thessalian (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
thessalian) wrote2006-10-14 11:09 pm
thessalian) wrote2006-10-14 11:09 pm
Entry tags:
Transportation!
So I've been having a general issue with getting from place to place in FFXI. After all, I play a Tarutaru. Tarus have short teeny little legs, and Vana'diel is very big. And there are times when soloing when I know I'm in over my head and I'd love to be able to just get the hell away (case in point: yesterday's Goblin Ambusher fiasco). It would be nice if I had some better way to get to places. Kyr keeps telling me about Teleport-Mea, Dem and Holla - I think I understand the concept (you get these crystals if you go to the right spots, and if you can find a high enough level White Mage, they'll be able to send you there, or something) - but getting the crystals involves a long hard slog that I'm in no way qualified for.
However, there is at least a short-term useful alternative - at level 17, Black Mages get a spell called Warp. When cast, it sends you back to your homepoint. Only you, so it's not exactly polite to use in party (after all, you can't just leave your entire party to die ... unless they've killed themselves by their own stupidity, in which case you might as well treat yourself), but still beats the hell out of some of the alternatives. I mean, when you're looking down the bolt of a crossbow and realising that it's a choice between fighting this thing and a higher-level area than you'd even dream of taking on, it'd be nice to have a coward's alternative. So for soloers, Warp is perfect.
But of course, nothing's ever easy. You can't just go to the cute little Taru child in Port Windurst and buy a Scroll of Warp like a civilised person. Oh no. You have to go on a quest for it. And the quest? Starts in freakin' Bastok. For the great many of you who aren't familiar with FFXI, the trip would go like this:
Starting in Sarutabaruta, I wouldn't bother killing anything and nothing would aggro me because I'm far too high level to be having with this shit. I would then scamper through Tahrongi Canyons, through the levels I'm currently soloing if I can find anything worth my time and into the territory where sometimes I get killed by Wild Dhalmel (but at least they don't aggro) and there is the risk of aggro by beastmen of stripes both Goblin and Yagudo. From there, I hang a sharp right and zone into Buburimu Peninsula, where I would have to do my damndest to avoid taking any aggro whatsoever because pretty much everything in there is way out of my league. If I manage to survive that trip, then I have to deal with the ferry between Mhaura and Selbina, which occasionally gets boarded by bloody pirates. And then, provided the ride goes smoothly and/or I can hide from any horror that manages to board the damn ship, I'll get to Selbina and have to deal with Valkurm Dunes. Now, admittedly I meant to go to the Dunes for an exp run anyway, but still. Anyway, once I've managed to hack my way past the Dunes and so forth, hopefully getting some decent exp on the way, I can make it to Konschtat Highlands, which looks to be about the same sort of difficulty as Tahrongi. Beyond that is Gustaberg South and Gustaberg North, which look about as hard as Sarutabaruta. And then, finally, I get to Bastok. And then, if that wasn't bad enough, I'd have to go out and kill things for Slime Oil. Well, either that or purchase it at the Auction House before I start, or possibly find a Blob in Horutoto or something, because everything else is high-level nasty.
Okay, there's something else I've discovered through reading: you need a certain level of fame in Bastok before you can even do this quest. So if it didn't suck enough to get all that way, I have to go and waste my time running around doing stupid quests in order to be able to actually do the quest I want to do in the first place (unless fame is transferrable. Which I doubt. Well, at least this stuff usually gets you gil).
I suppose this isn't such a bad thing. After all, I do need to be around about Selbina-way to start my subjob quest in another level. But still ... Buburimu scares me. I got through twice without catching a trace of aggro, but never on my own. Meep. And of course, it's another three levels before I can get a chocobo licence ... when I have to try to make my way to Jeuno. Oh, gods.
I did go out today and, after the odd errand and some vegetation in general, I felt ... well, really crappy, actually. So now I think I'm going to have a bath, wash my hair, and then probably see about farming Tahrongi some more. (Farming is when you're soloing for the drops, as far as I can tell; exping is when you're not as fussed about the drops as you are about experience points, and is more of a party activity.) I'd make a start on this pilgrimage, but I'd rather wait until my garden's been harvested so I don't have to go back every real-time day to keep it all from dying.
However, there is at least a short-term useful alternative - at level 17, Black Mages get a spell called Warp. When cast, it sends you back to your homepoint. Only you, so it's not exactly polite to use in party (after all, you can't just leave your entire party to die ... unless they've killed themselves by their own stupidity, in which case you might as well treat yourself), but still beats the hell out of some of the alternatives. I mean, when you're looking down the bolt of a crossbow and realising that it's a choice between fighting this thing and a higher-level area than you'd even dream of taking on, it'd be nice to have a coward's alternative. So for soloers, Warp is perfect.
But of course, nothing's ever easy. You can't just go to the cute little Taru child in Port Windurst and buy a Scroll of Warp like a civilised person. Oh no. You have to go on a quest for it. And the quest? Starts in freakin' Bastok. For the great many of you who aren't familiar with FFXI, the trip would go like this:
Starting in Sarutabaruta, I wouldn't bother killing anything and nothing would aggro me because I'm far too high level to be having with this shit. I would then scamper through Tahrongi Canyons, through the levels I'm currently soloing if I can find anything worth my time and into the territory where sometimes I get killed by Wild Dhalmel (but at least they don't aggro) and there is the risk of aggro by beastmen of stripes both Goblin and Yagudo. From there, I hang a sharp right and zone into Buburimu Peninsula, where I would have to do my damndest to avoid taking any aggro whatsoever because pretty much everything in there is way out of my league. If I manage to survive that trip, then I have to deal with the ferry between Mhaura and Selbina, which occasionally gets boarded by bloody pirates. And then, provided the ride goes smoothly and/or I can hide from any horror that manages to board the damn ship, I'll get to Selbina and have to deal with Valkurm Dunes. Now, admittedly I meant to go to the Dunes for an exp run anyway, but still. Anyway, once I've managed to hack my way past the Dunes and so forth, hopefully getting some decent exp on the way, I can make it to Konschtat Highlands, which looks to be about the same sort of difficulty as Tahrongi. Beyond that is Gustaberg South and Gustaberg North, which look about as hard as Sarutabaruta. And then, finally, I get to Bastok. And then, if that wasn't bad enough, I'd have to go out and kill things for Slime Oil. Well, either that or purchase it at the Auction House before I start, or possibly find a Blob in Horutoto or something, because everything else is high-level nasty.
Okay, there's something else I've discovered through reading: you need a certain level of fame in Bastok before you can even do this quest. So if it didn't suck enough to get all that way, I have to go and waste my time running around doing stupid quests in order to be able to actually do the quest I want to do in the first place (unless fame is transferrable. Which I doubt. Well, at least this stuff usually gets you gil).
I suppose this isn't such a bad thing. After all, I do need to be around about Selbina-way to start my subjob quest in another level. But still ... Buburimu scares me. I got through twice without catching a trace of aggro, but never on my own. Meep. And of course, it's another three levels before I can get a chocobo licence ... when I have to try to make my way to Jeuno. Oh, gods.
I did go out today and, after the odd errand and some vegetation in general, I felt ... well, really crappy, actually. So now I think I'm going to have a bath, wash my hair, and then probably see about farming Tahrongi some more. (Farming is when you're soloing for the drops, as far as I can tell; exping is when you're not as fussed about the drops as you are about experience points, and is more of a party activity.) I'd make a start on this pilgrimage, but I'd rather wait until my garden's been harvested so I don't have to go back every real-time day to keep it all from dying.