Vrtra Videos
EDIT: Stage6 was nuked so the original hostings of the videos are no longer available. I have rehosted Vecan's version of HiddenPower's Video on YouTube. Awaken's version is still unhosted though. Sorry!
Overview
I realize that while this blog has become rather popular in certain endgame circles, a good majority of players or groups reading these posts really don't have the setups to perform most of these feats due mostly to "luck of the draw" regarding their Linkshells and who they happen to know. In this post, I want to momentarily shift focus from strategy to something which is perhaps even more important. Strategic planning is something I've focused on heavily; however, being able to excite members and friends to try new things and push their limits is often a more difficult task.
This post revolves around 2 videos I was lucky enough to find over 2.5 years ago. They were both from the same Vrtra fight - one of the first NA victories across all servers (May 2005). These videos were pretty significant to TK in that they were pretty much what was shown to understand the fight and excite the members into trying the fight itself. For those who joined FFXI more recently, I'll go over some background on why I think these 2 videos are so unique.
This post is going to have a lot of "history" in it (if you can call things in a video game history). I personally think there is a sort of nostalgic touch to this since I've been playing since NA release back in late 2003, but I don't know, others may find it a bit boring. I will go over some strategy - namely things you can immediately learn by watching the videos - most, if not all of it is considered "common knowledge" nowadays though.
I personally really enjoy these videos and I hope you find this post enjoyable and useful in pushing whatever sort of group you're in to try harder and harder things. I think this is what keeps FFXI entertaining and exciting. This post is specifically geared towards readers in Linkshells that can't do everything, but want to. My hope is to convey the type of progression that keeps players like myself interested in FFXI. These videos helped TK learn what could be done and what was out there, and I hope that others who see it may get the same feel from them. To those who are lucky enough to be in a "premier" LS, especially an older one, I think the historic background in here provides some nice nostalgia as well. Pics will be from the original TK wyrm fights (our first kills) - Tiamat, Jormungand, Vrtra, and Ouryu.
(Left pic is from our first Ouryu kill around September 2005. Took 58:30 minutes, about 30 deaths, and way too many mistmelts. We sold our first 12 Kunwu ores for 8,000,000G each though.)
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Background and Cotext on Videos
I want to stress the fact that I had no part in making these videos. I don't know the players who made them or a single person in said LS. I found these videos purely by chance from KI of all places. When these came out, it was quite a huge deal since there were very few Vrtra kills across all servers by HNM LSs, especially NA ones.
To really appreciate them, I have to stress just how old these are. This fight occurred in April of 2005, which is roughly 2.5 years ago - that's practically an eternity in a game like Final Fantasy 11. Just to give you an idea here's a short list of things to give you a reference point.
- There was no such thing as Job Specific Merits, group 1 or group 2
- "Sea" NMs were not out yet - the zone has just come out.
- Diabolos was not a summonable avatar yet (no ranged BP, which comes into play in the fight)
- PLD/NIN was just becoming popular while PLD/WAR and NIN/WAR were still most popular.
- NIN/DRK was just getting started or still had not been used successfully
- The "Best EXP PT" was MNK PT in King Ranp. Tomb for about 13,000 EXP an hour tops
- The first NA Relic had just recently came out - Discordian's Excalibur
- The famous "RNG Nerf" had still not yet taken place
I could make a pretty huge list of significant things that have changed in the game since this video. It's just important to understand the context when watching them. I believe the fight has a little over 40 players in 3 alliances. Of course, nowadays, this is complete overkill and you can even KC burn Vrtra in 90 seconds apparently. Back then, none of these strategies were known, or even possible due to lack of gear, merits, etc.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Introduction of CoP Wyrms Late 2004
The LS fighting Vrtra in the videos is HiddenPower, one of the early "famous" HNM LSs across all servers. I believe they moved to Remora when the server was introduced and became one of the main-stays there. They were not the first group to beat Vrtra, or even the first NA-led LS to do so, but they were one of the early LSs to beat it. To give an idea on the time-line, the first recorded victory by an NA led HNM LS on any wyrm was AscendentSky on Tiamat in I think mid-January 2004. Tiamat was considered the easiest of the 3 CoP wyrms then as well.
When CoP Wyrms came out, it was much different than say when ToAU HNMs came out. These mobs took literally months before groups were able to kill them; compare this to nowadays when the new NM dies hours after it's first pop on just about every single server. HNM LSs were also much bigger on average back then due to the perceived difficulty of HNMs from lack of strategy, gear, merits, job selection, etc.
