Gold and Mold.

I kind of feel that detailing all the various parties I have during the course of the past few days will degenerate down into a repeated "this party was great!" or "this party was horrible!" For some strange reason, the vast majority of the "good" parties were Japanese, and the vast majority of the "bad" parties were made up of English-speaking members. Those of you out here who'd moan and complain about the unfairness of this statement, well, I'm afraid the English speaking community has a rather disturbing trend at this. At least, in the pre-50 levels (Maybe the chaff all quite around Genkai 1?)

Case in point- my party last night was fantastic. I (somehow) managed to piece together a WHM BLM RDM THF NIN RNG party, made up entirely of Japanese players (sans myself). I think I was probably the worst player of the bunch there, missing Stuns on Bomb Tosses left, right and center (I might have to rethink sitting down during combat to be able to Stun Bomb Tosses). The Ninja and Thief rarely lost hate, the Skillchains were flowing, the Red Mage could maintain his Refreshes well- it was a very nice party.

We were up in Yhoator Jungle, a place I hadn't explored during my WHM44 days. We ended up camping by the Ifrit's Cauldron zone, and fought the various Goblins there. The fact that you can steal Mythril Beastcoins from the goblins and they have Gold Beastcoins as a rare drop makes it very enticing to try farming there with someone that has a Thief, but seeing as how only one Gold Beastcoin dropped in the entire 3-4 hours or so, that might not be such a good idea.

Simply put, I dinged 45. Soon enough, I dinged 46, and was rather embarrassed about not bringing a scroll of Thunder II along. Seriously, I hadn't considering leveling up twice in one sitting!

Compare and contrast to my last party in the Crawler's Nest. The leader (Rank 5) was a WAR/NIN tank (I think). Not only was he impolite, he also never gave a TP report, booted a RNG from the party who was trying to get him to report, and on the very second pull, they link three Rumble Crawlers, and I have to quickly Escape everyone out and hope things work out. 'Nuff said.

Anyway, as the title suggests, I have begun working on the next stage of my Goldsmithing career- Gold. It's nice to finally make some semblance of money again, although the price range for Gold Beastcoins isn't as flexible as Mythril. It, also has a pretty darn high startup cost. I initially figured to slowly teleport/mine my way up to 48 Gold Beastcoins, until practicality kicked in, and I just bought 8 Beastcoins and synthed those on Iceday in the Goldsmith's Guild. Surprisingly, I got +0.1 skillups on two synthesis, and later in the night, I tried the same thing again, with both a +0.1 and +0.2. Not bad for 16 Beastcoins worth! Of course, now I have 120k+ worth of Gold stuck in the Auction House, which'll hopefully clear soon.

In comparison to Mythril, the sudden jump up to Gold is a nigh heart-stopper. From Mythril Rings, which cost 8k to make, suddenly the cost of production almost quadruples. I remember feeling _very_ nervious when I started making my first Gold Ingot, and was very relieved to see the skillup and successful synthesis. I do not doubt that at some point, I will fail a Gold Ingot synthesis, although I could just luck out like I did with Mythril, and not break anything. At least thus far, I have a pretty good record- 4/4 Gold Ingots made. ^^

I also forgot to mention earlier. On the 25th October, I finally hit WHM60 and am now wearing full WHM AF. My goal, as they say, is now complete. ^^

The problem I have now is the ever-persistent, "Now what?" I don't really have plans to level WHM past 60, and as I mentioned earlier, RNG looks very appealing to me, but so does BLM. For now, BLM has more of my attention, since it's obviously higher, but I wouldn't be surprised if I decide to switch back to RNG anytime soon. Of course, I'd have to hit WAR15 and NIN30 first, which I suppose is the real problem behind things. I do have one solid goal though- level up Goldsmithing. Aren't things simple? ^^

Finally, it is Halloween today. While I chose not to participate too much in this event (only getting myself a Trick Staff), I did end up having a little bit of fun scaring innocent bystanders around Windurst Waters for a wee bit:



Happy Halloween!

Anyway, I log off in a failed attempt at actually trying to get some real-life work done, and a few hours later, I'm back in again. Wandering aimlessly around Lower Jeuno, I bump into Xiaoke and Trebla. Xiaoke and I eventually start chatting again- he tells me about how he had just lost his fight to Maat, and how he plans to go again once his 2hr resets, and he gets another Bard's testimony. For some strange reason, I decide to ask him if he'd like to go camp Mysticmaker Profblix with me.

So off we go, trudging down to the Labyrinth of Onzozo. I had never actually been to the Labyrinth before, so I wasn't quite sure how to get there, although at least now I know. Fortunately, I remember the map from memory, and we walk over to the spawn area, where I soon discover that the mobs there do, in fact, aggro to Level 60 characters. Darn easy prey Cockatrices. Seeing as how Xiaoke's a cook, we go on farming cockatrice meat (ended up only getting two) and skilling up our weapons (or in Xiaoke's case, Evasion, since he was tanking :P). When we first got there, only one other Black Mage was there killing off Goblins and Cockatrices. I think he must've been at least BLM66 due to the black cloak he was wearing. There was also a high-level Paladin farming Cockatrices, although I'm not sure if he actually meant to camp Mysticmaker Profblix. I can only assume he was.

Anyway, as time passes, it is becoming apparent that more and more people are slowly, but surely, trickling into the Labyrinth. People are coming in, including a Japanese Thief, and other people are logging into the spawn zone. Fairly soon, we have seven people camping the area, and I'm starting to get rather worried. Kohen logs on, and offers to help us camp the NM, and so, he rushes down from Jeuno on chocobo to join us. I'm getting increasingly worried (or nervous, depending on how you want to look at it) about our chances, and set about building a Dia macro:

/targetnpc
/ma Dia

I try spamming that around to test it. First time, I grab a normal Goblin that happened to spawn, and ended up casting multiple Dias on it, making me look very silly in the presence of everyone else. Later on, I accidentally Dia away a Cockatrice from the Japanese Thief that was farming them when one of them wandered too close to me. Now _that_ was embarrassing.

Time passes, and I'm getting more nervous. A Black Mage was camping Mysticmaker as well, and my Dia stood a very slim chance against his Stun. Kohen arrived, which made me quite relieved, since now Xiaoke and I had a fast voker. We kill a few more things, before, while I'm rotating my camera, I see a goblin with an unusually long name.

Mysticmaker Profblix.

