Notorious Monsters: The Days of the Carmine Dobsonflies

It's been a long time since ClanBEB had done a run on the Carmine Dobsonflies, but now that Yobun has his Summoner over 40, he wanted to see if we could get more people Voyager Sallets, as well as Jaegar Rings for the people who didn't/couldn't go when we kept at them last year. Since the sallet is an annoyingly rare drop, this meant we kept visiting the flies every day for nine days. They're on a 21-24 hour respawn, so it was easy for us to know roughly when they'd be up, and fortunately we didn't get too much competition for them throughout the week.

A week ago Saturday, we headed out to Cape Riverne with Kiki BST40/NIN20, Grym BST 40/NIN20, Yobun SMN40/WHM20, Diasuke SMN40/WHM20, Lalandra SMN40/WHM20, Ryrra MNK40/WAR20, and Anastasia BLM40/RDM20. While we were gathering together, Grym and I ran up ahead to use Riverne Vultures as pets to kill a few Firedrakes to get a couple of Giant Scales (we only needed one, but Yobun wanted one to use later). We made our way to the island, Grym and I dragging our Vulture pets all the way from the start, releasing and recharming to keep them with us. The flies were up, Grym and I used our pets to fight/heel to gather them together at the portal (so we could fight without bothering with the clusters), and the SMNs all used Astral Flow and demolished the flies. We ended up with two rings (Ryrra and Lalandra were the only ones who needed them), and a Voyager Sallet. I made a decisive lot of 980, and finally got my sallet. Yay! I really wanted that for my DRK41!

Sunday, we headed back later than the respawn time, since everyone was bit busy with real life, and we hoped we hadn't missed them. Ryrra didn't join us this time, but we had Elboron as WHM40/BLM20, and another WHM friend of Yobun's who needed a ring, but didn't catch up to us in time, so s/he missed out on the fight. We didn't have as good a selection for pets this time, but Grym and I farmed the giant scale we needed, and we all headed to the flies' island, where they were all waiting for us. The fight didn't go quit as smoothly this time, and Anastasia ended up getting killed by the flies. We managed to kill them all, and 3 or 4 rings dropped, but since only one of the party needed one, the others were lost forever. There wasn't even anyone else in the zone to offer it to. People who've never managed to get their own Jaegar Rings probably hate hearing about them being lost. Then again, the people who've never managed to get their own probably haven't gone to fight the flies over and over again.

Monday, we lost Diasuke and Anastasia, but recruited Genochi's SMN37 and Daden's WAR40/THF20. We got to the zone at the start of the respawn window, but didn't have everyone there and to the island for another 90 minutes. We were a bit concerned about other groups traipsing through the zone, but none of them were looking for the flies. Or maybe they were looking - the flies weren't up at the time, though we didn't know it, since wide-scan doesn't see that far. Grym and I farmed the scale again - those vultures really tear up the drakes, but the traps are horrible for them. We both had to settle for DC Vultures, which we dragged with us to the flies' island. The flies weren't there when we arrived, so we stood there waiting, releasing and recharming our vultures every 5 minutes to keep them from coming uncharmed and attacking us. I ended up losing my vulture when I mis-charmed it, tamed it, and it despawned 1 second before my timer was back on charm. I should have left it hitting me instead of taming it. The flapping of the vultures' wings got to be really annoying. I'm sure everyone there must have turned down their game volume to avoid it. The repop windows came and went, and then the last window opened, and there they were. Grym two-houred her Vulture, and I called a Lizard Familiar and used my two-hour, and we gathered up the flies, and the Summoners let them have it. One or two of the flies weren't close enough at first, so they had a good bit of life left, but we killed them all. We got a sallet, but only one ring. Lalandra got the sallet, and Daden got the ring (Genochi had one of the worse lots I've seen: 6).

Tuesday, we had Diasuke, Yobun(Ryrra), Elboron, Grymalkyn, Kiki, Anastasia, and Izan (DRG/WAR). There was another group headed in, but for some reason, they ended up losing people and didn't kill any of the flies. A THF/NIN was waiting there, and he joined in with us, also hoping for a Sallet. With only 2 SMNs, we ended up wiping, but not before we had killed 6 of the 10 flies. A PLD friend of the THF had logged there, and logged back in to help us kill the 4 remaining flies. We ended up getting 4 rings (lost 2 and the others went to the THF and the PLD), and one sallet, which auto-dropped to Elboron before everyone was raised.

