Okay, this page is not a "shout out" to all my friends I have met over my time in the game. Instead, it's an acknowledgement to the major people that made my trip through CoP and this guide possible. We forged bonds of friendship and trust through our journey that cannot be broken. And since this guide has made me a minor celebrity on Sylph server, I figure it’s about time I share some of the fame with these remarkable people. If nothing else, at least this guide will give you some insight into how a successful static party runs.
Erecia
Jobs: 75 WHM, 60 PLD
Role in static: archivist and strategy
Erecia (talking in the 3rd person is
funny) is
the writer of this guide. A white mage from day one on FFXI, Ere’s job
has given
him an outsider’s perspective on battle. Even early on Erecia focused
less on
damage and more on battle trends and tactics. Erecia used and abused
his white
mage stealth abilities to get far into enemy territory to explore that
next
horizon and developed an understanding of monster aggro that made him
the
person of choice to send to raise the fallen in enemy territory. That,
or maybe
people don’t like him.
Erecia likes to save screenshots and makes
memories of his
most fun battles and interesting situations and has hundreds of them
saved on
his computer. He enjoys inspiring other people to step away from the
“need to
get this item” mentality and have some FUN with their high level job
that they
took so long to train.
Ere’s role in the static party was to try to sift
through
all the collected data and develop the basics of a strategy that could
work for their party. Erecia and Ebibant would often have long talks
before the missions,
going over things he found online and if they could be useful. The
first to get excited, Ere was also the first one to start to despair
when his plans fell
apart, but everyone pulled through in the end.
Erecia’s strongest battle in the CoP missions was the airship battle, a daunting venture where he could not rest very much at all. Later, in the pot BC, with Brainbender dead and the last pot threatening to destroy the fragile mages, Erecia used Benediction in a suicial move to draw aggro and keep the pots off of Brimah and Dank, who defeated it in time to save Ere’s life.
Erecia has rejoined the linkshell Synergy on the Sylph server. Say that five times fast! Well... okay... it's not that hard. Anyway, between Synergy-based events and other missions, Ere's got a full schedule of things to do on this game. But have no fear! The site shall be updated whenever time is found.
Brimah
Jobs: 75 BLM, 75 MNK
Role in static: firepower!
Brimah is Erecia’s real life best friend and the two rarely are apart in any major battles. Brimah’s main love is black mage, although he is constantly frustrated in how often people call on him to kill enemies for them without even thinking of returning the favor later. As a result he levels monk mostly these days and seems to enjoy the hands-on approach.
The Brimster has tested and read much about his black mage job and doesn’t wear the same gear as other 75 BLMs. He is constantly confused and annoyed why other black mages wear more common items which he considers inferior.
Brimah’s main role in the static was to blow things up real good. Due to his superior equipment his spells did tremendous damage, and indeed many battles turned from “how do we kill these enemies?” to “how do we keep Brimah alive long enough for him to kill these enemies?” Brimah and Brainbender worked out a number of strategies together involving timing and abilities, most of which were very successful.
Brimah still rants and raves about how much damage he did to the Snoll Tzar. He was instrumental in many of our later battles, especially airship and the pots. Black mage is more about just casting damage spells, as Brimah knows full well.
Brimah is also on Synergy with Erecia and Koukla. He spends most of his time in game on Monk or helping Ere on his mad schemes to gather info for this guide. He is also a level 100 leathercrafter.
Ebibant
Role in static: leader
Though our static never officially elected him leader, it was pretty obvious Ebibant held that role. Combining his in-game abilities like Widescan with his reading up online of cutscenes and basic mission tactics, Ebibant clearly came up with most of the information for our group and passed it on to the rest of us to sift through.
Ebibant actually formed the static himself. He joined our party as a 7th member on mission 4-3 to graciously help with firepower, knowledge, and the Sealion’s Crest key he kept from his own, failed static. After the mission successfully ended that night Ebi formed the static from 5 of the 6 people on the mission (the 6th being, of course, himself) and it continued unbroken from there on out. Through thick and thin Ebibant was always there to force us to decide on the next time to meet after a particularly bad run. Always enthusiastic and encouraging, Ebi played a strong role. The fact he could pop off enemies with his ranger’s bow didn’t hurt either.