I barely had time to register his spawn before I hear Stuns firing off. I look up at the screen to see the results, all fully prepared to accept the worst.

Mysticmaker Profblix's name was red.

Evidently, Kohen's Stun had somehow beat out all the other Stuns in the room, and shouting things along the lines of "We have him!" in the CT Linkshell, we immediately rush over and engage. I soon disengage and move to a safer location after an Aeroga III goes off, but oh well.



The fight wasn't nearly as hard as I had made it out to be, possibly because Mysticmaker decided not to cast any Ancient Magic spells for the duration of the fight. Gluey and Traktor were busy firing off advice in the Linkshell as to how to best handle him, and my heart was pounding away. We had overcome one hurdle, and actually managed to claim the NM, but would this be a dud? Mysticmaker Profblix's last moments went like this:

Kohen uses Souleater!
Kohen readies Crescent Moon.
Kohen uses Crescent Moon.
Mysticmaker Profblix takes 681 points of damage.
Xiaoke hits Mysticmaker Profblix for 62 points of damage.
Xiaoke defeats Mysticmaker Profblix.

The drops roll by:

Tuufless obtains 2000gil.
You find a Goblin mask on Mysticmaker Profblix.
You find a scroll of Thundaga III on Mysticmaker Profblix.
You find a moldavite earring on Mysticmaker Profblix.

I could scarcely believe it. I was so excited, I could barely hold a pencil in my hand, let alone contain myself from shouting "YEA!" in the Linkshell and /cheer-ing. The other campers were all curious, asking whether we got the drop, to which we elatedly replied "Hell yea!" They offered their congratulations, and were really good sports about it. Even now, it still hasn't quite sunk in. I've heard horror stories of people trying to get their moldavite earring. Camping the NM every two hours for nights on end. Claiming the NM multiples times, each time without a drop. To claim, and get the moldavite earring on one's very first try is something to be thankful for, which I most certainly am.

With regards to the other campers, to those who might doubt karma, I'm actually tempted to go camp Mysticmaker again, just for one of the other people who were there at the time. In any case, I lot, both Kohen and Xiaoke passes, and I am now the proud owner of a brand new spankin' moldavite earring! I am one happy taru! ^^

/em huggles the moldavite earring.

/em huggles Kohen and Xiaoke too. ^^

Thanks to:
Kohen (DRK63/THF31)
Xiaoke (BRD70/WHM35)

Victor of the Balgas Contest

Wow did that Mission take a long time. Much longer than expected, actually. But then again, seven hours later (I think), I am now strutting around a brand new Rank 7 badge attached to my name!

I logged on to quickly check the Jeuno Auction House for Mythril, which I normally do from time to time. However, within five minute sof my logging in, I get a /tell from Akanea:

Akanea: !!!
Me: ?
Akanea: Wanna do Rank 7?

Of course I couldn't refuse. We gathered together eight people together (six Windurstians and two San d'Orians) to go to the Horutoto Ruins to fight the four NM Cardians for Mission 6-1, and then we slowly accumulated a few more people along the way. The four cardians were by no means difficult, and I'm sure a party around Level 60 could take on the four of them with little trouble.

We then tailed Arujido-Marujido all the way to the Full Moon Fountain in the Toramarai Canal, which is beyond the Horutoto Ruins, evidently locked behind the all-mystical (and very-wey pretty!) three-mage gate, that needs the presence of a White, Black and Red Mage to unlock. Then again, Fangryn had the key, so we kind of skipped that part. :P



We eventually caught up to Arujido in the Full Moon Fountain, but alas, he got arrestaru'ed by Semih Lafihna and the rest of the Mithra high guards. Unfortunately, since it was my mission to track him down, I guess I was misunderstood, and was called to the Star Sybil yet again to clear my name, by participating (and beating) the Yagudos in a contest held at Balgas Dias. It seems Arujido was trying to revive (and subsequently master) summoning magic, which for some reason is a big no-no in the books of the Sybil, so he got life imprisonment, which Apururu was none-too-happy about. But I digress.

The party for the Balgas Dias contest was WHM DRG SAM RNG BRD BRD. After a few hiccups along the way, partially due to me buying up Mythril Beastcoins and forgetting my Mushrooms, we figured that the SAM could do a decent job at tanking, since he was SAM 65. We reached the Burning Circle, entered, and went through the obligatory announcements regarding the contests, to which I was referred to by the sorry title of "Tuufless the Unremarkable." Bloodthirstly to actually gain some respect, even though it be among Yagudos, we engaged in battle.



If you've ever seen a SAM65 tank four NM Yagudos, it isn't hard to see that the result about two minutes later was this:



Yea, we kinda lost that one hard. It was quite funny though, since the battle time limit was 30 minutes, after everyone was dead, I activated Reraise, Raise II'ed everybody else, and then we went back to trying to kill off the yagudos yet again, which the other members were quite receptive to. Let nobody scoff at the indestructibility of a White Mage! :D

Of course, we got owned again, except this time it was the Summoner Yagudo whose Tidal Wave (Astral Flow ; ;) knocked three of us out of the contest. The other three soon followed suit.

We were about to give up when one of the Ninjas we sent a /tell to earlier actually replied to us. Fast forward a few minutes later, we have a Japanese NIN75 helping us out, and as they say, third time's a charm. We beat the Yagudos this time without too much difficulty (although I died yet again) and we were soon off to Castle Oztroja to complete the third and final part of the mission.

Navigating through Castle Oztroja wasn't too bad, since our Ranger knew where you get passwords required to progress all the way to the top floor of the castle. It was rather interesting to note that we also passed by the rarity that is an unopened Castle Oztroja Treasure Coffer, and suffice to say, we were all rather disappointed we couldn't open it. ; ; No Astral Rings for us, it seems.

We reach the top, where the door is guarded by two Yagudo High Priests, both of which have True Sight. By now, everything is conning IT to a party of Lvl 60+ players, so suffice to say, we're rather nervous. Akanea got aggro and died when his Invisible dropped, and after much dodging of Yagudo Assassins and what-have-you, we got him standing again. Using Veelea's Judgement Key, we quickly slipped into the door, got the oath from the Holy One (???) and a Teleport-Mea later, we're riding chocobos back to Windy to get our Rank 7!

