Melkire

It is NOT shit! /rant As a healer, I want to just not heal any tank who doesn't understand that Flash is an important part of crowd control. Let me rephrase that, now that I have time and don't have my boss breathing down my neck. Flash, when regarded solely as an enmity generation tool and irrespectively of its mitigation uses, will always be inferior to damage-dealing AoE weaponskills with enmity multipliers such as Overpower and Circle of Scorn. This has to do with how Flash's enmity is calculated. Back before an enmity multiplier was added to it, Flash generated significantly less enmity than Steel Cyclone, Unchained Overpower, Overpower, and combo'd Butcher's Block / Rage of Halone. I can't say where it sits now (nor do I know where CoS was or is sitting), since I haven't done any testing myself nor can I find anyone who's done so in the past 11 months. That multiplier has now put Flash on par, or very nearly so as to be nigh indistinguishable, with Overpower. The difference today, as it was then, is that Flash generates a set potency's worth of enmity. There is no variance. It cannot crit, and (AFAIK) is rarely if ever affected by most forms of damage amplification. Contrast with Circle of Scorn, Overpower, Steel Cyclone, etc. There's a reason that WARs are (or were, not sure what the raid scene has to say on it today) preferred for OT adds duty (outside of T5 and possibly T9, where they're taken as MT for IB), and that has largely to due with the fact that a Paladin's skill/cooldown suite isn't as well suited to AoE enmity generation, largely owing to Flash's shortcomings and the 25s CD on Circle of Scorn (it also has to do with WARs making use of both TP and MP as resources for AoE enmity). ALL OF THAT SAID, Flash is still a useful tool for PLDs and WARs alike (perhaps moreso for PLDs due to the Blind from their Enhanced Flash trait), and any tank who isn't making use of it when the situation calls for it is severely gimping themselves. Besides. It's still the only way to generate enmity on sleeping targets without waking them up, and it's still the primary AoE enmity generation tool for PLD.

LONG LIVE BIOHAZARD

I've said it before and I've said it again: tanking coil and other endgame content such as EX primals will never, ever, ever prepare anyone to tank high-level 4-man instances. This is because Coil is a raid environment that usually revolves around a boss fight. Mechanics must be followed, or else you will wipe. Therefore the tanks, damage dealers, and healers all do their jobs properly, follow instructions, perform as optimally as they can, etc. Since the other roles need a damage soak in Coil, they will work and coordinate with the tank to minimize any possibility of pulling the boss off the tank (which is difficult to do anyway, since the main tank is at liberty most of the time to focus and build enmity on a single target). So tanking Coil becomes less a matter of enmity management and more a matter of "Can I follow mechanics? Okay, good, now to mitigate damage as optimally as I can". None of the above is the case in a high-level 4-man dungeon. There are minimal mechanics, especially on trash between bosses, and therefore minimal risk of wiping. This relatively low risk environment usually means that damage dealers and healers are at liberty to pull ahead of the tank and fool around as much as they like. Tanks in these instances therefore have to learn to strongarm the situation and force their will upon encounters (this is part of why I laugh at the idea of marking; if a damage dealer wants to do his own thing, he's going to do his own thing, the marks aren't going to stop him). Suddenly, the game has very little to do with damage mitigation and everything to do with enmity management. That is a VERY different game from Coil. Some tips for tanks: 1. Always, always, ALWAYS pull the next group of trash ahead of your party members. If there's a pull-happy party member, you'll have to oblige them with a speedrun or else bow out of tanking (since they'll be tanking for you). Stuff your ego, step out of your comfort zone and get the job done. That, or abandon. 2. AoE DPS w/ boosted enmity is king. That means Overpower and Circle of Scorn. Enmity combos are bread-and-butter. 3. Provoke will not save you unless you are in a position to deal damage w/ boosted enmity faster than the damage dealer(s) and/or healer can DPS/heal. Majority of the time, Shield Lob/Tomahawk follow-up will make no difference. Instead, prep a combo'd BB/RoH and follow up Provoke with it. 4. Flash is shit. Less shitty than it used to be, but shit is still shit.

Thread's been pruned. Took me a while to get to it, since I'm doing this from work.

Disclaimer: below are my personal views, and do not represent any official RPC stance or position on the matter. Let's just put it out there instead of dancing around the issue: people reacted negatively (and are still reacting negatively) because of fears of sexual and/or emotional predation. Personally, I am aware of at least one recent incident within this community that involved male-to-female abuse, and would not be surprised that that incident is what had everyone on edge earlier today. That said, I'm very, very disappointed that members of this community would, as someone else so colorfully put it before I did, preemptively reach for the torches and pitchforks with regards to a simple request made by a completely different member of the community who, as far as I'm aware, is unassociated with the aforementioned incident, or any incident, for that matter. I am especially disappointed because, in this case, clarifications had already been made. Mob mentality. "Guilty until proven innocent". Yech.

