Post-update thoughts, Magian Weapons, and more Salvage junk
Some thoughts on the update:
Abyssea
Wow. Triggers that don't have a pain in the ass drop rate for NMs that don't have pain in the ass drop rates. Timed NMs that don't take 21-24 hours to repop. A means to exp and farm cruor for decent gear. Working towards an area boss where the lower tier NMs actually drop stuff that people want. Not bad for once, S-E. Not bad.
Empyreal Weapons
I was not surprised at all regarding the requirements to unlock these. Honestly, I don't see why people were thinking these would be easily accessible.
New Magian Trials
More of the same. My thoughts on Magians is mixed. I think the concept is neat on paper in that anyone who is dedicated can unlock a potentially great weapon, and that people can work on trials together in a non-competitive environment. But, some of the trials are just assinine time sinks. Especially after having gone through several trials myself for the staves and having to allot a certain time to do certain trials on certain days, I wonder if the devs could have been a bit more lenient on the conditions or at least the amount of kills necessary. For once, I'm kind of glad I don't have a relic.
Armor
OK, S-E has finally done it. They have, at least in my opinion, reached a point where gear has become so saturated into the game that people actually have options. Now, I'm no BG mathologist, so I'm not going to preach about best on-paper gear. Plus, I like having shinies. But, I feel that with Abyssea gear so easy to get and offering some fairly decent options for some of the "harder" to get gear like Salvage, Homam, and Sky (keep in mind harder is in quotes) that they've reached a point where the gear progression might not be exactly linear for a lot of jobs.
Level 80
Honestly, S-E should have done this years ago. Most people have been capped on merits for quite some time. Still, it's nice to see people actually out exping again and going to areas other than Bhaflau Thickets. It is nice having goals again, but there is way too much content that was created with the assumption that 75 is the cap. For example, in Salvage we've been destroying zones now that our DDs are 80. What will it be like at 85? Or higher?
All in all, I think the update is probably one of the most game changing ones and it's only the first major update out of several more to come. While this update hasn't completely obsoleted a lot of the heavy hitters like Ebody, S-E has definitely shown that they're pushing the envelope in that direction so it's probably only a matter of time before better gear comes into play. With FFXIV right around the corner, S-E seems to be not holding back any of the punches when it comes to FFXI, and frankly it's almost overwhelming to keep on top of every possible endgame event. It's nice that they're throwing the FFXI players a bone (or a pile of bones) instead of focusing solely on FFXIV.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
First thing's first, on the day of the update I head straight to Promyvion-Dem and camped Satiator. Of course, it wasn't up but surprisingly there weren't as many people as I had originally expected. So I went to Salvage and came back and logged at Satiator's spawn. The next day I logged in and it wasn't up again. I waited for a few hours and was surprised at the number of people who were moving through the zone to do the mission. Having done the CoP missions years ago when a lot of people actually needed to do them, I took for granted that people actually need to get these done and were unable to find people who either also needed the missions completed or were willing to help. For them, I would imagine that this update was a blessing. Anyways, Satiator finally pops and I get claim. I then dragged Braeden with me to Promyvion-Vahzl for TH4 powa and got me an easy mode Stone Gorget. Thanks Braeden!
Before the update, I was actually working on a +15% cure Teiwaz. Since I was going solo, I couldn't decide if BLM or RDM would be more efficient in terms of kill speed. For trials where you're actually waiting for weather to pop in order to rack up kills, I would think BLM is better.
But, for the most part I completed the trials on RDM. I was actually on the third trial when the update happened which was kill anything during light weather or on lightsday. I was something like 60 kills in, and since the requirement was halved with the update, I was able to progress onto the fourth trial of arcana during light weather or lightsday. This trial actually wasn't that bad, and I was able to solo ~25 kills in Ro'Maeve on a single lightsday so it only took 2 game days.
The next trial was killing 150 beasts using a light based spell doing 50+ damage. Mobwise, this trial wasn't that bad. Lots of Beastmen BSTs have beast family pets and are quite plentiful. I used Goblin's Rarab in Bibiki Bay. Since I don't have SMN, I had to use Banish since I didn't have Meteorite. At first, this was really painful because my divine magic was barely 100 plus I obviously couldn't use Apollo's Staff. So a lot of kills either took several casts to kill the rarab or they didn't do enough damage to count towards the trial. Once my skill got to ~150, the kills came a lot faster as I wasn't getting resisted as much and was able to bounce between 2 goblin BSTs fairly quickly. It took me about 4 hours to get all the kills required as I wasn't always able to get the 2 Gob BSTs to myself and sometimes had to stick it out with 1.
