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SincentiusFrom TheLollipopKids - Wikipedia - FFXI Shiva ServerReal Life Name: Will Currently in Linkshells: TheLollipopKids; SBL, FDR Current Goal(s): To help my linkshells reach higher plateaus and continue the drive that existed in UchihaClan to LPK. Crafting: WW: 73; ALC: 60 Web sites created:
Comments:My FFXI story is pretty damn long and seemingly never ending. I been playing this game since the NA release (PS2 version) since like 2003. Ever since then, I have remained steadfast in developing this character and strengthening the linkshells I am in. But most of my major accomplishments was actually the work I put into helping other Linkshell's grow and flourish. Using my existing and ongoing experience in Web Design and the fine arts, I was responsible for creating and web mastering the sites for: UchihaClan, Deadprezidentz, Zenmetsu, Lollipopkids and the first ever Dynamis scheduling site on Shiva. Before FFXI, I had an already 5 years worth of experience running an online wrestling federation that at one time housed over a hundred players. The experience and skills I developed there helped guide all of the major Linkshells I was in-- where I served as a sackholder. Final Fantasy XI has been a milestone in my life as I have made many friends and grew to become an even better artist. I am always learning from Final Fantasy XI which has been a blessing. I am very gratiful to everyone who has helped develop my character. Without the help from others, Sincentius wouldn't be were it is today.
HistoryEarly YearsWhen I first started to play this game, I had a vague idea with what I wanted to be... I envisioned that I would be a paladin or perhaps a black mage... but red mage stood out amongst the initial starting jobs as something that I really wanted to pursue. As I leveled red mage, during a time when the leveling curve was steep, I realized that this job was perfect for me since it provided a range of healing, magic damage and meleeing. The weirdest thing about RDM was it also mirrored how I am in real life- a jack of all trades. At the same time, I also wanted to extend my e-fed presence on FFXI with my own linkshell called, CreatureFantasy. A website was created and even advertisement was made on my e-fed to promote this. My friends Wolf and DNA joined FFXI and my linkshell at the tender level of 10 lol. The original idea was to hold tournaments in-game via PVP for a championship title belt. However, after realizing that A) the game was not PVP and B) to get anywhere you had to level with a party and takes a long time to reach 75 to do anything- I abandoned the idea and linkshell. When I finally leveled RDM to 70 I hit a brick wall which was the maat fight. It was very tough for me because at that time my gear sucked badly and it's ironic to say this since I do dynamis sleeping, but the issue was I couldn't land sleep on him XD and since I am an elvaan I had MP issues. That was when, after a month of trying for this fight, I decided to bring my 37 WHM up to 66. This was during a time when NA's where barely reaching the 70 range and here I was going for another high level job.
Transition Period/Alone as 70This transition period was a big part of my early career in FFXI because during this time I was with the Shadowminions linkshell with my friend Tarumart and Demonblade (leader of the ls). When I think back on this period in my life, the group of friends I made during this time- it was a pretty cool period. We didn't do events like sea or dynamis but we did a lot of social events and got a lot of rank missions done which was always fun. Also during this time, since I couldn't level RDM, I did a lot of soloing and got to know the game world a whole lot more... I also tackled crafting and many other adventures as I leveled whm. Finally, in the Summer of 2003, I finished WHM to 66 and defeated Maat... it was a big change in my life because I finally can move on but what was hard was a lot of friends I used to know, like Fira or Tarumart, moved on ahead of me and was 75 for awhile. It was a sad period too because the leader of Shadowminions quit the game and the linkshell fell apart. It was clear that I needed to pursue an endgame linkshell if I wanted to continue my adventure. Tarumart was like the only player from Shadowminions which helped find a home- he knew people in CoD and got me into Babylon Linkshell which was CoD's mid-range linkshell... thought it was a nice LS it didn't feel like home and I didn't know many people in it. I did however, try and apply for Nanoface Linkshell with my old friend Aeroform but they wouldn't take me in unless I had /drk leveled.
