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[Tiops]

The muffed ear head is really dumb imo

Yeah, I don't like that piece either. But the rest is cool.

 

[VanillaCakeIsBurning]

The numbers I keep seeing mentioned are 600+ DPS for using slaying accessories.

 

[MikeBison]

Also wondering if anyone's ever used one of these chatpad keyboards you attach to the controller: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZWWTSC2/?tag=neogaf0e-20

This looks like the cleanest option, but I have pretty large hands so this might be less than ideal. A wireless keyboard with a trackpad might also be worth considering.

The chat pads are horrible to use. Especially with big hands. Double no.

 

[Nightz]

So I'm interested in trying to free trial and subscribing if I get into the game. What server are most GAFfers on?

 

[Thorgal]

So I'm interested in trying to free trial and subscribing if I get into the game. What server are most GAFfers on?

Ultros server on NA.

 

[Stone Ocean]

The numbers I keep seeing mentioned are 600+ DPS for using slaying accessories.

I've been told its more like 400 but its way too fucking much

Nevermind the stuoid decision to go back to STR only scaling, leaving old accessories open to all jobs was fucking idiotic.

 

[iammeiam]

I still need a decent explanation for why they have a massive hate-on for tank damage to the extent of changing damage calculations over and over to try and force them further into a corner.

What's the end win for the game here? It's not married with a real increase in the active engagement level of tanking, so all they're doing is removing the 'reward' potential for doing well.

I thought the Ex primals were, difficuly wise, a good continuation of what the last boss in the MSQ was. They were extremely easy for anyone who's been farming Ex Primals when they were relevant in 3.x (we seriously accidentally beat both in 2 pulls each, Lakshmi especially feels like she doesn't even try to kill you) but I like that there's a gentle curve between story things and endgame things.

We were able to bring a guy I know to Susano who's a super casual player (mostly solo, never unlocks roulettes, super anxious about raiding etc.) and while his DPS wasn't too hot he managed to do the mechanics, clear just fine, and even got loot on his first kill. If that kind of curve can encourage people to try raiding more I'm all for it, with the caveat that they need to start gradually ramping things up from now on.

I think Susano is a lot closer to the kind of fight I'd like to see them do, but both primals feel undertuned to me even as casual stepping stones. It's considerably more noticable/aggravating with Lakshmi IMO, because she totally breaks the 'do the thing or fail' concept. My Lakshmi issue is largely at i300 I feel like failing to viril should just outright kill you. Doesn't have to derail the run or wipe the group, but it's low-feedback to players who ignore or don't understand the mechanic because so much can be healed through.

Susano is interesting because I'm trying to farm out the infinity totems I need by joining random learning/clear groups and then farming stuff out with them post-clear, and I think it tilts me because the way the lightning stuff works out the guy who keeps zapping the party on the first clear is often still doing so on the sixth. I'm not super concerned about DPS checks on either primal--it's for the best that they're nonexistent given the recent job changes--but I feel like the "you did not X and thus you, personally, fail" component is missing.

 

[Relaxed Muscle]

*People talks about how easy are new Ex primals but I wiped to Susanno normal 3 times with my pug*

Thinkingsmily.png

 

[Luminaire]

I've been told its more like 400 but its way too fucking much

Nevermind the stuoid decision to go back to STR only scaling, leaving old accessories open to all jobs was fucking idiotic.

I wish it were still VIT. With tanks getting punched harder than ever, it feels like I'll be praying the tank busters don't devour them. We'll see how Savage goes before I panic.

 

[ebil]

I just did the level 65 dungeon on my AST. Yeah, healing definitely gets more difficult, but that's more because "I must pull the whole place in my STR gear (yeah, i270 STR accessories is Meta for leveling dungeons now, RIP) in Sword Oath and then proceed to never use Total Eclipse while the DPS literally do no AOE and nothing is dying oh why am I running out of cooldowns" and less because the dungeons are asking more of me as a healer. At least getting some close calls was sort of exciting. I'm looking forward to the level 67 one.

*People talks about how easy are new Ex primals but I wiped to Susanno normal 3 times with my pug*

Thinkingsmily.png

Well, in this case the Extreme Primals almost feel easier than the Normal ones because we're already outgearing them (while the normal verrsions are synced) and by the time we got to 70 we were aware of their mechanics, so no more random wipes to the tanks who never interacted with that Sword Shadow.

