Suggestions to improve Ambuscade

But if you're doing Normal, why waste your time finding a group when you could do it solo? I don't mean you personally, Rooj, but in general. Is it common to find 5 people with the right jobs idling in Mhaura waiting for a Normal shout?

That's the thing, Normal and below doesn't require "the right jobs." Pretty much any job in the game could main heal Normal and below with /WHM or /RDM or /SCH or /DNC. You could take a WAR/WHM in there and succeed.

That's how a lot of my Ambuscade got done when I first started doing it. We'd take whatever was LFG, and if we couldn't fill the party up, we'd use whatever trust would round the rest of the party out. We'd go and spam the buhjeezus out of it while watching another group shout for a GEO for VD for an hour.

You should still shout in between runs if your party isn't full. Shout once or twice, do the run. Shout once or twice, do the run. You can even shout while in queue now thanks to the newest update. Just let them know you'll invite them after the next kill.

Just saw a shout in Mhaura (a shout not a yell, sadly) for "Normal or Difficult" Ambuscade. 3/6.

Form the biggest PT you can and tackle the hardest difficulty you can. This month is really, really easy. People need to give themselves more credit. Gallantry is a thing and you can get up to 5 dyes with it.

FFXI is a solo game with optional multiplayer in 2016. If that makes you mad you just have to learn to deal with it, it is what it is.

As the saying goes, you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink. People who solo DO NOT WANT to group, it's just that simple.

Also people who are mad and solo players making them wait would be mad about gimped groups taking too long if solo play was stopped, there is no pleasing the kind of people who complain and will always find something to complain about if they can't get what they want when they want it. Anyone that has played this game long enough knows the mentality of the playerbase.

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Originally Posted by Mookies75

1) All third party tools are illegal. How exactly is your friend tri boxing? You're also telling me he's not using those fancy multi box scripts with 3 chars? Bull.

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Please be joking. I used to tri box back in the day, 2 computers (2 keyboards and 2 monitors side by side) & an xbox account with the controller on my lap.

Do people really think all these people who multi-box are using bots or something?

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Originally Posted by Catmato

But if you're doing Normal, why waste your time finding a group when you could do it solo? I don't mean you personally, Rooj, but in general. Is it common to find 5 people with the right jobs idling in Mhaura waiting for a Normal shout?

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Because with a group you will get it killed much faster and also get gallantry.

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Originally Posted by Castanica

FFXI is a solo game with optional multiplayer in 2016. If that makes you mad you just have to learn to deal with it, it is what it is.

As the saying goes, you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink. People who solo DO NOT WANT to group, it's just that simple.

Also people who are mad and solo players making them wait would be mad about gimped groups taking too long if solo play was stopped, there is no pleasing the kind of people who complain and will always find something to complain about if they can't get what they want when they want it. Anyone that has played this game long enough knows the mentality of the playerbase.

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The developers of the game disagree with you 100% . If you don't believe me, read the reddit AMA again. They flat out said they still design the game as multi-player and intend for you to team up. Its laughable how wrong you are in your first line of this post.

As for your last 2 lines, isn't it ironic that YOU are the one who started this thread, finding something to complain about?

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Originally Posted by Zeldar

The developers of the game disagree with you 100% . If you don't believe me, read the reddit AMA again. They flat out said they still design the game as multi-player and intend for you to team up. Its laughable how wrong you are in your first line of this post.

As for your last 2 lines, isn't it ironic that YOU are the one who started this thread, finding something to complain about?

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I did, and I watched the videos interviews. What I came away from them with was that the developers want the game to be more group orientated but the producer thinks otherwise and he rules the house.

Please show me where the producers thinks otherwise.

Copied and pasted from the reddit summary;

Reaching the haste/delay cap is a major focus for melee, and aside from BLU it is very difficult to do this, which is why BLU is sought after so much. Are there any changes you can make to help the other jobs out in this regard?
A: If you’re asking if we can make it possible so other jobs reach the haste cap while solo, then the answer is “no.” The premise of FFXI is to join together with fellow players and party up, even if there’s more room for freedom now.


Yeah, the answer was from Matsui, our current producer. So you were saying......?

