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[Alex]

I've somewhat limited experience raiding of course, but it does feel like schedules are a bit more difficult to finesse during the summer, and the tail end of the summer is probably double difficult since you've got people taking vacations and such.

As for Alexander difficulty. I really am torn on it to be honest. On one hand I do kinda want to clear something this difficult for once, but on the other hand the fact that so few people are clearing it after all this time sends up some alarm bells for me. The way this game is constructed, a lot of the side activities that keep people busy center around the eight-man raid. Relic? Well that's overkill unless you're raiding. Crafting? Well you can use the Gil to buy a house, or use it to finance your raiding. Extremes? If you're doing it more than once it's because you want the gear, which again is overkill for everything except raiding. Even Tome farming is largely overkill at this point unless you're raiding. You certainly don't need it for Everreap or Ravana. Etc etc.

If people are giving up on the later half of Alexander Savage, I fear eventually there'll be a drop off in other activities as well. If there's no goal in mind, there isn't going to be a lot of motivation for a lot of people.

The community has always been somewhat iffy at supporting a steady raiding game, in my experiences. As someone who has been playing in this genre since Ultima Online I've never struggled harder to get certain things done as I have here. I had to jump four statics to finish Second Coil in ARR. Nowadays... I just don't bother. I've only finished A1S but I just don't have the drive to go any further. It's not just the community though, the haphazard way in which the content is tuned and presented really does not help.

In my opinion: tune up Alexander 1-2 Normal a smidge, add an Alexander Hard and normalize the difficulty level of Alexander Savage. Stop trying to use a tiny, four boss raid as two levels of content, telling non-casual but non-bleeding edge players to just farm two bosses is somewhat shameful. In general these tiers need to be larger too. I really wish they could just roll the 24-person raid and Primals into a steady part of the tier as opposed to the limited uses they get for such large development they must see.

They have the content but just like ARR the presentation and tuning of it holds the game back, makes it feel awkward. Also, I really wish we could get a cross-realm party finder at this point, I'm not expecting WoW-level of cross realm tech but do it at least for duties. They have the databases, they have the Duty Finder and PvP system rolling off of it, they should totally be working on this.

 

[irfaanator]

Just wanted to say thanks, you gave me some pretty basic advice about monk yesterday but it helped me out a lot. I basically hammered into my head Pb is 5 attacks.

lol np. I wasnt sure if the opening has really changed from before so thats why I didnt say too much and give you a bad opening, but yea you can usually fit 5 attacks in there

 

[WolvenOne]

The community has always been somewhat iffy at supporting a steady raiding game, in my experiences. As someone who has been playing in this genre since Ultima Online I've never struggled harder to get certain things done as I have here. I had to jump four statics to finish Second Coil in ARR. Nowadays... I just don't bother. I've only finished A1S but I just don't have the drive to go any further. It's not just the community though, the haphazard way in which the content is tuned and presented really does not help.

In my opinion: tune up Alexander 1-2 Normal a smidge, add an Alexander Hard and normalize the difficulty level of Alexander Savage. Stop trying to use a tiny, four boss raid as two levels of content, telling non-casual but non-bleeding edge players to just farm two bosses is somewhat shameful. In general these tiers need to be larger too. I really wish they could just roll the 24-person raid and Primals into a steady part of the tier as opposed to the limited uses they get for such large development they must see.

They have the content but just like ARR the presentation and tuning of it holds the game back, makes it feel awkward. Also, I really wish we could get a cross-realm party finder at this point, I'm not expecting WoW-level of cross realm tech but do it at least for duties. They have the databases, they have the Duty Finder and PvP system rolling off of it, they should totally be working on this.

Probably a bit late to be making such dramatic changes to Alexander at this point, but I overall share your assessment. A1S and A2S feel a lot more like natural successors to FCoB, where at A3S feels like such a dramatic step up that you would normally save it for the final encounter. It's rather weird and unintuitive. The only good thing about it is that it slowed down the world first progression groups, but I'm not certain they slid be designing content for them first and foremost.

On a related note, I talk about a third set of 210 gear, and the game probably does need something like that with its current design. That said, the limited number of stats to work wit probably makes this a bit difficult.

 

[docbon]

go full wildstar:

6 bosses

16 minibosses

0 raiders because they all died during the climb, rest in pastaroni.

 

[Omni]

A3N is making me hate ninja's as a healer.

