B-ynd th sn

(This is so 2009/10! Case someone was wondering.)

Despite my previous rant I’ve looked how easily other people accumulated their lot to take on Maat’s Cap and reversed my thinking. 37 to 66 under today’s leveling standards, well, at least when conceived by someone who knows what they’re doing – is not that bad at all. Even if doing so would stall progression of those jobs and leave them short, I gotta view it in positive light. That’s if I’ll ever feel like bringing them to 75 that’d mean less grinding on those selected jobs!

I’ve previously beaten BLM Maat and jokingly taken on RDM one without any further intentions.

#3 White Mage

This one was stupidly easy but I can’t say doing this fight without trying to melee Maat to death fully reflects boredom of being a WHM because I’ve recently started to appreciate WHM more. Did my 5 minutes without really stressing anything. Was bit surprising how hard Maat was hitting me even at 75 but no real fuss.

#4 Ranger

Took on Ranger Maat after recently having received Skadi’s Jambeaux and not altering any macros x.x Testimony came from awesome unintended farming spot in Quicksand Caves while helping someone with Savage Blade NM, it also put out three other testimonies two of which I found needed and stored. So to take care of any space issues my inventory would have in the future I climbed up to the top, got fully prepared instead of trying to rush it, Terra’s Staff on and slept some TP. Bit worrying start when first Slug Shot missed but then landed nice barrage, shadowbound the prick, fired another Slug Shot and EES and that was all that was necessary for the win. Forgot to use Icarus Wing but from having played ranger in all sorts of environments before I knew the mark I was aiming for. Terra’s Staff meant his EES only landed for 360′ish. Sucker.

#5 Paladin

Nothing to write to home about really, apart from inventory space relief +1. This is Robber Crab in fancy dress, no challenge at all.

#6 Thief

Was easy enough. First time I left myself dumbfound when I ignored most important bit that it doesn’t count as win if you attempt to steal from it after netting win on another job first. Stole warp scroll and after quickly figuring it out PD’d and used it lol. So roll on another attempt, no real evasion setup, slept TP to 100%, SA Assassin’s Charge ran behind him and.. landed hit instead of buffed Dancing Edge. Oh well. Eye for an eye on PD and one more Icarus Wing enabled Dancing Edge and few whiffs later I’m one Maat less away from kicking it big time.

#7 Monk

Another kill on 75 that came around the long way, I tried it twice but underestimated it on both, first as I just had hit 75 and then another time again without any meds. Fate tossed me third testimony when I was farming Oztroja Coffer Key without having any luck before Limbus where I spent good hour trying to solve black screen upon docking to Jeuno and never made it there. Unfinished business isn’t my type of thing so before backing out for the night I bought Icarus Wing and made sure there was enough potions to sleep through 100% TP. Went in fully buffed again with spare Tav. Taco, Asuran Fists, popped Hundred Fists and just as Maat hit his to match cheated another Asuran with wing. Job done.

#8 Bard

Always thought bard Maat would pose challenge but what do I know. Ended up taking bard to 75 and found it very interesting job that I absolutely have no space for equipment-wise, quelle surprise, let alone have its testimony lying around. It’s bonanza season too. So without tuning the job any further I broke out Osode, Kabuto, joytoy, Jerry Ling and Tatsumaki Sitagoromo to keep melee damage down, used Icarus Wing at the start, didn’t bother with food and SV’d top tier Paeons. For a second thought of me underestimating it again crossed my mind when its HP was phasing out at same pace as mine but at the time when he got me to ~20% his 20% meant he was ready to give up.

#9 Ninja

This was interesting one indeed, first job that I leveled only for purpose of Maat’s Cap. I had to leave last real party with 2k tnl due time constraints so next morning at work I just took PLD to Den of Rancor to farm testimony. SMN testimony dropped but alas I was too much in the morning haze to realize I still needed that and dropped it. Oh well, NIN testimony off 3rd tonberry that linked to pretty normal cluster of a pull you would expect in there and I took off to Bhaflau as NIN/DNC to try and skill, quickly scooping out that QSC where I had to go past weight doors had some offerings for people in the shell so Mijin and OP warp later I dinged into 66 and was good to go, albeit lack of full katana skill for newly gained level.

