thessalian (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
thessalian) wrote2006-11-04 08:07 pm
thessalian) wrote2006-11-04 08:07 pm
Entry tags:
A Fool's Errand
Well, today's been amusing. I made the pilgrimage to Jeuno ... but really wish I hadn't now.
On the whole, right, my linkshell is full of generally good people. So when I lamented my recent attempt to get to Jeuno's utter failure, one of the Brits on the LS said he's willing to escort me. I say "Cool" ... and the torment begins.
First thing he has to do is get a Teleport-Dem. To explain for the non-FFXI-minded among you, the principle is this: in certain mid-level zones in FFXI, there are things called Crags. Basically big white lumpy-looking structures. On either side of these are neat little platforms. If you're an average shmuck, you can pick up a crystal from the outside of one of these Crags - Dem, Holla, Mea, Vahzl and Altep. If you're a high-level White Mage who has successfully partied in the Crag and beaten a big nasty mob, you can have spell that will teleport you and any members of your party that have a crystal to one of these Crags. This is useful for getting around places when you don't have an airship pass or whatnot. (Yes, Kyr, I finally figured it out.) Anyway, it turned out that one of the members of my LS has a high-level WHM and could teleport about. Hooray for him. So he took the Brit and teleported over to my position while I wasted time killing things and picking up a crystal of Dem and generally faffing about. When they got there, the first thing the high-level WHM did was lead us south towards Gustaberg, where I'd just come from. Apparently we thought we were going to Bastok. Anyway, when we finally got going in the right direction, the WHM stopped and said, "Okay; Holla, here we come." Note: Holla is one of the zones closest to Jeuno, coming from the Valkurm direction. It was only after he'd started casting that anyone bothered to ask me if I had the appropriate crystal - I'd have told them myself, but I was too busy watching in utter horror because I haven't even been near La Theine Plateau, which was where the Crag of Holla is. So by the time I typed, "NO!", they were both gone. So they had to come back and get me, and we walked.
Now, I kept getting told that the easiest way to go, mob-wise, was via La Theine Plateau. Which meant Jugner Forest, which I was told was not a wise move. Not to mention the fact that the trip would involve crossing more zones - rather than skirting Konschtat, getting through Pashhow Marshlands and then scooting through Rolanberry Fields to Jeuno Lower, we would have to cut right the way across Konschtat, nip through Valkurm Dunes, cross La Theine Plateau, hack through Jugner Forest, then sneak through Battallia Downs to get to Jeuno Upper. Um ... four and a half zones instead of two and a half? NO. And in fact, getting through Pashhow Marshlands was fairly easy, mainly because the high-level WHM had the spell Invisible. So we did that without too much problem, pausing occasionally for the high-level WHM to recast Invisible on the two BLMs (nothing aggroed this guy in Pashhow; I think he was too high level).
Then there was Rolanberry Fields. It was pretty ... or it would've been, if it hadn't been pouring with rain. And we got most of the way across that with no problem too. However, we had a minor problem when we all caught aggro from a Goblin Gambler - high-level BLM goblin. Oh. FUCK. The Brit died. I died. More than that; I deleveled. Which meant that my good armour could not be equipped because I wasn't high enough level for it anymore. So I'm back to the crappy armour. However, we are blessed in that the high-level WHM has Raise. This'd be great if the goblin just buggered the hell off. But nooooooo. The goblin kept attacking the WHM, who eventually had to zone out to bloody Jeuno (which wasn't far away) to shake the thing. He managed it, and then came back to Raise us. I equipped my crappy armour, the WHM recast Invisible while we all healed up and got over the Raise effect, then recast Invisible again so we could move on. And so we did, and got to the gates of Jeuno, no problem. Hooray!
