the same that it was last year.

There are several changes:

1) The gil prizes for the top three levels are now what would be called "pari-mutuel".

What this means is that the amount of gil put into the lottery will determine how much gil the winners of the top level prizes would get, should they choose gil.

Half the money goes to the Grand Prize winners -- roughly a quarter each to the next two levels.

Of course, you can choose items and equipment...

2) And there's some interesting new options for winners on all levels for items and equipment.

Rank 5 -- the lowest level, now has, to add to the Miratete's Memoirs (XP scroll), the in-game statues that are coming out, as well as several of the exclusive Battle Circle "invitations", including Mercenary Camp and several others.

Rank 4 is basically now mostly ultra-level crafting items (Wootz Ores and the like), and a couple of equipment pieces.

Rank 3 -- along with splitting 27% of all the gil brought in, has several even better items (Imp. Wootz Ingots), and, most interestingly, a coupon for the relic armor (AF2) item of your choice which drops from Dynamis-Beaucedine.

Rank 2 -- along with splitting 23% of all the gil brought in (among fewer players), basically gets into the ultra-endgame stuff, with also the possibility of choosing a coupon for the relic armor (AF2) item of your choice from Dynamis-Xarcabard.

(Cool music in Dynamis-Xarcabard, by the way...)

Rank 1 -- along with half the gil brought in (probably almost looking at the possibility of the 100 million again), is all the insane shit (K. Club, D. Ring, Ridill, blah blah blah...)

I'd still probably take the gil and be able to buy at least two of the items or so.

So some realignment there.

3) To answer possible concerns on Square-Enix making RL money off of this (including mine), new rule for this year: To buy marbles, you must have a character which has been on the game for at least 45 days before you can purchase marbles in the second half of May.

Good call. (One of the few which Square-Enix has made recently.)

So, we'll see how it goes...

I had to turn down an interesting offer today...

I actually got an offer to be on "Ferociously Feofi" today...

Heh.

The show is actually called "Elegantly Edwyth", and Edwyth (and Feofi, apparently) both recently moved to Leviathan.

So I get on after my run today, and I am almost immediately met (as I go to plant my Cerrunos Bulb for the WotG mission "Daughter of a Knight" -- have Spectral Jig and an immediate way out, and you should be fine) with a tell from Edwyth, who was referred to me by someone who, though well-intentioned, probably picked the wrong guy from the start.

Edwyth is going to do a show in the near future (his next EE) on how Vana'diel has changed in the last five years. He wanted "different opinions". So he asked me.

I turned him down. For one reason, which should be no secret to readers of this blog:

If you were to put me on any of the major FFXI podcasts right now, the result would be an abjectly unairable flame-fest. As I said, I have very little regard for the Final Fantasy XI player-base, especially after the last few months.

Frankly, it probably would be in the best interests of Square-Enix to ban me from FanFest by now, because there's no reason to believe that seeing half the major podcast players would not result in me punching one or more of them (or getting thrown out for wanting to).

Yeah, I'm that pissed.

So, though I thank Edwyth for the offer, I had to turn it down. I have that little respect, regard, or trust for the Final Fantasy XI players (or the bulk of people who represent them), and the only reason I continue to play FFXI at all is to spite the cheaters, the frauds, and those who tolerate them.

There are days that I think Square-Enix wants us all to be Tarutaru...

Does Square-Enix even give a damn about melee classes??

I mean, don't mages have enough of an advantage over melee classes without basically making WHM over into an even more effective healer?

Does Square-Enix even want there to be such a thing as a Galka anymore?

Today, they basically came out with some of the fine-tuning of WHM, and they really bumped it up.

Enhancements based on the amount of healing done (or damage taken)...

They finally get Esuna...

And a probably AoE Cure that might not even require one to be in the party...

I mean, it really sounds to me as if their dream party would be six cute wittle Taru, 5 to burn, 1 to heal.

Ergh...