Back to Midgard, the story so far...

Ok so Tigue turned out to be a bit of an ass when it comes to being a leader. Was doing the usual slave driven NM whoring for Ixion in Batallia Downs [S] when Campaign began, and when Campaign is on, Ixion wont spawn in that zone, so I figure, heck im sub RNG as a SMN, im pretty defenceless, ill go get Allied Tags, get the free Reraise scroll from Campaign and then take off tags. I get to the Campaign and all the NMs are on top of the NPC, but me being a retard didnt think they would aggro immediately, I popped on the tags and they did so I popped out Shiva to Sleepga. At this point Tigue zones into the spot im in and thinks I have been doing Campaign for 2 hours, so boots me very rudely from the shell. I try to explain but due to him being Japanese and a dickhole, he didnt understand and ignored me. So after about 30 mins of fuming, I decided that it was actually for the best, I was starting to get to that point where the game > real life again, and realised that being told what to do by a 14 year old Japanese hitler was not how I invisioned my endgame, so went back to Midgard and was actually welcomed with open arms. I really should have listened to the warnings about Tigue, but meh, I gave him a chance, and it turned out it was a bad idea, but carpe diem.

So im back in Midgard, within 10 mins of rejoining were popping Kirin, and it feels like home again. The best part being the Kirin was actually a really REALLY quick one. Way under an hour and we discovered the power of Scholar helix spells. Effectively Kirins regen was negated for the whole fight, stacking Bio 2, BLM debuffs and Windyhelix (not actual name but cant be arsed to look it up), which really was nice and relaxing. As usual we had our RDM kiting it (Monkee) and he does an awesome job every time. Much better than any PLD or NIN (including me) at this fight, cause he has a really nice Magic Defence setup. He is the kind of guy who really will look into the full usage of every piece of gear in the game, and work out sums etc. Ok anyways, we kill Kirin and get a loldrop pool consisting of Quake and Kirin's Pole! Oh well, maybe next week (I wont be there cause im going to the British Grand Prix - Won tickets for top performance at work).

Right so an update on my NPC, its hit level 51 now! I did its Genkai 1 which is outlined in the screenshots. Me being the muppet I am have been speaking to Luto in Upper Jeuno every time I call my NPC to see if I had enough Adventuring Bond to do Q, but it turned out she didnt give out the Quest /fume. So off I went to Mhaura, which when I got there found the questgiver was in Selbina... Anyways, picked it up, travelled the known world and got it all done after the NM fight and about 12k in teleports. The storyline for the NPC really is interesting and very entertaining, if a little dark what with a kidnapped child often being forced into unusual camera angle related positions. So now my NPC is all strong and muscly and its getting up the levels nice and quickly. Also unlocked the level 50 BCNM fight to give your NPC the Blessed Radiance ability. Basically when you and your NPC hit low HP it will use a devastating move that can 1 shot alot of Tough to Incredibly Tough mobs! Cant wait for that, but havent attempted the fight on this character yet, been too pre-occupied with...... NINJA AF!

My NIN has dinged level 50 and is now sporting the Nokizaru Gi, the Speed Belt and the Garrulous Ring which im so happy about cause it all helps with Evasion and Parrying so im a little tank machine now, and speedy too. Anyways as my NIN hit 50 I decided to go and get my NIN AF2 + AF3 and coffers done. Pretty much breezed through them all, got the keys within about 15 mins of entering The Boyahda Tree, Sea Serpent Grotto, Ifrit's Cauldron and Kuftal Tunnel. Found all the coffers without much of a headache either, nothing too annoying, had some guy pop it in front of me and then apologise, so I wasnt too fussed, it popped again 15 mins later, and Gredoric helped me to farm them anyways so between mine and his SMN we ripped every mob a new asshole and got the keys fast. Im still 90% sure that avatars have some kind of Treasure Hunter too, every time I kill something with an avatar out I get some nice drops. Just something I notice over soloing so much on SMN.

Anyways, Gredoric asked us for help with his Marid ZNM too which was a hell of a lot of fun. Monkee kited, me and Gred nuked with Diabolos and Kernera sang his songs to us all! We kited the mob around in a giant circle in Wajoam Woodlands for about 20 mins, and it died, dropping only its stupid Trophy. Were so going back for that again.

Sandworm ate us! TO GUIVRE!

Another day, another tonne of HNM's to camp. Logged in to Fafnir camping but after I got lost in The Boyahda Tree it popped and we didnt claim so we moved onto Sandworm which Tigue and his party were holding for us. This time it was up in North Gustaberg [S] and we had it up a mountain :D

We all start to gather up and find out that Elchakatero isnt able to get to us so we send him to Teleport-Altep > Korroloka Tunnel > Escape > Bastok > North Gustaberg. After waiting 20 mins he tells us he dont have the maw there either lol. Meanwhile we thought the sandworm needed some walkies so we dragged it down off the mountain and half way around the map to meet Elcha, but when he said he wasnt coming, we decided to just engage and get eaten, thats when my graphics messed up and I didnt know if I would get eaten or not, so they all dragged to worm over me and eventually we all got Doomvoided.

We pop up inside the Ruhotz Silvermines and Guivre is being his usual wussy self and running away from us. This fight is alot of fun because every 10% of his health he legs it off :D

Pretty uneventful fight though, killed it and the Tathlum dropped along with his skull. Now here we are camping Ixion again, hate camping this stupid pony. Oh and in other news, my NIN is 48 and my NPC is 50, but while levelling him today I got him killed with a stray bomb toss, think he is gonna be pissed when I summon him next.

