Ultima HM is really frustrating

[Wilbow]

Let me put it this way, Jyoeru: If you one-shot Ultima HM in a DF group, you're lucky.

I've done this fight a few dozen times (and been successful about 10-12 of those, without a single healer drop coming up), and I'll say that how hard it is to heal is entirely dependent on how smart (or not) your group is. This makes sense, as like 70%+ of the damage to the party is avoidable in some way. It's frustrating because you have far less control as a healer to fix stupid. For example:

- Lone DPS charges into a bomb, he dies.
- Tank LB3 not cast as planned on third set of bombs? Likely wipe.
- Tanks not using defensive CDs on four airship phase? Enjoy your likely death.
- DPS not attacking bits? Guess whose healing output goes down due to dodging every 3 seconds.
- Other healer not carrying his weight and derping? Just guess who's going have to bust ass.
- DPS not avoiding the bad (see: Ifrit)? Ooh, look, Swiftcast + Raise is going to be used often.
- Moron runs right into you + healer during eruption phase when tank has lowish HP? LOLBADHEALZ NO HEAL TANK YO. /facepalm
- Tank walks up to you during first airship crash, points boss at you, and lets you get hit by diffractive laser for 3.6k damage (that has happened to me...twice)? LOLZ HEALZ L2DODGE
- And other things I learn people can fail at that I never even fathomed possible.

Ultima HM is designed to make you weep for the ignorance of humanity and teach you that you cannot cure it. It requires you to have some faith in your party, which will inevitably eat away at your sanity as they fail to circumvent simple mechanics.

[Jyoeru]

Let me put it this way, Jyoeru: If you one-shot Ultima HM in a DF group, you're lucky.

I've done this fight a few dozen times (and been successful about 10-12 of those, without a single healer drop coming up), and I'll say that how hard it is to heal is entirely dependent on how smart (or not) your group is. This makes sense, as like 70%+ of the damage to the party is avoidable in some way. It's frustrating because you have far less control as a healer to fix stupid. For example:

- Lone DPS charges into a bomb, he dies.
- Tank LB3 not cast as planned on third set of bombs? Likely wipe.
- Tanks not using defensive CDs on four airship phase? Enjoy your likely death.
- DPS not attacking bits? Guess whose healing output goes down due to dodging every 3 seconds.
- Other healer not carrying his weight and derping? Just guess who's going have to bust ass.
- DPS not avoiding the bad (see: Ifrit)? Ooh, look, Swiftcast + Raise is going to be used often.
- Moron runs right into you + healer during eruption phase when tank has lowish HP? LOLBADHEALZ NO HEAL TANK YO. /facepalm
- Tank walks up to you during first airship crash, points boss at you, and lets you get hit by diffractive laser for 3.6k damage (that has happened to me...twice)? LOLZ HEALZ L2DODGE
- And other things I learn people can fail at that I never even fathomed possible.

Ultima HM is designed to make you weep for the ignorance of humanity and teach you that you cannot cure it. It requires you to have some faith in your party, which will inevitably eat away at your sanity as they fail to circumvent simple mechanics.

I worded that poorly. I consider a run the whole time one run takes. First go for me meant the first time I queued up for it. We wiped three times, but downed it. Sorry if that came out wrong.

Sadly, people struggle way more with Garuda than I see with Ultima, and Ultima is a harder fight IMO.

[Dalavon]

Stand in the middle. Theres a delay between the beam on the ground, and the actual attack itself. So if you need to pinch off a heal, do it. Shroud isn't going to help you. If you're really having a problem, put regen on people. Or stone skin yourself prior to that phase, so if you have to take a hit, you can. I suggest swift cast for the last ship phase. Generally there are a few bits up and the screen gets hard to see at that point. So SC a medica 2 or whatever is needed.

[Velox]

Stand in the middle. Theres a delay between the beam on the ground, and the actual attack itself. So if you need to pinch off a heal, do it. Shroud isn't going to help you. If you're really having a problem, put regen on people. Or stone skin yourself prior to that phase, so if you have to take a hit, you can. I suggest swift cast for the last ship phase. Generally there are a few bits up and the screen gets hard to see at that point. So SC a medica 2 or whatever is needed.

Check, check, and check. I have been doing all these thing since day one of the patch. My technique is not the problem though, it's the mechanic of the fight. Regen isn't enough to heal thru the damage the tank is taking by itself. I understand that the lasers suffer from the same animation delay as every other AoE in this game does, and I use that to my advantage just like every other fight. HOWEVER, the problem is that I simply can't squeeze off a heal EVER until well after the ships crash when the DPS has most the bits down. The lasers start synched, but 5-7 seconds in they start drifting out of synch. At some point I'm getting hit with 1 laser every .2-.4 seconds in succession, like machine gun fire. When this occurs (it doesn't always, which is why I said "bad luck" above), there is 0 time to heal as I'm holding down movement keys for close to 15 seconds straight and can't stop at all for ANYTHING. This means the only heal that goes out, the entire time this phase commences, is that single Swiftcast Medica II I always pop after the ships.

My beef with this fight is that it just seems to rely on dumb luck that either A) you won't be the primary target of the lasers, and B) they won't go out of synch so you actually HAVE time between the shots to squeeze the heal off. The fight shouldn't come down to this. As far as the fight goes, it's my favorite one to heal through. It's not too AoE heavy, and not too ST heavy. It's a perfect blend for healers with just enough "oh shit" moments that do require the party to coordinate to overcome. I've beaten it close to 15 times so far. My only qualm with this whole thing is the seemingly random nature of the magiteck bits going out of synch and making my life a living hell because the SCH in the party pulls no where near the enmity my WHM does, and thus becomes the sole party and tank healer while I'm dancing in and out of blue beams for 30 seconds.

[Taika]

My technique is not the problem though, it's the mechanic of the fight.

If other healers are able to complete the fight successfully without encountering your issues, the problem is your technique, not the fight. It may feel a bit stressful, but it's entirely possible to cast cure IIs on the main tank during the laser parts. You just have to time your movement and casting well (there's already tips for this by others in this thread), and in the worst case eat a laser or two. You should also have Medica II up on the whole party (that should be enough to heal them, can also Medica or Cure III with Swiftcast right after the planes), cast it with Divine Seal and keep Regen on main tank too.

[Talynia]

- Moron runs right into you + healer during eruption phase when tank has lowish HP? LOLBADHEALZ NO HEAL TANK YO. /facepalm

I laughed. The fun eruptions are when both healers get it and run to each other. Good times.