My summary's rather rushed, but then again, it's past 5 o'clock in the morning now, and I'm quite tired. Of course, I need to give the obligatory credits when I leave. Taru~! ^^

Thanks to:
Akanea (DRG60/WAR30)
Chihiro (NIN75/WAR37)
Danatoth (RNG62/NIN31)
Fangryn (BLM59/WHM29)
Redherr (SAM65/WAR32)
Veelea (BRD64/WHM32)

…and the other people I forgot who helped out with M6-1. ^^

The Fanged One

Have you, my child, trod on many a land, drank from many a rrrainfall, fought many a fine battle and lived to see many a dawn? Then truly I say onto you, unless you are aprrroved by the earth and the sky, how is it that you can say you are accepted by Mother Nature?
If you so desire to submit yourself to the laws of naturrre, my child, then go, meet with the fanged king of the beasts, and bring back one of his grrreat teeth. Listen to the voice of nature and wait for nature to run herrr course. If nature accepts us, then even we who lack fangs will be perrrmitted to hunt as her rangers.

----------

It all started quite a few days ago, during one of my Cape Terrigan parties. I was partying with a Ranger in AF. Not just any Ranger, mind you, but a Taru Ranger. Those of you who know why I ended up becoming WHM will understand what my newfound goal is when I say:

Tarus in RNG AF are soooooooo cute! ^^

And that was that.

Fast forward a few days (or was it weeks?) later. I'm randomly surfing for AF pictures whilst visiting my friend's room, and eventually, it dawns upon me to show him a picture of a Taru in Ranger AF. Finding one was hard, and the AF pictures page (sorry, don't remember the link) only had the guy Taru's picture. I needed to double check if girls got the same deal.

Fortunately, I stumbled across this picture:



Yep. Other girl tarus. All in AF. Well, AF2, to be precise, except for that bottom one who's in a wedding dress. But that confirmed it for me- I wanted to take on RNG.

Of course, there were multiple problems in the way. First, I'd have to somehow fund my Ranger. Not only arrow-wise (which I hear is cheap up to level 20 or so), but gear-wise. Leaping Boots at Level 7 will probably take a while. I could possibly camp Leaping Lizzy and join the masses (WHM/RNG for laughs) but I get the feeling the Boots don't drop for a WHM59. Then, there's the matter of subjobs. I don't mind leveling up Ninja, since I was thinking about doing so after seeing the monstrosity that is the almighty Taru NIN/BLM spamming second level Ninjutsu.

The problem lay with having to level up WAR.

I am not a huge fan of brute melee, and WAR is one of those jobs I never ever thought of leveling up. However, I'll need it up to RNG24 when I can switch over to NIN for Utsusemi: Ichi, and then should I actually get around to completing my goal of Ranger AF, I'll need WAR15 to support the traditional RNG60/NIN30 setup. This, suffice to say, if going to take one heckuva long time. That, and my Mog Safe is starting to overflow from WHM and BLM gear.



I headed home to Windy to activate my Ranger quest, meeting up with the Mithra tribal chieftainess who gave me the above speech. It's rather strange coming back to Windurst and being surrounded by Mithra all of a sudden, without another fellow Taru, but I like Mithras. They're much more down-to-earth and friendly that some of the other races. The elf guards in San d'Oria always seem to think I'm trying to assassinate their prince or something. The Humes of Bastok are okay- haven't really talked with them much. I probably wouldn't like meeting Galkas much, except they're so fun to huggie-wuggie! *ahem*

The quest was a lot easier than I thought. I had heard horror stories of people being assanine and killing Old Sabertooth, so I was rather curious just how long I had to wait. As it turns out, I walked up to the cave, found no tiger, walked inside the cave, saw the pile of Tiger Bones, picked up an old tiger fang, then Warped back to Jeuno to catch the airship back to Windy. Piece of cake!

When I got back and activated my Ranger, I set about the long task of leveling my subjobs. I bought myself a set of Bronze Armor and an Axe (Bronze Subligar.../shudder), whipped out my THF06 that I had leveled earlier for goodness-knows-what reason, and five minutes later, I was clanking outaru of Windurst as a WAR01/THF01. Eventually, after eating down Mithkabobs (which are essentially +50% STR for me ^^) I hit Level 5. Just for kicks, I go back to Windy again and buy myself a Longbow and some Stone Arrows. On my very first arrow, I one-shotted an EP Savannah Rarab for the kill. (And got +0.1 to my archery, too ^^)




I think I'm gonna quite like shooting arrows.

Incidentally, Gluey was also wondering whether he should level up RNG as well. At first, I thought if he stuck to NIN, I can take up RNG and we can go level up together, but it soon dawned upon me that a much greater plan could hatch. If Gluey were to become a Ranger, that'd make him...

*Warning, BAD Magic joke coming up*

...it'd make him...

...

...

...an Elvish Archer. \^o^/

(or an Elvish Ranger, but those who know Ben will understand the significance of being an Elvish Archer over a Ranger. ^^)

Wow, I think even Pants would be impressed by that.

So, at least, for now, I'm (somewhat) started on my path to becoming a Ranger. I'm actually kind of going through a bit of a mid-life crisis, as now with my WHM fast approaching Level 60 (a late-night party in the Valley of Sorrows for a few hours has put me within striking distance of the elusive 60), I really don't know what I want to do next. Black Mage, perhaps? Work on Ranger a bit more? Concentrate on being a full-time Goldsmither? (Speaking of Goldsmtihing, I'm 46.2 now! ^^)

Time will tell, I guess.

----------

For the hunterrr, the fangs are not just a tool vital for existence, but also a witness to its death. If the fanged one loses its fangs, it can no longerrr live. Yet when the fanged one dies, only its fangs remain. To hunt like the fanged one, you must live by the fang and die leaving only the fang behind.

Onto you, new ranger, I bestow the witness of the life and death of the grrreat fanged one...

Two Weeks in Review

Wowie...It's been a very-wery long time since I last updated this little journaru.

Too many things have been happening outside of Vana'diel, that I really haven't had much opportunity to play much, yet alone update. But anyway, I'll try to summarise as best I can.

I am a Level 44 Black Mage now. The experience grind is slowly (but surely) starting to kick in, and it's only a few more levels before I hit the ever-familiar territory of five-digit tnls. My Goldsmithing isn't much better either. I'm 45.5 now, which isn't too bad when I think about it, but then again, I synthed 34 Ingots into 16 Mythril Rings and two broken Ingots. That's about 61,000 gil down the drain if I chose to sell the Mythril Instead for profit. It's not too bad, seeing as how Goldsmithing is expensive and all. But the /groan part about this is:

All I got with nearly 3 stacks was just +0.6 to Goldsmithing.

