About Vysala of FFXICooking.com

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About Vysala

Hello, I am Katherine or more so known in Final Fantasy XI as Vysala. I began playing FFXI, shortly after it came out for the PC in the United States, on November 15, 2003. I currently do not have an active account, but I may come back to FFXI again someday. I have a total of four characters: Vysala (cooking & job main), Giskard (alchemist & storage) and two more storage mules.

Before I begin this guide, I would to tell you a little bit about myself so you can understand the kind of player I am and so you know who this is written by. While I have played for a long while, I am in my early 30's and I held down a full time job for the majority of my game time, so I am what some call a "casual player". Vysala will never see Maat’s Cap and I can tell you I am perfectly fine with that, as level grinding multiple jobs is one of my least favorite things to do in this game. I enjoy playing for the fun, the story, the challenges and the friends. I am not playing to compete with others or be the "first" at anything, I play for enjoyment. You will not find me bragging about armor, merit points or skills. To me the importance in a player lays in the person behind the keyboard, not in the numbers beside the name and the equipment they wear.

Vysala started the linkshell KnightsOfSandOria only a few days after beginning her adventure in Vana'diel. While the membership counted at less then ten, it remained an active shell. While those that joined occasionally became involved with other shells, I do not think there was a more fun or closer group of friends than those of KoS.

Vysala has the following job levels: Summoner 75, Beastmaster 66, Red Mage 39, White Mage 37, Puppetmaster 30, Bard 21, Black Mage 18, Dragoon 11 and all other jobs are 10 or below (with all jobs opened). I spent very little time with merits but I did earn a few. My summoner merits are: 2 in avatar physical accuracy, 2 in MP and 1 in Ramuh's Thunderstorm.

Vysala has full AF gear for both Beastmaster and Summoner. I soloed all of the mini-avatar battles when my summoner level was 19 and have soloed all of the avatar primes successfully except Garuda (I should have tried more times; it was bad luck because of her healing that I did not succeed). A friend and I frequently duoed the BCNM 20 "Wings of Fury" and BCNM 30 "Birds of a Feather." Vysala has also successfully soloed and duoed BCNM 20 "Shooting Fish."

I have no dynamis or god equipment because I have not been interested in the drama of end-game adventuring. Vysala does have good equipment however, such as: vermillion cloak, astral earring, serket ring, all of the HQ elemental staves, scorpion harness, penance hat and austere set, astral ring set, forest rope, walahra turban, valkyrie’s mask, morion earring set and much more. I have all of the buyable equipment I want from the AH for my Summoner job (resting and active sets of gear) and my Beastmaster job gear is almost completely up to date for its level with several pieces of equipment waiting for that job when it gets higher. I also have 4 mannequins in my mog house with tons of other furniture between myself and my mules. I am telling you this not to brag, but because I paid for all of these items and pretty much everything I own in the game with my main craft: Cooking. This is to say that Cooking is a wonderful craft, without it I would not have these things.

I tend to find one thing and stick with it. For FFXI, Cooking is that fascination. Since FFXI was my first real MMORPG, I stuck with a subject I understood in real life. On March 16th 2005 on Beastmaster level 51 (see screenshot) at about 2am, I managed to reach level 100 cooking. At the end of the journey it felt exciting, exhausting and relieving. I was thrilled that the leveling portion of this craft was complete and that I could concentrate on other things - including other crafts.

These are Vysala's crafting skill levels: Cooking Veteran 100+3 (hat, apron, furnishing), Alchemy Journeyman 52, Fishing Novice 34, Bonecraft Initiate 28, Woodworking Recruit 17, Goldsmithing Recruit 14 and all else is below 10 (Amateur level). My fishing is low because when I began leveling cooking, the sushi recipes did not exist, and the other fish recipes did not result in a worthwhile profit. I was working to increase my fishing before I left the FFXI, but I did not get very far.

Vysala is a San d’Oria Elvaan currently on Rank 9-2 in San d'Oria, ZM5 in Zilart and only on 1-2 in the Chains of Promathia missions. I have adored the story for Treasures of Aht Urhgan and have nearly completed the missions, having only left off at ToAUM-35 Legacy of the Lost. Aht Urhgan missions are by far my favorite of all of the mission stories so far.

While I enjoy the missions, they are not as fun as some of the quests. I have completed 317 total quests (not including repeats) in FFXI and I have kept a close record of the quests I have yet to complete. My favorite is the San d’Orian quest called "A Timely Visit". I also greatly enjoyed all of the quests that involve the Cardians. I enjoyed collecting maps, and as such Vysala is only missing 13. I also greatly enjoyed Chocobo Raising and Chocobo Digging. I am a soloist and these are the things I usually do in my free time.

As of June 30th, 2007 I no longer have an active account with FFXI. I feel that my long life and career in Vana'diel has finally come to an end. While there are many reasons, my leaving was mostly due to the severe changes in mob behavior resulting ending a beastmaster's ability to level outside of a normal party setup. I used to duo this job, it was by far the job I loved most, and this change ruined the job and our overall enjoyment of the game. I have waited patiently for the changes promised by Square-Enix to make BST become the job it once was. My wait has been in vain as SE has not made any changes along those lines.

Vana'diel will always be a very special place to me, a world I really do love and will always have a place in my heart. This project site is a testimony to that love. Perhaps some day I shall reactivate my account, but for now an extended break is needed.

During my adventures in Vana'diel I met many people and found many helpful resources online. That is why I have decided to give back to the community of Vana'diel - I feel like I need to as a thanks for all they have done for me. This website is the least I can give for the many years of crazy fun and wild adventures. I hope you find it helpful.

Now that you have met me, I would like to be your guide in the culinary arts in the world of Vana’diel.