Great Expectations

I only logged on Wednesday for Limbus, and we didn't have it because only eight people turned up. We could've farmed a zone for coins, but I was tired and wasn't going to lead the run since I've already mentally checked out of Limbus. So we decided to keep our 30k entry fees and let the overseas players go back to sleep.

Today

This isn't the great white whale I was thinking about...

was more fun. My Ahab-like quest to get to 73 continues, and I got a group in Caedarva Mire that worked really well. I even managed to stay alive all the way to camp. I set a modest goal of getting 14k in so Sunday's ENM and escort would put me halfway to 71, but I managed to get halfway anyhow.

It was a good party. The only hitch -- if you can call it that -- was a lone Paladin who fell asleep near our camp. Some of my group said they'd partied with him before, that he played odd hours and tended to pass out at the worst times. He was in the roaming area of some imp pops, so we did our best to keep him alive. He'd get knocked down into the red and we'd cure him back to full health after we'd killed his attacker.

I was of the opinion that we should just let nature take its course so that he woke up back in Whitegate, but I didn't complain because it wasn't really slowing down our xp. I'm sure he died about five minutes after we disbanded for home.

Gimp Gimp Gimpety Gimp

I

They're soft and squishy and die fast, but I hate imps.

had no luck getting a party yesterday, which was mostly spent seeking while I sat on my bed with my Nintendo DS. Today was better.

The Astral Candescence had been recovered and I was invited to Caedarva Mire. It was a rough start getting everyone to camp. Another party was up on the hill and got pissed when we stopped to kill the two imps that aggroed us. They thought we were going to camp right on top of them. I suggested moving to the narrow passage to the north -- you can pull from either side -- and headed there. We got aggro again and some of them ran for the zone, which was annoying because it meant they'd have to run the gauntlet again.

We finally got everyone together and were waiting for assorted weaknesses to wear. I finally noticed what Pralien, the White Mage, was wearing and checked his gear. He was wearing a Seer's Tunic, Noble's Slacks and a Bloodbead Amulet. The only WHM-worthy things he had on were an Electrum Ring, Silver Hairpin, Blue Cape and Light Staff. I thought he had the Seer's Tunic for resting MP -- I was still carrying one at that level -- but he had it on full-time.

"What's the story on your gear, man?" I asked him.

It started to get ugly because I chewed him out for being a gimp. White Mage's get good AF you can equip until switching over to a Blessed Set, but he hadn't even made that minimal effort.

"Some

Witness his pathetic gear!

people don't have gil," the Paladin said, defending him.

"AF is free," I snapped.

"I don't know how to get AF," Pralien said.

I tried to calm down a little and just ignore it, but I hate that attitude and really didn't care if I chased him off at the cost of my own XP. I hate the idea of helping people like that get to 75; it's Seemehow writ large.

"I'd advise you to start doing some research and finding out where to get your AF," I told him. "That's fine gear for a WHM."

"I just want 75, not AF gear."

"And I want a WHM who takes the job seriously, but I've got you. Let's kill stuff."

"You saying I'm not serious about WHM?"

"I'm saying any curebot can get to 75. If you were serious you'd know how to get your AF and would be wearing it."

We settled in and started killing imps, and as expected he wasn't that great. He had to be told to use Silena on the tank about 95% of the time, which is really pathetic because imps only have two TP moves that aren't spells. He also got hate a lot, which wouldn't have been as much of an issue with all the -enmity stats of Healer's attire. I didn't say another word to him the entre time.

I

This is what a real White Mage looks like.

wasn't saddened when he announced he had to leave. He got a replacement WHM, a tarutaru named Thos, who arrived at camp wearing a Noble's Tunic. I couldn't resist saying "I love you" in party chat when he'd swapped in and told him to check out Pralien's gear before the guy warped out.

"Wow," was all he had to say.

Thos had farmed and worked his ass off to buy his Noble's Tunic as soon as he could equip it, and that's above and beyond. I did the same thing myself, although of course they cost a lot more back then. I took it as a sign of a very healthy attitude toward the job, and it turned out he was a very good White Mage. Big surprise, eh?

I dinged 70 and was ecstatic about being able to equip my Optical Hat again. I even managed to get a 3k buffer before we disbanded. More parties like this would be nice.