Susano is interesting because I'm trying to farm out the infinity totems I need by joining random learning/clear groups and then farming stuff out with them post-clear, and I think it tilts me because the way the lightning stuff works out the guy who keeps zapping the party on the first clear is often still doing so on the sixth. I'm not super concerned about DPS checks on either primal--it's for the best that they're nonexistent given the recent job changes--but I feel like the "you did not X and thus you, personally, fail" component is missing.

I agree that it's not punishing enough that you get any sort of feedback from it. The Vril stuff is shocking (our AST went "nah it's fine, Aspected Helios covers that Bleed just fine" at some point).

 

[Shy Fingers]

Hopped into a Susano Ex clear party last night knowing nothing.

We got it on the third attempt. Really surprised they only added two mechanics and some tank swaps compared to the normal version.

Ah well, onto the other one tonight, then farming both.

 

[Arkeband]

End spoilers:

Spoiler

I dislike how they jobbed both Shinryu, who is basically Secret Bahamut, AND the Garlean they put on the front cover all in one fight. I have literally no idea what they'll introduce for the MSQ going forward. We resolved every current thread outside of Zenos's dad who is off in Timbuktu, content to let "savages" simply take back Empire land.

The game has tons of great worldbuilding and politics, but it's pieced together in such nonsensical ways.

As for post credits scenes, I'm glad Estinien destroyed Nidhogg's eyes, resolving that plot thread, and I'm assuming Elidibus took/copied Zenos's body as a physical vessel - there's no other explanation for "how dare you" I would know of.

 

[spleenpoker]

Your Class evolves into a Job at Lv30.

Previously you would have to level a secondary class to 15 in order to receive your Job stone and progress, but they've removed that now. So Class quests give you your abilities and a story from 1-30 then Job quests are a new story and more abilities from 30-50 and beyond. But yes, they are essentially the same thing.

Think of jobs like your upgraded classes. For example if you are a Lancet, once you hit level 30 you will upgrade to a dragoon.

For the base classes, you'll get a job crystal at level 30. Equipping that will change your class into a job, which has more actions and better stats. The expansion jobs will give it to you on unlock.

Please do not be the level 60 Gladiator. There was some gimmicky stuff you could do as a class in 1.0 and it was slightly understandable to not immediately go unlock the job before Stormblood, but forgetting it is in general a bad idea.

Many thanks for the all the answers everyone

I am noticing that NPC "cutscene" text and quest journal text is very heavily aliased as opposed to HUD text. Is this normal? Can be very distracting. I'm on PC with everything on High btw.

Will see if I can upload a high quality picture.

Edit: Done.

 

[Abstrusity]

Hopped into a Susano Ex clear party last night knowing nothing.

We got it on the third attempt. Really surprised they only added two mechanics and some tank swaps compared to the normal version.

Ah well, onto the other one tonight, then farming both.

Man, I can't even find farm parties that clear it in 3 pulls...

At least I have my Lakshmi accessories now and only have to focus on getting Susano katana. After than I'll probably level DRK to 70.

 

[dramatis]

And just a couple more thoughts on the Stormblood story:

Spoiler

- Why is Lyse the leader of the Resistance? So what if she's the daughter of a prominent former leader and the sister of a deceased prominent member? Yes, Lyse has significantly matured since, but there's no real in-universe reason why Conrad as he lay dying decided to pass the mantle to her, when there's people like Raubahn who are far more seasoned as tacticians on the battlefield and haven't shown the same kind of character flaws as hers that could prove an endemic liability.

I won't say I'm all gung ho about this decision without some reservations, but

Spoiler

The reason Raubahn could not be the new leader is the reason Ilberd turned against them in the first place: Raubahn found a new home in Ul'dah, and he pledged his sword to the Sultana. Ilberd on the other hand never settled for Ul'dah and always yearned for Ala Mhigo and came to resent the inaction of the other city states. Even though Raubahn is onboard now for the fight to reclaim Ala Mhigo, he is there representing Ul'dah, not Ala Mhigo.

If you have played the Pugilist/Monk stories,

Spoiler

during SB I did wonder where those guys are considering that they are from Monkland. Especially since the "Cocobros" of the thaumaturge guild actually do show up to shoot some fireballs. Given that there is such a large new cast and the intended focus on Lyse, my guess is that they can't roll in to take some spotlight since then the leadership position would come into question. But I am curious to see if they will show up in post-SB patch story. After all, Estinien first showed in dragoon story before he became a more central character in HW.

