Oh man oh man oh man...

This Presidential election just heated up. I can't believe everything that's going on with it. There was word not too long ago that John McCain choose the Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin for his veep pick. I'm not too shocked since her name was in the group of people rumored to be on his list for veep but I really think this is going to throw the Democrats for a loop! I think McCain has a legit chance of winning now. He made the right veep choice in my eyes where Obama made the incorrect choice. Joe Biden? Laughable. LAUGHABLE. Hillary would've been the better veep pick but she wasn't even vetted. What a slap in the face to the Clinton camp. Don't get me wrong the main DNC speeches from Hillary, the former President Bill, and Obama himself were very good but I'm really beginning to think the chance for the Dems to take back the White House in the name of "HOPE" and "CHANGE" is getting a big kick in the ass right about now. I hate McCain and some of the things he stands for, but his choice for veep only furthered my resolve to vote for him as the lesser of two evils between him and Obama. lolJoeBiden. What the hell. And POOR HILLARY if McCain gets elected as Mrs. Palin will be the first woman to reach an office so high in the U.S. McCain, I'm glad you didn't pick Joe Lieberman it would've been a fatal mistake, but I think you have a shot now. DON'T BLOW IT.

On Being a Leader - What it Means to Me

Being a leader doesn't mean you have to be friends with everyone you are in charge of.

It also doesn't mean that every decision you might make won't have opposition.

That's not to say you won't make an occasional bad decision--hey, it happens.

A leader isn't invincible.

They need help just like any other person.

A leader should do everything and nothing by them self.

A leader takes responsibility for themselves and others.

When things get tough, showing weakness means failure.

And when things are easy...well, things are never easy.

Being a leader means there is no "try."

It's only "do" and when you "do," you "do" it well.

Being a leader means putting trust into those who follow you.

And giving dissidents enough rope to hang.

On RDM/DRK, Part II (Three-headed Dogs, and Lion-faced Beasties)

It’s been awhile since I made my last post on RDM/DRK and some of the things I wrote then while not entirely wrong by any means could be optimized. First off, it’s very important to note that with the exception of Khimaira, Dynamis Lord, and Bahamut v2 Stun’s rate of resistance is pretty much nil. And even then they aren’t THAT resistant. As long as Stun serves it’s purpose it really doesn’t matter how you do it as long as it actually gets off.

The biggest thing you can do to improve your Stunning on anything is the following:

1. Open up your menu and go to “Config.” DO NOT filter any damage manually it will seriously fuck you up.
2. Go to “Misc.”
3. At the top of the “Misc.” menu you will see “On-screen damage display.” It will give you three options in this order: “Log,” “Both,” “Screen.” Set it to “Screen.” This will REALLY clean your log up quite a bit.

The biggest point of contention I have with stunning as a RDM/DRK on the Cerberus and Khimaira fights is that there is no room for any error. Fulmination and Gates of Hades respectively are very fast and are fairly difficult to Stun for somebody inexperienced with these NMs. Don’t get me wrong Tiamat’s Firaga 3 is fast (and VERY easy to Stun), but any spell an NM might cast is exponentially slower than a TP move which both of these are.

On Khimaira and Stunning Fulmination

At 35% HP Khimaira enters it’s so-called “rage” mode which grants him an additional TP move called Fulmination. The damage from this is MASSIVE without Shell 5 and a good chunk with it on. It also gives a pretty potent Paralyze effect to go with it so it’s not pleasant for anyone which is why most LSes opt to stunning it.

Unlike most HNMs Khim builds resistance to Stun after five or six uses so it’s very important that you’re actually stunning the right thing. Another thing to note is that after you actually Stun a Fulmination it might use it again, having a pair of RDM/DRKs works best on this but I have also done this solo enlisting the help of Shield Bash on the part of keeping Fulmination at bay. Like most time sensitive actions in FFXI, you should be Stunning from the menu, ALWAYS. Macros with equip swaps and just in general are bad new bears. Stun will go off in an Terra’s Staff if you wore it…it’s that accurate on landing so don’t bother with “Stun” gears. I recommend sub targeting Khimaira and taking your hand away from whatever button you use to initiate specific actions so you don’t get trigger finger and jump the gun too early on something that didn’t need to be stunned.

