SQUARE ENIX released all the entries for the latest Fan Art Contest with the theme: 8th Anniversary! As you know, I also took part (look here) but didn't win a price ^^; And when I see the winner-images, I also know why XD

However, A few of the pictures SQEX showed now are also very nice and I want to give the artists a lil more credit here!

Beyond The Sun by Karuko

Our Adventure Never Ends by Karla

Made by lurazeda from deviantART - here the picture

To My Friends Across Worlds by Lyali

Made by priestessofpie from deviantART - here the picture

So with the newest update I also got some time again to play! yay ^^
And the first thing I wanted to check out is the new level cap of course ^^; So I've heard that you need merit Points for it. Okay, up to merit!

After a few hours with my beloved PUP and a lil help of the Anniversary Ring I got the 3 Merit points you need for the Limit Break!

So I went to the Nomad Moogle in Jeuno and asked him about the limit break. I thought I have to talk to him since he told me about merits and stuff. And I was right!

So he asked me to build up 3 Merits and bring him 5 Kindred Seals for the upgrade. Luckily I got the seals while building u the merits and so I could trade him everything right away ^^

But what now? The Nomad Moogle called the Magian Moogle from the other side to his aid.

And he.. well.. used a pretty special spell O.o;

Wow! I felt like I got reborn! and no limits could hold me back! :D And the level cap 75 disappeared! :D (okay it's 80 now ;P)

And so I could go back and swooooosh! level 76! :D
I also already could level my blm to 76! :D
And now even more exp are needed till 77... D: well, happy leveling!

Just in time I could finish my entry for the 8th Anniversary Fan Art Contest. However, I doubt that I'll have a good chance against all the other awesome pictures I saw on all the art-sites in the internet ^^;

I'll tell you if I won something when they announce the winners ;3

I got a little package from Japan! :D Guess what's inside?

Yea! It's the new CD for the 8th anniversary of FFXI! People from Japan could vote for the best FFXI-Music and the 27 most voted songs got pressed on this silver round plate ^^

By the way, the 10 most voted tracks are: 10. Onslaught, 9. Kazham, 8. Ronfaure (Japanese people just love this track.. lol), 7. Whisterps of the Gods, 6. Clash of Standards, 5. The Sanctuary of Zi'Tah, 4. Distant Worlds, 3. Awakening, 2. Fighters of the Crystal and the most voted one Ragnarok!

Just a few hours left. Tomorrow will be a bigger maintenance of Final Fantasy XI, probably with the biggest chances Square Enix ever made.
Multiple servers will be shut down. All players on these servers will be moved to others and 'shall' continue their gaming without any notice.. but there are people which will have to make a hard decision.
Luckily I'm not one of them. I'm free on each server, but for a few there's a bigger change coming. Their names will be lost. Even my closest friends must choose a new name. It will never be the same as it was...

But there's no time to be sad. Life goes on. Names were originally only invented to make us different from each other. Without names we could not call this or that person, everyone would listn when I shout "hey you!" in to a group of people XD
However, this is no longer true for nowadays. It's no longer where a person comes from, how he or she lives, how the person looks like or even the name. We are united as one ally.
It's how the person is. His or her character which makes them interesting, funny, annoying, or the best people in your life.

Coltello, Aleya, Muerte, Vetraubent, Miaa, Chikka, Arislan, Olshie, Atrum, Elex, Element, lovely Win and all others which will have to make this change. Only a few letter in your name will change. You will still be you. And no one except yourself can change that. Stay as you are, stay who you are, stay the awesome people I met in my FFXI-Life. Stay yourself.

Just a few hours left...

Today there was a nice Tweet @VanaFest2010_EN telling us:

Twitter Trivia contest winners have been selected! We're working on preparing notifications; be sure to watch your inbox in the coming days!

I hope they had a lil mercy with me and will give me this awesome beret tooooo~

Today was the VanaFest 2010 in Japan! A WHOLE LOT of news about the upcoming year got released! Too much to post everything here XD So instead here the Links to the sites with all the stuff ;D

The Official VanaFest 2010 Website
Version update preview page
The Official Abyssea Website

Square Enix made a live-stream of the whole show. I myself couldn't watch everything, was too busy ^^; But I luckily just jumped in when they announced a few new job-adjustments as well as the Nomad Bonanza drawing!
And so, here the winning-numbers!