I did that for the first time a few days ago. Was... interesting. Other healer kept dying so I had very low MP for most of the fight. Thank god for SoS and Assize. No one pays attention to anything >.<

Gonna try A4N today I think. Not really looking forward to it... Haha

 

[Wazzy]

Welp, PAX has now made me decide to resub to XIV. That's what happens when they have a fun raid boss fight where you play with a bunch of people.

Did anyone here go to PAX and do the Ravana fight? You got a t-shirt for beating it.

 

[kiryogi]

Welp, PAX has now made me decide to resub to XIV. That's what happens when they have a fun raid boss fight where you play with a bunch of people.

Did anyone here go to PAX and do the Ravana fight? You got a t-shirt for beating it.

I did that and one upped that:

 

[Wazzy]

I did that and one upped that:

D:

Nice!

Well...I got...extra XIV CD case covers!

Okay yeah you win.

 

[Squishy3]

Probably a bit late to be making such dramatic changes to Alexander at this point, but I overall share your assessment. A1S and A2S feel a lot more like natural successors to FCoB, where at A3S feels like such a dramatic step up that you would normally save it for the final encounter. It's rather weird and unintuitive. The only good thing about it is that it slowed down the world first progression groups, but I'm not certain they slid be designing content for them first and foremost.

On a related note, I talk about a third set of 210 gear, and the game probably does need something like that with its current design. That said, the limited number of stats to work wit probably makes this a bit difficult.

they'll probably either make the void ark gear 200 and upgradeable with a weekly quest (or the weekly quest will be the upgrade mats for eso gear)

 

[Frumix]

Wow, people are more done than done with Alexander normal huh. Even on the reset day getting parties is tough. Look forward to your weekly gobcoat quest.

 

[Ken]

Wow, people are more done than done with Alexander normal huh. Even on the reset day getting parties is tough. Look forward to your weekly gobcoat quest.

Speeds seemed ok last week up to reset. Was getting "less than 5m" queues on DPS.

Maybe it's just MGSV.

 

[Kudo]

Pls everyone, vote for entry number 25 for female hairstyles.
Will the number ones only get made into in-game hairstyles? I guess the currently winning one is pretty nice too (though 25 is better), I want that flower.

 

[TastyOreoFriend]

The difference in enmity generation is always so jarring coming off of PLD and back into DRK :x

 

[tiggerkiddo]

Remind me again, what attack dictates where the lasers appear in Alex Savage 1? I kept having to run all over the place trying to get to one to take the add.

 

[Plywood]

Wow, people are more done than done with Alexander normal huh. Even on the reset day getting parties is tough. Look forward to your weekly gobcoat quest.

Queue was fine for me, but the DPS were drunk.

 

[kiryogi]

D:

Nice!

Well...I got...extra XIV CD case covers!








Okay yeah you win.

 

[Ken]

Remind me again, what attack dictates where the lasers appear in Alex Savage 1? I kept having to run all over the place trying to get to one to take the add.

3000 tonnez missile or something like that is when the laser missiles go out. There's a short delay between the cast and lasers appearing, but there's plenty of time to pick, plan and position the adds as you have the whole duration when the bosses have to do emergency deployment, resin bomb, and photon laser.

Hydrothermal Missile, the other missile cast, is the prey mechanic you don't really have to worry about as DPS.

 

[Killthee]

.

 

[Perfo]

Ok! Done with the main story.
Can I ask you guys what's next and in which order (of difficulty) I have to tackle the various dungeons and events? Thanks

 

[Frumix]

Ok! Done with the main story.
Can I ask you guys what's next and in which order (of difficulty) I have to tackle the various dungeons and events? Thanks

Are you 60? Unlock the two levelcapped dungeons (Neverreap, quest in the Sea of Clouds and TFC, quest in the Pillars) and run them for law and esoterics. When you're i170 at least, you can access Alexander (Idyllshire). There's also two extreme Primals (Pillars) but for now they require a premade group.

Level 50 content is mostly optional.

Full list of what you can do is here and here.

 

[SliceSabre]

Was doing Keeper of the Lake on my MCH for leveling purposes and got to the end. DRK just ran right to fight the boss despite the fact it was clear the DRG in our group was new to the dungeon, the achievement for the dungeon showed when we got there and the DRG was clearly this watching the CS. I mentioned it to him but was ignored.

So we labored through the fight down a dps and finished and I felt absolutely bad for the DRG because he missed such an awesome story moment and fight in the game. Screw asshats who still act like that towards new people.

 

[Plywood]

Was doing Keeper of the Lake on my MCH for leveling purposes and got to the end. DRK just ran right to fight the boss despite the fact it was clear the DRG in our group was new to the dungeon, the achievement for the dungeon showed when we got there and the DRG was clearly this watching the CS. I mentioned it to him but was ignored.

