bsphil (PoM)
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February 2009 Player of the Month
Profile
Real Name: Brett
Age: 21
Character Name: Bsphilar
Character Race: Tarutaru
Character Job(s): DRG75 PUP75 RDM75 WAR75 SAM75 (BLM73)
Nation: Windurst
Rank: 10
Server: Ragnarok
Linkshell: Endgame - SpikeFIail, Social - Triumvirate
Real World Location: Madison, WI
Career / Employment Industry / Current Level of School: College, needing part-time job
Hobbies: Listening to music (I consider this a hobby, yes), watching anime people tell me I need to see, skype drinking parties, FFXI, watching CNN >_>
Family: Odd question. I have some.
Questionnaire
Besides Final Fantasy XI, what other MMORPGs have you played and how do they compare to Final Fantasy XI?
I've played Redmoon Online, which is an old Korean MMO that was localized in the US. I only played it because broadband had just been introduced and released in my hometown, so I went online looking for enormous files to download simply to watch in awe at how quickly the download would progress. I came up with the name 'bsphil' from that game, it was my main character. I got up to about level 930 with an Iraqi friend of mine from CA, Arazin. In retrospect, it's incredibly boring and tedious (level 900+ and it's tedious, surprise!), with very little content aside from leveling. I have also dabbled in Gunbound, MapleStory, Age of Conan, and some other likely awful MMOs that I never revisted. Nothing really compares to FFXI in terms of content.
How did you find out about Final Fantasy XI, and when did you begin playing?
Cobalt Flux forums! Susurrus (of Ragnarok) and Evaan (of Valefor) convinced me to give it a try. I eventually started in December '05 as a hume WAR from bastok on Valefor (Bsphil), since I had been talking to Evaan about it more. Then Susurrus got on AIM and said I should make another character on Ragnarok to play with him too, and that Tarutarus are the coolest. I agreed and made a Tarutaru RDM on Ragnarok, but since "Bsphil" was one of my characters already, I had to alter my name a bit. Thus, Bsphilar, after the original Redmoon character Philar, was born. The restaru is history.
Do you know anyone in real life who plays Final Fantasy XI?
I delivered a pizza to xypin once. He's a student, or at least was, here in Madison as well. I forget what toppings were on it, and suspect he has as well. I only knew he played FFXI because I spotted the post entry page of ffxi.allakhazam on his monitor. I also went to Fan Fest '07 and got to meet a bunch of people from Ragnarok like Genos, Eekiki, Dargonest, Bobbq, Majinsean, Shaylaa, Mistaaych, Nekojill, Yomama, and everyone else I've sadly forgotten that was at Yomama's birthday dinner after the last day of fan fest.
How did you come up with your main character's name?
Hey, I answered this one already! On a radio show, and partially here. That's all you need to know. Also, I shall pre-emptively kill Jinte. I'll take this opportunity to take the rest of this answer to note that I can get wordy at times, and stray off on tangents, explaining more than I am required to. Why, I don't know. I also use parenthesis a lot (but I feel awkward if I don't).
What is your favorite job and why?
Tough choice, probably DRG overall. I rarely merit without DRG/mage healing now, it's just too good to pass up. It's my best geared job, as well. PUP is very close to my favorite, and could have been if SE didn't drop the ball in it's implementation. Poor AI, low glass ceiling of potential, SE's apparent misunderstanding of party mechanics regarding pet jobs, linked/long maneuver recast, maneuver burden, long activate timer...
Which forum(s) do you frequent the most?
I tend to stick to the job forums. WAR, DRG, and PUP, with occasional peeks into SAM. I also come out to forum=10, but as of late many of the threads have been bland and not particularly interesting.
About how often do you play Final Fantasy XI and how long is a typical playing session for you?
Too much, and too long. If you count the time I'm just logged in, I'm basically always on.
How do you spend your time in game?