Tiamat Trouncing...

Ok bizzare dream this morning. Im driving about in Liverpool in my brand new Volkswagen Fox when some guy pulls a gun on me and takes my car and keeps spitting in it. He drives it to his house, I fly after him (of course) then call the police who appear out of no where instantly and arrest him. Then everyone is in a bank queue with the police holding them all there, including my uni mates, then I wake up and log into FFXI :D

So I get online and Tiamat has popped. He is at 80% as I Teleport-Mea to get to Attowah Chasm. Tiamat is a big lady dragon with a grumpy temperament and pops every few days. Drops are nice from Tiamat, including the Herald's Gaiters and Noritsune Kote (both of which dropped today). The Herald's Gaiters is a piece im very much after as they increase movement speed for SMN, which would mean I could kite-kill things so easily. Anyways, the fight rages on with no deaths and we take her down with no trouble at all. As soon as Tiamat dropped we headed out to Fafnir and after about an hour and a half of waiting, he popped, claimed by ORZInc. So thats the fun HNM stuff of the day, but OOH OOH!! I GOT MY SWIFT BELT LAST NIGHT! Was far too tired to even remember to take a screenshot but it doesnt matter, its a very sexy Haste piece and stacked with my current major Haste gear, will mean my up and coming NIN will be a speedy beast :D

Think we have Dynamis-Xarcabard tonight but I dont have access yet, so I think ill be the Glass Mule for AP.

Khimaira!!!!!! (Not ours this time ; ; )

So we have been camping Khimaira for hours now, and it finally pops so we put the call out for people to come and fight it, but before we all got there, Finale claimed and held it while their members scrambled in and started to kill it. Depressing...

Khimaira is a new ish HNM added to the Aht Urhgan expansion and is massively favored for the sword it drops.... THE HAUTECLAIRE!

In Medieval European Literature, Hauteclaire (also spelled Hauteclere, Halteclere) is the sword of Olivier in the French hero epic The Song of Roland (written in the mid 12th century CE). Hauteclaire is a roughened steel blade with a brown tint and a golden hilt, which has a crystal embedded in it. Olivier is the friend of the Roland and was more reserved than Roland, being considered to embody wisdom, as opposed to Roland, who was courageous, but brash. Olivier mentions in the story that he considered prudence more valuable than reckless bravado. Olivier was killed by being impaled on Algalif’s Lance, though not before he was able to use Hauteclaire to split his attacker’s head asunder.

All that crap aside, its quite possibly the best sword in the game for a Paladin like me! Obviously me wants but will I get it someday? Probably not but heres hoping. The NM is a total bitch to camp as its windows are every hour from 48-72 hours after its last death, which means it would take roughly a day to cover its camp time. The fight in itself is also a rough one with its massive move being Fulmination - Hits your entire alliance and can wipe in 1 shot! Dreadstorm is its AoE terror and much like most HNMs has an AoE stun move called Thunderstrike.

I would highly not recommend fighting this thing unless your shell is totally ready, its not for your entry level sky LS, heck even full time HNMLS's wipe to this bugger. Anyways, we didnt claim but next time im gonna be all over this :D

Ixion is come! (and so is Sandworm!)

After a few hours of camping the various zones across Vana'diels past, Dark Ixion spawned in Jugner Forest [S]. I was with my NPC in West Sarutabaruta [S] at the time, but still, NMs > Everything else in this shell so off I ran to the Outpost. Thing is, Dark Ixion depopped about 30 seconds later! So back to levelling my NPC for half an hour.... when IXION POP was heard in the LS. This time we had claim so we all dashed to East Ronfaure [S] where the shell members there were kiting while we set up.

Now the most annoying thing about this fight is not being able to see his HP or Health percent even if you have TParty running through Windower, but I found a way of viewing it anyways so not too much of an issue. The only way to get to view his HP is if you break his horn, which so far I havent seen us do. Anyways Zolo was tanking like a champion as the healing brigade kept him alive. The fight is really really slow and because he can use a move called Damsel Memento which heals him for about 5-8%, its even slower still.

So the battle raged, people gathered and we were on top form with it! Trouble is.... SANDWORM POP in the shell now too! Ixion is down to about 50% and our other little baby is wandering about in Batallia Downs [S] just waiting to be beaten on! Anyways, I get an annoying DC because I accidentally kick my internet cable out of the socket, but I come back and Ixion is around 20%. After about another 20 mins Ixion drops dead and drops the cape and the cloak plus his horn and tail (which are 100%). Tsingtao got the cloak (srsly, grats man!) and Zolo got the cape! (grats to you too man!). Rewards for the hard workers, im gonna be killing that bitch alot till my cape and cloak drops :(

Onto Sandworm now, this mob is a funny one, he can absorb all the Job Abilities and buffs of the people standing close to him, and as if thats not bad enough, at around 20% he will use an ability which warps everyone to an instanced zone for 60 minutes to fight either King Arthro, Serket, Guivre or some Worm thing! AND THEY ALL HYPER GOD MODE PLUS ALPHA! I wasnt able to go with them tho as they needed more BLM :( but they got there to be met with King Arthro and his crabs. Not sure what dropped and who got what but hey, its all fun in HNMLS's!