UC YearsEventually, I finally reached rank 8 Sandoria and needed help to move forward. Someone in Babylon LS hooked me up to Vancroft which was doing the run for rank 9... and so, at level 72 RDM I meet up with Vancroft and did the mission with UchihaClan. Vancroft was impressed and after talking with him, I decided to join UchihaClan that night. When I entered UchihaClan I was amazed at what I saw- an army of ls members which was new to me XD and they were pumped to do anything and everything in this game. I realized that this is a chance to help finally develop a Linkshell that can overcome all obstacles... Vancroft was quickly aware that I had knowledge with running community sites and the ability to create websites... I also told him that we should do Sky runs and eventually dynamis. Vancroft wanted this too- and so, that's what started my career as an endgame sackholder. The first UC site was put up and a message board was erected... after that, we got floods of join applications and the Linkshell reached Sky. And then eventually tackled dynamis with a joint-Linkshell opportunity with GTC- which was ironically ran by my old friend Fira. There were so many events both good and bad that happened within UC days. To sum it up, UC was blessed with an assortment of highly skilled players but unfortunately luck wasn't on our side... primarily, even though we kicked ass in sky... and accomplished so much we were victims to other endgame linkshells monopolizing the HNM scenes. And it was because of this we lost more players than gained. At times, even when it seemed we could move forward-- we were pushed back when players left UC (after using us as a step stone) in order to get themselves into a HNM. Uchihaclan started around when many other 'old school' HNM shells started... like Nanoface, CoD, Heros and even formed long before notorious shells like Zenmetsu came around. But, UC couldn't get out of sky events. About around when UC was helping GTC in a joint-cooperation (this was even when GTC didn't win Windy! or BCD), Vancroft wanted to pull out of GTC because he felt the UC members in GTC were getting shafted and Fira was changing the rules during the event runs.
Climax of UC & SBLI personally did not want to leave dynamis because I felt my calling there... sleeping was fun lol and like every other rdm out there we wanted duelist gear :P. I was even fortunate to get Duelist's Tabard on UC's last run with GTC. So even though our #'s were low and odds were against us, me and others convinced Vancroft that we will follow him out of GTC if we can forge a dynamis shell. At that time the idea was unbelievable and perhaps crazy.... but after a few months after UC left GTC, Vancroft created SBL and our first run was in Dynamis-Jenuo with not even a full alliance... we failed the run miserably but what it did do was open the doors to possibilities and we got to see most of our LS mates all in one place. SBL came on board and sure enough, Fira was pissed that we made our own dynamis shell since most of the talent players was UC members. He even ranted about us on their Hero's board which really showed their true class. This sorta started a cold war for who could be the first NA dynamis shell on Shiva to beat DL... and SBL, even with it's small #s, was catching up. Around the end of 2005, UC in my opinion reached it's climax but it was also a sad time for me since drama caused my e-fed to topside. Real life was rough on a lot of levels because I had to change jobs. There was a period of time, about 6 months, were I played a lot of FFXI and I was compelled to make UC as great as it can be through the website and as much as I could in-game... but no matter how good the site was or how much spirit the core players had... we could not move forward when we lost so many players to HNMLs. Ontop of that, Vancroft was showing signs of losing interest in FFXI, specifically, he wanted to go to school. I remember how Vancroft used to tell me he would pop on game and he'd be bombarded with stupid whining and complaints about other players doing stupid childish things. I had a feeling it was a matter of time before Vancroft would turn in the towel- and I couldn't blame him.
The End of UCThe next year we saw a transformation in the shell with new players and the shell seemed to be headed in a better direction, and at this time I was occupied with getting Sea access. But, most of the veterans, including myself, was sick and tired of doing Sky. Sea and Limbus was the obvious next step for UC and I personally pushed this for the Linkshell but it was hard because only a very few of us had Sea access. My plan to help the shell was to create a new shell called "FullAttackUchiha" in order to spark interest for obtaining sea. It was a good idea-- but just too late in the process because roughly when ToAU came around.. Vancroft announced that UC was no more after a last attempt at a HNM fight: Hydra. It was bitter sweet because UC was one hell of a shell and it accomplished amazing feats but there were many things that I wanted to accomplish which I never got a chance to do in UC. We nearly became the second NA dynamis shell on Shiva to defeat DL (beating GTC to the punch), we were able to pull off HNM victories that stunned bigger numbered shells and above all else: UC did this all with genuine skill and true determination. However, it was frustrating not being able to get our feet out of the grave... specifically Sky. This was also a disorienting time for me because I didn't know where to go - but I realized I was one of the few that could possibly enter any Endgame/HNMLS.
