Soloing Up in Arms

One of the things I've always wanted to try before I quit this game is to solo this BCNM. I hadn't considered doing this before because I don't enjoy the travel time and preparation time it takes just for a single attempt. I just love to procrastinate. Not only that, but in order to practice so I don't throw away any Beastmen Seals I wanted to do a few runs with assistance. Due to me feeling increasingly bored by FFXI and my refusal to purchase the Abyssea add-on I was looking for something to keep me active and interested.

Thankfully I succeeded on my first attempt, but only just. I cut it close, REALLY close.

I pop the chest and get the message that time has run out. Also, I get teleported to the Waughroon Shrine entrance, which is what happens when you fail a BCNM. So technically I did fail the run but I ended up with the rewards anyway. A total of 50k in NPC'able stuffs and an Altepa Ring and Black Pearl which I'll toss on auction. Now for the meat of this blog entry.

I went RDM/SCH into this 60 cap BCNM. The increased MP efficiency made this solo a success. Every little bit helped, considering the 15 minute time limit. I went in, popped Light Arts and buffed, ate food and reste 2 tics. After this preparation the opening sequence was

1. Chainspell
2. Gravity and run towards entrance
   
3. Thunder II several times
4. Bind
5. Convert
6. Drain several times
7. Bind at entrance and run around it
8. Drain one more time before Chainspell ran out

Soon after this I had to reapply Gravity. I nuked a few more times before I ran out of MP and then used Sleep2. I was able to rest to over 200 MP before it woke up. Looking back I could have just re-slept and rested some more. Instead I used Gravity again and didn't manage much damage before I had to rest again. After the second rest I had only a little time left before convert so I nuked twice, drained and slept it again so I could ride out the 10 seconds to convert. I used Alacrity randomly to lower recasts, but I should have limited it to Drain usage since it was very effective and efficient. Not that my nukes were doing badly. They were doing quite well actually.

I didn't have a macro for light arts and Cure with Light Staff so I had to do it manually. That cost some unnecessary time. I had brought a Vile Elixir +1 jsut in case, but didn't see the urgency of using it even though I was somewhat aware of how much, or how LITTLE time I had left. In the end I had to resort to Bio2 for the last bit of damage. I was unsure whether opening with Bio2 would be smart. I was afraid I'd mess up and try to sleep it while forgetting that it was still on.

There are several obvious improvements like more macros, including Cure and Dispel (for Regeneration). Also, there was a sequence of 3 spell interruptions due to not waiting enough after moving. So, that's something to watch out for too. Save Alacrity for Drain.

For anyone else wanting to try this I can't give you any special or new advice as I'm not sure what the minimum requirements are to do this successfully. All I can say is what I personally used. I had a Glamor Jupon, mostly HQ staves (except wind and light) 8 enfeebling skill upgrades and 6 in elemental skill. Hands and feet slots were level synched Yigit pieces. Also, I ate a Cream Puff and have a Moldavite Earring.