temptation calls like adam to the apple
Due to the disappointment Lunitun and Penelo had with our Glory of the Raider the first time around, I promised that next time we'd get our drakes sorted out before alts got involved. Such a promise didn't even need to be made with how vastly different the Ulduar system is to the antiquated Naxxramas method. I believe that even now we still won't really think of substituting our mains for alts in favour of farming the place for legitimately useful gear. The drake acquisition was significantly more fulfilling this time around as every single one of us got it on the same kill, one that should've come about weeks ago. We've all been busy in the real world these past few weeks, one particular sunny day involving a full real life meet up! Well, not full, but most of us; Ally, Chris, Silinde, Rahla, Kasha and myself met up in London, played some vidya at the Trocadero, went to the aquarium in Westminster and got bent over and violently sodomized at the flicks as a substitute for the gay parade the other five refused to acquiesce to. Much to Penelo's chagrin, not one of us thought to bring a camera so you don't get to see us in our fetching 3D glasses, yo.
Yogg+1 was a pile of horseshit. Either we were doing something chronically wrong or our set up was sub-optimal but the entirety of phase two felt like a random number generator that we kept losing. I think the best moment was Ally clicking a portal at the same second as she got constricted only to go insane when the Induce Madness timer ticked over despite never once actually being inside. We worked hard at optimizing what we had and figuring out ways to minimize the luck factor and killed it the first time we ever got to phase three, as anyone in there with a double digit IQ could've predicted. As much as we would've showered more 226 spell leather with roses, a wonderful Soul-Devouring Cinch was our reward.
Mimiron was pretty damn hard and we haven't even attempted to repeat our kill since so we had as much time to work on One Light in the Darkness as possible. A lot of people thought we were fucking weird when we told them we only used a single tank for the entire fight which I can't really understand. Sure, it's rough for him, but it's far from impossible and we can't afford to drop a DPS, especially a ranged one. Aura Mastery, Divine Sacrifice and a wings JoL really help to trivialize phase two healing too. I think we wiped 57 times to it before we got the kill due to making one very small change; when we used Heroism. We had been trying to do it when Mimiron was ghostbuster trapped down during phase three but it just wasn't efficient. As we were barely losing to the enrage timer, we figured we just needed to shave time off the fight anywhere and reverted to doing it during phase two and it made a significant difference. I know on the kill I died and I'm sure one or two of the DPS did and we still had ten seconds on the enrage timer when he was pushed down. I don't know what other guilds usually do with regards to the Emergency Fire Bots but we completely ignored them and basked in their watery goodness. When they weren't using it to wipe us. Which happened. Many times.
Algalon we've spent one single hour on which was basically fucking around after Firefighter was done. As much as we all want the kill, it was back seated to getting Yogg+1 down for our drakes and requires some wild respecing. I have no doubt that when we learn the fight it'll be just as simple as any other hard mode in there it's just getting to that point. The fight is a real treat for the senses.
Finally, Redemption (and I guess Chefs Knife) got it's first Val'anyr. Grats Ally.
Yes, of course I'm interested. I played FFXI for nearly four years and I still think about all the memories, I still talk about them with BTB and Penelo over Vent during raids. I still recall how awful parts of the game were and laugh about them. I raid with the entire FFXI soundtrack on shuffle down low in the background more that I'd care to admit. It's been a long time since I quit and a lot has changed since them. As much as I love to hear from all the great people I once crossed paths with, they need to keep in mind that I don't live the hours I once did. If I wasn't living the stupid way I was back then, it's a near certainty that my entire experience would've been completely different. I won't be going to bed at 10:00 and waking at 16:00 again and, with the exception of Klisk, I don't expect anybody to be doing the same to hook back up with me should I move on.
Square has a lot to change if I was ever to go back. The vast majority of end-game would have to be instanced so the meticulous planning I can put in place now that allows me to go to the gym, walk my dog, work, play Fallout 3, Rock Band, whatever, is possible. Only when I know that they're doing that will I start to get excited. Otherwise, for now, I'm more interested in whatever Blizzard is cooking up with Tigole at the helm and cycling through the patch phases we get in Warcraft.