Das Boot!
I’d like to say I’m so close to completing the set that I can taste it, but I’m sill two drops away for the crown - Bhaflau boss’s 25 and Arrapago’s hated Psycheflayer for the 35. Neither are difficult to do during any given run in that zone, but the rarity of 35s is not to be underestimated - could be a long time until I see completion. Especially since the SX-based group that I got these in is spamming Zyaholm since Sphen and Shad need 35s from that zone to complete their pieces as well. I’m, of course, more than willing to keep going with them even though I got lucky first - I like to think they’d do the same for me - but it does mean we won’t be going to the two zones I need for a time. Matters little to me right now though. I'm happy and I got a drop and Salvage is being fun.
I lotted an epic fail roll on the 35 piece as per usual. Since it’s basically a pickup freelot group in SX not under the jurisdiction of the TLWI spreadsheet Joze could have lotted against me and almost certainly would have won. But, knowing that I was 2/3 on the piece, she did not. I want to pay her back in any way that I can, under the general principle that altruism is far too uncommon to go unrewarded, but, not being in AXI anymore, my options seem limited. I can’t transfer my AXIP to her or pass items at events I’m not going to. Ultimately I decided the best way to repay the favor would be to continue inviting her to runs, keep trying to get her a drop, and help her get other pieces she needs as well.
Inviting her along on these SX pickups counts as a form of repayment because it’s a bitter truth to me that these six-man runs in Zhay are better than any of the Echelon runs I’ve ever done with my group and always will be. We cleared the 5th, 6th, and boss twice in a row (could have been 3 if Shad hadn’t gone up a floor while we were fighting a frog, but that’s another matter) where some of my runs have struggled to kill the 6th floor frog in time. It has a lot to do with Rush and Shpen having far better gear and merits than my group’s DDs and also the SX group being veterans that know where to go without direction. Seconds on a mob add up to minutes at the end of the floor which can turn into enough time to kill a boss. My group does all right, I guess, but I can only do so much with DDs that don’t have basic necessary merits or react instantly despite the fact we’ve done a zone 10 times before. I can only shout orders so quickly when running things, and let me tell you, it ain’t fun trying to balance typing battle strategies with also being the main heal on WHM.
Not fully sure what to do about it. An increasing part of me wants to just scrap Echelon entirely. More than half the group doesn’t show up for most of the runs now and it’s clear they don’t have the devotion to be a top-tier group. But that doesn’t seem very fair to the few that are showing up and doing what they can - people like Joze, and a few others. Even if the group isn’t working out I don’t want to leave them high and dry.
The solution Shad suggested, and that I sort of agree with, is that we just disband Echelon officially but, once we are done spamming Zhay, we can rotate zones around more and invite along the people previously in Echelon that we choose on runs where things drop that can complete pieces for them while getting pieces for the other people in the SX group as well. And if nobody at all needs a drop from an NM, we could sell them to people outside SX and Echelon for a chance at a decent payout if it drops. We’re definitely a strong enough group to pull that sort of thing off. Everyone wins, sort of. Of course, this means more mouths to feed with drops and no way to balance lootwhoring via a tracker or something, but it’s probably better than just telling them tough luck.
These are the sorts of things your event leaders worry about, if they’re worth their salt.
SX is still going all right. Not much to report there for my first week or so. Killed Sandworm a couple times - KA on BLM where my nukes only did damage if I magic bursted them was an interesting twist. Couple Xarcs but I haven’t got enough points to win anything yet, not shocking. This and that little things. I think I’m burying the hatchet with people that may have had a problem with me so that’s cool.
I lotted an epic fail roll on the 35 piece as per usual. Since it’s basically a pickup freelot group in SX not under the jurisdiction of the TLWI spreadsheet Joze could have lotted against me and almost certainly would have won. But, knowing that I was 2/3 on the piece, she did not. I want to pay her back in any way that I can, under the general principle that altruism is far too uncommon to go unrewarded, but, not being in AXI anymore, my options seem limited. I can’t transfer my AXIP to her or pass items at events I’m not going to. Ultimately I decided the best way to repay the favor would be to continue inviting her to runs, keep trying to get her a drop, and help her get other pieces she needs as well.
Inviting her along on these SX pickups counts as a form of repayment because it’s a bitter truth to me that these six-man runs in Zhay are better than any of the Echelon runs I’ve ever done with my group and always will be. We cleared the 5th, 6th, and boss twice in a row (could have been 3 if Shad hadn’t gone up a floor while we were fighting a frog, but that’s another matter) where some of my runs have struggled to kill the 6th floor frog in time. It has a lot to do with Rush and Shpen having far better gear and merits than my group’s DDs and also the SX group being veterans that know where to go without direction. Seconds on a mob add up to minutes at the end of the floor which can turn into enough time to kill a boss. My group does all right, I guess, but I can only do so much with DDs that don’t have basic necessary merits or react instantly despite the fact we’ve done a zone 10 times before. I can only shout orders so quickly when running things, and let me tell you, it ain’t fun trying to balance typing battle strategies with also being the main heal on WHM.
Not fully sure what to do about it. An increasing part of me wants to just scrap Echelon entirely. More than half the group doesn’t show up for most of the runs now and it’s clear they don’t have the devotion to be a top-tier group. But that doesn’t seem very fair to the few that are showing up and doing what they can - people like Joze, and a few others. Even if the group isn’t working out I don’t want to leave them high and dry.
The solution Shad suggested, and that I sort of agree with, is that we just disband Echelon officially but, once we are done spamming Zhay, we can rotate zones around more and invite along the people previously in Echelon that we choose on runs where things drop that can complete pieces for them while getting pieces for the other people in the SX group as well. And if nobody at all needs a drop from an NM, we could sell them to people outside SX and Echelon for a chance at a decent payout if it drops. We’re definitely a strong enough group to pull that sort of thing off. Everyone wins, sort of. Of course, this means more mouths to feed with drops and no way to balance lootwhoring via a tracker or something, but it’s probably better than just telling them tough luck.
These are the sorts of things your event leaders worry about, if they’re worth their salt.
SX is still going all right. Not much to report there for my first week or so. Killed Sandworm a couple times - KA on BLM where my nukes only did damage if I magic bursted them was an interesting twist. Couple Xarcs but I haven’t got enough points to win anything yet, not shocking. This and that little things. I think I’m burying the hatchet with people that may have had a problem with me so that’s cool.