Except ... waitaminit. Suddenly, the WHM is aggroing a Goblin Pathfinder. Wait ... WHAT? No! Why are you pulling a mob now? So we fought the mob. And you know what I got for it when we finally killed it? 9xp. 9. That was it. So suddenly we're pulling more things and I'm asking, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" I am summarily told, "We're going to get your level back up." ...Oh. Except there's a problem - I'm in singularly crappy armour! So we're killing a wasp of some description when all of a sudden ... guess what? Goblin Pathfinder! Aggro! And more dead Deathgnome. I should have zoned, but if I had, I'd not have got any XP for the kill anyway. As it happened, the only reason the other two survived was that there was a high-lvl ... I think Paladin or something kicking around and he power levelled the others and Raised me while they were kicking goblin arse. And you know how much XP I got for that kill? 8. So now I'm down several hundred XP instead of the 90 I was down to start with, singularly pissed off and desperate to /shout "STOP HELPING ME!" However, I restrained myself and we all decided that this wasn't working and we'd have to call it quits and let me try to find a party as a lvl 19 player. Okay. Fine. I just need to get some better armour and it should be fine. Right?
Of course, I'm still annoyed. People tend to prefer lvl 20 players for parties on Qufim Island, and you have to be lvl 20 to get a chocobo licence. And in general, everything I wanted to do in Jeuno relied on me being lvl 20. And, Jeuno being where the higher level people go, there is no nice neat starting-level area where I can go and happily solo my way back to lvl 20 so I can get my chocobo licence and incidentally farm small mobs for gil-worthy drops. Oh no. I'm stuck here with no way of making gil and generally no hope of getting to lvl 20 outside a party and why? I'm not talking about the first death; these things happen. But I'm this far from lvl 20 because overambitious high-lvl WHMs don't know when to quit! Of course, he had to pour salt into the wound by telling me that the Jugner Forest route was easier. Um ... you might think so, but it doesn't look that way from the mobs lists I've been reading...
Anyway, with a little luck, the stuff I auctioned off in Bastok will get me enough gil to at least cover my Qufim Island map, and I may have enough gil on me at the moment to get a halfway decent robe or something. I can hope, anyway. Because seriously, right now? I'm just vastly irritated by the whole damn thing.
Well, I can go check my delivery box for gil deliveries and check on the prices for mid-teens gear at the Jeuno auction house before I start cooking dinner. Maybe there'll be something cheerier to find now that I've had an hour or so to calm the hell down. Besides, Kyr was right - Jeuno really is pretty ... lagged, but pretty. And then after dinner, I can go and have a nice hot shower before doing everything else I planned to do today before I started in on the Pilgrimage of Folly.
Bleh.
On the whole, right, my linkshell is full of generally good people. So when I lamented my recent attempt to get to Jeuno's utter failure, one of the Brits on the LS said he's willing to escort me. I say "Cool" ... and the torment begins.
First thing he has to do is get a Teleport-Dem. To explain for the non-FFXI-minded among you, the principle is this: in certain mid-level zones in FFXI, there are things called Crags. Basically big white lumpy-looking structures. On either side of these are neat little platforms. If you're an average shmuck, you can pick up a crystal from the outside of one of these Crags - Dem, Holla, Mea, Vahzl and Altep. If you're a high-level White Mage who has successfully partied in the Crag and beaten a big nasty mob, you can have spell that will teleport you and any members of your party that have a crystal to one of these Crags. This is useful for getting around places when you don't have an airship pass or whatnot. (Yes, Kyr, I finally figured it out.) Anyway, it turned out that one of the members of my LS has a high-level WHM and could teleport about. Hooray for him. So he took the Brit and teleported over to my position while I wasted time killing things and picking up a crystal of Dem and generally faffing about. When they got there, the first thing the high-level WHM did was lead us south towards Gustaberg, where I'd just come from. Apparently we thought we were going to Bastok. Anyway, when we finally got going in the right direction, the WHM stopped and said, "Okay; Holla, here we come." Note: Holla is one of the zones closest to Jeuno, coming from the Valkurm direction. It was only after he'd started casting that anyone bothered to ask me if I had the appropriate crystal - I'd have told them myself, but I was too busy watching in utter horror because I haven't even been near La Theine Plateau, which was where the Crag of Holla is. So by the time I typed, "NO!", they were both gone. So they had to come back and get me, and we walked.