I myself had the Number 51496 - so no price at all ^^;
If I understood it right, then a player from Odin Server hit the final jackpot and now will find a free Relic or Myth Weapon in his or her delivery box ;D

I'm sure, all the new adjustments which are going to happen will change Final Fantasy XI.. I hope it still will remain a good game...

For all which didn't see or heard any of the new stuff, here a few words what you have to expect: Odin, Alexander, Meteor, LEVEL 99 ...

Square Enix released the news about a new Final Fantasy XI Music Collection for the 8th Anniversary called FINAL FANTASY XI 8th Anniversary - Memories of Dusk and Dawn.
Here the link to the final Fantasy XI Soundtracks. Memories of Dusk and Dawn itself does not yet have a page, I'll update as soon as there is more about this mew music masterpiece X3

I would like to present you the video I shot when our Dynamis LS went the first time to Ying, Yang and Dynamis Lord! :D

Was great XD

Yea, I quit the limbus-shell BlueLagoon. Yesterday was my last run with this shell which I was in for more than three years!

There are reasons why I left.. there are a few..

Firstly the mood in the shell slowly started to fall. Well, maybe it was just me who thinks that. But when every third phrase contains something like "you smell", "you noob", "f*** that", or similar then it's really depressing. Yesterday was "gather-time" at 20:00 (for me) I was there at 20:03 (the twitter trivia hold me up), said "Hello", got a "Hello" back and then it was silent till about 20:20.. Not much chat at all, just silence... then a quick note what we're going to do (Temenos North), building groups and after this silence again~
Oh well.. maybe it was just me. But really.. this was soooo depressing.. and it's happening for many many runs already...

Secondly it's the thing with the equipment, the proto-gear. A few people in the LS already said this SURLY was my main reason etc. but that's not true at all.
To be honest, it helped me to quit, but let me explain what I mean with that equipment-issue:
The rules sais, that you have to set priorities on the five equipment-parts a proto (Omega or Ultima) can drop. For each Limbus run you get a point. Now, when we have a run with a proto-fight, we check which people do have highest priority and if there are more, it's about the points.
So far so good, not an overall bad idea.. But... I made a little mistake three years ago and ended up with my last Nashira piece (Body) as a priority 3. I couldn't change it anymore since I used all other on the rest of the gear, I must stay there at that 3. And many, many people went between me and my last Nashira piece.. many times..
In the end now I left with the second highest points, but only 4/10 equipment-pieces (I was not allowed to lot homam because I don't have any job for it). The person with the highest points already has 10/10.
BUT now to explain why it is not my main reason: I don't need the body really anymore. When I once will quit FFXI (it will slowly start with the release of FFXIV) I won't need the Nashira body anymore. And also all the other equipment etc.
So I don't really care about getting it or not.
But the fact, that the person who was in the shell the longest (yes I was), and has second highest points (don't know how the other one could get that much more) but does not own 5/5 of a set shows that there's something wrong and unfair.

And now the main reason why I finally left.. well, it's a combination with the first and second reason.
It simply didn't make any fun anymore.
I only play FFXI for fun. To have a good time with a few friends, to enjoy something else and do something together.
And really, the fun was out for me. The last few weeks were a MUST for me to go there. And if you must do something which is depressing and unfair, you don't really have fun doing it right?

So I only saw the quit as the best solution.

I am sorry for all the people in the shell which I disappoint with this. But with all these things together, I bet they would have done this long before me already. I was patient, helped where I could (as sub-leader and even part time main-runleader!) but it's over now.

For all people of BlueLagoon reading this:
Thank you for the time. I met a few great people there. At least at the beginning I also gladly joined and helped on every run as much as I could. Maybe we'll meet again. Don't try to get me back, it won't help. And also don't quit because I did. Take your chance in lotting gear and enjoy being there.

And what now with me and my Limbus experience? I already got an invite to another shell long, long ago and will now join this one now. I know many people there and I am sure, I will find the sought fun in this new beginning.

In case anyone wants to know anything more about my reasons, feel free to leave a comment and I'll answer you.