Happy New Year!  And now, here's some FFXI predictions for the new year:

SE will change their account system to require retinal scans and fingerprint ID to log into the game, as well as a 20-character password.

Level grinding returns when the level cap is increased to 120.  Level cap quests involve collecting 500 of a new item that drops off of HNMs, one at a time.

Blue Mages will become even more overpowered with the introduction of learnable spells such as ? ? ? Needles (up to 64000 damage!), Spike Flail, Perdition (Death!), and Teraflare.  Blue Mages also go insane trying to learn them.

Empyrean armor comes outdated thanks to new Onion armor that is easier to get and has superior stats, much to the chagrin of players.

Pushing difficulty to even crazier limits, new Voidwatch monsters include a pink rarab named Monty with 100% Endeath on attacks and attacks that ignore shadows.

Black Mage becomes even more of a bandwagon job when they get the scroll for Super Nova.  The animation is 60 seconds long and creates a gigantic explosion visible from anywhere in the zone.

....

If you haven't guessed by now, this is all humor.  Happy New Year and keep smiling!

Little fun poll for the holidays!

Post your feedback here!

And don't forget to vote!

I'll run the poll for a few days before writing the next part!

Author's Note:  This is a lighthearted, tongue-in-cheek fanfic!  Those that hate this kind of thing should run away!

The Adventures of Laliho
Chapter 1: The Quest For More Shinies
1-1

"What a mess."

The spry moogle raffled through the drawers of the cabinets, trying to organize all the items entrusted inside.

"Sometimes I wish Master would take better care of her stuff, kupo..."

Unbeknownst to the moogle, the door to the room had creaked open, and a pair of brown eyes watched the creature intently from the shadows.  The moogle's back was turned; the shadowy figure began to creep in, taking care to avoid the creaky floorboards of the Mog House floor.  Closer, and closer still.  The intruder stopped just behind and was getting ready for a surprise attack.

The moogle paused in his task, keenly aware he wasn't alone anymore.  His head raised up, and then he whirled around.

"MASTER!"

Laliho was so caught by the outburst that she tottered backwards, falling flat on her back and dropping the cloth she had brought into her room.  The moogle fluttered down to check on his Tarutaru master.  Lali quickly recovered, climbing to her feet and sighing with an embarassed look on her face.

"Don't..   DO that!" she whined, a cross look on her face.

"You shouldn't try to sneak up on us moogles like that!" her moogle whined back, lowering his eyebrows.

After a few moments of intense silence, both of them broke into laughter.

"Oh, I can't stay mad at you!" she said gleefully, jumping up and snuggling the moogle like a pet.

----

Laliho busily sorted through her items and counted the coins in her gobbiebag.  Some of her silks had sold today, which was good; her recent experiments into improving her weaving skills had turned out badly..   She still had some nightmarish visions of wind crystals shattering into a million pieces, bathing her in shards and magic energy.  Crystal synthesis had advantages, but sometimes she preferred the old-fashioned ways.

Satisfied with her day's take, Lali goes to the back, removing her weaving glasses and apron and changing into something more comfortable.  She also let her hair down, its brown sheen falling freely around her face.  Afterwards, she went to the cupboard and procured a tasty rolanberry pie, lovingly baked for her by Areya.

"Did we get anything in the mail today?" she said between fruit-filled mouthfuls of the bright pink dessert.

"Oh!  I almost forgot, kupo!" the moogle replied, quickly flying up to a nook in the ceiling and producing a small parcel.  It was wrapped in parchment and tied with grass thread, and there was a note attached.  "This came today..  It's from Lady Areya!"

At first, Lali sighed.  That usually meant more gear that Areya wanted her to "hold on to".  More stuff.  She didn't run a warehouse service, after all!  But Areya helped pay the bills too...

The moogle plopped the package down in front of the Taru, and Lali's fingers quickly snatch up the hand-written note.  "Let's see.." she murmured as she began to read.

"Dear Laliho,

I know I haven't come to visit in a long time.  The life of an adventurer, right?  I found this on one of my recent explorations, and instead of pawning it off for some gil, I thought I'd give it to you.  I can tell it's magical and rare!

