Leveling: Flag Up (Mamool Ja Staging Point, level 75)

I really wanted to cap my exp (my buffer dropped under 30k last week), so on Saturday, I gathered everything I'd need for an exp party, and dressed myself up as PLD/NIN to go solo colibri for the hours I figured it would take me to get a pickup party. I got Sanction with Regen for a change (don't run out of MP while soloing PLD/NIN), set a lame search comment, put up my flag, and ran for the secret exit to Wajoam Woodlands in Whitegate. I hadn't even gotten out of the main square when I got not one, but two party invites. So much for the stacks of Shihei I bought!

This was my first pickup party on PLD since last May (level 73 party in Lufaise Meadows), and that party in May had been the first pickup party since the 50s in the summer of 2005. Having been in two different statics for nearly my entire PLD career always makes me worry about how I'll do with people who I don't know, but it was a fun party, and I didn't feel like a useless lolPLD at all.

Our party started out with MNK, SAM, RNG, SMN, WHM, PLD, but ended several hours later as a WAR, (different) SAM, BLM, RDM, WHM, PLD party. We headed to the Mamool Ja Staging Point and fought Sea Puks, various Mamools, and the Skoffins. I was eating Dorado Sushi and wearing my High Breath Mantles, and was able to hold hate quite well. Too well on a couple occasions that ended up getting me killed, but it was usually towards the end of the fight and no one else suffered. My favorite moment of the party was when we had several mobs piled up that the RDM was keeping slept. I had been using flash and provoke on the slept Skoffin especially, since they hit pretty hard. When we were about to start in fighting the Skoffin, the RDM started running for the zone and said "I'm going to zone to shed hate", but the Skoffin didn't even look at him and went straight for me when he woke up, and I kept his attention. "No need, the PLD's got him," from the WHM elicited a ":/" from the RDM. I guess he's not used to having a tank managing the sleeping mobs properly. :-)

Rampart is wonderful to use with the Skoffins, since it pretty much negates Radiant Breath, and I liked Sentinel for the hard-hitting Mamools. They really gave PLD such a nice boost with that last update. I was taking a bit more damage from the mobs than I might if I'd been eatting tacos, but I really like the enmity and accuracy boosts from the Dorado Sushi.

It's one of my "goals" in the game to never ever delevel from 75, so I want to maintain a healthy buffer, though it does seem to be a bit of a waste when I could be using those exp points as limit points instead and getting merits. However, since my first PLD75 pickup experience was fairly painless, I could definitely see spending a few Saturday afternoons a month working on merits too.