If you don't play FFXI, this will make absolutely no sense to you. If you are not a gamer at all, it will make even less sense. Feel free to skip this post :) I certainly won't be offended.
For those of you that want to brave it, here goes:
My BLM is 62 now. I have been working my little taru butt of to get there. My goal all along was just like everyone else's- get to 75. But then I heard about FanFest, and my goal got bumped up, and then became an obsession. I wanted to be 75 before FanFest. And since I had a week off of school, I planned on spending the whole week working on it. Unfortunately, that week did not go as planned, and I did not make as much progress as I wanted. No biggie. Brush it off and keep going. Still plenty of time before FanFest. My goal was one level per day. I did pretty well. But not enough. I am now down to one month before FanFest. And I'm 62. Only 13 levels away, right? Except that those thirteen levels include more EXP in them as the first 60 levels. And a Maat fight. I'm not yet afraid of my Maat fight. But Selo is nervous for me. He knows my weaknesses in the game, and panicking at high stress moments is one of them. I am more nervous because of him being nervous, than of Maat himself. Selo has promised me all of his +1 gear, and I have already started studying (thank you YouTube) for it. I know it will be a big deal. But at this point, I have kind of given in to reality. I don't think I will make it. I did a little math. I have four weeks. That means I need at least three levels per week. That is almost half a level per day. And that is to get me right up there. No farming, no questing, no missions, no Sky (which I will get to in a moment), ect. If I didn't have school, work, and a husband, I might be able to do it. We are talking more than double the EXP I have already earned. It has taken me two years to get where I am. What makes me think I can do all that in one month?
I will get 75, just not before FanFest.
My other . . . concern. Sky. Sky LS to be more exact. Let me start by giving some background info.
When I first started the game over two years ago, I was given a shell by Egoman, who is a leader in GreatTarusMagicite. He was very nice and they all welcomed me into the group. I was later given a shell to Socialites, and made friends with Lavinia, whom I still adore. But I still had my shell for GTM and divided my time between the two fairly equally. When Lav left the game, the shell split off. Many of the members from Socialites went to GTM. When my character was taken from me (the original MiniMarie, with the two red pigtails), Tak from GTM was my biggest help in the transfer. He created a character on his own account, specifically to hold my items for me. (Since I wanted to keep my name, I had to delete the current one before creating the new one.) Ned and Tak have been totally awesome to me. They are among the group of people I give credit to for keeping me in and active in FFXI at all. Moving on.
Hubby has been part of Windshire for almost a year and a half. That whole time (I think), he has had Vent with them. So as he got to know everyone in that LS, I got to know them as well. Several months ago, I received a pearl of my own. I didn't apply or anything, I was just given one because of Selo. I was in as a guest, as Selo's wife. I kept the pearl, but visited only rarely because I was "part" of them. I went in once in a while to let them know Selo was running late, or to say hello.
About a month ago, I got Sky access. This was a long process in a short amount of time. GTM had recently opened (is that the right word?) their own Sky shell. Before that, there weren't enough members to have a full sky shell, so those that were high enough found their own. Now that the members are progressing and there are enough for a full shell, they created one. So GTM picked a night, and did a big run, and took everyone from their shell that could go. We started at the first Zilart mission and did all the way through the fight for ZM8. After that, most people left and went to bed (it was around 2am). A few of us were determined, though, and we kept going. I went up through 11 and stopped at 12.
The next day, Selo and several members of WS helped me complete the fight. It was a tough one, too, so I was glad to have them there. That evening, Selo took me up to Sky and showed me around. Since it was WS's Sky night, I stayed up there and watched. (It was a Sunday, so it was Gods, not farming.) From that point on, I have gone up there most Tuesdays to help with farming, and some Sundays, to support and pretend and I useful- and just in case they do farm. I have been going to Sky since lvl 58.
So here's my dilema. I am getting high lvl enough that I need to start seriously considering which Sky shell I will be part of. GTM was the one that has been there for me since I started the game, got me started on the missions (which is a big deal to me), and got me through most of them. WS helped me finish them (at least, the ones that were needed for Sky. I haven't done the rest yet), and I have been joining in Sky. Up until this point, it has all been in fun and games to me. Now don't misunderstand me. I know that FFXI itself is just a game. And those of you raising the other hand, I take my time in Sky very seriously. But even at 62, I don't do much damage. I am a great stunner (just try a Meltdown on me!), and I can back up heal and enfeeb on my BLM like nothing else. But my elemental spells are no match for the Gods.
Anyway back to the point. I feel like I owe it to both LS to be in their Sky shell. A week ago, I had finally decided to join WS as a full time Sky member when the time came. I hadn't told anyone from either shell of my decision yet. I wanted to make sure it was what I wanted, and would work for both me and the shell before I said anything. I also wanted to talk to Ned and Tak and make sure they heard about my decision from me, and not from a gossip chain. But then, I overheard a conversation. It wasn't private in the least. It was Achi and Belle talking about accepting new members. Belle was reviewing the jobs they had versus what they needed, and discussing it with Achi. When Achi mentioned that a BLM had applied, Belle said she didn't want any more BLM. She explained her reasons, and they make sense. But now I feel guilty. I feel guilty for wanting to and being part of WS. I feel once again like I am only there because of Selo, instead of because I have proving myself and my loyalty. However, I almost feel like I have shut the door on myself in GTM because I have spent almost NO time in that shell recently.
So that's my problem. I am entering the world of end-game shells, and it's definitely a learning experience.
