My Last Night on Leviathan, Part Three: Some Last Goodbyes

So, with that, I transfer worlds. I'll probably post these and send the profane rant to the STF first.

Then I have to take down everything in my delivery box and everything in the Auction House which hasn't sold yet. Then, I log out and transfer.

I guess, effective immediately, I'm a free agent again, and my Sunday afternoons and Wednesday evenings are now free.

To that end, I wish well the good people of Lengendary, my former Dynamis linkshell.

Kiana, the hard-working leader who takes no crap. I know I can be a bit of a pain, but at least I try not to be... Good luck on completing Ice one of these runs, and on getting your two remaining pieces of DNC AF2...

Hefty, our little sac-taru. Boats and hoes, eh? Here's one more ceremonial chuck into the snowbank on the way out, and best wishes to an entertaining little tarutaru.

Donbibo, our resident basketball. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, consider how many times a RDM dies in Dynamis...)

Palantor, our main PLD. Glad we got to talk during that whole sorry episode which sealed this decision.

Mickoftime, ditto.

Dogan, I hope the assault static can work well for you.

Indred, may you never be healed out of the yellow... :)

Gadwin, glad I could stand up for you on that last Ice run, and Mektar can kiss my motherfucking ass...

… and to all the other members I forgot, I'm sorry. It's just been a really tough go of it the last several months or so...

And, one more goodbye before I do slam the door in the fucking cheaters' faces:

Kobayashimaru, who suggested Leviathan: I'm sorry. That server has taken such a dive in the last six months.

ON EDIT: As Seymour said in FFX: It is done. As of about 1 AM this morning, PDT, the 30th of October: I am Starcade, now from Siren. Yeah, it's probably because of the Besieged record, but let's see if, as I suspect, this might transfer to a few more players who just MIGHT give a damn.

My Last Night on Leviathan, Part Two: A Little Word With the Special Task Force

Starcade, soon-to-be FORMERLY of Leviathan here.

And, to say I am not happy with you and how you guys run what is turning into, more and more, a dead and sham game would be the understatement of the century.

JUST WHOSE FUCKING SIDE ARE YOU GUYS ON, ANYWAY???

What rules am I supposed to fucking abide by, and what ones can I freaking ignore, because it's too goddamned inconvenient for you, as a company, to actually enforce the rules you put out in your own literature (online and otherwise)??!?!?!?

Just what constitutes “griefing” and monopolization if this Astral Burn Party bullshit doesn't??? These little punk-ass idiots can basically do whatever they want, as long as you get your $12.95 a month to basically grease your skids to release FF XIV (which you can forget about me even THINKING about playing, thank you very little...)??

Why should I abide by any of your goddamned rules if you guys basically only will choose to enforce any of them when it is either convenient or entertaining for you to do so???

And, as I got done telling your Senior GM Enkrateia, when the fuck are you banning Windower? When the fuck are you going to give your legal team a spine and shut down at least eight (and probably more like eight_y_) RMT sites which basically have taken over much of endgame, through one form or another of theft (of your proprietary property, if not of our characters on top of it!)...

Oh, I know what's going to happen... You're probably going to read this, know I transferred worlds, let the billing go through, and then ban me for this profane rant. You know what? You pull that garbage (which, given what you seem to pull, Square-Enix, would not surprise me!), and I can assure you the charge will be reversed. That's why I'm making this letter BEFORE I do the transfer.

This game stopped being fun to me after I saw how much the high-level contingent (which you have so slanted this game towards, it's not even funny!) spits all over the work you've done on it...

I don't play this game to “make friends”, Square-Enix. I pay my $12.95 a month, and I have one expectation: That you will enforce the rules you have written down, and not let these little punk-ass shitheads who have turned this game into little more than a fantastical-playground version of Second Life. If you can't maintain a sufficient player base without the cheaters, SHUT THE DAMN GAME DOWN.

I said it in January, and I say it now.

As it is, I'm World Transferring, because the political climate on Leviathan is a bunch of little cheating punks. I just want to know if it's basically down to that you will only enforce the rules on an arbitrary, capricious, and pseudo-random manner, so I have ZERO CONFIDENCE that you are willing to make the playing field fair and equal, as I told Enkrateia again and again.

