Thank You! Yoshida-san for making R50 The Dzemael Darkhold Dungeon NOT EASY :)

[Kiara]

I know there is probably 48,093 threads on patch 1.18 but I don't care to dig them up. That said, are we pretty sure of what exactly is and isn't going to be in 1.18? Ok, 2 dungeons for sure. Auto-attack, got it. Is that it? Not being cynical just curious if it has been clearly establish what is going to be included.

Hi Gidonoidon,

No one knows everything that will be included with 1.18 (I'm hoping for a few surprises ), but here's what was mentioned by Yoshida-san in an earlier Letter:

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...805-02-2011%29

[Reika]

I know there is probably 48,093 threads on patch 1.18 but I don't care to dig them up. That said, are we pretty sure of what exactly is and isn't going to be in 1.18? Ok, 2 dungeons for sure. Auto-attack, got it. Is that it? Not being cynical just curious if it has been clearly establish what is going to be included.

Grand Companies Dawg! The dungeons are suspost to be tied to them anyways. at least I hope that is still the plan.

[Duelle]

You can't even compare pre-abyssea XI difficulty to WoW. They are two completely different styles of endgame. If you have a full wipe on Kings, Wyrms, ToAU/WoTG HNM then another LS got your kill and you had to try again the next reset.
If you full wipe in a 25 man raid you resurrect and try again until you call it quits. WoW is MUCH more forgiving of mistakes than XI which when looking at it that way, XI was definitely more time consuming and difficult.

Take a step back from the timesink aspect of it (which for some reason you're equating to difficulty) and instead look at encounter design. XI heavily favored stat stacking over everything else, whereas WoW has environmental hazards and encounter mechanics your entire raid has to react to. And those environmental hazards get more dangerous and are much more detrimental to your raid when you tune stuff to hard mode. Are there gear and DPS requirements? Sure. Is that the only thing that'll get you through an encounter. No way.

As for "wipe and wait until the next reset", Algalon the Observer says hi.

Only thing 11 had going for it is you have to learn to play your job well if you want to fight in a HNM group pre-aby.

Problem is "knowing how to play your job" mostly involved having the "right" gear in your inventory to macro in. There wasn't much to it, which was the underlying point of my comment.

[Felis]

How can I do the 30s "as they are intended" if all my combats are 50 anyways? not a /brag

Make a new char and grind a class to 25. You need ~ 2 days and the extra char slot is free for now

[Verecund]

So the argument is that SE developing actual mid-level content is a bad thing since it helps keep new players in the game

...

[Kiara]

If the boss moves I'll be impressed. That's one of my biggest gripes out most MMOs and I suppose the aggro system as a whole. Once hate is established on one person the boss really doesn't move unless someone else pulls hate which in a good party ideally won't happen.

Going entire NM fights with the NM standing in the same place facing the same direction gets boring. If they at least moved around a little bit it would be a little more interesting.

Hi Arcell,

Although, right now, doesn't Great Buffalo move around after its Hate Reset Weaponskill? And Elder Mosshorn moves around a lot, but that's because it's busy Ramming the tank all over the place.

But I definitely know what you mean: Having an epic Boss that isn't just static would be a good thing. I hope we see that with The Dzemael Darkhold.

[Kiara]

Take a step back from the timesink aspect of it (which for some reason you're equating to difficulty) and instead look at encounter design. XI heavily favored stat stacking over everything else, whereas WoW has environmental hazards and encounter mechanics your entire raid has to react to. And those environmental hazards get more dangerous and are much more detrimental to your raid when you tune stuff to hard mode. Are there gear and DPS requirements? Sure. Is that the only thing that'll get you through an encounter. No way.

Hi Duelle,

Great points. What would be some things you'd want to see in an ideal Boss encounter? Environmental Hazards? Things to counter, like, say, Morbol using Bad Breath and having reversal spells ready? Thanks.

[Richard]

Take a step back from the timesink aspect of it (which for some reason you're equating to difficulty) and instead look at encounter design. XI heavily favored stat stacking over everything else, whereas WoW has environmental hazards and encounter mechanics your entire raid has to react to. And those environmental hazards get more dangerous and are much more detrimental to your raid when you tune stuff to hard mode. Are there gear and DPS requirements? Sure. Is that the only thing that'll get you through an encounter. No way.

As for "wipe and wait until the next reset", Algalon the Observer says hi.

Problem is "knowing how to play your job" mostly involved having the "right" gear in your inventory to macro in. There wasn't much to it, which was the underlying point of my comment.

* The Pandemonium Warden despawns two hours after its initial appearance, automatically ending the battle.
* Uses one or two TP moves immediately after spawning, then disappears and comes back as one of the following mobs.

* Chariot x4
o Long-Armed Chariot - Brainjack
o Battleclad Chariot - Discoid (This particular version of Discoid works like 10,000 Needles.)
o Armored Chariot - Mortal Revolution
o Long-Bowed Chariot - Homing Missile
* Gulool Ja Ja
* Medusa
* Gurfurlur the Menacing
* Cerberus
* Hydra
* Khimaira
o These forms can use their mimicked host's unique low-health TP move at a higher health percentage than normal. That is to say, for example, Pandemonium Warden as Cerberus using Gates of Hades as early as 60% instead of the usual "under 25% only."
o After these 10 forms have been defeated, Pandemonium Warden will return to its Dvergr form. This is the final form.

* Whenever the Warden's new form is defeated, it returns to Dvergr form, uses one or two TP moves, and then respawns as the next form from the list.

* The list of monsters spawn in 3 different sets, the order of the sets is set, but inside those sets there is no order.
* The Sets are: 1.) Salvage Bosses 2.) Beastman Kings 3.) ToAU HNM's
* for example 2nd Set can be Troll > Lamia > Mamool or Lamia > Mamool > Troll or Mamool >Lamia > Troll. But they are always after the 4 Chariots

* Each time the Warden changes form, eight Pandemonium Lamps are summoned. Their form varies depending on what mob the Warden is currently mimicking:

* Chariots - Archaic Gears
* Gulool Ja Ja - Mamool Ja
* Medusa - Lamiae
* Gurfurlur the Menacing - Trolls
* Hydra - Dragons
* Khimaira - Puks
* Cerberus - Bombs
* Dvergr - Miniature Dvergr

* In his final form, Pandemonium Warden will use Astral Flow at 75%, 50%, and 25% HP and summons every avatar to use the Astral Flow blood pact. It will use Astral Flow immediately again in the same manner on anyone else with hate. [1]
* If all individuals who have developed enmity die, Pandemonium Warden will return to his spawn point, with his train of lamps, and will not be aggressive to any non-combat action. (someone tried to say this was wrong and even said he was sitting which will pull aggro from mobs that aggro to healing. But that far from makes it aggresive...)

Infinitesimally more difficult that dodging fire. It's also not a gimmick fight its an endurance fight like 99% of all content pre-abyssea XI. Why is it that when I search through wowprogess I can find (to-date) 5000+ guilds who have Firefighter? On the XI side not even 1/10th of Linkshells have Pandemonium Queller (to-date). All games have outstanding gear checks even WoW. The content leading up to being able to gearwin everything is hard content.

[DGMart]

Hi DGMart,

Yikes! Absolute Virtue doing Benediction after 18 Hours of fighting it?! So did you all keep going, or give up?

Not us lol... some other crazy LS. Gave up after 26 hours.. They were stilll fighting it the next day.

[Andrien]

I never attempted to beat AV but, I hope this dungeon boss isn't like one.