General: More Fun in the New World

Friday evening, Elboron, Grymalkyn, and Tsakiki decided to try to get to some more Assault Staging Points (there are 5, and we'd only been to 2 of them). We took the ferry to Nashmau, and opted for Azouph Staging area, which is closest to Nashmau, and the one we'd had troubles with before. This time we made it clear it was going to be every man for himself, and were ready to warp out if we got aggro'd by those damn imps. We all set our home point in Nashmau to make it easier to reattempt in case of failure. Grym got spotted by one imp, which ended up clearing the way for Elbo and Kiki, as well as a couple other people trying to make it there at the same time. He used perfect dodge and warped back to Nashmau. Elbo and Kiki were able to take the runic portal back to Whitegate, while Grym was stuck in Nashmau, where he logged for the night (having used his two hour, it wasn't safe to attempt again until later).

Back in Al Zahbi, it appeared that the Undead Swarm might actually attempt an attack on the city. So Elbo and Kiki headed to the Bastion to stand and wait as the enemy forces slowly increased. We were very curious to see what Beseiged was like, and were willing to stay up late for it. When the forces hit 139, they moved to Level 4 Advancing and there was an announcement that the enemy was in the Thickets and headed our way. The excitement grew, and people streamed into the Bastion, anxiously awaiting the appearance of the enemy through the gates. Diasuke, then Yobun, then Demin joined us at the gates. Finally we were thrown into a cutscene - the enemy had breached the gates!

What followed can only be described as the most incredible lag-fest I've ever seen in my FFXI career. We had over 600 players in the zone, all trying to fight the Undead Swarm. By the time I actually managed to target a monster, it would usually be dead. I did get to actually fight a few of the monsters, and Elboron managed to cure me a few times (and I think I cured him once). I used Holy Circle, which helped intimidate the mobs. Before long, it was over. Both Elboron and I got 338 experience and Imperial Standing points, but Demin only got 80, and Yobun was in the 100s I believe. I don't understand how they calculate your experience for this, but it could be related to the number of mobs you interact with.

The next morning, Grymalkyn was finally able to make it to Azouph Staging Area, with Kiki running interference on the Imps. I got aggro'd and popped Invincible to warp out, but there was a party there and they pulled the Imp off of me, so I just wandered back to Nashmau. Grym used the Runic Portal to Whitegate, then warped back to Nashmau to pick me up and teleported us back to the old world for the afternoon.

Later that evening, we teamed up with Elbo and did some exploration of the Wajaom Woodlands and Aydeewa Subterrane. We wanted to fight some of the different monsters, and also check to see what kind of aggro we'd get, since we've mostly traveled through there with sneak and invisible both on (yes, we're scared little babies).

We learned that the Lesser Colibri (they look like toucans, but apparently in real life, Colibri are hummingbirds) don't aggro, and they don't link. They have a special move called "Snatch Morsel", which will remove the food effect from target (and presumably absorb it itself). This would make them very annoying for an exp party, unless we could come up with a good cheap "snack" food for tanks. I don't think Bretzels would really cut it for a party in the 60s.

The Wajaom Tigers appeared to be aggro free at first. Grym actually had to get right in its face before it noticed her. I don't remember any unusual moves from it that I hadn't seen from other tigers, and they go down pretty easy. Later, Kiki was spotted by a Tiger at a much greater distance than Grym had needed to attract the earlier one's attention, so perhaps they're not as near-sighted as they seemed.

We fought a Qiqirn in Aydeewa Subterrane. They don't aggro, and I think they're cute, so it seems mean to kill them. The one we fought spammed both Faze, which renders the target unable to use Job Abilities or Weapon Skills (amnesia), and a terrorize move.

I was a bit worried about testing an Amerat (malboro) in Wajoam. They were mostly DC to us, and malboros can be pretty nasty to fight even as Easy Prey, but we finally mustered up some courage and gave it a shot. Grymalkyn ran up to one and danced around in front of it. No sight aggro. She got closer and danced around. Doesn't seem to aggro to sound. She got even closer, and stepped on one of its tentacles. That got its attention! I don't really believe it was "touch aggro", it's probably a very close-range sound aggro, which we can check some other time with Sneak active. The fight was miserable, but we did manage to kill it, for a whole 35 exp with Sanction on, which seems to give about a 10% exp bonus. (Kiki had got 27 exp on our first toucan without Sanction, while Grym and Elbo both got 30 exp.) The Amerat seemed to be spamming Vampiric Spike, which first removed all of Kiki's buffs (phalanx, stoneskin, shell, protect, ballad i, ballad ii) and then took off nearly 300 per hit. Each of its normal attacks had an additional drain effect as well. The fight lasted long enough that Grym and Kiki got in at least 5 skillchains (Swift Blade -> Sharkbite), and both Elboron and Kiki were depleted of MP. It was exciting, but I don't think we'll make it a habit to fight these.

We ran through an area with a Woodland Runner (raptor), a Puk (wyvern/fly?), and a Mamool Ja. The Raptors aggro on sound, I would guess the Mamool aggros on sight, and we didn't do a test on the Puk, we just know it aggro'd. Those were all Tough to us, so we zoned rather than fighting them.

I enjoy exploring new areas, since as you become more familiar with them, they become less intimidating. However, there sure are a lot of nasty beasts waiting to tear us from limb to limb in the new regions. And there are several areas we haven't even set foot in. We really have to complete the COR and PUP quests one of these days, as well as reach the final two Staging Points through the reef.