Ravana Extreme

Ok so, I've spent all of Friday, Saturday, Sunday attempting to do Ravana Extreme. This doesn't include the past weekends I've attempted clearing this, that I pretty much lost count. I studied videos on repeat, I read guides and strats.

If people broke down each phase and perform each phase over and over, the fight becomes really easy. This is where I am. I just can't join a group to do the same thing. I understand learning parties are going to have a harder time, so due to my experience up until Final Liberation, I explain in detail - even offer them to join my VoiP server.

Every group I join, they can't get past Final Lib because: They step on fire, they double up on purple circles, they don't know where to go for Double Prey, Tanks do not take prey off, or the group can't break the Warlord Shell after Final Lib.

The point of this thread is: At what point do I just join a "Clearing PT - Must know all mechanics - No law bonus"?

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Originally Posted by Xyth

The point of this thread is: At what point do I just join a "Clearing PT - Must know all mechanics - No law bonus"?

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Probably once you cleared it, because otherwise that law bonus will pop up.

Or if you send a tell (whisper? What are they called in this game?) to the group leader explaining you understand the mechanics despite having not cleared it, you might get an invite.

You don't, unless you have no law bonus, or you check with the party leader first.

Yes, it sucks, but you'll get there eventually. You have to be more ruthless. Make an aim to clear party with must have experience to final lib - kick those who make stupid mistakes, keep those who don't. Repeat. There should be no doubling up on purple circles if people are clear about where their spot it. If you can't break the shell either people are dead or dps is awful.

Just got to get to know who is decent and who to keep around.

edit: I also notice you are on Excalibur, which is extremely populated, so I find it hard to believe you can't encounter decent people in your groups. Don't join or make "learning" groups, specify last phase exp only and if stupid mistakes kick/disband.

My suggestion would be to make a note of the ppl that are in your parties that don't screw up, I mean everyone makes mistakes from time to time, but if you form a party with those that don't, your odds of clearing it should be better. Hope you get your clear soon, and good luck.

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Originally Posted by duceTRE

I mean everyone makes mistakes from time to time, but if you form a party with those that don't

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Sounds impossible to find people who don't make mistakes.

Do you have a static/ FC/friends who could help? That will always be better than PUG.

I agree, contact the leader and let them know your experience. They may give you a try and if you blow it well.....pretty obvious they may kick you back out lol. I do agree though Ravana EX is one that really does help to have voice chat, my static can clear it flawlessly now and having our tank call out when to soak, when to prepare for big heals its like clockwork haha.

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Originally Posted by seida

edit: I also notice you are on Excalibur, which is extremely populated, so I find it hard to believe you can't encounter decent people in your groups. Don't join or make "learning" groups, specify last phase exp only and if stupid mistakes kick/disband.

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Extremely populated, yes. I'd expect a massive amount of "hardcore, endgame, focused" group of players, reason why I moved here. But it doesn't seem the case. Mind you, every group I created, went through the entire timer of the group. It has been long and enduring for each group.

Start PF -> Clear Party, 3 mess ups = kicked -> replace those who need replacing -> win.

It's the only way to do something like Ravana EX through PF.

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Originally Posted by Xyth

. Mind you, every group I created, went through the entire timer of the group. It has been long and enduring for each group.

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This is nice of you, and good for learning groups, but if it's an "aim to clear" group, and people make the same mistakes and it's clearly going nowhere, don't feel obligated to keep going. Many aim to clear groups have a 3 strikes and disband rule. By all means, if you think the group has decent potential then continue, but otherwise it's just going to waste your time.

Well, on my server during 2.0-2.2 days though the trend died after that they used to make linkshells specifically for people who have proven that they can dodge mechanics.

One was literally "I can Dodge Titan" or something like that. Anytime people were involved in a clear and they didn't die to anything, they'd be invited right in. It was very liberal with the invites and if someone was found to have false advertising from a friend letting them in or something two or three people would request to do a run with them to review and remove 'em if they seemed totally clueless, potentially removing invite permissions from the person who invited them.

They made a shell for each primal up until Leviathan I think... Maybe you could give that a try. Invite like-minded people who you're seeing are doing well, but stuck the same as yourself until you get a good network going. You'll likely want a bigger pool of people to draw from either way simply because the odds of getting your weapon in your first kill is pretty low and you may end up wanting to totem farm.

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Originally Posted by AlphaFox

I agree, contact the leader and let them know your experience. They may give you a try and if you blow it well.....pretty obvious they may kick you back out lol. I do agree though Ravana EX is one that really does help to have voice chat, my static can clear it flawlessly now and having our tank call out when to soak, when to prepare for big heals its like clockwork haha.

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There was one group I was in where the OT didn't pay attention to soak Blinding Blade. Luckily we were all on my VoiP server, and I called it out. "Tapasya just happened, get ready for Blinding Blade." Every freaking time lol. Being on healer, it's easy to see what's going to happen all around you >.<

Its k op its just that bads will be bads and getting grouped in with the bads cuz u have no other option sucks as you know ur ready for that clear.
Imo ppl who haven\\'t cleared but can teach others the mechanics deserve to be in a real clear party as they literally understand the mechanics enough to teach ppl it.

