September version update!

FFXI's version update, primarily featuring the level cap increase and all sorts of goodies, spells and gear has arrived. ....Which I hope explains my absence from blogging once again. I swear I don't have a problem or addiction. Honest. I am not playing as I make this post, nope.

As an avid fisherman, I hope it's not sad that I'm just as excited about the Ebisu fishing rod graphic change as all the BLM updates. It is not sad at all. Right?  To those who could care less about fishing and have no idea what I'm talking about, the graphics for Ebisu were exactly the same Lu Shang, which is like the equivalent of getting an Aegis only to have it look like a plain old Koenig shield. But moving on.....

While leveling Black Mage with some LSmates. my AF+3 finally kicked in on Blizzard V for the first time. I was very pleased with the results, though at the same time sad it was only on a stupid exp mob.

Forever will the rest of my nukes feel inferior.

And of course who can forget the fun of running out and learning new Blue Mage spells. Took me nearly 2 hours to learn Harden Shell, but totally, totally worth it. Shame it's limited to Unbridled Learning though.

Bludgeon, Bludgeon, Bludgeon!

Next post will probably be about some Blue Mage Charged Whiskering fun! Stay tuned!

FFXI Security tokens should dispense Asprins

You know, like one of these old things?

Ok, maybe not the Wario one. Creepy.

Why? The 4 1/2 hour emergency maintenance on FFXI was extended another 3 hours. The extension isn't what is so frustrating, it's nothing new for SE. I just wish that they'd just preempt their screw-ups and scratch the whole day off for maintenance. All these stupid extensions and spaghetti code crap makes me want to bang my head against the wall. Maybe I could find a helmet in the garage so I don't hurt myself. Sure I might look stupid, but who cares.

But you know what's really stupid? Not wearing a helmet one when you ACTUALLY really need one. Earlier this month, during a protest against helmet laws in upstate New York, one of the motorcyclists crashed and died. And not one of those racing crashes where a helmet wouldn't have saved you from the burning wreckage. The man's motorcycle spun out of control and he toppled over the handlebars of his bike.

Police say Contos would have likely survived if he was wearing a helmet.

But at least the man died supporting what he believed in. R.I.P. Phillip Contos.

While I find this terrible and deliciously ironic at the same time while thinking "He had it comin'", I still respect his decision to not wear one. Even though I think him and the other people in this protest are idiots for not wearing motorcycle helmets, I agree with their message. You should wear helmets but if someone wants to be a flaming idiot while riding, let him! (Assuming it's only going to put themselves in danger.) Let nature do its worse.

Obviously helmets aren't going to save you from everything under the sun. But hey, It's cooler to be alive then dead, right?

Picture Summary of FFXI's July 12 Update

Well, pictures with commentary, so sue me.


First they fixed old things.

Summary of "Resolved Issues"

The second check mark was spurred by the final note on the list,  "The issue wherein using magic directly after resisting a status ailment caused the word "Resist!" to display at the beginning of the magic casting message." This had been there so long, I thought it was weird, but intended. Unless I'm reading this wrong.

Changed things to make more sense.

Self Explanatory for White and Black Mages of Abyssea.

Including a new Key Item category JUST for Abyssea. Finally. Also includes changes to various JA, specifically the distances on Collaborator and Accomplice. Now you don't have to be IN the mage zone to steal their hate! IT FINALLY MAKES SENSE.

Added new things. (For better or worse...)

Should erase the LS if it's Welfare though

A command that lets you yell through all the areas of Jeuno. Yay. And other stuff. Like another Sam JA. How long is their JA list now?

And finally broke some more things.

Don't hate on my poorly doodled ghostie.

And that's why an emergency maintenance happened. I will not feel sorry if people who abused this to kill a bunch of Havana or other undead NMs manage to get banned.

Oh, and here's the actual version update notes: July 11th Update.
And some DAT mining which includes a very...interestingly colored Flan: Wild Dragon Chase

Oh yeah, let me check out that chest!

Yesterday SE posted some Details on Next Week's Version Update and I have to say it seems pretty awesome. Click on that link to see the whole list!

Event Related:

• Something about Voidwatch. Is anyone even doing these? I know I haven't.
  

• Oh man, now when you enter the Chocobo Circuit from Port Jeuno... you'll be able to move to the OTHER AREAS OF JEUNO. Holy shit. Now I don't have to give that mithra a flower. Maybe I'm missing something but I don't see the point of this. They are moving the synergy furnaces there, might be related, but still don't understand it.

Battle Related:
This section is just full of awesome in my opinion.

• The game will remember the last atmas you used. Hurray less time going through 8 pages of atmas to get two at the end! I would have much preferred different sets, but hey we can't always get what we want and this is still amazing if you're frequently on the same job.

• They're adding more ??? for most of the higher tier force pop notorious monsters (NM) in Abyssea. Not having to fight to pop your one Carabosse for an hour is nice. Wonder if it's going to be three in the same area or spread out a bit. There would be so much lag if they were all together and three things were being fought at once.

• Also they're adding key items from the time pop NMs in Misareaux, Vunkerl, and Attohwa to gold chests. I think this is totally awesome. I'd rather push my luck and do some amber light farming then try and claim against 20 other people. (Sadly, on some days this is only slightly exaggerated.)

Now if only they'd do something about VNMs....even just two tier 3 spawns once would be awesome :(


And completely unrelated but there is a significant lack of photos/videos. So here's an adorably awesome Russian Kitten.

KITTY NEEDS HIS FIX

I want one, but one that doesn't wanna smoke. :(

The Version Update is here!

Well, considering I've begun this blog while waiting on Final Fantasy XI's version update, I'll chat a bit about this! However there's so much being updated and so little time. Ok ok, there's a lot of time since the update time will probably be extended something awful, I'm just terribly lazy.

All the information for the version update can be found here on the official FFXI forums.

I have some very mixed feelings about this update as far as the big updates though. I'm very much looking forward to Voidwatch; it looks like it's going to be challenging and downright awesome. Sure the monsters look like they're just re-skinned, but at least one monster looks new and cool:

Though if I were him, I'd die laughing at the gear those people are wearing. Or just slice them off, depends on the mood.

And of course I'm looking forward to many of the minor updates like being able to store Kindred Crests (and use them to access new battlefields of course) and even the silly little update to the new character display name fonts. The updated delivery system is sweet too. Brb sending my level 20 mule a Dalmy and Adaberk as well as items for Empyrean Weapons.

While nothing infuriates me about the update, I'm somewhat on the fence as far as the force pop of old HNMs are concerned. KS99 > NQ > HQ seems a bit silly to me considering the KS 99 versions are harder than the HQ though that isn't saying too much considering at 90 all of them are relatively easy if you play it smart. In the end I'm just sad I guess to see these NM turn to force pop... damn nostalgia, at least there's still King Arthro, Roc, and Simurgh, right?

Also on the fence about Dynamis. It seems really cool and really lame at the same time. I'm really liking reduced wait and no reservations. One of the reasons I hated dynamis so much in the past was assholes jacking your zone right before you enter, but I digress. But at the same point, mobs are going to be claimed just like mobs in regular dungeon and field zones. But hey

While other things leave me confused... like Synergy. Basically you'll need to get two abjurations to create an augmented piece of Hecatomb, Adaman, etc gear. (One to make the actual piece of armor, and then another to make tatters out of.) If you don't like the augment, will you need to keep getting more and more or will you get the tatters back? That seems a bit excessive even for SE. I guess we'll see.

Bit long for a first post but it's a long update! I could go on and on about this, but other work needs to be done. And by work I mean nap, manga, anime, or maybe even just staring at my wall.