Wind & Water, Metal & Wood

I've been thinking about quitting FFXI. The only thing that is keeping me from actually doing it is the friends I've made in the game. The game itself is going in a direction I dislike. Most of the new 'features' Square-Enix added to the game are features I don't care about or outright hate. ( Examples )

Add my disappointment with FFXIII, and I find myself doubting if I even want to stick around for FFXIV! That's with the promise of Nobou Uematsu composing the game music too. I may swear off the Final Fantasy series for good at this rate since my free time is precious. Can't say the same for a virtual item that may take 3+ years to get.

Hmm... It's been a while since I've posted here... Mostly because I haven't been doing much art, or really feel like posting it anymore. >.>;;;

Anyway, here's a work in progress picture:

WIP - head portrait of my FFXI character

Sorry for the distorted picture, but, since I don't have a scanner, I borrowed aslann's digital camera. =X

Last night on FFXI, Aslann, Sephi, and I did the "Petrifying Pair" level 30 BCNM at the Ghelsba Outpost.

BCNMs are a sort of controlled fight where you trade a type of orb (in this case, a Sky Orb) to a target (usually in a dungeon area). To get the orb, you need to go to a NPC in Port Jeuno and trade in beastman seals that you've collected while you were killing monsters. These seals cannot be traded to any other player, so you either keep them or dump them. The amount of beastman seals you trade to the NPC depends on the level cap of the BCNM fight. So, for the "Petrifying Pair" fight, you trade 30 beastman seals to get the Sky Orb. Each player can hold one orb, so all three of us got orbs for this fight. If you want a more detailed explanation, the FFXI section for somepage.com has a great summary: FFXI Burning Circle Notorious Monster (BCNM) Guide.

Anyway, the reason why we went to do this was because I wanted to get a pair of leaping boots. Well, since I was going as a ranger subbing ninja, I was borrowing Aslann's emperor's hairpin and his leaping boots, so technically any boots that dropped would go to him and I'd just keep "his" boots. The boots are "rare", so a player can only have one of them If anyone tries to keep two, one of them will be automatically dropped from his inventory. Since the boots are worth around 800k in gil... Um, that's a really expensive item to lose. XD (Well, for me, anyway. 800k is still a lot for me.)

Keep in mind that almost all the gear I wear when exping as a ranger is Aslann's... not mine. I think the only gear that's mine is the bow, crossbows, ammo, any ninja crack (ninjutsu tools), mercenary captain's belt (I think it's mine?), and my ranger's necklace (which was quested). Earrings, rings, noct gear, hairpin, and boots are all Aslann's. Oh, I have a Tomahawk axe, but I didn't use it for this fight. XD

( Party Setup & Supply lists )

( Original Strategy )

( What items dropped: )

A really thorough listing of all items that can drop from this BCNM can be found at the FFXI section of somepage.com: BCNM 30: Petrifying Pair

All in all, we did ok. We might do this again tonight using our Aslann's strategy. aslan294 was the one who came up with this strategy and the supply lists by looking at another strategy posted on Allakhazam. So the real leader is Aslann; I'm just typing this up for memory's sake. XD