A sudden change of fortune.

So, over the past few weeks, things have not been going well for me in-game. many of my shouts have not gone so well, and while there were little things like some clears and some THF leveling, I felt stuck in a rut on WHM because of how the hunt for a certain item from Abyssea was going, and how me and Milyardo's moneymaking excursions into Dynamis hit a snag or two. But I think today marks things finally starting to turn around.

After so many failed shouts, I finally have these pants. after so long feeling stuck, I feel like I'm starting to get traction. "But Granis" you might ask. "It's just one piece of gear.". Now, like when I got the +2 Bliaud, I'm not trying to say that "having certain pieces is required." And I know that people generally complete AF3+2 pieces rather quickly. (due to many reasons, having jobs that do well in Abyssea, like NIN or BLM, or they have LSmates or friends that they help with Empys a lot, and thus saw a lot of +2 items before Adoulin lauched., etc.) the +2 pantaloons are still a really major accomplishment for a few reasons:

Cards of Balance are, probably, the most annoying of the +2 items to get. this is because the NMs that you can get these from are Trisitia, Sobek, Glavoid, and Chloris. Glavoid's too much of a pain in the ass to rely on for cards, as when I got my clear, Jayhawk just brewed him and it seems like a huge pain in the butt to fight otherwise. Trisitia has the best Card of Balance droprates, but is a rather tough VNM, Alahra and I died to it because we couldn't get a stunner. Chloris needs a lot more pop items than Sobek, and as far as I can tell, the droprate is just as bad as on Sobek. Which means Sobek IS your best option for getting your +2 pants done if you're a WHM, DRG, COR, SMN, or DNC. and believe me, it took me doing a LOT of Sobek to get my cards. Anyway, it seems like WHM is the one that absolutely NEEDS them, though, as I would hazard a guess that outside of maybe the DNC and the SMN +2 pants, good alternative pants exist for those other jobs, and aren't neccecarily as "best in slot" for their purpose as WHM +2 legs. That's just the impression that I get, though.

There is no leg equips in the game that beats Orison +2 for WHM for curing. As I just explained, they are hard to get these days, with less traffic in Abyssea and less people doing the NMs you need, but unlike other jobs where newer alternative equips to AF3 gear have come out, WHM still need to get these legs. and it took me a long time to get mine, and it felt horrible as nearly every WHM in Jeuno and Adoulin probably got theirs ages ago when healing those NMs when Aby had higher traffic as many people were still trying to build Empyerans. I think total, I must have did Sobek at least 16 times before finishing.

Tonight I popped him no less than 6 times, I met up with some people who were happening to doing him when I headed over to ABy- La thiene on a whim after a shout I was trying to put together fell apart, and they were nice enough to let me in for the shot at my last few cards. (A previous bunch of pops with Alahra ended with me being 4/6) So Mr. NIN and his Taru BLM buddy invited me in, and we had 3 pops ready to go rather quickly. So we did 3 pops, and unfurtunately, we missed Grellow the first pop because they ended up being BLU proc. Then we did the two others, and only got one Balance Card total, leaving me at 5/6. The NIN and BLM had gotten what they came for, with the NIN being at 50/50 skins for Kannagi. However, as I was pretty depressed about being close and everything, I asked for a D2.

However, the NIN and BLM said "We're not leaving until you get what you came for, too." and we went and built just 1 more pop, we popped Sobek, BLM, grellowed up very early in the fight, , and I got my last card. I thanked them both for helping me overcome this, and left.

So, for WHM, this takes a huge chunk out of my Abyssea checklist, I have my Orison Locket and Earring, as well as a +2 Body and +2 Legs, and a +1 head. main thing I need from Aby now is clears, and maybe to pick up a Twilight Torque from Shinryu for my idle, and the rest of my WHM goals are outside of Abyssea. there are little things like +2ing my head, or getting +2 Orison feet and/or hands, but unlike the body and legs, alternatives exist for those slots depending on set.

So, my plans are as follows.

