He is soft >.>b

I’m still alive … somehow, but I haven’t had any time to play FFXI yet XD soon though, I hope I will be back. I still have to MPK Rukenshin, and watch WHM Demepane swinging her Bravura. Soon!

I’m not dead yet!

But, I’m seriously affected by Rukenshin’s disease;

Just kidding XD I have been so busy lately with exams and other stuffs that I haven’t been able to find myself some good time to do enough events for regular blog update. I will soon (hopefully) be able to write often again!

For now, 1 picture is worth a thousand words!

Red Curry + Berserk + Flashy shot + Angon + 1 Minuet (no SV) + Velocity Shot.

Oh my god, I finally got hold of this anime! Finally!

If you don’t know about Clannad, this link may give you some ideas (don’t read too far though! a lot of spoilers there!). It took almost 3 years for this amazing novel to be turned into an anime, and I have absolutely no complaint when the rights to produce anime was given to Kyoto Animation (the one which made crazy animes like Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Lucky Star, Air, etc…)

So far, 2 episodes have been released, and as it stands, today should be the day when episode 3 will be released. I just can’t wait! XD Some people didn’t really like the first episode (I guess they were expecting something more epic;). In my opinion, both episodes were pretty good! The storyline should get much more interesting soon, if the anime follows both Arcs of the game (which it should >.>a).

I can’t wait until this 26th October. The reason is that the ED of Clannad CD will be (supposedly) released by that day. The first time I heard the ending (after Episode 1 of course!), I was totally shocked and immersed. Then the week after that, I kept singing it for hours, which nearly got me a day off as my boss thought I was having a mental problem from working too much XD I think you may like it too, thus I present you the ending of Clannad on Youtube, so you can sing too!

Dango Daikazoku.

The last week was a pretty good week for me! I got my exams results for the pre-sessional course for my Master study, and it turned out that I did pretty well (in top 10 or so, I can’t remember XD), so that means I will be less worried about the course itself, which in turns, means that I may actually have some more time for FFXI testing and stuffs >.>

Money!

It is always the hot topic in FFXI, because w/o sufficient gil, it is hard for you to do significant things. It is true that skill must always be involved first, but that doesn’t mean you can go on being a super player without the needed equipments to backup your skill. I have been rather lucky in the last week, as somehow … I went 2/2 on Aristocrat’s coat >.> It is selling at 3.5 - 4M here, with materials costing me around 800K, which means a 3M profits on average - Not bad at all considering the current economy!

Ranger

Since my LS usually kills Dynamis Lord too fast - go go 20 people with less than 30 seconds DL kill;; I have been trying to improve the record of my Slug Shot on this squishy monster. Probably not many people noticing it, but as I mentioned, with pDiF being capped, the only thing you can do to improve your maximum damage on Dynamis Lord is by increasing the fSTR2 and WSC. Considering that fSTR2 has a mod of 50% (2 STR in exchange of 1 Base Damage from fSTR2), while WSC has maximum a 30% AGI mod in the case of Slug Shot, a focus to increase STR should be the best way.

Now, STR is not easy to get when you have all the possible STR gears, so I tempted to try the unusual method - using medicine XD According to FFXIWiki , Strength Potion can increase your STR randomly by 10% -> 50% of your Base STR (That’s a lot - if you hit the 50% mark, you can increase your fSTR2 by at least 0.5x(30+4) = 17, which is close to the cap of Culverin +1 fSTR2 already!). So yeah >.> I used it, and got a bonus of 7STR (boo;), but it was worth it to get this damage:

Granted that I don’t have Light Gorget yet (don’t laugh;;), and that I was given an approximately 10% bonus (the lowest possible), and that we didn’t use Choke to reduce Dynamis Lord’s VIT, I believe that a 2.8K Slug Shot on Dynamis Lord is totally possible, and I really hope someday I will be able to do that XD

Note: If your LS is not strong enough to kill DL w/o you sacrificing some damage, don’t use this method >.> Strength Potion gives you medicated effect for 15 minutes, so you won’t be able to use Icarus Wing, which of course leads to a bigger loss of overall damage.

