Valkurm? No, this is hell with sand. And subjobs.

At 75, in merit parties, the big, exciting way to form a party is 1 healer + 1 support + 4 DDs. I've been in those parties, and 20k/hr+ is amazing.

Would you believe that this sort of set-up does not work quite as well at level 12? I mean, seriously, what noobs decided that 4xMNK + 1 WHM + 1 RDM was a good idea - particularly when the 2 mages are both Elvaan and have about as much combined MP as you can squeeze out of a Tarutaru's shoe?

Oh. Right.

Well, it can't be that bad, right? They're MNKs, they hit hard and they have Boost - that should keep the mobs off the mages, right? We have what, Cure II?

...sigh.

Someone want to tell me how the taru survived that?

Oh yeah, as Geni tells us all the time, "I'm too cute to die!"

We would have skipped this special hell altogether if it weren't for the fact that we needed to eventually get subjobs. As a party of 6 noobs, we thought it best to go the Crab Apron / Damselfly Worm / Magicked Skull route - we had 4 MNKs, and the thought of trying to take down enough bogies or banshees to get Bloody Robes for everyone was a bone-chilling thought. Next time, I'll tell you more about our adventures in acquiring subjobs and the players helpful and not that we encountered along the way.