Finding a Sense of PurposeI made a decision to send an application to Call of Destiny because my friends Tarumart and Silverspark where there and it was comforting to know that I won't be totally alone in the Linkshell- however, it was disheartening because this would mean I would have to start all over again- proving myself and also maintaining sackholder abilities. The idea of not being a leader was appealing though, I mean there's actually a lot worrying that you don't have to go through just being a normal player but I was used to participating in some type of leadership. While I was involved with CoD application, Cinikal invited me to chat on Vent in a meeting. In the meeting he pretty much wanted to re-organize UC into Deadprezidentz. He offered the chance for me to continue my work as a webmaster/moderator and still stick with SBL... it was a hard choice especially since I didn't get an ok or not from CoD. So I decided to stay with my friends that were left from UC and continue my webwork. CoD didn't take it too easy and it was hard to tell Tarumart that I had chosen a different route.
DeadPrezidentz: Rise and FallDeadPrezidentz started out with high momentum and some promises were made by Cinikal to push the linkshell into areas that UC didn't go into. We had to start with Sky, which was ok with me because I realized we needed to begin somewhere but as time pressed on not only me but many other linkshell mates realized that the efforts we poured into DP didn't come out the way we all hoped- or promised. Money that was suppose to be used for pop items suddenly vanished which caused a lot of controversies and then we started to lose numbers again- even worse that UC. I couldn't deal with another fallen LS and on top of that Cinikal wasn't on as much as he was suppose too- people like Meddle and Eyezhigh took initiative which seemed a bit odd to me now that I think about it XD but I just couldn't handle it anymore.. Then the straw that broke the camels back was when key players left DP. It was like a domino effect and sure enough, I decided to leave DP and pursue another endgame LS. Leaving DP was a hard gut decision to make because it meant that I was leaving behind a legacy, friends and even my own work. However, I promised Cinikal that I'd continue my work as a webmaster for his Linkshell even though I am gone... he was okay with it but I knew he was disappointed with how his Linkshell was falling a part- which, was mostly the fault of his inner circle of friends and the controversies behind what happened to the money from for the pop items lol;; Then, what finally sealed DP's doom was Meddle ranting me out and blaming me for all of their downfalls- Garyko refused to drop SBL to Meddle (initially Gary was going to give me leadership to SBL but the friends in FAUC convinced him to continue to lead and not to fall for Meddle's tricks). Well one thing about me, if you pick a fight- I fight back with a vengeance. I striped DP of all of my work which included the database for UC's message board. Deadprezidentz soon after was abandoned by most of it's members and fell into obscurity.
The Notorious Zen EraWhat came next made some people not like me but there was reasons why I decided to join the notorious... dum dee dum... Zenmetsu. Vanhelios, the leader of Zen, was an oooolllllddd time UC member and I stayed in contact with him partially through the years- even though we both bumped heads especially with politics >.>. Well I was mostly afraid and even sick of getting into a Linkshell where I'd have to start.... all... over.... again. This meant getting involved in being the webmaster, sackholder and then help the LS grow. I was tired.... but it was Vanhelios who offered me a place in Zen and I took it because even though Zen had a bad reputation, I personally was sick of the disappointments from the Linkshells that bombed and Zen was actually getting their mobs and gears- through hook or by crook and we all know how they did it. I tried the HNMLS scene and it drained the hell out of me. I didn't feel the same way as I did with UC or even DP... even though there were some people in Zen that were actually old time UC members- it was hard to feel like I belonged. I think they really did try and include me into the Linkshell but I was used to having fun and joking around. I was a veteran and past the whole "hardcore attitude bullshit." I also had morals and knew that the way the Linkshell was ran politically was screwed up and not professional fair. Even though I was given "co-webmaster" status, I would bump heads with their so-called webmaster on even the layout or regulation of the message board. In a sense, I couldn't perform to my optimum and I felt I had no place in this Linkshell. But I had to live with my decision, and do the best that I could to make my adventure in FFXI pleasing... but after a series of fucked up jobs in real life- I decided.. enough is enough with the pitfalls of Graphic Design. I decided that I wanted to pursue a teaching career. This decision is what sealed my fate in Zenmetsu as I announced to the linkshell that I was leaving the HNMLS since I had no time to devote all of my dying hours with them. Furthermore, I was still involved in SBL-- which Vanhelios allowed-- and I knew that my time in SBL was going to end... I really didn't want to leave the last place I had with my old friends.
Hope at the End of a Lollipop StickWhen all hope seemed to be lost, I heard that Cauter and Lollirot picked up the torch that Cinikal threw in the trash and re-built UC in the form of TheLollipopKids. I started to help them with Kirin runs and other events- it felt like home again with familiar faces. I decided to join LPK full time and soon after, I rebuilt the UC website and message board to accommodate LPK. It was the best decision I made after UC because for a long time I felt alone and clueless with what I wanted to do in the game.... if it wasn't for LPK I probably would have retired from Final Fantasy XI (hmmm is that a good thing or bad thing? LOL).