So we labored through the fight down a dps and finished and I felt absolutely bad for the DRG because he missed such an awesome story moment and fight in the game. Screw asshats who still act like that towards new people.

Had a similar moment with The Aery yesterday, poor BRD got left behind because the DRK rushed forward. Wasn't sure we'd 3 man it, but we did. Might have to stand behind the line more often.

 

[Omni]

It really frustrates me when people rush off ahead. Especially rambo tanks who decide that they're gonna take on a dungeon boss alone when I'm (see: the healer) not even in the arena yet. Or when everyone is on 1/4 MP or TP. Just makes it worse for everyone.

Almost tempted to make macros telling people to calm down a bit >.<

 

[Retromelon]

 

[aceface]

3000 tonnez missile or something like that is when the laser missiles go out. There's a short delay between the cast and lasers appearing, but there's plenty of time to pick, plan and position the adds as you have the whole duration when the bosses have to do emergency deployment, resin bomb, and photon laser.

Hydrothermal Missile, the other missile cast, is the prey mechanic you don't really have to worry about as DPS.

Yeah lasers going out is always the first thing to happen after a split/jump. Emergency Deployment is when the adds themselves spawn.

With the pattern being the same every time I feel like I could heal A1S in my sleep at this point (as long as I remember to drop cleric heh). Still no clear though just a whole lot of 1%-2% wipes.

 

[iammeiam]

This is pretty much my mental image of Au Ra players anyway.

 

[Augemitbutter]

i had a drk catgirl rushing ahead just now. who needs heals, right.

he/she also learned how to equip str accs, but there was no darkside in sight. wtf man, this community.

 

[Trojita]

Was doing Keeper of the Lake on my MCH for leveling purposes and got to the end. DRK just ran right to fight the boss despite the fact it was clear the DRG in our group was new to the dungeon, the achievement for the dungeon showed when we got there and the DRG was clearly this watching the CS. I mentioned it to him but was ignored.

So we labored through the fight down a dps and finished and I felt absolutely bad for the DRG because he missed such an awesome story moment and fight in the game. Screw asshats who still act like that towards new people.

I probably would have wiped on purpose just to help out the person.

 

[Frumix]

Seven foot?! No Au Ra girls are that tall. Calling shenanigans.

 

[irfaanator]

rip

 

[scy]

Hydrothermal Missile, the other missile cast, is the prey mechanic you don't really have to worry about as DPS.

Sometimes it's nice to know why you're going to die.

This is pretty much my mental image of Au Ra players anyway.

so you're saying I should fantasia my alt

 

[Jayhawk]

so you're saying I should fantasia my alt

Why not your main? Xaela Au Ra have more INT than Highlanders.

 

[Kenai]

.so you're saying I should fantasia my alt

I always knew there was a good reason Au Ra bounce so much when they run.

 

[SliceSabre]

I probably would have wiped on purpose just to help out the person.

Didn't cross my mind till the end of the fight normally I do, but I'm usually the healer then so its easier to ensure a wipe.

Lore question and spoilers:

Spoiler

Do you think King Thordan and the 12 Knights count as one primal summon or 13 individual ones? I've always operated under the impression they are 13 individual primals.

 

[Perfo]

Can anyone suggest me good macros for lvl 60 drg? I have some problem figuring out what to do in regards to this with the last 3 skills you get. Thanks

 

[EndcatOmega]

Can anyone suggest me good macros for lvl 60 drg? I have some problem figuring out what to do in regards to this with the last 3 skills you get. Thanks

'Don't use macros', mostly; if you try and macro Wheeling Thrust/Fang and Claw they'll come out a lot slower. I have them on ctrl Q and ctrl R, with gleikeakrkaskaskasaspaghetti on ctrl+ mouse button; there's almost certainly better layouts but it gets the job done. If you're on controller, I have no bloody clue, ask Bookey Oyama.

 

[Sorian]

Didn't cross my mind till the end of the fight normally I do, but I'm usually the healer then so its easier to ensure a wipe.

Lore question and spoilers:

Spoiler

Do you think King Thordan and the 12 Knights count as one primal summon or 13 individual ones? I've always operated under the impression they are 13 individual primals.

Spoiler

They are drawing from the same power/prayer source so I think of them as one combined primal.