The ultimate goal of any HNM LS back then was to kill Vrtra - it was considered the strongest NM in the game, only rivaled by Dynamis Lord at the time. There was a huge e-penis war going on about what LS could kill what HNM with how many (talking on the order of 20s, 30s, 40s, and even 50s in numbers). Old BGers will recall the whole "BG Big Kills List" thing at the time. While nowadays its pretty impossible to "rank" LSs on the server accurately, back then, all you really had to do was rank by who killed which Wyrms when.
This whole system and rise to the top was something I was personally lucky enough to go through with TK. It was probably the most exciting time I've had while in FFXI. We were kind of a "second-rate" HNM LS at the time before Wyrms came out. This made winning these fights for the first time incredibly exciting for us. The best way I think I can explain this is to watch the end of the videos when Vrtra actually dies - just watch the chat log get spammed for over 15 seconds straight over excitement of the kill.
(First Jorm Kill May 1, 2005. Tanking scheme was 2 NIN/WAR and a PLD/NIN - 2.5 hour kill, 29 members)
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
The Videos
Video 1 - Taken by "Awaken"
20 minutes. Taken from the perspective of the BLM alliance killing Vrtra's summoned pets. Awaken is Japanese so the chat logs and everything are from the Japanese version. The chat log is readable and I think you can still kind of follow what's going on even if you don't understand any Japanese. Includes a pretty intense spike flail wipe. Game speed is sped up slightly. Also includes pre-fight setup and post-fight celebrations.
Muscial Score
- Song 1 - "Love Will Grow" Instrumental (Remix?) Final Fantasy Collection
- Song 2 - "Believe" by Nami Tamaki
- Song 3 -
- Song 4 -
- Song 5 -
Video 2 - Taken by "Vecan"
YouTube Hosting (working)
7 minutes. Taken from the perspective of the BRD in the tank party of the Vrtra alliance. This one is in the English version, but the chat log is a bit hard to read. I thought the music fit in perfectly with the intensity of the fight. This video is also a bit higher quality that Awaken's. Game speed is in real time.
Muscial Score
- Song 1 - "Downfall" by TRUSTcompany
- Song 2 - "War?" by System of a Down
- Song 3 - "Hallowed by thy Name" by Cradle of Filth"
* I was unable to find either player to ask for permission to post these videos, so I really hope they don't mind.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Vrtra Tactics
I'll briefly go over the key points you can get from watching the videos if you actually look closely. These are pretty much the keys we used in our own Vrtra fight. TK attempted Vrtra in September 2005 (about 5 months after these videos were shot) and won on the first try. We had 33 members at the time of kill, capping at 35 sometime mid-way during the fight. These were considered very low at the time - the only other 2 LSs that had killed Vrtra on Odin without a team up were Clan with 48 and LB with I believe 50 (these were very respectable numbers then, I'd heard of 80+ on some servers).
The success of our fight which was "low-manned", so to speak, was learning off this video. These were the key ideas we came up with...
- Sable Breath is instant death when you're kiting a Wyrm
- Gravity works, it's hard to land (back then anyway)
- It mainly TP Moves when they stop to perform SMN blood pacts and land TA WSs
- Charm has to be used at close range
- It stops ALOT to cast spells and summon
I remember that we essentially copied the strategy in the video with the exception of the bolded idea. It basically only TP moved or charmed when they stopped Vrtra to land TA WSs and to get off Predator Claws at what they called their "Summoner Isle". When we fought this (still pre-Diabolos), we chose not to stop at all, and instead organized a 3-4 man stun order to hold Vrtra in place while BPs when off. The kiters never stopped at all. We used kiters with stun, 2 RDM/DRK and a NIN/DRK to do this. A PLD also anchored the kiting team. The Main alliance was basically kiting team with a WHM, a BRD, and a group of 5-6 SMNs. Only had about 13 people in it the entire time.
Of course I think this strategy plays on a very well known AI phenomon in game now, which is the fact that most mobs have to be close to you to get off WSs, even if they have the TP to do so. I think this was a relatively novel thing to take advantage of back then. This win, especially with the "low" numbers, really cemented TK's place to be talked about among the top LSs at the time (anyone on Odin curious, this would mean Clan, MP (MM and PP combined), and LimitBreak).
(Group Pics taken after Vrtra win - I don't have any screenshots of the actual fight; was probably too nervous)
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
So What's the Point of this Post?