Besides that, as an usual activity, we attempted various strategies for Salvage for fun, and thanks to Danerys (Dany! <3), those numbers were made possible!

The last one involved a bit of trick XD But I will let you figure it out!

I really have to thank all the mages in BtL though, without them, I would not be able to stand alive to shoot, not to mention making those big numbers. I think I’m one of the biggest MP Sponge in BtL, and any mage who is in the same PT with me must have had a terrible time XD I put my trust in any mage I PT with though, and honestly, BtL’s mages are around the best you can find nowadays. They have kept me alive, they haven’t complained much. Thank you, mages in BtL!

That’s being said, I have to agree with Jedite’s quote >.>

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To end this entry, I would like to invite you all to the day I achieved the scariest victory that any person in FFXI would dare to do!

- Kill your own Linkshell Leader -!

In before Lhexh says this is shopped!

If you don’t know, he has a tendency to randomly die somewhere in Vana’diel, without any MPK from his LS member though …

One picture is worth a thousand words, and I have two!

You can see it there. I have become an official member of BeyondTheLimitation since 29/09/2007. It was all thanks to everyone in BtL for letting me in, even though I haven’t yet done much for the shell, except being a pain for mages’ MP! Thank you, Lhexh, Sylphet, Rukenshin, Shadida, Meythia, Jedite, Danerys, Blackice (basically most of the people in BtL!) for letting me have the chance to prove myself worthwhile as an addition to the shell! Now the road has open, a new beginning has come, I will have to work harder to be an innate part of the shell, and I believe I will be able to do that!

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It has been a quite amazing month for me in game, not only due to the facts I was accepted into BtL. Due to a great pre-sessional Mathematics study (just did the exams, and it was soooo hard!), I did not have a lot of time to do many stuffs which I planned to, but the ones that I could do, turned out to be really fun and exciting.

Ranger

Again, a picture is worth a thousand words! And this time, I have four!

I have to thank everyone in BtL for knowing how to maximise damage potential so efficiently. Without their support (<3 Danerys, <3 Sylphet, <3 Asukka, <3 everyone else!), I could never reach those numbers. Note: Angon + SV Double Minuets = biggggggg number!

P.S: The Barrage was not a tripled one either. If you take that number and multiply by 3, you could imagine how crazy it would be if the Barrage was tripled >_>

Crafting

With the number of events count around 1.5 (Salvage “Every god damn day” >.>) on average everyday, I started crafting again to support myself with regular expense. The big hit is still Aristocrat’s Coat, since I was able to push the price of Noble’s Tunic up so I can break even/gain a small profits on NQ even, and HQ is at least 2.5M profits

“The pictures/results speak for themselves”

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Soooo, as you can see, everything has been going so good so far. Looking back, I could see how lucky I was. I don’t know if it would be different otherwise, but I know for sure that being able to join Team Elitist (consisting of Lhexh, Sylphet, Rukenshin, Blackice, Shadida, Meythia, Jedite, Keichan) for Salvage was a huge advantage as I got every support I needed to bring my Ranger job to its best, and thus could show what I am capable of during the application period. So really, I would like to give a big hug to Sylphet, and want to thank everyone in the team sooo much. Without you all, I would not have done what I did!

But of course, as I am mean …

A picture is worth a thousand words . _ . Click it to see the full image!

Rapid Shot: Occasionally quickens Ranged attack. The time being cut is based on the Ranged attack time, i.e aiming time will always be fixed and cannot be reduced. This ability is similiar to Conserve MP of Black Mage, i.e it is always active, and randomly cut the Ranged attack time by a percentage, which should range anywhere from 0% to 100% (instant firing).

