I still don't understand why a party - especially a full party - of blms would go to the flans camp for merits. There's almost always at least a solo'er there, and a moderately equipped party of meriters will run out of mobs without anyone else there to begin with.
If you have a full manaburn party, go -ga kill some wamoura princes. It's much better exp once your puller gets the hang of it, and there's rarely competition since there's a couple good camps to do it at, and the solo/small groups don't exp at them.
After fully reading this thread, I was going to post the exact same thing ... but you beat me to it, and I bow to you.
Honestly, I tend to get a little irked any time I approach the flan area and see a full party of black mages there
at all. Staying fully on-topic with this thread, yes ... the BoL interlopers were clearly being lil' bastards, and yes ... Shmedly's party certainly had more of a "claim" to the area. I would submit, however, that there's at least a quarter as much justification for getting angry at a full black mage burn at the camp as there is as for getting angry at an admittedly more ridiculous TP burn. Why?
1) The infamous flan camp, at Mount Zhayolm, is the absolute best solo spot for black mage in the game. A full burn party, on the other hand, can do
just as well (or better) at one of the several wamoura camps ... especially with some form of support. Leave flans to soloers, please.
2) Flans can actually easily support about six+ soloers, while even a party of four or five can ruin it for absolutely anyone else. If you want to cannon with other BLMs, do the sensible and considerate thing, and STICK TO WAMOURA.
3) While a black mage can solo either wamoura or flan (or a myriad of other things, really), there's just about NOTHING that can equal what we can do on our own with those delicious ebony puddings. A black mage burn, however, that can perform as well in several other areas in the zone, is just exhibiting either laziness or ignorance when they insist on sticking to the "solo spot." Honestly, when plopping your arrogant ass down is going to seriously castrate the experience rate of four or five soloers, when you could have easily just gone somewhere else in the same zone for BETTER experience, or at least something "about the same" ... just leave the damn soloers alone, and move YOURSELF. Even if there are no soloers present, a wiser course of action would entail leaving it alone for those that are definitely going to come along LATER. Puddings are excellent for soloers, and decent for parties. Wamoura are decent for parties, and mediocre for soloers.
If you've got six people, please ... just leave the damn spot already.
Of course, this is just my opinion. I'd go so far as to say that an "unwritten rule of courtesy" ... something community-enforced and known server-wide ... would make me very happy. I know this is not going to happen, however, and even my limited personal experience has led me to realize that a good 50% of the black mages at Mount Zhayolm aren't even aware that there are alternatives beyond the "one" flan camp and the "one" wamoura area outside of the gate.
Bearing that in mind, when I arrive and find a full burn party at the puddings, clearly established, I do get irked ... but I respect it, and move on to the far-more irritating wamoura myself. I wish they would have done so themselves, before they even had a chance to force potential soloers to do so ... but they likely intended well, and they were there first. I'm not going to force my point of view down their throats, or start something over it.
When a party comes and plops their asses down on TOP of me, however, and start trying to outpull me to "force" me out ... well, I'm generally too tired to start a fight over it, but I certainly make an effort to remember the names.
Please, guys ... if you're gonna burn, don't even BOTHER with the puddings. Just think of all the drama you could avoid.