This post is not meant to recall old HNM histories for dead LSs or to brag about the LS I'm in. When I first showed this video to the LS, we were one of the middle-end LSs looking up at one of the best. Instead, it's just to give an impression on how intense the will to progress in endgame was back then. Simply put, it's meant to show that we all start somwhere at the bottom. I've gotten many PMs and tells about players maligning about how their LS cannot do anything near what's posted here or things on BG. Many want to stick with their friends or their first LS, yet they want to still try these things themselves.
This is my response to those players. I think a lot of endgamers have a tendancy to "LS-hop", or just try to keep getting into better and better LSs as their situation allows them to. While this may eventually lead one to getting into the best HNM LS on the server, I think it means more when you're able to progress with the one you started with. All it really takes is for someone to build excitement around progression and to try things they feel aren't possible for them. My hope was that these videos would provide an example of how LSs can be 'inspired' to try harder things. There is just an aura of excitement and intensity within those videos that I think carries over to anyone that watches it.
So in summary, if you're like most the people who probably read this, you're not in one of those amazing HNM LSs everyone talks about and just would drop everything to be in. You can't 12 man Tiamat, 6 man Jorm, 18 man Dynamis Lord, or Kraken Club Burn Vrtra. Your LS doesn't have 10 relics or have multiple players with Maat's Cap. It may seem fun to think about what it would be like to be in one of these shells, but I think it would be much more exciting and meaningful to be a part of a LS starting up, with old friends, and eventually becoming one of these "premier" LSs. That is what "progression" is in my opinion.
This game honestly isn't rocket science. Just about any strategy that's been used successfully can be readily found online, the game is much much easier in every way since ToAU release, and there are more 75 players with multiple jobs than before. All it really takes to make that next step is to build some excitement around progression.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
The End of Large Scale HNM LSs
In the past year and a half, endgame in FFXI has really shifted from being about large scaled HNM LSs to the concept of "low-manning" everything. This is due to a combination of much strong player improvements such as gear and merits and a lack of new endgame material providing challenge. Newer events have shifted away from "camping" for rewards, leading to smaller groups. Other than Einherjar, I think every single new event or NM since Absolute Virtue has been specifically geared towards small groups.
There is no reason to "go big" like the LSs mentioned in these posts did. I think this is a huge benefit to most groups trying to establish themselves or just branch out into more endgame events. A lot of really well established groups in fact will avoid certain events (namely kings) and are still successful, and well-sought after. Vrtra is the example used in this post, but there are a great deal of other exciting things to try which I think a lot of players are missing out on.
I think videos are a great way to show others just what's out there. Screenshots really don't do most of these events justice. Strategically, video is also probably the best source possible, since you can actually see what's going on in real time rather than gleening information off screenshots. I really appreciate players who care enough to go through the trouble of making these videos since they really are enjoyable and informative usually. Even mundane events can be entertaining when put to video.
(Pics from our first "low man" Tiamat attempt late October 2006 first using our now well-documented Manaburn airborne strategy. This started our streak of killing 22/25 Tiamats over the next few months, when previously, we had killed 6 in 1.5 years due to restricted numbers.)
HNM LS Bullying and E-Penis Wars
I'll conclude by talking a bit about drama.
If you're in an HNM LS, especially one not at the top, you know exactly what I'm talking about here. All I can say is it's ok to wipe to something, even if others are there watching you or heckling you (this certainly happens on Odin - I'd know since I'm guilty of it). Every LS wipes - if they don't they are either lying or are new. You name an HNM, and TK has probably CHF'd on it and/or wiped to it in about the most embarrassing fashion possible; LSs are made of humans, not robots and mistakes happen.
As long as no one is being MPKed or things are getting stolen, I think it's best to just take things in stride. A little /say war never cost anyone a big drop or anything like that (if it has, please link me for drama threads!). Remember the point of playing these online games is to have fun. I wouldn't take any HNM e-penis war too seriously - try enjoying it even if it's possible for you; it's easy to just laugh it off, turn off the computer, and go outside - that's the best part about playing FFXI in my opinion.
I hope to go back to the more standard strategy posts next time. Other than just really liking this videos, I also wanted to see how they did on the blog. I'm currently working on editing and cutting an Apollyon NW solo video for another post. I hope that this non-strategy based post was still enjoyable to read and informative, in a different way.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Pic of the Day
Just some show-off pics this time...
Another relic in TK!
Yuchi and me in Morrigan Robes!
Drama Thread of the Day
http://killingifrit.com/forums.php?m=posts&q=160361
Post from KI Black Mage forums. It's about which is better - Zenith Mitts +1 or Morrigan's Cuffs.
