This was the website for Vis Maior, a Galka who was proud to call the nation of Windurst "home", in the Massively Multiplayer Role-Playing Game, Final Fantasy XI. I am Sam Hart, and I played as Vis Maior in this game from January 2004 to February 2010.

On this site you will find the collected stories of my adventures through this game over the six years I played it. All previous entries are indexed by date and can be found here.

I ran a FFXI-specific version of my gaming clan, Clan of the Angry Monkey from May 2004 to January 2008. At ClanAM, I had many friends and we did many things together. After ClanAM ended, I remained in the game for another two years, leveling up additional jobs and doing things which required fewer people.

When I quit the game, I had the following jobs at endgame, complete with full sets of extremely nice gear:

• Monk 75
• Ninja 75
• Warrior 75
• Beastmaster 75

Monk was my original job, which I started back in 2004. It was my first job to endgame, taking me two years to complete. It was my first FFXI job, and will always hold a special place in my heart.

Ninja was my next job to 75. I originally had little interest in it, but ClanAM was in dire needs of high level tanks, and during one of our subligar farming runs we obtained the uber Ninja sub which no one else wanted. I took the unwanted subligar as divine providence and began leveling Ninja in earnest. While Monk had taken me two years to get to 75, I was able to reach end-game with Ninja in under 6 months. Much of this had to do with the fact that Ninja was an extremely popular tank at the time, but it helped that 90% of my gear was already done from my Monk so I had to do minimal gear purchases.

After Ninja, I was a bit confused as to what to do. I had considered Paladin to round out my tanking proficiencies, but by this point ClanAM had grown to include many tanks. With no clan need driving me, I was free to pick whatever job I felt like and, after spending so much time tanking, I pined for another damage dealing melee job. My Warrior was in its 50s largely due to an ENM static which I had been a part of, and it was a job I had always respected, so it became my next passion. My Warrior hit 75 in August 2008.

When ClanAM wound down, I briefly led a smaller, more focused, ClanAM End-Game. There we focused primarily on Sea and Limbus farming, which is where much of my end-game Warrior gear came from.

After both ClanAMs had ended, I spent what I called "my retirement years" leveling up a job that I had always been interested in but which I had never had time to do: Beastmaster.

Beastmaster was my final love in the game. I can't exactly say how long it took me to level it; I started it in July 2004, but shelved it for years before picking it up again. I finally reached Beastmaster 75 in July 2009, soloing it the vast majority of the way.

In addition to my job accomplishments, I had many others I was proud of:

• Rank 10 Windurst
• Rank 10 Sand'Oria
• Chains of Promathia: Completed
• Level 100 cooking
• Three Chocobos raised, with "Leg Zeppelin" being faster than rent-able Chocobos
• Sky and Sea obtained

My final month in the game is detailed here, and this was my last entry.

I greatly enjoyed my six-plus years in Final Fantasy XI, which spanned two real-world marriages and two console generations. The game was a fun ride, and the friendships I made in the game are ones I truly cherish.

As for the future, Maior hopes to see you all again in Final Fantasy XIV! (You know, provided it doesn't suck :-)