 

[Hasemo]

Also wondering if anyone's ever used one of these chatpad keyboards you attach to the controller: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZWWTSC2/?tag=neogaf0e-20

This looks like the cleanest option, but I have pretty large hands so this might be less than ideal. A wireless keyboard with a trackpad might also be worth considering.

I'm using the "Logitech MK270 Wireless Keyboard and Mouse Combo" and it's alright.

 

[VanillaCakeIsBurning]

I've been told its more like 400 but its way too fucking much

Nevermind the stuoid decision to go back to STR only scaling, leaving old accessories open to all jobs was fucking idiotic.

I hope they never catch on. They made the decision to go back on what they did so let's revel in the chaos.

I still need a decent explanation for why they have a massive hate-on for tank damage to the extent of changing damage calculations over and over to try and force them further into a corner.

What's the end win for the game here? It's not married with a real increase in the active engagement level of tanking, so all they're doing is removing the 'reward' potential for doing well.

Tanks are tanks so they shouldn't do damage.

They should just stay in tank stance and spam enmity combo endlessly oh wait let's give them all these new DPS abilities that require you to leave your tank stance to make use of then complain why tanks try to optimize damage when that's how they designed the game.

I get the sense that Yoship is at odds with how the game is designed at times. Like that one comment he made about being surprised or something at tanks trying to leave tank stance so they can do damage while tanking. I don't understand how they don't have a firm grasp on how tanks play their game and what they enjoy about it.

With the way they are designed in this game, the most enjoyable way to play them is to establish aggro, drop tank stance when possible and go HAM on DPS. This is directly reinforced by the design of the game and the jobs themselves. This is why I refer to them as lesser DPS because you don't get rewards for mitigating damage because the abilities don't do that.

Ok, Blackest Night is probably the closest thing they have to a decent tanking ability. I would probably like it more though if it automatically countered with a Bloodspiller when the shield is broken though. That would be cool. As a whole though actual tank abilities are pretty lackluster in terms of design, there's way too many "take X reduced damage over Y period of time" instead of actual interesting mechanics.

 

[Stone Ocean]

I just did the level 65 dungeon on my AST. Yeah, healing definitely gets more difficult, but that's more because "I must pull the whole place in my STR gear (yeah, i270 STR accessories is Meta for leveling dungeons now, RIP) in Sword Oath and then proceed to never use Total Eclipse while the DPS literally do no AOE and nothing is dying oh why am I running out of cooldowns" and less because the dungeons are asking more of me as a healer. At least getting some close calls was sort of exciting. I'm looking forward to the level 67 one.

Nah the individual groups in that dungeon definitely hit harder. Those birds and stone soldiers near the second boss in particular actually make me use Cure 2 now and then.

 

[iammeiam]

*People talks about how easy are new Ex primals but I wiped to Susanno normal 3 times with my pug*

Thinkingsmily.png

I got normal in Roulette yesterday and proceeded to be sad that EX never does the multi-cloud things. It joins Stasis+Communion+Gravi in the list of neat things normal modes have that the upgraded version does not.

I agree that it's not punishing enough that you get any sort of feedback from it. The Vril stuff is shocking (our AST went "nah it's fine, Aspected Helios covers that Bleed just fine" at some point).

Lakshmi I half think could be "fixed" by a small tuning change. Basically set her so that the failure damage:layer HP ratio that we're getting at i300 is instead the case at 330. No increased DPS check, no new mechanics, just that. Leave the success damage the way it already is.

My current fanfic Susano revamp is that the player targeted for lightning takes additional damage for each person they zap, with hitting the entire rest of the party being RIP.

Ok, Blackest Night is probably the closest thing they have to a decent tanking ability. I would probably like it more though if it automatically countered with a Bloodspiller when the shield is broken though. That would be cool. As a whole though actual tank abilities are pretty lackluster in terms of design, there's way too many "take X reduced damage over Y period of time" instead of actual interesting mechanics.

All I know about TBN is that apparently healer shields take priority, so I can now troll DRK on AST with compulsive overshielding.

 

[Brandon F]

Generally, the thrill of dungeons in MMO's stems from collaboration and teamwork, fulfilling your combat role potential in the group to topple mechanics-heavy foes. Expansive dungeons and padded filler gets in the way of that, especially when repeat visits are the norm. Groups will lack the patience and desire to do anything but make a beeline for the final drops anyway making excess content undesired.