1. Find some people for it and become a Salvager. I have enough Assault Points for 12 permits by now. Doing V1 Salvage and Salvage 2 to get Marduk's gear is definitely something I wanna do. (the +1 Tiara would be an excellent piece to get, as would the body and hands for fastcast.) and getting a share of some Alexandrite would get some money coming in to buy stuff that would help.

2. Do other events, I definitely am dying to do some Meeble Burrows for some nice accesories, and hitting up Old Nyzul to spam floor 40 for Goliard pants. Dynamis and Limbus would be good to get into too if I can find a solid DD to duo with and split currency with in exchange for healing.

3. Missions, ToAU done and WoTG done for the good accesories they offer. Perhaps also Shantoto as well for a nice piece of idle gear and a FANTASTIC Atma.

4. Start healing Delve. Bokwus Gloves are the best healing gloves in the game, and if I can get the clear on CHapuli, should only take a little bit of Plasm farming. Delve is hard, though, well, maybe not Plasm farming, more the NMs that scare me.

So, if my plans go well and I find group, explect to /sea me in Remnants or in Fractures real soon! Or in ToAU/WoTG areas a hell of a lot in the next few weeks!

WHM gearsets

This is something of a post about what I'm going to be shooting for for my WHM gearsetss, keep in mind I'm not an very good WHM and my opinions on some of this gear may be misinformed and better alternatives may exist.

So, before we begin, I'm going to start off by saying we are only going to be covering the "three basic sets"

- "Curing" gear. (gear you put on mid-cast)

-Fast Cast/precast (gear you wear to speed up your spellcasts at the start of the cast.)

-Idle (stuff you wear when not casting, usually a combination of Refresh and PDT/MDT stuff to keep you alive.)

There are "other gearsets" to keep in mind too such as Enhancing skill sets, emfeebling sets, etc. But I just want to talk about the bare bones stuff.

Curing Gear:

Main Weapon:

Every WHM should do the cure potency Magian staff trials and try to build Arka IV. It takes a lot of time, and Light Geodes may not even be expensive depending on your server. Even with as shitty as I am at making gil (since I don't have things like Repartie Gloves/Magavan hands or a Roundel Earring cause I'm poor.) I bought the Geodes. Arka IV is worth the effort. HOWEVER, if you are RICH, but don't want to spend a long time doing staff trials (they can be annoying.) You can get a Tefnut wand (Or even get it for free if you do that VW NM a lot but don't hold your breath.) but it's extremely expensive and completing an Arka IV is much cheaper. Until you either can afford a Tefnut or you do your staff trials, Pick up a Light Staff or an Iridal Staff on the cheap to heal stuff till you get your Arka IV done or you can afford a Tefnut. (you can go for the HQ Apollo's Staff or Chatoyant Staff if you've got a bit of extra cash, but I'd prioritise using that money to buy a Tefnut or better, getting Geodes for Arka IV trials.)

•  Arka IV
•  Tefnut wand
• Light Staff
• Iridal Staff

Sub-weapon:

If you're using Arka IV or some other staff, you'll want a grip. There are a lot of options for grips but I used a Verse Strap for a while. the +1 is also great, but It can be a bit pricey and sometimes it's just not up on the AH. However, a much better curing option would likely be the Curatio Grip off Nonno in Abyssea- Misearaux depending if you can get a group for it, but when it's on the AH it's pretty affordable. Since the Curatio is only +healing magic skill, even better options might be out there I don't know about, I know if there was cure potency on this slot I didn't know about I would be all over it. If you're using Tefnut, I don't know what shield you'd want to cure in would be, you may need to find a Tefnut WHM and ask them. But really, just save yourself the 1.5 mil and just build Arka IV.

• Verse Strap (or the +1)
• Curatio Grip

Ammo:

I'll be really honest! I don't even have one of these for curing! I only have one for Fast Cast! But this is something I should rectify. the Oreiad's Tathlum is amazing, but you'll need an Adjunct clear in Battlia Downs Meeble Burrows and 20k Marks to buy it. There's also the Mana Ampulla whch is a rare Trasure Casket drop in Sea Serpent Grotto. So it may either be pricey or have limited availability on the AH.

