As I mentioned in the last entry, I had been thinking about quitting the game. Well, I finally made my decision and did actually quit the game. I quit the game on Jan. 30th, 2010.

I do have a backlog of screenshots and stories to share, however. So while I have officially quit the game, expect updates here in the next little bit chronicling my last days in FFXI.

All in all, I really did enjoy my time in the game and have no regrets spending 6+ years of my life in it. I think that Square has crafted an excellent role-playing experience and I anxiously await the arrival of their next MMORPG, Final Fantasy XIV :-)

When I decided to quit the game, I had to figure out how I wanted to spend my last moments in Vana'diel. I could do what so many others did and just flat-out quit; disable/delete my account and let Maior simply cease to be. But that seemed so unceremonious as to be insulting to the time and effort I put into this game.

I had seriously debated about going out in a defiant and humorous way, but, in the end, couldn't think of anything that would be very original and that no one had done before. After-all, "JP ONRY" has already become passé.

Vis Maior had long outlived ClanAM, which meant I had no large support group of friends to bid me a fond-farewell. However, I still had some friends... friends who had been the big reason I had stayed in the game as long as I had.

So that's how I picked my method of demise. I would leave the game doing as much good as I possibly could for my friends.

I gave myself a month- One month to sell off my Vana'diel-ly possessions and use up as much of my Beastman Seals to get things and currency to give to my friends....

My final month began with a very real need. Schultmc, who joined in 2008, was unfortunate in that he never really had seen ClanAM operating at peak capacity. By the time he joined the game and started getting serious, ClanAM proper had dissolved and only ClanAM-EG (end game) remained. ClanAM-EG was no place for a new player, as all of our activities centered around 70+ players, and Schultmc never had the support infrastructure which ClanAM used to provide. We gave him friendship, but little else, and Schultmc struggled because of it. Sure, we managed to help him through his first few missions, but beyond that we never took him out to party, never did quests and events with him, and, most crucially, never really taught him the ropes of the game. When I announced I was quitting the game, I learned that Schultmc was just hitting his first limit break quest as well as his more difficult AF quests. So, I began my end by helping him.

We first spend some time in Garliage Citadel. I managed to get him his limit break item fairly quickly, and then stuck around killing higher level things in an attempt to get him an AF key. I came as BST while he was PLD, and we fought many things together. Unfortunately, it was the worst possible time to key-farm (0% Moon) and after a couple of hours we gave up without getting the drop.

After, we headed to Crawler's Nest to get the limit break item he needed there. On our way, we encountered Ravenous Crawler, which was one of the myriad of new NMs recently added to FFXI. I honestly hadn't kept up with these new NMs, and so I would kill any new one I'd see just for shits and giggles. Inside Crawler's Nest I went down to farm Exorays while Schultmc waited at the entrance.

For his final limit break item I enlisted Meretrix with his TH2 to help. On our way there, we encountered two more new NMs, Eyegouger and Skirling Liger. These new NMs are kind of out of control...

We got the item so quickly with TH2 that I didn't even take a single shot inside the Necropolis.

Went out with Meretrix to help Schultmc get some more last-minute things accomplished. Started out helping him unlock Ninja which, if you'll recall, involves killing a group of leeches. On our way there, we found and popped the Morion Worm. It's funny I spent 4+ years looking for him every time I passed through the area, but it's not until my last year in the game until I finally got him, and then managed to get him every time I went looking thereafter. Man, I would have liked him back when I used to level up Black Mage...

We got to where you spawn the leeches, and prepared. It really will be a simple fight, 75BST and a 75THF will smoke them quickly, but we still wanted to make sure Schultmc would survive the encounter as a lower level PLD. We popped them, killed them, and Schultmc was one step closer to having Ninja to sub for his end-game PLD.

Finished up by doing several BCNMs together up in Ghelsba Outpost. We basically went in with one level 20 orb and one level 30 orb each, and did like 5 or 6 BCNMs in rapid succession. I believe we failed one or two, but once we got the hang of it, we smoked the remaining.

We did Wings of Fury several times. I was BST and would charm one of the Furies. Trix was DNC and was responsible for keeping us alive. And Schultmc was PLD who was our tank. After killing off one set of Furies and letting the other whittle down the main boss, we would finish off Colo-colo ourselves. The battles were tight and hairy (like an Italian midget prostitute ba-dum-crash!) and we'd invariably have to rest a good deal in between battles.

We also tried Petrifying Pair since this was a BCNM that used to do as a clan. Unfortunately, we either were too rusty or our setup wasn't appropriate for the battle, because we were wasted pretty quickly and couldn't even come close to winning it.

But we returned to Wings of Fury and had much more success there so it wasn't a total loss.

By now, Schultmc had hit the next limit break quest, which involved a nasty journey to the northlands (a region he had never been to) and killing three nasty NMs which he couldn't possibly solo. So Trix and I set out once again to help him out.

