By the way, I used /laugh at Roronoya's NPC today when Roronoya used his Signal Pearl because of his level 1 RSE body piece. Big mistake!!!

I can see how Roronoya can lose track of his NPC. They like to bunch up a lot.

Hmm... I sense a pattern here... But, one is not like the others... Can you tell which one? ^^

We had to take a rest after the fifth goblin because they were being bomb happy. Roronoya's NPC wouldn't have survived another bomb. SE needs to give us Spirit Link or something... No...wait... Bad idea because that could get the PC killed. ;; Even worse is that our NPCs could sprout wings, shrink, turn blue, and develop bad breath. Even worst still is that everyone with NPCs could suddenly become unwanted party members... /em shudders...

The answer to my question was 33, but his NPC attained 34 after this screen shot.

Nooooo... This is what I get for making fun of Roronoya's NPC. Weird thing is that I predicted this would happen. I just knew it. I think his NPC infected my NPC with the Newb Specific Equipment virus, or the NSE virus for short. Even Mugido's gloves retrograded. /sighs...

Oh well, there's always tomorrow. (Everyone) (Take care.)

August 7th, 2005 - We got a full house today. Well...full for at least for one party anyway. Poor Yarga-Umiga. He's so small and always lagging behind. It's hard to get a good shot of him. But, maybe I just like screen shots of him like this because his name is so annoying to type... d:

Before anyone /tells me about it, Mugido made me shout "Ricola" when I called him by the way... It wasn't my choice. He's just mad at some of the jokes I make about him, so I said it to make it up to him...

Unfortunately, I was contacted by a representative of Ricola. And he said I had to give him some space on Mugido's page for a brief advertisement. So without further ado, I'm interrupting this journal entry to bring you this...

(Heck, I better be getting reimbursed for this. Grr...)

Ladies and gentlemen (Manthras and everyone else too), I present the spokesperson of Ricola, Proud Beard. He's here today to spread the word of wearing proper NSE gear. Yes, folks. You too can look like you belong on a mountain yodeling or even blowing a long horn (thanks Edge). Proud Beard says to step right up and don't be shy...

Now, we return to our regularly scheduled journal already in progress...

(Hey...where's my reimbursement you hillbilly Galka?! We don't play down on Ore Street you know? Don't make me (Sic) some of my Tarutaru ankle-biter friends after your yodel-ay-ee-oooo butt!!)

/em still grumbles about not being paid and for Proud Beard corrupting Mugido with his NSE nonsense...

Anyway... Here's a couple of quick shots of today's adventure. Again, you can see how NPCs like to bunch together. I know you guys like to stick together, but sheesh... Yarga-Umiga's body and name can't even be seen, but that's Harl's fault. ^^ We had to go to the left Yhoator Jungle/Ifrit's Cauldron zone-line today because there was a party xping at our regular spot. Sorry for taking some of your mobs. We didn't know... ;;

While we were there, we ran into a family member of Mugido's, his cousin Guddal, I.M. Do not confuse him with the Guddal you see at the Kazham Airship Agency in Port Jeuno. That's a different Guddal...

Huh? What Mugido...? He's your cousin too? What the heck?! Why don't you just go on the Bob Newhart show and introduce yourselves as "I'm Mugido. This is my cousin Guddal. This is my other cousin Guddal." And, how do you have relatives anyway? Aren't you Galka supposed to be reincarnated??? /huh...

What's that shrug supposed to mean...? /em gives up, confused...

Well, another session finished. Only one more before the 18 hour maintenance tomorrow. I'll be sure to update you all with any changes SE throws at us regarding NPCs. (See you again!)

August 8th, 2005 - Whee! With 90 minutes before maintenance, we xped our NPCs. It was a fruitful day too. ... OMG! I'm starting to talk like Mugido!! /cry.

