Divine Might 2!!

[Teppo]

(Feel free to skip first paragraph)
6-7 years ago when i did my first Divine Might just after completing sky; I felt it was one of the most epic battles I have ever done in the game. It was amazingly fun with 18 players taking 5 of the coolest and mightiest (at the time) monsters I have ever seen. With the recent Mog Bonanza i picked up a statue and reminisced about that fight. I then wished we could have a upgraded version; another match against our upgraded selves versus the powered up Ark Angels. So I'll just place my ideas on the table in hopes people will like this as well.


Divine Might 2

Not only will the 5 original Ark Angels will return powered up, but in addition 5 more will created.

Ark Angel TT (Sch/Smn): Female version of the Blackmage AA, this will be a Scholar/Summoner and will have a random summon at the start of battle. During the fight she will then fight as scholar casting both black and white magic using Light and Dark Arts to boost attacks. As always the Avatar will be sleepable and Astral Flow can be negated if it's asleep. The new thing is, even after the Sch/Smn dies the Avatar will not and will fight as a standard summon, just without the ability to 2-hour.

Ark Angel MR (Cor/Rng): This Mithra will be a Corsair/Ranger, Shotgun wielding Mithra with deadly powerful cards. Though at first glace doesn't seem very dangerous; she can potentially be the most dangerous of all, if not handled quickly. As powerful as Eagle Eye shot is, Wild Card can be the Killer. When Wild card is activated rolls 1-2 will have all surrounding Angels do a simple job ability instantly. 3-4 will cause them to do a weapon skill instantly. 5-6 not only restore possible 2-hour abilities, that they may have used during the current fight, but as well as recover some HP. Ideally 25% for a roll 5 and 50% for a roll 6. This is the main reason why she might be the one to either take down first or last, but not middle.

Ark Angel GK (Mnk/Dnc): Very Similar to the Sam/Drg this Galka will be a melee beater. Using the abilities of the Dancer; it will be able to maintain or recover fairly quick if not handled correctly. None the less; it will also Waltz to cure any other Angels that are low on health. Hundred Fist must be taken with extreme caution or else not only mow down players, but almost recover fully from it.

Ark Angel HM (Blu/Rdm): This female Angel will be wielding two swords like her Male Angel counterpart, but also has magic that can hurt and take down. Her Chainspell and Azure Lore will make a deadly combination of spamming Powerful Blue magic. As for the spells set for use; well with any luck from here, be up for a vote to be most Favorited and want to be used on.

Ark Angel EV (Brd/Pup): My favorite Angel was the Pld/whm with that huge black shield, so in the spirit of fun stuff, her Male counter part's Automaton will be a Pld with a Black shield. Besides that little Easter egg, this Angel will be no pushover. Singing songs he will buff up his fellow Angels and sleep or weaken any player that is unfortunate enough to hear his tune. On top of that he will still have the fists of a Puppetmaster and will use them. His automaton will also be independent and will not fade even after his master has fallen.

Now keep in mind these are just the "NEW" Angels and I do wish to see the older ones make a return as well.

One more possible battle field besides The new and the older Angels I like to Purpose.

Divine Royal:

All 10 Angels ready to fight and go crazy with the rest of them. Not to be completely "Broken" but maybe start out with any random 5-6 and have the others come out after a set time or just after when an angel falls. Although the option for all 10 to be out at once is accessible for possibly greater rewards and the enjoyment.

Another possibly is how many people enter as well. For ever 2 players 1 angel will appear at a time. Except after 12 players; 13 Players will have 7 angels to contend with, 14 has 8; 16 will have 9 and the full 18 will have all 10. Well that's 3 different ways people can choose how to fight. Just ideas at the moment though.

I also wish to see new drops that can be obtain through a quest after completion and not a chest or drops from death. Now I'm not entirely sure what would be best in terms of what they drop, but I do know is; I really wish to obtain The Pld/whm's shield. Or Many of the weapons; armor pieces or even accessories they may carry. Divine Royal would ideally give more spoils after the completion of the quest and possible Gil rewards if people who do not wish for equipment to have an interested anyway.

Well thank you for your time and if you like this idea; support it! Long Live FFXI!

[Duelle]

Meh, by design I'm still trying to figure out how we were expected to do the fight. I've seen it done with the super tank method, but the bosses are somewhat overtuned as they were (AoE stuns, AoE silences, AoE binds and lots of damage and one shot abilities while not having anywhere near the number of people that would make such an encounter workable). And you for some reason want to add more. >.>;

Not a bad concept, but some heavy retuning would be required.

[Teppo]

Okay after several days on thinking things over and how the game has changed over the years, some buffs would be given to make the fight fun instead of tedious. Similar to Atma's some Buffs would be given based on Quests or Missions completed through out the game. Other quests could be done if some of those Missions have not been completed. Another idea is also based off Shantotto's Accession where "Tablets" could be gathered around the Shrine of Ru'Avitau in order to ease the fight.

