Leveling: Black Mage, Solo versus Party (34-35)

Easter Sunday, I decided it was time to dust off my Black Mage gear, and see if I could get a level or two. I figured I'd go solo worms in Attohwa Chasm, so after I pulled together all the gear I needed, I used the OP warp to Bubu and walked up to the Chasm, using a Silent Oil to get past the Hecteyes so I could kill the worms near the first bridge. I had just finished killing my first worm when I got a tell from a THF34 that was trying to put together a party for Garliage Citadel. I hadn't had my flag up, but I said sure, and warped back to Whitegate, headed to Jeuno, grabbed a stack of Melon Pies +1, and headed to the Citadel with the party.

I knew it had been awhile since I'd played BLM, but was surprised to realize that I hadn't actually leveled BLM since February 2006, especially since I easily fell back into the BLM rhythm of Rasp/Frost/Choke, wait for the second provoke, nuke, repeat enfeebles as needed, help out with healing, sit on my butt for MP. The party itself was a bit odd: THF/NIN, Galka MNK/WAR tank, DRK/WAR, WHM/SMN, RDM/WHM, BLM/RDM. When I say "odd", I guess I mean it was a pretty crappy little party. The MNK had loads of HP, but took loads of damage. The DRK/WAR loved popping Berserk and Last Resort, which of course pulled hate and he'd take massive damage. The WHM would tell the THF to pull when he had less than 30 MP, since the little Taru BLM had "plenty" (i.e. 150/499), and we all know that little Taru BLMs love using all their MP up dropping weak Cure IIs on people.

I did get to 35 with the party, but the WHM suddenly announced "g2g" and disbanded. No one seemed to want to reform, so I made my way back to Attohwa Chasm and spent a couple hours nuking worms. It wasn't very speedy experience, but was kind of relaxing really. I'd pretty much just kill a worm, wait for Rasp to wear, rest until my MP was full, and repeat. Handy when I need to go AFK a bit. I think I'll start in on Goblin Pets the next time I take my BLM out to play. That should be pretty exciting!