There are only 4 pieces of gears which can enhance Rapid Shot, of which only 2 can be used by Ranger main effectively: Hunter’s Beret and Scout’s Jerkin. In order to justify the use of those 2 pieces, it is best to compare with the maximum increase in damage if you can switch to use other gears. Assuming ranged accuracy is not a problem, then, in this case, the best you can get would be: Wyvern Helm +1 and Kirin’s Osode.

Wyvern Helm +1 and Kirin’s Osode give 16 more STR in total, or an increase of 8 in fSTR2, and 8 ranged attack. Now, for the sake of simplicity, let’s argue that the increase in ranged attack is not significant enough, so pDiF is the same. With a Base Damage of around 125-140 in most cases, that means I am sacrificing 8/~125-140 = 6% of damage per shot.

So, thought #1: If Rapid Shot from Hunter’s Beret and Scout’s Jerkin can increase the activation rate (adjusted for the actual time cut) by more than 6%, then in TP mode, it is better to use those 2.

The argument is of course flawed in many sense. One of the reason could be that if you use Osode, it facilitates the switch of any accuracy ring for a STR ring, which would further improve your fSTR2. But in most cases, I found that to be able to get 90-95% ranged accuracy reliably while using meats, it is best to use both Behemoth Ring +1 in ring slots, so it is not really a good argument.

What I have found from being in good party, or in a good LS, is that usually, I don’t have enough time to shoot much to see the increase in ranged damage constantly. Take, for example, if I wear Osode instead of Scout’s Jerkin, rarely I could get a 2nd shot of any Dynamis monster in my current Linkshell. But if I use Scout’s Jerkin, I find that more often that not, I could get a 2nd shot of near the silver health of the monster. It comes into my thought from being in party with Rukenshin that, no matter how high my single shot is, if I can’t keep up with his TP, I will never be able to put my damage anywhere near his damage, since what I can do better than him is my spike damage from Sidewinders. Also, it is always better to get an extra 15TP before monster dies than getting a maximum of 24 extra damage per shot over 400 damage per shot (pDiF = 3 case). It happens a lot in MNK burn party, when my Ranger has to keep up with them in TP, since they have the tendency to kill monster when you are aiming hopelessly wishing that your arrow hit before they actually finish the monster.

Unless SE gives Ranger some sort of Haste, I put trust in my Rapid Shot. It is situational, but it is nevertheless one of the useful ways to put you on par with some other melees, especially the ones who can access enough Haste to rely on TP spam (note: WAR, SAM, MNK, DRK).

More tests need to be done - I hope I can get a party this weekend!

Eagle Eye Shot has always been one of the best friend with any Ranger. It is a powerful single attack, which is very accurate, and it supposingly does five times your normal single shot. In the early career of a ranger, EES is always the best attack you can access, until LV 54-55, when you can finally learn how to use Sidewinder/Slugshot.

EES formula is pretty much similiar to Sidewinder/Slugshot, except that it is not a Weapon skill, thus it does not have any WSC in the formular. Given that you are not using Sea gorget, the formula would be like:

• EES = floor((WD + AD + fSTR2) x 5.0 x pDiF)
• Sidewinder/Slugshot = floor((WD + AD + fSTR2 + WSC) x 5.0 x pDiF)

Just by looking at the formula, one would definitely conclude that Sidewinder/Slugshot is always better than EES. I used to agree, and I did not doubt for a second. But as more rangers pumping significantly high number of EES on Dynamis Lord, while Slugshot/Sidewinder could never reach that high, I suspected something is wrong. With the help and confirmation of VZX, I finally found out why EES, in some cases, can out damage your best weapon skill.

The reason is simple: Eagle Eye Shot can critical hit like a normal shot.

To test this theory, I used Yoichinoyumi + Kabura Arrows and chose Rabbits as the test target (I know, they are poor little things, but they are good for tests >.> god forgives me). pDiF is always capped at 3.0 on Rabbits, as well as fSTR2 at 34 (see previous post), so the equation can be predicted.