/cry

I can feel it starting to kick in. Goldsmithing is going to consume me whole. I should probably start churning out a few stacks of Mythril for profit, to try and make back my losses, since my finances are dipping rather low. Although I personally find it rather strange that now, anything below 150k in my walletaru is considered "poor". I'm even hesitant to buy my Black Mage scrolls like Poison II and Waterga II for 20 and 40k respectively, even though I have about 150k on me at the moment.

I also went down to Norg to try to get my Utsusemi done. I was hoping I had enough Norg fame, and as it turns out, I did! I did get rather lost in the Sea Serpent Grotto though, and ended up making two trips, but eventually I managed to complete the quests and I am up an Utsusemi: Ichi and Tonko: Ichi scroll, that I have sent to Shantih for safekeeping. Gluey's also started his Ninja, and from what he tells me, he quite likes the job. He, too, quested up his Utsusemi, and last I heard, he quite liked "this Blink thing." I'm not sure what I should do with mine though- I could sell the scrolls for my Goldsmtihing, or save them for my own use later.

Of course, the problem is when. I have added yet another AF onto my want list- we Tarus look soooooo cutaru in Ranger AF! Unfortunately, Ranger is in no way related to what I'm doing at the moment, and I'll have to level up Ninja (which I don't mind) and Warrior (which I _do_ mind) to get to Ranger. Goldsmithing already has my money tied up, so I dontaru think I'll be working on Ranger anytime soon, but it's something to look forward to.

Speaking of AF, I got my BLM AF1 over the course of the past two weeks- we were heading up to Castle Zvahl for some coffer hunting earlier, and whilst we were in the area, we stopped by to get my glowstone for a Casting Wand (which is, as the critics say, nigh-useless).



I think I'm going to take my Black Mage all the way to 75. Then, I can start work on my Summoner, if I feel like it. I kind of want to hit 51 with the full setof Elemental Staves at the ready, so that's going to set me back quite a bit. Good thing the Ice Staves are only 40k at the moment. They might even drop a wittle bit more, but oh well. The HQ version on the other hand, is 600k. The sad thing is, I want it. ; ;

I also did Promyvia-Mea! Elowie invited me over to a Promyvion alliance, and I decided, why notaru? Promyvion is quite a nice place to hang out though, if you ignore the fact that just about evrything there is out to kill you. Nice music, isolated. About as nice a chillout place as the Sanctuary of Zi'Tah.




The fight to the final boss was rather uneventful, since there was another alliance also on their way to the Spire of Mea for the big showdown. The final floor, where everything was IT, was uite fun though. We needed to cross a place that was infested with the Emptiness monsters, so we basically made one big dash for the Spire of Mea. I think we managed to make it there alive. For people going to do Promyvion, please please please work as a group! It is SO difficult to operate when there is no sense of order within the alliance.

I also now have the Japanese edition of Final Fantasy, and it was quite funny to see all my Japanese friends' surprise when I finally got to talk to them in kana. Partying, on the other hand, was another thing altogether. I went to a party, missed the Skillchain since I didn't know what it was, nor could I figure it out. Suffice to say, it was rather embarassing for a decked out Rank 6 Taru BLM that couldn't MB. I also got invited to a Japanese party over in the Quicksand Caves, which sad to say, didn't turn out well at all. We had so many deaths in that party, it wasn't even funny. Somehow or other, I kind of feel it was my fault, but I don't see how. I'd cast Thundaga and Blizzaga at the end, and the Spider would turn. This is with a Thief in the party, too. Oh well, guess not all Japanese parties are covered in icing.

I think that's about it for now. I'll try to update a littaru bit more next time!

Parties...

Over the course of the past few days, I have, of course, been leveling every now and then. For some strange reason, I also seem to find a rather large number of other Black Mages seeking, and have been tempted to try out a heavy BLM party, just to see what it'd be like, and also because the 2x BLM, 2x SAM, PLD, BRD party got me to quite like multiple Black Mages in the same party. Unfortunately, after talking about it a little with a Japanese Rank 10 Black Mage who was also seeking, we decided that it'd be too dangerous and inefficient without either a Refresh effect (no BRD seeking) and no Stoneskin or Blink. Oh well, it was worth a try.

Eventually, other jobs filtered in, and I put together a party of RNG, THF, PLD, WHM, BLM, RDM in the Eastern Altepa Desert. It was a little tricky since the THF had to fire off the SATA from the RNG, but he managed to pull it off fast enough such that the RNG's life never was really threatened. That party was, compared to all the other parties I've had recently, amazing. To put it simply, the only time we got less than 200xp off a kill was at the start of a chain. And we were consistently hitting Chain #5s. I find it rather amusing that our Paladin said he needed to go in an hour's time, but after seeing the rate at which we were filling up those xp bars, he decided to stay an extra hour. ^^

He even sent me a tell saying that this was "the best party I have ever been in." Aww, shucks. /blush I like it when people tell me that, although really, it's a group effort by everybody.

I left that party to go to lunch, and then decided to log back on afterwards. Since the AH was still out of Mythril, I randomly decided to put my party flag up. I hadn't even opened the menu to type in my search comment when a /tell came in asking for a party.

"Jeebus, I haven't even begun typing my search comment in!"

The party again, was in the Altepa Desert, and once again, it did not disappoint. It was a little strange seeing as how we had no WHM, and the Rank 5 DRK41 didn't have the Altepa Gate Crystal either, but I feel that the trip is worth it. And indeed, it was. The rate wasn't as ridiculous as this morning's party, since overall, our levels were higher, but all of us were glad at the result. It sure would've beaten the Crawler's Nest anyday. I even hit 40, and that meant learning Warp II. Sadly, I had to leave early, so my first Warp II recipient was....myself. ^^

Compared to the parties over the past three days, today was a godsend. Seriously, I can excuse people in the Dunes, and Qufim Island too, to a certain point. But having underleveled subs, not having key spells, and in one case, not even knowing basic information, at this level is really, really well, bad. I actually had this said to me:

{Distortion} burst with {Thunder} or {Aero}

He also happened to use Bird Eggs for food. That, and he's a Mentor. There needs to be some system in place to make sure Mentors are actually people who can help. Then there was the Red Mage who, at level 39, still did not have Dispel. Or the White Mage who literally said "Well screw that, I don't intend to get it (Erase)." /sigh This, is a welcome relief.

