As far as griefing goes (what I’d term ganking that affects you repeatedly and in such a manner that prevents you from making progress on your character) I can’t really sympathize. After level 20 there are always multiple options for leveling areas, including areas that are not PvP flagged at all, perfect for escaping the paranoia of facing a marauding Sin for a while. By level 30 you often have 4 or 5 prime areas to be questing and grinding for your level. At 38 I’m constantly struggling to clear my quest book of quests that I want to keep simply to remind me to go there to find out if it’s another quest hub for that level range! Also your corpse is never tied to a spot (unlike WoW) with the obelisk respawn, so unwelcome griefing is almost impossible to maintain without willful participation.

A brief aside on the “stun lock” paradigm of rifting – it is in a word false. True in the 20s and 30s those characters with stun are very deadly (and not coincidentally usually the classes of choice for the dedicated rifter) this complaint is actually a result of three things which stuns exploit so well:

• Preparation Disparity
• Extending the Opener
• Focusing on Frustration

Preparation disparity – rifters are prepared, questers are not (usually). There are potions to escape stuns that are fairly cheap and even the result of quests (though to be very fair, those rewards that I’ve encountered were added in 1.9 to the x10 repeatable quests). In addition, stun lock is usually not long enough to kill people by itself. It’s the addition of a helpful mob that usually seals the deal, which leads to me to my second point.

Extending the Opener: Rogues, Sorcerers and Rangers (some of the best gankers/rifters) exploit the opening as long as possible. This means keeping that mob hitting on you (keeping you stunned and/or rooted), or simply blowing you up before you can react. They get away with this because questers are usually not prepared (see above) with healing potions, cooldowns, DP, food or scrolls (all things any rifter worth their salt will have at the ready, as will anyone worth hunting in the Abyss). Extending the Opener is frustrating because it takes the player completely out of the fight almost instantly, leading to my final point: ganking sucks because it’s non interactive.

Frustration is all about understanding that players might enjoy PvP, if they ever got to engage in it. I know I’ve been the victim of a marauding Sorcerer on my Chanter before (he was 22-24 at the time) and there was quite literally nothing I could do. I had no potions on me, no scrolls, no food and no prayer. He would approach me, murder me, and move on, all in the space of seconds. I even got the jump on him once near the Morheim icefall and he calmly popped a cooldown, a shield, and murdered me. It wasn’t fun, and I only escaped with the help of some friendly passerbys that eventually found him.

However this experience didn’t frustrate me very much, though I can certainly understand why it would the average player, as I was able to maintain some perspective. I had choices and options available to that would have given me a fighting chance against this guy, most of which didn’t involve grinding for hours, gaining levels, or spending infinite on twinked gear. I could’ve gotten Speed Scrolls and DP food to pop my 2K ability (100% attack boost) and been able to counter his CC ability with my improved speed and really hard melee hits. One of the weaknesses of Extending the Opening focused PvPers is that their mid-end game is non-existant, so surviving the opener instantly gives you the edge. To ensure I survived, I could’ve purchased a few Greater Life Serums (which are surprisingly cheap on the broker!) which function as almost full heals. Gank that!

I hate that I come off as a rampant fanboi of Aion on these articles, but it’s frustrating to see such negativity for a game that I think has so much going for it. It’s certainly refreshing, and this is coming from a long time FFXI and WoW player (and MMO player back to the days of EQ launch), to participate in a distinctly Eastern flavored MMO, with player freedom at a premium and railroading/handholding at a minimum.

Since 1.9 I think this game has reached a point where I wouldn’t quite consider it mature, but where I think it has begun to truly hit its stride. If the server PvP balance can be figured out (hopefully with some judicious but behind the scenes nudging of players off and on to lower populated servers) by the time 2.0 comes out this game could be a serious contender. That would be great to see as the Rock-Paper-Scissor balance is, once again, both refreshing and really enjoyable, and the flat level curve (though frustrating at times) allows for leveling gear to feel worth attaining rather than temporary trash to be traded up at the very next town.

