Wrapping up a Year - Goodbyes and New Beginnings

It's been a long while since I last posted, I still only have about 1.5 pages of my comic done, and uncolored XD

In this time of just a little past my one-year anniversary of playing this game (It's August now, but I took a few months break for school sometime earlier this year), a lot has occurred.

My beloved and most-adored Linkshell has mostly become a ghost shell. I refuse to give up on it still, and keep the pearl on me always. It's still the first, the best, the most fun, entertaining, and most beloved linkshell I've had and I will never give up my loyalty to it!

Unfortunately, the linkshell leader and also my IRL best friend left the game. As a seasoned veteran, she, like many other long-time players, had become increasingly too-easily frustrated by the game's effort-to-reward ratio, and coupled with academic and other RL priorities, chose to leave the shell and the game. While I understand and support her decision, it's still a sad thing to play this game that she introduced me to without her.

I believe and still think the LS was the perfect personification of her; silly, retarded, skillful, perverted, fun, logical, ridiculous, amazing, rewarding, and also the glue that held everybody together. Without her presence, and the absence the other pearlsack holders, it was tough to keep things together. It was the LS with the most epic conversations and topics, of which Fignewton remarked on once that "putting on the pearl was more entertaining than watching TV". The topics of linkshell conversations have often been jokingly referred to as the "Chryso Soap Opera", yet what I loved most was that although we kid and tease and make fun of each other, it felt like a really tight knit group full of folk willing to help each other out, make epic parties, chat about random nonsense, and was skilled at what they did. It was an atmosphere of warmth and familiarity and trust and easy companionship combined with highly skilled players.

There's still a couple of ardent loyalists left, mostly myself, Penty, Philonias, Takahashi, Badrach, and Kaelan and Ertix the few times they're online. But no one likes to sit in an empty linkshell, even one that holds as many fond memories as this, and by and large most of the shell members have migrated into an EU linkshell that houses a few of the old EU members of Chrysoberyl, and have managed to find a comfortable home there. TheLost has also become my 2nd home in game, and the shell holder, Bournvillain, is easily one of the nicest and sweetest girls I've ever met. She's been playing the game since its release, yet doesn't shy away from pickup parties or meeting new people, and has only had ONE single person on her blacklist, who was added only very recently -- which, I think that says a lot about her character. I've been playing barely a fifth of the time she has and I have a good 15-20 names on my blacklist, sometimes I feel like the Grinch who stole Christmas around her XD

Bournvillain, or BV for short, also pearlsacks every member of the LS to show that she trusts everyone and wants all LS members to be equal. It's fun because no one abuses it and the Linkshell message is changed daily with fun anecdotes, funny messages or just as a message board between the members.

I still struggle with inventory space, gobbie bag has been upgraded to 45 spaces now and still eternally full. But no matter how hurting for space I am, the white pearl of Chrysoberyl will never ever be tossed, and Toasty the Taru mule will continue to wear the Chrysoberyl pearl while bazaaring an overpriced chrysoberyl jewel.

Making the transition easier are Findanniin and Exaurias, spoony wicked fun folk who used to be in Chrysoberyl but who had migrated to this EU linkshell due to time differences. Their cheer and witty comments of Chryso days have not changed in the slightest and makes me feel like I'm still at "home" in this linkshell. Even Keitarou with his eternal sadface emotes, complaints and utter random nonsense comments provide a reminder of the old days. Badrach has returned from his busy work and school schedule to play more regularly now and Kaelan has now also joined TheLost. The notorious Vagabont even returned to the game after quitting and seeing these familiar names and faces have helped ease the sadness of parting with Chryso.

As with any goodbyes, there must be new hellos to be said. In this time I have also managed to finally obtain a 75 job and somehow, luckily, get into the best dynamis shell on this server, and attending dynamis runs have been taking up most of my time.

Despite my love of playing THF class, it did not end up being my first 75 job, but instead Dancer was. I originally leveled DNC simply for the free sneak/invis a la Spectral Jig, and then out of vanity for the AF, but somewhere along the way it managed to distract me from leveling THF entirely (although the much more expensive gear required and the impossibly slow invites and frustrating time spent with Tanks and first-vokers who didn't know how to SATA also played a part) and through static'ing with Penty's RDM and BRD, managed to finally hit 75 and even snag a few merits.

Dynamis has been very fun and exciting, particularly also because of the many new personalities I was introduced to. In fact, the activity and people by and large are so engaging that it actually motivated me to re-start the comics I've always wanted to draw... but that, and more on dynamis, will come in the next post!

For now, R.I.P. Chrysoberyl, forever my fondest linkshell. Today, I begin a new adventure -- with TheLost.