Also, I have business in Windurst so I will be coming there in a few days.  I'll stop by and visit!

Your friend always,
Areya

P.S.  Don't worry, I'll bring you more food.  Maybe some Cream Puffs?"

Lali's tummy rumbled at the mention of food.  Areya's cooking always made her happy..  and had definitely contributed to her tummy's size lately!  But more importantly, she wondered what the gift was!

The brown parchment quickly vanished from around the mystery, revealing a folded cloth.  It possessed a brilliant red shine to it, and waves of magical power flowed from its threads.  It was definitely something unusual.

"Oh my," the moogle gawked, staring at the dazzling, sparkling material.

Immediately, Laliho smiled.  She already knew what to do with it.

"I'll have to make her something out of this!"

She brought her hand to her chin and thought.  What would she make?  A dress?  No, Areya wasn't really the dress-donning tart that some Hume women were.  Perhaps a traveling tunic would do nicely!  And red WAS one of Areya's favorite colors...  Yes, that would do.  But she'd need to get some supplies.  Laliho hurried over to her clothcraft supplies, tossing threads and spools over her shoulder.  Finally she produced some gold and platinum threads, some sheep leather for stability, then finally..  she opened the drawer where she kept cotton to help soften the insides, but it was completely empty!

"What?"  Laliho stomped her foot and puffed her cheeks out, puffing out a breath forcefully.  "And the guild was out too."  She hastily pulled her hair back up in its usual state and grabbed a few handy sickles from off the wall.  She'd have to harvest some herself!

-----

Laliho made her way out to the fields in the early afternoon, and was wearing a comfortable black tunic.  She had brought the cloth along in a gobbiebag, wanting to see if the red moko grass matched up with its color.  She dropped the heavy satchel down near a large patch of high grass, then brandished her sickles and started to sift through the grass.  She squished a few locusts while searching for the fluffiest, softest cotton.  "Eww, gross!"  Many minutes pass as she searched diligently.  It had to be PERFECT.  It was a thank you gift for Areya, after all!  Everything she found wouldn't do...  Exhausted, she sat down for a few minutes to rest.  Her eyelids felt heavy...

The next thing Lali knew, the sun was near the horizon.  Had she fallen asleep?  She stretched her wee arms out and yawned.  "Mmm.. good nap."  She turned her head and suddenly, her eyes lit up. 

There it was!  The perfect cotton!

Lali practically squealed as she quickly relieved the plant of its precious prize.  Grinning widely, she quickly bounded through the grass back to her
gobbiebag.   Her gobbiebag...  Wait, where was it?!

"Oh no!  No no no no no!"

She swore she left it right here!  Immediately, the chaos of her mind began to ponder the terrible possibilities! 

She could see some of the ravenous crawlers of the savanna helping themselves to the cloth; they would eat nearly anything, especially cloth!  They had been in increasing numbers lately, and even with her efforts to.. persuade them to yield precious silk, they always seemed to be everywhere.  What if her special cloak was resting in the belly of one of those vermin?

She also pondered the wandering bands of goblins that had been reported lately.  They would easily steal such an obvious prize without a second thought!  There were several encampments of them holed up in the craggy regions of Saruta.  If there was one thing goblins knew, it was how to make a buck, especially if it came at the cost of an adventurer.

And then there was the Yagudo..  While they weren't thieves typically, they were curious and may have grabbed the sack.  Despite the official truce between the Yagudo and the Federation,  Lali knew there was tension mounting.  They would definitely not want such a pretty magical garment to fall into the hands of Windurstian casters.

Or, heaven forbid, some passing adventurer had scooped it up...  People were greedy, after all!

Laliho slumped her shoulders.  She wasn't so much sad as disappointed in herself.  After letting out a loud exasperated sigh, she looked around.  What would she check out first?

Oldie but goldie.

Around these parts we call everything a coke!

So do you like it hot or cold?

Clarification:  By "alts" I mean other characters on an account other than your main that aren't just mules, or on alternate accounts.  And additionally, only count ones on Phoenix!

You don't hear much about chocobo raising these days so thought I'd ask.

Personally I have raised three different ones.  My first is a yellow male named StardustEagle, my second is a blue female racer named LunaRadiant, and my last one is a green female digger named CometEmpress.

