Speed Demon Bard

Wow wtf time flew by quickly. I've already been in the US for almost a month. In 10 days I've managed to get bard from level 25 to 43 -- a testament to bard's speed leveling ability. How long you think it would take me to 75 on my casual playing schedule?

As some of you may know, I have decided against all end-game activities for now, except save for maybe a random assault or besieged here and there. Main reason is that I like the care-free playing style I have now and would like to keep it that way. Also get to focus on things I really put aside for a long time.

I've been enjoying crafting and leveling on the side. I've synthed some interesting rare stuff: akinji nails, sai +1, mar's hexagun +1, more luisant solerets. It's earned me a little pocket money, but honestly it almost gets entirely blown on damascus ingots. 0/23 running tally on HQ haubergeon :( I even broke one damascus ingot. It immediately made me think of Daodao, the owner of the only other d. ingot I've broken. It's just something you gotta take in stride, moving forward I'm sure there will be plenty more opportunities to earn money. 87.4 smithing, and 70k/150k on my smithing anvil. Check back with me in a month or so ;)

In other news, FFXIAH has made a very cool new feature that links to the linkshell community information -- providing equipment, jobs, crafting levels, current job/sub and title. See it in action. No more having to update every single piece of data manually! Thanks guys!

The Balladless Bard

I decided to play some bard to see how I like it, especially since I hate to seek for such a long time. Well, I gotta tell you that invites are quick. Heck I even get invites while bazaaring in Batallia Downs. The downside to all this quick leveling is, there is no motivation to buy any gear at all, since you'd be likely to just sell it within a day or two. So, instead I've been wearing my smithing and fishing gear, and replacing it with CHR gear as it becomes available. Why waste valuable AH spaces to sell boring gear that will take a week to sell anyways?

I can't even find a Mage's ballad scroll on the AH. The one on there now is at least 70k, more than twice the worth of the scroll. Maybe I'll be forced to do the actual quest o.o; Until then I'm a ballad-less level 25 bard! How embarassing!

In crafting news: I got smithing to 86, 0/1 on Hauby (10% ice new moon), and HQed pair of luisant solerets :D I'm no sugar daddy yet though.

I'm Back!

I am back, and jet lagged as ever! I sleep when I feel like it, get headaches at the strangest times and today I have to work! SWEET
.

In any case, it's great to be back. Being in a foreign country for six months has its ups and downs. My Chinese has improved: 其实我的中文非常差。I read about 19 dragonball z comics in Chinese, and have raised my spoken and listening fluency. I was even able to communicate with some gilsellers. I talked to Demolamane / Peterli / whoever he might be now. He was nice, invited me out to Fujian where they are located for a dinner and drinking hahah. I unfortunately never had a chance to meet up with them. What a pity!

On the other hand, if you're going to China for work or for visit: I highly recommend against Guangdong. I know, I know, that is where all the jobs are at. But seriously it IS the manufacturing center of the manufacturing power house of the world. Just think: factories shrouded by smog as far as you can see or even imagine. Beyond that, the Guangdong culture is the most abrasive and competitive environment in China. Do not go.

I'm back and I ask: what am I doing in Vanadiel. Not the bad kind of question, but I realize that everyone needs to have a goal in order to enjoy the game. Whether it be that special set of equipment, or some level on some job. Setting goals is part of the game and is the main reason we keep coming back.

Here are a list of my goals:
- 99 Smithing
- Haubergeon +1
- 60 on all subcrafts
- 100 Fishing
- 75 BST (with WYLE only)


It's a pretty short list atm and includes no equipment goals. In fact, to tell you the truth I sold a lot of my equipment to have operating cash for my crafts.

What are your goals in game? I'm curious to hear!

84 Smithing!

This is not actually worth congratulating. This is the first smithing skill in maybe nine months. I need to keep up with it and continue buying materials. It's a very slow process though. I wonder how many people are actually making it into the 90s these days.

