Aurum Vale - A Rant

Yes, this is a rant. I fully expect there to be trolls telling me how stupid I am and that I can't play my class or Elitists eager to tell me how awesome they are that they can do it with both hands broken.

The Aurum Vale is a horrible, horrible place for the Arcanist classes.
That place is a nightmare to try to heal through on a Scholar and if one of your DPS is a Summoner, forget about it.
The pets take that DoT damage in the first boss fight and you CAN NOT direct them to use the fruit. You have to waste your Swift Cast (if you have it) to recall them just so they can die again and you're so busy trying to keep everyone alive when all you have is Succor and Physick; no Medica 2, no Regen, no Cure 2 or 3, Sacred Soil does little-to-nothing to help and you run out of MP long before the fight is half way over, even if you're using Aetherflow properly and have time to do Energy Drain.

Something needs changed in this dungeon so the Arcanist classes can function there.

Yup, this seems like an oversight by the development team. They made sure to make pets very resistant to most AE damage as they realized it's not reasonable to control the pet to stay out of AE damage. They need to make the same considerations for environmental damage mechanics like those found in AV as well.

Are summons -that- usefull for SMN? I know they're one of the top DPS but i was under the impression that it was because of how many dots they have, not their summons.

Or you can just not have smn out when running through the poison....

Yeah its Hard for both SMN and SCH since it was the ONLY Dungeon which I couldnt beat in my first run and I had to try it 4 times to beat it. My best advice as a SMN is use Garuda since she can atk far away and near you that would prevent getting dmged by the yellow pools. Ifrit and Titan die soo fast.

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Originally Posted by Shrade

Are summons -that- usefull for SMN? I know they're one of the top DPS but i was under the impression that it was because of how many dots they have, not their summons.

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They are. They're about 40% of our DPS.

EDIT: Don't use Ifrit at all since right now it's dps is hampered since there's a .5 second delay between auto attack and it's basic ability. Meaning Garuda will always do more damage.

While I agree with needing pets to be healed when the master grabs a fruit, WHM don't have access to Medica II in AV either >.>

I did the good run with SCH and SMN in group, we finished it, no wipes :)

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Originally Posted by Shrade

Are summons -that- usefull for SMN? I know they're one of the top DPS but i was under the impression that it was because of how many dots they have, not their summons.

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Correct. People over-estimate the importance of the pets, a SMN's pet typically doesn't make up much more than 20% of their total DPS output; this is why SCH DPS (in cleric stance and using Aero/Thunder) is actually quite comparable to a SMN's DPS even though a SCH's pet does not attack.

However; a more pressing issue for a SCH in aurum vale is that their pet is responsible for a significant amount of party heals. A SCH's direct heals are NOT very strong (Comparable to Cure 1!), their pet does a lot of the drudge-work dolling out heals every few seconds, if their pet is dead they will struggle to keep up the team and burn their mana relatively quickly.

All this said though, I've never done Aurum vale, and I've heard similar statements about other fights (ie. the first boss of qarn, who applies doom to your fairy) and a little awareness and a bit of micromanagement made the fight entirely winnable.

Yeah the first boss is a pain as a smn because his aoe obliterates the pet. But the rest of the zone is fine. I find it enjoyable honestly. The last boss' aoe does not effect the pet like the first boss so not so bad there.

Never healed it though, but I dont see how a scholar would be gimp in there. succor+fairy and cycle through for physick and alloquinn. Now I am not criticizing you in the least, I have never healed it, just speculating based on what I know of sch as I can solo heal CM easily on it.

You may be right though.

Or you could use Sustain.
Do you think that shit is for show?

Made it past the first boss with 1 person dying, a quick cast rez helped.
The last boss tho we couldn't get past. We kept trying til the time ran out.
Without a pet to help with healing it's damn impossible.

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Originally Posted by Elkwood

Or you can just not have smn out when running through the poison....

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Except large parts of the first and final boss fights have poison pool areas...

For the most part, Summoners should use Garuda and have them stay on one of the dry areas hitting fron a distance during these instances. Goldlung and Burrs are Defense Decreases, not Damage over Time.

I'm not sure if summoners can use Leech like Scholars can, but a scholar or whm can always take a moment and Esuna/Leech the Egi/Fairy after they have used a fruit to cure themselves of Lung/burrs.

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Originally Posted by Byron_Wayne

Made it past the first boss with 1 person dying, a quick cast rez helped.
The last boss tho we couldn't get past. We kept trying til the time ran out.
Without a pet to help with healing it's damn impossible.

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How is eos dying on the last boss? I ran that to level to 50 and ifrit and garuda never died on the last boss from that aoe, granted I used sustain a couple times. They always died at least twice on the first one though. That first one's aoe hits pets for full strength as opposed to the last one which the pets take reduced damage from.
Unless Eos is taking full damage from the last boss's aoe which she shouldnt as smn pets do not, a couple sustains should keep her going. Hell alloquinn her ass.