Wednesday, we had a small group heading off to see the flies. There was no one in Riverne - Site #A01 when I logged on, but the window had started about 90 minutes earlier, so it was impossible to say whether the other group had gone in and grabbed them earlier. We had two SMNs - Yobun(Ryrra) and Lalandra, two BSTs - Grym and Kiki, and one WHM - Elboron. We figured we'd give it a shot anyway, and headed in. We got our scale and got to the island, and sure enough, they were all there. We only managed to kill one before wiping. It didn't even drop a Dobson Bandanna, which it supposedly a 100% drop. I've decided from several different experiences that certain rare/ex 100% drops won't drop if everyone in the party has them already. Since we'd all used our two hours, we decided to wait for two hours and see if we could get more help. Ryrra logged in as herself, hoping Yobun would be back from class before we were ready to go again, and we talked Daden and Anastasia into joining us as well, so we added a MNK/WAR, NIN/WAR, and BLM/WHM to the mix. We killed the 9 remaining flies, but didn't get a single drop. There was a JP SMN in his PJs who showed up 20 minutes before we finished the fight, so we figured he'd have a team there on Thursday when the window opened.

Thursday night, we were back to a three SMN group - Yobun(Ryrra), Diasuke, and Lalandra. We also had Elboron WHM/BLM, Ryrra MNK/WAR, and Anastasia BLM/WHM. I went as BST/THF this time for Treasure Hunter, while Grym stayed BST/NIN. It's a lot more dangerous running around as BST/THF. Subbing /NIN means I can avoid a few hits with shadows, and is especially handy for failed charms. We got our giant scale and headed in to the flies island. They weren't up, but we'd been in the zone at the start of the repop window and knew there wasn't anyone else around. Grym and I kept our birds from the first island, and had to keep recharming them while we waited for the flies. They spawned at the 23.5 hour mark, and we set in to kill them. With the 3 SMNs, it was a piece of cake, and lo and behold, we actually got two sallets. Hurray! I like to think my /THF made a difference, but you never know. I did try to get on the hate list of as many flies as I could, and it was my pet that first aggro'd them, so maybe it did indeed help. Yobun and Grym won the lots.

On Friday night, Grym, Elboron and I had our CoP static. It was Snoll Tzar night, which didn't go well, and it delayed us from joining the others in Riverne until the flies had already spawned. Ana and Ryrra had both logged out on the flies island, so we knew the flies were up. As the three of us were running through Misereaux Coast to get to Cape Riverne to join the others, an alliance of Japanese players showed up, including the SMN who'd been there Thursday night in his PJs. They killed all the flies and told Ana that they got no drops at all. So everyone headed off to do other things, and Grym, Elbo, Izan and I farmed a couple Giant Scales to have on hand for our next attempts.

On Saturday night, Grym and Elbo and I were going to be busy with our Ninja Blues static, but Elbo had been to a wedding and didn't make it home in time, so we cancecelled the static and Grym and I hurried out to join Yobun, Ryrra, Ana, Izan, "Erock" (WHM) and "Vynala" (SMN) in Riverne. Both Erock and Vynala have quit the game, but people are still keeping the characters around to use for special occassions. Elboron logged on as we were heading there, and joined us as well. The flies hadn't yet spawned when we all got to the island, so we waited and waited, Grym and I keeping our vultures around by leaving and recharming. There were a number of different groups in the area, and a few SMNs present. However, none of them showed up on the island while we were waiting. The flies spawned, we killed them all, and got two sallets, which went to Izan and Ryrra. After we left Riverne, I did a search, and sure enough, the Japanese alliance had returned, with more SMNs than they had had on Friday night, and two of them were SMN/THF. We don't know whether they figured out someone else had got the flies, but most of them left Riverne before the 24-hour mark from when they'd killed them the night before.

Sunday night, we did have our Ninja Blues static, but finished up an hour early, and Elbo, Grym, Wendell and I hurried out to join Yobun, Ryrra, Ana, Izan, "Erock", and "Vynala". We left Erock and Vynala logged out on the island the night before so they'd be handy. The flies spawned as we were making our way to the island, but there was no one else in the zone, and they would be ours. Once again, we killed them all, and one sallet dropped. Ana was the last one of the group looking for one, and finally got her sallet, ready for her PUP to hit 41.

It's been a very time-consuming process, but it's been really nice getting people their Voyager Sallets. We ended up getting 8 sallets from killing the flies 8 times in 9 days. It's not the best drop rate, but at least it's somewhat consistent. Another nice benefit is the good chunk of exp we've been getting with our chain #9s when we kill all 10 at once. Even on the nights we died, we still ended up with more exp than when we started. Elboron's WHM has gone from 40 to 42 in the process (that includes the 3k exp he got from the ENM last Sunday), and Yobun's SMNs leveled at least once as well. It's bad for our BSTs in that we'll probably end up hitting 51 without capping our Axe skill, but that shouldn't be a big problem.