After 4 years…

… I’ve finally finished Aegis!

Yes… I know a lot of people are able to finish relics within months. But they usually have a strong LS to help them.

The plan began in March 2007, after reading Kaeko‘s advice. I’ve even printed a picture of it to motivate myself.

But alas, my PLD seems pretty useless in the era of Abyssea.

My MNK in counter build makes tanking so easy. And there’s also pretty insane boosts from the Atma and stats in Abyssea. Damage output is already high even without switching to WS gear set.

SE did hint that Aegis will be given a boost in the upcoming version update. I hope it becomes good enough for me to tank on PLD more than on MNK.

The final stretch in collecting currencies turned out to be faster than I expected. I crafted a lot during the day and did lots of buying low and selling high during the night. I could earn enough to buy 1~3 Montiont pieces a week.

There are many ways to earn gil, but the one I find that suits me most is crafting. I can do it while reading manga :D

I worked on several crafts, mainly those that have recipes for perishable items such as food, ninja tools, medicine.

Smithing was profitable for a while until the armor market crashed. In my opinion, the best armor pieces come from Abyssea now, not some damascus ingot. Fortunately, I was able to make a bit of profit to invest into other crafts before the crash.

Over the years, a lot of friends donated their spare dynamis currency or sold them to me at really low prices.

Sollanon, Tuufless, Vector, Grepa, Tatto, Zeek, Sodalitas, Walrus, Joachim, Radish, Yuchi, Ryagipibomyupi, Aerroenu, Noepon.

Social LS, Doom.

Dynamis LSes, Explorer and ZorinSoul.

Wasyuu and Tukuyomi, who trusted me enough to lend me the last 26 Montiont pieces I needed for the upgrade.

And finally, TeamKANICAN!

Many thanks to all of you!

(My apologies if I forgot someone >_<)

Dynamis-Tav excitement

First dynamis after the December 2010 Version Update. One item in the VU notes mention an adjustment to drop rates in Dynamis, another mentioned how the Treasure Hunter job trait got revamped. Coupled together with another TH tier from THF LV90 and AF3 THF shoes that give another TH tier, I expected relics to rain.

But our only THF, whom I’m sure has all of the above , wasn’t there last night. ( T-T)

Oh well, let’s see how it goes.

First 60 minutes saw absolutely no AF drop.

Then afterwards, 1 AF dropped, then another, then -1s started flowing in in pairs. Hydra equipment too, rained.

With 10 minutes left on the clock, we went for Diabolos. Out of 4, we aggroed 3.

The battle became pretty epic for us.

People were charmed, people died, and it eventually came down to a MNK and me (DRK) and half the alliance mostly weakened, facing 2 diabolos, 1 with about 5% HP and the other at 50% (they begin at 50%). Both of us have less than 200HP, both of us /NIN.

The MNK tanked both Diabolos while we whittled down the 5% one, WHM would occasionally throw a Cure V as soon as she could get enough MP, but it was quickly reduced down when Diabolos uses a WS.

1 Diabolos left.

I execute my WS, grab hate and shadow tanked a bit.

My epic moment came when I had 100+ HP, Utsu:2 wasn’t ready, 1 shadow left.

I start casting Utsu:1.

Lost 1 shadow, Utsu:1 still casting.

Parried the next attack which would’ve killed me and finished my Utsu:1 casting.

Managed to hold on a bit longer till the MNK could grab hate and take over the tanking and we continued taking turns tanking and managed to take it down.

We got our first clear. :D

Vana life update

It’s been a year since I’ve started working on Aegis. Thanks to everyone who’ve donated and friends who’ve offered to sell me dynamis currencies at generous discounts, I’m about halfway there.

Just traded in 6000 dynamis currencies and got my Ancile a few weeks ago. I did a quick mental calculation of the cost it took to get Ancile and the result is a scary 67.5 million gil. :O

To get to the last stage, I would need 7000 ordelle bronzepieces. Which would cost around 70 million. Thus, it would probably take another year for me to finish it.

Right now I’m at 500/7000. Aiming to finish it before November 2010.

I’ve also acquired a nice looking piece of armor, Koenig Cuirass. Love the color scheme. Goes well with my other Homam parts except the head. :D