Surprises Waiting in Coffers

At a previous testimony hunt, I managed to win the lot on a Castle Oztroja Coffer Key. Well, for the past 3 days, while waiting for my static party to assemble, I decided to hang out in the upper levels of Castle Oztroja. I basically just ran around continuously, invisible, checking the 9 or so coffer spawn points. (One of the points though, is behind the door that's opened by lighting torches far away, normally requiring a partner or flee. Big thanks to Sykopath and Zatu for showing me that “there is no spoon” and that the door can be opened solo. ;)

Well, I never saw a coffer until a day ago... when it spawned in the middle of the puddle of water where parasites hang out. (Thankfully, they don't aggro me.) Unfortunately, a galka thief was 3-4 steps ahead of me and got to the coffer first. Despite him failing to pick the coffer 3 times, I just made myself visible and patiently stood back. I suppose I could've just rushed up to the coffer and opened it... but that would've been highly rude. I'm quite fond of my karma, thank you. :) Anyway, he successfully opened the coffer eventually, went invisible, and ran off. I just bowed, went invisible myself, and continued my passes.

Early this morning, being bored, I rode a chocobo to the castle for like the 6th time and began my usual coffer-checking run. I was encouraged by the fact that there were only 13 people in the castle, and none of them blatantly thieves. Anyway, my first pass turned up nothing... but on the reverse-route, there it was, Treasure Coffer, on the very first spawn point. I quickly cycled tab and there were no other players around. (I did notice a level 51'ish red mage running around earlier, coffer hunting for AF I'm sure.) So for all intents and purposes, I was the first to see this coffer. I ran up to it, dropped invisible, and then hit my "use Castle Oztroja Coffer Key" macro. (I made one to lessen the chance of losing in a race. ;)

And out popped an Astral Ring!

I said something like “WOOOOT! ASTRAL RING!” in LS chat before warping away unharmed. :)

Anyway, I redid my macros to incorporate my brand new Astral Ring... and I sold one of my Electrum Rings. But now the big dilemma: Astral Rings only provide 5 more MP... and cost 235K more than Electrums. Is it worth it? I think I will decide once and for all after my BCNM60 run this weekend... (i.e. will I still be poor?)