60k for one level...

Goldsmithing is going to kill me, I swear. Just took the first plunge into trying to hit that magical Goldsmithing 50. All the guides out there suggest making Mythril Chains to 43, which I was going to do. Only problem is, Mythril Chains never sell on AH, so you're forced to vendor them instead. /cry

I chose to do Mythril Rings instead, which cap at 47 instead. That, and I can theoretically make a profit with Mythril Rings, assuming I purchase all my Mythril Beastcoins/Ores for 1000 gil each. 48 of those with 4.5k worth of Fire Crystals still make 52.5k, and the six Rings I get out of them sell like hotcakes for 60 grand total.

Only problem is getting ahold of that many Mythril Ingots and Beastcoins to begin with. It seems that since that boom when a stack of Ingots were going for 90k, half the server has jumped onto the Mythril Bandwagon. Now that things have settled down, Mythril Ingots have returned to a steady 80k price, but unfortunately, now the demand for the raw materials is much greater. I already have Glue periodically sending me a few Ores or Beastcoins from his parties up in Ru-Avitau, but combined with the rate at which I can actually buy them off the AH, collecting 48 pieces of Mythril will take forever. So, I can buy them instead, assuming I'm willing to take a loss, which I don't mind, since I lose 18k every time I decide to transform Ingots into Rings. Hey, nobody ever said Goldsmithing was cheap.

The huge level gap I had at the time (41-47) meant that I should only even attempt to try this synthesis on either Firesday or Iceday. Fortunately, my xp party (with my WHM, what's more!) ended on Darksday, and the moon was out on its brightest (100%). I had also just finished a stack of Ingots not too long ago, and one quick airship ride to Bastok later, I was making me some rings. After I ran out of Mythril (6 synths don't keep you terribly occupied), I decided to go blow up some other crystals that I had lying around. I took a ride down to Windurst, and then, many many broken Wind, Ice and Water crystals later, I have a Cooking skill of 14.5. ^^ In retrospect, I was defiinitely too reckless with my Cooking, making Selbina Butter, deciding I didn't want to keep it and vendoring it all back (foolish, I know), but compared to a complete failure of a Mythril Ring, this was cheap! I couldn't help myself with the butter- Ice Crystals just look too pretty when I use them. ^^



The problem was how to get enough money to support this (Goldsmtih) leveling, since I lose money for my skills. I could mine Gusgen like I always have, but with Kaiseling and two other miners (all of whom are now confirmed to be Chinese, which means they'll be there until the game has died), I am not in the mood for losing my temper all over again to try and mine up a stack of Mythril (or about ten Gold Ores).

So I took the alternative route: Adaman. That meant taking another trip down to Ifrit's Cauldron.

Mining Ifrit's Cauldron's never terribly fun, and losing 2k xp when you die by mistake (which I did ; ;) is even less fun. I figured, the money I get from one Adaman Ore will fund a stack of Mythril Ingots, and from there, I can make my Rings. After much running around Ifrit's Cauldron, looking for a Mining Point to even begin with, I'm on the verge of giving up. I had misplaced my maps, and it seemed I was walking in circles, given that I had bumped into Vouivre multiple times, and that's certainly not supposed to happen! Eventually, I found my map of Ifrit's Cauldron tucked somewhere in the depths of my drawers, and got back to work. Still no mining points. Eventually, I narrowed it down to an area guarded by Flame Spouts and an Ash Dragon. It was quite a walk, and for some reason, the timing on this particular Flame Spout seemed to agree with me. Taking down Invisible with a NM Dragon a few meters away from you, on the other hand...



Hurriedly mining away at the point, the string of Iron Ores, Iron Sand, Sulfur (and a Green Rock, too) started to make me worry (and the Flint Stones, too). Eventually, all was well:

You successfully dig up a chunk of adaman ore!
KA-CHING! /grin

I stuck around for a little bit, but alas, no more Adaman was to be found in the next two points I came across. I did, however get a Darksteel Ore, which I'm a littaru disappointed at, seeing as how 6k is rather disappointing compared to Adaman...at least it's better than a coloured rock. ; ; I was quite disappointed to find out, upon my return to Jeuno, that Adaman Ores are only worth 75k now. It seems they can now be grown, and so the price will probably drop some more. Oh well.

Summary for the day: 28 Mythril Ingots used, 12 Rings sold.

That's about 180k worth of material I used (if I sold them) and the twelve rings make 120k. Wow, I just spent 60k on one level of Goldsmithing....at least I'm a Level 42 Goldsmither now.

I forsee the trek to Level 50 to be very long indeed..../cry

Ups and Downs.

Several things happened today, some of which started to make me rethink my reasons for continuing with the game. After yesterday's purchases, I picked up my trusty Workers gear and pickaxes that had been collecting dust in my Mog Safe and headed back to Gusgen to go mine. The place wasn't overly crowded, but my, has the crowd changed.

I'm not sure if it's the NA playing community in general, but whatever happened to common courtesy? Of the ten or so miners at work, Two of them are point thieves, one of whom even gave me attitude to boot, following me around and taking any point I went to. I may have a high tolerance for idiocy, but I was this close to blasting this person out, unfortunately, typing angrily does not quite have the same effect as a PK. Technically, he's not breaking any rules, which is what held me back, although it's disgusting to see the utter lack of common courtesy (and manners!) in some of these players. Then there was the other one, too. The first had the cheek to even send me a /tell that went like this:

(I’m running to a spawn point, Kaiseling’s following me)
Kaiseling: “go go go”

(I reach the point a good amount in front of him, take a swing, then he starts working away at it, too)

Me: “Do you mind?”
Kaiseling: “lol”

I'm normally against posting people's names whom I want to slam, but these people have angered me enough to warrant doing so. Yes, even more than the White Mage with neither Barfira or Silena. It's that bad.

(I’m mining away at a point. Blacka runs up and starts mining at the same point.)

Me: “Do you mind?”
Blacka: {I don’t speak any English}
Me: {Japanese}?

Of course, he doesn't reply. He's clearly not Japanese, since first, he'd have to be up at 7 o'clock in the morning, and he sent me a random /tell later on in English characters. Strangely enough, Kaiseling sent me another strange /tell amounting to "ji a" so they might be in this together. Whatever. Some people deserve to be PK'ed.

