Garuda Normal Needs a nerf

[lvlagmarink]

A couple of weeks ago, i got garuda normal as a scholar from roulette.. The tank which is a marauder and 1 dps was new.. It was very hard to heal the tank because 1 downburst took like 2/3 of the tank's hp.. After a wipe, we cleared it with me tanking it as scholar in tornado phase, i couldnt top up the tank because the player just took too much damage and didnt dodge the shriek.. I felt like a god there, and it was really fun.. Please don't nerf it.. Sincerely, yer lovely player..

[sirDarts]

I had a funny encounter with Garuda NM just yesterday on my DRG.
I come in, someone is new, but nobody asks what to do. The tank asks whether we all know what to do - healer says yes, but that it's his first time healing it - tank starts ready check, all are ready.

Fight commences, suddenly I am alone killing feathers, and the other DPS stands too close to the pillars, we wipe to the ultimate. I'm getting ready to explain the add phase, suddenly the other DPS explains it... O.o

I don't think I have ever been so baffled in my life.

[_Pigzig]

People died on a major boss fight? Sounds like a big design issue.

[Kayote]

Meh, other than the plumes being a little easier on the DPS check I dont think it needs anything. Thats where most wipes happen; plumes dont die fast enough, destroying too much of the stones, causing a wipe (or too many deaths) everytime she does her big center attack. Thats it, Garuda is like level 40+ isnt she? They gotta cut the umbilical cord sometime. If you cant beat Garuda youre not beating Ravana, thats for sure.

[Drako]

Really the #1 issue with this fight is that it is more tuned for people that have most of their AF gear. If the level was restricted to after you would normally get your AF, most people wouldn't have issues with this fight. I remember doing this back when it was new, me and my friends were going through the MSQs together. When we got to this we went in at the minimum level possible. Which means we didn't have our AF gear. It was truly grueling. Try as we might, it just took a very long time, and we kept wiping, because healer couldn't keep up. We decided well, lets come back with our AF gear and at the lv cap. It was a complete night and day difference. We easily beat it in just a couple tries. Healer wasn't struggling anymore, because both them and tank had much better stats. The difference between the AF gear and the best possible gear prior is really big. So if anyone is struggling with it, I would almost guaranty you that some or all of them don't have AF. I also have to wonder, does the game's gear syncing take you below what AF provides.. This topic comes up from time to time. There is a element of people needing to L2P, but this is one of the few fights where the gear really does make a huge difference. If it locked people out until they got there AF quest done, there would be far less people failing.

[Gyson]

I never had an issue with Garuda Normal, both when I was new myself, nor whenever I've gone back in with other people who were new. I don't think it's overly difficult at all.

If people are having problems with this, I suspect it's because some players are in such a rush to level that they don't bother keeping their gear up to date.

[LineageRazor]

If you cant beat Garuda youre not beating Ravana, thats for sure.

Well, there's one big difference - 4-man vs 8-man. On Garuda, you get a derpy healer or a derpy tank, and things are gonna be rough, cuz they're the only tank and healer you have. On Ravana, you have another tank or healer to cover the slack. Heck, the first time I won Ravana, one of the two healers got knocked off the edge at the first opportunity...

I'm by no means agreeing with the OP that the fight needs to be changed. There SHOULD be a wake-up boss or two early on. I think that Steps was tweaked way too hard, as well, even if I understand why they did it. Nevertheless, I'm not sure I'd suggest that Ravana hard (or ANY Primal hard mode) is actually harder than Garuda normal.

[Fynlar]

This fight is pretty mean compared to the "hard" and "extreme" versions nowadays, which is pretty odd.

A lot of the times when I end up running this, we have difficulty winning because the healer just can't stay alive for whatever reason. A common issue is the healer not being able to get behind Garuda to dodge Mistral Song during the final phase, so at that point it becomes up to the DPS and how good they are to be able to finish the fight off.

[jazo]

Ask for a FC lvl 60 member to solo it for you, problem solved

[Red_Wolf]

Can't say I've ever seen this much elitism in a FFXIV thread.

Anyways, Garuda is much easier after a level or two. Too many people try to do it as soon as they reach the minimum level. That's the problem. This instance doesn't sync up well with everyone's class progression.

I don't know if it's the lack of certain abilities at that level, the gear difference, or the HP/MP pool needed. But yes, doing Garuda at the minimum level is insanely difficult for new people.

I gave up on it after two complete fail PUGS. One group even stayed together for hours and listened to the tank giving help. I went back after another level with some major gear upgrades and one-shotted it in a PUG. It made all the difference IMO.