Out of the fold

Spent a week in colorado that was basically sans-FFXI, and have been focusing more on some other things, logging in pretty much for LS Einherjar and not much else. I have gotten some merits recently, including a chain 228 party on the Nyzul Isle mamool camp last night, which I think was actually the first party I've broken 100 with on that camp. Two bards, a good RDM, relic DRK, ridill WAR, and good RNG. Keeping chain at that camp has less to do with max damage, though, and more to do with pacing, as if you kill too quickly you'll run out of repops.

The new expwatch windower plugin is pretty killer. Tracks your merit points, which has been needed for a long time, and has all sorts of new features. Our party ran at 21k/hr for most of the night, and that was without the Astral Candescence, meaning we were missing the 10% xp bonus.

Capped my MP merits at 8/8, and am 5 merits away from capping my enfeebling magic. My full merit picture now looks like:

Misc:
MP: 8/8 (30 merits)
INT: 5/5 (36 merits)
Enmity Decrease: 3/4 (6 merits)
Critical Hit Rate: 4/4 (10 merits)
(82)

Magic Skill:
Elemental Magic: 8/8 (27 merits)
Enfeebling Magic: 6/8 (15 merits)
(42)

Black Mage Specific:
Ice Magic Potency: 5/5 (15 merits)
Lightning Magic Potency: 5/5 (15 merits)
Freeze II: 1/5 (3 merits)
Burst II: 1/5 (3 merits)
(36)

Bard Specific:
Lullaby Recast: 1/5 (1 merit)
Nightingale: 1/5 (3 merits)
Troubadour: 1/5 (3 merits)
Foe Sirvente: 1/5 (3 merits)
Adventurer's Dirge: 1/5 (3 merits)
(13)

Dark Knight Specific:
Dark Seal: 1/3 (3 merits)
Muted Soul: 1/3 (3 merits)
(6)

Total: 179 merits.

Priorities for future merits:

Finishing Enfeebling Magic (6)
Finishing Enmity Down (4)
Minuet Effect to 5/5 (15)
Madrigal Effect to 5/5 (15) (unspend 1 point in lullaby recast)
Burst II to 4/5 (14)
Freeze II to 4/5 (14)
Flood II to 1/5 (3)
Tornado II to 1/5 (3)
Nightingale to 4/5 (14)
Troubadour to 4/5 (14)

That's 104 merits to spend, pretty sick. Only maybe the first 40 are really high priority, though, and any more will likely be superceded by SCH merits.