Patience & Planning

I want to talk a little bit about what I consider to be long term goals for me in Final Fantasy XI. Now, I'm not quite sure all of them will come to completion. Perhaps if I had the same mindset now several years ago when I first started...maybe. Then again, I still think FFXI has plenty of life left in it and if I had the discipline I think I lack (for a lot of things) I think they're all very doable.

Anyhow, in short...I think my goal from the very beginning was to level every job. Now, some people probably think, "Yes, that's extremely unreasonable." However, I don't think it is. There will, of course be a lot of sacrifices. But there are some things you have to keep in mind...not every single job has gear that ONLY it can wear. If you level Dragoon and Dark Knight, you're not going to have 16 Equipment pieces for Dragoon TP, 16 for Dragoon WS, then another 32 for Dark Knight. Especially if you PLAN for it.

Now, granted, that's a pretty easy one to get by. Saying, "Well, it won't be so easy if I level Paladin and a Black Mage." That's very true. There are still ways to cut corners -- and for any naysayers out there, just because we're making sacrifices and cutting corners doesn't mean we're gimping our jobs. I'll get back to that in a moment though.

Since the introduction of allowing people into our Mog House -- I think a LOT of people, well, a LOT more people have begun decorating thier MH. This leads to using up slots that don't need to be used up. You can only have a maximum of 80 Storage. Anything in your Safe past that, is taking up room. So, in a perfect Vana'diel the most inventory spaces you can have between yourself and your Mog House is...306. That's with 4 Book cases, whose Storage total comes to 80.

If you collected...Full Wyrmal, Hecatomb, Zenith, Adaman, Pahluwan, Amir, Yigit, Askar, Denali, Goliard Gear -- between ALL those you would still have 256 spaces AND three of those sets are stored. Relic can be stored, AF can be stored. Assecories such as Rings\Belts\Necklaces\Earrings can easily be shared with different jobs.

So, with all that in mind, I come back to the 'other sacrafices' we would have to make. And those are the sacrafices to gear we don't NEED, but gear we WANT. I'll use my Thief as an example. To be a succesful Thief, I really only need 36 pieces of gear. 16 TP, 16 WS. Done. Some of those even overlap. However, because I want to be the best Thief I can be...I have other sets...

Steal Gear, Enmity Gear, Evasion Gear, Solo Gear, Ranged Accuracy Gear, Kiting Gear, Haste TP, Accuracy TP -- just to name a few (or close to all of them.)

Some of these, I rarely EVER use. Enmity Gear? Almost never. Ranged Accuracy\Kiting Gear? Salvage only. Steal Gear? Dynamis only. If I got rid of all that stuff if would clear up a LOT of space. But, it wouldn't make me gimp. I'd still do the same in Exp\Merits, or on ZNMs\Gods, etc. etc.

So, getting back to the very original point of this topic -- in the long run I'd like to get most jobs to 75. I've actually made a list of the Jobs I'd like to level and those that I really have no interest in (but, at some point would still like to try.) So, with a bit of patient and planning over the next couple years it's my plan to level the following to at least 37...

White Mage, Red Mage*, Bard, Dancer, Scholar, Ninja*, Blue Mage.

And the following to 75...
Thief*, Black Mage*, Ranger, Monk, Dragoon, Warrior, Corsair, Beastmaster, Paladin, Summoner, Puppetmaster, Samurai, Dark Knight.

* denotes that it's already finished.

Now! To finish I just want to mention a few more things that I think the above covers or should be assumed to cover but that some people might still bring up.

"But Kallo! You have to realize a lot of jobs have JSE type armor thats the best or R\E armor thats the best for its job. That takes up a lot of space."

Yes it does. And it's part of making those sacrafices. JSE or R\E might be the best, but that doesn't mean there isn't other gear that will suffice in it's place.

"But Kallo! What about all the junk we collect? All those Quest Items! The chest\coffer keys! Egads man! There is so much junk!"

Then throw it out. =P

That's it! Just wanted to post something today that didn't require me use any pictures. I hate pictures.

