Time is not what it used to be...

I've been back playing for a nearly a month and I've come to a few conclusions.

I've realised I can't set aside any time for regular LS events and anything I do with a group will have to be agreed and arranged in advance!  Sunday evenings is pretty much my only totally free time.

That means no Voidwatch and no Neo-Nyzul (unless I get something booked in for Sunday evenings).  I can't even really do PUGs as they invariable take ages to get started.  My windows of opportunity are very small!

This has forced me to seriously reconsider what I can actually achieve in the game and thus what I actually want out of it.

It seems the best way forward for me is solo and crafting; both of which I really enjoyed but were always a sideline from doing things in groups.  Now gil is not so hard to come by there's plenty of opportunity to enjoy taking a craft to high levels too.

I've also decided to level Beastmaster "Old School".  At least, as old school as you can be with Grounds of Valor to play with.  So far it's going very well but I'll post separately about that.

I'd played BST in the past with some fond memories but once I played PUP it was hard to enjoy BST.  You have so much control over your automaton it's hard to get used to playing with what is, effectively, a dumb animal.  However, Ready has been added since I last played BST and that does make playing with jugs much more fun.  Play style is very different from PUP too.  PUP is all about minutiae and control, BST is much more blunt and while it does require some finesse, generally the "keep throwing pets at it" approach will see you through.  I guess that's why they added Deus Ex Automata, to partially redress the balance, but a fresh jug or newly charmed pet is more than a match for a weakened Automaton.  At least outside Abyssea.

BST is also attractive because, like PUP, your gear is your own business.  My jobs have never had the very best gear but I always felt they were pretty good but since the cap went up I've slowly fallen further behind the curve.  I had wanted to catch up some on all my jobs but since most of jobs only see use in groups and... well, I won't be doing many groups, that would really be gear for the sake of gear, which has always seemed dumb in my book.

The new plan feels good.