FFXI: Players V.S. The RMT

Dealing with the RMT (Real money traders) within Final Fantasy XI has always been a problem. They are more abundant in this game because the fact that making gil is a bit difficult.

I had a recent run in with RMT a week or so ago in Bastok Mines (one of the main cities). I was watching a group of level 1 players with randomized names like "abcdefg" go to the noob gear npc then trade among them selves for hours on end. They are basically gil laundering to throw off the GM's. The trick to distrupt them is to instigate a trade with them so they are blocked from trading with others until someone cancels the trade. I've seen other players make mules just to disrupt them!

To further confuse them, I stripped down to my underoos to look like them and I mimicked their motions by going the noob gear NPC and trying to trade with the one of the RMT. One of them almost gave me 700,000 gil! He must have thought I was one of them. LOL. Another time, one of them traded me brass pots on accident. He realized what he did and tried to get it back but I ignored him, lol (threw away the pots later). I think they are growing craft ingredients to sell on the Auction House.

Anyway, So I reported them and got a message a few days ago from the GM saying that other people have reported it and are now investigating. There would be no need for RMT if there was no demand so I urge everyone to not buy accounts/gil/services if you want the FFXI economy to not suck.

Land of the Dead

Warhammer // Beyond the Sands recap

The live event came to a close today but you are still able to collect your rewards by visiting the city heralds. I think this event was the most successful of all live events thus far but there were times where it became frustrating. I was going to write a guide but I didn't know the event ended so soon before I can collect all the data :(. Luckily, I finished it last night and received my pimp aviator goggles!



So basically we were all forced to participate in RVR in order to complete the tasks to receive the rewards, which created huge battles and skirmishes all day/night long. The quests start in IC and led me to the Badlands at Tier 3. Lucky for us, the area was close to our warcamp, but that did not prevent Order from camping the area and farming solo Destro as they tried to finish the event. It was pretty hard to finish the quests without having a warband to escort and protect you. I was getting frustrated because I was doing the quest solo at first and Order kept popping out as I was attacking the skeletons. Later on, I realized that part of the live event task is to kill 25 players in RVR. Well..no wonder people were camping.

In turn, I also camped Order players with a Magus by the name of Farfrompukin. We waited and hid behind the rocks near the warcamp, jumping unsuspecting Order players as they exited the camp. We were doing fine for awhile until they brought more friends. Being level 31 helped with completion of the event, since I was able to kill a lot of players that tried to attack me 1 on 1. Hitting the 25 player quota was pretty easy by holding the "staff of kings". The light beam drew the Order to us like a moth to a flame! Down they went, one by one.

So far, I am pretty excited about the Land of the Dead. The lore is interesting and the aspect of how only one faction is able to control it at a time.

oh, don't forget to order your Warhammer Priest & Chosen poster! You get a free in-game very cool cloak with it.

FFXI: A Crystalline Prophecy

Square Enix has released one of the three story based content expansions recently called A Crystalline Prophecy. You will see some familiar faces in the cutscenes and references to the opening movie sequence. Square has always been known as one of the best storytellers in the game business and you will not be disappointed in this latest installment.

So far my Linkshell has completed half of the missions and although some parts were tedious (quest item drop rates were abysmal), the boss fights have been pretty interesting. We just completed the BCNM (Burning circle) boss fight for Those Who Lurk in Shadows (II) and despite what other players said about needing a full party of level 75 and such...it was pretty easy. So I don't understand why people were crying about it being difficult.

We killed off the Yagudo (WHM) first followed by the Quadav (RDM), Orc (WAR), and Goblin (THF). If you stick to that order, it will be a breeze. Plus I went in as a level 70 Paladin subbed gimped Ninja (level 30) and I was doing fine. Dual-wielding with my Espadon +1 and Gluttony sword was pretty awesome. All my party members were subbed Ninja except for the RDM. If you cast gravity on the mobs, it will help a lot. If you are having trouble early on, kiting the Goblin will help. I think the Goblin THF is the most difficult one to deal with since he randomly teleports behind you and has the nasty Saucepan move. I don't suggest eating any food prior, since Saucepan will switch your food into a -10 stat debuff.

Back in Battle!

//Warhammer Online: The Bloodshed Continues!!

I apologize for the long hiatus, but I am back in the fray and enjoying the new updates we've received in WAR. So far, I haven't been able to try out the Slayer or Choppa class but I have encountered the Slayer during RVR and my opinion is that it's overpowered and needs some adjustment. One Slayer was guarding a keep and he managed to kill 6-7 of us with a few swings of his axe. A bit unfair, don't you think?

Other then that, gameplay appears to be a lot smoother and there has been tons of RVR activity on Iron Rock as of late. I'd log in around midnight and there would be warbands on the move. Also, there is a "welcome back to WAR" campaign currently. You can pick up the quest in IC from one of the NPC's near the flight Master. You earn Talismans and Trophies for completing the tasks bestowed upon you in warcamps. It seems the buffs from the Talismans are very helpful (meaning I don't die as fast now!).


New Dell laptop - now I can run it on high res

I will be leaving Tier 3 soon and I'm a bit sad since that's supposedly the best Tier. Ah wells ;/ Can't stay level 30 forever..

Game Bugs:
I've had this graphical glitch on both my old Dell laptop and the new Dell. If I change into and out of Fullscreen to windowed, I get texture mapping issues. Textures would be missing in the game or replaced with something very strange looking. Trees would look like sea urchins with sharp spikes. Also the Windowed version still kinda lags.