FFXI producer quotes:

"since ffxi is an mmorpg, party play is important but there is a part where I think we over did it."
"some users were saying the party play was getting exhausting"
"about half way through adoulin, I talked with the staff and we started thinking users were wanting something else"
"the development staff always says they want the game to be solo-able but maintain the group aspect"
"we want you to enjoy the balance"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHMLvNquyAY
7:28 , 28.23

Your post was about min maxing, you don't need capped haste to do content in ffxi.

Ok, but where does that say "this is a solo game with some multi-player aspects" ? I see "party play is important" and "solo-able but maintain the group aspect." You like solo play, so you read in that what you want to read. On the flip side, I enjoy massive multiplayer action from my mmorpg, so I see the parts where they want to maintain group play. I guess the keyword we should both take away is "balance"

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Originally Posted by Zeldar

Ok, but where does that say "this is a solo game with some multi-player aspects" ? I see "party play is important" and "solo-able but maintain the group aspect." You like solo play, so you read in that what you want to read. On the flip side, I enjoy massive multiplayer action from my mmorpg, so I see the parts where they want to maintain group play. I guess the keyword we should both take away is "balance"

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Because you can solo almost everything in the game, that makes grouping optional.

The difference is that solo players aren't telling you not to group, they don't try to shame party players for spamming the content. Only the YOU MUST GROUP players do these things.

Enjoy the balance, live and let live.

I'm not saying that you must party, though I will admit , a solo person taking an ambuscade spot irks me a little. What I am saying is if you have a problem with the monotony of ambuscade, grouping up makes it a lot better, a lot more fun, a lot faster, and you get a lot more. If you want to solo it slowly fine, but don't complain that the rewards aren't coming fast enough or that you need to spend wayyyy too much time on it. I'm getting rewarded for playing a multi-player game with multiple players. Don't try to take that away from me because you're mad that I'm getting more done, faster, and better.

I never ever go into ambuscade with less than 5 people and that's really rare. Partly because I want the gallantry and partly because a human is usually better in these fights than a trust.

Most groups that I go with are through the zone in under 2-4 minutes (buff time and everything). This month, 3 minute clear times are easy.

The monotony is still terrible. Endured, not enjoyed.

I'm not entirely convinced people want to party even though there are the Gallantry benefits. Either that, or I'm the most horribly unlucky person alive LFG for multiple hours straight over the past few days with only one real good party to show for it. And just to head off the "Make your own!" counter, that included routine searches and keeping an eye on what shouts I could understand. People are still coming and going, though, as evidenced by the tome flares.

Still say they should just put a solo only version in Selbina or something. If it turns out you see enough people going at that, they could possibly unite and head over to Mhaura. If not, well, they're not holding up the other groups.

Thank you for making this months Regular Ambuscade VERY melee friendly. Fights take less than 4 minutes on the highest difficulty. The only problem is waiting to actually do the fight. This game has been out for over a decade. Many in the player base just don't have time to be waiting around. Also, there have been some other players that wander in to solo and stay in there creating an even longer wait. Its like they going in and just stay in there disengaged from battle. :(

http://www.puppyleaks.com/wp-content...014/06/t11.jpg

Just did my first ambuscade runs of the month. 3 blu just CDC spamming, a PLD, a GEO and a WHM... average kill under 1:40 on VD. This months is too easy, lol.

Yeah, it's definitely the easiest. It's a shame that it's anti mage considering the reward though......

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Originally Posted by Zeldar

Just did my first ambuscade runs of the month. 3 blu just CDC spamming, a PLD, a GEO and a WHM... average kill under 1:40 on VD. This months is too easy, lol.

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You don't even need the PLD. And IIRC skillchains do crap damage so you don't even need to worry about that either. This month really is that easy. Group up people, you won't have it any better than this month.

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Originally Posted by Zeldar

Just did my first ambuscade runs of the month. 3 blu just CDC spamming, a PLD, a GEO and a WHM... average kill under 1:40 on VD. This months is too easy, lol.

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Considering how many times we have to do it, that's not a bad thing. If you want difficulty (which i doubt), the intense ambuscade awaits you.

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Originally Posted by Mookies75

I was, yeah. The guy was an elitist jerk and got under my skin.