WoW has offered dungeons more similar to your Doom map in its early years, they learned to evolve and change rather quickly into similarly brief linear affairs as well and arguably most don't miss the former.

 

[Einhandr]

Joined a learning/noob friendly Lakshmi party in PF and after getting phase 2 figures out (DPS placing dots on adds when near death, etc.) we wiped three times to her enrage around 13%. Still not quite sure how that happened. Could it be because the party leader didn't set a iLevel requirement? Can you even start the instance if all party members aren't iLevel 300?

 

[Shy Fingers]

Man, I can't even find farm parties that clear it in 3 pulls...

At least I have my Lakshmi accessories now and only have to focus on getting Susano katana. After than I'll probably level DRK to 70.

Sounds like I lucked out then, confidence in farming just took a dramatic blow reading this. I was running it as WAR, so my responsibilities were rather low.

Tanks are tanks so they shouldn't do damage.

They should just stay in tank stance and spam enmity combo endlessly oh wait let's give them all these new DPS abilities that require you to leave your tank stance to make use of then complain why tanks try to optimize damage when that's how they designed the game.

I get the sense that Yoship is at odds with how the game is designed at times. Like that one comment he made about being surprised or something at tanks trying to leave tank stance so they can do damage while tanking. I don't understand how they don't have a firm grasp on how tanks play their game and what they enjoy about it.

With the way they are designed in this game, the most enjoyable way to play them is to establish aggro, drop tank stance when possible and go HAM on DPS. This is directly reinforced by the design of the game and the jobs themselves.

It's been a weird digression of tank options each expansion:

2.x - Right side gear options + Stance Dancing
3.x - Vit right side (maybe a str ring) + Stance Dancing
4.x - Vit right side + Tank stance only

I just want to know the thought process behind taking away options each time.

 

[MechaX]

I know this is last page discussion, but I hope they don't nerf the final trial. There are definitely some things that can catch people off guard, but the fight itself is pretty honest. Very few things are just flat out unrecoverable in the fight as people can die more than once and still be OK.

Cleared it at like 4:00am Saturday morning dead tired, so I definitely made some mistakes. But for the most part, our group showed progress and caught on to the mechanics, clearing after maybe the 5th attempt. And for some mechanics (tornado out of nowhere), take the rez and you'll be fine.

People just need to go in expecting to take some lumps to learn stuff instead of face rolling trials.

 

[Hentailover]

As many people already mentioned, 97 doesn't work for MMOs. heck, people whine when AoE damage gets nerfed cuz it makes them spend 2 minutes longer in the dungeons. In MMO environment nobody wants big dungeons to explore. They want quick things they can speedrun, because MMO nature means they will be grinding them upwards of multiple hundreds of times.

(I had to do around 30 runs of the same dungeon basically in the row, to get i230 gear, to finish HW, trust me, I'd have 0 appreciatation for intricate design by then. )

 

[Brandon F]

Sounds like I lucked out then, confidence in farming just took a dramatic blow reading this. I was running it as WAR, so my responsibilities were rather low.



It's been a weird digression of tank options each expansion:

2.x - Right side gear options + Stance Dancing
3.x - Vit right side (maybe a str ring) + Stance Dancing
4.x - Vit right side + Tank stance only

I just want to know the thought process behind taking away options each time.

Probably because their data shows a majority of tank players don't know what the hell they were supposed to be doing and the worst players needed extra coddling to get them to understand their role? Thus the strong players suffered to ensure the rest play their job correctly? Just a total guess.

 

[iammeiam]

The weird thing about the tank changes is that I don't think they actually do much for the 'low' end of players. Tank AP calculations seem to mostly focus on hammering down the high-end, instead of lifting the low end. If you were a 100% VIT tank in ARR, and are a 100% VIT tank now, nothing has changed much. It's just the people who wanted to push that keep getting blocked.

Also why is Tenacity so bad. Just in general. Why would they make a secondary that seems about as bad as parry.

Joined a learning/noob friendly Lakshmi party in PF and after getting phase 2 figures out (DPS placing dots on adds when near death, etc.) we wiped three times to her enrage around 13%. Still not quite sure how that happened. Could it be because the party leader didn't set a iLevel requirement? Can you even start the instance if all party members aren't iLevel 300?