-talisien/thargor

Why does Team Jacob always have to lose? Because Eclipse is a movie about rejecting adulthood, not just as a person but also as a culture. It’s about rejecting adult relationships between men and women…

My response:

You had me up to here for the most part. Ignoring the race and boundary cards, I can see willfully translating Edward-I’m a 19th century gentlemen-Cullen as controlling, limiting and asexual. I’ll go with that even though the books and movies disagree vehemently, if not loudly. He is overly polite, self-sacrificing to a fault, and values virtue above desire. The proposal (the one she actually accepts) is where he makes this argument rather clear, explaining his “lack” of desire by stating that his wants shouldn’t come before her virtue. But no, no, people that protect you even when you don’t want them to are controlling; the Superman as subverting humanity’s free will argument. Alright.

However, the conclusion still seems off to me here. Eclipse is not a story of rejecting adulthood, it’s about making adult decisions in the midst of desire. It’s interesting to me that many people discussing the book won’t juxtapose desire and love without invalidating one side or the other. Controlling yourself (resisting desire) does not create a loveless environment (hard to get anyone?), usually it inspires the opposite actually (more desire). Jacob represents warmth and desire, but also easy virtue (“I’ll love you above all else if you’re with me, just ignore that I haven’t imprinted on you and probably will with someone else and leave you, exactly like these two did over there”) Jacob’s selfishness is revealed when his “sacrifice” is revealed to be nothing more than an empty ploy to fulfill his desire. He even calls his fight for Bella a game, and laments being unable to “play it as well as Edward.” This is the moment when Bella realizes that Jacob is still a child, and moves on, emotionally and literally. It is a realization for Bella that she really is an adult, and not simply making a foolish childhood mistake like her Mother did.

On the other hand, Edward’s sacrifices are consistently revealed to be focused on protecting Bella’s freedom to choose (When faced with the dilemma of caging her or allowing her the freedom to make choices that could result in her being hurt or killed, Edward chooses the latter after the Florida trip), to travel where she wants (again, Edward starts unable to let her go, then changes. Hey, growth from the undead thing!), to be with who she wants (the tent scene), and finally the choice to love who she wants. If he is a father figure in this movie, he ultimately lets her go out on her own and make her own choices, confident in the knowledge that if she does return to him as a free willed adult, it will be as an emotional equal.

In this movie, giving in to your desire is not automatically a Bad Thing (it is a choice), but it does have real consequences. What I personally enjoy about the books is that they make a loss of virtue a real sacrifice with everyone’s talk of protecting the possibility of a soul. The fact that those ideas of a soul and virtue are archaic does not invalidate them, the entire argument hinges on protecting the possibility.

This book to me, and it did come through rather well in the movie in spite of the fact that “I love you more” isn’t a good justification for cheating, defines adulthood as a time when you make choices that determine your destiny. Easy virtue is revealed as justification for the selfish; love as desire without the need for fulfillment. Desire is only sanctified when coupled with restraint and expressed rightly in the eyes of God. Only then will it result in true happiness.

I’m not saying I agree or disagree with that, but the message is there. Jacob as an option doesn’t invalidate it, he proves it.

RPGs, by their nature, are about personal investment.

MMORPGs were, as a result, about time investment and group play.

MMOs (I’d argue WoW was the first) are about the game.

This article is a really good argument that games should be fun first and an investment second. Or at the very least, they should be inextricably partnered. We’ve reached a point that poor gameplay cannot be made up for by depth and breadth of content, and I say that as an avid 6+ year player of FFXI. However, I think there is a very valid fear that the entitlement argument swiftly follows ensuring that a game is fun at all levels.

Players don’t deserve the best gear, the most fun content, the coolest abilities, the flashiest effects, at level 1. Or even level 10, or 20. RPGs are about story arcs, and any character that people talk about has their own, how they reached a certain level, got a certain item, or achieved a certain goal. There is no good story without personal investment (or else, why tell it!)

I think there’s a middle ground here. It probably revolves more around gameplay than for example what I understand AoC did (have the beginning of the game be a single player experience and then dump you into the MMO grindfest or gankfest or whatever) and doesn’t really have to involve innovation. WoW should be a shining example that new isn’t always better, as its popularity is unmatched.

