Testing the waters

Logging back in for the first time brought about a few problems. First I had to download all the updates that took place in my time away. Then when i got back on everything felt odd.

I had to get reacquainted with the controls of the game. I actually struggled for a minute or two to remember how to open the main menu with the key board. Minor things like that made me a bit leery of trying to do much on that first night I logged back in.

I got to say hello to a few people I hadn't talked to in months and let the LS know I was back. A few people have left but it looks like the group of us that did COP together are all still in it. I also had to let them know my time on the game would be different now since my wife is working first shift on the weekends rather than second shift so I won’t be able to attend dynamis anymore. Also that going to make me attending or getting together with the LS for things a bit tougher.

Anyways, like I said that Friday was all about just familiarizing myself with things again. Saturday morning when I logged in I took the next baby step by deciding to go level a low level DD job. Low level DD (below 20 low) is pretty straight forward so I knew it would be a good place to start. So I broke out my SAM that I want to level anyways and got a party. The party went pretty well and I quickly got used to the flow of things and was the top DD in this party easily. Feeling more confident after this party I spent most the rest of my time getting my PLD ready to xp the next day.

Sunday morning came and I was still feeling good about trying out PLD. I geared my self up and started to seek a party. Amazingly enough it didn’t take very long at all for me to get one. It was an all JP party and with the times I am now playing in I may start to see most of my parties having JP in them.

We set out to party in caderva mire and took the boat to get there. This was the first time I had partied in the mire besides with level 75’s. The targets where birds and some type of puk I believe. I did a pretty good job and rarely lost hate throughout this party. The one thing I need to get better at though is using Cover as I was way to slow to recognize it in the first hour. It got better as time went on and I had to be on my toes because a Sam in the party was really doing a ton of damage with sidewinder and I had to use it a lot. This party lasted a bit over 3 hours and by the end I had dinged level 59.

One good thing about being out for 4 months is apparently the economy has taken a dive. Now normally this isn’t always a good thing but before my break I had been saving up for some DD gear and first on the list was a Hauby. This went for about 1.2 million at the time and I had just over a million saved up. Well when I came back from my break the Hauby was down to just 400k! So I was able to buy it and still have a good chunk of gil left over for some other big purchases. So I got to put on the Hauby when I dinged 59 and it was well worth it since the new style of tanking on PLD is to deal as much damage as you can while retaining some shield skill and enmity to help hold hate and mitigate damage. Next up I need to purchase a chivalrous chain and a potent belt. This should have me set except for some accuracy rings which I am going to try and get by soloing the ENM for.

So as of now the plan for next weekend is to get PLD to 60, do the ENM 40 for the rings, and maybe even go merit on RDM.