For a non-critical EES:

• EES = floor((81 + 38 + 34) x 5.0 x 3.0) = 2295

For a critical EES:

• EES = floor(floor((81 + 38 + 24) x 5.0 x 3.0) x 1.25) = 2868

Bingo! EES can critical like any normal single shot!

That means, EES can potentially out damage your highest ever Sidewinder/Slugshot. This explains why Ranger sometimes see higher EES than Sidewinder/Slugshot on Dynamis Lord too.

It also means … now it is time to test which attribute affects the critical hit rate of ranged attack. If we can find it out, then instead of all STR on Dynamis Lord, you can switch that attribute in to hope that EES can critical. Your damage on EES will go up much higher in that case!

There was once this discussion on Allakhazam about damage on Dynamis Lord. In that topic, VZX found out that VIT of Dynamis Lord is in the range of 109-111. I have always wanted to test the number myself, but never was able to hit capped pDiF due to no DRG in our LS for Angon, until today.

This was the number I got:

This was the set of gears I used:

Neck piece is Hope Torque - I am hoping to get hold of the Justice Torque, but it seems a bit difficult now as my LS does not do sea regularly anymore, and there are a few SAMs still needing it. I used Red Curry, so total STR would be 66 + 50 = 116, total AGI = 77 + 36 = 113.

Using the result of Threx in the topic mentioned above, I am pretty sure I hit capped pDiF with Soul Voice + Double Minuets + Berserk + Warcry + Angon + Dia III + Flashy shot + Red Curry. So let’s get to the calculation.

WSC = floor(floor(113 x 0.3) x 0.83) = 27

2565 = Base_Damage x 5 x 3.0
-> Base_Damage = 171

171 = WD + AD + WSC + fSTR2
= 51 + 90 + 27 + fSTR2

-> fSTR2 = 3

Using the fSTR2 table for Culverin +1, which is a rank 6 weapon, it can be guessed that Delta STR can range anywhere from 0 to minus 4 (the data for rank 6 weapon is not there, but you can check the pattern for rank 1-5 and guess). Now, that means Dynamis Lord’s VIT should range anywhere from 116 to 120. Hmm … something is wrong here … maybe Choke was used in the case in the topic?

Wiki tells us that Choke can knock down VIT of the monster depending on the INT of the caster. Now, I am not a career mage, but I do know getting over 100 INT is not too hard for any mage who has to debuff. That means, Dynamis Lord’s VIT would be reduced by 11 if Choke is used.

Considering the discrepancy, only 109 would be reasonable for Dynamis Lord’s VIT after Choke, seeing that 120 - 11 = 109 . If that is the case, then Dynamis Lord’s VIT would be constant at 120 without any debuffs!

Current conclusion : Dynamis Lord’s VIT is 120.

Knowing that, it is pretty easy to maximise your damage on Dynamis Lord. Noticing that in my gears setup, I did not use a lot of Ranged Attack equipment. This suggests that Berserk + Warcry + Red Curry + Double Minuets with the help of debuffs Angon + Dia III would be enough for you to hit pDiF cap.

What is left is to switch a few gears around, and ask your best BLM/RDM to land Choke on Dynamis Lord. This is quite crucial as it would help you to improve your fSTR2 more if you add more STR (if your Delta STR is negative, the range for it to stay the same while adding STR incrementally by 1 is quite big). Remember that Dynamis Lord has rather weak evasion (or none as someone told me), with Feint help you won’t need any accuracy piece at all to land your Slug Shot.

The gears which can/should be switched that I can think of at the moment:

Neck piece : Possibly better using Justice Torque (+5 STR) or Breeze Gorget.

Justice torque can improve your fSTR2 by 2~3. With fTP 5.0 and capped pDiF 3.0, that is 30 ~ 45 increase in damage comparing to no neck piece.

Breeze Gorget increase your damage by Base damage x 0.1 x 3.0; It is easy to get your Base Damage over 150 with Culverin +1, which means your damage will be increased by 45+ with Breeze Gorget. So it will be better to use Breeze Gorget in this case.