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You lashed out because someone told you they and other people they knew won and gave you some tips and stated their own view and are still lashing out. I'm seeing why you don't get invites to do intense there'd be no way to cooperate with you, your attitude is awful. It's actually trolling if you didn't mean it. This too is why we can't have nice things. Attacking people who are doing better than you is typical self destructive behavior. Maybe if you fixed that intense wouldn't seem so bad to you.

I've seen your attitude before both in and out of game, it never prospers, and is the sort of thing that leads to drama in end game ls which leads to kicks, followed by bad reputation and inability to join other endgame ls. What I'm saying is, you're the reason you're not doing intense, not the game and not "elitists" or "cheesy moves", you. Because you'd be antifun, defensive and threatened constantly by those around you. Which make things like fun, teamwork, and cooperation impossible. The people that give up congratulations easily but don't intensely seek them for themselves and have a helpful cooperative mindset are the ones who tend to do best. You used praise mockingly, when praise wasn't a purpose sought by the post. Basically a shining example of how not to be, in game or otherwise.

So take this advice or don't, but the fights can be farmed at a better rate per hour than normal as is and don't need to be made easier, given the player has the right temperament for difficult content in the first place. Skill and gear is even secondary to a good temperament, which you lack. You're being a intentionally hurtful and offensive on purpose and impossible to even have a real conversation with, my response was in no way deserving of yours as mine had no ill intent and yours are full of it. "Elitist" is usually thrown around by people like you to just insult people that make them feel bad about themselves, for the crime of someone else being successful and will find slight and cause drama simply because those other people make them feel inadequate about themselves not because those people are malicious or attack said people, but because they can do or have things they haven't or had trouble doing or don't have, in short jealousy. Not being able to be happy for others, or learn from others who have succeeded at something is the sort of attitude which is toxic to success. It is one reason I enjoy difficult content it lets me examine myself and free myself from things that would limit myself, things like your terrible attitude and hyper sensitivity and feeling threatened by others doing well. You're simply trolling, and namecalling, which is against site rules.

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Originally Posted by detlef

You don't even need the PLD. And IIRC skillchains do crap damage so you don't even need to worry about that either. This month really is that easy. Group up people, you won't have it any better than this month.

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Thanks, this makes me willing to give it a try.

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Originally Posted by Rooj

You all need to come to terms with the fact that not playing with PUGs is a mistake. A big one. The positives far outweigh the negatives. I don't mean choosing PUGs over your friends. Basically any normal person is going to ask their LS for members first before shouting. Yes, you need to occasionally deal with either a rude player or a bad player. It's really not that big of a deal though. It's pretty simple to ignore someone and not say anything at all when someone's being a doofus in chat. A bad player is harder to deal with. I recently had to politely kick a THF from my VD Ambu group that was in sparks gear. There were no tears or drama. I simply stated that their gear/damage wasn't up to par and I was going to find a replacement. Nothing wrong with that and I don't think the THF thought so either (though they never said a word). You're only screwing yourself by being so sensitive and over exaggerative - no one actually believes that "every time" you join a group with PUGs, that it performs badly or there is some poophole in it that ruins the game for you.

Next, this "my gear isn't good enough" crap in regards to content with F I V E different difficulty levels. Lol. Having returned to the game a few months ago and having to walk up the gear treadmill myself, I had no problem getting i119 before attempting Ambuscade. However as a RDM, who needs more equipment sets than any other job in the game, I didn't yet feel comfortable doing the highest tiers of Ambuscade. So I shouted for Normal Ambuscade. And guess what? People were interested. The whole benefit of content like Ambuscade is that you can go for what ever difficulty you THINK you can beat, and then adjust accordingly. If your group seems weak, lower it. If it seems strong, raise it.

There are other people, who are also uncomfortable for any number of reasons of doing VD or even D Ambuscade. Some people are just naturally uncomfortable when performing in front of others. Some people want the best possible gear they can get before attempting content (I've made this POINTLESS mistake so many times in the last 18 years), and some people just want to do content that is a little easier. If you don't even attempt to reach out to these people, that's no one's fault but your own.

Oh and one last thing, @ "most people only play with their friends." Wrong. A lot, sure, but not most. Then again, I don't play on Zzzombie servers.

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You say a lot of things that I agree with, about being tolerant and open-minded and things like that.

