BLM AF3 Hat run – Sat. March 4 @ 5:00 pm centralFollow

BLM AF3 Hat run – Sat. March 4 @ 5:00 pm central

Who: black mages seeking to be Paragons of Excellence
What: alliance fight against Magic Sludge in Toraimarai Canal
When: Saturday, March 4 at 5:00 pm Central (6pm EST, 3pm PST, 11pm GMT)
Where: gather in Jeuno
Why: to get the lvl 60 AF hat

Additional Info: Fable Unity will be hosting this event for three of its members and for any other black mages on Shiva who need to complete this. This event is open to all players regardless of linkshell. Anyone who can help or is just looking for something to do Saturday afternoon/evening can also come along (particularly those who can use Spirits Within lvl 175 sword weapon skill). Any and all help is appreciated. ;-)

Please post here to confirm if you plan to attend.

Prerequisites: BLM’s looking to do this must have completed the AF2 quest (for their lvl 52 feet). You must also do ALL the cutscenes leading up to the fight ahead of time, INCLUDING purchasing/synthing a silk cloth and trading it to Koru-Moru

Brief rundown:
start with Chumimi in basement of Heaven’s Tower
talk to Koru-Moru at E7 in Windurst Walls – trade him a silk cloth
talk to Chumimi again

BLMs must be willing to sneak themselves and one other person. We will discuss ahead of time who is responsible for whom. Silent oils are still recommended for those without sneak. Invisible is not required. Magic agro will not be a problem, EXCEPT for when you pop the NM (see below). Please remember that anytime your sneak starts to wear off, you should type “@” as soon as possible so we can find a safe spot for you to reapply. Everyone please stick together and wait up when someone needs to recast. If you are a melee and someone else is sneaking you, please communicate with them so they know when to reapply – and please remember you must cancel your sneak or let it wear off before you can get a new one – it doesn't overwrite itself like invisible does.

More important information about this quest:

You can go here for a great run-down and directions for navigating through the zones, although the post mistakenly refers to the hat as AF6 (a common misconception, but whatever):
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/db/jobs.html?fjob=3;mid=108914097775787172;num=125;page=1

There are three ways to get into Toraimarai Canal.
1 – finish the “Blue Ribbon Blues” quest and have started “Toraimarai Turmoil” – this gives you access via the Priming Gate in Windurst Walls – this method is not preferred as it only works for the person who has the gate pass (not the whole party/alliance), and starts you off on a different map than where you want to be
2 – go to the three-mage gate via Horroturo Ruins and have a WHM, RDM, and BLM stand on the 3 portals
3 – have someone with a portal charm open the 3-mage gate for you (this can only be obtained by trading a rolanberry to Kupipi after completing Windurst Rank Mission 3-2) Since I have a portal charm, I will be able to open this gate for our alliance.

If you are able to get in by yourself or with a smaller group, you can help out the entire alliance by doing some additional leg-work ahead of time. If not, it's ok, but try to do it if you can. You must examine several ??? and at one point will need to manafront AFTER checking one spot. Keep sneak up and you’ll be fine – it won’t automatically wear off when you check the spot, but it's a good idea to apply a fresh one before you check any spot. The benefit of doing all this ahead of time is that you will have your 2-hr available again when we fight the NM. Here is the rundown:

1st – examine the ??? at position H-8 (there is a Dark Aspic there – keep sneak up)
2nd – examine the ??? at position I-9
3rd – use Manafront (do this AFTER you have already examined the I-9 ??? once)
4th – examine the same ??? at position I-9
5th – examine the ??? at position J-8 – MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A FRESH SNEAK ON – this will pop the NM magic sludge – it won't agro you as long as you have sneak on, and it will despawn after 5 minnutes. THIS NM WILL AGRO MAGIC. This is a circular room with skeletons and usually a big scorpion; you can cast at the far end of the hallway.

Every BLM who needs the hat MUST pop the NM with sneak on and wait for it to despawn. This does NOT work like Dark Spark and other NM fights; you will not get the finishing cutscene unless you have popped the NM yourself. Multiple BLMs can examine the ??? at the same time with sneak on and it will pop multiple NMs. Since we only want to fight this thing once, this is important. PLEASE DO NOT ATTACK the NMs when they spawn at first, and please be sure not to cast magic unless you are at the far end of the hall. We will pop them and wait for all to despawn. Once everyone has popped it once, one BLM will go in again to pop it and that will be the one we fight.

The fight:

info on the mob can be found here:
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/db/bestiary.html?fmob=1706

The NM Magic Sludge is a dark elemental, not a slime as the name implies. It will cast typical Dark spells like Bio, Drain, and Aspir. It is highly resistant to magic damage. The best way to beat it is to have 3 or more (preferably 5+) one-handed sword wielders (with skill of 175+) get to 300% TP and then use spirits within. PLD and RDM are great choices for this. An alliance of 10 or more is usually sufficient.


Once again, please be sure to post here if you plan to attend. Thanks!


Edited, Tue Feb 28 12:50:38 2006 by lawtechguy

Edited, Tue Feb 28 16:15:13 2006 by lawtechguy

Cool, Alek; we'd be glad to have you! Bring Jae - he kicked the sh*t out of the NM when he helped me w/ it ;-)

So far I have the following BLM's confirmed:

Imagination
Lithos
Sabugabu
Alekzander (tentative)
Nuclearmayhem
Wakkawakka
Lumis
Katwomann (tentative)

Helpers:
Bartholomew (BLM)
Morbo (PLD)
Tigerlily (BRD)
Isadora (NIN)
Jakaal (PLD - tentative)


I'd like to get a couple more PLDs or RDMs if possible, but we should have enough nukage, and we'll probably be able to pull them from our respective LSes on the day of if necessary.

Edited, Thu Mar 2 16:49:57 2006 by lawtechguy

Edited, Fri Mar 3 09:55:48 2006 by lawtechguy

Hey Wakka, lol I haven't seen you much since our last hat run we did together in October. Err, no comment on why I've only gone 5 lvls in 5 months.....

I will add you to the list above and definitely bring whoever else needs it. If nothing else, we'll just nuke the hell out of it since we have a ton of BLMs.

BTW, I haven't seen Spd much lately either, so if you're still in touch with him, it'd be nice to have him along as well. ^^

Lumis lvl60blm is confirmed, and I asked him to bring along whoever he can. Time to go trigger all the cut scenes now.

I was wondering if I could also try arranging a mass moldavite hunt sometime - help a lot of blms (including myself) to get their moldys, though I'm not looking forward to all that camping and dying again XD

@.@ don't talk to me about mysticmaker.....

After multiple attempts, several claims and no drop, I gave up on him until lvl 68 when I could solo and avoid surrounding agro.

Anyway, this shouldn't be that hard with all the people we have, and we have a 75 NIN to tank.

Great stuff. Thanks Bartholomew and co.

Lookin forward to trying this shiny new hat :)

Thanks for organizing this Bart. It was much appreciated.

Anytime you need some help with an event again let me know. I would be happy to return the favor!

p.s. Got my last coffer just now... BLM AF complete. w00t

Thank you everyone for helping me with my hat. I'll be sure to wear it proudly when I am able to.

4 AF down, two to go. Only the coffer hunts left.