Bits and Pieces...

So, I've come to the realization that most of my blog posts are very scattered and more then inform I think they just sum stuff up. I don't think there is anything wrong with that, but I'd also like there to be a bit more substance to it then just "This is what I've done lately!" So, in the future I'm going to attempt that. For now...I'm going to sum up the past few weeks =)

Potpressure got himself a Duelist's chapeau and an Argute mortarboard! Both from my TH =) And I can say MY TH because at the time I was the ONLY thief inside of Dynamis-Xarcabard! Grats Potty. =)
Here you can see my THK worked wonders on SSR for once. That 35 Usu Body went to Blaize. Grats =) And Celestria made this comment...
Because I'm so awesome! <3 This here is the fruits of our (Foxy and I) labor in the ENM brothers!
These feet went to Sene so her Dragoon would actually have something...even remotely decent to TP in...yea...well it's better then what she had. =) Grats Seney! And the Sickle went to Aniero.
I got these for my brother in Xarcabard. =) They dropped of Raum just like mine! He's been kind to us lately =) Congratulations Keemie!Theres a picture of our drop pool at one point. =)
Mr. Hiryo finally got his Usu Boots made! Congrats Hiryo! ^_^

I do Dynamis and Einherjar with Obsidian. Now, we've done Odin three times -- two of which I was present for. Here are some pictures of the Beast himself, as well as the drops we got this time around.



Yep. Prince of Thieves > Odin. So, I don't know what I think of Odin. Do I think he's easy? Mm...I don't think just any Linkshell can take him down. I think he's challenging if you have challenges in your Linkshell. However, for a Linkshell with thier shit together (i.e. Obsidian), yea I think it's a bit easier for us. As Thf in the main alliance I didn't have much to do. My first run I was in the kite team -- I felt like I had more to do in that party. Anyhow, fun times!

WAIT! Hold it! Stop right now! I have to intterupt my normally scheduled blog post for...your daily dose of Izman.
Isn't he cute? =)

Back on topic! Now we're going to talk about important things. Also known as, what I've been getting! It's not too much. Here's a few things...
First up! Boxer's mantle! Thank you Teila =) had it not been for the coins you donated to me I probably wouldn't have this yet! I'd still be a few away, in fact. Next on my list is my Loq. Earring for BLM. =)
Suzaku's Sune-ate! Thank you Versus =) I'll make sure to put these use on RNG, hopefully. =D
Wait...what?
That's right! I've finally compelted my first Salvage piece! Yeeeaaaah! =D
Thank you, thank you, thank you CiB Salvagable People! And also Cel and Blaize too! ^_^

And now I leave you with some infinite cuteness...
I know, it'd be more cute if I wasn't wearing a creepy mask...shut up.

Love, Actually.

I'm going to give credit to Darkdawn for this title, he used the same allusion to the same movie in his blog. However, I think my post warrants it a bit more...I will be talking about Versus most recent date with Jailer of Love -- however, dear Reader, I must warn you some of the quotes you see past these words are going to be of the...risky type...so for those of you under 13, and for Izman, you've been warned.

Why don't we start off with one of these quotes, eh?

So, lets continue with today's theme...Love! Salvage finally put out. And she put out long and hard for us. Namely, for Hiryo -- but also a little bit for Illius and Darkdawn. We had ventured into Bhafalu thickets with hopes of landing Hiryo some long awaited 35 Feet for his Usukane. We whittled away at the Bees that buzzed out and very early in the Ramparts life, it spit out a Skirmish Pephredo. With hopes high and my THK still in Overdrive...
Congratulations Mr. Hiryo! I expect to see those new shoes VERY soon as I was hoping to have a picture for this post! =P

But! That wasn't all! Bhaflau saw fit to give us...not one...but TWO more Pephredos! Could we have gotten more? Perhaps. But trust me...two was all we needed.
Congratulations to Darkdawn and Illius! Both of whom are missing a few other pieces, but we'll see them on thier feet in no time. =)

Now, for the transition into our next Lovely Encounter...
Oh, Omoi.../grin

Glacian had me visit Gustav Tunnel with him and Crlmsonking for a very special meeting with a Wyvernpoacher who proved to be a bit greedy the last couple times Glacian played with him. However, with a kind little nudge from my THK...
I believe at this time Glacian has passed Level 70 and will msot assuredly beat me to 75 Ranger. =) Congratulations Glacian!
And thank you. =)

Next! Mount Zhayolm was kind enough to offer this to me as a token of her appriciation.
Only 47 more to go!

