Eyes and Dolls

Neyla's

The Confederate Belfry is the main target.

new tarutaru Black Mage adoptee Curejaa needed assistance with the "A Feast for Gnats" battle. Dalamar joined us. It took us three tries to get it right. We came damned close on the first attempt, and we would've won it if Romaa Mihgo had stayed alive a few more seconds so I could use Asuran Fists one more time. Everyone else died and I got booted out when the NPC fell. I tried to fight mobs with the NPCs so their prey would die and they could run to the Belfry, but they invariably pick another monster to fight.

The second attempt was worse, with Curejaa the sole survivor.

We consulted a write-up by linkshell members Otak and Zoner, who did it as a duo by letting the NPCs die, keeping Mihgo alive and sleeping all the mobs so they could be killed one by one until only the Confederate Belfry remained. That's what we did, and it worked perfectly. Curejaa and Dalamar kept everything slept, Neyla focused on sleeping and keeping Mihgo's health up while I teamed up to kill mobs. When everything was dead, Mihgo and I destroyed the belfry while the mages slept the pops. Much easier!

With that out of the way, it was time for more Dragoon leveling. Neyla and I went back to the glacier for two rounds of Fields of Valor. I popped my Empress Band without thinking -- I'm just used to popping it at the start of an xp session -- and we fought through our quota of eyes and dolls.

For

We killed Death Wasps in Rolanberry Fields [S]

some reason, Neyla was constantly getting the crap knocked out of him. It just wasn't his day. It seemed like every monster would aggro or link from a mile away just to get a shot at ripping off his face.

When that was over, we went to Rolanberry Fields [S] to fight Death Wasps in that glorious aggro-free walled area in the north-east. Neyla used his Empress Band, so I used my Anniversary Ring to get a nice bonus.

As a sterling example of how Level Sync messes with my head, my ring was still going long after Neyla's had worn off. I was getting tired and wanted to call it quits, and the first thing I thought was I'll come out here and finish the charge later, forgetting for a moment I'd be returning as a Lv. 68 Dragoon and get nothing for my trouble.

Thankfully, the ring wore soon after. The next session will push me to Lv. 69.

Fields of Valor

The

The Savanna Dhalmels get no rest while we're around.

new Fields of Valor system is a nice addition to the game. Neyla had already done a few of them, but yesterday was my first exposure to it. The developers have really gone out of their way to add more solo content, which I can appreciate.

It wasn't a bad set-up for experience points. We went out to West Sarutabaruta [S] to burn off an Empress Band charge fighting Savanna Dhalmels. The newer levels have allowed us to rip through them quickly and efficiently. The only worry was an occasional Incredibly Tough yagudo that wandered through the area, but he was easily avoided.

After the ring wore off, we outposted to Beaucedine Glacier and used the Field Manual to select the training program. We chose the list on Page 1, which required us to kill nine tigers and two goblins. Those are certainly easy enough to find. Every kill resulted in a handy update to let us know how close we were to the goal.

Suddenly the glacier is turning into a leveling bonanza, because there were five or six other people there in the 40s doing the same thing. We actually had to compete for tigers. It was great.

With the first batch (with an aggro Ahriman thrown in for good measure), we netted 729xp just from killing and then an additional 810xp reward for finishing off the list. That's roughly 1,500xp for killing about a dozen mobs. We did a second batch for the same reward. Less than an hour of killing easy prey mobs brought in more than 3,000xp. That's really nothing to complain about.

We

Suddenly, Beaucedine Glacier is a prime leveling spot.

followed the same routine today. First we killed the dhalmels and followed up with a trip to the glacier. Neyla dinged 42 while we were there.

This time I used the reward tabs from Fields of Valor to purchase buffs. You can get Protect, Shell, Reraise and a one-hour Regen from the book, which is also very handy. I've been tinkering around with the idea of leveling Dark Knight, and it would be nice to have that kind of thing available in West Sarutabaruta when I'm killing bees and mandragoras.

Neyla started the new "Wings of the Goddess" missions yesterday, watching another cutscene with everyone's favoriting lisping dance troupe leader. Part of me wants to feel insulted by such an obvious gay stereotype, which is why I insist the guy is faking it to be taken seriously as a dancer and that I won't believe he's gay until I watch a cutscene where he's gobbling cock.

Thinning the Herd

The big update today brought plenty of new goodies to Vana'diel's population. We get new missions for the Wings of the Goddess storyline, tweaks to Campaign allowing us to receive temporary items when the beastmen control an area (hooray!), the new Fields of Valor system, and treasure caskets dropped by common mobs. One of my favorite changes is the relocation of outpost NPC Rotatta to just outside the Port Windurst moghouse where I keep my homepoint 99% of the time. That makes me want to give a sloppy soul-kiss to the entire development team.

I

Neyla and I fought Savanna Dhalmels in West Sarutabaruta [S].

didn't spend a long time online because I'm waist-deep into Fallout 3, but I got the update and started burning off my Campaign Ops for Dragoon XP. The yagudo control West Sarutabaruta [S] this week, so I switched from Crimson Domino III to Slaughterhouse III and planted bombs while Neyla was doing a fight in Fort Karugo-Narugo.

When we'd finished our respective tasks, I joined Neyla for Savanna Dhalmel slaughter in West Sarutabaruta [S]. They weren't as obnoxious as I thought they'd be, even though they tend to cluster together in tight herds. We had a few links, but it was never a problem to split up the prey and solo each one in turn.

Neyla dinged 38 and I dinged 68 while we were out there. I got there a lot faster than expected, that's for sure.

I logged out for Fallout 3, but Neyla called later to say he'd tried the "Fields of Valor" system in Qufim and got some decent bonus XP out of it. We'll have to sync up and try it out as a duo.

Those Hard-to-Reach Places

Neyla

Leviathan Prime turns his attention on me.

and I roamed around Sauromugue Champaign on Dragoon, killing mobs for XP while Dalamar was off doing a Shen run with his linkshell. We burned off the Empress Band charge and killed our way to the maw in Rolanberry Fields [S], returning to West Sarutabaruta to check out the dhalmel herds. They're not too difficult to kill, but another level would really allow us to rip through them. We'll probably do the next session in Bibiki Bay instead and return here after Neyla levels up.

When Dalamar was free, we did the Necropolis escort and went after the other three avatars he needed for his Evoker's Ring. This week it was the more out-of-the-way fights.

First up, Leviathan Prime. Getting to him was entertaining because Dalamar couldn't keep Sneak or Invisible going and he got aggro a few times. I'd already sprinted to the cloister -- Spectral Jig is unreliable, so I wasn't keen to stand around -- and couldn't help them. They finally got there and we took the serpent down.

Ifrit wins the "Most Annoying" award for the day. I hate Ifrit's Cauldron because my monitor is dark enough to make it navigating the tunnels impossible unless I'm following someone, and to top it off he was in a seriously punchy mood and fought hard. It wasn't bad, but at least he tried to feel like a threat.

I thought Garuda would be a hassle because she heals herself, but she must've been in a bad mood because she spammed Hastega for the most part and let us whittle her down pretty fast.

We'll be focusing on Shiva, Titan, and Ramuh for our Sunday battles since they're so easy to reach. We'll save these three angry loners for when we need them.