Belfry

The

The beastmen erected a belfry in Grauberg.

update has brought interesting changes to the game. Campaign NPCs now roam around Windurst when they're not in battle, reinforcing the idea of the city as a great staging ground in the war against the Shadow Lord. It creates additional lag, but I love seeing them.

Today was mostly about Campaign battles, of course.

During one of the fights in Meriphataud Mountains [S], I got my first glimpse of a fully-upgraded relic weapon. A tarutaru Red Mage named Kisaragi was fighting with Excalibur, using its Knights of the Round weaponskill. I had filters up so I don't know what kind of damage he was doing, but I had to bow to the awesome achievement of having it.

I fought until I'd earned a third Merit Point and used them to boost my Hand-to-Hand skill to Lv. 6.

The fisherman's guild wanted Zebra Eels, so I switched to White Mage and headed to my favorite fishing spot deep inside the Den of Rancor. I never get tired to trying to fish while Very Tough scorpions are standing around and waiting for my Sneak to drop.

I Thought We Were Friends, You Dick!

Apu

Et tu, Gauldeval?

tried the new limit break fight to raise his NPC's level cap to 70, but he got his ass handed to him. I attributed that to his forgetting to set a good subjob, since he'd accidentally run to Fei'yin as DRG/BLM.

I decided to take a shot at it today. I hiked out there as MNK/DNC, heaping praise and blessings on Square Enix for the Sprinter's Shoes boost to movement speed. I entered the Qu'bia Arena and ran forward to face Gauldeval.

My NPC is a Monk healer, basically. He buffs me and Hastes me and uses hand-to-hand weapons. What I didn't realize was the job he brings to this battle is based on my job. Instead of a MNK/WHM, he came at me as PLD/RDM. The first thing he did was to stun me with Shield Bash, then Flash me, beat me up a little, and then slash the hell out of me with his sword until he eviscerated me with Swift Blade and followed up with Drain to finish me off. I think the entire "fight" lasted thirty seconds.

Ouch. At least Maat pretended I was a worthy adversary.

Galarhigg

The

Thith guy kinda thuckth.

big update is here, bringing new gear, the Footwork ability for Monks and Reprisal for Paladins, as well as new Wings of the Goddess missions.

Neyla was already online when I logged on, heading for South San d'Oria [S] for the first cutscenes. He sent me a /tell as I was running around Jeuno, saying the leader of the dance troupe had a severe lisp.

"He's either gay or pretentious or a retard," he told me.

"If he's elvaan," I said, "I'm voting on retard."

He was hume, though. Mayakov and his dancers were set to perform in San d'Oria, but we needed a ticket to watch the act. The show was sold out, but luckily there was one poor guy whose wife dragged him away. By journeying into the present, we could snag the ticket he never used and return to the past to gain entry.

The only thing keeping me from writing an angry e-mail to Square Enix about horrible gay stereotypes -- the mission was even called "Queen of the Dance" -- was that Mayakov was quick to join the battle when La Voule came under attack. Maybe his lisp is an affectation; they just won't take a male dancer seriously unless he sounds like a limp-wristed, screaming queen.

The next stop was La Voule, where we were supposed to fight a dragon. We were teleported to Jugner Forest [S], where Neyla managed to aggro a Decrepit Gnole along the way. It was an Even Match, and we might have been able to kill it ourselves if the thing hadn't repeatedly cured itself. It finally killed me and had almost brought Neyla down when a wandering Ninja named Xaven jumped in to finish it off.

The

Neyla nd I fight Galarhigg.

trip through La Voule was... intense. I'm not a big fan of orcs, and it's their stronghold. I managed to fall of one of the bridges and land in the stream below, which meant trying to find a new route to the reinforced gate where the battle was to take place.

The dragon, Galarhigg, wasn't too bad. The entry at FFXIcylopedia said a MNK/DNC could easily take him down. I'd brought along a few Holy Waters in case he cursed me, but he never used the move. I beat him down while Neyla threw Cures my way and cursed my lack of defense. I used Hundred Fists to finish killing the thing. It was a close battle, but well worth it to see fomor monsters crying like little girls.

Kennel Fees

It's

Grauberg was generous with XP.

been awhile, but I sprung my wyvern Oboro from her kennel and left the moghouse to level Dragoon today. I wasn't online very long, but I hit some Campaign battles in Grauberg and Meriphataud Mountains, as well as doing Streetsweeper III between fights.

I didn't die, although Oboro was knocked out twice. I went /DNC to keep myself going, but it's not as wonderful without Drain Samba II. When I'd finished, I was 13k from 64. I'll likely be working on through the week. I'll probably go back to /WHM next time.

I also finally got around to taking my items to Jeuno to claim the Brown Belt. I'd forgotten to do it while I was on vacation last month. Oops.