Started out leading him through Ranguemont Pass. This being my last time there, Trix and I checked on Taisaijin one last time while we waited for Schultmc to arrive from Jeuno. The NM wasn't there, of course, but man wouldn't it have been both sweet and the ultimate irony to have found him and get his drop after I decided to leave the game :-) Schultmc didn't know how to get to the pass, so I had to go back to the zone and wait for him.

On our way north, Schultmc didn't have quite enough oils/powders to make the entire journey aggro-free. So we wound up stopping quite a bit to kill things. I personally didn't mind because it meant I had that much more time to spend with my friends.

Our first stop was the Boreal Hound. We got to the spawn location, rested to full and then popped him. Schultmc was a PLD, but was too low to tank any of these mobs (or even to hold hate against two level 75s), but I was BST (not NIN or WAR) so I didn't have provoke and we didn't have a proper tank in the battles. This meant that hate tended to bounce wildly between my pet and Meretrix the entire time. It wrecked Trix's SATA and irritated him slightly, but the battles were cake anyway.

Next we fought the Boreal Coeurl. This battle was pretty much the same as the last with Meretrix and my pet largely tanking it, though I did occasionally pull hate myself.

The final NM (Boreal Tiger) I apparently didn't take any screenshots of, so I can't remember much of the battle. Obviously we beat it, but I don't recall whether there was any difficulty or not. I assume not, but whatever.

We wrapped up by getting Schultmc his northland's teleport crystal.

One final thing we did as a group was get Schultmc his items for entrance into the Aht Urghan areas. Honestly, at his level he could easily solo them, but my teleport and Trix's TH2 would make it that much easier. We decided to get him the 6 subjob items, and headed off to the areas that they dropped from.

While working on the Bloody Robe, Dhalmel Saliva, and Wild Rabbit Tail, I encountered another new NM called Wake Warder Wanda. Man, obscene new NMs are obsene....

We wrapped up in Buburimu and teleported to Dem to head into the mines for the skull and to the dunes for the worm and apron.

While in the dunes, we encountered another new NM, Hippomaritimus, which was some new pug NM by the beach. There is a staggering amount of new NMs in this game.

Got Schultmc his items, and called it a day.

My last days in the game were spent doing a lot of solo activities I didn't take many screenshots of. I wanted to sell off those items in my inventory which Meretrix and Schultmc didn't want, as well as spend as many of my Beastman Seals as possible. Then I wanted to take all my money and divide it equally between the two.

Additionally, I wanted to return to my home nation of Windurst, which meant saying goodbye to my home in Bastok which had served me so well these last couple years.

The BCNMs I did were the few I could solo as BST, as well as "Trials and Tribulations" which simply involved opening a chest and hoping for the best.

I also made my last trip to Whitegate to cash in all of my Imperial Standing Points. I converted them to currency, and then divided the currency between Meretrix and Schultmc, giving the bulk of it to Schultmc since he needed so much to fully obtain his Mog Locker.

Finally, I returned to Bastok to bid the city a fond farewell. I went out to the cliffs outside of town and looked out across the ocean one last time before leaving the region forever. In the distance the lighthouse could be seen, and under it you knew someone would undoubtedly be fighting Bubbly Bernie. I know I complained a lot about Bastok and its surroundings being ugly, but as I looked at it all one last time I realized there was a lot more beauty than I originally gave it credit for.

Teleporting into Mea, I surveyed the Canyon one last time. I hopped on Leg Zeppelin for his final ride home to Windy and set off through the canyon.

Returning to the Sarus was bittersweet as I had missed them so very much and yet knew this would be the last time seeing them. I paused upon entering them and took in the valley. I then continued through the palms and fields outside the town before finally arriving at my destination.

Once in Windy, I had a few places I wanted to see before I left the game entirely. First stop was the Great Tree and to parallel one of the earliest screenshots of me as a Level 10 Monk I took years ago. I always loved this scenery so much.

I then headed to Port and sat on the docks by the fishermen. I noticed something I had never seen before. On the docks, there is a Mithra throwing bait into the water. Such a delightful little detail in this enormous virtual world and I had never realized it was there until now. I had to take some animation of it so I could remember it always. I wonder how many other subtle details like this I have missed in the game all these years?

My last screenshot before the real end was of the strange windmills in the distance as seen from the Port.

I logged there, and retired for the night. By this point I had gathered roughly 4 million gil to split between Trix and Schultmc, and likely had ~15 million more in gear to give to them. This money seems paltry compared to the serious bank I used to pull in (years ago, when I was growing ores, I could pull in 3-4 million in a month with minimal effort), but the in-game economy isn't what it once was, and this much money is now a fortune.

My next entries (likely to come next week) will be my final ones for Maior. In them, I will detail how I spent my final hours in the game dividing my things between Schultmc and Meretrix.

Stay tuned...