What to do about FFXI...

I'm not sure what to do about FFXI again...

It's been fun being back in FFXI and I still wanna keep playing... at least until the next update. But as far as I can tell it's gonna be released at the end of July, so doing the new content will most likely be in August. Two more months.

Yesterday I got my pre-approval letter for a home mortgage, which means no more slacking on looking for a place. My months of slacking has hurt my goal of buying a place this year, since the supply of available houses around here have gone down considerably, and as economics dictates price goes up accordingly. I hate California prices. San Diego county may not be the most expensive of areas, it's still ranks pretty high.

So with that in mind, I wanna devote my time more toward my search, than spend it in FFXI. I know as long as I have my account active, I'll want to log-in and play =/ I dunno, maybe another break is needed. Little less than half a month to decide.

On a happier note.

Publish Post

Random thoughts

Wow, a real life Final Destination.

First post since coming back... and I'm bored while waiting for a party. I made the decision to come back to FFXI because there wasn't much else going on in my life. I'm catching up on my queue of TV shows and small selection of anime. Not much PS3 action except SF4 online. No new games to play. Played some CoD:WaW zombies with a friend and got to an all time high of level 45. That got pretty repetitive at level 35, and we easily could've gone further, but it was getting late and 5 mins a level didnt seem too appealing. So we've retired with zombies until the next map pack comes out, which should be today!

As far as FFXI goes, doesn't seem much has changed since leaving. Few new faces here and there, but overall still the same. Not much goes on in AP, Dynamis still same old Dynamis, Limbus attendance still slacking. I'm not really complaining about anything, just observations.

SAM is now 66, and the main reason I log in now. Xp'ing to 75 and hopefully I can get that by the end of the month. I've been doing a lot of level 54-57 sync parties, mainly because it's the only invites I get, so been fighting lots of Lesser Colibris. Easy exp, though skillups are non-existant ; ; But on the upside, I get to use Penta with polearm and totally destroy birds, but I'm not sure it's better than use Soboro.

Even though Soboro is weak and doesnt put out the best dmg per hit and per ws, it does great DoT. I can throw out 2-3 Enpis compared to 1 Penta when using polearm, and although combined the Enpis don't do more damage than 1 Penta, it works out better for hate management. With one Penta, I can do about 300-600+ dmg and generate a pretty big spike of hate with that. I end up having to tank a good portion of the fight and have to put up Seigan + Third Eye. With Soboro, my ws do about 100-250+ dmg. Less dmg, less hate but spread out more over time. Seems to work better for me since I end up tanking less this way -_-; It also allows me to keep Hasso up longer, which translates to more accuracy and just more awesomeness.

I also tried to hold off ws with Penta until the tank gets about 2 vokes in on the mob. Problem with that is that generally doesn't seem to work out too well and I end up stealing hate, and I don't get to do my full potential as a DD. With Soboro, I can ws much more often and not worry too much about taking hate. Even if I somehow do get hate, a voke should be following soon and take it back. With a big Penta, it takes more than just a simple voke to get hate back. Seeing big damage is always nice to see as a DD, but I think Soboro ends up being a safer route to take.

And that's all for now. Update patch next month... wonder just how much more WotG content is gonna be added. Knowing SE, not much >.>;

Tune of the Moment: Linkin Park - New Divide

Non FFXI News

Got my order of joystick parts today! Which means... SE fightstick mod time! Been waiting for this, because I didn't care for the stock Madcatz SE fightstick much. Joystick felt too loose, and buttons didnt feel right.

So, I replaced the stick, added an extra spring to stiffen it up, and swapped out the buttons.

No Wai...

Tune of the Moment: Gareth Emery - Metropolis

Meh

I'm so bummed. So I've spent the last few hours playing SF4, and losing a bunch. I started playing a new mode that was implemented last update patch, called championship mode. It's a new ranking system that is based on 'grade points' as apposed the the old system of 'battle points'. The difference? You earn grade points by competing in 'mini-tournaments' which consist of fighting 3 round: a 1st round, a semi-final round, and final. The further you get, the more points to get. Once you win the final round, you're the champion of that 'tourney' and you start all over again.

What originally impressed me about this system was that there was no penalty for losing. If you lose, you gain less grade points, but you still gained! In the ranked matches with battle points, you'd lose points for every loss you had... I hated that. With championship mode, no more losing points, they're yours to keep! Whoohoo! Another way of looking at it, for those of us that are rpg fanatics, is that you get xp for playing. The more you play, the more xp you get, and then rank up.

Now the ranking system goes like this. There's 4 (maybe 5) tiers, and in each tier there are ranks A-E, E being lowest and where everyone starts out. All was well when I started, winning some, losing some, but it was fun. I've since ranked up enough to move onto tier 2, and now getting raped :/ Each 'tourney' now consists of 4 rounds, and the quality of players have gone up exponentially. The farthest I've gotten is to the 3rd round, then I lose. More often than not, I lose on the 1st round... and you get no points for that... sadness. At least in tier 1, you get 1 point for losing in the first round :( Maybe I'll blame my losing streak on the dualshock 3 and not having a joystick :(

Hmm, in other news... I've played through Valkyria Chronicles twice (once with the New Game+ option) and A ranked all missions but the Hard mode skirmishes. Bought 2/3 of the dlc, and beat those. Selvaria's missions was way better than Edy's story, way better. Played Godfather 2 and beat it. Though not the greatest game, it had some fun moments and I was able to get the game for cheap since a friend works at EA, and actually worked on the game.

Still no itch to play FFXI, and I'm starting to wonder if I'll ever come back to it. I've been enjoying my time away from it. The freedom that comes with that is priceless. I don't have to worry about logging in at any given time, then committing to hours on end to doing some event. I get to be freeeeeeeee (and slack) =D. It gives me a little more freedom to be spontaneous on how I spend my day. If my friend calls me up asking to hang out, I don't have to think twice about it due to some event scheduling. If I feel like watching a movie, tv show, playing PS3 with a friend, same deal. I do miss hanging out with AP'ers though, and miss doing this

I hope someone else has kept the /dance going in my absence. If this pic is any indication, maybe Con has! I'll keep my grubby little fingers crossed. Another thing I missed is that I don't listen to as much music as I used to while playing FFXI. I always had my winamp going and my game music off, and now not so much. I still somewhat keep up with trance, but I haven't been listening to much else in term of different genres.

Tune of the Moment: Gareth Emery - Exposure