[moderator hardhat] Thread has been split off to facilitate discussion. Keep it civil. No personal attacks. [/moderator hardhat]

Osric snorted. "Auditions," he spat. The sergeant left the ramshackle tavern to Nero and made his way out into the rain. He sighed as he paused to readjust his soon-to-be-soaked-through bandana, then tapped at the pearl in his left ear as he resumed the long walk back to Aleport. "Hilkan, this is Shadow. Reporting in." They spoke over the company linkshell for a good bell or so, blissfully unaware that events beyond their control would soon scatter their plans to the winds. Two moons would pass before anyone in Thanalan heard from Osric Melkire again.

Commander Swift cleared his throat again, his eyes boring into his subordinate’s, one hand idly spreading the orders out across his desk, the same orders which he’d read countless times over the past few suns. “Word’s been going around. Command will be poaching the roster for a new unit.” Sergeant Melkire stared, dumbfounded. He started to rise, but one of Lieutenant Peak’s enormous hands came down on his right shoulder and held him to his seat. “…I don’t understand.” “This isn’t the first time something of this nature has occurred. Assurances were made to the Hall that this wouldn’t happen again, and yet it did. Six moons' operation and yet the impact here at home and elsewhere has been… lackluster. These facts, coupled with the aforementioned complaints regarding organization and accusations made against the leadership… well… as I said before. Poaching.” “Ser… I was one o’ the folks makin’ said complaints, but that doesn’t mean I want--" “What you or the others want is immaterial. This is happening. You all spoke up. Now you all get to live with the consequences. Internal division and strife, in a unit afforded that degree of independence and freedom of movement? It won’t do. So those of you harboring suspicion, resentment, grievances… you’re out.” The sergeant blinked a few times, then took a deep breath. “So what now?” Swift lifted a thick folder, hefted it a few times, and then tossed it down onto the far end of his desk, the end closest to the sergeant. Melkire leaned forward, shrugging off the Roegadyn’s grip as he did so, and picked up the hefty bundle of papers. He sat back, flipped the folder open, and began perusing the contents. Contents which included dossiers. Personnel files. “The Dauntless,” intoned the commander.

LNC/DRG is this weird case where you don't get the skills that make the class flow until you reach the 40s in level. It's similar in that regard to how PLD doesn't get its tank stance until 40, compared to WAR at 30. You won't really feel that DRG has come into its own until you have access to Disembowel, and even then you'll lack the Chaos Thrust combo until level 50. Monk and Ninja are the jigsaw puzzles with which the Square-Enix child has chosen to start with one corner and progress from there. Each piece adds to and builds upon what came before, leading to a single, clear, cohesive picture from the get-go. Dragoon is the jigsaw puzzle with which the Square-Enix child has chosen to put together many disparate pieces, resulting in multiple smaller sections of the puzzle that don't fit together yet. They won't mesh and you won't get that single, clear, cohesive picture until you're almost done with the jigsaw. Even then, it's dreadfully boring, imo, since optimal play requires a long rotation from which any deviation will result in massive DPS loss. MNK and NIN are a little more flexible in this regard, since both of those feature alternative weaponskill paths in their combos.

Oi, oi, to be fair, this is a curse of the modern FPS genre. As a fanatic of the old-school and arena shooters, I can testify to the fact that many a game that does not adhere to CoD's health-regen model are at least somewhat less fantastical, what with medkits and other various health pickups that amounted to bandages and adrenaline and what-not.

"Look, it was in my hand, and he wouldn't close with me, and I needed to close with him, but he has the longer reach and he's heavier, so I thought, why not pink him as a distraction, so I threw my knife!" As for actual throwing knives... yeah. Boring, but practical. As a side-note, thanks for being civil, folks, and not letting things get too heated. ^^

Predecessor to SERVICE. I forget the exact words.

Plots already set in motion can proceed freely. Meetings and/or opportunities to advance will be announced either in-thread or by mass PM, yes. Adding the new folks. :love: Good news: I should be back in game soon. Should anyone need to roleplay with Thekla before then, please PM me and we can work something out over Skype.

You have to factor in Eorzean (Lominsan) manufacture versus Garlean manufacture. Then you have to factor in how gunblades are supposedly inherently superior courtesy of association with the big bads. Then you have to factor in magic aether, which throws everything out of whack. tl;dr: I think the comic book rule of superhero competency applies here. Guns are as effective as they need to be.

And mods, apparently. From California With Love. :love: If anyone ever needs a title change for a thread with extenuating circumstances like this one, please point them my way.

Okay, I laughed. Well played. :lol: Thanks for the warm reception. :love:

https://db.tt/xT50cyla https://db.tt/F7ynVc4s https://db.tt/JsFAsqpn https://db.tt/RBNLIkgB https://db.tt/maGtVfDp https://db.tt/m7x9mh9c https://db.tt/Ne8EwP5T I'm rather apprehensive about opening this up all the way tonight. I'll go looking for the manual online in the morning and pop it open all the way tomorrow.