• Oreiad's Tathlum
• Mana Ampulla

Head:

The obvious choice here is the Orison Cap +2 (mine's only +1 ATM :/ ) however, the Marduk's Tiara +1 from Salvage 2 is very, very attractive. Yes, while it only has a +1% potency advantage on +2 Orison head, it has a rather large amount of MND, and it can also be used as Fast Cast gear in conjunction with other Marduk +1 gear, such as the Jubbah and Dastanas, making it a "twofer" piece of gear. Though, that brings us to the awesomely amazing Iaso Mitra, which is arguably best in slot for curing, but too bad most WHM will never see this due to.... how inaccessable Legion is. Nothing quite says "unattainable" like Legion gear. I would like to have it, but honestly, it'd be too expensive to pay a Synergist for it, and I would need to actually do Legion to get the items to make it, especially with a strong augment. I stand a better chance of building a +1 Tiara honestly. I might be wearing Orison head for much of the forseeable future.

• Orison Cap +2
• Marduk's Tiara +1
• Iaso Mitra

Neck:

The Healing Torque is a good cheap AH option. Alternatively the Fylgja Torque is great, but expensive. (Especially the +1) However, It might be better to go beat ToAU and fight Alexander for a Colossus's Torque. Especially if you can ask a SCH for Aurorastorm during an event or party which will give you the light weather bonus.

• Healing Torque
•  Fylgja Torque
• Colossus's Torque

Earrings:

The Orison Earring is great. But you need two earrings. the Beatific Earring via 20k Marks and an Assistant clear in Saromague Meeble Burrows, offers some good +healing skill. however there is a large elephant in the room, the Roundel Earring. It offers good Cure potency but is VERY EXPENSIVE and tends to get bought very quickly, and the supply is limited since there's so few people doing Campeign let alone Stronghold NMs like Plucking Wings. I still use an Aredan Earring due to it being much cheaper than a Roundel.

• Orison Earring
• Beatific Earring
• Roundel Earring
• Aredan Earring

Body:

the Orison Bliaud +2 is the gold standard for WHM curing bodies, and I'm very happy I have mine. However, I've recieved a few comments that I shoudn't use it for curing until I have capped potency and use a Cure Potency body instead, like a Noble's Tunic. I don't know how I feel about this, since the Bliaud is the first +2 piece I have actually finished, the loss of the +10% cureskin bonus in a deperate attempt to get closer to the Potency cap really hurts.  especially if I have to buy older gear like Noble's.  However, I could just take my Abyssea trophies and try for a Facio Bliaut with a solid cure potency augment. So that way I could wear my +2 Orison body for Refresh and cure in this until I get more potency pieces, rather than look like an ironic retro guy pretending Abyssea was never released and the level cap is still 75 by full timing Noble's. People might assume I don't have +2 body and be mean to me more! There's also Heka's Kalsiris, but it's a VW drop so probably going to be tough to get, unless you're prepared to do a lot of Akvan.

• Orison Bliaud +2
• Noble's Tunic
• Facio Bliaut
• Heka's Kalsiris

Hands:

Hands, well..... Bokwus Gloves are easily the best... but you need to get the Impure celadon yggzi KI from Delve and farm up 15k Plasm, and probably more to augment it. Delve is currently the hardest content in the game, too, so they aren't the most accessable thing in the world, even though apparently WHM gets into Delve really easily but I'm too scared of screwing everything up. Hieros Mittens are pretty cool if you can clear every non-boss Meeble goal to goal 3 (which might be tricky.) and have 80k marks to blow, since it's got cure potency and is another anti-curse piece to go with Ephedra Ring. Augur's Gloves are nice if you can get in on a Chloris and get lucky on the drop. And then there is Serpentes Cuffs, which is a good idle piece that provides good potency if you've got the boots that go with them.... I'l talk more about that when I get to boots....

• Bokwus Gloves 
• Hieros Mittens
• Augur's Gloves
• Serpentes Cuffs (don't cure in these unless you have Serpentes Sabots!