 

[BlitzEngineer]

It's kinda funny. I hear people on the official forums and elseware constantly preaching STR accessories and dps stance for general DF stuff (and rightly so, my limited experience so far shows me Grit really isn't worth it unless you NEED the mitigation). But having leveled DRK to 50 entirely in dungeons I'm constantly being yelled at to turn on Grit.

I'm not losing aggro, not dying, rotating CDs as normal so not taking excessive damage. But multiple times as soon as the healer or one of the dps notices I don't have Grit active they mention it. Then if for whatever reason a mob gets pulled off me, usually because of split dps, and gets a single auto attack off while I grab threat back, immediately these guys are like "Learn your class noob, I'm a PLD/WAR/DRK main and I'm telling you to switch Grit on."

I try to explain that there is no reason to reduce my damage since I'm a) not dying and b) not losing threat for any detrimental amount of time, and certaintly never on a boss. Their first response has always been "Are you a dps?". Like since I'm a tank my dps is irrelevant even though at this level I'm actually doing just as much as most people according to ACT. If I turn on Grit the net result is the run goes slightly slower, and that's it. No reason at all to turn it on unless someone pulls an extra pack or two and I feel I need the mitigation.

Maybe this is an isolated experience, but it's easy to see why new tanks with Fending accs and full-time tank stance when it's not needed might be prevalent. I had one healer refuse to heal unless I turned on "my threat stance". I turned it on and then immediately cycled it off for the rest of the run and he never noticed...

I've also noticed DRKs have sort of a derpy stigma attached, which I can understand. I really like the job so far (Dark Arts makes it much more interesting) but I can see how the flashy angsty plate guy with a big sword probably attracts some not so great players.

 

[WolvenOne]

It's kinda funny. I hear people on the official forums and elseware constantly preaching STR accessories and dps stance for general DF stuff (and rightly so, my limited experience so far shows me Grit really isn't worth it unless you NEED the mitigation). But having leveled DRK to 50 entirely in dungeons I'm constantly being yelled at to turn on Grit.

I'm not losing aggro, not dying, rotating CDs as normal so not taking excessive damage. But multiple times as soon as the healer or one of the dps notices I don't have Grit active they mention it. Then if for whatever reason a mob gets pulled off me, usually because of split dps, and gets a single auto attack off while I grab threat back, immediately these guys are like "Learn your class noob, I'm a PLD/WAR/DRK main and I'm telling you to switch Grit on."

I try to explain that there is no reason to reduce my damage since I'm a) not dying and b) not losing threat for any detrimental amount of time, and certaintly never on a boss. Their first response has always been "Are you a dps?". Like since I'm a tank my dps is irrelevant even though at this level I'm actually doing just as much as most people according to ACT. If I turn on Grit the net result is the run goes slightly slower, and that's it. No reason at all to turn it on unless someone pulls an extra pack or two and I feel I need the mitigation.

Maybe this is an isolated experience, but it's easy to see why new tanks with Fending accs and full-time tank stance when it's not needed might be prevalent. I had one healer refuse to heal unless I turned on "my threat stance". I turned it on and then immediately cycled it off for the rest of the run and he never noticed...

I've also noticed DRKs have sort of a derpy stigma attached, which I can understand. I really like the job so far (Dark Arts makes it much more interesting) but I can see how the flashy angsty plate guy with a big sword probably attracts some not so great players.

Eh, for DF I wouldn't use the DPS stance for most pulls. For bosses maybe, sure, if you've got a half decent cool-down rotation. With big pulls though, you're often taking more damage than you get from the actual bosses, and generally the extra enmity is helpful for big groups anyway.

 

[Retromelon]

Healing in a mid 40s instance i was moaning about how hard it was to keep the tank alive, would be near death in 2/3 hits, and a smarmy, utterly patronizing dps kept playing captain save a whm the whole run trying to give me advice like i was new. Right before the last boss i asked tank if he had shield stance on and the fucking prick said, "i do now". no apologies, of course.
He only died once btw, that is my badge of honor

 

[dramatis]

Healing in a mid 40s instance i was moaning about how hard it was to keep the tank alive, would be near death in 2/3 hits, and a smarmy, utterly patronizing dps kept playing captain save a whm the whole run trying to give me advice like i was new. Right before the last boss i asked tank if he had shield stance on and the fucking prick said, "i do now". no apologies, of course.
He only died once btw, that is my badge of honor

Don't moan about how squishy the tank is. Try to figure out why the tank is squishy, then ask questions.

DPS are derpy. Most of the time they're not obnoxious though.

