Arggghhhh...

It's been a good long while since my last entry into this bloggaru. What can I say? I just haven't been playing much recently. ^^;



What time I do spend in Vana'diel though, has been spent trying to level up my Summoner. It's a very drastic change of pace from the free-flowing invites one gets as any of the other mage classes, although I saw this one coming. The reason is fairly simple- most people don't know what to do with a Summoner. Heck, I don't know what to do with a Summoner. Each party setup I think of, something would be better by replacing me with a different job. There's the question of what a Summoner brings to the table, but the severe time limit in between Blood Pacts in comparison with their low impact makes it difficult to really justify my existence in a party, or so I feel.



Anyway, I'm out to get a party and I see a party setup lfg. It's not perfect since the majority of the members are 46-48, but my BLM would be 45. Regardless, I send the necessary /tells to people, and the BLM is okay with being just a little low for the party.



The party setup is PLD WAR RNG RDM SAM BLM. I gathered everybody together, but the WAR was the only one who did not reply.

1) When looking for a party, make sure you're actually there to take the invite, or at least check back frequently! There are as few things as aggravating as sending an invite, to having no reply.

So I've now gathered PLD RNG RDM BLM SMN, and I'm looking around for someone who can skillchain with the RNG. Only the WAR is looking for a party, and he's not replying. After some debate, I decide to get a White Mage, making the party setup WHM RDM BLM SMN RNG PLD. We then head off to the Crawler's Nest, before I decide that seeing how we're low on damage, we need to amplify whatever damage we actually do, and given a RNG's bonus damage versus fliers, we change course for the Garlaige Citadel to xp off Funnel Bats.



No sooner do we arrive at Garlaige Citadel, does something crop up for the WHM. He says it's a family thing, so I guess it's understandble. I manage to replace him easily with a WAR who also just started seeking, but by this time our BLM is starting to run low on time, so we figure it'd be better to replace her in advance, too. To be fair, she gave me prior warning that she only had an hour and a half, and about half an hour had since elapsed. Another BLM was also seeking, so the replacements were swapped in quickly, and I get ready to head off to xp.



What I did not get, on the other hand, was that no sooner do we invite both the replacement WAR and BLM does the PLD then accounce that he had to go fetch his sister someplace in about ten minutes.



He would be back in about half an hour.



I am not a happy taru.

2) When looking for a party, be sure that you can actually stay for the duration of the party! Granted, this could be difficult, but letting your party leader know of either any interruptions, or a {Short time} party, you save a whole lot of headaches. Most people seem to agree on two hours being a good length for a party.

The PLD ends up taking a whole lot longer than the half an hour he said he'd take, during which time the RDM has given up and leaves the party. We hang around at the basement of Garlaige Citadel for a bit, sitting around.



Time elapses. The daily routine of life goes on. Parties come, parties go. Somewhere over in the Boyahda Tree, people are farming Bark Spiders for silk while leveling their NPC fellow. And we were stuck here, waiting for our Paladin to return.



It didn't help that we didn't actually know when he left, since he just left without letting us know.

3) If you are leaving, whether it just be a bathroom break or something, make sure people know! It doesn't take very long to say "afk" or {Away}, and it lets people plan accordingly.

After forty-five minutes or so, I decide to call it quits, and disband the party. I go about apologising for the lack of party, and saying my goodbyes. The RNG logs off.



And the PLD returns.



/em bangs her head on the wall.



Frustrated, I end up disbanding the party anyway. Someone up there clearly didn't want me leveling today. >_<