Instanced Fights

I'm all for learning, really.

But I doubt I'm getting much from the school of hard-knocks right now.

Simply put, I'm having issues in instanced fights that could be tied to any number of deficiencies on my part. I did the first fight with the conjurer just fine, and the one with the golem after that. I did the first few class quests just fine.

Then I hit lvl 15 and I go from 1 NPC and a few mobs to several NPCs and several mobs. I have no clue what was going on and one of the NPCs goes down. Duty failed, tried again, and cheesed through it with Echo, still without a clue of what's going on.

I go through the next story quests at Moraby Drydocks and instanced fight there. Going okay.

Then comes the Swiftperch instanced fight and again, duty failed. Some NPC I didn't even know was there goes down. I want to try it again but I really don't want to just Echo through everything because I'm a total bonehead that can't play his class at lvl 17.

Almost every solo instanced fight comes down to the same formula: Stay near the friendly NPCs (they will almost always cure you if you get low on HP), dodge AOEs, attack one enemy at a time (not the main enemy if there is one), ignore the other enemies until your target is dead. If you get down to the boss NPC and more adds spawn, start over with the adds again until they're dead.

There are a few exceptions, but that will get you through most of them.

It sounds like maybe you're talking about Feint and Strike, so try this guide if you are. If not, googling for "FFXIV ARR [insert name of quest here]" usually brings up a guide or a forum post with the same problem and the solution(s).

There is (that I've seen) only 1 NPC you have to keep alive in each instance. The others are just helpful.
Otherwise:

1. Keep your own NPC healer alive
2. Kill the enemy healers
3. Then keep your dps alive / kill the enemy mages
4. Kill off / tank / kite any other adds
5. When everything else is dead, focus on the boss

Also food helps. The instanced fights relying on keeping an NPC alive can be frustrating at times, particularly the ACN ones where she likes running off.

Overall, unless all enemies have a level of ??, dont attack those until all visible level mobs are dead.

For the level 15 quest you want to focus on the Gargoyle first. That's all I'll say without spoiling the quest.

Bixby game some other good general tips though.

Thanks Bixby, and also to everyone else. And yes, I'm referring to "Feint and Strike", just couldn't think of the name at the time.

I have some questions before I just go back and try it again, because I really want to learn as much as I can so I don't get completely walled off by the genuinely difficult fights.

1. I picked Arcanist knowing really nothing about it. My friend started in Limsa Lomisa, and I prefer mage jobs when I can, so that's kinda what I went with. So in essence, I'm not used to having Carbuncle, at all. As helpful as the little guy is, I've never had to actually "use" him until these instanced fights. Not a question, I know, but this just shows how much of a mess I'm in.

2. I plan on, after having my friend explain to me what ARC develops into later, going with SCH. Just... how much from my ARC experience will carry over when I pick up SCH later? By "experience", I mean the things I'm learning/not learning right now as ARC.

3. I have more but... char limit.

Apologies if I double post before someone could answer, but this is continuing my questions.

3. Following from 1., is there anything I can do out in the field to catch up from what I missed? I'm sure I was supposed to pick up on something with Topaz Carby besides just summoning him for when I need a tank, but that fight's been Echo'd (as I mentioned before) and gone. The sad thing is, I never run into problems out in the field since it's just me and Carbuncle to keep track of.

4. This is probably the big thing I'm having issues with. I've noticed that I can't tab to target NPCs. Is there a way to pick out an NPC to heal when they're mobbed together? What about how to find out just how many NPCs there are and which ones are the ones to keep alive? And which ones have hate from which mobs? The more questions I ask the more I feel terrible about all this. Ugh.

Editing a post ignores the 1000 char limit, fyi

I don't remember the game giving a lot of instruction about topaz. It acts like a tank though - it's abilities generate more aggro than normal but overall its dps is less. It's also tougher than emerald.

Tabbing onto NPCs .. not normally. You have to mess with some of the settings first. I'm afraid I can't think of which menu right now... The default settings have tab only going through mobs when your weapon is out. That's what you need to change. Otherwise use a mouse if you are on a pc.
As for finding out how many NPCs there are and which ones are being aggroed on, no. You can't even tell which mobs party members have aggro from. The only real way to check aggro is with the 'action lines' in the game when they show up.

SCH is still about pet management .. it's just the pet does heals instead of attacks. You'll need to learn a new set of skills related to the SCH heals and how they work, but the ACN skills are still needed.

