Jinxed?
I'm starting to think that my presence at Earth NM camps is jinxing PM. We've been getting a decent amount of claims in the past couple months and I've attended my fair share of camps (I go almost whenever I'm online), but the ones I show up at we never, ever get claim. This goes not only for Fafnir, Nidhogg, and KB, and Aspid, but also for lesser NM's like King Arthro and Behemoth.
Going purely on memory, here is a complete list of every NM I can ever remember being present for that we claimed over the 2+ years I've been doing endgame:
Roc: We camped this for 7 days straight about 2 years ago, and outclaimed the 6 RMT's camping against us at least 5 of those days.
Serket: I can remember being present for 2 claims (one of which was mine - my first and only ever NM claim :) ) out of around 10+ camps I've attended.
Simurgh: 1 or 2
lolBune: 2
Behemoth: 1, unless you count the time that Weeks solo claimed it and I ran out and helped him duo it.
Fafnir: 0, out of at least 15+ camps that I've attended. PM has claimed/killed at least 7 or 8 now.
Nidhogg: 0
KB: 0
Aspid: 0
Adamantoise: 0
King Arthro: 0, out of at least 10 camps
I wonder if my lack of enthusiasm for camping HNM's partly stems from the fact that I've never experienced the thrill of being there when PM claims one. I've never been a huge fan of HNM camping and I tried to steer PM away from spending too much time on it back when I was helping lead the shell, since I was afraid that spending too many hours competing against botters in Dragon's Aery would turn us into the stereotypical jaded, hypercompetitive endgamers who only care about loot and not enough about the friendship/social aspect of the game. Reading accounts on BG of people bemoaning the fact that their HNMLS had camped Fafnir almost every single day for 2 years straight and only had 2 Ridills and a couple E.Bodies to show for it convinced me early on that while the loot from Earth Kings may be great, the time/reward ratio for them is absolutely atrocious and in most cases not worth it.
I've always tried to hold myself to a very strict interpretation of the "RL > FFXI" maxim, and regularly camping NM's that spawn on an in-game 21-24 hour timer often seems to fly completely in the face of that idea. To me, scheduling anything in real life to revolve around a video game, no matter how minor, has always seemed incredibly lame and a sign that the game has started to turn more into an addiction than the fun hobby that it's supposed to be. I've crossed this line my fair share of times, to be sure, but every time I do I feel guilty about it the next day. Sure there are the regularly scheduled Wednesday/Saturday events that we do, but at least with stuff like Sky/Sea farming people can usually come and go as they please without affecting the overall success of the event too much. I probably miss around 80% of our Saturday events anyway since I'm either traveling on weekends or just going out for drinks or a movie with Mary, and I honestly would like everyone I play FFXI with to feel like they have that same kind of freedom and that they don't feel tied down by any in-game "obligations".
To be fair, PM is still a lot more relaxed than most other HNMLS's that I know of, even though we have become an extremely active shell over the past year. We're the only HNMLS that I know of that doesn't have a rule requiring members to show up to events/camps if they're online (although if we really really need a specific job we aren't averse to applying a little peer pressure). I like not having this rule for 2 reasons. First, on principle I've always felt that no one should ever be told how and when they're allowed to play a video game. Second, and more importantly, everyone needs to take breaks from the endgame grind once in awhile, even if they're not taking a break from FFXI. Leveling up new jobs, or just spending time in a social shell with friends can be just as important and can help us keep a balanced sense of perspective in the game. Some people just don't play FF often enough to be able to do those things while still attending PM events whenever they're on, and they should have the freedom to take breaks if it makes their game experience more enjoyable. Finally, while I'd personally prefer to not have any attendance requirements at all, our 5 event per month rule to retain lotting rights for the following month is still less stringent than most other endgame shells, some of whom require attendance at 3 or more events per week to avoid getting kicked.
Anyway, that's my long rant on endgame and Earth HNM's. Who knows, maybe I'll go to Fafnir tonight to see if I can finally break my anti-claim curse. Some day I'd like to see what it's like to actually fight that silly dragon :P.
Going purely on memory, here is a complete list of every NM I can ever remember being present for that we claimed over the 2+ years I've been doing endgame:
Roc: We camped this for 7 days straight about 2 years ago, and outclaimed the 6 RMT's camping against us at least 5 of those days.
Serket: I can remember being present for 2 claims (one of which was mine - my first and only ever NM claim :) ) out of around 10+ camps I've attended.
Simurgh: 1 or 2
lolBune: 2
Behemoth: 1, unless you count the time that Weeks solo claimed it and I ran out and helped him duo it.
Fafnir: 0, out of at least 15+ camps that I've attended. PM has claimed/killed at least 7 or 8 now.
Nidhogg: 0
KB: 0
Aspid: 0
Adamantoise: 0
King Arthro: 0, out of at least 10 camps
I wonder if my lack of enthusiasm for camping HNM's partly stems from the fact that I've never experienced the thrill of being there when PM claims one. I've never been a huge fan of HNM camping and I tried to steer PM away from spending too much time on it back when I was helping lead the shell, since I was afraid that spending too many hours competing against botters in Dragon's Aery would turn us into the stereotypical jaded, hypercompetitive endgamers who only care about loot and not enough about the friendship/social aspect of the game. Reading accounts on BG of people bemoaning the fact that their HNMLS had camped Fafnir almost every single day for 2 years straight and only had 2 Ridills and a couple E.Bodies to show for it convinced me early on that while the loot from Earth Kings may be great, the time/reward ratio for them is absolutely atrocious and in most cases not worth it.
I've always tried to hold myself to a very strict interpretation of the "RL > FFXI" maxim, and regularly camping NM's that spawn on an in-game 21-24 hour timer often seems to fly completely in the face of that idea. To me, scheduling anything in real life to revolve around a video game, no matter how minor, has always seemed incredibly lame and a sign that the game has started to turn more into an addiction than the fun hobby that it's supposed to be. I've crossed this line my fair share of times, to be sure, but every time I do I feel guilty about it the next day. Sure there are the regularly scheduled Wednesday/Saturday events that we do, but at least with stuff like Sky/Sea farming people can usually come and go as they please without affecting the overall success of the event too much. I probably miss around 80% of our Saturday events anyway since I'm either traveling on weekends or just going out for drinks or a movie with Mary, and I honestly would like everyone I play FFXI with to feel like they have that same kind of freedom and that they don't feel tied down by any in-game "obligations".
To be fair, PM is still a lot more relaxed than most other HNMLS's that I know of, even though we have become an extremely active shell over the past year. We're the only HNMLS that I know of that doesn't have a rule requiring members to show up to events/camps if they're online (although if we really really need a specific job we aren't averse to applying a little peer pressure). I like not having this rule for 2 reasons. First, on principle I've always felt that no one should ever be told how and when they're allowed to play a video game. Second, and more importantly, everyone needs to take breaks from the endgame grind once in awhile, even if they're not taking a break from FFXI. Leveling up new jobs, or just spending time in a social shell with friends can be just as important and can help us keep a balanced sense of perspective in the game. Some people just don't play FF often enough to be able to do those things while still attending PM events whenever they're on, and they should have the freedom to take breaks if it makes their game experience more enjoyable. Finally, while I'd personally prefer to not have any attendance requirements at all, our 5 event per month rule to retain lotting rights for the following month is still less stringent than most other endgame shells, some of whom require attendance at 3 or more events per week to avoid getting kicked.
Anyway, that's my long rant on endgame and Earth HNM's. Who knows, maybe I'll go to Fafnir tonight to see if I can finally break my anti-claim curse. Some day I'd like to see what it's like to actually fight that silly dragon :P.