21 March, 2005

Operation Desert Swarm

As time progresses, I grow closer and closer to Level 73, which is the level that I get to wear what many consider to be the best BLM body gear available- the Igqira Weskit (at least, best NQ gear). Stat-wise, it's very sweet, with "Magic Attack Bonus +6", "Elemental magic Skill +5" and "Conserve MP +2", and it's the staple for pretty much all Black Mages 73+, unless you really needed +Elemental magic skill, in which case the Black Cloak offers slightly more. That all goes to moot once you have a Sorcerer's Petasos, but that's a very long way away...

The problem is, the Weskit is roughly 1.8 million gil.

I am aware that to many players out there, 1.8 million is not really a big deal. However, I don't have the brute farming powers of a Thief or a Dark Knight, nor the access to a HNMLS or sky LS to get multi-million drops which, when split, still give each members a very tidy chunk of change. Personally, the most money I've ever had on me at any one time was just a little sky of 900k. This is twice that.

Today was yet another Black Mage party en route to that level. Cannon invited me into a party in King Ranperre's Tomb, and we had a Red Mage instead of a Bard. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of Red Mages in BLM parties since the demand to keep Refresh up on six people and still pull is too much for some Red Mages to handle. We even got to the camp to find a Monk party obliterating the place, and we end up trying to camp in the far east room. Things are okay for a bit, until we get low-HP aggro whilst trying for Chain #6 and I typically die. I get Raised, and die again due to another accident, and then get Raised a second time, then die a third time when weakness wore off, a Hati aggro'ed on me, and nobody did anything. I didn't want Cannon to Escape us earlier since I assumed people would realise that I'd be aggro'ed and step in to intervene, but I guess I was mistaken.

Suffice to say, that was pretty discouraging, not that I had any real desire to hit 73. Anyway, we ended up helping an alliance out with San d'Oria Mission 6-2, where you fight three NM Skeletons in King Ranperre's Tomb, since we were closeby. It was rather funny how we essentially stole the show, toasting all the skeletons, BLM style. Anyway, we disbanded after that, since I had planned to go mine for a bit.

Then, Railston asked if I wanted to go on a Kindred's Seal BCNM run.

A bit of background for those unfamiliar. Kindred Seal's are basically another form of Beastman's Seal that drops off Level 40+ mobs. The difference is that while Beastman Seal BCNM fights have a level cap, determined by the number of seals you traded in, Kindred Seal BCNM fights are uncapped. Thus, the potential for greater rewards are much harder. For BLMs, there is a particular favourite Kindred Seal BCNM fight that many BLMs use for money- the Waughroon Shrine Lachesis Orb KS30, Operation Desert Swarm.

When one does this BCNM fight, one is essentially looking for just one drop- the Venomous Claw. It's current going rate is hovering around 5 million gil, which was more than enough to cover the costs of my Igqira Weskit, and have plenty left over to buy me some HQ staves, a Penitent's Rope, or maybe get my Goldsmithing up some more. Unfortunately, all the other drops leave much to be desired, hovering around the 160k mark. Anyway, this BCNM fight is literally taking candy from a baby with enough (4-5) BLMs. Railston invited me to his party, and I say {Hello!} to its members.

Two of the members happen to be Wadian and Shak, both successful and rather (in)famous gil-sellers. Actually, both of them are part of the Kuftal group that continuously camps Amemit and the Phantom Worm. They are now full-fledged Level 75s, and Wadian even has his own HNMLS by his own name. I know some people in his HNMLS, including both Railston and I hear Traktor is also in the linkshell, although I haven't actually seen him around recently. Personally, I don't know what to think of Railston being in the LS, but that's a different subject altogether.

Anyway, we eventually get Wadian (NIN) and five BLMs to go down to Waughroom Shrine. The plan was simple. At a given time, everyone -ga III all the scorpions, then someone Sleepga II. Wait for the -ga timer to reset, then -ga III again for the kill. Piece of cake. Unfortunately, Shak didn't fully understand the instructions and ended up casting Sleepga II instead of Thundaga III and as a result, we all wiped out. We tried to Reraise and finish it off, but we wiped again due to more misunderstandings. So...

Fortunately, we then simplified things to everyone except Railston Thundaga III (or in my case, Blizzaga III) while Railston was the sole Sleepga-er. That went all well, and we went through all the remaining orbs with no further incident.



Unfortunately, out of all five Lachesis Orbs that we used for this particular BCNM fight, not a single Venomous Claw dropped. ; ; I personally got a Warwolf Belt (175k), a chunk of Gold Ore (10k), an Anubis's Dagger (1k...), a H.Q. Scorpion Shell (3k...the claw is the "HQ" drop of this), a Phoenix Feather (3k) and a RA/EX Katana. {/sigh} We actually went back to Jeuno to get a second round of Lachesis Orbs and did the whole thing all over again. Eleven battles later, we were 0/11 on the Venomous Claw. ; ;

This Weskit is starting to look very far indeed...

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