It's not all bad. I tried piecing together a BLM party after I noticed an extraordinarily large number of Black Mages seeking, but alas, that plan didn't fall through at all. I got invited to another party, consisting of RDM, BLM, BLM, SAM, MNK, NIN. I find that the RDM doesn't have Dispel, and am told by the NIN that he doesn't have gear past level 23, either. The NIN leaves with something that amounts to "I'm sorry, but I don't see why I should party if I'm willing to go all the way to get my Emperor's Hairpin and Leaping Boots while you can't even get Dispel by 36." Rightfully so, too, since a RDM that's leveling past 32 without Dispel is nothing more than an xp leech.

I may very well sound harsh, but when I invite a RDM past 32, I'm looking for Dispel, and if you don't have it, then why should I bother bringing you in? The Monk then goes on a whole diatribe about how this game is for fun, and while I can understand that he does not have the time to go farm (him being married with three children), hurting other people by not coming to an xp party with adequate gear is too much. If you want to enjoy the game, very well. Go pick up a craft, or finish quests with friends, get some money. But don't hurt me just because you didn't want to go farm up your gear. Granted, FF isn't all about xp, so go do something else! When you join an xp party, sure, you meet new people, but ultimately, everybody is in the party for a reason- experience points, and you are just hurting that by showing up with sub-par gear/spells.

On the plus side, I end the night with the first good party I've had in a while since returning to BLM. To be honest, I was rather skeptical about the setup- BLM, BLM, PLD, SAM, SAM, BRD, but such fears were unfounded. Two Black Mages in a party with a pair of Samurais constantly firing off -> Distortion skillchains every fight with two MB Blizzagas and two Thundagas to finish, it was a good party. I wonder how things would've been like with a third BLM in the party though. ^^ One of the members was also a nice guy, and we ended up chatting about player attitudes towards the game, where the classic "RDM without Dispel" scenario rears its ugly head again.

I'm still not 38, but I have Fire II and a Mage's Robe waiting. I'm more concerned about how to keep earning gil with the mining situation as bad as it is. Ifrit's Cauldron, perhaps? I was contemplating picking up Bonecraft, but I'll have to look up some other things first.

The Twinked Out BLM.

170k later, I have finally completed my Black Mage gear. Yes, I got my Wisdom Rings and my Garrison Boots. I am also looking at ludicrous amounts of INT for damage spells that really give Rangers a run for their money. I did a MB Thundaga for 379 damage on a Desert Dhalmel in the East Altepa Desert, and Desert Dhalmels aren't even weak to Thunder! It's very nice to have your gear updated (although my purse has taken a very big hit.../cry

Too bad other people don't share the same pride in their own jobs. Case in point- my party in the Altepa Desert. I try to be nice, but there really are limits as to how far I can stand incompetence. No less than one third of the party got on my nerves that night, of which one was the White Mage who would constantly shock us by his spells (or the lack of.)

Case in point: We're fighting Dhalmels, and the Ninja gets Silenced. He calls for a Silena, and you guessed it, the White Mage doesn't have it. Never mind the fact that Silena is a Level 19 spell and he is Level 36. Fortunately, disaster was averted, and at the behest of the other party members, we move to the outpost to take on Goblins. I should've thoguht to mention whilst we were in Rabao that we'd need Barfira while fighting Goblins, but I decided to hold it off until we were almost at the camp.

Me: “Oh, and don’t forget to {Barfira} when we’re fighting gobs please ^^”
WHM: “Ummmmmmmmmm”

Yep, you guessed it. He doesn't have Barfira either. I gave him the same spiel Aamin gave me back when I didn't have it in Yhoator, and looking back, he was right about Barfira. It really is the most important Bar- spell a WHM can get. I eventually get killed because of a Bomb Toss (and a link) so I'm not terribly impressed. A quick /check reveals that the WHM is using an Elm Staff (Lvl 23), and that's the highest piece of equipment he's got. In fact, everything else is <20. I'm sure if Glue were leading this party, he'd kick the WHM out while cursing at the computer screeny with his cat trying to make up for things.

He volunteered to go back to Altepa to buy Barfira, but mentioned he was out of money, with just 2.5k left (this was after buying Silena). 'Course, he had also decided to buy a Teleport-Mea scroll for 100k earlier, which was obviously more important than his gear or other spells. Yes, Spells > Gear, but there is a limit, folks! Oh well.

In any case, I'm poor now, so I headed back to Gusgen to mine a bit. Two Gold, two Darksteel and a buncha Iron later, I'm slowly recuperating from things. It's gonna be hard, now that Mythril prices have reset once again. But we'll see what happens. I'll be trying to buy my Mage's Tunic for 45k, although first, one has to be on sale...

...that, and my Mythril needs to sell!

The Fine Art of Blowing Stuff Up.

Tuufless casts Blizzaga.
Magic Burst! The Worker Crawler takes 302 points of damage.

Mwahahahahaha, after 58 levels of WHM, it feels sooooo good to be playing BLM and dishing out damage in oodles. Especially now that I've completed my gear (well, sorta):

Black Cape +1
Black Silk Neckerchief
Eremite’s Ring
Eremite’s Ring
Mercenary Captain’s Belt
Morion Earring
Morion Earring
Morion Tathlum
Seer’s Crown (+1)
Seer’s Mitts +1
Seer’s Pumps +1
Seer’s Slacks +1
Seer’s Tunic
Solid Wand

It's not absolutely up there. I'm still missing Garrison Boots, a pair of Wisdom Rings, and Morion Earrings +1 (like real!), but I'm looking at +23 INT in addition to a Taru's natural INT, without food. Ridiculous amounts of damage galore! At least, in comparison to what I was doing as a WHM. I ended up buying the +1 versions of the Seer's set since I couldn't buy the normal ones for the price I wanted (the non +INT components) so I decided to splurge a little, although 6k for +1 MP and +1 DEF is rather steep...

I would also have a pair of Wisdom Rings, but for goodness knows what reason, they all sold out overnight! Hopefully I won't have to pay through my little-wittle nose to get my pair (once my Mythril Sheets sell in Jeuno...)

It feels rather odd coming back to pre-40 days, when the Red Mage doesn't have Refresh and Bards are well, as scarce as ever. Thieves who don't know how to SATA. Underleveled subjobs. Shouts for Raises when the White Mage actually bit the dust. People who don't fire off a skillchain. (although to their credit, I kept messing up the elements :P) The Crawler's Nest yet again...

