Daily Archives: November 5, 2013

I never liked Fleece farming because it’s highly competitive. I used to farm it once or twice so that I have materials for some clothes (or some LQ items). It is overcamped most of the time, and you can’t expect hospitality from your competitor, even if you are level 37 and they are level 50.

Why would I farm the Karakul using my level 37 class? Well, yesterday I needed to get my Arcanist to level 38 in order to proceed through the main scenario quest. I was stuck on “Road to Redemption” where it requires level 38 in order to claim reward. So I went around the area, getting every sidequest I could. Most sidequests that pop there at the time were level 36, 37, and 38.

There was one sidequest at Coerthas that pitched me against greedy fleece farmer right outside of Camp Dragonhead. Quest name was “Sheep to the Slaughter” and it requires killing 6 Ornery Karakuls (thanks the Twelve that key items have like 100% drop rate, so they will always drop after each kill, otherwise I would be pulling my hair, or someone else’s hair, out from more frustration).

It was a fierce claim war. After killing 2 sheep easily without competition, I was suddenly always outclaimed by the SMN’s summon’s spell, because Garuda Egi has epic long range and speed, as I’ve observed. And while some people kill the sheep one by one, this person would claim one on the ground above, and claim both of the Karakuls on the lower ground as well. I was very upset because if I don’t get the claim and don’t outdamage them, I get no kill credit and earn no key item. So I had to work very very hard in order to accomplish both.

After a tough half hour or so (could be shorter, but my frustration might have made it seem much longer than reality) I got the quest done. And after leaving the camp, I remembered to come back again to take a screenshot so I won’t forget their name. =_= I know it’s creepy to do so, but I was so mad at them, because I said in /say that I needed the sheep for sidequest, and yet they still claimed every possible sheep they could without any sympathy. I personally feel it is rude of them to arrive later and barged into my farm, hogging all of the mobs when I NEEDED them for my quest. Some people are inconsiderate.

Then, after all the sidequests level 36 and 37, I was still a bit short of leveling up to 38. FATE in the area were nuts, I can’t even see the enemies in FATE, because it is always very crowded and has like 1000 people or so in each FATE. Well, 1000 was maybe exaggeration, but for example, a Croc FATE boss died in 50 seconds after spawning. I merely got there and unmounted my chocobo, and could only land 1 Bio. So EXP sucks in FATE for me in Coerthas.

Anyway, while camping outside of Damp Dragonhead to wait for FATE to pop, I saw another Karakul camp which was empty, so I started killing some more Karakuls, in hope for Fleece as a by-product. A knight in black armor came, I think it was Paladin. And they observed me. After seeing that I could only kill through 3 Karakuls in the area before the first one repops, the person started killing other Karakuls that I never claimed. So we shared the camp by half and half. It was a pleasant farming for a while.

Then, a Bard came and started outclaiming everyone. I put up a fight by speed-claiming with all I got. Virus, Bio, Aero, and Energy Drain. I think I won the claim about 2 out of 3 times (limiting to only 3 Karakuls I was originally killing). I don’t run to compete with the Bard, because that would just give me disadvantage. Then, the Bard started using ability that covers an area on the ground, and it claims the sheep for them even when they ran away to get the other sheep in a far corner.

Boy, I was so mad. So I just spam spells on the sheep even when I was outclaimed anyway. And on some of their Karakuls, I still got EXP. Guess it was because I outdamaged them somehow (thanks Carbuncle and chocobo!) Although I hate competition, I didn’t want to just yield my way to them because I felt that I was there first and thus I had the rights of way. Mind you, though, that I understand very well that a roaming monster is a free game. Being there first does not mean you own all the mobs. However, with monsters having such rapid respawn rate, one could easily afford to be kind and share with others without being overly selfish like that. It’s just frustrating that some people have no respect to fellow player at all.

For example, when I was on my White Mage farming Ornery Karakul, I would stop and let other people have some of them if I see that they were below level 40, as I am aware of the sheep quest. They would kill just a few, and then leave, and it never took long. I don’t even have to let them have all of the 6 (or 5?) sheep, I could let them have 2 in each respawn round, as they kill one by one and cannot kill off all sheep in one camp fast enough anyway. After they leave the camp, I can continue being greedy and claim 3 or 4 sheeps at a time again.

For this Bard, however, my plea of needing a few thousand EXP to get me to level 38 for quest requirement fell on deaf ears (or blind eyes). It was one of the reasons why I got persistent and kept competing with them instead of just leaving to kill other mobs. Anyway, the claim war continued for more than half an hour (by rough estimation, because I lost sense of time and the battle of Karakul claiming seemed like forever!) Then, the person suddenly disappeared. So I happily hunted more Karakuls until I leveled up, then left for more sidequests and main story quests.