Emptiness Bleeds: Sea Obtained

Sorry, been away from the whole posting on the blog thing, but hopefully I'll update a little more regularly. Hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday and things are getting back to normal. I made a new signature for the LS forum. I have had a ton of pictures, but too lazy to go through them all, adjust them, upload them, and then post them so the few I have will have to do.


Now ... on to the big news:




Yes you are seeing that correctly. After thinking that I'd never get past the Minotaur fight (CoP 2-3) I have finally made it to Sea! I had done the Promies in one frenzied night with my old LS Graveyardshift and was stuck on it forever. I didn't have the motivation to do the rest of CoP. Others in LordsofHydra I helped through the promies but could not make it during their Minotaur fight and they surged on ahead. They sort of stalled on the Three Paths. In the meantime, a few of them came back to help me through the Minotaur fight. I teamed up with Guankim one night when they needed a WHM for the Mammet fight. That night I pushed through the rest of the early Mission set 3 with them. From then We gathered up Kniko and Vallis and went through the Diablos fight. With Oruyu we picked up Dukenukem, Snuggle, and Legos (Snuggle and Legos went on a month hiatus though). Cutedeafy joined us somewhere in the midst of The Sacrium.

Once we were on the Three Paths, the CoP static was formed. Lorddocster, Vlacatocc, Enedin, Kniko, Vallis, Fullen, Dukenukem, Torrin, Verrick (me), and Cutedeafy. We managed to go 1/2 on the Snoll Tzar (well 2/4 since we had to do battles twice). Then we took a bit of a break for the holidays. When we came back we had planned a day for all 10 of us to get together and posted it on our website. We helped some other people (Xxander, Isildor, Dragoces, Zorrow, Braveheart, and Argalo) to get through Snoll (with some extra BLM oomph) while waiting on Cutedeafy to show. We waited for over 2-3 hours without any word. Her brother eventually logged on as her and he could not find her equipment so we decided to proceed and catch her up later since everyone else was here. Unfortunately she came on late just as we were about to go in the BCNM against the moblins and proceeded to yell and scream. If you cannot show consideration to the other 9 players telling us that you'll be late I don't think you have the right to berate us. In any event she was not a very skilled player and did not take time to be prepared for the missions. She refused to bring medicines, she did not reset her Formor hate when we reminded everyone repeatedly to have it done, she missed completely on her Astral Flows all the time, etc. SO in any event she was kicked from the shell because she did not cease her constant screaming in LS chat while we were trying to concentrate on the BCNM fight we were in. Luckily we managed to go 1/2 on the moblins and got the rest of our groups through as well. We ran the gauntlet of Tenzen's path together and the 15 man CoP static got moving.

The Airship fight took a lot out of us. The other six could not make it on a certain day so did their airship battle the day before and WON, the lucky bums! The Airship fight was so disheartening for us. Our first try we wiped to Omega at 60% but decided since we didn't use any CCB pumps to just exit the fight and try again. We got Omega to 30% on the second fight and had used just one CCB pump so we decided to try again. Our third fight we got Ultima down to 3% but wiped. We reraised, but the RDM was weakened and didn't have enough MP for chainspell to do much and we were ejected for lack of time ... it was a sad heartbreaking battle. Some of us stayed for a bit longer and tried 3 more times, always getting Omega down to 1-3% but never having quite enough oomph to kill it. Some of them tried 2 more times the day after but Omega was our bane. I went on a CCB polymer farming trip and got two full sets and another CoP mate got 1 set with me.

Our initial 3 tries were with a RDM/NIN, WHM/SMN, BRD/WHM, WAR/NIN, PLD/WAR, and DRK/NIN. We just couldn't deal enough damage fast enough. Our next 3 tries were with a PLD/WAR, NIN/WAR, BLM/RDM, WHM/SMN, BRD/WHM, and DRK/NIN.

So we steeled our hearts for battle and girded our loins. We initially went in with a RDM/NIN, DRK/NIN, WHM/SMN, PLD/WAR, BLM/WHM, MNK/WAR. We wiped to Omega at 1% with his magic shield up. We reraised, waited some time, and our BLM killed him (we had hoped the shield would have worn). We rested to full and went to take on Ultima with only 13 minutes left. We got kicked out for lack of time when we had Ultima down to 15%. And were disheartend.

Our next party went in (with some help from the other 6) as WHM/SMN (Dragoces), BLU/NIN (Zorrow), BRD/WHM (me), PLD/WAR (Fullen), BLM/RDM (Lorddocster), and MNK/NIN (Vlacatocc). Mammets were cake. Omega we chipped away at. During the fight Vlacatocc and Zorrow went down but reraised to join the fight. We got OMega down to 3% again and the 3rd CCB pump had run out and he was spamming discharger like mad so our BLM could do nothing against that shield. Our WHM used the 4th CCB pump and the melees were finally able to get him down witht he PLD using Invincible. My heart was beating fast. We rested until fully healed and then went to face Ultima. This guy went down so much easier than Omega. We used one Pump at 40% and the MNK 2Hrd. Our BLM 2Hrd with AM and was finally able to kill Ultima with an Aero III. We had finally beat the stupid airship battle in 30 minutes. I went a total of 8 times and through 3 CCB pumps.