In reference to the last question, probably 2/3rds of the time is spent afk in my mog house or with my bazaar up. Being in an endgame shell has me occupied fairly often now though. When I'm not doing einherjar/salvage/sky/dynamis/limbus, I'm probably afk or thinking that I should level BLM or do lebros assaults to get my damn yigit feet already. Though afk isn't exactly a very accurate term, my apartment is quite small, it's hard to get sufficiently far away from the keyboard if I'm home.
Do you craft? If so, what are your skill levels?
I don't craft anymore, but I have cooking at 84 on my main. I also have smithing at... something low on my crafting mule, Bscraft. I mainly just store a handful of gil on him now just in case.
Approximately how much of Vana'diel have you experienced?
A fair amount I'd say. I also have bastok rank 10 and sandy rank 7, RotZ/CoP/ToAU missions all completed, and have been doing lots of new events in my endgame shell lately. I haven't really touched WotG missions yet, though I will when the story is progressed far enough along. I don't want to do everything now and then forget the storyline by the time the next one or two missions are released several months down the road. It's just way too spread out to enjoy. I did this with ToAU and was not disappointed. I essentially started when the last missions were released.
What is your favorite expansion?
Probably CoP followed closely by ToAU. I loved the challenge, because winning an epic fight felt so rewarding. Getting to sea for the first time and finally accessing such a drastically different and exclusive area of the game is probably one of my fondest memories of the entire expansion. Also, running circles around the final BC with Promathia hot on my tail as a Tarutaru, spinning the camera around to look behind and the towering god floating close behind me, all while most of the rest of my party was down... awesome. Yes, I like ToAU. A lot, actually. The amount of content that came out with it was astounding, the missions were entertaining (though not as difficult as I would have liked them to be), and it helped immensely with speeding up parties. That's right, I like getting more than 4k/hour from cape terrigan in the high 50's. I appreciate how SE intentionally created an array of strong merit party camps designed to speed up the meriting process for those who are good enough to push that threshold. If you think ToAU "ruined the game" by making things too easy, feel free to not party there. Static with your friends in moon or KRT. Go to town on Abraxas. Feel the blistering 10k/hour as I spend the extra merit points I got from my ToAU merit party, then spend extra time shooting the heads off of zombies in Left 4 Dead.
What is your least favorite expansion?
So far, WotG. Not enough has been released. campaign is incredibly boring and very slow paced. sE actually thought that campaign gives too much exp! If it gave less, people would stop doing it entirely. Ranking up is incredibly dry and uninteresting (it's the exact same cutscene with instead of ). I understand that it's not "done" yet, but that just helps to make it my least favorite.
How far have you progressed in missions?
Answered already! This space will now be used to mention Darude - Out Of Control. Why? That song doesn't need a reason why.
What is your favorite zone?
Hard to pick one. Hall of the Gods, Ru'Aun Gardens, and Al'taieu are all strong candidates for their own reasons. West Ronfaure is also particularly memorable, as that was where I first got on my feet under the guiding wing of my Galka PLD friend. I tried to fish something out of the waters in the hall of the gods once, hoping I'd get a bite from some incredibly rare god-trout. Alas, nothing, but one day SE might ninja something in. The promyvion areas back have an eerie nostalgia for when I was but a nooblet doing chapter 1 CoP missions. I helped a bunch of people to complete those first promy areas long after I had finished, just because I enjoyed the climb and the boss fights. It lost a lot of luster when missions were nerfed and the final floor was made, to excuse the classic pun, empty. The final MGS run to the spire was probably my favorite part - the last rush before the quiet limbo in the waiting room of the final boss. Zi'tah for music, blah blah everyone loves zi'tah. The piano version of the song is superb though, so it at least deserves a shout-out.
Who is your NPC hero and why?
Abquhbah. He puts up with more than any child of Altana ever should need to.
If Shantotto was your mom, give a good excuse for coming home 6 hours after curfew.
Like most things, I would procrastinate coming up with a good excuse, and attempt to wing it on the fly. I imagine it going something like this:
Bsphilar : Well, you see, I had trouble wi- OH NO WHAT ON VANA'DIEL IS THAT?!
