Current mood:	amused
Current music:	My Arms Your Hearse - Opeth

'Nothing is fair here. Accept it.'
(1) I partied for the first time ever in Valkurm Dunes yesterday morning, at first duoing with a 12WAR/06WHM as a 13BLM. For some reason, later claiming to be a lack of funds, this chap decided to only have an Inferno Axe and Chocobo Vest with him while acting as some sort of tank. Since this was my second time partying since 2007 I thought, 'eh, let's see what happens.' You know what happens, right: death. After getting a raise from Esoul (Pandemonium server), who kicks much ass by the way, I informed him NOT to pull Goblin Butchers who checked VT (I think), run directly at me and stop in front of me. After my second death and raise I noticed something...he was disengaging from the mob and zoning to remove the aggro then coming back. This is what happens when you party with a n00b...or a retard.

(2) I've had a grudge against Crawlers for a little while now, namely because Poison Breath lasted forever when I was level 10. Now I have a grudge against Lizards and their Plague Breath. For some reason, as a 14BLM, Poison spells and Dia wear off very quickly yet that damn Plague Breath has taken at least 133hp and at most 154hp out of my 166hp total. The rub: the mist lizard checks at EP. That's right, an EP mob that is able to practically if not definately kill you one spell: Plague Breath. If it was a DC mob I wouldn't have an issue, I'd be irritated for sure but I would say, 'that's why they call it a Decent Challange. Suck it up, tough guy.' But I'm not a fan of cheapness -this is why I loathe every Mortal Kombat game except the first, those damn combos go on forever!- and this really pissed me off. I ended up wasting 680exp that I earned with my Emperor band dying four times because I refused to pay attention to the fact that Plague Breath equals dead. Now, of course, I could buy Antidotes or sub a job that can use Poisona, but that isn't the issue...it's a damn EP mob taking me out with basically one spell, that's just not right.

Eventually I stopped being an idiot, got back all of the lost exp on other mobs, took my revenge against a lizard and logged off for the night. But before I logged I changed my bazaar comment: 'Nothing is fair here. Accept it.' FFXI is definately an appreciable representation of the real world, where nothing is fair and people intent on destroying the world for their own gain (Server/RMTs anyone?) get about with relative ease. Things that you think would not harm you can and, sometimes, will kill you. Some snakes that are just out of the shell carry enough venom to kill a man, it makes sense that an EP lizard in FFXI should have enough poison in Plague Breath to take out a player 3-6 levels above it...even though the players don't seem to have that sort of option until much higher in level.

(3)Now I can look at things with a sort of amused cynicism while enjoying the game, even if some mobs are incredibly cheap and RMTs never go away. Strange as it seems, I think I can actually enjoy the game more for it.