I dunno, I found it pretty entertaining.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Overview
I realize that while this blog has become rather popular in certain endgame circles, a good majority of players or groups reading these posts really don't have the setups to perform most of these feats due mostly to "luck of the draw" regarding their Linkshells and who they happen to know. In this post, I want to momentarily shift focus from strategy to something which is perhaps even more important. Strategic planning is something I've focused on heavily; however, being able to excite members and friends to try new things and push their limits is often a more difficult task.
This post revolves around 2 videos I was lucky enough to find over 2.5 years ago. They were both from the same Vrtra fight - one of the first NA victories across all servers (May 2005). These videos were pretty significant to TK in that they were pretty much what was shown to understand the fight and excite the members into trying the fight itself. For those who joined FFXI more recently, I'll go over some background on why I think these 2 videos are so unique.
This post is going to have a lot of "history" in it (if you can call things in a video game history). I personally think there is a sort of nostalgic touch to this since I've been playing since NA release back in late 2003, but I don't know, others may find it a bit boring. I will go over some strategy - namely things you can immediately learn by watching the videos - most, if not all of it is considered "common knowledge" nowadays though.
I personally really enjoy these videos and I hope you find this post enjoyable and useful in pushing whatever sort of group you're in to try harder and harder things. I think this is what keeps FFXI entertaining and exciting. This post is specifically geared towards readers in Linkshells that can't do everything, but want to. My hope is to convey the type of progression that keeps players like myself interested in FFXI. These videos helped TK learn what could be done and what was out there, and I hope that others who see it may get the same feel from them. To those who are lucky enough to be in a "premier" LS, especially an older one, I think the historic background in here provides some nice nostalgia as well. Pics will be from the original TK wyrm fights (our first kills) - Tiamat, Jormungand, Vrtra, and Ouryu.
(Left pic is from our first Ouryu kill around September 2005. Took 58:30 minutes, about 30 deaths, and way too many mistmelts. We sold our first 12 Kunwu ores for 8,000,000G each though.)
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Background and Cotext on Videos
I want to stress the fact that I had no part in making these videos. I don't know the players who made them or a single person in said LS. I found these videos purely by chance from KI of all places. When these came out, it was quite a huge deal since there were very few Vrtra kills across all servers by HNM LSs, especially NA ones.
To really appreciate them, I have to stress just how old these are. This fight occurred in April of 2005, which is roughly 2.5 years ago - that's practically an eternity in a game like Final Fantasy 11. Just to give you an idea here's a short list of things to give you a reference point.
- There was no such thing as Job Specific Merits, group 1 or group 2
- "Sea" NMs were not out yet - the zone has just come out.
- Diabolos was not a summonable avatar yet (no ranged BP, which comes into play in the fight)
- PLD/NIN was just becoming popular while PLD/WAR and NIN/WAR were still most popular.
- NIN/DRK was just getting started or still had not been used successfully
- The "Best EXP PT" was MNK PT in King Ranp. Tomb for about 13,000 EXP an hour tops
- The first NA Relic had just recently came out - Discordian's Excalibur
- The famous "RNG Nerf" had still not yet taken place
I could make a pretty huge list of significant things that have changed in the game since this video. It's just important to understand the context when watching them. I believe the fight has a little over 40 players in 3 alliances. Of course, nowadays, this is complete overkill and you can even KC burn Vrtra in 90 seconds apparently. Back then, none of these strategies were known, or even possible due to lack of gear, merits, etc.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Introduction of CoP Wyrms Late 2004
The LS fighting Vrtra in the videos is HiddenPower, one of the early "famous" HNM LSs across all servers. I believe they moved to Remora when the server was introduced and became one of the main-stays there. They were not the first group to beat Vrtra, or even the first NA-led LS to do so, but they were one of the early LSs to beat it. To give an idea on the time-line, the first recorded victory by an NA led HNM LS on any wyrm was AscendentSky on Tiamat in I think mid-January 2004. Tiamat was considered the easiest of the 3 CoP wyrms then as well.
When CoP Wyrms came out, it was much different than say when ToAU HNMs came out. These mobs took literally months before groups were able to kill them; compare this to nowadays when the new NM dies hours after it's first pop on just about every single server. HNM LSs were also much bigger on average back then due to the perceived difficulty of HNMs from lack of strategy, gear, merits, job selection, etc.
