ATMA is probably going to kill me...

Ok I'm prepared for a lot of negative feedback and I won't respond to it but the atma quest line is seriously effecting my health. There's absolutely no way of getting an atma in just a few minutes of grinding fates. It literally takes hours and in my case days. I try not to play more than 4 hours at a time but doing fates for the hope of an atma drop has caused me to have a seizure twice. I have epilepsy but I've grown up playing games, it's not something I wanna give up. I just don't understand how the developers can not acknowledge the negative health effects of making things in the game that require you to sit in front of your computer for hours at a time and not do something to address the problem. It is absolutely not healthy and with me being epileptic there is always a chance I could die from having a seizure.

Haha oh my god.

EDIT: But if you're serious, there are organizations that are designed to help you: contact your health insurance provider if you have one or a local community organization regarding addiction. There's nothing requiring you do to this and if you feel that it is a danger to your health and you still can't stop yourself, then you need to recognize that you need help.

EDIT2: I'm not trying to be sarcastic or a jerk - your health is the most important thing that you have and you having a particular class of relic as fast as other people is not that important at all. There is no content that you'd be able to complete with it that you wouldn't be able to do without it and you'll have plenty of time to get an i110 weapon. Take care of yourself first.

Yikes.
I kinda hope you're fibbing....but if not, there are alternatives if you're having a hard time doing Atma.
Seriously, just stop before you hurt yourself. Do what I'm doing...Get the Leviathan EX weapons and Ramuh EX weapon.
I believe they are both ilvl95 - ilvl100 respectively. It's more fun to try those ways too.
Also, no one is forcing you to do Atma. Your health is above all than this game.

Be safe. :)

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Originally Posted by Mugiawara

Yikes.
I kinda hope you're fibbing....but if not, there are alternatives if you're having a hard time doing Atma.
Seriously, just stop before you hurt yourself. Do what I'm doing...Get the Leviathan EX weapons and Ramuh EX weapon.
I believe they are both ilvl95 - ilvl100 respectively. It's more fun to try those ways too.
Also, no one is forcing you to do Atma. Your health is above all than this game.

Be safe. :)

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The problem is I've been told I can't do certain things because of my condition my whole life and I hate it. For me it's a matter of proving to myself that I can do it. I don't wanna be the outcast while everyone else gets their bragging rights because they got their novus weapon. I just dunno if my body can handle much more. *sigh* It's just not fair that normal people can go for hours and it's nothing and they even brag about it. Meanwhile if I try to do it to accomplish what they've done it could possibly kill me from a seizure.

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Originally Posted by Divine-Fist

...There's absolutely no way of getting an atma in just a few minutes of grinding fates. It literally takes hours...

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Ho yes, when the path to get weapons that are in the top 10 of the game takes more than some minute, there is sure a problem.

Then, if you decide to make things not healty for you, it is your own responsability and fault. If I want want go down my 5th floor faster than the elevator, I will not jump down the window (professional stuntmen does but with help at the end side, not recommended do it!) but will run the stairs. Developers cannot fix your way of dealing with things.

You might want to try out getting UAT from ST and buying the soldiery weapon instead.

Well you could go for the other option.

Do CT 2, get the unidentified tombstone, get 1500 soldiery and buy rowena tokens, go get your weapon and then get a sands of time and upgrade it.

You actually can get an atma in only a few fates. One of mine in la noscea dropped after only 2 fates. That being said, I've been working on the atma in central thanalan for four days and still havent seen it drop. It's completely random and very frustrating.

I can see why you wouldn't want to be left behind. I'm having that issue myself. Most of my friends either have their animus/novus or are at least working on books. I can't even get all the atmas yet. There is the option of going after the weapons from coil/ramuh/levi instead, but I would like to move past this stupid atma part with RNG and work on books. My myth tomes are just being wasted at this point when i know they could go towards books.

If this is affecting your health, I suggest taking a break. Usually you can feel when a seizure is right about to happen. I suggest doing like I have to do a lot of the time. Farm for an hour or two, then get up and grab a snack/nap/restroom break (whatever gets you away from the screen for a couple of minutes), and then come back and try it again. If it gets frustrating then switch to another task. Run a dungeon/fish/craft and then switch back to the atma. Long sitting sessions aren't good for any players, seizure or not.

I had been farming Atma in Outer La Noscea (for Atma of the Lion) since the option to farm Atma became available to me. That was about a couple of weeks ago. I didn't get the Atma of the Lion until a couple of hours before tonight's maintenance.

But, in all honesty, don't go so far as to have it adversely affect your health. One of my brother also has seizures, I'm prone to frequent migraines. I try to take breaks often, but I tend to forget. Perhaps it is best to consider alternatives until you can come back and grind later. Maybe you'll get lucky and get an atma during your time. But always think of your health first.