No matter how hard I try, I can't get a decent shot of Yarga-Umiga. Harl is always obscuring either his name or body. Be a man Yarga-Umiga! Step out into the foreground for once!! Oh well... To make up for it, I have a shot of Yarga-Umiga by himself. d:

Our NPCs were on the ball today. They kept skill chaining before or after Edge or me. The examples are above. Even the blond Nanako was on the ball. Only Edge was off with his badly timed Shadowstitch. Shame on you, Edge. Your NPC is gonna replace you if you're not careful. Harl even told Edge that he was fired. ^^

Let this be a lesson folks. Do not use Barrage on goblins that are near full health. The goblins have been crazy lately. This bomb left our NPCs at around 40% health. If Harl wasn't around, I'm sure Nanako and/or Mugido would have died. But then again if Harl wasn't around, I wouldn't have been as reckless. /grin

See? Indeed, a fruitful day as Mugido would say. Mugido attained level 44, Nanako attained 41, and Yarga-Umiga attained 33. Yarga-Umiga stayed for 15 kills while Mugido and Nanako stayed for 20 still. No new headgear, NPC options, or message from Luto.

The amusing thing is how many people were trying to beat the clock to xp their NPC before maintenance started. Roronoya was in Altepa xping his NPC in the last 15 minutes because his pearl timer had recently reset. I logged off one minute before the announced time of maintenance and he said that he finished. Just in the nick of time. ;;

However, they were several people in similar situations. Usually in the last minutes before maintenance, there are less than 1,000 characters logged in. Today, there were over 1,200. I could be overestimating the popularity of NPCs, but I'm force to wonder how many of those 1,200 were racing the clock. ^^

Well, I'll be back later today pending update notes concerning NPCs. If they aren't any, then see you tomorrow. /goodbye

August 9th, 2005 - Well, SE didn't announce any changes regarding NPCs. In fact, they didn't announce any changes to anything whatsoever... What a disappointing maintenace...

We went to our regular camp at the right Yhoator Jungle/Ifrit's Cauldron zone-line, but found these four there. I saw another Raka (Btaru's NPC is named Raka too) and Fhig. I couldn't resist throwing a comment out because they were at our spot (yes ours because everyone else borrows it). d:

Yay. After we arrived at the left camp/zone-line, I finally took a better screen shot of Yarga-Umiga. I had to move around a bit to get this because Mugido would try to hog the camera for himself. Who knew Mugido was so spoiled... ;;

More bomb happy goblins. I didn't even use Barrage this time. But from this we know that Mugido has at least 678 hp at level 44. And, woot! More parry skill. ^^

Unfortunately, Mugido and Nanako only got six kills today. ;; This was because I was distracted helping an LS member and more use to right side of the Yhoator Jungle/Ifrit's Cauldron zone-line. Therefore, I wound up zoning into Ifrit's Cauldron. Edge went in too because he was right behind me and couldn't stop in time (sorry Edge). It seems like Mugido has different pants even after only six kills though.

So, Yarga-Umiga got his full session of xp worth while Mugido and Nanako only received a bit over a quarter's worth. As you can imagine, I was very upset and stayed quiet the rest of the session... I was thinking stuff that wouldn't be appropriate for a rated PG site such as this... d: I guess a close approximation of how angry I was would be losing claim on a HNM while it was at 1% health... d: But, I'm feeling much better now... ^^

By the way, to the people at the KoolAid site, you think you could spare some people to help prevent these kinds of mistakes from happening again? We could use a camera crew and narrator too. I hear Dan Rather is available. Oh! A gofer would be nice too! /nod

Huh? What Mugido...? ... No way! I ain't requesting that... ... Okay okay, I'll ask... /sigh... Mugido is wondering if he could have his own manicurist, pedicurist, and makeup person... My Altana, Mugido! You're such a Hilton!!

(If you're confused about the gofer reference [yes, it's "gofer" with an "F"], it's because you need to watch Caddyshack [1980]. The singer is Kenny Loggins [he was big in the '80s].)

See ya tomorrow!! /wave