I learned about the Empress Ring! Some people in the Linkshell I joined informed me about it after they were leveling significantly faster than I was during some shenanigans in the Valkurm Dunes. I'm so glad I learned about it. I also invited a friend to join the server and they've been having a great time with me. We get together and grind black mage every now and then. Worms and Bee's are a running joke in our conversations now. Sometimes I hate it, sometimes it's amazing. but it's overall, good fun.
As I type this I just hit level 25 RDM. Now, you might be asking. Smashgunner! Maestro! Last time you were talking you hadn't even hit level 18! Well, the kind people of this server invited me to do some XP grinding against Gigas Bats in the lower floors of the large Chains of Promethea tower. I went from level 15 to 24 over the course of 3 hours! It would have been more but I ran out of Empress Band charges
I gotta say, all the issues I was having while playing before just...evaporated. Now that I have access to Fire and Blizzard, I'm capable of actually killing things that were an even match! Earlier in the 10's and late single digits, if something said 'even match' I couldn't fight them. My HP and damage were just too low. It's great to finally feel like I'm making progress. Becoming strong.
I spent today messing around. Leveling Black Mage with my friend, bullying crabs in the Valkurm Dunes. I know it's not exactly optimal, but I really wanted a full stack of Crab Shells and Land Crab Meat. 4 years ago when I last played, I was too shy to use the auction house, so I was perpetually broke. I ended up farming these crabs and selling their drops to merchants. So I guess I kinda just wanted to feel nostalgic for that. Shove the items in my mog house just to laugh at them later. It ended up being a good thing though, my leveling with my linkshell left me kinda empty on skills. So just nuking the crabs and Beach Pugils for an hour or two total ended up raising my elemental magic skill by like 20 levels! Rip exactly 69 damage blizzard.
Oh, and I got my Sub Job. I gotta say, the rush of seeing the boost to my HP when I equipped WHM felt great. I'm not as fragile anymore! I have 300 HP! Hurray!!!
Even though there are other servers out there (Yes, I know about Horizon. Please stop DMing me about it I'll smack you.) I'm having a great time. Maybe one day I'll try them, but right now, I'm comfortable having fun on Nasomi, where I started. I still wanna become a bard, and I kinda wanna take up Goldsmithing in the future just to supply the server with INT rings and whatnot. But that is, again, in the future.
I really wanna keep making these, as long as I don't get told to stop or anything. I'm still trying to do side quests and whatnot. I wanna share my experiences with you all. As a newish player with only basic knowledge of the game. I don't know the best spots of Qufim island, or optimal grinding outside of the Dunes. I only figured out how to make a macro work yesterday. But I'm trying my best, having a good time.
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Maestro: The Cute Taru that wants to be a Bard to help you. (◕‿◕✿)