For the sake of this idea, lets allow both buffs from "Missions" and "Tablets" to be usable in this 10 Angel fight.

Three buffs would come from the completion of the starting nations.

1: Immune to Sleep/Weight

2: Immune to Petrify/Paralyze

3: Immune to Stun/Silence

Now usually Most Notorious Monsters don't sleep, silence or Petrify (and so on) well. With completion of other missions such as Chains of Promathia, Treasures of Aht Urhgan (so on) the Angel's Resistances will be lifted.

1 (Zilart): Sleep will be lifted

2 (Cop): Petrify will be lifted

3 (ToAu): Silence will be lifted

4 (Wotg): Intimation will be granted onto the player toward the Angel.

The Add-ons of Crystalline Prophecy, Moogle Kupo d'Etat, and Shantotto's Ascension will give Buffs similar to Tablets though, even without these completed Tablets can still be obtain for the same result.

1-2 (CP): 1- HP Increase 2- MP Increase

3-4 (Mog) 3- Attack Increase 4- Defense Increase

5-6 (SA) 5- Stats Increase 6- Bar effects (element resistance)

With all these combined the fight should not be very difficult, thought coordination will still be needed. I'd also imagine with the "Tablet" buffs acting like a half powered (or 1/3 powered Primeval Brew) the 10 Angel fight can be taken on by 4-6 players.

Please feel free to add more input; this is an idea I'd at least like to see possible. Thank you again for your time.

[Duelle]

With all the talk about DM and the AA gear being made obtainable in some way, I figured I would come out with something else I've been thinking about for a while.

Redesigning Divine Might

I understand that some think of it as an epic fight that requires 18 people, but an issue I have always had with DM was that the way the mobs were designed and the way the fight itself is laid out caused the encounter itself to be cleared in less-than-epic ways (supertank, 18 BLMs). As such, I've been thinking of ways to alter the encounter and allow a little bit more job versatility while at the same time reducing the whole "tank running around like a pansy" thing.

This is far from perfect and still has a lot of room for improvement, but I consider it a start. >.>

Encounter changes

- Ark Angel-exclusive weapon skills no longer have status effects attached
- Instead, each AA can randomly target a player nearby and use a single-target WS that afflicts them with a status ailment
- Overall damaged dealt by AAs when un-buffed lowered a bit.

Ark Angel changes

- Ark Angel HM: Mijin Gakure now ignores the primary hate target
- Ark Angel GK: No longer has a wyvern pet, but retains all other Dragoon abilities
- Ark Angel MR: Has two pets instead of one. It'll always be a tiger and a rabbit
- Ark Angel TT: No longer teleports around the room, and instead aims to remain at about 20 yalms of their primary target.
- Ark Angel EV: Regular attacks deal "non-elemental" magic damage and are un-Counterable. Can now be silenced. Silence prevents use of Benediction. Spirits Within replaced with Savage Blade.

Encounter Mechanics

Resonance

The primary mechanic behind the encounter would be resonance. This works in two ways. The Ark Angels can resonate to one another by being within 20 yalms of each other. They can also resonate with their primary target by hitting them with regular melee attacks, with the exception of AATT, who functions under a different mechanic.

Ark Angel to Ark Angel Resonance:

Strength in numbers: Buff that can stack up to 4 stacks. Each stack is gained per Ark Angel when they are within 20 yalms of each other. Grants a potent Regen (250/500/750/1000 HP/tick), increases all damage dealt by 40/60/80/100% and reduces all damage taken by 20/40/60/80%. Lasts 3 seconds, constantly renews when the Ark Angels are close to one another.

Ark Angel to Primary Target Resonance: Each effect lasts 10 seconds, is renewed by auto-attacks from the Ark Angel, excluding TT as it works under a repel mechanic.

Bushi no hirameki (Ark Angel GK) - The primary target of GK gains 5 parry skill per point of strength so long as they have a 2-handed weapon equipped. Parries while under this effect mitigate damage from melee hits and weapon skills in a threshold between 30% to 80% instead of entirely negating that attack round.

Survival Instinct (Ark Angel MR) - the primary target of AA MR will receive an increase in shield block chance. Lowers attack power.

Magic Attunement (Ark Angel EV) - the primary target of AA EV receives 25% less magic damage and increases physical damage taken by 10%.

Adrenaline Rush (Ark Angel HM) - Grants HM's primary target the ability to partially dodge, or Graze, incoming attacks and weapon skills.

Graze: mitigates incoming damage from auto-attacks and weapon skills in a threshold between 10-90%, calculated using Evasion skill level. Decreases auto-attack speed by 15% and increases recast timers for spells and Job Abilities by 20%.