Next was trading 10 bottled pixies to the Fey Spring in Grauberg. This trial actually results in something that is actually useful, so I was glad to have reached this point. The good news is that Bottled Pixie is a 100% drop from Yagudo High Priests in Meriphataud Mountains in the past. The bad news is the amount of distance you have to run between the Yagudo High Priest and the Fey Spring. I timed it to be roughly 20 minutes round trip, so it took a little over 3 hours to finish the trial.
At this point I chose to stop since I didn't really want to farm more Bottled Pixies and I wasn't level 80 yet so I wouldn't be able to use Surya's Staff. So, time to exp!
I find it funny how much my standards have dropped when you are desperate to hit 80. A merit point is a merit point so I'm usually pretty picky about my parties, but not being max level lacks finality so I end up taking whatever I can get. Of course, RDM was my first 80 and I'll probably do SAM > BLM > BRD. I'm really not looking forward to levelling BLM since I absolutely hate manaburning, so I see myself soloing here and there.
Salvage has been going really well. I'm not sure if it's just me being convinced of something because I want to see it, but it seems that level 80 melees just wreck Salvage. We've been clearing zones 10-15 minutes faster fairly consistently.
More importantly, I've completed Morrigan's set! This is a goal that I've had ever since I started Salvage all those years ago, and it feels great to have finally accomplished it!
Shoutouts to:
The original Karasu Salvage crew - Merona, Avinor, Blackhatchy, Jatayu, Cheech, Lyriane, Vilhem and everyone else I've forgotten since it's been years since 7 days a week nightly Salvage craziness.
The "Afternoon" Karasu Salvage Crew both pre and post ban - Merona, Blackhatchy, Nicblue, Livinlegend (I hope your power doesn't go out), Penello, Jiyo and Vilhem.
Breakfast of Victory - Map, Bagel, Ziegh, Curoles, Valacar, and others who have sadly been forgotten since 1/22.
Equilibrium LS - Liltulip, Zubuis, Arcsol and a ton more cool people.
Random LS - Braeden, Dreaubaut, Jyessisnya, Lycidia, Anbuis, Majk and History. Also thanks to Ondori, Rora, Fiddlerx's Advancing March, Machera and Kojack.
Thank you all!
Abyssea
Wow. Triggers that don't have a pain in the ass drop rate for NMs that don't have pain in the ass drop rates. Timed NMs that don't take 21-24 hours to repop. A means to exp and farm cruor for decent gear. Working towards an area boss where the lower tier NMs actually drop stuff that people want. Not bad for once, S-E. Not bad.
Empyreal Weapons
I was not surprised at all regarding the requirements to unlock these. Honestly, I don't see why people were thinking these would be easily accessible.
New Magian Trials
More of the same. My thoughts on Magians is mixed. I think the concept is neat on paper in that anyone who is dedicated can unlock a potentially great weapon, and that people can work on trials together in a non-competitive environment. But, some of the trials are just assinine time sinks. Especially after having gone through several trials myself for the staves and having to allot a certain time to do certain trials on certain days, I wonder if the devs could have been a bit more lenient on the conditions or at least the amount of kills necessary. For once, I'm kind of glad I don't have a relic.
Armor
OK, S-E has finally done it. They have, at least in my opinion, reached a point where gear has become so saturated into the game that people actually have options. Now, I'm no BG mathologist, so I'm not going to preach about best on-paper gear. Plus, I like having shinies. But, I feel that with Abyssea gear so easy to get and offering some fairly decent options for some of the "harder" to get gear like Salvage, Homam, and Sky (keep in mind harder is in quotes) that they've reached a point where the gear progression might not be exactly linear for a lot of jobs.
Level 80
Honestly, S-E should have done this years ago. Most people have been capped on merits for quite some time. Still, it's nice to see people actually out exping again and going to areas other than Bhaflau Thickets. It is nice having goals again, but there is way too much content that was created with the assumption that 75 is the cap. For example, in Salvage we've been destroying zones now that our DDs are 80. What will it be like at 85? Or higher?
