New Strategies

I've decided to change my gaming strategy by staying in the Valkurm Dunes and leveling my little heart out. I want to reach Level 18, complete the quest for a sub-job, and then start developing White Mage skills before I launch into the Windurst missions. It turns out changing citizenship is very freaking expensive.

A small cave near the beach made for a great camp.

I didn't think much of the party I was hanging with today. There were a few decent ones in the mix, but it was too scatterbrained to be very effective. Our white mage, another taru like myself, decided it would be fun to hang out right beside the monster. It's no wonder he died.

The party disbanded after a Goblin Tinkerer threw a bomb which knocked out most of our hit points and then tossed another which killed three of us (including me) and left the others on the edge of death. I saw him readying the second bomb but couldn't get out of the blast radius in time. I hate those fucking things.

Party in the Dunes

When I play Final Fantasy XI and someone asks "Do you want to party?" I always think Sure. Where's the beer?

I think I've found a nice balance for my gaming schedule. On weekdays -- when I'm more likely to limit my playing to an hour or so -- I work on fetch quests and raising money for better equipment. Fighting weaker monsters and selling the items they drop at the Auction House takes time, but such farming can be lucrative.

Snippers and Goblins had little chance against our balanced party.

On Sunday, when I can spend the entire day wandering around Vana'diel if I want, I can focus on raising my character's levels.

I completed the first Windurst mission Saturday morning, and later that evening made the long trek and boat ride back to San D'oria while Kristofer watched. Not the most exciting thing to see, admittedly.

I died repeatedly while trying to level up this morning, but having my Black Mage at Level 10 made me attractive to parties. I ended up in the Valkurm Dunes with a group of five other players, camping in a small inset in a rock formation, and killing scores of monsters. In these camp-and-pull sessions, a fast member of the party (the "puller") runs out and finds a monster, whacks it a good one to get its attention, and then runs back to where everyone else is camped so we can kill it and rack up the experience points.

Being a Black Mage "nuker" is fun. I'm not expected to go anywhere near the monsters and it's the job of the tanks to keep them away from me. I just stay in the back and fire off damaging spells until it dies. As soon as it's dead, I rest and rebuild my magic until the puller comes back with another one.

"Pulling Goblin Ambusher!" the puller yells. "Get ready!"

I took a break to eat a quick dinner and went back to the game to join another party in the dunes. It took three weeks to reach Level 10, and in one day of camping in the dunes I jumped to Level 13. Sweet.