I did find the discussion here about reviewers interesting. Perhaps it is of interest to those writing these articles, but as a long time player my experience is that no reviewer can explain to me the merits of an MMO after playing it for 20 hours, or 5 weeks, or whatever arbitrary time limit they operate within. They can simply impart an impression of the game that they played. I hope games aren’t built around this artificial requirement either, that investing a relatively short amount of time is all that is necessary to understand the game and report on it. That is not to say that the reverse of the entitlement argument should be allowed, that is, to hide all manner of sin behind an epic endgame, but MMOs are NOT adventure games. They can’t please everyone all the time, and yes, sometimes, they can be dull. Sometimes they are repetitive, grindy, and feel like a treadmill or climbing a mountain, but sometimes that is necessary to create value from virtual goals. MMOs are a novel, or a series of novels, not a two hour movie.

In the age of instant gratification, a massive sense of entitlement, and micro-achievements so small I’m constantly surprised I don’t see a sprite beside me with a sign saying “Congrats!” each time I wake up in the morning (…though that’d be awesome), MMOs give us as players an opportunity to work towards achievable goals. To rise above those who choose not to continue, because the opportunity cost is simply too high. That is what created the original elite, the people that players could aspire to be when they saw them floating around town on flying carpets and wielding giant flaming swords. That is what is missing from some current MMOs (Warcraft certainly, with its everything is achievable attitude) and it’s what I hope comes around again.

Logging into a game does not mean a player must complete it, and paying $15 a month does not mean a player deserves to master it. I hope that balance exists in this generation of MMOs.

WoW is so popular because they put the grind at the end of the game, as someone already mentioned.

However as a direct result of that: There is no meaningful gear from
1-(Max Level – 1) in WoW.

There are things you can do in “Asian” games while you’re leveling
that will benefit you at end game. In WoW you’re limited to crafting
and your PvP trinket. Examples abound in FFXI (which has a level
capping system … or it did anyway … to make those items shine,
but with specialized gear uniquely suited for one or two specific
uses, this niche may be useful until end game) but also in Aion
(Titles, Wings, Abyss jewelry, armor sets, speed boots, attack speed gloves,
etc).

Most of that in Aion, like in FFXI, is replaceable at max level but
you can choose to upgrade other more level-centric gear instead as a
result (say, your weapon).

Aion is obviously designed to have every 10 levels gained be
considered a major accomplishment. If you do the story missions, you
are notified of the next area every 10 levels with an automatic quest.
I do agree with many critics that the levels themselves are not
unique enough. Though the Fire Temple in Morheim is amazing, the
desert of Morheim and the forest are the same as what I find in the
equivalent Elyos territory. The wintery section is nice but nothing
special and reminds me of level 10 when I’m almost level 35.

However exploration lacking in Aion, really? Have you flown under
the center of the Core in the Abyss? Found the Shugo village in an
area so distant and remote that space literally bends around you as
you fly through it? Jumped through a Rift to end up in a burning
volcano only to die steps outside the Sky Temple itself?

I’ve done those things, and my highest level character has been level
37.

The “problem” with Aion is that, very unlike WoW, it’s design
philosophy does not begin with “Everyone should see the content.”
That’s what WoW devs think, and that’s why Blizzard (or whoever) is
so rich. However for all that reaching Level 80 is an empty goal,
the work of days, not months, and your reward is the endless grind
for GearScore. In Everquest reaching level 50 was an epic accomplishment
(and a relief of sorts), in WoW it is your birthright from character creation.

These endless arguments against the grind are why every game is
ultimately WoW-ified, whether it does so at launch (hey new Star
Wars) or later (hey old Star Wars). And that’s too bad in my
opinion. Sometimes having a leveling curve that makes hitting a
level that isn’t the cap feel like an accomplishment is actually
quite refreshing.

PS The serious Aion player’s argument to this is that PvP is balanced
around max level characters. And you are, so, so, right. Hey, I
never said the game was perfect!