Ebibant’s most blatant strong point was in Promyvion – Vazhl, where he one-shotted spawning strays while the rest of the party focused on the Memory Receptacles. He also played large roles in the airship and Tenzen battles and guided us through all the dungeons.
These days Ebibant levels black mage as an amusement and continues to merit up his ranger. He has completed his mission to obtain every map in the game. Ebibant is excited by the possibility of our static coming together in the next expansion. Might a new For Glory guide be on the way? Time will tell.
Koukla
Jobs: 75 RDM, 71 NIN
Role in static: support
A long time friend of Brimah and Erecia, meeting Koukla on the static was a pleasant surprise. A competent mage and a cheerful, friendly person, Koukla rarely got much into the tactics discussions, but when she had something to say it was often a critical point that meant the difference between defeat and victory.
Koukla’s flexible role in the static forced her to switch between the different jobs of red mage, a task she handled with finesse. From backup healing when I was in trouble to blasting the enemy when it was weak to kiting a mob for minute after minute while the damage dealers dealt with something else, Koukla was always up to whatever bizarre job we stuck her with.
Kouk’s obvious strong points where kiting the bugbear during the moblin BC and supporting the party effortlessly on the airship.
Kouk is an officer in Synergy linkshell and is known to lead CoP missions for others herself. She has done most of the missions so many times that she can fill her rolls perfectionistly well.
Brainbender
Jobs: 75 PLD
Role in party: aggro control
Brainbender, a long time friend of Dank, is an extremely reliable paladin tank who, despite our deaths and hard times in the static, never got frustrated or mad in game. He is one of the most reliable tanks I’ve ever known and is one of a very small number of people I would always want by my side in a tight spot.
Brain’s role in the static, naturally, was to worry about the party’s defense. His tactics focused less on what to do and more on when to do it in order to control aggro and keep the monster focused on him. In battles with multiple enemies Brain was often asked to handle one of them totally alone without any support while we destroyed the rest. He always managed to pull through.
Brain handled the mammets and weapons of airship brilliantly, especially since most people say how much better a ninja is on those enemies. He often said that he wished he was a ninja in order to serve the static better, but we did go all the way to the end, so I’m not sure how that’s even possible. He played a mostly invisible roll of defense, which was exactly what we needed in many situations.
Brainbender is attempting to start his own sea / limbus / earth god linkshell for end-game players.
Dank
Jobs: 70 SMN
Role in static: support
Dank was clearly the weakest member of the static party, not in skill or equipment but in level. Less than 60 for the vast majority of our early missions, he scrapped up to barely 60 (and often 59 from delevling) for our airship battle. By the end of the static he was level 68, still two levels away from the precious level 70 summoner blood pacts that many consider give the job real value. Despite his leveling frenzy, his inability to contribute as much as the 70+ players was a bit of a frustration for him.
And yet, despite all this, he was not bitter about his role nor was there ever a single word about removing him. Though mostly resigned to backup healing Dank had his brilliant moments too. His abilities truly shined in our 5-3 mithra battle where he worked with Brimah to completely devastate our opponents. Later, on our 15th run on the airship battle, Dank was the last person alive and used Leviathan’s 2-hour Tidal Wave to defeat the rampaging Ultima Weapon, securing us a much needed victory. He and Brimah also finished off the last remaining pot in 8-3 in time to save my life and give us the win there as well.
Dank is the only person I have ever heard of in FFXI history to get access to sea before access to sky. After getting both he said he much prefers sea and soloed enemies there for massive experience. He has recently returned from a break in the game and is helping his friend Brainbender with their new linkshell.
Other Major Contributors
Linsaran
Jobs: 75 BLM, 48 BST
Linsaran is a long time friend of mine, a powerful black mage, talented leader, and an all-around good person. He was in his own static party that completed CoP though I tagged along on some of the dungeon missions to gather additional screenshots and information for this guide.
Lins is mainly included in here because he owns the webspace that is hosting this guide and is paying for it out of his own pocket. Without Lins there wouldn’t BE a For Glory guide. What a guy! So whenever you download those pretty pictures, it’s Lins’s bandwidth you’re chewing up.
Linsaran is a 75 BLM and currently a 48 BST. He is a 55+1 goldsmith as well. He is interested in doing and gathering information on Limbus and also helping his linkshell make the big push to sea.
(back to the main page)