The ultimate goal of any HNM LS back then was to kill Vrtra - it was considered the strongest NM in the game, only rivaled by Dynamis Lord at the time. There was a huge e-penis war going on about what LS could kill what HNM with how many (talking on the order of 20s, 30s, 40s, and even 50s in numbers). Old BGers will recall the whole "BG Big Kills List" thing at the time. While nowadays its pretty impossible to "rank" LSs on the server accurately, back then, all you really had to do was rank by who killed which Wyrms when.
This whole system and rise to the top was something I was personally lucky enough to go through with TK. It was probably the most exciting time I've had while in FFXI. We were kind of a "second-rate" HNM LS at the time before Wyrms came out. This made winning these fights for the first time incredibly exciting for us. The best way I think I can explain this is to watch the end of the videos when Vrtra actually dies - just watch the chat log get spammed for over 15 seconds straight over excitement of the kill.
(First Jorm Kill May 1, 2005. Tanking scheme was 2 NIN/WAR and a PLD/NIN - 2.5 hour kill, 29 members)
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
The Videos
Video 1 - Taken by "Awaken"
20 minutes. Taken from the perspective of the BLM alliance killing Vrtra's summoned pets. Awaken is Japanese so the chat logs and everything are from the Japanese version. The chat log is readable and I think you can still kind of follow what's going on even if you don't understand any Japanese. Includes a pretty intense spike flail wipe. Game speed is sped up slightly. Also includes pre-fight setup and post-fight celebrations.
Muscial Score
- Song 1 - "Love Will Grow" Instrumental (Remix?) Final Fantasy Collection
- Song 2 - "Believe" by Nami Tamaki
- Song 3 -
- Song 4 -
- Song 5 -
Video 2 - Taken by "Vecan"
YouTube Hosting (working)
7 minutes. Taken from the perspective of the BRD in the tank party of the Vrtra alliance. This one is in the English version, but the chat log is a bit hard to read. I thought the music fit in perfectly with the intensity of the fight. This video is also a bit higher quality that Awaken's. Game speed is in real time.
Muscial Score
- Song 1 - "Downfall" by TRUSTcompany
- Song 2 - "War?" by System of a Down
- Song 3 - "Hallowed by thy Name" by Cradle of Filth"
* I was unable to find either player to ask for permission to post these videos, so I really hope they don't mind.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Vrtra Tactics
I'll briefly go over the key points you can get from watching the videos if you actually look closely. These are pretty much the keys we used in our own Vrtra fight. TK attempted Vrtra in September 2005 (about 5 months after these videos were shot) and won on the first try. We had 33 members at the time of kill, capping at 35 sometime mid-way during the fight. These were considered very low at the time - the only other 2 LSs that had killed Vrtra on Odin without a team up were Clan with 48 and LB with I believe 50 (these were very respectable numbers then, I'd heard of 80+ on some servers).
The success of our fight which was "low-manned", so to speak, was learning off this video. These were the key ideas we came up with...
- Sable Breath is instant death when you're kiting a Wyrm
- Gravity works, it's hard to land (back then anyway)
- It mainly TP Moves when they stop to perform SMN blood pacts and land TA WSs
- Charm has to be used at close range
- It stops ALOT to cast spells and summon
I remember that we essentially copied the strategy in the video with the exception of the bolded idea. It basically only TP moved or charmed when they stopped Vrtra to land TA WSs and to get off Predator Claws at what they called their "Summoner Isle". When we fought this (still pre-Diabolos), we chose not to stop at all, and instead organized a 3-4 man stun order to hold Vrtra in place while BPs when off. The kiters never stopped at all. We used kiters with stun, 2 RDM/DRK and a NIN/DRK to do this. A PLD also anchored the kiting team. The Main alliance was basically kiting team with a WHM, a BRD, and a group of 5-6 SMNs. Only had about 13 people in it the entire time.
Of course I think this strategy plays on a very well known AI phenomon in game now, which is the fact that most mobs have to be close to you to get off WSs, even if they have the TP to do so. I think this was a relatively novel thing to take advantage of back then. This win, especially with the "low" numbers, really cemented TK's place to be talked about among the top LSs at the time (anyone on Odin curious, this would mean Clan, MP (MM and PP combined), and LimitBreak).
(Group Pics taken after Vrtra win - I don't have any screenshots of the actual fight; was probably too nervous)
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
So What's the Point of this Post?
