To Kill a Raven [Fight Review](Spoilers)

I truly must hand it to the developers. Despite 1.0 being a temporary fix for us current players, I am extremely pleased with the latest two major fights.

Between United We Stand and To Kill a Raven, I am very happy to see how the game is being handled. The storyline and music never fail. Beyond that, the fight mechanics were just beautifully done. I wish to speak of the actual fight mechanics. Server congestion does not factor in here.

My thoughts on going into the fight blind were "If I have to dodge meteors, I'm gonna be pissed." Sure enough, there they were, raining from the sky, and yet I wasn't pissed at all. In fact, I think it added a spectacular element to the fight.

While it may take some figuring out for many groups, this is sure to be a well remembered fight and the only sad thing about it is that after 2.0's release, it will no longer be made available.

Also, the final cutscene was outstanding.

Overall, very excellent work. I look forward to the future of FFXIV more than ever.

I hope my Linkshell will let me watch the Cutscene before the fight, Would fit the mood seeing this is the final boss. I bet it will look very cool.
Everytime I go somewhere that's "new" for me, everyone in that party im in gets upset at me for wanting to watch them for the first time, when they just "skip ahead starting the timer".
(I know I can watch it after I complete the quest in the Inn, but I would be really nice if I could just watch them first then skip them after I seen them.)

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Originally Posted by KatoKinko

I hope my Linkshell will let me watch the Cutscene before the fight, Would fit the mood seeing this is the final boss. I bet it will look very cool.
Everytime I go somewhere that's "new" for me, everyone in that party im in gets upset at me for wanting to watch them for the first time, when they just "skip ahead starting the timer".
(I know I can watch it after I complete the quest in the Inn, but I would be really nice if I could just watch them first then skip them after I seen them.)

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I'm sure they will. They should anyways. Hell, I was in a pickup group and we all watched the opening CS and the after CS together.

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Originally Posted by Alerith

I'm sure they will. They should anyways. Hell, I was in a pickup group and we all watched the opening CS and the after CS together.

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Thank you, I went with a pickup group just to see the CS, (Knew we would lose the battle) but they wouldn't let me watch the CS. It kinda killed my excited mood when I was fighting the guy. :(
It was fun for sure and would fight him again. But still...
I know this is a MMO, but it's still a video game and I really want to enjoy it.

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Originally Posted by KatoKinko

Thank you, I went with a pickup group just to see the CS, (Knew we would lose the battle) but they wouldn't let me watch the CS. It kinda killed my excited mood when I was fighting the guy. :(
It was fun for sure and would fight him again. But still...
I know this is a MMO, but it's still a video game and I really want to enjoy it.

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I'm with you on that. I always like to see the intro and end cutscene the first time.
However I simply go t(-_-t) to those that complain about it or
http://i0.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/...it_dog_gif.gif

We are all paying customers for a game that we bought to enjoy. This is going to sound selfish but I play this and any other game for my enjoyment in the first place. Not someone else. And you should do the same. In short, just ignore those people and enjoy the cutscenes. It's what I do. (I do however try not to waste too much time in the intro cutscenes.)

After just completing this fight I am truly pleased. The ending cs was spectacularly done, and it truly felt like a FF, I am grateful that I never left this game, and if things continue in this direction, 2.0 will blow people off of their feet. Honestly, this game just went up on my list of , 'best story.' Sucks for people who play in 2.0 and missed this hell of a ride, but I'm sort of sad that this fight will be gone. It is a really fun fight, and one I'll be sad to see leave.

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Originally Posted by RathSkybreaker

After just completing this fight I am truly pleased.

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Agreed. Not only was this fight challenging, it was very fresh and unique compared to everything we've seen in XIV to date. All the different strategies that need to be executed throughout the various phases were really innovative, and a ton of fun to learn and execute.

I was also ecstatic to finally have a fight other than Miser that I could play my Monk on. The fight was very balanced in it's mechanics that it allowed for a full range of jobs to participate. Our winning composition was two White Mages, two Black Mages, one Bard, one Warrior, one Dragoon, and yours truly on Monk. Took us a good portion of the night bashing our heads against both Deus Darnus himself (In case anyone didn't notice, his name changes in phase 2. :>) and the notorious server congestion phase.