For Feint And Strike, make sure you have some antidotes and that they are on your hotbar.

Firstly, no need to feel ashamed for asking for help. ^^
While I can't give advice on ACN, generally though whatever you learn from your class you can use for your future job.
That being said, I can tell you a bit about the mission~
Although, it seems that you have gotten good advice from a number of people already! ^^

There will be two waves of mobs.
For both waves you want to take out the healers first. After healers are down take out the casters then the dd's.
Save the "special" mob- usually one with the name or the ?? above the head.

After the two waves go down you will go into a special fight.
Focus only on the gargoyle and you will be fine.

If you're having HP/MP problems you can also try getting a few HP/MP pots.

I just noticed you're from Goblin server.
I usually play on Goblin myself. If you need additional assistance, an fc/ls, or just want people to chat with, feel free to hit me up.
My characters name is Bisera Cecilina.
My time zone is GMT-5, EST US/Canada. ^^

Hi Ninster
I will try help a little. I main WHM, but have my Scholar/Summ in the 30s, so have some exp :)

1. Dont worry too much. Early on (where you are now) your pet management is relatively limited. You can control carbie from his hotbar. At most, during those lower levels I used Sic and Heel. Sic for when I wanted him to distract something/one, or start the fight. And Heel, for when he went mental and attacked stuff I didnt want him to (i.e. a bystander enemy, not my fight target)

2. SCH is fun. But with it, and SMN, you will need to be more mindful of your pet as you level. You most the skills you learn, as SCH your pet can heal and you can DPS, so you dont become fully heal-fest. You might, though, want to think about your Bonus Stat points. If you are heading to SCH then MND is your focus. You can always Cleric Stance then for your DPS

3. Try some simple fights in open world with your carbies using the basics, like Sic and Heel, Steady etc. Like I said you dont use them too much in the lower levels (until about level 20 I used instant cast BioI as a form of Sic for Topaz, as right away he heads for your target and usually has him tanked before the enemy can get to you), but have a go at Sic...couple of dots, and then some different commands. See what he does, and work out your friendship :)

4. This can be adjusted in the Target Filter section of your Settings. There are numerous options, and as a mix of Healer and DPS (as SCH will be) you need to be able to tab through team and enemy. There are many different options (you can even turn off targetting others pets etc). I think the one you need is NPC, Team and Enemy. I can't remember exactly the "text" name.

And most of all - have fun! I like my SCH and SMN, and play them on the side when I'm narked with my WHM, and fancy just playing with my friends on our lower characters

Hi Ninster.

I started to play recently and maybe I'm not the one who should give you tips, but I did those instances without any problems so maybe I can help you with the Arcanist fighting style:

This is how I did those. First of all I added to my regular crossbar (or hotbar) the 'Sync' action of the pet, it is useful because that way you can choose who the pet must attack in case you need the carbuncle fighting someone (And for example not losing time with the main enemy NPC). It happened to me a lot in my first fates and other things, I didn't know how to control carbuncle well and it lost time attacking the boss while the other monsters were attacking me. Now that I have an easy access to sync I have the mania to say the pet which target should attack. But be careful with sync, can be annoying if you are not targeting anyone and you use joystick... The best way is to select an enemy and then use sync.

I have two ways to do it, normally If I see many enemies, I start selecting all of them and casting miasma, then bios. Once everyone is poisoned the pet and I focus on destroying one of the enemies. After that, miasma and poison again to everyone and focus in another target... And so on. Then against the boss, always check its status, be sure to always deal miasma and bios, and if they are already active, use ruin. You should also have a energy drain 'reserve'. I mean you use aetherflow but don't use the energy drain until you have another aetherflow or your health - MP is having trouble.

Like the others commented, the main trick is to finish first the healers and overall, everyone in the instance except the final boss.

With the topaz carbuncle everything is slower but easier when you are alone, you first send the topaz to attack with sync, then when it gained the attention of all the enemies you start using bios, miasma, and ruin if the enemies or enemy already have bios and miasma. If carbuncle is having HP problems you can use physick and heal it. (In level 18 or so, It becomes even better because you have a skill for healing the pet automatically, "Sustain").

Also, the meal I use when fighting is "Raisins" increases the spell speed if I remember right.

I hope to be of help ^^.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ninster

I have more but... char limit.