But you talk about kicking a sparks THF politely, and he was okay with it, he just shuffled away. That's fair enough. But that isn't what we mean by "bad PUGs."

The problem with PUGs is that we will be philosophical and cheerful about them until we come across a nightmare PUG group, which will leave us shaken so badly that we never want to PUG again. It has happened to me several times, and it has made me want to only party with people I know and trust.

One of the most special PUGs in my memory was a YOYD, it was /random my Orb first, and we entered the BC and this guy pressed auto-run on his keyboard and ran into the main room with all the mobs, he died and the mobs party-hate charged the rest of us, before we could buff and even finish entering the zone properly. His explanation was that he didn't know about auto-run, he didn't know how to cancel it. These are things we should learn in Dunes at level thirteen, not at end-game when somebody else's hard-earned seals are on the line.

And the guy was like "lol oops." He did not say "omg I'm so sorry, I owe you a huge apology, I will make it up to you." So now I refer to these PUGs as "lol oops" groups.

None of my friends ever say "lol oops" they turn up for events all ship-shape and smart, and they play their jobs with professionalism like its their last day on God's clean Earth. Which is what I expect of them, and what they expect of me. "Lol oops" doesn't figure into our plans. If anyone is feeling tired or poorly, we cancel the run, and wait until everyone is on-form.

So it isn't snobbery or anything, I hope everyone has fun in the game and makes progress. But I don't want to waste my time with "lol oops" and infact I would rather solo. Or in the case of Ambuscade, just not bother doing it anymore since it makes me feel so old inside.
:rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by Seriha

I'm not entirely convinced people want to party even though there are the Gallantry benefits. Either that, or I'm the most horribly unlucky person alive LFG for multiple hours straight over the past few days with only one real good party to show for it. And just to head off the "Make your own!" counter, that included routine searches and keeping an eye on what shouts I could understand. People are still coming and going, though, as evidenced by the tome flares.

Still say they should just put a solo only version in Selbina or something. If it turns out you see enough people going at that, they could possibly unite and head over to Mhaura. If not, well, they're not holding up the other groups.

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No. That's my experience. Doing /sea Legion, the majority of people are soloing it this month.

It's craziness considering the benefits of doing it together and at higher difficulty levels. But unfortunately, I have gear to get. If nobody invites me by the time my turn comes up, I'm going in solo whether I take up the arena or not. It's a shame.

EDIT: I understand they probably do this to maintain the mystery and thus keep people playing. But it would be kind of nice to know what plan they have for the cycle of Ambuscade gear. Is it only going to be updated Salvage gear? If they simply put the Ares set back up again for September, Ambuscade's popularity will plummet.

On the other hand, if they keep on creating new gear, there will be longer and longer stretches of time where people who missed the gear the first time around will not be able to acquire it again until the distant future.

To do ambuscade in a group you have to be well geared, very good at your job (especially for a tank or healer), spend time building the party, give 100% attention to what you're doing and worst of all, be locked into putting at least 30-60 mins uninterupted in or be denied a group next time. -This is stressfull.-

To do ambuscade solo you don't have to impress anyone, you can do as few or as many runs as you want, you can decide to do it in a moments notice and have nothing else to organize and most importantly you can watch a movie while you're doing it or even go afk for an hour after 1 run and take a nap. -This is comfy.-

My biggest gripe outside of the extremely elitist community is that I don't want to be locked into something, I don't want to have to give 100%. This is the same reason I don't like grouping for XP when someone asks, if I group and then decide to go afk after 10 mins to walk my dog they will get annoyed because they think I'm leeching. So it's better to not group at all, you feel forced to perform and give 100% when you group. It's exhausting and not fun unless that's the experience you want from the game.

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Originally Posted by Castanica

My biggest gripe outside of the extremely elitist community is that I don't want to be locked into something, I don't want to have to give 100%. This is the same reason I don't like grouping for XP when someone asks, if I group and then decide to go afk after 10 mins to walk my dog they will get annoyed because they think I'm leeching. So it's better to not group at all, you feel forced to perform and give 100% when you group. It's exhausting and not fun unless that's the experience you want from the game.

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This is probably the one of the biggest and best excuse against partying. I have a similar issue personally. I don't have the will to sit down and play for many hours straight like I used to. I just get burned out doing the same thing over and over. Just yesterday, I did dynamis for the first time in a long time and got bored before the two hours were up.