Abyssal Shield (Ark Angel TT) - any player that comes closer than 15 yalms to AA TT will be knocked back, hit for 500-ish damage and afflicted by paralyze, root and stun.

Rationale: The basic idea behind each is that there would be a couple of jobs that could viably tank each AA, and mechanics that in a way force the alliance to bring the necessary jobs in order to make winning the encounter possible. GK would obviously require someone with a two-hander, which opens the opportunity to DRK, DRG, SAM and WAR. TT would require a ranged tank, opening that slot for COR, RNG or BLM. MR obviously is more for a sword&board tank, opening that for PLD, DRK and WAR. EV would require a caster or hybrid tank, opening that spot for BLM, RDM and BLU. HM favors evasion tanks, opening that spot for THF, DNC and NIN.

This design also attempts to bring value to the hybrid classes and gives them the role of helping the healers keep everyone up. DNCs, RDMs and BLUs could definitely help keep the designated tanks up while doing their share of the damage.

Additional notes:

I was thinking of adding something similar to the "Hateful Strike tank" mechanic (in other words, reserving one heavily damaging attack that the boss would use on the second person on the hate list behind the tank, because if used on the primary target would guarantee death on the primary tank) to necessitate at least a second melee DPS attacking GK, MR and HM.

If we had proper taunt/provoke abilities, I would have also added debuffs that would force tanks to switch places for certain AAs. Alas, we don't have anything like that, so that's a no go.

/Necro. Necro! Necropost!! HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

[Tile]

I hope they keep it with the 5 but buff them alot, maybe have them all have 4 jobs instead of just the 2.

TT Blm/Drk - Blm/Drk/Smn/Sch
MR Thf/Bst - Thf/Bst/Rng/Cor
EV Pld/Whm - Pld/Whm/Rdm/Brd
HM Nin/War - Nin/War/Mnk/Dnc
GK Drg/Sam - Drg/Sam/Blu/Pup

could use 2 hours at same time.

TT- Mana Font/Tabula Rasa (Dark arts only) - All spells become AoE and can't be stopped. Including Kaustra/Impact/Comet
TT- Astral Flow/Blood Weapon - Avatars gain the effect of blood weapon also
MR- Perfect Dodge/Familiar - Pets gain perfect dodge also
MR- EES/Wild Card - would EES , then restore all JA for all AAs, and EES again.
EV- Invincible/Bene - around 10% immune to all damage, Bene, and would Arise 1 defeated AA
EV- Chain Spell/Soul Voice - Super buff self and any close AA up to 4 songs.
HM- Mijin Gakure/Trance - Blow up AoE, and get back up and Spam Dances, all Sambas would be AoE
HM- Mighty Strikes/Hundred Fists - would gain effect of Formless strikes also
GK- Spirit Surge/Over Drive - would Super Buff Wyrm and Automaton
GK- Meikyo Shisui/Azure Lore - would SC/MB for 1 min using WSs/Spells pets would gain Meikyo Shisui also

TT- does not have Light Arts, should be able to pull out 2-3 different avatars (not Carby), AoE spells using dark arts (Drain, Dread Spikes, Absorb Tp) Avatars would Blood pact ever 30 sec. and would absorb damage of their element, and Instantly use a Blood Pact, if target runs out of casting range will teleport next to them and hit them with terror

MR- 2-3 pets at once(Mini Behemoth as a pet), Camouflage and appear behind someone for Sneak attack, Barrage, and give all AA 4 Rolls, Charm one random player at any time for whole fight can not be slept (Only wears off after AA MR dies, if you kill Player will charm another)-During Familiar player Stats would Double, Killer Effects, Reward to heal all pets (including charmed player) mini Behemoth would have Comet

EV- takes severely reduced damage/super block rate(like Aegis/Ochain in one) up to 4 songs. and super fast cast. Will assist weakest AA, even going as far as to Cover them (Covered AA gains -80% damage taken)

HM- high Counter/Crit rate, increased dances (haste sambe would be around 25%), can solo SC, Spams Flourishes, Would have Utsusemi:San and would gain shadows at random without casting after use for about 30~60 sec

GK- pet Mini Wyrm, 100% Zanshin- second hit will deal triple damage, Blade Bash(long Stun used before WS so player can't run), will always WS twice to SC, can buff all AA with blu spells and use HNMs spells, Pup would be new Dark AA look. can have 2-3 out.