Rings

I think there are two directions you could go with rings. Either get Sirona's Ring and Ephedra Ring for around +18 healing magic, 3 MND, and some help with Cursna, or go double Aquasoul for a big MND stack. I really prefer the first option, however.

• Sirona's Ring and Ephedra Ring
• Aquasoul X2

Back

Personally, I like using Oretania's Cape for a little extra potency, but Tempered Cape would be better if I got a chance to purchase one. Also, the Orison Cape his a bit less potency, but I guess it has Enminty down, but is not as good as these other two.

• Oretania's Cape
• Tempered Cape
• Orison Cape

Waist

I have a Cascade Belt, which has a solid MND of +7 and some Enhancing skill as a nice bonus, though Bishop's Sash may be a neat pickup if it's up on AH and if I have the money.

• Cascade Belt
• Bishop's Sash

Legs:

Orison Pantaloons +2. Every WHM should be wearing these when a cure spell finishes. (I only have the +1 cause I'm bad and it's not nearly good enough. I need to get those Balance cards and rectify this.) the MP refund on Cures is a really really big deal, the 7 MND is just icing on the cake, it would still be best in slot without the MND. The Cure refund  is absolutely huge, Especially in any event not named Abyssea where you don't have refresh atma.

• I'm not making a list. getting the bastion points, leg seals and balance cards is THAT imperative.

Feet

Hoo boy. There aren't a lot of options here. You might be one of the lucky ones to get a great cure potency and/or healing skill augment on Zenith Pumps or you do Legion or pay tons of gil for Legion crafting stuff to have Iaso Boots, or do the T4 Jeuno VW pixie to get Rubeus Boots. these aren't particularly easy to get to say the least. The elephant in the room: Serpentes Sabots. the Sabots, like the Serpentes Cuffs, are a nice idle piece for regen/refresh. However if you've got both, they give you 5% cure potency. However, let me tell you a little story...

Prior to Adoulin's lauch (or a little bit after, I forget) I would hit Abyssea- La Thiene for Brooder often after getting my Cuffs from the Corse. First couple of pops I did with a few Moghat people, I went 0/3. Then I started to farm abyssites up to tier 2, than go to La Thiene and send tells to random people asking if they could help me do Brooder, and a few of them mostly NINs were nice enough to take him out. few more pops and I'm 0/7, and I was starting to feel discouraged. then I started to do shouts for VNM runs in La Theine, was hard finding people but some people did bite. first group that got together I ended up going 0/9 before people had to go. This is getting a little bit ridiculous. Next time I get a nice sized group and finally, 1/12. However, someone beat me on lots. I'm not angry at the guy for winning the boots, I was happy for the guy, I was more angry for going 0/11 previously, I would have been less angry if Brooder had not screwed me over so much previously, and if the group stayed or got back together a different time to go for more pairs.

I ultimately just got Orvail Souliers and pretended that having +14 MND in the slot is better than nothing at all.

• Serpentes Sabots (need Cuffs as well for cure potency)
• Orvail Souliers
• Zenith Pumps (if you get one with a Cure Potency/healing skill augment)
• Rubeus Boots
•  Iaso Boots

Fast Cast/precast:

Sub Weapon:

There's Vivid Strap and it's +1 for Fast Cast for this slot if you are using a staff. Though I hear Genbu's Shield can be augmented with "Cure Cast time down" which may be something to look at if you have Genbu's Shield to use with Owleyes for idle.

• Vivid Strap or +1
• Genbu's Shield (Cure cast time down augment)

Ammo:

the Incantor Stone is a cheap AH Fast Cast pickup. there's also Impatiens, from T1 Windurst VW, but it's "Occ. quickens cast" gear, which make using it in part of a generic precast set incredibly risky, as when it procs, the cast will instantly finish and the recast will be set at 0:00. What this means is Quicken Cast proccing can sometimes occasionally gimp your cures or other potency based stuff (like buffs) if it procs at a bad time, because there wouldn't be time to switch in a mid-cast set. So be careful when adding Occ. Quicken cast gear in.