While perhaps related the elitist angle, PUGs also tend to suffer from the Catch 22 of demanding the gear to get the gear. Ambuscade stuff is decent, but not best of the best. During my earlier mentioned LFG time, I did have people examine me now and then, but I suspect that because I was melee whose ACC hovered around 1000 before food and job traits, I looked rather unappealing for VD fights. Could I get better augments on my Taeon and sword? Sure, but that gets difficult when the stones aren't even on the AH and the only Skirmish people even tend to consider is Yorcia, and that one doesn't drop the stones I need. This problem only gets worse when you step up the content latter.

As for the current set, the only piece that would actually be better for me to wear during the TP phase would be the +1 body, and I'm not quite there yet. Even then, it'd be a gain of maybe 15 ACC or so. To consider other pieces, I'd have to look into making the JSE cape with Haste to offset other losses, or somehow hope I could pay the excruciatingly high sum for that +1 haste belt they added with Ambuscade's launch. Neither of which seem particularly appealing since it means either spamming Dynamis for currency to sell or doing even more Ambuscades I'm already having issue getting groups for already.

I doubt I'm alone in this scenario, which is largely why I feel the alternative zone should be a thing. I don't mind putting effort forward, but it needs to be both within reason and at a reliable pacing. Barring weather shenanigans, making Magian weapons was probably one of my favorite times within XI as it satisfied this criteria. Be it killing 50 and taking a break or going full ham to knock out like 500 in a session, a few thousand kills later and I had something to show for it. There's not really a Plan B to Ambuscade at the moment, and Ambuscade itself is more like a Plan E relative to the gearing tier.

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Originally Posted by Castanica

My biggest gripe outside of the extremely elitist community is that I don't want to be locked into something, I don't want to have to give 100%. This is the same reason I don't like grouping for XP when someone asks, if I group and then decide to go afk after 10 mins to walk my dog they will get annoyed because they think I'm leeching. So it's better to not group at all, you feel forced to perform and give 100% when you group. It's exhausting and not fun unless that's the experience you want from the game.

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I applaud your honesty but simultaneously find frustration that you "don't want to give 100%" but yet choose to state how unfair the CP grind is/bonuses are [in other threads].

Hey Kalsena, just wait until next week and be on around 8:30 EST on linkshell event nights. We'll be doing ambuscade as a shell and get crazy points like we did last night. As for the earlier comments about preferring to solo, hey I get it... I really do. There are times when I feel the same way. However, if you are CHOOSING to play solo, please don't complain that people in groups are reaping far more rewards than you are. Thats the gripe I have . People are complaining that its too much of a grind and it takes too long to get the rewards, blah blah blah. Well, YOU are putting YOURSELF through that grind VOLUNTARILY by not teaming up. Seriha (Kalsena) did ambuscade with 5 of us as a linkshell yesterday and we were getting kills in 90 seconds. Thats not from time of engaging, thats from time of entering. Our warp rings weren't up by the time we got new KIs. Can you imagine how many hallmarks and gallantry we got in a short time? My point is, these things are only a horrible grind if you choose to make them so by trying to do it all alone.

Your gear has never and will never be an excuse to not do Ambuscade. Ever. If you are trying to use this as an excuse, then you are trying to avoid the real problem, whatever that may be. This content was specifically designed so that your gear couldn't be an excuse in the first place. Sparks gear is perfectly fine for doing Ambuscade on Normal with other players.

Please stop making up imaginary problems like "elitism" and "my gear isn't good enough." Stop pretending that no one wants to do Normal or Difficult. Please figure out what the real problem is, and make posts about THAT instead, so we can actually put effort into fixing THAT, a REAL problem.

Rooj, I get where you're coming from but I'd say last month would have been the exception. The mechanics of last month wanted you to zerg through it and skip at least one wave of adds.

In the other months with adds, they die when the boss dies (thankfully).

The other problem is that most months have favored either melee OR mages. Dragon leaned melee but magic could work. Taurus/Demon leaned heavily melee. Anything could work on antlion, Roc was all about melee (the geo or magic ws's could take care of apkallu) and this month is all about melee.

