The Long March North Begins

I

More Leckho is a good thing.

was late logging on because I had maintenance guys streaming in and out of my apartment to fix the water leak from the shower in the apartment above mine. I wanted to start the new Windurst quests for Wings of the Goddess, and I got a cutscene as soon as I zoned out of the Moghouse in Windurst Waters [s]. I'm biased, but I love the Windy storyline and think it's the best of the three. The drumbeat of war continues to sound as the troops are massing for a march on Xarcabard.

For today's quest, I had to help smoking-hot manthra Lehko Habhoka acquire a few items to destroy the beastmen's armor. There are a few places you can be asked to check, so naturally I was given La Vaule. Ugh. I knew the general area to search, but I managed to get myself killed trying to find the New-Turned Earth. With all the Campaign mobs walking around, I didn't notice the imps who attacked me, knocked off my buffs, and exposed me to the tigers stalking around. The return trip was much better, and I got what I needed.

Neyla was killing goblins the entire time I was running around. The new Bastokan quest requires a Goblin Mess Tin, which only drops off the Ranger goblins in a few zones around the Jeuno of the past. The mobs are spread out and the drop rate is terrible, so it's no surprise the tins are selling for $40k at the auction house. I promised I'd help him farm on Sunday

The Update

I

"Crystalline Prophecy: Ode to Life Bestowing" launched today.

didn't play the game today. Neyla and I ran out to the mall after work and then played a bunch of Peggle on the Xbox, but I logged on long enough to download the big update. In addition to all the new Wings of the Goddess quests and the launch of the Crystalline Prophecy: Ode to Life Bestowing scenario, there are a lot of nifty extras. A few highlights:

* Field Manuals were added to a ton of new areas, including Altepa Desert, Zi'Tah, the jungles, and Behemoth's Dominion.

* The teleportation service in past Vana'diel requiring payment in Allied Notes has been expanded to cover the following destinations: Garlaige Citadel [s] / Crawlers' Nest [s] / Eldieme Necropolis [s]

* The following job abilities have been added: White Mage gains Afflatus Solace, Afflatus Misery, Sacrifice, Cura, Esuna, and Auspice. Red Mage gains Composure and new En- spells.

* The "Augment" system has been added.

* New Gobbiebags and the Mog Satchel provide even more storage.

* Mannequins now give 28 storage. I'm retiring my Hume and Elvaan mannequins as a result.

* The Delkfutt key may now be obtained as a Key Item.

A solid update, as far as I'm concerned. I'm rarely on White Mage except to travel around, so I won't get much use out of the new abilities. I'm glad they finally adjusted the level requirements of Raise II/Reraise II and Raise III/Reraise III so you can learn them both at the same time. It never made sense to have them spread out.

What's The Deal?

Neyla

What's the deal with this dragon in Fort Karugo-Narugo?

and I did the escort yesterday, but I had other stuff I wanted to do and logged out shortly after. I was back at it yesterday and today, jumping into Campaign with renewed gusto.

I noticed a sleeping dragon in Fort Karugo-Narugo. I'm not sure why it's behind the tower. Is it a glitch? Does it wake up and join the fray every so often? It's very strange.

It seemed like we were heavier on NM assaults for some reason. The battlefield in Sauromugue was a little understaffed and we were low on tanks. The only way we could bring down Yaa Haqa the Pious was to wade in for some damage, die, wait for weakness to wear, and then hit him again. He killed me at one point with freakin' Feather Storm, which hit me for 616 damage. Very sad.

Another high point (or low point, depending on your point of view) came during a fight in Fort Karugo-Narugo. There were only three peoples -- the two of us and a stray Ranger -- against the Shadowfang Voids. Neyla went to pull but came back with two elementals. Splitting our efforts made for a long, protracted battle which we eventually lost. I'm pleased that I mananaged to solo mine down to around 40% of its health before it killed me, though. Other players eventually filtered in, but it was too late. We could've won with two or three more damage dealers, I think.

We had another fight there against the gigas. That same Ranger from earlier was trying to drum up support for a run at Kaiser Behemoth, but he didn't get any takers. Neyla pulled Eurytos instead. The fight was going well until the monster used Eagle Eye Shot and dropped me with 1,615 damage. Ouch.

We

We rarely do fights in Batallia Downs.

also strayed outside of our comfort zone to do a fight in Batallia Downs. I tend to avoid San d'Orian zones like Jugner and Vunkerl Inlet because, seriously, screw the orcs. Fighting them is pure misery because of Orcish Counterstance, which always results in me punching myself to death. The Batallia Downs fight was no exception.

We killed plenty of mobs, but it eventually came down to just the final NM boss. I checked the campaign map and saw some Windurst zones were under attack and suggested we abandon the elvaan to their fate because, again, screw the orcs.

Tomorrow is the big update, so I doubt I'll be online. Hopefully I'll be back in there Thursday, because I'm closing in on a sixth merit point and would like to be able to do another Strength update soon.