All in all, I think the update is probably one of the most game changing ones and it's only the first major update out of several more to come. While this update hasn't completely obsoleted a lot of the heavy hitters like Ebody, S-E has definitely shown that they're pushing the envelope in that direction so it's probably only a matter of time before better gear comes into play. With FFXIV right around the corner, S-E seems to be not holding back any of the punches when it comes to FFXI, and frankly it's almost overwhelming to keep on top of every possible endgame event. It's nice that they're throwing the FFXI players a bone (or a pile of bones) instead of focusing solely on FFXIV.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
First thing's first, on the day of the update I head straight to Promyvion-Dem and camped Satiator. Of course, it wasn't up but surprisingly there weren't as many people as I had originally expected. So I went to Salvage and came back and logged at Satiator's spawn. The next day I logged in and it wasn't up again. I waited for a few hours and was surprised at the number of people who were moving through the zone to do the mission. Having done the CoP missions years ago when a lot of people actually needed to do them, I took for granted that people actually need to get these done and were unable to find people who either also needed the missions completed or were willing to help. For them, I would imagine that this update was a blessing. Anyways, Satiator finally pops and I get claim. I then dragged Braeden with me to Promyvion-Vahzl for TH4 powa and got me an easy mode Stone Gorget. Thanks Braeden!
Before the update, I was actually working on a +15% cure Teiwaz. Since I was going solo, I couldn't decide if BLM or RDM would be more efficient in terms of kill speed. For trials where you're actually waiting for weather to pop in order to rack up kills, I would think BLM is better.
But, for the most part I completed the trials on RDM. I was actually on the third trial when the update happened which was kill anything during light weather or on lightsday. I was something like 60 kills in, and since the requirement was halved with the update, I was able to progress onto the fourth trial of arcana during light weather or lightsday. This trial actually wasn't that bad, and I was able to solo ~25 kills in Ro'Maeve on a single lightsday so it only took 2 game days.
The next trial was killing 150 beasts using a light based spell doing 50+ damage. Mobwise, this trial wasn't that bad. Lots of Beastmen BSTs have beast family pets and are quite plentiful. I used Goblin's Rarab in Bibiki Bay. Since I don't have SMN, I had to use Banish since I didn't have Meteorite. At first, this was really painful because my divine magic was barely 100 plus I obviously couldn't use Apollo's Staff. So a lot of kills either took several casts to kill the rarab or they didn't do enough damage to count towards the trial. Once my skill got to ~150, the kills came a lot faster as I wasn't getting resisted as much and was able to bounce between 2 goblin BSTs fairly quickly. It took me about 4 hours to get all the kills required as I wasn't always able to get the 2 Gob BSTs to myself and sometimes had to stick it out with 1.
Next was trading 10 bottled pixies to the Fey Spring in Grauberg. This trial actually results in something that is actually useful, so I was glad to have reached this point. The good news is that Bottled Pixie is a 100% drop from Yagudo High Priests in Meriphataud Mountains in the past. The bad news is the amount of distance you have to run between the Yagudo High Priest and the Fey Spring. I timed it to be roughly 20 minutes round trip, so it took a little over 3 hours to finish the trial.
At this point I chose to stop since I didn't really want to farm more Bottled Pixies and I wasn't level 80 yet so I wouldn't be able to use Surya's Staff. So, time to exp!
I find it funny how much my standards have dropped when you are desperate to hit 80. A merit point is a merit point so I'm usually pretty picky about my parties, but not being max level lacks finality so I end up taking whatever I can get. Of course, RDM was my first 80 and I'll probably do SAM > BLM > BRD. I'm really not looking forward to levelling BLM since I absolutely hate manaburning, so I see myself soloing here and there.
Salvage has been going really well. I'm not sure if it's just me being convinced of something because I want to see it, but it seems that level 80 melees just wreck Salvage. We've been clearing zones 10-15 minutes faster fairly consistently.
More importantly, I've completed Morrigan's set! This is a goal that I've had ever since I started Salvage all those years ago, and it feels great to have finally accomplished it!
Shoutouts to:
The original Karasu Salvage crew - Merona, Avinor, Blackhatchy, Jatayu, Cheech, Lyriane, Vilhem and everyone else I've forgotten since it's been years since 7 days a week nightly Salvage craziness.
The "Afternoon" Karasu Salvage Crew both pre and post ban - Merona, Blackhatchy, Nicblue, Livinlegend (I hope your power doesn't go out), Penello, Jiyo and Vilhem.
Breakfast of Victory - Map, Bagel, Ziegh, Curoles, Valacar, and others who have sadly been forgotten since 1/22.
Equilibrium LS - Liltulip, Zubuis, Arcsol and a ton more cool people.
Random LS - Braeden, Dreaubaut, Jyessisnya, Lycidia, Anbuis, Majk and History. Also thanks to Ondori, Rora, Fiddlerx's Advancing March, Machera and Kojack.
Thank you all!