Had all kinds of thoughts how it would go but in the end it went down with no sweat as all this was about was keeping shadows up. More than 4 years of expertise on that assured victory pretty much. Anyhow, slept 100% TP, ate through his shadows, Blade:Retsu that didn’t seem to proc and soon realized that from the start I was wearing WS gear so Maat had taken my shadows down meanwhile. Swapped to loaned out Evasion Torque and Scorp Harness and he hardly took any shadows down with his melee attacks from that point onwards, I guess evasion merits came in handy too. Debuffed him with para blind and slow and Blade:Jin later he was ready to surrender, leaving me with spare Vile Elixir and I.Wing.

#10 Dragoon – time to pop champagne bottle for another active digit

Another one that got me honestly thinking if it was enough – it was. Ate Tav. Taco, slept 100% TP, got in and immediately landed Penta, spawning his wyvern. I had macroed that for WS I had Sniper’s +1 (with its DEF -12) and Metusalemi branded Spike Necklace, then it would immediately switch to Jelly Ring and Peacock Charm. Jumped, High Jumped, decided it was time for me to nom nom my wyvern when they had me down to 200~ish HP, Penta Thrusted and used another one from I.Wing. How this was different from previous Maat fights was that together with his wyvern Maat was pumping rounds of 200 damage and relatively fast too.

#11 Samurai

I’ll be honest here. While intention from the start was not to take any leveling shortcuts I went against my own guidance here and instead of what I could have spent polishing my parrying skill I did in Abyssea party as a self-titled keymaster. Did that from 56 to 66 and it took me 2 hours to realize what a fail of freeloading bunch the first attempt was, after which I constructed more serious setup on easiest targets known assuring nothing could go wrong. That’s where I spent until early morning’s rays of light, building exp from nonexistent to tolerable to 600 a pop and finally to full intention of passing out at level 66, all while additional cruor was nowhere in sight until last brief moments due level difference penalty.

The only hit I landed during hours of Abyssea. Soboro, SAM somewhere between 56 and 66. Convict name unknown.

Second part to this madness came when I needed great katana skill I just passed on, all 120+ of it. Due to time constraints I wasn’t able to get it all in one go, then again I’m not sure what would have happened if I did for what skilling two-handed weapon meant – even with the benefits of Soboro Sukehiro. Thanks to all who could accommodate me on this globetrotting tour and finally Hyzenthlay when we went from two birds one stone on seaside BLU spells to finishing it on trolls inside Halvung. How, don’t ask.

Soboro had to be tossed in the way of more powerful g.katana and few gear adjustments later I was almost ready for it, except that I needed testimony and this bastard went and pulled old school Ancient Papyrus prank on me, taking more than 3 hours to drop while I weaved through Zvahl Baileys from work. Got someone generous to get me past the annoying scale doors of QSC, for the last time I thought, only until I was left to find a reason for my loss, shocking one at that, because I knew I had to get another testimony _and_ ask someone to let me pass the doors again. On technical side I could have blamed myself for not remembering to change Meditate-only Kabuto into Voyager Sallet and not bringing attack earring but I also didn’t think of agility required to go through macro’d WS’s and with simple Shoulder Tackle time was suddenly on Maat’s side.

So changing all that I also went for NQ Squid Sushi for acc and attack instead of suggested rice ball. Completely skipped so called defensive gear that would have been swapped in between WS’s as chance of evading one of Maat’s WS’s seemed low. In attempt of quick replay to spare my breath, and also to sit viewers to my new pay-per-view scheme for upcoming Maat bouts:

#12  Dark Knight

One word: Kraken Club. I tried both defensive and offensive strategies with scythe but every time it came down Maat’s Blood Weapon being greater than mine, mainly because this is definitely one Maat where Blink Band is more than necessary to avoid few fatal hits effecting BW+Souleater input and no clothcrafters were online each time nor there was mats for me to make it myself. One time I got him slept on second cast of Sleep II by the time I was down to 1hp and no nothing to salvage the situation. So my next thought was to try the same from the second he would go BW, only this time equipping Pluto’s Staff. Before I got to realize this plan I was lucky to be able to loan out Kraken Club (thanks Yurimi!) and rest as they say was history.

