Vana'diel Update -- The Good and The Bad

For a while there, I was quite confused. I really wasn't too sure what my character, Penske, was going to do.

After I leveled Penske to a Level 31 Warrior, I decided to switch main jobs to my Level 15 White Mage. In this situation, there is only one place to go to in this situation -- Valkurm Dunes. It was party time.

It took a while, but I did my best in a party situation, healing my party members (just random folks that I had met in the virtual world), and before I knew it, Penske reached Level 20. Now, it was time to switch back to being a Warrior once again.

After pimping out in the Korroloka Tunnels for a while, I had to find somewhere else that was, well, less populated. I was getting my thing done in the Tunnels for a while, but being in a cave where it is again, "Party Central", I had to find somewhere that I could successfully level while soloing.

While on my travels through Vana'diel, I decided to stop off at the The Duchy of Jeuno to FINALLY complete my Chocobo quest. This took quite a while, as I had to successfully "feed" a sickly Chocobo with some special medicinal-type grass. After a few hours, I fed him back to a healthy animal -- thus, I finally acquired my Chocobo License.

To pass some other time away, I ran some supplies quests to the regions of Aragoneu and Li'Telor, which had just come over the control of the Republic of Bastok, my home country. In doing this, I have paved the way for more areas in which I can "warp" to. All I have to do is talk to a dude named Conrad, who shacks up in the Metalworks in Bastok. For a small fee, he can warp me to the area of my choice, given the fact that I have ran supplies to the outpost in that region.

After some unsuccessful attempts at "farming", I decided to go through the task in finding my new region to level. At first, I hung out in the Buburimu Peninsula, in the region of Kolshushu. I ran around the small coastal city of Mhaura, killing everything in sight. With my Chariot Band in full-effect, I was pulling in the experience points by killing Goblins and Leeches. But I wasn't satisfied with my Chariot Band -- only lasting for about an hour -- so I decided after my 7 charges were up, I was going to drop it and purchase the ever-popular Empress Band, which can last a lot longer (although losing the experience bonus increase that the Chariot offered).

Then, it occurred to me. Why not go to the place where parties go after they've leveled to 20? After the Valkurm Dunes, people are really up in the air to help them in terms of experiencing and leveling their characters. The choice is ultimately, Qufim Island.

Qufim Island is a polar-like region with lots of snow, located just north of Jeuno. At first when I had attempted to go there, I had no map, so I had to shell out nearly 9,000 in "gil" to pay for some maps so I knew where to go in Qufim.

Although there were a few parties going on, I did not have any difficulty in finding foes to beat up on. With my newly-acquired Empress Band, I started to gain experience rapidly. After taking out Land Worms and Clippers (crab-like monsters), I soon reached the Level 32 plateau. It was soon afterward, with my character brimming with confidence, that I could take on some stronger enemies, like Giant Hunters, Dancing Weapons, and Wights.

My successes did not last long, as I have already been knocked out twice in Qufim Island. It was either due to the attempt of taking on stronger enemies, or getting "aggroed", or "linked" by numerous foes that can easily take one person down. With those losses, I lose experience points and Penske is now sitting back at Level 31, just 500 points short of Level 32.

I have no intentions of going elsewhere for a while. Qufim is where I'm going to stay to level. Hopefully after I hit Level 35 or 36, I can tackle my Mission in Beadeaux, killing Copper Quadavs -- 20 of them. Not an easy task!

That's the update for now. If anything dramatic happens to good ol' Penske, I'll let you know.