I don't see anyone complaining about their role not being useful in any Ambuscades though. All I see is "no one will invite me because of my gear because everyone is elitist."

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Originally Posted by Rooj

Your gear has never and will never be an excuse to not do Ambuscade. Ever. If you are trying to use this as an excuse, then you are trying to avoid the real problem, whatever that may be. This content was specifically designed so that your gear couldn't be an excuse in the first place. Sparks gear is perfectly fine for doing Ambuscade on Normal with other players.

Please stop making up imaginary problems like "elitism" and "my gear isn't good enough." Stop pretending that no one wants to do Normal or Difficult. Please figure out what the real problem is, and make posts about THAT instead, so we can actually put effort into fixing THAT, a REAL problem.

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With VD being the preferred group run, yeah, gear is a concern. Advocating it isn't (because people could just solo or do lower difficulties) only further exacerbates congestion issues. Overall, one needs to be mindful of what's possible in an MMO and how players actually utilize those possibilities, which tends to defer to hyper-efficiency whenever possible. Since there's no way of getting around the fact that this is a grind, it's a no-brainer people might want sub-5m fights when they have to do like 50 of them or more before queues. All that time adds up.

And while the group I ran with Zeldar did pretty well, I'm humble enough to acknowledge that it wasn't really my contribution that was allowing such hasty clears, though Scummy's GEO bubbles did help me tremendously. With someone really good, it probably would've been even faster still. Otherwise, I'm hoping to right my sleep schedule a bit so I won't be out cold during event time(s). z.z

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Originally Posted by Castanica

To do ambuscade in a group you have to be well geared, very good at your job (especially for a tank or healer), spend time building the party, give 100% attention to what you're doing and worst of all, be locked into putting at least 30-60 mins uninterupted in or be denied a group next time. -This is stressfull.-

To do ambuscade solo you don't have to impress anyone, you can do as few or as many runs as you want, you can decide to do it in a moments notice and have nothing else to organize and most importantly you can watch a movie while you're doing it or even go afk for an hour after 1 run and take a nap. -This is comfy.-

My biggest gripe outside of the extremely elitist community is that I don't want to be locked into something, I don't want to have to give 100%. This is the same reason I don't like grouping for XP when someone asks, if I group and then decide to go afk after 10 mins to walk my dog they will get annoyed because they think I'm leeching. So it's better to not group at all, you feel forced to perform and give 100% when you group. It's exhausting and not fun unless that's the experience you want from the game.

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Wow you described my feelings exactly. I play FFXI to wind down. I have a really stressful job - high-level groups in XI more often than not make me feel like I am at work, not relaxing.

It's great when you can play with a couple other people and they aren't super uptight and demanding - I love grouping in those situations. Love it! But pick up groups are not about having fun. They are about winning in the most efficient way possible.

Like Stompa above talking about the "lol ooops" person. I get it, it is annoying, you feel like someone wasted your time. But as the person who has been the "lol ooops" - it really destroys the fun of the game when a mistake is treated like you kicked a puppy. Stuff happens. Often I'm playing after going out with friends, I've had a few bevies. I'm not really feeling like a commando. I just want to chill. This is why I mostly solo.

If I fail when I am by myself, I laugh, and I still have a good time. But when I am playing with others, I feel bad because I know that my failure has upset them. I'd rather not be the "lol ooops" in a group. I'd also rather not have to treat the game like a job.

This isn't meant to be blamey of folks who want ruthless efficiency - I get it. It's your way of having fun. I'd rather not screw up your way of having fun. But don't hate me for having my way of having fun. I know it sucks that ambuscade is congested - it totally does! But that's a dev problem not a player problem.

And if anyone wants to play in a totally chill way, and laugh when things go wrong, and drop when you feel like it, feel free to look me up, I'm often up for it.

Though I will probably be waiting till next week to do any more ambuscade. I duoed a couple with someone last night and the wait was too long.

Silly confession: My first group back and they asked for Mighty Guard. I forgot to use Diffusion first. Oops~

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Originally Posted by Seriha

With VD being the preferred group run, yeah, gear is a concern. Advocating it isn't (because people could just solo or do lower difficulties) only further exacerbates congestion issues. Overall, one needs to be mindful of what's possible in an MMO and how players actually utilize those possibilities, which tends to defer to hyper-efficiency whenever possible. Since there's no way of getting around the fact that this is a grind, it's a no-brainer people might want sub-5m fights when they have to do like 50 of them or more before queues. All that time adds up.