In other crafting news, I've been pushing my leathercraft (50), clothcraft (53), and goldsmithing (51) all simultaneously. I figure just keep at it and slowly get there. That's the only sustainable way. I've also gotten fishing to 48. Shall shells are pretty profitable, but they finish at 53. From then on, I won't be making serious money until 60. Slowly but surely, right?

I will be coming back to the states (permanently) on the 22nd of June. Look forward to seeing everyone on more normal times! I am not committing to any activities at the moment, and I probably will just continue to keep it low key: crafting and bst. I can't wait to use my anniversary ring to skip my bst into some good levels :D Expect Wyle and I to be BSTing once again!

Whoa

Well, I managed to axe one of my mules. But I still have one in Bastok that is taking forever to sell everything. This month is her last. Turns out I was holding somewhere between 200-300k worth of goods per mule. Just had to sit at the AH and sell EVERYTHING. What a pain!

You know being gone for a long time and seeing the economy drop like it did is crazy. Some items are worth as little as 10% of the original price. All items dropped, but some dropped far less than others, especially HQ items. I've been considering cashing out some of my non-HQ more common items that are worth quite a bit (like cassie earring and gigant mantle) to buy HQ. Anyways, with the price as low as it is now this may be my only chance to buy HQ. Well, at least I can say that I'm glad I held onto my cash since it's worth so much more now!

Not much new otherwise, though I did get fishing to 46 *spins his party favor and blows his kazoo*

... wtf 4 mules?

After not playing for nearly six weeks and then logging into my account... why do I have four mules? So I can keep everything that I ever get under the Vanadiel sun for a rainy day? What a waste of money. I'm going to delete two mules and more actively empty the inventories of some of these mules. In particular, I'm going to keep my San d'Orian and Windurst mules, while deleting the Bastok and Jeuno ones. I just didn't push enough inventory through those two to make it worth keeping them. I have a feeling that the city economies are losing strength to Jeuno since the release of Aht Urghan. What do you think?

Well, I've been using all my free time to study Chinese, and it's been paying off. I expanded my vocabulary by approximately 500-1000 words and read five chinese "books"... ok ok well if you can call Dragonball Manga a book ;) I'm thinking about finally picking up a little play time (3-5 hours per week) again by leveling BST with Wyle. Slowly but surely, and definitely not hardcore. Just want to take my time and enjoy without compromising chinese study time.

CelestialKnights has broken and reformed under a new name: MaliciousIntent. Anaeran is moving on from FFXI to Vanguard and finishing his degree with a flourish. A lot of former CK members are on temporary (or perhaps even permanent) leave, and the new MI is trying to rebuild membership with new members, and ex-CK members who have decided to return. More or less trying to keep things going. No hard feelings for everyone. I want to say that it was a blast building up CK together with everyone who was involved. CK#2 R.I.P. May 2005 - January 2007.

I wonder how the rest of Vanadiel is faring, especially end-game. Best of luck to all in 2007. Happy spring festival and hope to see you in Vanadiel!

The day has come

Tonight I'll be flying to Hong Kong, and then busing it to Dongguan, China, a smaller industrial city located in between Shenzhen and Guangzhou. I will be working as a mechanical engineer for a small consulting firm that has a Chinese office, something quite unique for this type of business. We export American problems and import solutions. I'll be there to bring mechanical analysis, english, and the Acorn way (the name of my company). It will be a little bit of everything: training people, meeting with clients, facilitate communication between the headquarters and our chinese office, and so on. For me, I don't think there could be anything more appropriate :)

Much love to all my FFXI friends. Although you won't see me as much, you will definitely see me. My playing times will be nights in China and weekends. I hope we can continue doing fun stuff together :) Wyle and I are going to be lvling BST, I'll lvl rdm on my own. I'll also work on my smithing and fishing. Maat's cap? >.> Maaaaybe! Slivers and Apocalypse Nigh anyone?

中国人！别着急了。我快要到达中国了。我等不了。你下次去东莞，你应该到我家玩儿玩儿。请给我打一个电话 :)

一会儿见.

America, good night. China, good morning.