BLU Balls

Neyla and I didn't have anyone available for another round of Royal Jelly BCNMs, so I put up my flag and got an invitation to party on Monk.

We

I've had better experiences.

were going to hit Mount Zhayolm, but the Paladin didn't have the Runic Portal to get there and nobody felt like walking him to it. We returned to the colibri camp that's been my home for the past few sessions; the birds were largely Very Tough and low Incredibly Tough, which is awesome when you can't use food. As long as you're chaining them, it adds up.

I had a miserable time. We had a Thief and BLU/THF in the party; the BLU wanted me for his SATA bitch. The mithra Paladin wasn't having any problem with hate, but they wanted me for first Provoke and after that the BLU insisted on hiding his spike damage behind me. I was putting out enough damage on my own without having Death Scissors tacked to it, which meant I was put in the awkward position of having to hold back to keep myself alive. That sucks.

Thankfully, I managed to get to 65 and get enough Hand-to-Hand skillups to learn Dragon Kick before we disbanded. The tank wanted to leave, but stayed long enough for me to try it out.

My New Best Friend

Today brings us the big update to the game, and I'm very happy about some of the changes.

We

I love this guy and the things he can do.

now have chocobo rentals in Wajoam Woodlands, the Altepa Desert, and Yhoater Jungle. That's handy enough, but we can now pay NPCs in our home nations to teleport us directly to Whitegate. There's no way to understate how awesome that is, especially considering how much I hate leaving Windurst and setting my homepoint in another area. Ibwam, located by the fountain in Windurst Woods, only charges 300 gil.

This update also brings the addition of a new battlefield, Einherjar. It offers a new way to obtain abjurations. Considering I'd really like to have Shura gear but hate the idea of joining a Sky linkshell to get it, this would be a viable option.

I didn't do much today except my regular chocobo activities and a little fishing, but I hit Whitegate for a few minutes to trade in ten Imperial Gold pieces to expand my mog locker to 80 spaces.

Ni Surgery

Wulfgar had signed on to help me and Neyla get our Utsusemi: Ni scrolls from the "Royal Jelly" BCNM, but we'd never actually scheduled it. He had some free time today. I'd already put my flag up on Monk and was in Jeuno to wait, but the scroll is more important to me.

Neyla

The Princess Jellies die fast under our assault.

and I went as BST/NIN and Wulfgar was RDM/WHM. I had to take a moment to revel in the fact that I was a tarutaru going into a BCNM as a melee while the galka was going to be the mage. That's just too delicious for words.

I've done the fight before a long time ago and knew it would be easy, but I was still kinda surprised at just how quickly we mowed through them. Neyla and I started on the right and worked our way counter-clockwise, our CrabFamiliars scuttling along and adding to the damage, while Wulfgar focused on using Bind and healing and all that other stuff mages have to do.

Wulf didn't think to use Stoneskin, so he got banged up pretty bad. Neyla pointed out how much easier it would be for him if he cast it. I grabbed a few Yagudo drinks for him during our return trip to Jeuno for more orbs.

We had no deaths, and the jellies never got a chance to reach the center to make the Queen Jelly. We did the fight five times. As Wulfgar put it, it was a "full sweep of crap." Not a single Ni scroll to be seen. I swear, I think we'd get more gil by selling the junk to NPCs than from trying to sell it on the Auction House.

The Haul...
Scroll of Refresh x3
Steel Ingot x3
Vial of Slime Oil x10
Dusky Staff
De Saintre's Axe
Mana Ring x3
Mythril Beastcoin
Scroll of Phalanx
Marksman's Ring x3
Steel Sheet
Grudge Sword
Gold Beastcoin

Wulfgar had to take off for Dynamis, so we have to try again some other time. I'm not in a rush; /NIN isn't something I'm going to need until my Monk is in the 70s.

Desert Disappointment

After spending all that time in the Valkurm Dunes playing the Hot and Cold game, I finally managed to acquire the Desert Chocograph authorizing me to play in the desert areas.

My

Playing the Hot and Cold game in the desert is nightmarish.

first trip to the Eastern Altepa Desert was sobering. They weren't kidding when they said your bird would get fatiqued quickly in the heat. I managed to find the chest's location, but my bird was too worn out to uncover the damned thing. There are some really nice prizes out there, but they're going to be very difficult to obtain.

In other news, Quieren managed to drag himself back to Vana'diel for a fight against Proto-Omega. We didn't have a full alliance of 18, but we still managed to win with very few deaths. Two sets of Homam hands dropped.

Quieren had mentioned letting me borrow his Peacock Charm when he, Neyla and I were having lunch Friday. I figured he'd forget about it, but he brought it along and forked it over. He's only online for Limbus and Dynamis, and most of the time he'd rather use his Chivalrous Chain anyway. I tried it out in the "Test Your Mite" ENM, and I'm definitely liking it. It'll be awesome when I start leveling Dragoon again.