Haha... you should congratulate me for that, I finally got 1 atma from a fate today, and I have been doing fates for at least 5 hours a day if not 8... since the day atma was a thing. Let's see how long it's gonna take me to get the rest of them.

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Originally Posted by Divine-Fist

It is absolutely not healthy and with me being epileptic there is always a chance I could die from having a seizure.

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Jesus christ. Stop trying to get ATMA, or stop playing. It is not the Devs responsibility to protect you from darwinism.

(This is not a defense of the ATMA system, this is an attack on stupid)

Divine, I am like you and this is my opinion, health is the most important thing, atmas are RNG, it has nothing to do on wheather you are able or not to do it, we all are able to do it, some will take them yeras (I exagerate) others just matters of minutes (i exagerate here too), it has nothing to do with you being able to achieve this it is not in your hands, it doesnt depend on you at all. Once you know this, and since I am in the same boat as you, just dont bother with Atmas, do fates when you come accross them and otherwise as suggested find an alternative way of reaching the end goal and more importantly enjoy the game and dont take it too seriously and you will see that you will achieve the same and in a far better state of mind.

Mei

TC, I've farmed 36 atmas and I'm still alive, though don't know for how long xD. But I get what you mean, it's extremely frustrating...the best way to deal with it is by trying "not to play the game" while you do it, keep watching films or series or something, learn to deal with the grind, that's not the perfect cure, because even if you do that and the atma doesn't drop in like 7-8 hours it's still very frustrating...but at least for me it has done the whole thing a bit more manageable. Do not sit in front of your computer for 4 straight hours nonstop doing atmas, it will destroy your nervous system, and can even cause an anxiety attack if you are prone to these things.
Still, if you can't manage it, avoid it. Health>relic.
I too think this content is terrible and frustrating to a point that can lead you to anxiolytics depending on your mood state.

I am healthy, I still don't have 1 atma, I don't atma fate grinding much, and I am not planning to do it more then is good for me.
It is just a game, I want to enjoy it, doing fate grinding for more the 3 hours, I refuse that, so I don't do it.

I don't need it, what I do need is good health.
ATMA is about patience. I do it when I want for few hours, then I stop.

Everyone who stopping more time in it then is good for them, (be it sickness or frustration) Has the wrong priorities in a game.
Don't do that, it is not worth it, no game is worth it.

While I would take me years in how much I play and spent time on atma, I don't want it to change, i like this patience battle.
But that is just my opinion.

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Originally Posted by Ampheni

Haha... you should congratulate me for that, I finally got 1 atma from a fate today, and I have been doing fates for at least 5 hours a day if not 8... since the day atma was a thing. Let's see how long it's gonna take me to get the rest of them.

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You've been running fates for a minimum of 40 hours a week for more than 3 months? That seems believable.

Wait till you get to "novus" stage!

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Originally Posted by Laf

Wait till you get to "novus" stage!

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There's nothing frustrating about the Novus/Animus. You can set your own pace and literally spend half an hour every day and progress very nicely through it. Try spending half an hour every day for the atma quest and tell me how lovely it is having 2 after an entire month.

An atma isn't more important than your life. You don't need to do it.

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Originally Posted by Gallus

There's nothing frustrating about the Novus/Animus. You can set your own pace and literally spend half an hour every day and progress very nicely through it. Try spending half an hour every day for the atma quest and tell me how lovely it is having 2 after an entire month.

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I agree completely. You can start a session of Atma farming not knowing whether or not you'll be any closer to your goal at the end of the day. This is not the case with Novus and especially Animus. Animus, there's a very clear set of tasks to complete, and once you complete them they are progress towards completion. Novus, as long as you don't try to farm Alexandrites from FATEs, is similarly straightforward (unless you happen to pop a set of treasure map mobs you can't handle; I can solo any Alexandrite map on PLD except for the Cyclops).

UAT (dropped by the last boss in ST) + 1300 Sold (10 Rowena Token) > i100. Then farm 1 Sand of Time by hunting a bit. Then you can upgrade it to 110.

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Originally Posted by Farah

You actually can get an atma in only a few fates. One of mine in la noscea dropped after only 2 fates. That being said, I've been working on the atma in central thanalan for four days and still havent seen it drop. It's completely random and very frustrating.

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I think that there is some zone-by-zone drop rate mechanism working behind the scenes. I've been working hard at Thanalan as well, hours and hours whenever I can spare the time and have seen nothing. But as I was leveling other jobs in FATE parties, La Noscea always seemed to drop for people quickly. I'm looking forward to it, but I still think something should be done. Perhaps they should cap the amount of FATES in a zone - 30 FATES with a gold and you get a drop whether RNG gods love you or not. I don't think that's unfair, even make it 50 if people REALLY think the grind is somehow indicative of skill and necessary for this dated content that is just a roadblock to the next stage of the weapon (meaning the current leg of the quest isn't EVEN current, so why do people still argue it should be left the same?)