Full premade groups are exempt from iLevel requirements; the requirements are there to shore up random matchmaking but are always much higher than is actually needed. The guaranteed 290 from job quests should be enough to comfortably kill her, so it's probably just a people not doing enough DPS problem. If you were doing all the Viril stuff properly, and you're confident that you were outputting at least OK damage for your job, just try another group.

 

[Abstrusity]

Sounds like I lucked out then, confidence in farming just took a dramatic blow reading this. I was running it as WAR, so my responsibilities were rather low.

It's just the casters and loldrg mainly. Everyone else seems to be just fine.

People keep wasting milliseconds jumping over the cleave instead of walking across it because it's "fun" or something like that.

Sometimes they don't even bother moving...

 

[ebil]

Nah the individual groups in that dungeon definitely hit harder. Those birds and stone soldiers near the second boss in particular actually make me use Cure 2 now and then.

Oh, they definitely hit harder, as they should! It's just usually not a problem at all with proper DPS because tanks and healer CDs cover everything (seriously, Earthly Star is a God Tier CD). It's when each pull lasts 2 minutes because SAM and BLM insist on doing ST damage on AOE pulls that it gets difficult.

I just got an undergeared DRK who tried doing big pulls there and he still melted with Shadow Wall and Synastry.

edit: also, AST feels much better already after getting my potency back on Malefic.

 

[Shy Fingers]

Probably because their data shows a majority of tank players don't know what the hell they were supposed to be doing and the worst players needed extra coddling to get them to understand their role? Thus the strong players suffered to ensure the rest play their job correctly? Just a total guess.

I agree that was their intent, as Jammejam wrote right below you, it feels like they're trying to fix it, just going about it the wrong way.

Also why is Tenacity so bad. Just in general. Why would they make a secondary that seems about as bad as parry.

Do we have the stat weights on Tenacity already? I have a PLD friend's idea of optimization to crush once they're released. He won't listen until I get numbers though.

People keep wasting milliseconds jumping over the cleave instead of walking across it because it's "fun" or something like that..

I'm a jumper, don't hate me too bad!

 

[R0ckman]

*People talks about how easy are new Ex primals but I wiped to Susanno normal 3 times with my pug*

Thinkingsmily.png

Pug only wiped once because we let the new tank take the giant sword attack and he had trouble activating the mechanic. The second time at this part I then died because the off tank who had apparently done it before, was not taking the electric orbs during the DPS check.

Other than that it was really forgiving, I saw people eating AOES the entire time. The only thing they got down really well was the stacking mechanic.

To me nothing the have done will ever stress me out as much as Titan extreme. I did that with a PUG and beat it. That was absolute hell, bad enough sometimes the game thinks you were in that knock off the pillar AOE when you weren't.

 

[Mister_Ruck]

Joined a learning/noob friendly Lakshmi party in PF and after getting phase 2 figures out (DPS placing dots on adds when near death, etc.) we wiped three times to her enrage around 13%. Still not quite sure how that happened. Could it be because the party leader didn't set a iLevel requirement? Can you even start the instance if all party members aren't iLevel 300?

Could just be too many people dying? Weakness now punishes your DPS incredibly hard by reducing your main stat by 25% and 50%. I cleared it last night with a blind group and we saw enrage twice trying to recover from some super sloppy runs.

 

[Abstrusity]

I'm a jumper, don't hate me too bad!

This is a raid scenario.

 

[studyguy]

Put Susano on farm status last night with my static after trying it with PUGs. I started with 3 PUGs. All but the last one failed completely. Susano isn't hard, but I can see how the mechanics can trip things up. For an EX it feels like Ifrit in how forgiving it is.

That said, the weapons are fucking hideous.

Also Shirk is fucking amazing btw.
You can get some fucking crazy levels of enmity you can never come off of with going 25% thrown on you over and over and over between tanks.

 

[Aeana]

This is a raid scenario.

On the other hand, jumping is the same speed as running, so what's the problem?

 

[HappenstanceUK]

Finally resubbed after ages. I'm only a level 32 Black Mage at the moment though so not into either expansions yet. Need to try and work towards some new gear though. Its been a while since I last played but I don't remember having got any for a while back then either so I think I must be lagging behind there. Anyone got any tips?

