Besieged: Fun, in an Annoying Sort of Way

Besieged fights have gotten quite a bit harder, but we've managed to repel the enemy forces every time they've attacked (108 times as of June 28th). It seems several Generals are getting killed every time now, and there are always a few prisoners taken, but the important ones are usually back pretty quickly. I haven't seen the poor pickaxe vendor in quite awhile though. I guess no one much cares about her. Elboron told me that in a recent Besieged, all 5 Generals were defeated, and the enemy entered the Hall of Binding, but the Lakshmi forces were able to repel them before the Astral Candescense was taken. I wonder if that's the closest call we've had, or if there have been others.

We've figured out the best way to get the full 700 points is to cure others, and raise the dead. It's still really laggy, which makes it a bit difficult to land cures at times, but it's bearable. Grym's been going out as thf/whm or even just whm to try to build up some Imperial Standing points and a bit of exp. Another important factor is being able to reraise so you don't miss out on any points when the fight is over, so using her whm helps Grym. I like doing Besieged with Elboron, since his Goddess Hymnus makes it easy to jump into the fray with no concern for death (you don't lose experience points for deaths during Besieged). I try to use abilities like rampart and warcry (full party buffs), and cure/raise people when they need it. Now that I'm 75, I'm better able to damage the intruders, but some of them are still pretty hard to hit.

Another thing I've been trying out is to go as my RDM60/BLM30, since I don't really want to level it any more, but would like to have it useful at 60. This means having a good death buffer as well as getting all of my magic skills capped. I'm still a bit short on enfeebling and elemental, and quite far off on dark. So I find a General to keep healthy, and cast Bio on the enemies when I have a chance.

If I'm doing Besieged "alone", without much hope of a raise, I do try to be more careful to not die. While there's a chance a passing stranger will raise me, I'll miss out on any exp or imperial standing if I'm dead when Besieged ends.