• Incantor Stone
• Impatiens

Head:

Fast Cast heads... this will get pretty rough. Hyaline Hat drops from Provenance Watcher, lord know how much VW you'd have to do to reach him, let alone kill him and get the drop (we all know how annoying "logwatch" can be) the Nares Cap is from NNI floor 100, not the most accessable thing in the world. Then we have Marduk's Tiara +1 which is just Salvage/Salvage 2, but to get any Fast Cast from it you'd need more Marduk's piece to contribute to the Fast Cast set bonus. The other option is augenting up a Cleric's Cap +2 from Dynamis for Cure Cast Time Down. Yeah, head's kinda hard for precast.

• Hyaline Hat
• Nares Cap
• Marduk's Tiara +1 (if you have other Marduk's +1 to contribute to set bonus.)
• Cleric's Cap +2

Neck:

Orison Locket. Pretty cut and dry.

Earrings:

Do Limbus or pay for the ABCs to get a Loq. Earring. I don't know of any more precast earrings.

Body:

Heka's Kalsiris (mentioned above for curing bodies) has Fast Cast on it, but again, VW has bad droprates, meaning a lot of Akvan runs. Or you can go to Salvage/Salvage 2 for Marduk's Jubbah +1 which has the highest Fast Cast value on a body piece, and helps other Marduk +1 pieces give you more Fast Cast via the set bonus. Other than that, there's no real accessable pre-cast bodies.

• Heka's Kalsiris
• Marduk's Jubbah +1

Hands:

We have Magavan Mitts and Repartie Gloves. Both are from Legion but often find themselves on the AH. Magavan Mitts are a LOT more expensive than Repartie Gloves, but Magavan Mitts only have a slight Fast Cast advantage. because of this, Repartie Gloves tend to be snapped up quickly and it can be hard to find a pair on the AH when you wanna buy em :/ . Alternatively, in Salvage/Salvage 2 there's the Marduk's Dastanas +1 to build, which again, helps with your other Marduk's +1 pieces for the set-based Fast Cast.

• Magavan Mitts
• Repartie Gloves

Rings:

You have the Prolix Ring, which being an AHable VW drop, tends to go for a fortune. The Veneficium Ring is cheaper, but let the buyer beware: it's another one of those "Occ. Quickens Cast" pieces.

• Prolix Ring
• Veneficium Ring

Back:

The Swith Cape is a nice, cheap pickup. I went for the NQ, but the +1 is good too.

Legs:

For precasting healing magic, you will want to just use the Healing Magic Cast Time Reduction on your Orison Pantaloons +2, for everything else though, go spam Courier supply runs or do Reives in Adoulin and use your bayld to get Orvail Pants.

• Orison Pantaloons +2
•  Orvail Pants

Feet:

I just got Chelona Boots because they were inexpensive. Though I suppose Cure Clogs might be better for Cure precasts.

• Chelona Boots
• Cure Clogs

Idle gear: (A note, I'm actually really struggling with getting together an idle set and am missing a lot of this stuff, just so you know.)

Main Weapon and Sub Weapon

Currently I use an Earth Staff (Terra's Staff is fine too.) for the PDT. Ideally I'd also want to get an Oneiros Grip for the refresh..... but I'd need to do the Arch Goblin Golem in Dynamis - Jeuno to have a shot at it. So I only have PDT in this slot. But if you really want a PDT/Refresh combo, there's the Owleyes mace off of Myrmecoleon in Abyssea- Tahrongi for the refresh, and Genbu's Shield off Genbu in Sky for the PDT. Those may take longer to get, though, depending if you can get the mace and sucessfully get a shield off Genbu. Though personally, Owleyes makes to take 10 percent more damage so all Genbu's does is nuffly the physical side of it, which is why I prefer Earth Staff, even though I don't have the refresh grip.

• Earth Staff (or Terra's Staff) + Oneiros Grip
• Owleyes + Genbu's Shield

Neck:

The obvious choice here is to go for Twilight Torque off Shinryu to get some all damage taken down. Veisa Collar might be a decent-ish AH/VW alternative, but Twilight Torque is really nice.