 

[Retromelon]

I couldnt figure it out because i was playing on a 50 inch tv and couldnt make out what the buffs were

 

[BlitzEngineer]

Eh, for DF I wouldn't use the DPS stance for most pulls. For bosses maybe, sure, if you've got a half decent cool-down rotation. With big pulls though, you're often taking more damage than you get from the actual bosses, and generally the extra enmity is helpful for big groups anyway.

For big groups I usually pull with it than cycle it off once I've got everything established. But maybe I should be using it more for trash in general.

My view is, as long as I'm not dying I should be pushing as much damage as possible to get the packs killed quicker, even if the healer has to hit a few more buttons to compensate. Maybe this is a bad way to think about it in this game. Coming from WoW, healers don't have much to contribute dps wise whereas in this game they seem to be expected to contribute meaningfully. I think my attitude is compounded by the fact that most of the time when I die or come close on trash or in a boss, I usually see the healer has near full MP and isn't using all of their tools. Then again I haven't healed in this game yet (plan to level AST next) so maybe I'm just being inconsiderate.

And of course this is all based on pre-50 content. I'm sure at 60 the game is different.

 

[Omni]

Is there a list of tank buffs or something that I can look at?

Admittedly I know next to nothing about tanking. So when I have a squishy tank that's taking a lot of damage I'm not sure what to look for. I've made it a habit of checking out their gear at the start of dungeons so I know if I'm gonna have my work cut out for me, but beyond that I'm usually left just hoping for the best... haha

 

[Retromelon]

Is there a list of tank buffs or something that I can look at?

Admittedly I know next to nothing about tanking. So when I have a squishy tank that's taking a lot of damage I'm not sure what to look for. I've made it a habit of checking out their gear at the start of dungeons so I know if I'm gonna have my work cut out for me, but beyond that I'm usually left just hoping for the best... haha

If you are struggling to keep them going ask them if they have their tank stance turned on or tell them to use more defensive cooldowns. I have only had tanks like that one or two times so for me it isnt a big issue

 

[WolvenOne]

For big groups I usually pull with it than cycle it off once I've got everything established. But maybe I should be using it more for trash in general.

My view is, as long as I'm not dying I should be pushing as much damage as possible to get the packs killed quicker, even if the healer has to hit a few more buttons to compensate. Maybe this is a bad way to think about it in this game. Coming from WoW, healers don't have much to contribute dps wise whereas in this game they seem to be expected to contribute meaningfully. I think my attitude is compounded by the fact that most of the time when I die or come close on trash or in a boss, I usually see the healer has near full MP and isn't using all of their tools. Then again I haven't healed in this game yet (plan to level AST next) so maybe I'm just being inconsiderate.

And of course this is all based on pre-50 content. I'm sure at 60 the game is different.

Thing is, in DF you really can't trust the healers. Sometimes they're great sometimes they aren't, and I hate finding out they aren't via wiping to trash. So for big pulls I just stay in Tank stance. Sure the mobs might take a little extra time to burn down, but I cannot remember the last time I've wiped to trash in a DF dungeon.

(It's either Brayflox HM, or WoD.)

Wiping to trash burns more of your time than pulling in tank stance. Besides that, good DPS will almost certainly rip hate off you if you're relying on AoE's without the tank stance in place.

 

[Omni]

If you are struggling to keep them going ask them if they have their tank stance turned on or tell them to use more defensive cooldowns. I have only had tanks like that one or two times so for me it isnt a big issue

That's true. I should probably learn how it all works eventually though

Seems to happen on Sohm Al and The Aery a fair bit for some reason. Not so much the higher level dungeons. At least in my experience anyway. Tank will pull a decent group of enemies and after like 15 seconds of solid healing and whatnot he's suddenly losing half his health before I can cast a single cure.

 

[Kagari]

In most DFs I typically see tanks just ask the healers if it's okay for bigger pulls /shrug.

 

[WolvenOne]

In most DFs I typically see tanks just ask the healers if it's okay for bigger pulls /shrug.

I examine the healers equipment to get an idea what their experience level is, my first few initial pulls are merely means to further gauge the healers capability. If they're handling things fine, I pull more, if not I scale back my pulls.

Either way, it's fairly rare for me to jump into DPS stance while I'm in the middle of a mob. Occasionally I'll do it while things are mopping up, but that's more so I pop Equilibrium to recover TP for the next pull.

 

[dramatis]

I couldnt figure it out because i was playing on a 50 inch tv and couldnt make out what the buffs were

Play on SD TV!

I've done it! Party list UI covers 1/3rd of the screen. You'll definitely be able to see buffs.