(for video refernce to the fight below, you can find it at http://www.youtube.com/users/dartvalince)

So I decided this weekend that I really want to level beastmaster up some.  I've been enjoying the job alot so far, expecially now that i've learned how to semi-use it.  I hit level 10 and was out farming for silk in East Sarutabaruta (around the Spiny Spipi area) when i got a party invite for the dunes.  Now I'm usually one to jump all of a pt invite, but this time I thanked the person and declined.  I didn't feel i was adequte enough in my job yet to help wipe a party out b/c i suck at it. 

So this is when I decided to give myself a little test.  One that would help me prove to myself that I could survive this job.  I decided that I would pop Spiny Spipi and fight him solo as level 10 Beastmaster.  Didn't take long, only about 30 minutes or so.  The whole time i was waiting for him to come, I was building a strategy up in my head.  There were 4 things i kept telling myself

#1 Get bees to fight him.  Reason being is becuase they have a natural advantage over crawlers, something I've learned from testing things out

#2 Do not engage unless I have to.  This is so all the hate can be drawn onto my pet

#3 Survive

#4 Get bees to fight him :D

So there he was, and there I was.  Standing face to face.  With outstreched arms, I told my charmed bee to attack and the battle was underway.  We were just inside the bend of the river there where he pops.  I ran out into the open trying to find another bee before mine died, and luckly I did.  I set my target on him to get the macro ready for when  my current bee died.  One bee down, and BAM another bee charmed.  I saw Spiny coming in over the horizon, so i sent my new bee after him.  I continuted this process for about 5 mins.  In the end, I walked away from this and Spiny didn't, though I didn't walk away with a cape :|

Since then, I've leveled beastmaster up to 14, and plan on taking it to atleast 30 for the time being. 

So I finally had time to sit down with the beastmaster job and try it out last night.  So far it's one heck of a "love/hate relationship".  Let me explain!!

Love
I find it amazing that I can charm a tough and use it to fight other toughs for me.  What a great way of getting Xp.  Also knowing the Beast Strenght Chart really helps, but not only that, trying out different mobs on mobs helps as well.  For instance, charming a Giant Bee in East Sarutabaruta was ftw last night.  I took out crawler after crawler after gob after crawler  I learned very quickly though to keep my target on the bee at all times in case he became uncharmed.  This allowed me a quick macro charm to keep him on my side. 

It's also very thrilling to use beastmaster.  It's not worth it really to charm anything that's a decent or below, because lets face it, I want to fight toughs and they just aien't tough enough.  Its so heart pounding to tell your crawler to attack another crawler, then in the process lose the charm, try to recharm and it fail.  This results in both crawlers linking together to attack you.  As I was running, I waited for the cool down time of charm and BAM!!! recharmed my crawler.  Survived so many times last night by the just a little bit.

Hate
There is only two things I hate about this job.  One is the xp is kinda slow.  Its to be expected though.   This is one of the "solo" jobs, so I didn't expect it to be a sinch getting from 1 to 75.  But seriously even with the new updates on EP and DC mob Xp, it still took me like 4 hours to go from lvl 1 to lvl 9 last night.

The other thing I hate is the dying, which correlates back to the first thing I hate.  I died more times last night than I've ever died in this game...period.  It's ridiculous how much I died.

 

So all in all, I give Beastmaster a 8/10 rating for a job based on first impression.  This may change down the road, but we'll see.  So far it's looking for the better :D

<(-.-)> Dart

So I didn't have much to do yesterday afternoon and had time to kill, so I decided to take a quick trip to Jeuno. I don't know why I say quick though, it never is.  Takes 10 mins from even Teleport-Holla or Teleport-Mea to get there on Chocobo.  Oh well.

Got to Jeuno and was unsure what to do.  I was going to just walk around, say hello to people, but then I remembered.  There was this NPC that I had talked to and wanted me to do something, but I can't remember what he wanted me to do.   I decided to go pay him a visit and see if he mentions it, then maybe I could complete it.  As soon as I got to his house, a cutscene started.

He was telling me that his son was sick and that he knew of a root of a certain flower that could heal his son.  He couldn't go get it because he had to stay by his son's side, so instead he asked me to go get it.  I happily obliged the quest.  He informed me it was in Qufim.  At this point, I was pretty sure I knew where to go.

Once i got to Qufim Island, I immediatly ran to the area I thought i was supposed to go and I was correct.  The only problem was this.  It was a narrow path going down the cliff side.  The path had a Goblin Butcher running up and down it.  Also this flower only blooms at night time, so I had to go between 22:00 and 5:00 (game time) which means there were banshee's.  Goblins aggro by sight and Banshee's agro by blood.  I casted Invisible on myself so the gobs couldn't see me, and also Sneak, just incase i need to not be heard.

As I ran down the cliff side, low and behold, there it was.  THE KRAKEN.  I checked him and he gauged as Increadably Tough, which means he no likey me and I no likey him.  I had Sneak and invisible on so he couldnt' hear or see me so I was in the clear.  The only problem was, he was guarding the flowers I needed so desperatly.  I did a quick one on him, and deactivated Invisible (b/c you can't be invisible and click the flowers :p), tabbed the cursor over to the flowers really quick, and got theh cutscean before he could kill me.

During the cutscene, the guy who sent me on the quest came up and said he was following me.  He said that these were the flowers he needed and then a chocobo came up and helped out.  Now this is the same chocobo that this guy (in a previous cutscene a WHILE back) had badly mistreated.  The man was releived that the chocobo was so sincere to help even after all that

He got the flowers and headed back home.  I as well headed to his house.  When i got there, his son answered the door only to tell me his father wasn't home.  Instead the father had left a gift for the son to give me.  2100g and a Beast Whistle :D. 

After this, I preceeded to the Chocobo Stables in Upper Jeuno.  I always forget that to get a Chocobo here, i have to enter the stables.  Instead I always accidentaly talk to Brutos.  Only this time when I spoke to him, another cutscene happened.

The first guy appeared and started talking to Brutos and I and the Chocobo.  He expressed his thanks to the chocobo and said a few nice remarks about me.  After he left, Brutos informed me that I would make a fine Beastmaster

dun duh dunnnnnnnnn
I have now unlocked Beastmaster job class

who knew...i didn't thats for sure