It's been awhile since I've erupted into cheer alongside my fellow raid members after defeating a boss. Feels good.

Thank you, Yoshida, and the rest of the team for bringing about an awesome battle. Great way to kick off the beginning of the end.


Video link.

Awesome fight.

I was extremely impressed with the design of the Allagan Empire's technology/architecture.

I hope there's an expansion where we get to loot some ruins for tasty tech/weapon combos and possibly unlock some interesting jobs. *hint hint wink wink nudge nudge*

What I liked is that the battle basically removed Animation Lock (doesn't seem to let you WS prior to teleportation) and gives more than enough time to avoid his TP moves, eg: lag has been accounted for

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Originally Posted by Churchill

What I liked is that the battle basically removed Animation Lock (doesn't seem to let you WS prior to teleportation) and gives more than enough time to avoid his TP moves, eg: lag has been accounted for

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don't know what your talking about. I've been locked into animation over 100 times right at a teleport and have been hit multiple times as a result. Also screwed up a lot of combos that way (I was tanking).

Prolly need to upgrade that 56k then lol

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Originally Posted by Churchill

Prolly need to upgrade that 56k then lol

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i'm on the fasted internet connection in Toronto Canada. And I have other friends who play who have the same issues. Faster than most connections in the US. From all the ifrit threads it seems it has little to do with your internet connection and more to do with your proximity to servers?

I mean at one point in time there were threads in the tech forum where a lot of canadians (and a few europeans) were lagging out of the game every 10 min or so.

Well, in my experience in the fight, it seemed like they purposefully designed it to have an inordinate amount of time to dodge everything. There was a time where I did manage to lock myself with bloodletter (worst WS ever) and still had time to move and I only unlocked after he ported and began his laser beam animation.

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Originally Posted by Vydos

http://i0.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/...it_dog_gif.gif

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Lol. I did this earlier for the middle cutscene. I was tanking so they had to wait. I lol'd.

I always watch the entry cs the first time I do a fight/ raid.

The problem many have about not letting anyone watch the CS is due to the timer. If the timer was not factor in whenever you are watching the CS, I don't think there would be a problem letting people watch it.

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Originally Posted by HamHam

The problem many have about not letting anyone watch the CS is due to the timer. If the timer was not factor in whenever you are watching the CS, I don't think there would be a problem letting people watch it.

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You have plenty of time though. 30 minutes are more than enough to kill both forms and watch CSes without any issue.
Same goes for every other fight really.

I spent almost 7 hours slamming my head against this fight last night.

And damned if I didn't have a good time doing it. the style of the fight, the area, the music. every thing perfect.

As far as final boss fights go. this is in my top 10.

love the battlefield. love the fight. haven't even beaten it yet. love this fight. loved united we stand too. great job SE!

I didn't beat him last night, but the Before CS, The Fight with the Music, after beating Phase 1 thought I was done.. Nope As an Awesome Final Boss He his, He Combines his powers with Dalamud, and Glows Bright Red making him look like he has the Nail-Tails Chakra Surrounding him ( From Naruto). Get out of that CS, Music plays Epically placed and Kills us for 9999 Damage, I was like Wow he's Pissed.

I may have not beaten him yet, but this is a True FF Final Boss, Yoshida, I'm more Excited for 2.0 then ever before, Thank you for the Wonderful Experience!

That song Cracks me up.. I keep thinking he say " I WANT SOME PEAS, FOR JUST FOR ME" I keep Laughing at the part ^^.

I'm sure whatever is so come before 2.0... its not over yet.. more 7th Umbra Era Storyline to come! :D

Edit: Also Meteors Falling down Rapidly during Phase 2, Gave me the Thirst for Excitement, panic, Thrill I been asking for

This Fight is in my Top 5 in All time Final Fights! 10/10! Bravo

0/8 after hours and hours of this today. So close, so often, too. Hoping to eek out a win next time. That last fight was our best, it's just people weren't prepared for Megaflare and so it ended in a wipe. /sigh

My LS-mates and I are working on Raven as well. We're 0/6 so far, but have gotten him down to Phase 3, under 10%. I think we'll have it in the next couple goes - fingers crossed.