#13 Summoner

Fairly easy. Proved that testimony takes longer to drop when you actually need one, as I recall going 1/1 on couple accidental cases of unwanted SMN tonberry aggro and this time it took well over 10 tries while I made my trip down to Den of Rancor for Indra’s Staff trial. Thought I would go with well proven theory: go in naked for what it’s worth less than aesthetic reasons, Aerial Armor, Earthen Ward, Shiva, Frost Armor, Assault, Double Slap, run back to start, use Yagudo Drink, Vile Elixir when MP drops under half, wait forever to Shiva to die, summon Titan, Astral Flow (needlessly) and Earthen Fury (needlessly) ftw. And that’s pretty much how did it go. Oh and the kicker? I was level 79, for actually using this job.

#14 Warrior

I thought I would indulge myself in playing Warrior traditional way, splitting mobs in half with my great axe. That was not to be however, with incredible amount of afk lamers and freeloaders hoping to score Abyssea key role being only people seeking every night in and out and setup possibilities miles apart from the prime days. So I made Abyssea party with me playing with the keys, dinged 66 from 59 and I was free to climb to Horlais Peak. The fight itself really deserves no mention because it was as regular melee Maat as melee Maat gets, except I was using polearm and my newly bought piece of comfort, Blink Band, failed miserably. Two Penta Thrusts and then there was only one left to go…

Next number is final one out of 15 jobs required for this item. It’s quite obvious what happens when it scrolls up on the screen.

But you can still help build suspense on your own.

The Final – #15 Beastmaster

Yes, journey’s inevitable end, high peak to view trail below that turned into what this turned to be. Am I happy with this achievement? I’m exhilarated, but at the same time feel it has come at a price of certain freedom. I wasn’t feeling this as serious goal for longest time until two checkpoints really, first one just telling myself “ok, let’s do it” which led to creation of this page and then other one dating sometime around Ninja entry from which onwards it was about 3 month rush to get whole thing done. I am happy that despite Maat’s Cap being most selfish goal I did include others as much as I could, throwing parties for people and apart from few final weeks I was looking to join most events and being helpful on a certain cozy level instead of shutting myself of from the rest of Vana’Diel – intention that I was able to realize. I might come back to ask whether it all was worth it because on the other end of scales I had lowman opportunities; taking on new content as soon as it was to arrive and looking upon strategies that would absorb strengths of minimal settings. Whatever I have just done I will be sure not to repeat on FFXIV when and if my mixed feeling of catching company playing it right now overcome reality (once again) – point is that having accomplished something of this scale with my sort of methods and principles life’s just too short to maximize everything out of two MMORPGs. Not saying that this is ultimate end for FFXI and there’s nothing else in the game, quite contrary with Square Enix pulling all stops with Abyssea, just this will dictate what my play style might be in FFXIV. As some say, Maat’s Cap is a sign of jack of all trades and master of none and could still be true without all filler jobs I had to play to get myself here.. Anyway, enough talk. Beastmaster Maat!

There’s more to tell about getting to fight this variation than the fight itself. After going with the usual routine of obtaining full set artifact armor and tease of a testimony I got to gear up and get myself ready for the final go with the bald man. Due recent update Reward items were reshuffled and previously popular choice rose to level 72 and next one available on AH represented optimal choice for like level 36 – nothing for what I was going to fight Maat as. Wanting to be as thorough as I possibly can, not leaving any chance of doubt about him going down in Round One I set out to craft Pet Food Epsilon, only it required Ziz Meat which of course wasn’t any on sale. Cue me going 0/10 in Mamook, then asking Exxile to pop over as Ninja to fight these horrible TP Regaining dodos and, 4/4. With that hurdle behind I went to get rest of materials together only to realize that always trustworthy AH wasn’t selling any Lizard Eggs and it just happened so that guild which did had day off. So spending last 3 hours getting AF and the rest together here I go to fight lizards in Crawler’s Nest, cook the pet food and get over to Palborough Mines, hopes high about not having to do this again. Entered very sauna like for whatever superstitious theories are out there (no gear), slept TP, ate Sole Sushi before summoning antlion pet as that supposedly affected its stats, used Blink Band, 2hr’d and set pet out on Maat, engaging his pet tiger myself and taking it down in no time. I then took few steps back to use potions, rewarded pet, engaged Maat, Rampaged, used Snarl to leave hate back on pet and at this point Maat was giving out signs that he was ready to throw in the towel at 45% as I knew another Rampage would simply destroy him. And so I did and that was that.

Like I said this isn’t definitive end for this game, not personally nor do I think on level of achievements. It’s a thing of its own. But should this game run to its end in its ending credits I would like to include this and moreso, all the important people that I’ve got to know along the way and everyone who’s been a support. This one’s to you.