I was thinking specifically of stuff to do after Assaults and Nyzul rather than in the place of Assaults and Nyzul. Chances are if we stop one we are going to be doing the other on both days, especially if we stop doing Nyzul.

Now that we are starting to dwindle down to our last extra-curricular activities (Royal Ramble, the last Crystal Era quests for Windurst), we should start thinking about what else we could be doing Tuesdays and Thursdays after our Assault/Nyzul runs. Some things that have been mentioned already include:

1) Chains of Promathia Missions:

As far as I know, Ike and Dragon are on The Secrets of Worship, which is Mission 4-3 in Sacrarium. The essentials here are that we need two Coral Crest Keys and a Sealion Crest Key. I have one Coral Crest Key already, so we would need to farm a second one (which isn't all that rare from what I remember). I would like to suggest doing this in tandem with subligar and/or Fomor Codex farming just for the possibility of getting something else useful for our efforts. After we get done with that we can reset our Fomor hate and then kill the corse NM for the Sealion Crest Key, then eventually the ghost NM. As long as the party doesn't aggro Fomors, the NMs aren't particularly difficult.

2) Rise of the Zilart Missions:

I'm positive we have some folks who still need to complete these missions. Some of us don't have sky access even, so it would be worthwhile getting these done. Rise of the Zilart missions aren't particularly difficult, especially leading up to access to Tu'Lia. I don't know what the mission progress is for those that haven't completed this expansion, so we will need to discuss that in the future. But remember that you need to be Rank 6 in at least one nation in order to be able to start Rise of the Zilart missions.

3) BCNMs, KSNMs, ENMs, ZNMs, ANNMs, etc:

More specifically, we can go and fight anything that doesn't not involve a random spawn chance. Triggered spawns (like Bloodlapper which we have fought previously) or once-a-conquest-period quests (like Requiem of Sin which we have not done) are included in here. Basically, I am talking about stuff where preparations can be made and/or the NM can be fought on our own terms. BCNMs and KSNMs are simple enough, ENMs will obviously require all 6 of us to be at or past a specific point in the Chains of Promathia missions, ZNMs will require playing Pokémon Snap around the world, and ANNMs require the accumulation of Allied Notes, and so on. I don't feel it is as appropriate or maybe even worthwhile to go and kill placeholders to spawn an NM, although I don't see a major problem if the whole group agrees on it and the NM is not regularly camped.

Feel free to bring up more ideas when the group meets the next time.

First of all, congratulations to the group for the victory yesterday. Choose your Augments well.

Next Tuesday after our usual Assaults we'll be doing KSNM runs (Royal Ramble) for some desired weapons and Orichalcum Ingots. Please read up on it and have a general familiarity with the battle itself and the typical strategies. Time and success will determine how many runs we will do (up to a maximum of 6) and whether or not we can do anything besides Assaults and KSNM.

Next Thursday after Nyzul Isle I'd like to get In a Haze of Glory out of the way. Again, please be either right before this quest (having completed Perils of the Griffon) or on the actual quest itself (having received a Number Eight Shelter Key). As before, time and success will determine what else we can do (if anything) after this.

I can't imagine anybody beating you in that poll, Zerila. At least not without a lot of tampering or propaganda involved.

In spite of a minor "setback", namely Ikethegreat getting an Orethetoss to the face and eating dirt at Qu'Bia Arena, we completed Those Who Lurk in Shadows (III). The next non-cutscene mission is Banishing the Echo, which basically amounts to climbing Delkfutt's Tower under a level 30 cap.

We have three options for this:

1) All 6 of us get the level restriction and we have ourselves an interesting adventure. Insert "this is probably how it was meant to be done" and other pseudo-cliché stuff here. It'll be a chore, for sure, but I don't think it's anything that we can't handle as a group. Additionally, we can always recruit more people who are on the mission or something to bolster our numbers.

2) 1 or 2 of us can do this mission ahead of time for the Omnis Stone. When it's time for the rest of us to do the mission, anyone who has already gotten the Omnis Stone can stay uncapped and clear the way for the rest. This is obviously much safer, but it involves a some extra work on the part of the individual(s) who will do the climb ahead of time.

