Quake

Have you ever heard about Quake?

No, not the ancient game Quake, the Ancient Magic Quake.

Incase you haven't, its a powerfull spell you get once your Black Mage have reached level 54. It makes the pet killing I've been talking about before alot easier. This spell is so powerfull that just this one is enough to kill the pet. Nothing else is needed.

One of the other nice things about it is the time it takes to cast it. You can start casting the spell, walk away from your computer, make a couple of sandwiches, make some coffee then come back to the computer and eat your sandwiches while watching the spell kill the pet.

Then you rest for mp, because this spell takes alot of mp to cast. When you have sufficiant mp, start casting the spell, go vacuum your house, then come back to watch the pet get killed.

Rest mp.

Start cast the spell, jump in the car, go grocery shopping, come back home just in time to see the spell kill the pet.

Great isn't it?

Since I got that spell I get alot of work done that I usually dont get done. My Black Mage pretty much level itself now, I just have to show up every now and then to cast the spell.

Now all I have to do is invent something that will cast the spell for me. I could place my Black Mage somewhere, go away on vacation and come back to a Black Mage 75.

I'm starting to see why Black Mages hardly ever get parties. They're all away on vacation while leveling.

Mentor

After reaching a certain level or spending a certain amount of time in game, you can visit an NPC and join the Mentor program. It will show an "M" next to your name so that players that see you know that you are a mentor.

Beeing a mentor in general means that you are awsome at the game and know every little advanced trick there is to it, you also know almost every single mission and quest from the back of your head. You are obligated to help anyone who asks for your help with anything they want, pretty much you drop everything you are doing to rush to their aid. And because you are so nice you are doing it all for free.

Do you recognize sarcasm when you see it?

No?

Well, to become a mentor you have to have a job at lv 30, or have spent 180 hours in game. When I was lv 30 (I know, it sounds like your grandpa is saying "when I was young...") on my first job, I cant say that I really knew anything about the game. I knew how to hit on things with a sword/axe/dagger. I knew if you see a goblin run, run at the opposite direction. And thats about it.

This is a quote that the NPC lets you know about the mentor system when you sign up for it.

"Mentors are experienced adventurers who have registered with the Adventurers' Mutual Aid Network (A.M.A.N.), a non-governmental Organization founded by adventurers and merchants"

Ok, maybe its not an exact quote, but its something I found that explains the mentor system.

Now, what I use Mentor for, is because I wanna hide my Bazaar icon. Because I dont want ppl to check my Bazaar. There's nothing to see, I have a Faerie Apple in my Bazaar. for 99.999.999 Gil. If you wanna buy it go ahead, im not gonna stop you. If not, leave my bazaar alone.

Dont force me to put mentor up and get 50 random tell from ppl every day asking me to do this or that for them, and then get mad at me because I don't have time.


I know this post made very little if any sense.

Bottom line is, just because you are mentor you are not obligated to do anything for anyone. Ask me a question and I'll answer, ask me to camp and NM for you and I'll ask you to go drown yourself in the little pond in Jugner forest.

Dinosaur wannabe

Ok, so I'm still leveling my Black Mage. Still soloing it. Past couple of days I have been at a camp that I have previously been on with my Red Mage.

I know that this is a good camp, I know there is only a goblin or 2 that aggro right at camp.

I know all these things and...still...

All of a sudden 2 Dinosaur wannabe's started to roam at my camp... MY camp.

First I thought I'd just ignore them and hope they'll eventually go away, so I was pulling my monsters around them for awhile.

But just seeing them there, knowing they arent supposed to be there just annoyed the crap out of me.

So, I figure if I sleep one and log out, it should despawn and be gone when i log back in, and when it respawn it will respawn where its supposed to be and not on my camp.

Right?

Right...

I sleep it and log out, when I log back on it's still there, as if nothing had ever happen. So I come up with this new plan.

Maybe I have to actually cause damage on it before I sleep it and log out in order for it to despawn.

So I cast some low spell on it just to make some damage, then I sleep it and log out.

Gone?

I wish, still there when I log back in.

Third plan goes like this. Aggro the bastard and run it away from its spawning area, then sleep it and log out.

Well, there's only so far you can run as a Black Mage beeing chased by some sort of mini dinosaur. I did manage to bring it what I thought should be far enough from the camp and sleep it. Logging out.

Logging back in....

Goblin Bandit hits Zan for 256 points of damage.
Goblin Bandit hits Zan for 283 points of damage.
Goblin Bandit scores a critical hit, Zan takes 347 points of damage.
Zan was defeated by the Goblin Bandit.