• Twilight Torque
•  Veisa Collar

Earring:

The big one here is the Moonshade Earring for completing Wings of the Goddess. It can be augmented with a choice of different augments and for the idle set we would want the Refresh. however, it has other augments like Regain or TP Bonus+ 25 you might want more for other jobs. the Black Earring could be good if you manage to get one with one of the PDT augments.

Body:

Orison Bliaud +2 had 2/MP a tic Refresh and is amazing and you want it anyway for your curing set, though if you have a Marduk's Jubbah +1 for fast cast you can wear that as it has the same Refresh value. If you have an unhealthy obsecession with Refresh, you can try to get a Heka's Kalsiris and combo it with a Nefer Khat head to get the 3MP/ tic Refresh if you are insane. Personally I think Oriosn +2 body is enough refresh but whatever. Buying a Noble's Tunic might be good if you don't have a Bliaud +2 yet.

• Orison Bliaud +2 or Marduk's Jubbah +1
• Heka's Kalsiris + Nefer Khat
• Noble's Tunic

Hands:

Serpentes Cuffs are nice for Regen/Refresh.

Rings:

a Dark Ring mite b cool if you can get one with a bit of PDT. Possibly two! Or you can try for a Defending Ring off King Behemoth if you do lolHNMs

• Dark Ring with PDT augments. (Possibly X2!)
• Defending Ring

Back:

A Cheviot Cape or Umbra Cape could be some good PDT options for this slot.

• Cheviot Cape
• Umbra Cape

Legs:

There's Nares Trews from Neo Nyzul for Refresh and Iaso Tights from Legion stuff for some MDT. Good luck getting either of these, though.

• Nares Trews
• Iaso Tights

Feet:

Like the cuffs, the Serpentes Sabots are nice for Regen/Refresh... Screw you, Brooder. for some MDT there's Magavan Clogs but they are probably expensive.

• Serpentes Sabots
• Magavan Clogs

----------------

And there you have it! I know I probably overlooked some good equips, but I tried my best anyway!

Vunkerl- Snail > Walrus

Hey everyone, After that shout experience from last night urge me to re-do my macro page, after I re-aggranged that stuff, Bluetiger took me out to Aby- Vunkerl to get some stuff done and test my new setup out!

First up, we farmed a pop for Karkadann, Bluetiger came NIN for this, the Marid went pretty easily, but the Tiger proved to be more difficult. because we got a lot of Tiger links, it took Bluetiger a little bit to proc red, and I tried to help with an odd repose here or there. But I think it's a lot easier for me to cure ailiments now, I got the stuff off Bluetiger resonably quickly given all the tiger links running around, even though I needed a reminder to re-do Haste after Erase-ing slow and the like. That's why I like running with LS-mates, though, it's different than a shout- it helps me so much to have little reminders about things, I know I should strive to be on top of everything 100 percent of the time, but this kind of friendly reminder really helps!

But as for the main event.

Outside of me forgetting Haste, and when I got hate for a brief moment, I think things have been going a lot better with my new macro setup. kept Bluetiger's HP up and totes emfeebled! Addle really helps with the Thundagas! (Bluetiger was riding the MDT atma but still.) Got a new Orison Locket!

Now, I was going to meet up with a Sedna Shout afterward but that kinda fell through, given how long the tiger NM took. Bluetiger just decided to throw on BST and..... well.....

We got to AFK for a while as Gerard soloed Sedna. Fun times. This puts my Aby clears to 5/9, with Scars zones all cleared.

And that's all for now, I know, kind of a small personal update, but next time I'll put my theorycrafting hat back on! Tomorrow in the morning / afternoon I'm probably going to start working on a big new post about WHM gear and sets I'm striving for/What are good things to equip for WHM. (it also gives me a chance to drool and sperg over insane unattainable status gear, some of which I'll know I will probably never get.) I know talking about clears is kinda boring, so for "stuff I'm getting done" I'll try to talk about something more exciting. Hey at least me getting my locket for fastcast was exciting!