...it's still fun, especially when you can singlehandedly kill a mob by spamming Thundaga, Blizzaga and Aero II for about 700 damage to kill a mob from just over 1/3 its life. That's without a Magic Burst thrown in there, too. ^^ I'm having second thoughts on switching though. All my friends I made during my WHM days are still up there, leveling away, and I will eventually be left behind. I don't have the time to go level up two different jobs simultaneously, especially when soon, I'll have to level RDM to keep up with the BLM/RDM. I wonder, will I even use /WHM anytime soon?

I was originally BLM, and coming back brings all sorts of nostalgia to the job. But I already kinda miss being a WHM (partially because I can no longer get to Rabao easily >_<). We'll see what happens.

My Jacket! ^^

I never thought it'd actually happen, given the lack of partying I've been doing thus far this week. When the day started, I had all but a lonely 1,000 experience into Level 57, and getting 19,000 more was a daunting task, even for the two days I had left if I were to keep to my plan. But as the title says, somehow, it happened.

Probably because I didn't do a whole lot of anything else. I actually played in two parties over the course of today, my first being a party in the Gustav Tunnel in the afternoon. We couldn't stay for very long, somewhere between 60 and 90 minutes, with a RDM, WHM, BLM, SAM, NIN, DRK setup. After the DRK (Totipotent, who's on my friends list) accidentally pulled way too many goblins to start things off (three IT Goblins and a Leech took him down real quick), the xp started to flow in after that.

Some things learnt: I am personally not a huge fan of the trio mage configuration when accompanied by a Ninja. I literally ran out of things to do. Normally, I'd Frost or Slow/Paralyze in the absence of a Red Mage or Black Mage, but since they had both parts covered, I'd do my usual spiel of Haste, Barwatera (or Fira), Regen II, possibly, and end up waiting for the Haste timer to reset for the other melee, or Bubble Shower so my Erase can get to work. If it were late at night, I probably would've fallen asleep.

Unfortunately, people had to go, so I went back to the Jeuno waitbench. I myself had things to do personally, so it was many hours later that I finally went back to party searching, although now, the Japanese were starting to log on.

I'm not sure what it is now. I'm now somewhat uncomfortable with partying with the Japanese, and I suspect it's more than just the language barrier. I ended up seeking for a bit before a tell came in from a Ranger named Vani:

"JP{Party}ok?"
"ii yo ^^"

This party was one I did not want to leave. Two Rank 10 members, one of which was our Ninja fully equipped with a Scorpion Harness +1. As a quick recap, the party was NIN/THF/RNG/WHM/BLM/BRD. We were killing and chaining literally nonstop, and we even hit 302xp gained on a Chain #4- even the Japanese were commenting on how they've never had 300+xp before, and our ridiculous pace of killing things. The full Distortion would deal about 1,400 damage to the mob, and with my Hasting the Thief and Ranger, you can get an idea of just how often we pulled off the skillchain. In fact, the only time we missed Chain #4 was when a new arriving (NA) party came running in shouting "RUN", dragging behind them three Robber Crabs and a Velociraptor to the Valley of Sorrows zone. Needless to say, the Japaneses' impression of the North American FF community wasn't improved in the least, although they were certainly good conversation with me. Heck, I wonder if they even know I'm not American.

While I'm at it, I might as well put down my opinion on this NA vs. JP debacle. Yes, there are bad players from both sides, and there are also very good ones. Unfortunately, in my experience, the general quality of an English-speaking party is less than that of a Japanese party, and it's something I really don't want to see. But by the time you're Level 58 and Rank 5 or 6, you should know better than to have an underleveled sobjob. You should know better than to ignore the BLM's choice of skillchain. You should know better than to train mobs into three other parties when someone in your party messed up and got aggroed. These are things I'd expect to see down in the Yuhtunga Jungle, not Cape Terrigan, or the Kuftal Tunnel, or wherever. Granted, to categorise all English-speaking players under this blanket is grotesquely unfair (although to our credit, people at their 50s seem to have their gear and spells up to date), but there are certainly more English players who just do not present themselves to their full (or near-full) potential.
At least the conversation's better.

Anyway, the party went on. And on. And on. Many many hours later (more like three, really), I had reached 15,000xp into Level 57, and was actually smelling my jacket that I had brought with me in the faint hope that the party would actually give me my requisite 12,000xp. A little under an hour later, the stars flew, the lights shined, and the golden lettering of "Congratulations!" popped above my head. I am Level 58!

All the Japanese were happy to see me in my jacket, and to be honest, I am very happy about it too. The jacket (okay, Briault) makes me that White Mage I saw on the chocobo goodness knows how many months ago that inspired me to take the White Mage route. It makes me that White Mage I've wanted to be for all that time. I am finally an accomplished White Mage (not to mention the difficulty of getting the Briault in the first place...) All that's left now is to don my Healer's Mitts at Level 60, since the Devotee's Mitts do look rather gray...

About one hour later, I had called for an end. I was 2:30 in the morning, and we had been going on for 4-5 hours. I helped our Bard (Takeke) hit level 58, since he was just 700xp away when I said I'd go, and we all gladly stuck around for one last chain.
The Ninja (Wecker) MB'ed Mijin Gakure to finish. ^^ All in all, a very good night.

One Piece Down.

From the lack of updates, one can tell that not a heck of a lot has been going on recently in Vana'diel. At least, not on the party scene anyway. For some strange reason, there's been a sudden lack of any tank whatsoever as of late, and when all you see are Dark Knights, Samurais and the obligatory 3-4 Dragoons during peak hour, it's time to focus your attention onto other endeavours.

Like Goldsmithing. :)

We passed through a Darksdays with Full Moon. Well, not quite. Lightsday had a 100% moon while Darksday had to contend with just 98% but I'm not complaining here. I just so happened to finish collecting up my four stacks of Mythril Beastcoins, so I headed down to Bastok to craft them up. Some might wonder why I don't just craft up in Jeuno since I've past the cap for making Mythril Ingots via Beastcoins, but I prefer to get the Advanced Imagery Support, no matter what. Put it this way, would you rather 120 gil, or losing even one Mythril Beastcoin and the Fire Crystal? (Not to mention having to troop down to the Bastok AH to get a replacement.)

For some reason or another though, I just decided to check what the going rate for Mythril Ingots were in Bastok. I used to sell them at 78,000 a stack before I noticed Jeuno was 82,000, and given that Bastok's Mythril economy is fairly stable, I wasn't expecting a surprise.