Now, I kept getting told that the easiest way to go, mob-wise, was via La Theine Plateau. Which meant Jugner Forest, which I was told was not a wise move. Not to mention the fact that the trip would involve crossing more zones - rather than skirting Konschtat, getting through Pashhow Marshlands and then scooting through Rolanberry Fields to Jeuno Lower, we would have to cut right the way across Konschtat, nip through Valkurm Dunes, cross La Theine Plateau, hack through Jugner Forest, then sneak through Battallia Downs to get to Jeuno Upper. Um ... four and a half zones instead of two and a half? NO. And in fact, getting through Pashhow Marshlands was fairly easy, mainly because the high-level WHM had the spell Invisible. So we did that without too much problem, pausing occasionally for the high-level WHM to recast Invisible on the two BLMs (nothing aggroed this guy in Pashhow; I think he was too high level).
Then there was Rolanberry Fields. It was pretty ... or it would've been, if it hadn't been pouring with rain. And we got most of the way across that with no problem too. However, we had a minor problem when we all caught aggro from a Goblin Gambler - high-level BLM goblin. Oh. FUCK. The Brit died. I died. More than that; I deleveled. Which meant that my good armour could not be equipped because I wasn't high enough level for it anymore. So I'm back to the crappy armour. However, we are blessed in that the high-level WHM has Raise. This'd be great if the goblin just buggered the hell off. But nooooooo. The goblin kept attacking the WHM, who eventually had to zone out to bloody Jeuno (which wasn't far away) to shake the thing. He managed it, and then came back to Raise us. I equipped my crappy armour, the WHM recast Invisible while we all healed up and got over the Raise effect, then recast Invisible again so we could move on. And so we did, and got to the gates of Jeuno, no problem. Hooray!
Except ... waitaminit. Suddenly, the WHM is aggroing a Goblin Pathfinder. Wait ... WHAT? No! Why are you pulling a mob now? So we fought the mob. And you know what I got for it when we finally killed it? 9xp. 9. That was it. So suddenly we're pulling more things and I'm asking, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" I am summarily told, "We're going to get your level back up." ...Oh. Except there's a problem - I'm in singularly crappy armour! So we're killing a wasp of some description when all of a sudden ... guess what? Goblin Pathfinder! Aggro! And more dead Deathgnome. I should have zoned, but if I had, I'd not have got any XP for the kill anyway. As it happened, the only reason the other two survived was that there was a high-lvl ... I think Paladin or something kicking around and he power levelled the others and Raised me while they were kicking goblin arse. And you know how much XP I got for that kill? 8. So now I'm down several hundred XP instead of the 90 I was down to start with, singularly pissed off and desperate to /shout "STOP HELPING ME!" However, I restrained myself and we all decided that this wasn't working and we'd have to call it quits and let me try to find a party as a lvl 19 player. Okay. Fine. I just need to get some better armour and it should be fine. Right?
Of course, I'm still annoyed. People tend to prefer lvl 20 players for parties on Qufim Island, and you have to be lvl 20 to get a chocobo licence. And in general, everything I wanted to do in Jeuno relied on me being lvl 20. And, Jeuno being where the higher level people go, there is no nice neat starting-level area where I can go and happily solo my way back to lvl 20 so I can get my chocobo licence and incidentally farm small mobs for gil-worthy drops. Oh no. I'm stuck here with no way of making gil and generally no hope of getting to lvl 20 outside a party and why? I'm not talking about the first death; these things happen. But I'm this far from lvl 20 because overambitious high-lvl WHMs don't know when to quit! Of course, he had to pour salt into the wound by telling me that the Jugner Forest route was easier. Um ... you might think so, but it doesn't look that way from the mobs lists I've been reading...
Anyway, with a little luck, the stuff I auctioned off in Bastok will get me enough gil to at least cover my Qufim Island map, and I may have enough gil on me at the moment to get a halfway decent robe or something. I can hope, anyway. Because seriously, right now? I'm just vastly irritated by the whole damn thing.
Well, I can go check my delivery box for gil deliveries and check on the prices for mid-teens gear at the Jeuno auction house before I start cooking dinner. Maybe there'll be something cheerier to find now that I've had an hour or so to calm the hell down. Besides, Kyr was right - Jeuno really is pretty ... lagged, but pretty. And then after dinner, I can go and have a nice hot shower before doing everything else I planned to do today before I started in on the Pilgrimage of Folly.
Bleh.