Lastly...and perhaps the biggest of all these announcements if of course, our encounter with Jailer of Love. This is actually only my second time fighting her, which, I suppose is something I should be thankful for considering most people go far, far longer without seeing many Torques. As far as Versus goes (that's I've seen) we're 100% on the Torque. =) Our drops were as follows...
Congratulations Glacian on the Halberd and Shanelle on her MAB Earring!

...and yes, of course...GO ME! WOO! THIEVES FOR LIFE FOOL! =D

Finally got my hands on this beauitful, sexy, awesome, neck piece.../drool! It's so hot! So, so, so, so hot! /loves his Torque! THANK YOU VERSUS! ^.^ <3<3<3<3

And! Now...to leave you with a few more pieces of affection...

<3 Always Yours <3
--Kallo

Certified Treasure Hunter

"And as he raised his THK thus! An ethereal sound resounded throughout the lands of Vana'diel! When thy chosen Rogue brandishes his sacred dagger and in the grip of his blessed gloves -- the righteous shall be presented with bountiful goods and the wicked shall receive none." ~ The Book of Kallo.

Finally! I've attained the last piece (and very arguably the best!) piece of Thief Relic there is. This, of course, makes me 6\6. But! More importantly, it makes me TH4 certified. Now, in the past couple days there has been irrefutable proof as to the existence and inner workings of Treasure Hunter Kallo (THK).

Firstly! I give you...Iceblazek, the Rewarded.
It was actually Iceblazek who got me my Assassin's Armlets. And, as you can clearly see here...I returned the favor in kind.

But! The real proof of faith is that which happened in Dynamis-Beaucidine with my Linkshell Obsidian. Myself? I was hoping for Black Mage Coat and as many Ranger Boots as possible, so that I would have a chance at lotting them. Of course, the first thing that dropped in zone was a Sorcerer's Coat. Later, a second dropped. Katlina, Domi and I were all eligible to lot and Katlina walked away with it -- Congrats Kat. =) We also got two Scout's Socks. Next time I beleive they will be free lot for me. I also, for the hell of it, put 4 points on Wyrm Mail. Which, of course...dropped.

Ceri, a cute little Tarutaru in our Linkshell left this Commet for us as she went AFK for Family Matters...
THK saw to it that FOUR Warrior Pants dropped. =)
Also, this...Mwahaha!

Now! Perhaps the biggest show of THK's power...was the miracle that befell Versus today at Kirin. For the past 6 or so months, Versus has had no luck with Neptunal Body drops...ever since Izman got his Wyrmal Legs. Once he set his eyes on N Body...the Curse began.

Well! Let me tell you something Izman N Body Curse! There is only ONE Izman curse on this goddamn server! And thats my curse on his capped EXP! So I made sure, with the help of THK, that this N Body shortage, would be made...short work of. (Zing!)
So, congratulatons Izman. And as you can see here, nothing is ever good enough for Aniero. Tsk tsk.

So! That's that. Here's just a few more little snippets of news and images for you to peruse.

I started doing ENMs with Foxy a bit. We're Duo\Trio'ing a few of them with RDM and BLMs. Sene helped us out the other day and much to my expectations...Sene can't climb.
It took her a good five minutes just to get up this little ledge right here.
There she goes! Yay!

And finally, I leave you with two more pictures. One is of my favorite view in the Boyahda Tree and the other is a cool picture of me and one of my favorite little Taru RDM\THF (75s, not sub job) Illius. =)