Last week was a hiatus (one week break) for Slothimus, who has (had) Army duty. Slothimus tends to show up on Wednesday AND Friday, so he is a pretty important person. But pretty much we go every Wed and Fri, that is my goal at least.

However (and I know some of you don't agree with this) I don't think CoP is in any way designed for Americans, too many RL issues going on. So I dunno what Wednesday and Friday will bring to CoP for the coming week.

The more CoP missions I do, and the more ZM missions I do, and the more ToAU missions I do, I have to say that gathering 5 or 6 or 7 or 8 folks outside (non-burning circle) with maybe a key item you went and fetched (no standing under the full moon waiting for clear weather) is the way to go. Maat had a Genkai like this, and I think Darkspark (AF quest) is like this, and ToAU Black Coffin is very close, except it too is a burning circle. I will grant you that Black Coffin seems to be a fun fight, even more reason they should let 7 or 8 folks into it.

"Where is the challenge in that" you ask? Well with the current FFXI climate I would say getting 7 or 8 folks together for ninety minutes of party, out of four time zones is plenty challenge enough. If you (anyone 'you', don't mean Cyclonus specifically) don't agree then please join in for the Savage Blade weapon skill hunt and we can compare notes afterwards =^_^=

The idea of spending two hours fighting to the top of a spire or zone or tower so just six folks can go in, but you need all six to win, is nonsense. And I waited around two and one-half real hours under a Vana'diel full moon to get my Ark Pentasphere just so I could start a full alliance fight for what is claimed to be a very tough fight! Fortunately claiming the Pentasphere was not a fight so I could stand around (in a virtual sense) on an older PC off to the side, staring at an empty fountain under cloudy weather while I did some homework on the good computer.

The other thing I was attempting to do for CoP was monitoring the progress of a THIRD CoP group - Gothik and Asumasensei and Bambaam. Gothik told me yesterday he is definitely leaving the game (maybe he will change his mind but I did not notice him mincing any words) and Asumasensei - last week was for you to catch up, Asumasensei, and I never heard a single thing all week so time to move on.

Best wishes to those three in their future gaming adventures.

At this point there are just two CoP groups:
Wed Nights with Darkkit
Fri Nights with Tamara
both groups are ready to attempt Promyvion-Vahzl climb and fight.

If Darkkit accomplishes Vahzl on Wednesday my group will meet on Friday to do other things, I am waiting one week for someone to come back to my group from a RL issue. For those that are late to this topic of ClanAM CoP - our Wed and Fri groups are done with everything up to and including Mission 4-4 Slanderous Utterings; so Davros those mistmelts are yours to sell at Auction House.

Finally: don't look to me to know everything about CoP. I actually barely understand it, and so expect some mistakes. And here is a quote that, when I began CoP, would have annoyed me but which last night (after a year of CoP) I found a bit amusing when I received it in a /tell. It is not a quote of mine, and is in regards to the Anima you need for Spire fights...

"I hate farming that stuff"

To the person that told me this... I have probably farmed more Anima than anyone else on this Linkshell and yes, it is getting old.