A talk about fight knowledge and reactions times

Kind of a small, and pictureless update for today, but I feel it's an important one. I am now 4/9 of my Abyssea zone clears. I've been spending most of today in an effort to start leveling a new job (I feel that I need some job variety, and to help fund myself with some gil to buy some WHM pieces.).

But the topic of the Konschtat clear that happened today bring me to something I want to talk about.

SO, there was a shout in Jeuno for Kulkakhan. I needed that clear so I went (as WHM, of course.) I had to kind of hurry to get to the group and when they popped Kulkakhan, I was a little... unprepared, to say the least.

Since I was in a hurry to catch this clear (because I feel I need to get my clears as soon as possible because the Apoc Atma would make Abbyssea a lot easier for me.) I didn't know what this NM could do, and that party just sort of popped him and assumed everything would be fine. But it wasn't because I had never done this NM before.

Kulkakhan has a gaze attack move that inflicts a particular powerful Curse nicknamed "Zombie." by certain wikis. Not only does it function as a normal Curse effect, it has to unique property of cancelling all healing on the affected target, and Kulkakhan also has a potent Enpoison on his melee attacks, making healing hard as it is.

Even WOrse, the same TP move that inflicts the "Zombie" curse, also causes Terror, which means after your NIN or other tank is hit, other party members, usually DD (or god forbid, the mages.) will get hate, cause that potent Enpoision and the Zombie curst to spread even more. Especially if your tank dies because you (as the WHM) failed to get Zombie off of the NIN fast enough to cure.

Even after a figured out what the deal was, I still struggled with this. You see, unlike the relationship between -na spells and other standard status ailiments, Curse can resist Cursna, and IIRC, "Zombie" has a higher resistance rate v.s. Cursna. granted there is "Enhances Cursna Effect" gear that can help, I only own one piece, the Ephedra Ring. So with all this damage flying out on people, and this super curse to deal with and everything, and Kulkakhan running around chasing different people with hate, I really struggled with this fight, especially considering the grellow proc was Light, too. :/ Somehow the rest of the party came through and killed it.

I understand that this is the kinda thing I just have to learn through experience. that I as a WHM should have an encyclopedic knowledge of every NM in the game and what their TP moves do, that I need to be incredibly quick on the draw with ailiment healing, cures, and everything else I need to be doing. But, I find it hard to find a way I can get everything done as quickly enough to matter in a hectic fight like that. I have Macro pallettes for a good majority of my important spells, I can also command-line with spellcast. (Tibs warned me that this isn't the way to go for curing or other important stuff, except for him since he types really fast.)

I have to come up with a way to play faster, though. Perhaps I just need to completely overhaul my Macro book. It won't be easy given how many thing I need macroed. Cures, AoE Cures (Curagas, Cura 3 for the situations it's good) -na spells, important job abilities: the "stance" things like Light Arts and Solace/Misery probably needs to be taken off the macro book and just command lined before a fight. I should probably keep more important JAs at the ready in the book without having to flip through like 2 or more pallettes to get to something important like Divine Caress or Divine Seal (or important stratagems like Accession, which needs to be used for AoE -nas if Seal is on recast.). outside of super important ones, like Haste, etc. buffs should probably for the most part be menu cast or command lined. having a bunch of buffs take up pallette space that could be used to give faster access to critical JAs, standard curing rotation stuff, or -na spells probably need to get removed. I don't need a button on pallette #1 for Protectra and Shellra V, or stuff for Grellow. (I can proc via magic menu or command lining when people aren't dying or dubuffed to hell.)

Just talking about it makes me realize just how disorganized my macro book actually is. maybe after I clean it out and..... simplify it, my curing and ailiment removal speed will pick up? We'll see how it goes.

A trip to Abyssea Altepa.

So I actualy got some stuff done today! I'll get to that in a minute but before that...

Until today, not all was well in Granis Land, after a few days of some botched runs/shouts of Alfard that'd didn't go well at all. and some sarcastic comments by a random guy about my gear in Adoulin during a random Colonization Reive, I wasn't really feeling confident, but today, it feels like things are starting to turn around just a little bit for me, But maybe just a little.

