LS Vacation is over, we're back!
I'm more and more "less" inclined to update my LJ with FFXI happenings lately for a combination of a couple of factors. The first being that I have a lot less free time than I used to and the 2nd being that it's not often we do something new and exciting worth posting about.
However, since I mentioned in my last update that the LS had been on a summer vacation and would soon be returning to events, I thought I'd give an update on what we've been up to.
As I suspected/expected, attendance has been down at events since our return. In general, we're seeing a 25-33% dip in #'s at events. This isn't all bad though, since we're still mostly focused on pre-existing content, we're actually able to perform just about as well with fewer numbers. On the other hand, motivation for some things has diminished, as shown by a cancellation of a ZNMs event due to there not being enough T3 pops ready to go.
In general, things have been positive since our return. A lower total of people for our first Dynamis after the break lead us to chose Tavnazia as our zone instead of Qufim. Maybe we could have still done Qufim, but people seem to be more interested in Tavnazia. I will admit, it was pretty fun... that zone is almost built perfectly for players that are 76+. We killed many more mobs with much more ease than usual, and as a result we were rewarded well too:
We've also done some VNMs and some Sea NMs which were both pretty smooth events. All told, we've collected 4 complete JoL popsets with pieces of others. I don't think the 80 cap has brought much more progress to taking down AV and with people whining about Love Torques and Novio Earrings, I don't think we'll be able to wait and hold on to the popsets until the next level cap increase.
Personal happenings include some Salvage completions which for me included our first ever sighting of these:
You can tell by my response that I was incredulous at them dropping. It was pretty cool on that run too, we did 5 NMs, plus the slot Poroggo and the boss all within the time allotted. Salvage is another one of those things that just got way easier with the cap increase to level 80.
I'm personally maxed out on all drops from SSR aside from the Usukane Haramaki 35 piece. I've promised the next one to Riz unless someone manages to outlot him for it, in which case I'd probably lot it anyway. Hopefully those can start dropping soon so I can snag one.
I've leveled WAR and THF to 77 & 78 respectively, but I've yet to be in one of those prolonged 6+ hour Abyssea alliance XP groups. I stayed in one for about 3.5hrs last weekend, but had to finally go to bed because it was late. Most of these that happen with LS members are late, late into the evening and I'm always asleep for them. I might try to get in one this weekend, but I sort of doubt it. I could use one more round of MMM XP to burn off the final charge of my Allied Ring, though.
Since Aurore Brais are pretty much better than the ASA legs I selected, I decided to toss mine and got a new pair this week. I chose the MAB +4, Phantom Roll -5 augments. They are pretty COR specific, but that's fine. I was debating magic accuracy instead of PR -5, but with my new Skadi Bazubands I won't be losing much macc at all over replacing Denali Kecks with ASA legs, so I went with the job specific augment instead.
Finally, the last thing to report is that I completed another Trial on my Magnatus. I've got 6 kills of Freunke to go before I've got a Gun with more base damage than my Corsair's Gun +1, which used to be the gold standard for QD Guns. A couple people in the LS are working towards Lord Ruthvens Nails for Magian Trials, so I'm hoping to tag along with them for Freunke kills and get those done soon. I'm not sure how easy it will be to continue along to the next Trial, as it's 8 kills of a new Ram VNM in the crag zones, but the base damage increase after that trial is only 1 DMG so I won't be in a terrible hurry to finish it. The trial after that is the Empyrean Weapon one, which is practically impossible for me to consider at this point, so again, I'm just setting my sights on the DMG +7 Magnatus and then I'll evaluate where I want to go with Trials after that.
However, since I mentioned in my last update that the LS had been on a summer vacation and would soon be returning to events, I thought I'd give an update on what we've been up to.
As I suspected/expected, attendance has been down at events since our return. In general, we're seeing a 25-33% dip in #'s at events. This isn't all bad though, since we're still mostly focused on pre-existing content, we're actually able to perform just about as well with fewer numbers. On the other hand, motivation for some things has diminished, as shown by a cancellation of a ZNMs event due to there not being enough T3 pops ready to go.
In general, things have been positive since our return. A lower total of people for our first Dynamis after the break lead us to chose Tavnazia as our zone instead of Qufim. Maybe we could have still done Qufim, but people seem to be more interested in Tavnazia. I will admit, it was pretty fun... that zone is almost built perfectly for players that are 76+. We killed many more mobs with much more ease than usual, and as a result we were rewarded well too:
We've also done some VNMs and some Sea NMs which were both pretty smooth events. All told, we've collected 4 complete JoL popsets with pieces of others. I don't think the 80 cap has brought much more progress to taking down AV and with people whining about Love Torques and Novio Earrings, I don't think we'll be able to wait and hold on to the popsets until the next level cap increase.
Personal happenings include some Salvage completions which for me included our first ever sighting of these:
You can tell by my response that I was incredulous at them dropping. It was pretty cool on that run too, we did 5 NMs, plus the slot Poroggo and the boss all within the time allotted. Salvage is another one of those things that just got way easier with the cap increase to level 80.
I'm personally maxed out on all drops from SSR aside from the Usukane Haramaki 35 piece. I've promised the next one to Riz unless someone manages to outlot him for it, in which case I'd probably lot it anyway. Hopefully those can start dropping soon so I can snag one.
I've leveled WAR and THF to 77 & 78 respectively, but I've yet to be in one of those prolonged 6+ hour Abyssea alliance XP groups. I stayed in one for about 3.5hrs last weekend, but had to finally go to bed because it was late. Most of these that happen with LS members are late, late into the evening and I'm always asleep for them. I might try to get in one this weekend, but I sort of doubt it. I could use one more round of MMM XP to burn off the final charge of my Allied Ring, though.
Since Aurore Brais are pretty much better than the ASA legs I selected, I decided to toss mine and got a new pair this week. I chose the MAB +4, Phantom Roll -5 augments. They are pretty COR specific, but that's fine. I was debating magic accuracy instead of PR -5, but with my new Skadi Bazubands I won't be losing much macc at all over replacing Denali Kecks with ASA legs, so I went with the job specific augment instead.
Finally, the last thing to report is that I completed another Trial on my Magnatus. I've got 6 kills of Freunke to go before I've got a Gun with more base damage than my Corsair's Gun +1, which used to be the gold standard for QD Guns. A couple people in the LS are working towards Lord Ruthvens Nails for Magian Trials, so I'm hoping to tag along with them for Freunke kills and get those done soon. I'm not sure how easy it will be to continue along to the next Trial, as it's 8 kills of a new Ram VNM in the crag zones, but the base damage increase after that trial is only 1 DMG so I won't be in a terrible hurry to finish it. The trial after that is the Empyrean Weapon one, which is practically impossible for me to consider at this point, so again, I'm just setting my sights on the DMG +7 Magnatus and then I'll evaluate where I want to go with Trials after that.