 

[SOLDIER]

Finding a decent wireless keyboard for the PS4 is harder than I thought. Been searching all kinds of brands in Amazon, but I really just need the following in a potential keyboard:

1. No dongle required (I've got all the USB slots used on my PS4)

2. Rechargeable through micro USB (not an absolute requirement, but I prefer not having to replace the battery)

I don't need it to come with a mouse (trackpad would be okay, assuming it works on PS4), just something under $20 and reliable.

 

[Abstrusity]

On the other hand, jumping is the same speed as running, so what's the problem?

Delays in processing your position because of latency issues means you might have landed on your screen but the server thinks you're still in the middle or on the opposite bank. I know for sure t hat it used to work like that, and I've seen very little to say otherwise. I'd rather focus be directed on being on the opposite side rather than any flair in it!

And I only say this because of the number of times we've wiped because of multiple failures on that mechanic.

 

[EndcatOmega]

Just Elusive Jump/Yaten over the line and Spineshatter/Gyoten back: it's Kenki/CD inefficient probably but who care if you're styling. RDMs can do that thing where they constantly repel off edges like 2.0 BRDs I guess.

 

[zelhawks37]

I just got the complete edition last week and am loving this game so far. I just got through The first three dungeons and they were a good way to introduce that mechanic of the game, especially since Im not too familiar with MMOs. Cant wait to get into the meaty part of this!

 

[Aeana]

Delays in processing your position because of latency issues means you might have landed on your screen but the server thinks you're still in the middle or on the opposite bank. I know for sure t hat it used to work like that, and I've seen very little to say otherwise. I'd rather focus be directed on being on the opposite side rather than any flair in it!

And I only say this because of the number of times we've wiped because of multiple failures on that mechanic.

Long, long ago, Titan HM taught me to use an instant cast ability whenever I want the server to update my position immediately. So I've done that ever since.

I've yet to beat Susano EX, specifically because people I do it with still fail at the very mechanic in question. However, it's always because they don't even make it over there to begin with.

 

[xintin]

Finished the MSQ last night and feel really hooked into the game again, especially after struggling interest-wise in the last few patches of HW.

The slight mixups to the standard dungeons and the changes in the battle system really freshened things up, and it definitely felt like the strongest the story has been so far.

Now to try to keep up with end-game progression, for once

 

[AkumaNiko]

So Am I as a SAM supposed to wear VIT acc when soloing and STR acc when in a party? Im soft and cant handle two mobs of the same level at lvl 67 ilvl 279 w/o using second wind and a HQ pot and still almost dying to some mobs

 

[Hentailover]

Weird thoughts about auto attack. So, the way it works is that, as long as you are in range, it will attack enemies over regular intervals. But since the combat is about constant use of skills in rotation, the animaton for the auto attack is always cannibalized by your actual actions. So, as a result, if you just look at it at the face value, it looks like enemies are just taking damage from being in your proximity... now, you can look at it like your mighty aura hurting enemies... but it's also entire possible that... well, let's just say, adventuring is a hard job and you don't often get a chance to take showers...

 

[kromeo]

So Am I as a SAM supposed to wear VIT acc when soloing and STR acc when in a party? Im soft and cant handle two mobs of the same level at lvl 67 ilvl 279 w/o using second wind and a HQ pot and still almost dying to some mobs

No, there's so little fighting outside of instances in this game it would be pointless. I think accessories over lv 60 are restricted by roles anyway

 

[Shy Fingers]

Long, long ago, Titan HM taught me to use an instant cast ability whenever I want the server to update my position immediately. So I've done that ever since.

Woah woah woah, that's a thing!? Or is it more of a "hold up and B to catch pokemon better" kind of thing?

 

[Metal Khaos]

I just got the complete edition last week and am loving this game so far. I just got through The first three dungeons and they were a good way to introduce that mechanic of the game, especially since Im not too familiar with MMOs. Cant wait to get into the meaty part of this!

Well you're certainly in for a treat as they tend to continue to get better throughout HW and SB.

 

[empressdonna]

I find that starting combat with Foe' Requiem in general is something to get accustomed to(just beware as it can possibly aggro other enemies nearby if you are mostly focusing on one). The cast timer is why it makes for a good opener and it's free bonus damage while active!

Otherwise, standard rotation. (1) Maintain your two dots. (2) Change Bard songs every 30s(and re-up Foe's requiem!)

The rest shouldn't require much explanation. Lots of Heavy Shot and Bloodletter/Sidewinder/etc... when available. Not too complicated once you get the rhythm. It can feel overwhelming initially but its really not.