My point being, Aion is a PvPvE game and it’s important (in my opinion) to get a feel for the primary part of the game (the PvP part) if you want to get a feel for the game as a whole. That doesn’t start until 20 (if you want to Rift or fight Rifters), or 25 if you want to see the Abyss. The Abyss is unarguably the coolest part of Aion, so for the sake of the review, at least experience it.

In terms of how to get there in a short amount of /played time here’s my advice. Most people I know hate “the grind” which seems to refer to everything nowadays beyond WoW’s ADD-esque “Run here, run there, run here, run there, kill kill kill!” but there’s a good trick I’ve learned to both get the xp you need and not grind — on your way to the next quest area (the den of wolves, the village of Mau, the slime pit, whatever) kill everything you encounter on the way. There is a caveat here: often what you encounter on the way to your questing area is lower level than what you “should” be killing (all quests nowadays are simply a method of placing players where they should be fighting after all, based on their level), so be smart! A good guide is -3/+1, anything that’s 3 levels below your level or 1 level above it will die quickly enough to earn you decent xp and not take you so long to kill that by the time you reach your destination you’ve outleveled it, or forgotten where you were going. Often I’ve even found tiny quest hubs that aren’t led to by the pointer quests, which is a nice little bonus of this method. Finally do the same on the way back to turn in your quests. I’m amazed how many people (myself included) rush past dozens upon dozens of mobs only to complain an hour later that they ran out of quests and are forced to grind.

As far as Aion specific suggestions, I’m no master of Aion by any means (my highest character is 37 which I quit a few months after the game came out to go back to WoW or FFXI before recently returning to try out 1.9 and 2.0) but I have learned a few things that helped me level faster:

1) I’m not surprised in one of your posts that you found quests harder than you thought they should be as you leveled. As you figured out, socketing your gear with Magic Boost, HP, MP or Evasion will greatly assist you in kill speed. Obviously one or two won’t make the difference, but a full suit of magic boost can easily double your primary stat at this level. This isn’t to say go out of your way to buy manastones, but smartly socketing your gear with the manastones that you get will add up over time and help.
1a) Magic Boost is the only stat you care about at this point. Prioritize it over all other gear (yes, even MP).

2) Enchanting. This is rather complicated (not to mention difficult) but the short version is that green armor & weapons or above (anything other than white) can be Disenchanted into an Enchantment stone, which boosts your items in a manner very similar to manastones. You can disenchant by buying Extraction Tools at any General Store vendor for a (relatively) cheap amount. If you have the kinah, I’d recommend carrying a stack of Extraction tools and disenchanting any greens you come across that you can’t use. Use the stones to upgrade your weapon until you hit +10 on the weapon or get a better weapon. Enchanting is much more complicated than this, but it’s a good tool to make leveling faster! And to be honest, with the amount of kinah that you make in later levels, saving your greens and putting them on the auction house is a waste if you can trade them in now for faster leveling.
2b) Sell any blues you get on the broker if you’re fantastically lucky enough to see one drop (and win the roll). Don’t disenchant if you can sell them on the broker.
3) Stop crafting! It’s an impediment to leveling. Crafting is better when you’ve got bigger bags (speaking of, buy bigger bags (expand your cube) when you go to Pandemonium if you have money left over after buying skills).
4) Group quests are your friend for leveling. Stack the quests with the missions and when you’re 17/18 join a “BC” group in Altgard. It’s fun, will introduce you to group mechanics a bit, and get you a bunch of XP to boot. As a newbie you’ll have to hope your leader knows what he’s doing. A good way to gauge a party is to ask before you head out to the staging area if anyone can lead the group. Being nice goes a long way obviously.

There’s a bunch of other things to say about PvP balance (it’s way better than most people think in the early levels, but Rifting-twinks and other prepared Rifters give a bad impression when they run into an unprepared Rifting noob) but it’s beyond the scope of your article I think. Don’t be surprised when your Rifting experience goes bad in the 20s though (especially the early 20s). I personally don’t think Aion “starts” until 25 (the Abyss) as a result of Rifting depending so much on being prepared (which involves gearing, prepping (food, potions, Kisks, etc), and most importantly, bringing a friend).