All pets would be Immune to Sleep, Avatar would be immune to sleep of their element (lullaby would work on Diablos) but would wake up during Astral Flow and become immune to stun/sleep for duration. All AA will build Restance to Stun (only if you used it to much within a short period of time- chainspell stun etc.) Pets will remain after AA is defeated

AA would have pets out at start and would start buffing as soon as fight starts and all buffs effect pets too. all mobs would gain brief reduction to magic damage taken after being hit with that element (to stop max BLMs from going in and trying to just Ja them to death) all AA and pets would have +25% movement speed

New Bigger battle Field or Empyreal Paradox. Fight would be a challange but fun. should never get stale, each AA could have different ways of acting (TT may stay back and enfeeble one fight, but be offensive and cast big spells the next)

rewards
Better DM earring, or better version of CoP rings
Arise/Meteor- only 1 would load in chest after fight.
AA weapons
Logs

[svengalis]

F

Meh, by design I'm still trying to figure out how we were expected to do the fight. I've seen it done with the super tank method, but the bosses are somewhat overtuned as they were (AoE stuns, AoE silences, AoE binds and lots of damage and one shot abilities while not having anywhere near the number of people that would make such an encounter workable). And you for some reason want to add more. >.>;

Not a bad concept, but some heavy retuning would be required.

I have never done the super tank method(with it actually working) or the 18 blms method( this method seems lame to me). We actually did try the super tank method once but I don't know how a paladin manage to hold hate on the 5 AA + two pets. The method most use is to take one arch angel to the beginning of circle, have a few people kill it there while the other AA are being kited. Also i forgot to mention you sleep the pets before you even start the fight. Once the first AA is dead you kill a second one. If your kiters are still alive keep going. Most of the time by the time we kill 2 AA we just wipe fully then reset( wait for weakness to wear) and take out last the 3 AA. When you die you just have to make sure that you die in a place were you can be tractored. It is possible to just beat them without the alliance fully wiping if your kiters are good enough. It is enough time on the clock to allow you to wipe once maybe twice if your fast enough. But yeah this fight really is not that hard with a full alliance with a few kiters(mage+kiter)

[Duelle]

I have never done the super tank method(with it actually working) or the 18 blms method( this method seems lame to me). We actually did try the super tank method once but I don't know how a paladin manage to hold hate on the 5 AA + two pets.

Supertank works as follows:

1) Have a geared PLD face pull everything
2) Have him stand there while the offtank pulls one of the archangels for the alliance to kill
-or-
2) Have him run around the perimeter of the battlefield kiting everything while the kill targets are pulled towards the alliance.

The big problem is that supertank circumvents how enmity works in this game. The PLD is not claiming anything, just taking damage. Because it is a face pull, there's no real enmity table, which means your alliance can do whatever they want short of /heal and not worry about aggroing the AAs. As I constantly say, under any other development team, this would have gotten nerfed within hours.

I guess my aim was more to make it possible to stand toe to toe with the AAs while making the encounter challenging in a group context. Super buffing them like Tile suggests would not really deal with the problems within the encounter itself. You still have tons of AoE damage, you still have AoE debuffs that screw over melee, and so on.

[Camiie]

Sheesh, Tile, I'm pretty sure no one could ever beat that. A challenge yeah, but to be fun there has to be some chance of winning. I'm not sure even luck in on anyone's side there.

[Duelle]

Bumping to top, as well as to present a sample of GK if I were to design the fight.

Ark Angel GK
Overpower: Permanent buff. Ignores mitigation granted by shields and parries from one-handed weapons. (if other words, if you sic a PLD or a NIN on GK, they're not going to do any good)
Pristine Sight: Permanent buff. All attacks by GK ignore shadows from Blink and Utsusemi.
Dragonfall: Unique weapon skill. 2000-3000 damage divided by all targets within 15 yalms. Prep time is 5 seconds.
Meikyo Shisui: Usable every 1-2 minutes.
Regular Job Abilities: Blade Bash, Third Eye, Jump, High Jump.
Resonance: Bushi no hirameki - Greatly increases the target's chance of parrying, but causes parries to mitigate 30-80% of the damage. Calculated based on equipped weapon skill level.
Additional effects: If GK parries any attacks, he immediatly counters with Crushing Blow, which does 55% of the target's max health. Can only be mitigated by parrying. Below 40% HP GK will gain Regain and Auto-Haste.

And now, if we had better provoke/taunt mechanics and abilities, we could make Bushi no hirameki a little more interesting:

Bushi no hirameki - Greatly increases the target's chance of parrying when equipping a 2-handed weapon, but causes parries to mitigate 30-80% of the damage. Calculated based on equipped weapon skill level. While under this effect, Player gains one stack of Strain every 6 seconds.

-Strain: lowers your attack power and attack speed by 3% per stack. Also lowers the effectiveness of your parries (floors at 30%). Duration of 20 seconds, additional stacks renew the duration. Can stack up to 30 stacks.

Strain as part of Bushi no hirameki would then force the group to bring a second 2-hander tank so that both tanks would switch places after a certain number of stacks. This can't really be done because of how CE works, as far as I know.