Leveling: DRK in Qufim (21-24)

Levelled Kiki's DRK a bit over the weekend. Went from barely 21 to nearly 24 in three parties. The first started out badly. We had 3 people who were in Qufim for their first time, and a WHM and BLM who'd been around a bit (the BLM was a rank 8 JP player). I think 4 of us died our second fight (we all HP'd so we were back fast) then we ended up having to call for help and had another death. The WHM bailed ("I have a football game" but actually went to San d'Oria to level his BLM), and the BLM disbanded without saying a word. We replaced them, headed to the lake and had a good party. It's nice when a random party works well together, and shows that it's sometimes worth sticking together through a bit of disaster at the start. The "newbies" used food, had decent gear, and skillchained, which was all good to see. :-)

Second party was a bit of a joke, and my husband couldn't believe I didn't just disband and blist the leader. The leader was a hyperactive THF who wanted to get to 25 as fast as possible, regardless of the people she kills along the way. Tanthalus (levelling his WAR20) was in the party as it was forming, and I was heading that way for a party, so he got me in. The THF was running off to the next kill so fast you couldn't tell where she went (we were fighting worms by the lake), and she didn't pay any attention to the mages' mp. One time when the mages were completely drained she attacked another worm. Tanthalus voked it and called for help, which seemed reasonable in the circumstances, but got called retarded for it. Apparently the THF had already activated Perfect Dodge and thought we should let it try to hit her, but I hadn't noticed it myself.  

Tanthalus had to leave, and before the THF could find a new tank, we kept fighting. She thought a Taru DRK/WAR (me) or the DRG/WAR could be tanks, but we told her she was mistaken. We were able to fight effectively bouncing hate back and forth between us, but burned through the mages' MP too fast. At some point the BLM got replaced with a second WHM, and a PLD joined us. During the *middle* of the second fight with us the PLD said "brb eating supper". WTF?!

Then after he got back from eating, he was getting hit (as PLDs do, it's the nature of the job) and refused to provoke the clipper when it went after one of the mages. By the time the DRG and I realized what was happening we both voked but the WHM was dead. And does the leader yell at the PLD? No, she calls the WHM retarded for not healing herself. *sigh* I think they both need to learn that it's more effective to keep the mobs off the mages so they can focus on healing the tank, who should trust the mages to do their jobs. The PLD should also invest in some better gear so he doesn't take so much damage. (And it wasn't a matter of provoke not being ready, after the fight was over he said he would not voke when his health was low - it wasn't even orange yet. I think he needs to rethink his career choice.) It's also really hard to get spells off when a clipper is smacking away at you.

About this time I decided I needed supper. Since we were in hiatus waiting for the leader to get back from feeding her chocobo ?!?!? when the WHM HP'd, I found a replacement for me and ran away. Screaming.

Party after supper was OK, especially when a bored Emith decided to come PL us. Odd set-up with a DRK-wannabe (WAR/BLM with a scythe), a PLD-wannabe (WAR/WHM who didn't voke once), a very good RDM that Emith knows, the WHM from my earlier party that got called "retarded" by the THF, another WAR of some flavor, and my DRK/WAR. The two of us with scythes both got "Shadow of Death" during the party. It's a very nice WS, and best of all, chains with itself for Fragmentation. I think everyone got a level in the party, so that was good (I started out less than 300 to 23 and finished less than 400 to 24). Warp2s from Emith all got us home safely. :)