I join bis ex / rav ex clear parties all the time in attempts to help but 9/10 times i see are QUIET ppl who dunno the whole fight.
- ppl falling off during wind weather in bis ex
- tanks failing swaps in p2
-ppl dying to double prey
-ppl dying to quadrants
- off tank failing soaks
- other healer doesn\\'t know how to heal rav ex ( how u check this is dont heal p1 and see how bad the party gets hurt lol, they be spamming aoe heals and not pre healing before the busters )


" if you want to clear, you should start playing like you want to."
Anything lower than that means u want to get carried.

You can be positive all you want and say bs like
We can do it! :) or its ok we'll eventually get it
But if ur gonna play bad and ignore my help as i literally feed u the mechanics and explain to u what ur job is.
Then you deserve to be stuck in bis ex or rav ex. Those same ppl who are all positive 20 mins ago are the fools who vote abandon or call it. Then the whole party slowly crumbles as ppl say
- i gtg fc needs me
- i need a break
- * says nothing
- i need to go cuz my house is on fire


The huge problem is that you can help them alllllllll u want, but it'll only work if they can first help themselves.

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Originally Posted by seida

edit: I also notice you are on Excalibur, which is extremely populated, so I find it hard to believe you can't encounter decent people in your groups. Don't join or make "learning" groups, specify last phase exp only and if stupid mistakes kick/disband.

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I'm also on Excalibur with same experience as OP.

Most groups not listed as farm parties can't clear it, and those that have tend to not want to help those that haven't.

I also don't have the clear. Most of the mistakes in my runs are tank errors.

I just cleared Ravana last night!!!

In my experience the biggest problem people have is not with Liberation, but with the purple circles that come after it. Particularly for Swift Liberation (Divebombs), the area splits into 4 quadrants directly after that (bacon strips), and it always seems like players will drag multiple purple circles go to the same spot. You gotta have quick reaction speed because there is only about a second to choose which way you run before the bacon strips cut you off. The fire dot + purple circle is guaranteed K.O if you're not a tank blowing cooldowns, believe me I have tried using Vit Potions at this point and it doesn't help. Even 1 death here could spiral out of control into a future wipe, especially if it is a healer. There are many unavoidable AOE damage spikes in this fight that can kill you with Weakness, even at full health in high end gear (180+ and still die).

The best way I have found to pass this part is to...

(1) Set waymarks on DIAGONALS, not the traditional North/South/East/West. Instead put them on the intermediate directions of Southwest, Southeast, Northeast, Northwest. The bacon strips are always on the cardinal directions so the safe spots will be in the diagonal corners. It's easier to see, react, and run to the waymarks if they're the safe areas.
(2) Assign players to specific quadrants. There actually is a pattern on who gets marked. It should be 1 DPS and 1 tank or healer per spot. I won't go into detail why, but if you do it this way you will never get more than 1 circle per quadrant. It's a similar idea of assigning people to spots in Shiva EX (also similar that people will accidentally run to the wrong spots). DICUSS THIS BEFORE PULLING.

Sorry to hear about your Party Finder woes... I'm on Balmung, one of the most populated servers, and we have problems too. There are very few learning or clear parties, it's like most of the parties that show up in PF expect you to be flawlessly perfect. The few learning parties you find often can't pass Butterflies or worse can't break the first Shell. Sometimes it feels like there is no middle ground for people who know the fight but may not be able to execute it perfectly.

I will usually just PM the party leader, let them know my experience, and to look me up if they have trouble filling the position. Sometimes you hear back, sometimes you don't. I do notice a lot of weak links sneaking into those parties though. I kind of missed the VEX boat on Jenova, most of the capible pmayers cleared and got their weapons quickly. Now it seems more difficult to find those who are capible. You always seem to get a coupme cocky ones that are the downfall of the party.

that all depends on the party leader.
I was in a farm group for ramuh ex, and a tank who had never even tried the fight but read a guide wanted to join. We let him and we one shotted it and kept farming.
If we had another party leader maybe he would've refused him

plenty of PF farm parties in my server, and some learning from time to time :o

it takes some time if ppl go blind , because if u dont know the mechanics u are going to wipe over and over (like every other encounter) , if u were alive after blades u are more than ready to join farm parties , tell them and maybe they will let u join :D

This is the main problem I run into when I try to pug, so most of the time I can't get passed this part. For those that completed it, PLEASE correct me if I'm wrong. My assumption is, right after his 4 dashes from Swift Liberation, and transition into this phase, that these are the points where the purple circle marked players should stand to avoid double overlapping, right?

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h1...psrgcpungx.jpg

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Originally Posted by Xyth

This is the main problem I run into when I try to pug, so most of the time I can't get passed this part. For those that completed it, PLEASE correct me if I'm wrong. My assumption is, right after his 4 dashes from Swift Liberation, and transition into this phase, that these are the points where the purple circle marked players should stand to avoid double overlapping, right?