Atma wasn't so bad just took time and I got them. Seemed like it was going to take forever.
Ya I got some within a few fate but others took weeks.

Now the real grid, If you are still spending myth on gear the 1500 per book sucks.

Everytime I use crack, there is a chance I could die.
But I grew up on crack so I'll continue to use it.
Good job SE :/

Not to sound unempathetic, my little brother suffers from such bad epilepsy that he had a seizure a few weeks back, fell and broke his jaw. So I know the seriousness of it.
But SE doesn't ask that you sit and grind these fates for 4 hours at a time. You could do 1 or 2 per day and keep your health in tact. Sure, it's slower. But if you are making yourself do it all the time, you're technically causing your own health problems.

Also, I don't actually use crack >.<

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Originally Posted by Divine-Fist

I just don't understand how the developers can not acknowledge the negative health effects of making things in the game that require you to sit in front of your computer for hours at a time and not do something to address the problem.

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But they do acknowledge it, and it is addressed. The game comes with a Photosensitivity/Epilepsy/Seizure warning.

I'm sorry to hear about your situation, but SE can't be expected to nanny its userbase. We all have a personal responsibility to take care of ourselves.

believe it I did that for two weeks and stopped....from 8pm till midnight.. and I got no atmas whatsoever.
Mei

What I did when farming atma was only do 1-2 hours at a time. Always used my chocobo so I could know how much time I spent. I.e. quit for the day after my 4th chocobo summon was used. Also I noticed if you haven't gotten a drop within a hour of being in the zone, switch to another zone. This I feel is the least stressful way to farm them. I have multiple classes with zenith weapon so I also switched up classes every now and then and had better luck with drops.

Just try and keep in mind that this quest line was made to take a long time to finish. Sure there are people with Novus already, but the majority of players are still working on them. Don't rush it, and don't stress yourself out over it. It'll happen when it happens

Do what I do... take it easy, do it when there is nothing to do, and don't take it seriously. I only did it when I was bored and I had nothing to do (in game or IRL) and just put on some music, chatted with the fc, and chilled. Completed it in 2 weeks?

If you think that's bad, one time ATMA tricked me into making out with my dad at a party.

OP:
http://i.imgur.com/yWnNhoa.png

A similar message should be in your game manual.

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Originally Posted by Divine-Fist

It is absolutely not healthy and with me being epileptic there is always a chance I could die from having a seizure.

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Personal responsibility goes a long way. Stop ATMA hunting/playing if you're worried about that whole death thing.

Be sure to spirit bond too. This will help you get a headstart on your Novus materia as well :D

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Originally Posted by Divine-Fist

It's just not fair that normal people can go for hours and it's nothing and they even brag about it. Meanwhile if I try to do it to accomplish what they've done it could possibly kill me from a seizure.

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As an epileptic myself, I can say with certainty that your condition is not something that you want to get into the mentality of 'proving yourself'. Although I can understand where you're coming from (and have, on more than one occasion succumbed to this line of thinking), it's more or less a ridiculous stance to take. Moreso, the projection that you are 'abnormal' (and that you need to be catered to) does both yourself, and the rest of us (epileptics and gamers alike), a disservice. Most people have health concerns, and there are a myriad of options and consequences related to caring for one's health. This desire to 'fix' content relevant to your own personal condition implies that you are ill equipped to make your own informed decisions. My case may be vastly different than yours, but I have had tonic-clonic seizures since I can remember. Thus, the breakdown for me happens this way; I do thing A [contains epileptic trigger(s)] for a certain amount of time. I begin experiencing petite-mal contractions. I STOP exposing myself to said triggers immediately, take a break and rehydrate. Once I have leveled out and am confident I can resume... I continue doing the things 'everyone else' can do. Taking care of your health is no one's responsibility but your own, and grinding away for 6-8 hours at a time is no less unhealthy for a person with zero pre-existing conditions. If you are photosensitive, try turning off or limiting outside players combat effects.I'm really not trying to be a jerk about this, but in my youth I had enough people prodding at my condition and making jokes at my expense to account for many people's lifetimes. The implications of this thread strike an unpleasant chord with me. I do hope and urge you to find a balance that works for you, and understand that more than simply killing or (more likely) inducing a coma in you... These seizures ARE doing damage. You need to be cognizant of them and protect yourself. Your health is more important than any piece of content for any game ever made. I just noticed you're on cactuar... maybe I'll see ya around in game. Until then, [Take care.]

Yeah, like Skander said, take more frequent breaks and set character effects of other players to limited. Even without having your condition, I find that setting very helpful especially while playing as monk during raids and trials as all those effects (especially from black mages) can really obscure the target circle and make it difficult to see where you need to be to hit your positional attacks.