Aion is by no means a great game, yet. But as a guy who’s played EQ1, experienced WoW from vanilla to today and most everything in between, it’s got a lot going for it. Plus as you said, it’s beautiful, that’s always a plus if your computer can handle it. It’s hard to judge (WoW has changed so much..) but I think this game compares favorably to vanilla WoW from a PvE perspective. From a PvP perspective with flight mechanics being what they are, it compares favorably to any modern MMO though the balance is certainly not perfect (1.9 supposedly is an improvement in that regard, but we’ll see, some classes just don’t work well in the air without gear, and to be fair, most classes don’t have the toolbox of skills they need to get the job done in the air until 40+, often 45+).

Boy that was long, sorry! Feel free to look me up on Lumiel, my name is Talisien.

PS It’s worth stating that the gold standard of MMOs (WoW) can’t really compare its level grind to other games anymore, as the grind is supposed to be minimized via heirlooms and built in changes to questing, not to mention Refer-a-Friend. You can compare WoW’s current expansion’s (whatever it is) leveling grind to new games if you’d like, but you’re leveling as a (previously) max level character. That means you have access to a myriad of skills that you wouldn’t have as a level 1.

In short, it’s a flawed comparison no matter what you do. Vanilla WoW is, in my opinion, the best standard by which to compare new games on the basis of leveling curve and [leveling] mechanics. After all, it got millions of people to max level didn’t it?

One shell must be so weak that they merge because otherwise they will disband due to lack of members (this will develop eventually into clique syndrome, but the clique might be inbred enough to survive the merge, esp. if the shell is that small).

One shell must be so strong that leaving them would be suicide (think: 1 shell has all teh bots, the other doesn’t).

Both shells’ leaders need the other (most times one side assumes the other needs them, and then it turns out they didn’t after they get kicked once the banks have been merged. Yes I’ve seen this happen first hand), normally this happens when one shell has all the tanks, the other all the casters.

Conditioning Contract
Sup. Might
Birds
Tiny Warrior (Reson.)
and 2 more unimportant ones

Set up i always do is three 2-handed DD (SAM with polearm and DRG mostly), COR, RDM(or WHM or SCH) and a PLD.

I’ve done this set up from level 40 to 66 on 3 separate jobs and have only failed about 3 runs and that was due to gimp as shit DD. I use PLD Tank so that the DD can actually do a bit of damage without getting killed, /NIN if you need it shouldn’t matter.

But i cannot stress enough three strong 2-handed DD with Piercing weapon is almost guaranteed win if they’re worth half their spot in that party, and from level 40~50 i usually get about 8k a run with a good group. (8k is including exp from mobs)

And about the cockatrice, if you get them with a RDM have him barstone and pray you resist or bring a SCH… Self refresh and good healing potential.
__________________

^ This. Also, RNG simply owns in there, you can essentially replace a DD with BRD and have one of the other DD as RNG and clean house. Obviously you should shoot for 55 sync (54 with merits).

I felt the mods made a bad decision in maintaining the Advanced forum (and its entire philosophy).

Enjoy!

It’s my personal belief that the “BLM, INT, vs. MAB” thread somehow, shockingly, became the gold standard for Internet message boards with informative posts and lively discussion. For those of you that missed it because it was yet another retread about how magic damage formulas actually work in the game, here’s the short version: An honest, but fairly clueless, guy tried to match up his nuke results in Ronfaure with the way the game is supposed to work according to the wiki formulas and established knowledge.

I hope everyone reading realizes why that guy would never even think to post his thread in Advanced due to the realities of old OR new Advanced. Because no, it’s not Advanced. And therein, almost to a painfully palpable degree, lies the opportunity cost of Advanced’s “spam protection.”

This guy (Lahan) posts his question (along with some data showing how the numbers he’s getting don’t always line up with the information that posters point to as gospel) and he gets a response from someone named Suiram. I’ll be honest, I didn’t recognize Suiram’s name, though I’d like to think I’d recognize most of the people around here who have useful information to share, but if my ignorance kept me reading curiously, to others it was an invitation to offer their own opinions, informed or not. Again, this is important, because the Standard forum doesn’t discourage open discourse from its members with threats of banning or ridicule.

