Another “look at what I did in FFXI” post.
I never know the depths of rage, frustration and directed anger until I try to update a FFXI update.
Stupid Square Enix doesn’t understand the concept of beefing up server banks to handle increased load. So now 90% of their users get a stupid POL-1160 error (“the network is busy”) another 9% start downloading but get interrupted and lose all their progress (“we don’t know how to program an updater that saves its progress”) and something like less than 1% actually get through it all and get into the game. (“We sold our souls to the devil.”)
People keep saying they should use some BitTorrent type update. It would certainly be better than this stupid system where nobody can connect because we’re all trying to connect. The last time, it took me more than 24 hours to finally get connected and back in the game. This time doesn’t look like it’s going to be any faster.
I want a fourth button next to “Network Connection Information”, “Retry” and “Exit” labeled “Stab the person at Square Enix who thinks that the current system works and since everyone keeps paying their monthly dues there’s no reason to change anything.” then one next to that that says “Move update servers to North America so the Japanese players that are currently all getting nice quick updates have to sit through this frustration that all the rest of us are feeling.”
Bad user interface to have all that text on a button, but hey, I’d hit that fourth one over and over and over and over and START THE DAMN DOWNLOAD AGAIN YOU STUPID PROGRAM I JUST WANT TO GO TO SLEEP.
Another day, another prime avatar.
Leviathan down!
Now I have all the pacts, time to start collecting whispers for a moon bauble.
Then I can start figuring out if I’m going to start a “fighting avatars for people” service.
The power… THE POWER
Last week, I finally got Ninja to level 37, so I could run around as RDM75/NIN37 soloing things that I have no right soloing.
Last night, I soloed Shiva Prime.
Muahahahahahahah.
The long road.
So a few quick things, many of you know, but most don’t, but I bought a new PowerBook. Happy times ahead, it’s very shiny and pretty and it handles all the things the old one was having problems with. Once VPN and VirtualPC get properly ported to Tiger, I will be very happy. This also means that I have a spare PowerBook that I will either keep for use as a permanent portable karaoke server, or I may sell it once I no longer need it for VPNing to work.
But anyway, I haven’t been updating because I’m not angry. Yes, it’s true, if I’m not enraged, I’m less inclined to make posts. So what have I been up to? Well, FFXI, of course.
Filling in
Now the expanded version of the previous entry, now that I have time.
A good day for FFXI
Yay, three FFXI posts in a row.
This morning I decided to blow my second Red Mage Testimony and try defeating Maat again.
Followup to FFXI griping
I feel poorer. But I’m actually richer, because I bought it off of the group for a discount, and I might actually get a bit more back than what I paid out. But even if I don’t, my opportunity cost is still in my benefit. And I now know Erase, which I only have to do once.
The BCNM went well: one Erase scoll (which I bought from the group), two Utsusemi: Ni scrolls, three Spirit Torques, and a handful of other 10k-ish items. The strategy was a success, even though our first attempt failed the other 5 went mostly flawlessly, and we’re going to try again on Sunday.
Last night, as I was getting out of the shower, I glanced over just as one of my lego starwars models fell off the top of my shelf. It totally freaked me out.
Math and music
I did the math. I went back into my amazon.com history and checked to see how much I had spent on shipping in the calendar year of 2004. When I got to April and I had already spent more than $79.95, I knew that Amazon Prime was for me. I also paid for it with my new Amazon Visa, so I got an effective 2% off. I was already getting 1% back in the form of Yahoo! Points on my previous Visa, which I always converted to Amazon.com gift certificates anyway. The Amazon Visa gives 3% back on purchases made on Amazon, so now I can buy anything on Amazon at “3% off and free shipping.”
I finally got my copy of Dai Gassou! Band Brothers in the mail. The only FAQ on gamefaqs.com is pitifully incomplete, it just lists the songs and instruments, and it’s obvious that the guy hadn’t even played it, because there are a few things he doesn’t know about. I managed to “beat” the game, (I got to “Pro” mode) but there’s still the Pro difficulty, which is actually quite challenging. I’m very tempted to actually write a more complete FAQ, but the fact that I only understand a fraction of the Japanese text that’s flying by might make my effort only three-quarters-assed instead of half-assed.
In FFXI, I’ve made it to level 68…. 1/3 of the way to 69. I’m getting close to the fight with Maat, which is something I’ve been dreading ever since I found out about it. I also got invited into an HNMLS, which will mean nothing to most of you, and it’s hard to explain. I haven’t done anything with them yet, I’m still focusing on trying to get to at least level 70.