Yeah the whole Atma thing is really bad game design. The books which you upgrade your weapon with is a cool idea, but really bad made. I just wasted half an hour in a dungeon because I weren't alive when the boss died...

sorry for that but seriously Atma farming should be easier. My first Zenith took like a month to get because Titan Hard was near impossible (ahh the memories) but the quest to get it was fun. I just got my 5th Zenith and it only took like 3-4 hour of non intense gameplay did all three hard primals in just 30 min. there just jokes to me now. And now there we get Giant Myth dumps that help with Animus which I much gladly appreciate. theres no excuse why atmas are still the way they are.

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Originally Posted by Divine-Fist

Ok I'm prepared for a lot of negative feedback and I won't respond to it but the atma quest line is seriously effecting my health. There's absolutely no way of getting an atma in just a few minutes of grinding fates. It literally takes hours and in my case days. I try not to play more than 4 hours at a time but doing fates for the hope of an atma drop has caused me to have a seizure twice. I have epilepsy but I've grown up playing games, it's not something I wanna give up. I just don't understand how the developers can not acknowledge the negative health effects of making things in the game that require you to sit in front of your computer for hours at a time and not do something to address the problem. It is absolutely not healthy and with me being epileptic there is always a chance I could die from having a seizure.

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Yes, Atma is awful. For now, just take it in small chunks and don't worry about not having it. Do fates in one zone for 30 min, if you do not get a drop, go do something else or pick a different zone. I do not have the same health issues as you do, but for my first atma, I did a very, very solid grind for about a week. However, in hindsight, I regret it. It was not worth it and wished I had not focused on it so intently to the exclusion of everything else (and I'm saying this after earning my novus). I would not stress over this.

As was mentioned before, the *sane* way to an i110 weapon is to go to Syrcus Tower and get an unidentified tomestone, and use that to turn into a Weathered i100 weapon (Animus equivalent). Then join the hunt and earn 750 seals to get a single sand and you'll have a weapon that's every bit as good as the Novus with infinitely less stress. Just remember on the hunts that you won't make every hunt, you'll miss some and that's ok. If you keep joining groups and join a few hunt LSs you'll find some good people to hunt with and you'll be more successful at it. It's also usually better if you can hunt late night or early morning (fewer people usually means less competition and less drama), but I don't know how plausible that is for your condition.

I can understand how you feel. I am dyslexic and have ADD. And I understand how you want to be "normal" . Your health is most important. I am also working on Atma it is boring as hell and some times it can get pretty overwhelming with all of the visuals going on and doing the fates for 4 hrs or more and not one drop can be pretty frustrating and annoying. I suggest to spacing out the fates and not to worry about people and what weapons they have. Just work on the tomes and have fun.

I feel your pain, it took me two months to get my first atma, and it's looking like it'll be another two months before I get my next one. The stress actually DID put me in the hospital for a week. (not the only factor mind you, but it certainly didn't help.)

I thought I'd chime in with my own view as an epileptic as well (before the devs make any hasty decisions). I have grand mal seizures that last up to 15 minutes, and have been diagnosed with epilepsy for the last 18 years.

First of all, using the disease as a scapegoat or an excuse to modify content is a disgrace and puts other epileptics in a bad light. Sure, living with seizures isn't easy, but that means you have to take more responsibility for your own actions and condition.

Second, simply having seizures doesn't inherently KILL someone. Over the nearly 2 decades I've gone into fits, I've had 8 at work (around heavy machinery and forklifts, as I work on CNCs), 1 in an airport, a few in parking lots, 3 while riding my bike on the sidewalk, 2 while getting out of the shower, and countless times at school. At home in a padded chair is probably one of the safest places you could possibly be to NOT be killed.

Lastly, as was mentioned before, you can feel seizures coming on about 10-30 minutes before they happen. My neurologist knows this to be true with almost everyone she sees, and if you can't tell when it's coming, you're not very aware of your own condition. Just like Hunts in this game, if you write down what time of day they happen and how many days apart, you'll start to see patterns and be able to predict them (unless you're not taking your meds >.>)

Sorry for the rant, but blaming SE's content is simply bad form.

Learn to follow a horde farming fates in the zone you need (or form a small group to do it with you). The faster you are able to complete fates, the better your chance of getting the drop.

This is basically why the Zodiac Clock method appears to work for so many. It isn't the fact they are farming Leo from 8:00 to 9:00 JST--it is because a boat load of others are also there farming the fates at the same time. When you are knocking out fates in something like a 2 minute cycle, you dramatically increase the success rate.

For the record, I followed the clock when it was aligned with the zones I needed. For zones I had already cleared, I focused on another zone that wouldn't line up with my play schedule (like I went for Taurus at 9:00 JST , because I already had Pisces and I rarely get home before 5:00 JST during the week). I got all 12 atmas in 10 days this way.