Some people respond, and eventually (stick with me, you’ll enjoy this) someone tries to win the argument by quoting someone else with a more recognizable name (specifically a blog writer of some repute). And the original responder questions the authority of such a source, to which the person responds with typical Internet logic something along the lines of he’s got a name, and you don’t, so you must be wrong.

And then the blog author shows up.

*shock* I know, right! Who knew these guys actually read the forums like the rest of us. I thought they had little smart people conventions and laughed at us and wrote blogs like that Robonosto guy where he makes fun of everyone all the time for being hideously stupid.

So blog author responds and says to his champion, “I’m sorry sir, but the person you’re arguing with is the true authority on this matter, and you should in fact heed their word not because of who they are, but because of the work they’ve done and the knowledge they possess.” Or something similar.

And what results is a fairly short, but rather amazing, little bit of elucidation as people hear very smart people explain how their formulas and understandings actually interact with how the game really works when we hit “/ma Thunder IV <Wild Rabbit>”. And maybe they learned something, and maybe they didn’t (or maybe they followed the cheat sheet which had been turned into an Internet app) but the point is very simple — this thread actually accomplished something.

A person without knowledge but with a desire to learn got into contact with the people who understood the game mechanics behind their issue, and learned a little bit about how their theories (which they had created, studied and mastered or some combination) interacted with the real game to produce the real results he was seeing in Ronfaure.

Someone actually learned something on the Internet.

—

That little story is why (in my opinion) the very next day or five we had a New Advanced, because that thread would NEVER, EVER have had a chance to exist, or blossom, from its <strike>newb</strike> innocent beginnings into the little treasure trove of information it became [in the old Advanced, the 'main' forum].

And now I get to read this frustrating thread (“so we have to be nice now?”) in which mods argue what is and is not Advanced all over again all the while knowing that the New Advanced would kill that thread just as dead as the old. And I fear that even the honestly frustrated people like Cadsuane are missing the forest for the trees at this point so I wanted to explain very simply what the mods are missing (again, imo):

The main forum of this website shouldn’t be the New Advanced, it should be the New Standard.

Advanced is the last vestige of the elitism that has choked the life out of this forum. And though it has been earned with the successes of those years, it results in a forum that does not encourage discussion, but rather stifles it. It results in cliques, and bans, and trolls, but worst of all, it results in stagnation and a dwindling membership, and a complete absence of the Game Designers in their new found attempt to reach out to the playing public. That should be the ultimate proof of failure, however lofty the ideals, that Zam in all its mind shattering idiocy should house Elmer’s blog and get direct discussion from the Game Designers. That Zam should establish itself as a beacon for reasoned thought and open discourse is a travesty, but it is the ultimate validation of the democratization of information that is the ideal of the Internet.

tl;dr:
The reason Standard became more useful than Advanced was because it protected those who wished to voice their opinions, ask their questions, post topics, or give answers that were wrong only to be proven right by the very people that are intellectually curious enough to have researched the answer adequately.

The “New Advanced” is a sad, almost pathetic, vestige of an elitist attitude that is perceived negatively by almost all and serves no real purpose except to occlude information behind a veil of “Been there, done that” ennui. Instead the “New Standard”, with a complete rescinding of the awful question of “Is this Advanced?” and its entire attitude, should become the flagship forum of this website in order to encourage more threads like “BLM, INT vs. MAB”; a shining example of the ultimate function of this forum and others like it.

reminder: Career Goals.

I began Chains of Promathia last October (possibly September but I don’t think so). Rajas Ring (though originally it was Tamas Ring) has been a goal of mine for a long, long time.

1-3 : “Static” with original friends playing the game for one Promy. Pickup Promys (many failures) finally led my own Promys after my friends left for good (though Draethor remained). This was definitely still a part of my newbie phase and I played a lot of follow the leader. Ironically I would revisit this later as a leader myself.