Know a few roleplayers who've gone with this character concept (have an alt myself that falls under that concept, as well). It's doable. If you want to adhere closely to the lore on each Art that we DO have, you'll have to work out a character history (Ossuary and Stillgade Fen work best for "where did they learn this" if you don't have a PC mentor). But yes, there's no lore or established canonical instance of a mage who dabbles in both.

Actually got my clear for Garuda EX on Gilgamesh using the JP Triangle method. Someone in the FC said "why don't we do it this way?" and everyone else was "ALRIGHT LET'S GO". Jeepers creepers, Batman, is it ever easier on the tanks to have a melee pick up Chirada. That way MT only has to hold Garuda, OT can have Suparna from the get-go and not have to worry about how the fuck they're going to peel her off the MT due to saving 'voke for Spiny, and then NO ONE HAS TO DEAL WITH DOUBLE WICKED WHEEL OH THANK GOD.

True melee... but of course! I'm the guy that runs circles around the very center of the Angra Mainyu arena while Roulette is spinning, all while still wailing on the boss, because I don't trust people to kill the last hourglass at the right time. :evil: My experience has been that healers and ranged sit on the first platform in the row, and when Demon Eyes (is that their name, I can never remember) spawn, the OTs pick them up and tank them on the second platform, behind the rest of the party and facing away from them. Tanks fighting over dragon aggro.... ugh. That right there is why I usually go as tank. And I'm surprised to see that it's a popular method on Primal. Huh. Go figure. Note to self: don't ever DF/PF on Hyperion *shudders*

...now I'm lost. Played on Adamantoise for two months. Then transferred to Gilgamesh for a month. Then played on Balmung for nine. In that year, I've never once seen the method I've been venting over (the one Kage's describing above) until this past week. It's always been the triangle (which Sounsyy says is a JP method? Way to go, Masamune). Dragon has always been tanked in the middle, or thereabouts. Alliance A has always taken the row of platforms to the left, B has always taken middle/entrance, and C has always taken the right. There's never been a need for the full diameter of the arena between the Dragon and the Platinals because the Platinals usually die by the time they go from the third platform in the row to the second platform ANYWAY - this is what happens when you can have your entire team, including melee (dear ranged, we deal reliably consistent damage faster than you do), contributing. I've only ever seen the... snrrrrk... "Hyperion Facepull Method" in obvious trolling attempts. I've never seen this new "method" paraded about as a strategy actually worth considering until I had that run last week. Dear Warren: please continue fucking the police, because apparently there's been a change in management and the new guys don't know wtf they're doing. EDIT: Yeah, that lines up more with what I'm familiar with. Aether takes it middle. Wouldn't know about Primal. And the cone doesn't really need to be silenced anyway. No one other than the MT should be over there, and the MT should be close enough to the base of the cone to sidestep it.

That's been there since day 1 of LotA, and is usually worth a laugh. "Ha, someone hit the teleporter again, chat spam incoming." I can understand how it can be aggravating for those who rely on chat, though. VoIP makes everything better. :>

That's still incredibly inefficient, given that melee DPS now have to cross twice the distance to assist in downing the Platinals again - which is a pain in the ass for any melee not a DRG, curse their three movement skills - and they have to do so twice. Not to mention that the distance encourages them to sit on Bone Dragon until it's dead, which means you're now relying on ranged DPS to down the Platinals faster than melee can down Bone Dragon. And then you get Platinals stacking for movement speed buff... *shudders* The AoE I was referring to was Platinals reaching the Dragon which results in instant unavoidable raid-wide damage. Not much of a concern at higher iLvls, but still. The up-until-recently common strategy on Aether (triangle method? or is that what it's called on Garuda EX?) designates a side of the arena to each alliance, which very easily and intuitively divides responsibility among tanks and DPS (the Platinals closest to you are yours), shares the responsibility of preventing raidwide Platinal damage between alliances (the rows of platforms between A and B and between B and C), minimizes the travel distance for melee DPS since the Dragon is tanked in the middle.... It's intuitive, which makes it ridiculously simple for PUGs to understand. Compare this other method (JP method?) which is hectic and chaotic and I DON'T LIKE CHANGE, OKAY, WHY DO WE HAVE TO FIX WHAT ISN'T BROKEN WHEN THE NEW SOLUTION ISN'T ANY BETTER? OMFG this. I haven't tanked WoD yet on account of wanting the MNK set first, but holy shit, tanks, please do your jobs. Drag those motherf***ers to the outside and face them away from the alliances, please. You'd think that after 100 iLvls worth of gameplay, PUG tanks would know how to do their damned jobs.

I would advise against gearing up solely via hunts, if only because hunting in this game teaches you nothing about how to play your role. For tanks, hunting is "Build hate! Taunt target! Don't die!" For damage dealers, hunting is "Press all your buttons! Don't die!" For healers, hunting is "DoT the target and then AoE heal! Don't die!" You won't learn how to play your class/job well. You won't learn mechanics. You'll still be apprehensive about running dungeons, raids, and new content. Feel free to disregard if you have no intention whatsoever of ever running instances. Have fun, and good luck!