Where the heck did he come from!?

He sure as %&@! wasn't there when I logged out, I'm sure I would have noticed that.

Sigh...

Logging for tonight.

Zan goes Kaboom!

So, I have tried leveling Red Mage. Red Mage = Refresh, Haste, Refresh, Haste, Refresh....

Well you get it.

I also have tried the White Mage thingy. It goes like this, Cure, Cure, Cure, Cure, Cure, protect, Cure....

Now I have moved on to Black Mage. Wow, what a differens!

You get to actually kill stuff. And because Black Mages rarely get any party invites you also get to solo alot, kinda like getting to know yourself better and all that. Just you in the middle of a desert.

In game there is monsters that have the job as beastmasters, these monsters are having pets. Now here is the fun part.

You see this goblin walking around minding his own business, not botherning anyone, and guess what.

He got a pet!

A small furry little cute rabbit pet is following him around.

Thats where I come in!

You know how good it feels to kill something that small and defenseless? And yet get a huge amount of experience points from it?

It's great!

Best part is the goblin doesnt even notice that his pet is gone, he just keeps minding his own business til after awhile he summons a new pet.

That I kill.

You know your neighbours loud and annoying poodle? Imagine how it would feel to just be able to Kaboom! And it's gone. And your neighbour wouldn't even notice it's gone.

Wouldn't that be awsome?

No, I'm not going to sneak up on innocent people who are out walking their dogs.

It's illegal. I think.

Maybe not. I dont think there's actually a law stating its prohibited to cast Aero II on someones dog....

Hmmm....

I like Black Mage!

Game Ethics

Yeah I know, I've heard it before.

Who are you to tell me how to play my game!?

But honestly, some things should just be obvious. Atleast for anyone that has somewhat sense in their heads. Granted there isn't alot of people in this game that has any sense at all it seems.

If you decide to look for party, it usually means that you want to lv whichever job you are looking for party at. makes sense to me.

It also makes sense to me that when you put your party flag up, you are ready to go and party when you do get an invite.

This morning I made a party, since I was a Red Mage it made sense to me to start with looking for a tank. So I find this Paladin looking for party, ask him if he wanna join and he accept.

Note, he is the first of 5 people I invite. This is important and will make sense soon.

First when I have finally found people enough for a full party this paladin says he needs to go to sandy and put his gear on...

Because obviously the 20 min it took for me to get everyone else together, was not a good time for him to get dressed.

Maybe it was a her...Women are usually like that.

Man>> Honey, are you ready? We are already 20 minutes late.
Woman>> Just a sec, I have to get dressed, put on make-up, clean the kitchen, do the dishes and 50 other things.
Man>> But but, you have gotten dressed and been putting on make-up the for the past 3 hours...

So, well, anyway. He has to go to sandy and get dressed. This takes him (her?) about 20 minutes. By the time he gets back to whitegate, everyone else is already at camp waiting for him.

Shouldn't take him that long to get to camp though, would it?

Wrong.

Now he have to go to jeuno and recharge his empress band. Because obviously he couldn't do that while he was in sandy...

And while in jeuno, he decides he might as well browse through the auction house as well.

All this while 5 people are standing at camp waiting for him.

15 minutes later he is finally on his way back to whitegate. And while on his way to camp this is what he says.

Paladin>> Oh, btw guys, 1 hour from now I have to go AFK for about 45 minutes.

So in his opinion, we have already waited for him for like 45 min ad he isn't even at camp yet. Then he want us to actually stand around waiting for him for another 45 minutes shortly after he gets to camp.

Why did this guy even bother to look for party in the first place? Wouldn't it have been a bit smarter to first gear up his paladin, fix his empress band, browse through auction house, and then IF he has time, put his party flag up?

He finally shows up at camp, and we're getting very great exp. after about 10 monsters or so the exp rings already wore off. What happens then?

Paladin d/c...

Now, he might have a bad internet connection. And maybe it just happen to disconnect him right after we killed the monster that made our exp rings wear off.

I dont believe that though...

So this party I made, spent about 50 minutes waiting on this paladin, fought 10 monsters and then was forced to disband the party since there were no other tanks available.

This in my opinion goes against the unwritten laws of game ethics.

I'm not saying any names here.....Ajnix....

Oops.

Now, I could go on about people that have to use the bathroom for 45 minutes during parties, or people that gets hit in the head with a sledge hammer and get extremely sleepy within 1 minute, so much that they didn't even see it coming and could ask the party leader to find a replacement for them.

(I'm sleepy) (Good bye.)

/disband

Linkshell Rules

Most linkshells have rules. It usually say "These rules have to be followed by everyone!"