2-3 (Minotaur) – Pick Up alliance. Was interesting, I have a screenshot here, that was in June (6/9/07)when I came back after playing WoW last winter. 1/1

2-5 (Mammets) was with a CoP static that I joined, an offshoot of the Minotaur alliance I believe. We absolutely kersmashed this fight with a Nin, Nin, Blu/nin tank trio. I went Red Mage and screwed up my first ever usage of Convert to die, but we still won (I had RR). I believe Kiaara was here, Dragonking, it featured my meeting Bobandtom and Draethor helped out (he was already ahead of me at this point, he surpassed me during the WoW phase). This was completed in July. 1/1

Chapter 3 (Diabolos) – I did this with my static as well, Kiaara (as Dimitrii), Draethor, Bobandtom … I think that was it. We also 1/1′d this. Debonair was probably there too (as well as at 2-5?). This was completed in August of this year.

Chapter 4 (Ouryu) Death of the 2nd static. We couldn’t beat Ouryu as we were and this took a long time. I think I actually ended up PuG-ing this mission as BLM. We bursted Aeroga II as per my strategy with a PLD and Samurai skillchain. It worked beautifully as there were 2 BLM. It was still very close but we 1/1′d.

Chapter 4 -> Chapter 5 was a long time. Though I completed Chapter 3 in August and Ouryu soon after, I wouldn’t actually bother to receive the Chapter 5 cut scene until 9/11/2007, almost a month later. You can see in this screenshot Alukards and Trindane, two of my real life friends. I actually ended up running Trindane and another ex-friend (we won’t mention him here) through ALL of the Promys again to catch them up, but we never got to the Minotaur battle before they both quit.

(in case you’re wondering, we’re talking about Royal Jelly. It was really easy. We got a ring that day!)

Chapter 5 was the new static, consisting of Sagari, Sephrin, Sklyar, Altimaomega, myself and Ferien. That was a great static. Sagari was the leader and was just amazing. We banged out missions of CoP multiple times a week, rocked Pso’xja, destroyed all the fights of Mission 5-3 (the longest chapter)…it was grand. That static lasted to 6-4 (the first airship) and sadly died before we could complete it. We 1/1′d every fight we fought.

Chapter 7 greeted me here a few weeks back after 1/1′ing the Airship (assuming a 1/1 counts as the first time you actually see Omega =P). It was a complete PUG, and a bit of a mess, but we did have 6 (yes, 6) CCBs. We still had a fairly tough time with Omega, but Ultima was a blur of CCB stuns. Chapter 7 itself wasn’t bad, the Tenzen fight was a fairly unspectacular zerg and that was done Saturday of last weekend. We did wipe about 6x in a row on the Carpenter’s Landing fight (yay for bad kiting lol). I met Pierro here again, who I met for the first time in an XP party in Mount Z on Samurai, and then later we did 6-4 together too. 1/1 on Tenzen.

And finally Chapter 8. 8-2 was the longest walk ever, Pierro was there, even Draethor showed back up! He went missing from my journey after Ouryu! I was happy he was back as he had taken a few weeks to play FF: Tactics, plus it was good to finally be caught up to him in the Missions. He got the map during 8-2, but I screwed up and didn’t (frowns). We pushed on to 8-3, which was one of the few missions I can’t say we 1/1′d. It was everyone in the Promathia screenshot though some were different jobs. I actually am responsible for this failure (reminiscent of the Convert disaster of 2-5) as I ES+Sleepga’d the pots before they woke up (I saw them change forms and panicked). We still won with ease on the second go around, as I sleepga’d correctly. Also the 8-3 maze wasn’t really that bad, thanks to Appreciation picking up the slack. I was able to lead us once I finally understood the path and what was happening on Erecia’s guide (simply, amazing guide). I was surprised by how easy the 8-3 path was to the pots (after the obligatory wipe through the pot room), after 8-2 and 8-3′s race towers I really expected to get destroyed fighting our way there.

And of course, 8-4, below. So all in all, 13 months. It really accelerated in June for me, but then paused in September for Promys, and then paused again for a few weeks last month before 6-4, but it was well worth it. Easily the greatest accomplishment in my Final Fantasy career to date. The ending cutscene definitely affected me, the music, the full screen cinematic, the Cardinal alone on the hill as the sun set … this was everything I want in a game.

It was amazing.