Early LPK Years/A Life Changing MomentLPK was similar to DP in it's early stage because we focused mainly on Sky but Lollirot had an interesting philosophy and that was her high expectations for who could enter the shell in the first place. With UC, we were happy with any applicant and the filtering process wasn't as detailed- which aided in the problems we had with disloyal members. However, my time was being sucked up because I had to find a job to prepare for School... I was lucky enough to find a part-time graphic design job before school started. During this time, something really bad happened to me... life changing =/ my father passed away in Summer of 2007 and that following Fall I finally returned to College to pursue my teaching credential for single subject: Art. My father passing away was/is and forever be hard for me because we were extremely close and I lived with my parents for 27 years. Without my father there, life felt like it fell a part and I was extremely worried about how to even continue living. My mom was all alone and I couldn't leave her... its been rough ever since with emotions, money and just surviving. On top of that, tuition was outrageously high and I had to get a student loan... which was something I didn't want to do but I realized that this maybe the one and only chance in life to go further than where you are at... and trust me when I say... Graphic Design jobs suck. For LPK, I asked to be a sackholder and after that I continued my job I had in UC and moderate the board. What was a bit sad is that Cauter and Lollirot don't take too much of my advice like Vancroft did but to be honest, I didn't want to get too much involved in the process because it's difficult to manage many players interests and wants... hell even I had wants XD But, I used the message board as a way to strengthen the linkshell in so many ways: this included dynamis attendance recording, strengthening and display of rules in detail and using the message board as a means of asynchronous communication between it's sackholders and much more. LPK was gaining momentum and with the site and legacy- we received a bombardment of join applications because people on Shiva knew about our reputation and how well we held together despite the short comings. What was also interesting about the approach with LPK was that finally... shit was happening and it was possible to move forward into areas like Sea.
LPK CurrentlyLPK for the past few years has been an extended family for me- and in many ways a better linkshell than UC was. We tackled and succeeded in areas that UC struggled in- including Jormungand fight, sea, salvage, Eisenhowser, Nyle Isle and even the occasional HNM camping. LPK also brought back the fighting spirit of SBL-- and did what UC couldn't do which was defeat Dynamis Lord... not once but many times in a row. Though it's been a great Linkshell, it's also the least involved for me in the gameplay ever since I had to go back to school. This has been tough for me seeing other red mages get the gear I earned years ago and surpass me with less experience than I have. But real life is much more important and I hope to one day go out in a bang if I can return to FFXI like I did before. Regulating player behavior issues, website, rules and dynamis attendance/loting has been a fulltime job for me in LPK. Sometimes I don't think ppl realize how much work is involved in keeping the site in check or keeping dynamis running fair. Everybody makes mistakes and I know I am not perfect but there has been many occasions where I knew a player in LPK was a bad seed and when I brought up evidence and logic - my complaints were ignored. Sure enough- the players in question caused drama and even Lollirot got on their backs. I dunno I have a good amount of experience with forseeing problems before they happen but I can only hope that LPK's leaders care about the shell as much as I do in keeping drama in check. Above all, LPK has been a fun experience and I know I made the right decision with joining. Looking back on my history in this game, it's been a fulfilling and exciting alternative life. The gear and skills you acquire in this game are insignificant to the memories and friendships you forge in this game and I am fortunate to be a part of one of the best linkshells on FFXI!
End of LPK & SBLReally hard to imagine that little over a year from this entry (4/22/10) that LPK/SBL has been disbanded. It came as a sudden shock to us all I suppose- though, I am not entirely that surprised because all things do come to end eventually. I won't say much over what happened with the fall of LPK or my views of the leaders who allowed it to happen uncharacteristically and even abruptly- but LPK was a wonderful shell and a great extension of UC. We cannot blame the ldrs for leaving because you just cannot control or predict real life. As I write this, I am not longer a sackholder nor a web designer/master of any FFXI shell. I know what UC.net looked like during its long journey and I am proud to say that this is still the best site ever made on this server. I hope to finish my MA degree very soon and once that it is over, I hope to rebuild this site for FFXIV support. As my final entry for LPK/SBL... I will say that the ride was fun and very memorable. Thanks to all of the friends who helped develop my character and thanks for your friendships. You will be missed LPK ;____; |