This post is not meant to recall old HNM histories for dead LSs or to brag about the LS I'm in. When I first showed this video to the LS, we were one of the middle-end LSs looking up at one of the best. Instead, it's just to give an impression on how intense the will to progress in endgame was back then. Simply put, it's meant to show that we all start somwhere at the bottom. I've gotten many PMs and tells about players maligning about how their LS cannot do anything near what's posted here or things on BG. Many want to stick with their friends or their first LS, yet they want to still try these things themselves.
This is my response to those players. I think a lot of endgamers have a tendancy to "LS-hop", or just try to keep getting into better and better LSs as their situation allows them to. While this may eventually lead one to getting into the best HNM LS on the server, I think it means more when you're able to progress with the one you started with. All it really takes is for someone to build excitement around progression and to try things they feel aren't possible for them. My hope was that these videos would provide an example of how LSs can be 'inspired' to try harder things. There is just an aura of excitement and intensity within those videos that I think carries over to anyone that watches it.
So in summary, if you're like most the people who probably read this, you're not in one of those amazing HNM LSs everyone talks about and just would drop everything to be in. You can't 12 man Tiamat, 6 man Jorm, 18 man Dynamis Lord, or Kraken Club Burn Vrtra. Your LS doesn't have 10 relics or have multiple players with Maat's Cap. It may seem fun to think about what it would be like to be in one of these shells, but I think it would be much more exciting and meaningful to be a part of a LS starting up, with old friends, and eventually becoming one of these "premier" LSs. That is what "progression" is in my opinion.
This game honestly isn't rocket science. Just about any strategy that's been used successfully can be readily found online, the game is much much easier in every way since ToAU release, and there are more 75 players with multiple jobs than before. All it really takes to make that next step is to build some excitement around progression.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
The End of Large Scale HNM LSs
In the past year and a half, endgame in FFXI has really shifted from being about large scaled HNM LSs to the concept of "low-manning" everything. This is due to a combination of much strong player improvements such as gear and merits and a lack of new endgame material providing challenge. Newer events have shifted away from "camping" for rewards, leading to smaller groups. Other than Einherjar, I think every single new event or NM since Absolute Virtue has been specifically geared towards small groups.
There is no reason to "go big" like the LSs mentioned in these posts did. I think this is a huge benefit to most groups trying to establish themselves or just branch out into more endgame events. A lot of really well established groups in fact will avoid certain events (namely kings) and are still successful, and well-sought after. Vrtra is the example used in this post, but there are a great deal of other exciting things to try which I think a lot of players are missing out on.
I think videos are a great way to show others just what's out there. Screenshots really don't do most of these events justice. Strategically, video is also probably the best source possible, since you can actually see what's going on in real time rather than gleening information off screenshots. I really appreciate players who care enough to go through the trouble of making these videos since they really are enjoyable and informative usually. Even mundane events can be entertaining when put to video.
(Pics from our first "low man" Tiamat attempt late October 2006 first using our now well-documented Manaburn airborne strategy. This started our streak of killing 22/25 Tiamats over the next few months, when previously, we had killed 6 in 1.5 years due to restricted numbers.)
HNM LS Bullying and E-Penis Wars
I'll conclude by talking a bit about drama.
If you're in an HNM LS, especially one not at the top, you know exactly what I'm talking about here. All I can say is it's ok to wipe to something, even if others are there watching you or heckling you (this certainly happens on Odin - I'd know since I'm guilty of it). Every LS wipes - if they don't they are either lying or are new. You name an HNM, and TK has probably CHF'd on it and/or wiped to it in about the most embarrassing fashion possible; LSs are made of humans, not robots and mistakes happen.
As long as no one is being MPKed or things are getting stolen, I think it's best to just take things in stride. A little /say war never cost anyone a big drop or anything like that (if it has, please link me for drama threads!). Remember the point of playing these online games is to have fun. I wouldn't take any HNM e-penis war too seriously - try enjoying it even if it's possible for you; it's easy to just laugh it off, turn off the computer, and go outside - that's the best part about playing FFXI in my opinion.
I hope to go back to the more standard strategy posts next time. Other than just really liking this videos, I also wanted to see how they did on the blog. I'm currently working on editing and cutting an Apollyon NW solo video for another post. I hope that this non-strategy based post was still enjoyable to read and informative, in a different way.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Pic of the Day
Just some show-off pics this time...
Another relic in TK!
Yuchi and me in Morrigan Robes!
Drama Thread of the Day
http://killingifrit.com/forums.php?m=posts&q=160361
Post from KI Black Mage forums. It's about which is better - Zenith Mitts +1 or Morrigan's Cuffs.
I dunno, I found it pretty entertaining.
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