3) Everyone is on their own to get the Omnis Stone and be ready for the next mission. This is my least favorite option, but it's still an option if everyone is okay with it.

Also, since we did finished what I had planned to do on Thursday on Tuesday instead, we are left with a scheduling gap to fill for Thursday. Seeing as how Nyzul Isle takes a lot out of us sometimes, I want to suggest doing either the next A Crystalline Prophecy or In a Haze of Glory. Just think about this and we'll decide on the next course of action when we meet up the next time.

You really are a forum troll, aren't you. For your wife's sake I hope you're better looking than a bridge troll.

You silly (Beastmaster) (master). Giving me less than 24 hours' notice isn't going to help me accommodate you, y'know. That's why I asked several times on Thursday if anyone had any concerns/suggestions/etc . And what would you have done if I never posted this? Anyway, since you love the forums so much I'll be more than happy to address your concerns here. It's nice to have a larger text limit for someone wordy like me!

QuoteThe only thing I'm concerned with is how late this will run us, doing all of this in addition to Assaults. If it gets to be too late, I might have to give up on one or the other (don't WANT to, but I need my sleep. Also, I get yelled at for coming to bed too late...  )

As always, if you can't stay after the usual runs just say so and we can call it an early night. I don't believe anyone's ever been forced or said that they've felt forced to stay later than they wanted to, and we are not about to change. As a last resort, we can always arrange to do the non-Assault events another day and time. But I would rather keep the number of days when I make your lives miserable to a minimum. On the other hand, I don't want to cram 3-4 things into one night and go until 2am Eastern or anything like that.

QuoteI know we have a long way to go in Nyzul, still. But maybe we could convert Thursdays to half-farming, half Nyzul (Farming for those of us doing Salvage, say 2 farming, 3 Nyzul) and then do the rest on Tuesdays? Though, Aria has Limbus on Tuesdays til fairly late...

Maybe we could skip our farming run on Tuesday for a bit, just do 2 farming/3 Nyzul on Thursdays, until we get all the stuff we need out of KSNMs, and then do missions on Tuesdays.

If Assault Points for Salvage are a major concern, there are much simpler solutions to that. For example, some assaults like Golden Salvage and Counting Sheep can be 3-manned for 1000+ points per run without tags. We really shouldn't complicate something so simple that has worked so well for us. Switching the days we do Assaults and Nyzul because of planned absence is one thing, but that's about as much as I want to mix things up. If we have to give something up, it might be better just to take a break from Nyzul on Thursdays because 1) Thursday is just a longer day that we have to work with and 2) it gives people an opportunity to get more Assault Points for Salvage or whatever.

QuoteOnce we get done with all the missions, we can go back to our regularly scheduled Assault stuff. Though, I will be brutally honest, it's starting to wear on me 

Since we are being brutally honest, my advice to you is that if you are not having fun doing Assaults or Nyzul or both then you need to stop and think about whether or not you want to keep doing them. I must admit, this is a little surprising coming from someone who has soloed his jobs to 75 for the most part.

This is just for The Little Assault Static That Could (Areya, Ariamo, Dragonmstknight, Ikethegreat, Nerces, Zerila). I was asked to make a list of the things we discussed last week so that the members could keep track of everything. Frequent visitors of the site from those listed should encourage the others to read this as soon as possible. So here it is:

1) KSNM runs

More specifically, we'll be doing runs of Royal Ramble. The Orichalcum Ingot which is apparently a 100% drop is one of the items for the new pair of Gobbiebag quests. And at the same time, Coffinmaker has been on Dragonmstknight's list for a while and Areya has shown interest in Gondo-Shizunori. Because we'll be doing at least 6 runs ideally the KSNM runs are going to be held Tuesday nights (in general) because of the fewer Assault runs.