First off, after what happened with that Reive, the first thing I did when I logged in today was run packages to Morimar to make Bayld to spite those jerks in Reive, and well, I bought Orvail pants for my fast cast setup. More about those later, though.

Onto the main event! Me and some LS people went to Abyssea-Altepa to go do some Bennu, with some Hedjetjet in between Bennu pops.

It went much better than it looks, honest! I Reposed some adds up, even though I did make mistakes. :( I actually wound up getting Break'd by Hedjetjet on the very first pull and dying without a reraise up like a derp, but after that I knew to not stand close to either of these NMs, I buddy system'd with Jayhawk to try and find a nice sweet spot between being out of AoEs and being able to catch people with cures and hit dat grellow for Light.

Everyone in the group was really awesome, though, and helped mitigate my mistakes and helped me out a ton. (I think my healing and link reposing on the last Bennu went better than the rest as a result!)

First we have the ever helpful cat-lady NIN Alahra! while she was tanking like a boss, I feel bad because me getting Petrified on that first Hedjetjet contributed to her only death of the run. She picked up some Ardor Jewels for one of her other jobs (COR, I think?) so grats to her.

Next we have Jayhawk! From what I understand, he's new to the LS but has been really helpful! after that unfortunate Break on Hedjetjet, I just simply stayed with him to avoid those troublesome AoEs even if I could quite reach our DRK sometimes, but I eventually wiggled a bit to get in range without getting hit by AoEs eventually. I don't know that much about BLM damage these days but I thought a 1.8k nuke was pretty cool!

And last but not least, we have the Lord of the Waffle Fries himself, Tibs. For those of you who don't know, Tibs is one hell of a player. While the reason I look up to him and respect him is for WHM, He wound up coming on DRK today, and even barring a few deaths (which very well could have been my fault for not reacting quickly enough or being out of range because I was being too conservative for wanting to stay out of AoEs.) He really busted out some damage. And as usual, offering up sagely WHM advice like the pro he is.

Not pictured is Napup! He only came out for a few pulls before he had some business to attend to, but the 'pup is still awesome, he even came out on RDM to give me and Jay some beautiful Refresh II, though it's kinda silly in Abby with Minikin and all. But it's the thought that counts! I <3 you Napup.

So even with my screw ups, how did it go? I think these pictures speak for themselves:

Thoughts on gear:

Orvail Pants: It's a decent little fast cast macro piece. I had to play around with my spellcast XML a bit today since Orison legs are still better for precasting Healing Magic, but this is a nice boost for getting Enhancing out and enfeebling and proccing.

Orison +2 body: Before I got the +2 body, I was worried that the improvement from +1 might have been marginal since I was struggling to get those damn cards until today and karma might slap me in the face like that. I was pleasantly surprised to find that was VERY MUCH the contrary. that extra 1mp/tic of Refresh is actually more noticable than you might think! Also, a whole 5 percent increase to Solace cureskin is just nuts. The more obvious things like 5 extra Healing skill is more just icing on the cake. I finally feel like I'm getting my foot in the door of gearing as a WHM. I'm not trying to say I nessecarily deserve this gear or trying to argue or complain when I'm upset for not getting my gear, I'm just so happy to finally get something that seem like, to me, is at least something of a moderate, resonable accomplishment, though I realize I still have a very long way to go, this is just one piece after all. I think I said something similar on FB or in-game when I completed Arka IV.

I realize I'm still not good, and well, more than the gear, I just appreciate the run. More valuable than gear is just a chance to learn how to play the job better. Yes, I made some really derpy mistakes, Tibs died more than he shoud have. I should have not gotten hit with Break, I should have had RR up on the first pull, I should of healed more consistantly despite range/AoE concerns. Then again, I book burned/Abyssea'd to 99, I have to learn how to heal better, because I couldn't really while leveling and runs like this is how I should practice, I suppose.

Big thank you to Jayhawk for making time on the weekend to help me out, big thanks to Alahra for coming out as well as Napup. And of course Tibs, for being so helpful and supportive. Sorry I let you die so much. I'll learn. Somehow, I'll learn.