Alongside this, you do want to kind of nudge your song order around in dungeons. Ballad is stupid AOE damage, and you want it up and active on trash packs as much as possible. The general idea is set up DoTs on a bunch of things at once and watch Bloodletter/Rain of Death spin constantly as it keeps proccing as soon as you can use it. It only gets dumber after you get the upgraded/longer lasting DoTs since 30 second duration means everything will be dead before you need to refresh. My big "this is ridiculous" moment was the big trash pull at the very start of the level 67 dungeon, where Ballad/DoTs/RoD spam /Eventual quick nock because procs were already constant peaked at like 9k dps.

Minuet is better single-target, because Perfect Pitch is a solid single-target attack but it does nothing for your AOE. I think (?) it's the current preferred Bard song on pull in single-target fights.

Paeon I'm not a big fan of, but if you build 4 stacks in Paeon and then switch songs, the recast time on the new song drops from 80 seconds to 67 seconds, meaning you can start it up again much sooner. Otherwise it's kind of boring filler in the rotation. Due to the cool down you'll use them all in AOE and single-target situations, it's just if you hit a point where you have multiple songs up what you're doing can influence which you'll pick.

If you're in a situation where MP isn't a concern, you can use Refresh to help increase the amount of Foe Req you can play. It eats MP at an insane rate, so it's not a huge gain, but anything > nothing.

In addition to Foe Req, you're generally going to want to use Battle Voice early in the pull to give the rest of your party a buff to Direct Hit. You have to have a song up, though.

OH. One major change that doesn't get highlighted enough: They got rid of Quelling Strikes, but Tactician and Refresh both act like Shroud of Saints and halve your enmity. Given the insane amount of damage and hate Bard can pump out really quickly on AOE, it's a good idea to keep an eye on threat and pop Tactician or Refresh if you need to get a thing to stop hitting you back.

Thanks for these ^^

 

[Stuart444]

So I read on reddit that in Susano Ex has an issue/bug for people with higher latency. Namely the clouds are supposed to target you where you are after the knockback but if you have higher latency, it targets you where you are before the knockback occurs.

Anyone experienced this?

 

[iammeiam]

l
Do we have the stat weights on Tenacity already? I have a PLD friend's idea of optimization to crush once they're released. He won't listen until I get numbers though.

The number I've heard is 1,000 points of secondary for a 1% difference for Tenacity. All I can say for sure is healing a tank who went all-in on Tenacity melds is completely indistinguishable from the same tank in the same content in Direct Hit melds. I'm sure an actual tank will be able to link better info, but it's so bad we had an entire conversation of "what if they just renamed Parry and forgot to also update the actual calculations so it's literally still parry?"

Also Shirk is fucking amazing btw.
You can get some fucking crazy levels of enmity you can never come off of with going 25% thrown on you over and over and over between tanks.

Shirk is approaching evil genius tier for me because it's an amazing enmity tool for tank swaps that will be basically useless in a solo tank scenario.

Delays in processing your position because of latency issues means you might have landed on your screen but the server thinks you're still in the middle or on the opposite bank. I know for sure t hat it used to work like that, and I've seen very little to say otherwise. I'd rather focus be directed on being on the opposite side rather than any flair in it!

And I only say this because of the number of times we've wiped because of multiple failures on that mechanic.

I'm a dedicated jumper, but given that you have forever to react if jumping vs running is making any difference the person is moving way too late.

 

[studyguy]

Weird thoughts about auto attack. So, the way it works is that, as long as you are in range, it will attack enemies over regular intervals. But since the combat is about constant use of skills in rotation, the animaton for the auto attack is always cannibalized by your actual actions. So, as a result, if you just look at it at the face value, it looks like enemies are just taking damage from being in your proximity... now, you can look at it like your mighty aura hurting enemies... but it's also entire possible that... well, let's just say, adventuring is a hard job and you don't often get a chance to take showers...

AA has changed so much though.
1.0 was NO AA
2.0 OKAY AA BUT ONLY FACING
Now it's OKAY AA ALL THE TIME SO LONG AS CLOSE

Shirk is approaching evil genius tier for me because it's an amazing enmity tool for tank swaps that will be basically useless in a solo tank scenario.

It's so fucking good, don't even need to target
just

/ac "shirk" <2>

And boom. Instant swap 100% of the time, don't even need to pause anything or stop mid combo.