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I agree with this.

I like to have fun, I really do. Last month, I tanked bird a few times as sword/shield warrior (0 JP but so much gear recyclable from PLD). I did my first RUN tanking in Ambuscade groups. At the same time, 20k points (to get all dyes) / 300 = 67 VD runs. Subtract the 4 "free" VD runs you get from acquiring both seals, and one more run because you had to do an Intense for one more seal and you'e still at 62 of the same fight.

Never has "ad nauseum" been such a fitting term.

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Originally Posted by Seriha

With VD being the preferred group run, yeah, gear is a concern. Advocating it isn't (because people could just solo or do lower difficulties) only further exacerbates congestion issues. Overall, one needs to be mindful of what's possible in an MMO and how players actually utilize those possibilities, which tends to defer to hyper-efficiency whenever possible. Since there's no way of getting around the fact that this is a grind, it's a no-brainer people might want sub-5m fights when they have to do like 50 of them or more before queues. All that time adds up.

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Gear is a concern only if you want to farm points quickly, what Rooj said is on point. You can do lower difficulty levels and that's what they're there for. The only problem comes when people who don't really want to give 100% and haven't spent the time on their gear or jobs to do VD or intense fights, want to do it anyway to farm points faster, essentially wanting the cake but to eat it too.

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Originally Posted by Castanica

-This is stressfull.-
-This is comfy.-
It's exhausting and not fun unless that's the experience you want from the game.

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To those that aren't just returning and don't want to give 100%, don't want to gear up, don't want to be attentive or focused, then the time it takes to farm is going to be very high anyway, and those sure as heck aren't focused on efficiency they value comfort and ease, the lower difficulties are there not only for returning players but people with those priorities toward the game, which there's nothing evil or rotten or bad about that but you also can't expect to farm tons of points an hour if that's how you feel and that's not what most people want (slow points that take hours and hours more to farm). If that's how you want to play just don't go into VD with others, go with like minded people on lower difficulties or solo slowly and increase wait times which also makes it go more slowly. It's hard to find people that are ok with -other- people randomly afking, though I find sooo many people are ok with it if it's them doing whatever they feel like and not having to respect others time. I feel that's why things like stompa's post about the joy of good groups are important. It's what makes the game fun for a lot of people. Taking 2 hours to do 2 runs isn't really anyones idea of a good time, and the more people that afk the longer it gets. It's pick and choose, not you get both. If you want lots of afk times, low gear requirements, being able to take a nap or walk the dog, then do lower difficulties and be prepared to spend a loooot of time grinding your points. You don't get to have that and also grind points quick nothing in life works like that except cheat codes (which at least for me feel hollow) and maybe winning the lottery (though studies show most people that won the lottery end up depressed, eventually burn through their money and their friends go figure).

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Originally Posted by Numquam

Thank you for making this months Regular Ambuscade VERY melee friendly. Fights take less than 4 minutes on the highest difficulty. The only problem is waiting to actually do the fight. This game has been out for over a decade. Many in the player base just don't have time to be waiting around. Also, there have been some other players that wander in to solo and stay in there creating an even longer wait. Its like they going in and just stay in there disengaged from battle. :(

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I agree it is a pretty straightforward and easy fight. I suggest killing the left add (your left) on entry, then the main NM, your kill speed will increase a lot. Last months was also very melee friendly, actually much quicker than this one if you had the setup for it but oh well :( (3 DNC or THF synchronized their stacked WS with a GEO it was a 30s fight and no adds spawned). Finding stuff like that out and doing it with friends is what is so fun about ambuscade to me :( I agree the KI's are a bit tedious to farm, but it's also been memory lane. Going to all these diff zones we haven't had reasons to revisit much reminds us all of the times we used to go there for old content and had some of us tearing up with nostalgia.

As far as the PUG discussion, my group has often picked up people with a party flag on, if we're not full. Might as well use them instead of a trust. Sometimes you get burned and wish you had the trust instead but it's rare, they have to be really bad to pull that off (like whm that don't cure for about 20s after you take dmg... yep they still exist).