Resolve...

I know I've gone through the age-old debate about "what to max, what to max" and for the longest time, my focus seemed to have jumped in between Black Mage and Red Mage.

However, given certain changes of events, I think I'll settle down and go ahead with the original plan: Black Mage.

This is for a number of reasons, mostly personal. For one, I have my Sorcerer's Petasos. ^^ (That's always a good start, by the way. :P) However, in order to really maximise out my Red Mage, I'd need the corresponding Duelist's Chapeau.

There is a catch though. I can no longer go to Dynamis on a regular basis. Like I said, I needed a four month break to set things straight in real life, and frankly speaking, I no longer have the time to dedicate a four-hour stretch to a Dynamis read, yet alone one that starts and ends in the wee hours of the morning. It's a little unfortunate that I never got to complete the Sorcerer's set, missing the Coat in particular, so if anything, I'll probably just join in on Explorer II's "earlier" runs and hope to complete it that way.

At least the hard one's done, thank goodness.

But more importantly, I know I've been called to help on my Black Mage quite a lot, whether it be for random NMs, missions, KS fights or whatnot. In addition, I've taken to soloing in Mount Zhayolm, and boosting my BLM would be beneficial in this respect, not to mention the various Ebony Pudding parties I've hosted over the past couple of days.

As such, I've been meriting quite a lot. I've already noted that I've completed my BLM's Group 1 merits, and have since unlocked Level 1 Freeze II and Burst II. I'd go about getting the others, but I feel the other categories are more important for now, namely my Elemental Magic skill, which I've pushed up to Level 3.

I still don't quite know how I'm going to divine my Elemental and Enfeebling merits. Currently, it's sitting at 3 to Elemental and 2 to Enfeebling, but I haven't decided if I want to go 5-3, 4-4 or 8-0.

See, the problem is, I'm missing a few key pieces of gear here and there that, while I can certainly do without, still bothers me a little bit. Namely, an Uggalepih Pendant, a Sorcerer's Ring, but more importantly, a pair of Zenith Mitts. Like I said, I don't think I can dedicate the time to go to sky, so it looks like I'm out of luck there.

Right now, I'm aiming to complete a set of Yigit for some resting gear, although I certainly haven't been taking Asault seriously. It's nice to do once in a while, but the drive is no longer in me for some reason. Right now, if I were to use up the four passes I have stored up, for example, I'd complete my Yigit Turban, but oh well.

Maybe I'm just getting complacent. ^^ In any case, I've also recieved news that I will have to take another extended break from the game in about two months time, which has really put the crimp on my plans. Oh well, we'll see how things go from there. ^^