2) A Crystalline Prophecy

Everything up to the mission Those Who Lurk in Shadows (II) can and should be soloed. The next mission, Those Who Lurk in Shadows (III) is a battlefield mission and is obviously going to be our first as a group. I said this last week but please please please do the mission to get the Mark of Seed (which would be Those Who Lurk in Shadows (II)) before Thursday night. I'd much rather have only one thing to worry about and go straight to Qu'Bia Arena once we get to Fei'Yin rather than run around looking for the Seed Afterglows. Let's aim to do this battlefield on Thursday (4/23).

Note: Because of the nature of the rewards for doing the fights and battlefields of this expansion you might want to consider helping others if you are able, not only to provide advice to the group when the time comes but also to increase your chances of getting a piece of equipment with worthwhile augments.

3) Wings of the Goddess Quests

We came to the consensus last week that we would be doing the San d'Oria line of quests as a group in order to keep up with the mission progression requirements. I want to pick up on the quest In a Haze of Glory, which is a battlefield quest in Garlaige Citadel (S). Please be either right before this quest (having completed Perils of the Griffon) or on the actual quest itself (having received a Number Eight Shelter Key key item). We'll continue on to the rest of the quests which were added in the most recent update. We can work on these either Tuesdays or Thursdays depending on how the 2 previous items on our list go.

Note: Most of us are still interested in going through the Bastok and Windurst line of quests as well. We already did Fire in the Hole last week. I want to finish up the Bastok quests with Honor Under Fire before we shift over to A Feast for Gnats and pick up the Windurst quests.

I will update this topic periodically as necessary.

I've come to the conclusion that you either make this a macro piece, or give it some stats or a combination of stats that are not typically available for the job.

Hey, can I have your autograph, miss?

Obviously, as the game is only out in Japan right now the voice acting is all in Japanese. But I think fans of hers will be quite pleased, especially around the 1:21 mark.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ORycaWsxIA

It looks like she changes to the corresponding elemental staff for each spell she casts. And I definitely saw her use Retribution at one point. In her EX mode (think like FFIX's Limit Break) she changes from her "normal" outfit into what looks like the BLM Relic set.

After watching this second one it looks like her EX mode special ability is Chainspell, as she casts Ancient Magic back-to-back. Around 2:02 is the magic spot for this one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UA2XuUh08ic

Of particular interest to me in this update are:

1) moving the Bastok warp dood from Metalworks to next to a Signet guard at last.
2) being able to use my exp bands a lot more now that I can use the same amount of Allied Notes to recharge them.
3) finally getting to do my Flameserpent General quest, goddamnit.
4) not wasting my time anymore on people who have already been hit with Tractor or Raise.
5) being a WHM in Dynamis becoming much easier with the addition of <stpt> and <stal>.

That's too bad about your lack of Moblin Maze Mongers, Areya. You get to suffer until the next update.

I found this LiveJournal entry while browsing the FFXI communities at work. It's official artwork for the confirmed characters/villains from Final Fantasy 1-10.

http://community.livejournal.com/ffchaoticcosmos/16842.html

Not included in this set of artwork is Shantotto, who has been confirmed as a representative of Final Fantasy 11.

/

Here are some very all-purpose suggestions, all of which will definitely find some use.

20k = 3 stacks of Tonko/Monomi tools
20k = 2 stacks of Coeurl Subs
20k = 1 stack of Sole Sushi
20k = 7 stacks of Melon Pies
20k = 1 stack of Imperial Bronzepieces

You used to have to look out for fan videos to experience something like this:

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/42668.html

No word on whether or not there will be any releases outside of Japan, though.

We really need to stop this whole "posting for the sake of posting" mentality. I place the blame wholly on Zerila! 

In my opinion, either RDM or BLM. RDM is simply the most versatile job in the entire game. And, in general, if you want something to die faster just throw more BLMs at it.

Most people seem to agree that it takes something in the neighborhood of 5250 points to unlock the WS with 0 progress and no Runic Key. After that it's -250 for every 5 floors up to a total of -4750 for progress up to Floor 96. However, having a Runic Key seems to drop the requirement to precisely 250 points regardless of floor progress.

Don't make it Friday nights! I might be tempted to try and join your little group.