Because, if that's the case, you may not want me on Final Fantasy XI, and you definitely DON'T want me on Final Fantasy XIV.

My Last Night on Leviathan, Part One

I didn't think I would have to do another one of these posts, but I can't say, given what I have experienced, that I am surprised that I do.

Tonight (Thursday, essentially, though it'll be Friday morning before I get these posted and make the actual World Transfer) was my last night on Leviathan.

I've made several intimations that I was about to leave, but what I saw tonight and the abject lack of support on the part of those enforcing the damn rules (or, probably more correctly now, only stating they are) makes the political timbre impossible for me even to continue to the point where I would be able to even make it to the next billing period on Sunday.

Tanoshii (or, as I probably should've called him, Ton-of-Shit) decided it would be nice to form an Astral Burn Party in the Korroloka Tunnel. He got his puller, at least (by the information I was writing down to report their asses) 5 SMNs, the obligatory COR, and some support staff to basically monopolize the zone.

About 9:30 or so (PM PDT), they pull their first 50 monsters or so. At that point, my message to the Help Desk (as I threatened the bitches with) is put up.

What happens then makes me wonder whose side Square-Enix is actually on...

I get exactly what some of the flamers told me in February: In the eyes of both GM Svaoilfari and Senior GM Enkrateia, this Astral Burn shit is apparently legal!!

And both got an abject earful for even suggesting as such, as well!!

I still maintain that the very act is illegal through zone monopolization, but I really do begin to wonder, now, whether the only rule Square-Enix chooses to enforce is that rule which will give them just enough money to fund their Online Division to the release of FF XIV.

I can only say that, since it now appears that the cheaters are getting the open endorsement of Square-Enix (and let's not forget, also, the Apathy Linkshell on Remora – I haven't forgotten your cheating-ass skullduggery, either!), I can't stay on Leviathan. It would appear that cheating wins on that server too (just like it does on Asura, at least until it is no longer convenient enough for Square-Enix to ignore!), so I'm gone.

The next post I make (probably above this one) will be a statement to the Special Task Force, telling them exactly what I feel about tonight's stupidities.

Am I the only one really weirded out by something here?

No, not the fact that I finally cracked and decided to order the third add-on like a sucker...

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But this preparatory update...

1,700 files or so, and they are basically going ahead and having us download it today, in preparation (and the first part of three, from what I'm reading from other sources!) for the November 9, 2009 update.

I know that the big updates can be an awful bitch to deal with, but I'm really weirded out by the need for a preparatory update.

Makes me wonder if there isn't something huge coming down the line that they aren't telling us. I mean, think: We only know, for the moment, about advancements in the WotG storyline, BST and SMN additions, and Maze Mongers going into the fishing business.

Could this be where WotG gets it's endgame scenario? (Much like Original/Zilart/CoP Dynamis, ToaU Salvage and Einherjar, etc.) Judging by the sheer number of files in even this preparatory situation, I'd have to say that's a real plausible situation.

Hey, if nothing else, it can get people to actually DO WotG quests and missions and I can finally get a Battle of Jeuno group and go forward from there!

Could this be where the game is altered in a fundamental sense to get people to stay around in the storm of RMT and other crap which has nearly felled this game? I mean, think, for example, the EIGHTH different RMT site I've seen advertising on Leviathan has had at least two players with double-digit numbers of letters in their names circling their prospective client list, and one GM call doesn't seem to do them in... Now I'm calling in these fuckers TWICE!

I've heard at least one report saying that a new item system is coming into the game.

Incompetence and drama: Two steps closer to out the door for another server...

Yesterday was even less fun than usual.

We had our Sunday Dynamis as usual, and, yesterday, it was our long-awaited return to Ice (Xarcabard).

I knew that, since our LS leader Kiana usually handles about seven things at once, that I should probably try to ensure that I have the pen and paper out to try to help out with who wanted what, how many points were bid, etc.