Hope Torque only increase your WSC by 1~2, which is obviously less than the increase in fSTR2 with Justice Torque, so it is a bad choice here, since your pDiF is capped.

Belt : Possibly better with JSE belt LV70.

4STR can potentially increase your fSTR2 by 2, while +5AGI from Scout’s belt will at most increase your WSC by 2, give that you have some spare 2 AGI somewhere in total AGI.

I am not aware of any other piece of equipment that can increase more STR/AGI than the ones I already mentioned. If you happen to know one, please let me know.

Obligatary post or Maitalu will question me!

I have been able to figure most of the fSTR2 for rank 9 ranged weapon (Yoichinoyumi). From the upper value of delta STR (15+) the calculation of fSTR2 = floor((Delta STR +4)/2) works. The only thing left now is to figure out the lower value of delta STR. For this I will need a lot of help from XP PT. If you see a lonely Mithra RNG lfp for the next few days, please invite her!

Anyways … besides the happy facts that I crafted this thing (1/5) nothing much has happened lately. I started replaying FFVII (15th time >.>a) + FFVII Dirge of Cerberus (DoC). I love how the story of FFVII goes. It is like a fairy tale, but unlike FFVI or FFIX, it consists of complicated matters which are very similar to real life, which is why it always gives me a warm and close feeling. Playing FFVII is like going through something that can/will actually happen sometimes in your life. It is far from reach, but it is there.

No matter how people say, I still love FFVII. If you embrace it normally, you can feel the beauty of the game. Sadly, many people approached it with the hope to compare the game to some other games on an irrelevant basis, which in turn lead to some disappointments.

In FFVII, I love the tragic side of the game. I love how people who have totally different objectives can join together, and can actually work together. I love how people can love each other without being selfish, and I love how SE can put joys into tragic events. Somehow, when you play it, you feel the urge to play more, both because of the tragic side, and of the cheerful side.

I have seen various love stories, and I have experienced some. There were no story which compares to what FFVII can offer, though. Cloud and Aeris, for what people have been discussing for so many years, will still remain a mystery. What Cloud has for Aeris is not just simple friendship or respect, it goes beyond a normal relationship that a boy would have for a girl, but it stops at a random destination which will make you get confused. The rather reluctance and awkwardness of Cloud, as well as the cheerful and carefree characteristic of Aeris, together, make their story more like a dream, simply because it can never be reached. There was no regret after all, and there was no selfishness like in FFVIII.

DoC offered a brand new view of Vincent and Lucrecia. While the story is pretty much covered in the original FFVII, Vincent and Lucrecia were rather a small matter there within the whole Planet problem. I remember a lot of fans were criticizing SE for making a sequel which does not cover what they wanted, which was Aeris and Cloud’s past. But after years, all those complaints vanished, leaving only compliments and praises for what DoC can bring. I always loved Vincent in the game. He had no objective, or he did, but he was not clear of it either. The pain that Vincent had to suffer was probably more than anyone else in the game. Despite all the sadness, he was still himself, a hero, a man who valued friendship and would keep every promise he made. DoC has some amazing Cutscenes too, if you really like FFVII, you should positively try to get this game. It unfolds a lot of stuffs which may have been confusing in the original game. Yuffie is great in this game too! And it has a super nice ending XD

Maitalu once accused me of writing too much w/o pictures! That is true though because I really suck at computer, so I am lazy to crop image and such. So for now, I will leave you with some really nice AMVs I found on Youtube about the games then! Hope they won’t spoil you too much

Till the end of time, forever.

Here without you

Bring me back to life

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Random extra must watch - They are super funny XD - Animexel is really good at making these things, you can find more about him on Youtube XD

Btw, you can find the ending of DoC on Youtube, but I strongly recommend you to play the game before watching it because it has some new characters, and the plot goes after Advent Children, as I remember.