I have to agree, the United We Stand fight, and so far the Raven fight have been very satisfying. I actually appreciate that we've lost and not beaten the fight on the first, or even second or third try (though we did clear United on the second try, only 'cause others had been through it already and knew the fight well first-hand). It will make finally succeeding that much sweeter.

Best part is, each time we've wiped, we've been able to tell why it happened. It hasn't been this "okay, we were doing fine... what happened?". The reasons have been very evident. The game made it clear what our mistakes were, and so we knew what we had to do next time. Trial and error. Learning and improving with each attempt. It still works :).

This is the way all major fights should be, in my opinion. I never could understand why some people get all fed up and pissy when they don't get it on the first or even second try, like they go in with this expectation that everything should be a cake-walk. It's a final boss fight. It should be epic. It should be difficult. It should kick your ass and make you pay attention. Raven has been doing that so far, and I love it. My armor's not all thrilled about it though lol.

So, to the designers of the United We Stand fight, and especially the Darnus fight, if you're reading this (or if such a message could be passed to them).... Well done! Please keep it up!

I couldn't even imagine what Darnus is like on Hard mode. Yeesh.

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Originally Posted by Preypacer

I couldn't even imagine what Darnus is like on Hard mode. Yeesh.

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http://www.twitch.tv/requiem_lacrimosa/b/332347641 if you want to see a hard mode fight.

If you guys wiped to megaflare the big thing is making sure everyone has stoneskin up and not letting any of the meteors hit. You will literally only take like 500-1000 damage. Also make sure your whitemages never underestimate the power of regen and keep it on the party at all times. Good luck on the fight.

Did it with a PUG group in 3 tries

Hang in there. Took me 6 tries to get the win. My LS rocked it out for a few of us. There is a learning curve and hang in there, you can do it.

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Originally Posted by JusticeReborn

0/8 after hours and hours of this today. So close, so often, too. Hoping to eek out a win next time. That last fight was our best, it's just people weren't prepared for Megaflare and so it ended in a wipe. /sigh

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Don't know what job you are for the fight, but from how I've done it tanking Nael, you can minimize damage others take by having your tank stay below and hold the two golems, spamming aggro moves. While they're on you, a WHM can run down for a bit and sleep them while the BLMs continue blowing meteors up. Granted, this works best if you have two or three other melee to run up and attack him during the meteor phase.

Mega flare really is about stoneskin and sentinel if you have access to it.

The worst part about the encounter is the random spam. He can randomly stand there and spam leg sweep over and over rather than follow the tank to the designated spot. Or he sometimes teleports to do his front laser attack two or even three times in a row. That's what throws people off.

When it came out, my LS had two parties and we competed to see who could beat it first hehe.

It was an amazing fight. It looked great, sounded great, played great and above all it was FUN.

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Originally Posted by Duelle

Don't know what job you are for the fight, but from how I've done it tanking Nael, you can minimize damage others take by having your tank stay below and hold the two golems, spamming aggro moves. While they're on you, a WHM can run down for a bit and sleep them while the BLMs continue blowing meteors up. Granted, this works best if you have two or three other melee to run up and attack him during the meteor phase.

Mega flare really is about stoneskin and sentinel if you have access to it.

The worst part about the encounter is the random spam. He can randomly stand there and spam leg sweep over and over rather than follow the tank to the designated spot. Or he sometimes teleports to do his front laser attack two or even three times in a row. That's what throws people off.

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We had a good setup, and we all knew what to do, it just wasn't getting done, at least not quickly enough. Call it a matter of execution, perhaps? I'm not sure Stoneskin was up when Megaflare happened. Anyway, the group broke after that, so I'll have to start my next series of attempts with likely new people.