Mythril Ingots were going for 90,000 a stack.

Blinking a few times, I double checked the figures that showed themselves on the screen. This wasn't someone who just decided to be funny. This was a consistent 90k+ trend on stacks of Mythril Ingots, and someone even paid 95k for a stack. There was little doubt I'd put up more stacks for sale, but the problem was that the AH had just 15 pieces of Mythril Ore left. That, and with Darksday, Full Moon, it was a very good time to skillup my Goldsmithing.

Enter the Goldsmith's Guild. Thanks to my Rank 10 Bastok fame, the guild was selling Mythril Ores to me at 1,500 gil each. Note that this is still 150% of my usual buying price, but I didn't want to alter the price history of the Bastok AH by buying all the Mythril there, although in retrospect, injecting extra Mythril was probably a mistake. I do a quick calculation, that told me that even with 1,500gil Ores and 3,000gil Fire Crystals, a stack of Mythril Ingots still cost me 75,000gil to make. I'm looking at 15,000gil profit, even when I buy all my raw materials from the guild itself. Wow.

Many guild purchases later, I have made two more stacks of Mythril Ingots. Even better, all this Mythril has bumped up my Goldsmithing, and I am now Goldsmithing 40.0! /cheer
Alas, the guild master requested a Chain Gorget out of me, and after seeing the 10k price of a Gorget on the AH, I decided to suck it up and use the 6 Silver Ingots I had saved up instead. /grumble. At least I am now recognised as an apprentice to the Goldsmith's Guild. Hah! Unfortunately, it's now time to blow up a lot of money. Silver Bangles and Mythril Rings... /shudder

I also starting taking another look at assembling my Black Mage gear. I have most of the body pieces now, only lacking the shoes and trousers, and while I am still undecided on getting a pair of Garrison Boots (which incidentally rose to 70k /fume), the Seer's Slacks are a piece of cake. Whether I'm willing to chuck another 8-9k for +1MP and a Seer's Slacks +1 to show off is another thing entirely. The next thing on my list was the Morion Tathlum.

53k is still a lot of money, even when I have saved up quite a bit over the course of my Mythril (and incidentally, the sales of my three stacks of Mythril Ingots brought me to a very nice 420k or so), but reading up on the Morion Worm got me thinking that for something that was as simple as it sounded, 53k wasn't worth it. So I set off to looky-up the spawn points of the ??? in the Korroloka Tunnels, and soon, I was off.

As it turns out, getting the ??? in the first place is hard enough without having to contend with the drop. I first went down with Akanea, a DRG friend who's an all-around swell-well guy, and he gave me a Linkpearl to his Linkshell, where I met up with some other people I've bumped into on my adventaruing. We were lucky when we got in there from the East Altepa Desert- the ??? was pretty much a half minute walk into the tunnel itself. We killed it with little difficulty and...

You find a chunk of copper ore on the Morion Worm.
You find a chunk of copper ore on the Morion Worm.
You find a chunk of tin ore on the Morion Worm.

/fume

Our problem now was that we hadn't the foggiest idea where the other five spawn points were. I mean, I had a rough idea, but that clearly wasn't going to get us far. I tried later in the day with Xiaoke, when he was randomly bored out of his mind and decided to come and help me (although I don't see how camping an NM is any better) and splitting up, we managed to find the ??? again after beating a few Tathlum hunters to the ???. Unfortunately, no drop either. It was somewhere around this time I met Xiaot, who was also camping the Morion Worm. Some chatting later, I find he's from Hong Kong, and given that he's in full DRG AF with a good /THF, I don't think he's gilselling at all. So we chat for a bit, knowing we are rivals at the "Find the ??? first" game.

Over the next hour or so, I manage to chance upon the ??? one more time, and this time get Iron Ores instead. /sigh 0/3 so far. About 15 minutes later, when the two spots I've been camping don't show up, I decide to check out the others, and bump into Xiaot, who has got the kill and the Tathlum. He offers to sell me the Tathlum for 50k, but as Xiaoke said, if you buy it, it just doesn't have that much meaning to it, but if you hunted the NM and got it yourself, that's something else altogether. Seeing as how I was a little tired out at this point, I pretty much give up and log out for a while.

Fast forward many hours later. I log back into the Korroloka Tunnels and try it out again. I see Xiaot still there, still hunting down that elusive ???. Apparently, he took just took a few hours nap and is back to the hunt. About ten minutes into it all, I see the ??? spawn up before me for the fourth time.



I'm at half of my usual MP, thanks to randomly throwing out Cure IIs and IIIs on the Rangers who are solo'ing on Land Worms in the tunnel, and quickly /panic upon this discovery. Fortunately, I remember I can Stoneskin and Aspir to keep things going pretty much indefinitely, although at this point, Xiaot decides to show up. I give him a /wave and figure, why not, he seems to be a nice enough guy. I ask him: "Do you want to help? ^^"

I send a party invite, and he quickly makes short work of the Morion Worm. I didn't even get a chance to Barstonra he and I. >_< Anyway, the drops roll in:

You find a chunk of copper ore on the Morion Worm.
You find a chunk of copper ore on the Morion Worm.
You find a chunk of tin ore on the Morion Worm.
You find a morion tathlum on the Morion Worm.

He passes, I lot and the Tathlum is mine!!! /cheer

I figure since he's a nice enough guy, I might as well stick around and help him try to get another Tathlum. He was a little bit confused, saying "You only want one?" Of course I needed just one, and quickly explained to him I needed the Tathlum for my Black Mage. He understood my situation after that. ^^

So we chatted. Xiaoke randomly logged in so we talked some more. We talked until we forgot about the time and missed the ??? that spawned right behind us. It was rather funny, and some other high-level group spawned the Worm before we realised the 15 minutes had passed. At least they got the Tathlum. ^^ We keep track of the time. Another group spawns the Worm. Another 15 minutes later, Xiaot finds the ??? over on his end of the tunnel. He, too gets another Tathlum to sell, along with a Darksteel Ore for his troubles. 55k for 15 minutes work isn't too shabby, although with Goldsmithing to support me, and the luck involved in the drops (and camping the NM to begin with), I don't think I'll be hunting the Morion Worm again anytime soon.

My shopping list goes down by yet another item, and I'm starting to get excited about leveling up Black Mage again. Only two Morion Earrings, two Wisdom Rings, Garrison Boots and Seer's Slacks to go. ; ;