Live And Let Die

There have always been XP camps I hated; many I could NOT believe. The Tree always fustrated me, not only because you had to sneak past hordes of linking agressive monsters, but that there were magically aggressive elementals around every corner as well. I almost imagined that I had to hold my breath as I ran past all these things, knowing full well that if you were unlucky, you're hiding would fail and you were a gonner. But even worse.. actually xping on a spawn point where elementals popped knowing you could get one shotted at any moment.

Well.. the new areas made the tree less popular, which can be both good and bad. A certain level of activity means that the mobs will not be so thick as to make pulling impossible, but enough to keep everyones XP-Chains going strong. Yet even the new areas have similar problems when it takes nearly a stack of powders/oils to get anywhere. And what the real question is.. what do you do when you do get unlucky..and loose sneak at the wrong time, or pass by that true sight monster deep in enemy territory? I did that last night.. I found myself near... soo many NM I could not believe it, and that was the time when sneak fails. I run to a spot I could think might be easier to raise from, but ended up too close to everything, and had to home point. And of course.. I got lots of complaints about having to wait for me to chocobo back.. A couple others died as well, yet were a bit luckier, even though we had to spend a great deal of time waiting to have a chance to raise them. We even agro'd a mob that saw through invisible and sneak (I'm thinking..maybe smell, but can't be sure) but we were able to beat it soundly. Eventually, we decided to reform and go to a new spot where we managed to earn about 13k xp.

Really.. the death and home pointing annoyed me more than I wanted to admit. I have been working on goals and the loss was a bit painful. But when do you risk everything to raise people or when do you just cut your losses? I remember spending over two hours raising people inside the Aquiducts because we were by a bunch of undead and a true sight mob. But it was expect that I spend the time and do it. Maybe its not so important in the long run. Heaven knows I put my personal "xp" on the line a number of times. I guess there is a line when the ride is getting too important, and makes the loss sting a little. Ah well.. life of a video game junkie I suppose.