And so, something possessed me today to actually go about completing the Gobbiebag, Part III.
To the uninitiated, the Gobbiebag is a series of six quests, each of which increase your inventory's carrying capacity by five items each. All the quests involve are bringing four items, primarily crafted (and then bought on the AH) to this goblin who is in Lower Jeuno. As one might imagine, these items are not cheap, but they are bearable. The combined total for all four items for Gobbiebag I, for example, definitely cost less than 20k in total.
Then comes Gobbiebag III. Among the items required are a square of velvet cloth and black tiger leather, which is none too difficult to get. The kicker comes in the other two items: a gold ingot, and a painite. The gold ingot cost me 30k, and the painite, 40k. Both Goldsmithing items. In total, I spent roughly 80k on Gobbiebag III alone. Fortunately, after that, things were rather smooth sailing, and I managed to complete both Gobbiebag IV and V without much of a hitch, especially since the materials for V are so very cheap, especially when you can make some of the required items. (Now VI, on the other hand...let's not go there yet ^^)
Why, one might ask, didn't I make half the Gobbiebag III items for myself when I am a Goldsmither? The problem lies in the items themselves. A Gold Ingot's cost of production is either 4 Gold Beastcoins at 7k each, plus the Fire Crystal, so about 28,300 gil. That's assuming I can get Gold Beastcoins at 7k each, but in reality, they go for 8k each instead. That already overshoots the AH listed price, and that's assuming I do not fail in the synthesis, which is by no means guaranteed (see below to get a better idea). The other item, the Painite comes from a Level 20 synth of a Black Rock, which Goldsmithers use to 'carve' out black jewels. The problem is that the Painite is an HQ2 synth, and is rather hard to get, even though I'm about 34 levels higher. I would also require a plentiful supply of Black Rocks, of which there were no feasible ones, and every non-Painite jewel I make is a loss. So in the end, I just bit it, and bought everything.
On the plus side, I now have 55 slots in my inventory, and figure I could fit a ram in my bag- I have no idea what I'd use all that space for! ^^
Also tried my hand at skilling up my crafts (as usual). Alchemy went okay- I'm at the Silent Oil stage where synthing it is a loss, since Beeswax is so expensive, but I only lose around 3.5k for each stack of Beeswax that I use, so that's bearable, at least. 4 stacks of Beeswax later, I find myself at Alchemy 21.9, and good to keep going. Smithing, on the other hand...well. I thought I could synth up some extra Darksteel Ingots for profit, since the Ingots are quite a good way to make a quick buck. Materials cost around 11k, and they sell quick for 15k each. Unfortunately...
...I try my hand at seven synths. Break five of them, and lose 3 Darksteel Ores and 8 Iron Ores in the process for a total of 30k down the drain. The two synths I do make barely even cover that kind of loss, and I'm both mystified and miffed at how I failed that much. Must be something about Earthsday..../fume.
On the xp front, I've since taken to leveling up exclusively in BLM parties. Spoilt rotten? Probably. It's sad when I get a /tell in Japanese, and I reject the party offer, since for the most part, it's just not worth it to try and xp in a regular party setting anymore. Over the last two days, I've had just three BLM parties, and have since gained a level and a half since the first one. Given that tnls are in the 30,000s right now, you can imagine just how fast we were going. It's interesting to see the Black Mage community look out for one another, and I keep contact with many Black Mages from all ends of the planet, since to my recollection, only two Black Mages have refused a BLM party. Oh well, their loss.
That, and knowing Bards around your level are also pretty darn useful. ^^
Last, but not least, the best part about BLM parties is that it's a show in {Tarutaru}{Power} :D That's right, the little people are up, and let's not forget the awesome postcard-like screenshots one can take with fellow Tarutaru:
That was the 2nd BLM party out of three that day. Not the standard 5 Black Mage setup, but I dragged Fishura in as well since he was curious what a Black Mage party was like, and I figured with Refresh, Ballad, and Ballad II on, we'd keep the chains coming. And keep them coming, we did. Fishura commented how he'd never have to use Convert in such a party, and while we couldn't quite kill the mob with the initial Freeze volley, the subsequent Stun and three Blizzard IIIs would put an end to that. Needless to say, we were all very happy, though I wonder what the other party must've thought. There wasn't any real competition for mobs, although we did notice a significant improvement once the other party left and we had the place to ourselves. As I write, Hirushi and I are still in contact about trying to get another BLM party going, Epps is a good friend of mine who has been leveling with me since I first met him around BLM55, and Tearl has signed up for any form of a BLM static that we make. Hah!
BLM-ing does have its disadvantages though. I hardly recall any skillchain, and this newfangled Level 3 skillchains (ala Light and Darkness) are all gibberish to me. Not to mention that you drive all the other parties nuts by literally killing everything (one crowded weekend night, we ended up killing Elder Goobbue and Korrigan as well!), and are probably a huge annoyance to all the other parties who need a Black Mage, but can't get one since five of them are in your party. Oops...
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