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)