Few linkshells I have ever seen apply them rules though.

Here is some of the rules from my social linkshell.

1. Be kind to each other. Self explanatory
First rule, and therefor the first rule to be broken. Even if everyone isn't treating each other as crap, no one is really putting an efford to actually beeing nice to each other either.

2. Respect each other No making fun of, putting down or singling out of any individual will be allowed.
Now here'a another good one. The thought behind this rule is good. Yet there are more then a few people in this linkshell that just love to put other people down because they dont have high enough jobs, not this or that gear, not this or that mission done, or just because the love to try and make other people feel bad for one reason or another.

3. No drama will be tolerated period. Zero tolerance policy. If a issue should ever present itself bring it directly to a leader in /tell format only.
Well, obviously by breaking the first 2 rules this is pretty much broken as well, isn't it?

4. Please make sure that we help each other out if possible, and make sure we keep our promises. This will help make this LS a better place and fun Linkshell for a long time!!!
What this rule really means is "If certain people in the linkshell ask for help, help them! If you are not one of the certain members, dont expect any help from anyone" Honetly, yes. One guy wanted help with KSNM for a rare/ex Katana, he had people lining up to help him. Another person wanted help with rare/ex H2H weapons, and not a single one offer to help. Yet another person (me) asked for a WHM to help with a BCNM, I ended up having to actually PAY a linkshell member 100.000 gil to help me.

5. Hopefully this wont happen but if you are put on probation or are terminated, in order to get back in, DV and if possible the rest of the council must vote you back in. No other person has that right but DV and the Council of BlueCarbies, Inc.
This rule is totally unnessesary, since no one is getting kicked for breaking the rules above, I doubt anyone will ever get kicked.

6. Lastly, have fun and just play the game, and remember this is JUST A GAME, not real life situations, if thats the case i want my armor and weapons so that i can buy me a new House in the Real World ^^
Ok, i get the "have fun" part, and the "just a game" part. The rest I have no idea about, and how can you even make a rule that says "Have fun!". You'll kick me because I'm not having fun?

All this just makes me wonder, why even bother to set up rules if you dont make sure that the they are beeing followed? Just because it looks better and more organized to have rules?

Or maybe, if someone should actually make sure the rules were followed, they'll lose the greater part of their members?

Some people amaze me

It's common knowledge that human nature is to make things as easy as possible for yourself. It's also human nature to never learn from your misstakes.

Just watch Simpsons or Family Guy and you'll know what I mean.

I never did realize though that's it human nature to wanna do everything twice, and then claim it's faster that way.

Ever heard of Astral Flow burn party?

I hadn't til yesterday when I read about it on one of the FFXI forums I visit every day.

This is basically how it works.

Gather together 4+ summoners 1 level sync target lv 15ish or whichever area you plan on doing this in. Have your lv 75 friend aggro the whole area and bring all them monsters to the waiting summoners. Have all the summoners use their 2 hour ability Astral Flow. Murder the monsters.

Now, I have never tried this myself, but from what I read they get up to 40.000 exp each from doing this. That's 40.000 exp in 5 min.

Kick the level sync target and find another one at lv 15. Pay a corsair to reset your 2 hour ability, or if Besieged is going on warp there and use Revitalizer.

Repeat.

Repeat...

Repeat....zzz

Repeat..................zzz X.x

Yes, it's true. People do this. No, it's not a violation of ToS. Yes, some people get a job to lv 75 in 2-3 days doing this all the time.

They're awesome!

I envy them, I really do.

NOT.

Did any of these people ever even think about how long it will take them to skill up their magic/weapon or what ever?

SuperGimpedGuy>> Yay! I lv to lv 75 in 3 days!
SuperGimpedGuy2>> I know! We are so awesome! Now let's spend 2 months skilling up our gimped skills!

Honestly, is it really worth it? I know I have argued against level sync before. But you know, a guy that have spent lv 20-75 in Qufim with a PL all the time would count as an Elitist compared to these guys.

Some people probably think I'm jealuos.

I'm not.

If I wanted to do this, I would have done this. I'm not doing this.

I won't...ever.

I honestly coudn't care less about how peopl get their jobs to 75 or how fast they do it, or how many jobs they have at 75 for that matter. Things like level sync, campaign battle and now AF burn have taken away every single bit of achievement there ever was to having x 75 jobs.

Oh, you have all the jobs there is at lv 75?

Not impressed.

That doesnt say crap about how well you can actually play them. For all I know, you have never been outside Valkurm Dunes.

Would I want you to be in the same end game ls as me? Not really.