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h1...psrgcpungx.jpg

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We found its best to assign people clock numbers. 1/2/4/5/7/8/10/11. By your example A would be 9, B is 6, C is 3. When he starts dashing, if your area is free (as in he wont dash through it) run to your assigned spot. This way if you get purple you wont be overlapping anyone else should they also get it. I should also note we mark A/B/C at North, East and South

I approached your method several ways this phase. Tanks on A, Healers on B, Melee DPS on C, Ranged on D. If there's more than 2 melee DPS, then we'll assign.

EVEN THEN, they are disoriented on where to go after Swift Liberation. I think it boils down to, everyone rushes to the middle as fast as they can after the dash, when they don't realize the safe spot is also the areas after he dashed. For example, after he dash from A to B, then A area is cleared. Once he goes from B to C, then B area is cleared. Not everyone have to rush to the middle.

True, it can be a slight panic inducing section, perhaps a macro of "Run to your assigned area if its clear now"?

This SHOULD be the position right when Ravana dashes to D. The marked "4-sword" player should still be in that area, while everyone went towards the middle. At this point, no one knows where to go - the odds are, the marked purple circle players run in the same direction =_=.

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h1...psuemvepdo.jpg

Once he dashes from A to B, two people should run to the spot that is now free and wait. As for D, best advice is as soon as Ravana dashes to C, pop sprint and as soon as you see him come up dash to his spot. By the time ravana dashes to D (unmarked) everyone but those assigned between C and D should be in position. Also where you have the "?"s, that is how my static has the A/B/C/D set up, incase I didn't make it 100% in my last post. With the lines being, I assume, the fire?

Yeah, I kinda doodled really fast, cause I'm at work, do you see my professional MS Paint skills? :P. I tried many variations, including yours, where A is 1:30 on the clock, B is 4:30, C is 7:30, etc. The problem isn't the position, so much as people can't get to a certain spot. T_T

Everyone (without a sword) go to D (4 swords), the second ravana dashes to you, start running to the middle, after ravana dashed to A, everyone without a sword runs to the middle.

If you start running as he comes towards you, you don't get clipped twice and dont need sprint. Of course you can use ninja blink or dragoon jump as well. If you dont have the best connection, jump on the way to the middle so that the server recalculates your position.

Sadly can only do so much for people though, if you tell them where to go and they still can't even after telling them, its time to look for new members it seems.

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Originally Posted by Xyth

The point of this thread is: At what point do I just join a "Clearing PT - Must know all mechanics - No law bonus"?

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You don't, unless you talk to the party leader first. If the party enters the instance and gets a law bonus message, at best you'll get a "wtf law bonus? who's new?" reaction. At worst, people will immediately leave the instance.

Some party leaders may be willing to give you a chance to prove yourself though, so it never hurts to try.

I'd say that the worst part is that after playing long enough with bad parties, it tends to take a toll on you too. Ravana can be a pretty time consuming fight, and I know that I've gotten sloppy after hours of grinding him and dying to stupid stuff. I can't say much for finding other parties (since I'm in pretty much the same situation as you right now), but if you notice your performance starting to drop, especially around some pretty basic things, take a break and come back stronger for it. The only person who's performance you can guarantee is your own, and you don't want to be the guy dragging a party down.

On my server (which is JP) people tend to put up "Learning party from phase X onwards" and it has been this way for a long time.

Though, its always written in complete JP with Refer to comment (and so JP only). JP players tend to be honest and won't join if they really aren't up to phase X, so it might not work for you.

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Originally Posted by Sylkis

On my server (which is JP) people tend to put up "Learning party from phase X onwards" and it has been this way for a long time.

Though, its always written in complete JP with Refer to comment (and so JP only). JP players tend to be honest and won't join if they really aren't up to phase X, so it might not work for you.

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Which is completely the opposite here. People lie when joining PFs. They join recruits that specifically ask up until a certain phase (or now that we're at it, even farm parties) while not knowing anything of the fight. Too many people sneak in and ruin parties, it's unbelievable. And this is the reason people get "elitist" in PF and then others make threads on forums complaining about them. People got tired of wasting time.

Make a party yourself, and kick people when they make mistakes. Sure, everyone makes mistakes. But it better not happen in your party.

I'm in the same boat as you xith :'(

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Originally Posted by Xyth

Extremely populated, yes. I'd expect a massive amount of "hardcore, endgame, focused" group of players, reason why I moved here. But it doesn't seem the case. Mind you, every group I created, went through the entire timer of the group. It has been long and enduring for each group.

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There are a ton of people out doing these things, however most have already formed a clique or static to run with. I suggest putting up a pf that states "Must know up to final warlord shell, must have whatever Voice you use, and will be booted after 2 or 3 strikes." You wont get a clear if you try to be nice to everyone, there are a ton of people that are just bad at everything on excali and expect people to carry them.