Fastest Cali fight I ever had, caster LB on the second set of Dollhouse. Was a good call.
Right?
Hitting multiple things that zoom around the room and slow down the fight with caster LB > hitting a very easy, stationary boss with melee LB. More overall damage going out from LB and it negates a fight slowdown mechanic.
The funny thing is, our other DPS was a monk. I'm sure he appreciated me greatly reducing the need for him to chase dolls around the room.
Have been in The Navel (Titan fight) a couple of times, but, even knowing mechanics and running fast I would get knocked off about 50%-60% of the times I was targeted. Never have noticeable lag elsewhere but people say for new players lag can make that fight rough. So in my third run this week (gee thanks Roulette for bringing it up for me so often) a nice player says "hug his ass". I did. Rate went down to 10%, and that was after I ran through him and was well on the other side from the blast when it went off, so yeah probably lag. Only took two tries after the ass technique was employed to take Titan down (the one fail being the weird hit from the other side thing). So, thanks again friendly veteran player.
I've been having a blast with MCH lately. Today I was spamming lv 50 roulette for the tomes while getting some xp with it and had a rash of just awful tanks. Even worse, it kind of proved the adage of "DRK is for DPS that are tired of the queue." Out of 11 runs, 8 of the tanks I got were dark knights wearing at best fending accessories. Maybe a tank belt or one other piece of tank gear. But they were all wearing DoW equipment of various levels ranging from 30 (yes, lv 50 roulette, tank wearing a level 30 DoW belt) to 130 accessories...of slaying. One of them was wearing a mix of dex and int gear. What is with all the super crap drks these days?
Kind of an opposite story though:
Just ran Vault as NIN. On last boss, our healer died because MCH wouldn't move while Holy Chained. I check the bosses health, 17%, so I look to LB bar as I haven't heard it yet, to see if we can save the run. It is just about to hit two bars, like a second away.
"We have this!"
Tank has moved boss, and as I position for LB, it hits two bars, immediately the MCH LBs, and my heart sinks...
We end up getting him to 1%, the melee LB would have meant a win, not a wipe.
I say that the melee LB does more single target damage, and is better in that situation, and the MCH flips about "You shouldn't let it sit full half the fight! Use the damn thing!"
I point out that it literally hit two bars as he hit it, which he had to know, and he starts on about, "Oh, it was full thirty seconds before I used it" and such.
He obviously dies the next attempt, and our healer, who was obviously struggling makes the right call to leave that dead weight floor tanking, and we win it.
Well, one step at a time, only been playing 15 days. I am sure there are lots of things waiting to raise my blood pressure to unsafe levels. I am just glad I am not automatically a total dead-weight when I get that in Duty Roulette now.
EDIT: Not sure how hard it is but I want to do The Lost City of Amdapor one day simply because the music sounds wonderful from the vids I've listened to from the OST on YouTube.
So... Sastasha. Beginning to see why so many people hate it. Was doing it on Archer tonight, with a CNJ, LCR, and MRD. I think the healer was the only non-green leaf. I suppose it wasn't exactly bad... but I have to wonder if the marauder and lancer spoke English. Not a single word the entire run, not even in answer to questions. And it was so slow, omg, with me accidental ripping aggro right and left. And the last fight, of course, myself and the healer are the only ones trying to keep the adds from spawning. It doesn't work. They fill the room, boss is at 15% I think? LB is almost full to the second bar. Hell with it. Tank just died, I use it. And there we go, wipe prevented. Yet, not a single comm. :(
Earlier this evening, I managed to get Antitower for my Expert. Group was Ast/Drg/Mch, so I didn't do max pulls, due to not having the strongest aoe, but the run went fast anyway. The cherry on top? The MCH limit breaks the second dollhouse, getting both dolls and the boss for a nice clean fast Calcabrena fight - and my comm. :)
Not long after that, I did Neverreap. Group was Ast/Mnk/Drg, tho I wasn't paying attention at first and pulled both of the entire first 2 islands (yes, full pulls on each island) before looking. Things melted fast enough, the AST had time to dps, and I wasn't in any danger of dying, so I didn't stop doing much the same thing all run, with the only time I didn't pull to a wall being the tree+bees pull (tho I did pull the tree and all 4 bees). Was a nice fast run.
And just now, I did Fractal. SCH+DRG+SMN. Asked about big pulls, got the OK, so the only big pull I didn't do was the monster after the second boss, simply because the SCH dropped Deathflare at the second set of dolls (I guess? the mini trash mobs in the alcoves of the second room), which is, to me, a stop sign. I figure that if I'd kept going we could've easily done the full 3-room pull. Trash melted. Bosses were a bit slower, but not much. Great run overall. :)
All in all, 3 very good runs from DF this evening/morning. :)
--Erim Nelhah