Bsphilar looks shocked!
Bsphilar uses Chainspell.
Bsphilar starts casting Teleport-Holla on Bsphilar.
Bsphilar casts Teleport-holla.
Bsphilar vanishes.
<<>>
Bsphilar : Heh, done and done.
Bsphilar : Oh wow, it's getting late, I should get hom- oh, damnitaru.
Describe your most memorable moment or proudest accomplishment in game.
I should have read these questions in advance. To add to what I've already said, getting people to say things like "wow you're a great DRG I'll never make fun of DRG again" have been very noteworthy accomplishments, as reversing someone's personal bias and discrimination to me is rather rewarding.
What is the largest amount of gil you have ever had at one time, and how did you go about accumulating it?
About 3.2 million, after I sold my Kirin's Osode several months ago. My interest in SAM was waning and my upcoming BLM became the job I wish I had leveled instead of RDM, so I used the gil from the Osode to buy HQ staves and a Sorcerer's ring. I've since sold the Sorcerer's ring (for now) to help wrap up my HQ staff collection, leaving only fire/water left. I've never had one single reliable source of gil, I'm mainly just an opportunist, and not a very good one.
What are some things you would change or implement in order to improve Final Fantasy XI?
PUP:
- Split automaton maneuver recasts.
- Reduce Activate recast to 5 minutes.
- Introduce more mid/high level AH-able gear that focuses on damage dealing that PUP can wear (there is only ONE remotely useful DDing body on the AH for PUP).
- Make water maneuvers trigger -na spells on Soulsoother (like it does for party members already...)
- Make dark maneuvers trigger drain/aspir on Spiritreaver
- Drastically increase automaton defense, and further increase automaton defense for particular frames (very high defense bonus for Valoredge, no defense bonus for stormwaker)
Pet jobs (general):
- Allow AoEs such as curaga or protectra to land on pets, and songs/rolls to affect pets to a lesser effect
BLM:
- Aspir II - Functions similarly to Drain II. Actually drains HP but converts it to MP (so any target can be aspired), and any MP recovered beyond your max MP is added to your total temporarily. MP restored is roughly equivalent to the potential of Drain
Gameplay:
- Normalize existing menus/dialogs and set a standard for any to be created in the future. Ex.: escape should always allow you to exit a menu (this usually works, but doesn't for some NPCs like Ryo/Sanraku)
- Remove select groups of mobs from dynamis (leave the death house untouched, for example), lower the maximum alotted time for dynamis and decrease the length of extensions, and proportionally raise drop rates on everything. The event is too damn long.
- Captain rank for Assault allows you to get a new tag every 12 hours.
- You are automatically charged 200 IS to use the runic portal without needing to ask "wtf is a runic portal?" Every. Damn. Time.
I could probably think of more, but I'll stop here.
If you were stranded on Purgonorgo Isle what 5 items would you most want to have with you?
Prishe, Aphmau, Lion, my Thalassocrat (I'd be DRG), and meat mithkabobs.
How do you describe Final Fantasy XI to your coworkers or computer-illiterate friends?
I don't bother. >_>
What is next for you in the world of Final Fantasy XI?
A merit party on DRG. As for the less immediate future, Odin is tomorrow in Einherjar! Long term: Work on Yigit feet for BLM/RDM, hope I get anything out of salvage, w.legs, wait for WotG to get better...
Anything else you would like to include with your profile?
I'd like to thank the people that have made the game worth playing from all of the linkshells I've been a part of, including (but not limited to) Climhazzard, WheelofTime, HokutenKnights, Triumvirate, and as of a couple weeks ago my first hnmls SpikeFlail, as well as all of the other shells I've been in that have brought me to where I am. I've gotten to know a lot of great people that I'll never forget. As such I went out of my way to get pictures with the shellholders of my social shells that still play the game: Genos, leader of HokutenKnights, and Julianne, leader of Triumvirate. Thank you both, as well everyone I've gotten to know from all of these shells, and again Susurrus and Evaan for getting me hooked.
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