Our other group then tried. Initially RDM/NIN (Enedin), DRK/NIN (Torrin), BLM/RDM (Lorddocster), BLM/WHM (Vallis), WHM/SMN (Kniko), and PLD/WAR (Dukenukem). Hate control was nasty with 2 BLMs using AM and Tier III spells. We regrouped and removed one BLM (Lorddocster) and switched in the MNK/NIN (Vlacatocc). This time they wiped to Omega but was able to Reraise, time a ChiBlast and a Nuke to get him down. I was nailbiting at this time. Finally I see I am too far away from battle to get exp! They had won and our 15 people static through CoP was through the damned Airship battle! After a lot of time invested in farming and a lot of gil spent on meds and on CCB pumps we were finally through.

Some of us had to leave, but seven of us decided to push on through the CSs and see if we could do a try run at Tenzen to better get an idea of what was to come. Some people had said Tenzen was very easy, but guides I had read had stated that you had to do 12000 to 12500 damage to him fairly quickly before he did a Level 4 SC to Cosmic Elucidation. We had to get 3 NMs out of the way, but these were very easy since it was all uncapped. It took more time getting to the points than killing the mobs.

So here we were, 7 of us, elated to have finished the Airship battle and high on the smell of success, sitting in Sea Lion's Den, contemplating Tenzen. We decided to do a dry run without 2HRs and see what he was like. WHM/SMN (Kniko), BRD/WHM (Verrick), MNK/WAR (Vlacatocc), WAR/NIN (Fullen), BLM/WHM (Vallis), and PLD/WAR (Dukenukem). We let carby engage Tenzen so the tarutaru support that he has would focus on Kniko rather than the tank/melee. I tossed up Minuet and March on the Melee and Elegy on Tenzen. Went back and Ballad I and Ballad II the mages, then tossed an INT etude on the BLM. I alternated threnodies between Ice and Thunder while the BLM nuked him (slowly so not to pull hate). The Melee just WS everytime they got TP. The WHM and I were on cure duties (although Tenzen went to hating me sometimes and tossed me an arrow or two). And before we knew it...we had won in 7 minutes! And entered a long, but interesting CS and set foot on SEA!

Of course, Lorddocster was still in Sealion's Den entreating us to come back and get him there too. We let him sweat for a bit, then went back...heheheh. We swapped out our BLM/WHM for him as BLM/RDM. This time we had 2HRs to burn. So with Mighty Strikes, Hundred Fists, and Manafront we took Tenzen down in just over 3 minutes and broke the record. We attempted to do part of 8-1 and kille done est of NMs but people were tired after the long day and we resolved to finish it later. We still need to get the other 8 to Sea, but we know these can be hammered out pretty easily.

I want my Tavnazian ring (since bastok hasn't had control of Tavnazian OP since I could do the supply run there). And I can taste my Tamas Ring (almost all of my top tier jobs are magey, I suppos Rajas would come in handy if I solo as WHM/NIN but I doubt I'll ever get a melee job to 75 one day).

Now for other news, no pictures though:

I finally managed to get NIN from 30 to 37 and now have Ustusemi:Ni. Let me tell you, soloing as WHM/NIN with a FULL sub with Ni helps a lot. I went farming solo for some of my CCB chips and it was a LOT easier. WHM also got a boost form me finally winning the Cleric's Pantaloons in Dynamis Jeuno. So now I'm 3/5 on it, the other piece I'd want is the Briault. I like the Cleric's Cap whenever I do big battles due to the -ENM on it. The pants I macro in for bar spells (now I can get resistance of 110 or so) and the feet I macro in for stoneskin.

I suffered through all the scorpion shells and managed to cap Bonecraft at 60. So Verrick now has Bonecrafting, Woodworking, and Cooking at 60. Currently working on Alchemy for him (yes the side is not updated), will do it sometime). I'm still not sure what craft to do on Verrick. Woodworking has kind of left me Blah. Alchemy, Clothcrafting, Cooking, and Leathercrafting all have mules (which I have been neglecting during this CoP run/leveling run). And we already have a 91 bonecrafter in the LS. I would really cry if I had to do GS or Smithing, but it might come down to it. Right now I'm trying to get 60 on most of the crafts.

As for leveling, I managed to get BLM up to 72. The vast majority of the 60s was through soloing, on fleas or Qiqirin RNG mobs in Adywerre Subterrane (sp?). I had one or two parties in the 60s, but honestly I could probably make more exp solo. One day (me barely level 70) decided to duo with Vallis who was BLM 74 at the time on Princes. We got there, and another BLM asked to join us so we became a trio on Princes. Eventually that changed to a full manaburn on Flans. With many BLM and refresher changes I eventually leveled to 72 on BLM. I always find the 70s the hardest as there just seems to be so much more EXP that I need. I bit the bullet and bought Blizzaga III (after trying to farm it several times). I have all the rest of the spells to 75. Still missing FLOOD and I refuse to pay 200K for that since I never use it (and I tried farming this too, *sigh*). If I were truly a BLM I'd probably have to opt for getting a Penitent's rope and better rings. I'm 6/8 on HQ staves and still need the Wind staff (I should have got that first since if I ever touch my RDM again it'd be so useful for silence) and Water staff (not in ANY rush to get that one). I have the Weskit and Errant pants. Not sure what to do for the hands (right now using AF1 hands). I have my R.pumps for when I hit 75 (if I do).

So that's been what's been going on. A lot isn't it? I'll try and keep better updated. And sort through all my pictures and post some up for anyone who still reads this. I'll need to restart doing my rounds of blogs too, interested in seeing what everyone has been up to!