These things are impressive visually, but which is the best?

Baelfyr - Fire + Light


Ungeweder - Wind + Thunder


Byrgen - Earth + Dark


Gefryst - Water + Ice

Yes, I know, most pointless title ever.  Couldn't think of anything better.

There's a few things I'd like to arrange soon.  First, I have most god pops in sky, would be nice to do a Kirin run.  Second, several people need Black Belt items so maybe some Ks99s?  Could even do the NQ ground kings after and try to get HQ pops.

Still have Voidwatch hovering over our heads but we'd need more people to do it as an LS.

Still have Abyssea things on the agenda, as well as Salvage.  Some people still need to climb Nyzul still as well.

So much to do, so little time.

Just a curious question.

Just curious!  If you are, share your costumes!

And now, your random current events poll.

Related poll to the last one I posted!

Personally, I've done Bastok and Windurst lines.

Figure this one is pretty obvious.  Let's see how many Windurstians we had..  *looks at the legions of Tarus and Mithras*

One I thought up while the game has emergency maintenance!

If there's any games you want to see on this list let me know!  I'm probably missing a couple of significant ones.

Most of us have been playing for a really long time.  Many years have passed since we were naive, wide-eyed newbies!  So how old were you when you first delved into Vana'diel?

When I first created Areya (3/24/04) I was still 22!

So how do you like the male/female ratio of playable characters in RPGs?

Some examples of existing ratios (Male:Female):

Final Fantasy II: 7:2
Final Fantasy IV: 9:3
Final Fantasy V: 2:3
Final Fantasy VI: 11:3
Final Fantasy VII: 6:3
Final Fantasy VIII: 4:4
Final Fantasy X: 4:3
Final Fantasy X-2: 0:3
Final Fantasy XII: 3:3
Secret of Mana: 2:1
Seiken Dentetsu III: 3:3

Could list more but yeah..  Think you get the idea!

As I'm sure you're all very aware (maybe?) the level cap just went up to 95, and will hit 99 soon.

But what level cap do YOU think we should have?

Some notes on the numbers:

50 - The cap before you start doing any Limit Break quests.  Also the cap of Final Fantasy 1.  (which the basic jobs are from)

60 - The original FFXI level cap.  Finish your final Artifact piece.

75 - Was the cap for ages!

99 - The eventual level cap, and standard for many RPGs including most FFs.

100 - SE says they'd have this but for the 2 digit level display..  Cap of FF8.

Heads up!  Monday has a version update!

We've had the light blue color for ages.  What do you think about it?

All these races have appeared in the FF line.  Tired of the same old Galkas and Mithras?  Maybe one of these would suit your fancy?  Here's the info:

FFXII / FF Races:

Moogle - duh?

Viera - the infamous bunnygirls
Notables:  Fran

Bangaa - the lizard men
Notables:  Migelo, Ba'Gahman

Seeq - the piglike thieves
Notables:  none come to mind..

Nu Mou - the short, floppy eared mage types
Notables:  most of the priests

Garif - the antlered hunter guys from Jahara
Notables:  Jahara Chieftain

FFX Races:

Ronso - the blue horned catlike people
Notables: Kimahri

Guado - the lanky crazy-haired guys
Notables:  Tromell, Seymour

FFIX Races:

Qi - the tubby clown faced beings
Notables:  Quina

Genome - the tailed people
Notables:  Zidane

FFVIII Races:

Shumi - the big yellow flippered guys
Notables:  NORG

Moomba - the red furry lionlike critters

Any other suggestions?

(Sorry I couldn't be more descriptive.)

One of those idle curiosity polls.

Which games in the main FF series have you tried?

Many things run throughout the series, such as monster types, jobs, spells, etc.  Check each one you've ever played!

If you haven't played many of them, I heartily suggest to try some of the ones from the SNES/PS1 era!

To try to get some more frequent visitations to the site, I made a poll board.  Gonna post polls about FFXI, FFXIV, or really just random things every so often.

Couple up already, feel free to vote and/or comment!

Even though 75 isn't the cap anymore, most of us had our "first job" before then.

So what was yours?