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The forums only check for the character limit when initially submitting a post, and not when editing it. So the workaround people use is to post the first part, then edit it to add the rest. (It's a good idea to write out the whole thing in advance, so you can just cut and paste to add it all in when editing. That way, you can get your entire post up quickly almost as soon as you initially post it.)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ninster

3. Following from 1., is there anything I can do out in the field to catch up from what I missed? I'm sure I was supposed to pick up on something with Topaz Carby besides just summoning him for when I need a tank, but that fight's been Echo'd (as I mentioned before) and gone. The sad thing is, I never run into problems out in the field since it's just me and Carbuncle to keep track of.

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That's the main difference between them. Emerald Carbuncle does more damage, but Topaz Carbuncle can hold aggro and can withstand more damage from the mobs. During most dungeons, you're going to want Emerald Carbuncle, because there will be someone else there to tank for the group and you're supposed to be providing DPS, which Emerald is better at. But Topaz Carbuncle is very useful during solo content as he can keep mobs off of you (and in the case of these duties that have you fighting alongside NPCs, can help keep some of the mobs off them as well).

There's some more minor differences as well. Topaz fights from up close to the mobs, while Emerald can stay further back and fight at range. When you want to pull one mob away from a larger group and not have to fight them all at once, you want to start off with a ranged attack. So if you have Emerald Carbuncle out, you could start by using Sic to have him attack the mob you want to pull, but if you have Topaz out, then you'd want to pull the mob with an attack of your own and have Topaz take aggro back from you after you've brought the mob closer.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ninster

4. This is probably the big thing I'm having issues with. I've noticed that I can't tab to target NPCs. Is there a way to pick out an NPC to heal when they're mobbed together? What about how to find out just how many NPCs there are and which ones are the ones to keep alive? And which ones have hate from which mobs? The more questions I ask the more I feel terrible about all this. Ugh.

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There are settings you can configure under the Target Filter section of your Character Settings. How they work depends on whether you're on PC or PS3 (or I guess more accurately, whether you're using keyboard/mouse or a controller). I can only describe the PS3 settings (which are similar to using a controller with PC). If you're using a keyboard and mouse, maybe someone else can help with that.

With a controller, there's two ways you can handle targeting, and the default one doesn't work the best. If you go into the target filters section of character settings, there's a section for setting what you want to target based on whether your weapon is drawn or not, and another section below it for manually choosing what types of things to target.

Disable the top part, about choosing what to target based on whether your weapon is drawn or sheathed. That part is rather buggy and in any case doesn't allow much flexibility if you want to target different things at different times.

Enable the section below it, that lets you set up to four targeting groups. Each is configurable. For instance, I have L1+[square] set to switch my system to only targeting mobs (useful when focusing on DPS). Then L1+[circle] sets it to only targeting players (useful when healing). L1+[triangle] sets it to targeting everything. You could also set one of them to targeting specifically NPCs, or else include NPCs along with players in your healing setup. Once you use the L1+(whatever) to choose a targeting group, then the right/left directional buttons will only cycle between members of that group until you use L1+(something else) to change to a different targeting group.

My primary class is Arcanist. I also play on the PS3. For this particular quest, I found it easy to pre-target the named NPC (since that's the only one you need to keep alive) before they get into the fray. I kept close to him while targeting the adds and eventually the gargoyle. Since I could always see the character that I have to keep alive it was easy to target him and use physick.

Of course, this becomes more a pain in the ass once you get to the lvl 30 Arcanist quest...

Also, I didn't know that the PS3 had targeting filters. Thank you for that bit of knowledge.

There is an option to show NPC-Life(HP)-Bar only when they received damage. This greatly helped me with my Conjurer quests.

Thanks again, everyone, I tried the fight and cleared it this time, with less trouble. Although there a few spots where things got out of hand, like when the voidsent showed up before I'd cleared everything else, or when I noticed that for once I was the one about to go down. But at least I could see which NPCs I needed to keep an eye on.

The... fight after that caught me off guard, but that was really nothing. Only me and the mob to keep track of.

I'm really enjoying this game, even after tripping up here, but I just don't want to get to the end-game festivities and completely flop on all of'em. I'm well aware of how hard the community can be on its fellow players for not knowing what they're doing. Granted, I'm already in an FC with my friend, but for those cases when I have to reach out... I don't want to be the load.

Again, thanks for the advice, everyone. I hope I don't have come back here when the NEXT instanced fight shows up.