16 September, 2008

Level Sync'ed and loving it!

To the surprise of nobody, {Level Sync} has pretty much rewritten how xp goes in this new, revamped world of Vana'diel.


Fortunately, I like the changes. :D

Level Sync has certainly made it easier to party, although I have noticed that the good camps are also saturated a little bit quicker, probably due to the fact that it is now easier to assemble a party together.

I haven't quite figured out all the ramifications of {Level Sync}'s impact, although I imagine that the big plus coming from Level Sync will be that it allows an alternate route past certain very troublesome stages, for example the 49-52 stretch where there aren't very many ideal places to party, and the early 70s for melee characters.

To summarize the major happenings of the last few months or so, I've picked up a new job of interest and have started re-leveling my Ranger. I literally went on a rampage, leveling from RNG58 to 63 in the span of maybe four real life days after I decided, on a whim, to get myself an Othinus' Bow.

Admittedly, that added to the list of other random RA/EX RNG items I have randomly picked up, so yeah, why not level my Ranger some more? :P

In any case, party invites feel more common now, which is probably a good thing, except for one caveat- holy cripes RNG ammunition is expensive. >_<

For the record, I am a crossbow ranger. Part of that was because after purchasing a Eurytos' Bow, I read up on the differences between Archery and Marksmanship before coming to the conclusion that Archery didn't really have much place in endgame. Thus, goodbye Eurytos' Bow, hello er, Armbrust!

Of course, my getting my Othinus' Bow also solidifies the argument in Marksmanship's favour. :P

Because the mobs I've been xp'ing off lately (Colibris and Puks) are all strong against wind, I've taken to using only Darksteel Bolts in my xp parties. So far, on average, I've been using roughly four quivers every hour. A stack of quivers costs 100k.

It was only after the end of last night, at the end of a rather insane party where I actually used an entire stack of quivers, that I realised that over the last few levels, I had spent well over 300k on ammunition alone. That does not include some rather pricey purchases I also made when my RNG dinged 60 and 61, namely Deadeye Gloves (250k), a Precise Belt (125k) and an Amemit Mantle +1 (220k). Ouch. XD

Suffice to say, my walletaru has taken a substantial hit, so it's time to ease off on the RNG for a bit. ^^;

But I just dinged into my Fransisca! My Othinus' Bow is just another four levels away! >_<