And it all went fine, until about literally one minute before we were to go in, when Mektar finally bleats out (as lots are finally locked) that he wants to revoke his place for DRG (because I out-bid him AND he didn't want to sit around with a worthless place in line) and jump somebody's place for NIN.

Now, these are 10,000,000-gil pieces here (estimated value by their place as L2 prizes in the last Mog Bonanza).

You can imagine what happens to the person (a long-time LS member) who had that claim. He was going through the roof.

And he had good reason to. We have a rule that. once the glass is broken, it's all-stop on the lot mess. Not only that, but Mektar's declaration not only put him third in line for DRG, but made him ineligible for any 100-piece drops.

And, wouldn't you know it!!! NIN drops. (one of three drops, AND a 100-piece (for which only three members were eligible -- and I'm glad I checked up on that, as several others tried to lot that currency as well).

Well, Mektar decides he's had enough and quits the shell right then and there as I try to CONTINUE TO EXPLAIN TO HIM (and he refuses to listen!) that not only was what he was doing illegal, but he probably wasn't going to beat the NIN bidder anyway -- and then he gets pissed off because there will be no drop for his place in line.

FUCK HIM!

IN THE EAR!!

And that wasn't the only drama yesterday. We had some new-to-Ice people basically ragging on one of our thieves (who has a latent effect that he steals better when his HP is yellow or worse) for his less-than-polite (because people refuse to listen to him in any capacity on this matter!) requests not to heal him out of that latent.

So that cow is being had, Mektar is throwing a hissy fit, and yet somehow, we actually break our record and could (if we hadn't wasted so much time dicking around when our mages got wiped) have actually (with about one more extension) taken a shot at the Mega Boss...

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And then there's Nyzul Isle.

Another game mechanic that appears to have been beta-tested on relic/mythic-imbued characters.

Well, we have put together several members of our shell for a couple of 1-5 runs.

Needless to say, we got no further, as this happened on our last attempt:

Floor 4: All floor, do not destroy the Archaic Gears.

So why is our WHM basically sitting by the Rune of Release as the rest of us are getting our asses kicked?

Then, Kiana demands the WHM show himself and try to save the last person fighting what probably was the last monster in the zone (ME!) and help cure me, and this guy has his thumb up his ass!!!

Needless to say, for the second time in a week (though the first one last Monday was eventually forgiven), I logged off of a Nyzul Isle farce basically pissed off.

Look, I could go to another server right fucking now. (In fact, probably, after the November fees are paid, that's the plan!) I mean, can't ANYONE breathe in this game without two illegal programs and three bots anymore?

Or is it no fucking fun for you without them?

So the week is over... Good riddance....

So, let's see:

Decided to actually level some SAM this week and got to 25 or so. Hasso is just delicious!

DNC to 71, headed to eventual 75.

Dynamis:

Sunday: Snow win. Not much.

Wednesday: Jeuno win. Got a 100-Byne, to the cackles of Kiana, knowing we have an Ice run planned for Sunday. *Anime Mallet of Doom!*

Kiana, you know not my long-term plans...

Latest word of possible Update date for Shantotto Ascension? November 12.

I continue to be amazed at the stupidity, this on the part of Square-Enix...

So, let's see what the world of Vana'diel has going for it today...

Fusionx of Pet Food Cheater finally asks if there's going to be a Fan Festival this year.

What the fuck have you guys done, as a player base, to deserve one?

And, frankly, if there were to be one, it'd probably be accompanied by me going off on an Evening News-level situation against said player base...

So, suffice it to say, I don't think there's going to be any more Fan Festivals until XIV comes out (and probably the next one being a launch-of-XIV one).

And then, the BST and SMN updates...

SMN, you are NEVER getting any more avatars (which see the same question on deserving as I gave on the Fan Fest thing).

The effects are OK, but will probably be tweaked significantly downward once people learn how to exploit the shit out of that.

BST update? Basically, we (under certain parameters) can get to choose which special ability goes off, with "charges", when we call a jug pet.

I can see it, but, as with a lot of other things XI lately -- way too little, way too late.