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Updates needed2005 May 10 (Tue), 14:16
Yeah, yeah... I need to update this. So shoot me. Basically, since last I wrote I gained the following levels:
  • MNK 52
  • WAR 33
  • NIN 19
  • RNG 21
  • SAM 29
  • THF 13

I also did Promy, got through mission 5-1, failed mission 5-1 again for a friend, did a gazillion quests, got cooking to 60, etc. and so on. My screenies archive indicates I have a lot of catching up to do, but I haven't the time now.

What I did want to mention is that I have been successfully camping the Valkurm Emperor. Even got the drop (1/4 now). This is of course thanks to help from Raven over at ClanAM. But in the process, it seems I have pissed off a number of gil sellers....

The gil sellers in question (at least, I think they are gil sellers) are Jeery, Summerken, Kingdoor and maybe Protien. Others that may or may not be a part of their group are Arnold, Ryusan and Darkzero. Basically, Jeery, Summerken and Kingdoor are always in the dunes. They are always online and active, have no Linkshell equipped, and members of the same party and/or alliance. They know and understand the 4 placeholders for the Emp, and can identify them as easily as I can (which means they know where to look in the list). They also seem to understand that you can delay the Emp's spawn by killing the placeholders before they all spawn, or by sleeping them.

With Chi Blast and Widescan I have a decent shot of claiming the Emp. Of the 8 times I have camped him thus far, I have claimed him 50% of the time (4/8). Generally, I have claimed him from under the noses of these 3 players (Jeery, Summerken and Kingdoor). If you look at my pictures of one Emp claim, you can clearly see Summerken driving pretty hard for my prey. Chi Blast, being ranged and instant can usually trump Provoke, which is what they seem to be using.

Well, last night after claiming one Emp spawn that was in Jeery's area, I went offline to wait for the next pop, leaving my character logged in standing in the dunes (basically, I watched TV for 45 mins). When I returned, I found Jeery standing next to me, watching me (his head was focused on me, although he hadn't examined me since I had been away).

When I moved to start killing the placeholders, he snapped to attention and ran off to grab one of the placeholders. This placeholder he slept and stood there. For those who don't know, the Emp will not spawn if one of his placeholders is slept or otherwise indisposed (eg., a BST's pet). Jeery was deliberately holding the placeholder to prevent the spawn.

Now, in addition to being online all the time and active at every single Emp pop, this behavior is classic gil seller. The gil seller is effectively saying, "I'm here all the time, and I can wait for the next pop... can you?"

I noticed that his sleep, while it was an excellent hate builder, wouldn't keep the mob held indefinately. Eventually, the placeholder would become free again and he would have to recast sleep. When I noticed this, I let him build up sufficient hate by continuously sleeping him, but during one of these "free" times, I Chi Blasted the fly.

Now, understand, Chi Blast doesn't doo much damage when you aren't fully boosted and are wearing +STR and -MND gear (which I was). Plus, Chi Blast is a forever kind of claim. You can Chi Blast an enemy, and then never hit it again, and it will still be claimed by you. However, this Chi Blast was only enough to claim the fly... it wasn't enough to change its hate :-)

As a result, the fly continued to wail on Jeery.... but because I had it claimed, he was powerless to do anything. Imagine the satisfaction of a level 60 + DRK being killed by a level 25 Damselfly because he can't hit back... Oh rapture!

After a couple of hits, Jeery realized what was happenning, and tore off towards Selbina (the nearest zone). Halfway there, however, he must have realized that this was a mistake. This fly was the last remaining placeholder for the Emp. Unless another fly spawned and was claimed (slept) the Emp would be the next spawn. If he and his compadres zoned to Selbina, it would leave the Emp to me. But if he stayed, the Emp would not spawn and he would die.

Eventually, he got too close to death to care any more, and he fled. I did get the next spawn, but it did not drop for me (*sigh*).

Later on that evening, he must have switched subjobs because when he came back, he used Provoke and Sleep on another placeholder fly to delay the spawn again. Provoke meant he wouldn't lose claim as easily. He also blinded the fly so it would miss him more often. By this point I was tired and wanted to go to bed, so I instead just reported the incident to a GM.

As I was logging, another placeholder fly spawned. While Jeery was hurredly killing his claimed flay I nabbed the other with Chi Blast and dragged it out into the ocean (PS2 owners have a glitch where they can enter the ocean in the dunes if they know how). Either Jeery didn't know about this, or he didn't have a PS2, because he didn't follow. In the ocean, I left my character logged in while I got ready for bed, with the fly wailing on me. Between my dodge AF gear, my high evasion, and my massive HP, I figured I may just make it alive to morning.

Sure enough, I did. When I awoke the next morning I was down to 200 HP, but still very much alive, with the last placeholder still pissed at me. I had prevented the Emp from spawning all night long... causing doubtless frustration to the gil sellers in the area.

As the gil sellers have said to me many times, "fuk yu!"