On Cerberus and Gates of Hades

Cerberus does not build any resistance to Stun whatsoever. You can free Stun throughout the fight to help the tanks out until it’s “rage” mode which goes into effect at 25% HP. At 25% Cerberus uses what I think is one of the most devastating TP moves out there, Gates of Hades. This move does MASSIVE fire damage and gives a burn effect to anyone blessed with getting hit by it. You cannot not let many of these get through otherwise you will wipe your LS which I did once way back in FM. Gates of Hades can be used back to back to back to back until he feels like he’s had enough. It’s very important to keep a Stun order and abide by it (should do this on Khimmy too btw). Stunning out of order can result in GoH getting through so don’t play hero, wait your turn. Again like Khimaira, this TP move is FAST so it’s very helpful to sub target Cerberus and prep for Stunning it.

Things That Piss Me Off About Stunning TP moves

First of all, the number one thing I hate is missing a TP move because either LS chat is filled up and/or party chat. If people expect you to Stun without fail it’s VERY important to keep any conversation to a minimum so you don’t Stun too late from the TP move’s message in your log.

Stunning in a large crowd too is ridiculous if you have a crappy connection. It’s pretty important to kindly ask any spectators on either of these fights to back the fuck up. I often reposition myself in a less congested area and that usually helps, but not always. 120 people at Khimaira and trying to Stun doesn’t mix.

I hate...

...MEN! That is all.

A RDM is Only as Good as Her Hat

Last night was the start of what I believe to be a very good week. It started with a bang if I should say so myself. Dynamis-Xarcabard and I have come to a deep understanding over the last 9 months that I've actually have had access to it. I've really grown to resent it quite a bit as the drop rates for AF2 is quite slim especially the one I had REALLY wanted. That item being Duelist's Chapeau. I knew when I was committed to gearing my RDM, that this hat was something I absolutely needed to feel complete. That goes without saying though for most RDMs. Although, I firmly believe there are people out there who don't deserve this item, even though they may have it. This hat is only as good as it's owner, and it's owner's gears, and every single time I see a GIMP RDM running around in MP rings and Wise gear I just want to chop off their head! I've known for a very long time that I was a very good candidate for this item but my luck as I had mentioned above has been nil, nonexistent, and impossible to gauge. I've done a million Xarc runs and NEVER seen it drop whether it was going to me or not. From my perception Duelist's Chapeau didn't exist. Until tonight. Yes, that's right folks. Lissy, is a whole person...er RDM today, as Duke Berith decided to stop his reign of screwing me over every time we clashed.

I have a history, especially in my FM days, trying to prove my worth above any other for this hat. I soloed some crazy stuff without it, showed up RDM to everything, and tried to excel and learn where I thought other RDMs failed. I wanted to let my LS know that the hat was mine, and that I had earned my right to lot it. In retrospect, I'm glad we never saw it drop in FM. I'd suspect that it might have ended in a losing lot or whatever, but anyway, I'm glad it didn't drop then...otherwise I would've never made my current LS which brought together all the wonderful people in it. I'm glad it finally dropped and I'm pretty sure most of the people think it went to the right person. I wholly believe I've earned it, and it's about time, maybe I'll actually start enjoying the game a little more with my RDM and BLM more or less finished now. Go figure.

Finally...

My doctor and I have been playing phone tag for the last two months and this morning we FINALLY made contact which is a breath of fresh air for me. He wanted to know all the typical stuff about my health, as a check up of sorts without having to go to his office.

I went to the dentist this morning and they told me I have very good hygiene and that my teeth were very nice. I like when people compliment me like that!

FFXI was pretty bleh last night. Everyone was so off it wasn't funny. I'd ask things over the LS and would get zero response. /emo We ended up losing Einherjar because we probably got the worst possible mobs on the final wave, those being 50k HP Dragons who pwned almost everyone there at least once. The boss was a behemoth but we had no hope of winning after the catastrophe that the dragons caused. At least we got full points for the zone. Salvage was crap mostly, my current group has only gotten Mad Bomber once so after the first floor there isn't many 35s to farm besides lolbees for one person.

Hopefully this week goes okay, so far, so good. Work has been work I recently got another raise so I'm fairly happy at my job for the time being.