Tales from Duty Finder: Some make you laugh, some make you cry. Let's vent.

[Malicewolf]

Boy have I got one for you all.

Queued for leveling this morning bc I haven't been able to do those during evenings due to static raiding. Lag is a lot better in the mornings. T-T I got Sastasha normal and was determined to suck it up even though I'd been secretly hoping for a higher level dungeon. Ohhhh man.

Tank was 15, healer was 17. From the very first pull, the BLM and I were ripping hate off the tank, and what we weren't targeting was all over the conjurer. So the BLM and I kill things and I suggest to the tank that he leads with Tomahawk. Shortly I would realize he doesn't have it because... we smash through the second group and there was a delay before I reached it bc I'd been typing. The tank's health dips WAY low, WAY fast. I get there and peel the bat off him within two moves, we kill the mobs, and I look at his gear. I'd already looked at the BLM because they were synced. And then, oh boy.



Tank was using the very first weathered axe you get when you join the marauder's guild, a Baron helmet (not as glamor) a level 5 casting robe, DoW gloves (not GLD/MRD gear)...yeah. For him not to have a higher level weapon to equip, I'm guessing he didn't do a single class quest from 1 to 15. So, no Tomahawk.

Not sure if these guys were trolling or just that dense but glad the BLM backed me up and we got out of there.

I requeued, not choosing join in progress for once, and got Stone Vigil. All the other players were excellent. We had a smooth, fast run. I commed the MCH, got a comm in return, and it was a great bounce back after that first shockingly bad attempt.

Damn, that sucks. But you can change gear mid dungeon... I've done it and I've seen it done. Had a tank in sastasha once that wanted to try going through with lvl 1 Cloud outfit and no accessories. Only a lvl 42 sword. It didn't go very well, we were all pulling hate like crazy and his hp was up and down like a roller coaster. He put on real gear about halfway through and things went fine from there. A REALLY competent tank could probably handle with low lvl gear. But it'd still be hell.

My guess on that though on this instance is that the healer and tank were queued up together. And it DEFINITELY sounds like the tank was new. And sastasha is the 1st dungeon as well. It's where you will truly get the newbies. But you could also probably have had anyone else tank it. That dungeon doesn't really require much effort.

[bounddreamer]

Damn, that sucks. But you can change gear mid dungeon... I've done it and I've seen it done.

Oh, I know! Have done it myself, esp if I level to 50/60 and have the higher level gear set waiting for me. Maybe I obscured too much but the healer said the tank could change to his BLM. That's what I, and the other dps, said he couldn't do.

I main a tank, so perhaps I was particularly critical because of that, but the tank needs to be able to take hits and hold hate. That's our job. This guy couldn't do either with the gear or weapon he had, so BLM and I left when it was obvious he was, as the BLM said, wasting our time. And there won't be anything preventing them from requeuing. I just hope they take it as the sign they need to get and equip better gear at the very least.

[KaitlanKela]

I have another awesome DF story. I think Primal is the best Data Center.

I queue for Sohm Al. I'm still "new" and working my way through HW MSQ. It's my first time. I get a BLM a DRG and a PLD...I think if I remember correctly. I immediately say "Hello everyone. First time here!" just to let everyone know.

I get no greetings back, instead the PLD proceeds to pull half of everything between the beginning and the first boss. Whoa-a! So I quickly cast adlo and shielding stuff, but the tank and the DPS are burning everything down super fast. Tank is obviously experienced and by the end I was actually able to bane out some debuffs. That's basically how the trash went the whole dungeon - two giant pulls between each boss.

The Tank is more like a freight train and I don't think he ever stopped running. He wouldn't even stop to pick up chests, he was picking them up as he ran past them. I have no idea when he rolled for loot: I think he must have ran and rolled at the same time. DPS would have to run to pick up the chests off the past because he was not stopping! Many times I would have to sprint to catch up because after a pull he would start running forward while I was still at range. I also REALLY had to watch my MP because I would use a lot each pull and there was basically no recovery time. First time I've really had to do that as a SCH - very fun and challenging.

The bosses were all incredibly fast and easy. I managed to not screw up any of the mechanics. Nobody ever died, there were no wipes, it was basically the most intense speed run I've ever been in, let alone for a dungeon first clear.

After the final boss I was like, "OMG guys that was the best ever. Thank you so much for the party!" But by the time I'm out of the cutscene the tank is already gone. The DPS roll loot and then poof. Nobody said anything at all! But, that's okay for me. As long as I made the run easy for them it's all good.

I did get two comms, so there's that! I don't think the Tank stayed long enough to comm anyone. lol

Crazy! So that's what people mean when they talk about "speed run"s. When I left the instance I had 13 minutes left on my protect. O.o

[Veralidaine]

So, I unlocked the awry on my DRK character last night and proceeded to queue up. I know the aery like the back of my hand from a healing standpoint, but I've never tanked it before. I let the group know this, and healer also says it's their first time.


Now, I'm not sure if I didn't get the memo or something, but for one, this is a LEVELING dungeon, not speed run always reap or fractal.

So I pull the first group, just woke up from a nap and healers new, so testing the waters seeing how hard I get hit etc. I am in quest gear so not sure how effective it's gonna be right away.

The BLM says something along the lines of "you need to do a proper pull, two mobs is not a proper pull". She then proceeds to run off and pull the next group. This makes me kind of mad, so I say "healer said theyre new and my first time tanking so calm your tits" and get a snarky reply back. Whatever, I just decide to ignore it after that and continue with the dungeon.

Okay so, I know how to tank, I've looked up guides, I've asked questions, I do things for a reason. We get about halfway through, I'm having some aggro issues because the BLM keeps running off and pulling extra shit, they die once. They come back and say "ok try to follow directions. Use this spell this spell and this spell". I do some bigger pulls and surprise, because someone other than the tank isn't running off pulling extra shit, no aggro problems!

The healer was on my side throwing snark back at the BLM the whole time. In the end we completed dungeon with no wipes, no problems, and rather quickly.

The next time I queued, I went for the first two groups pulled together to appease any jerks. Well, ended up dying even with ccooldowns. Said "sorry, too much" healer said yeah, so I said "sorry, got yelled at last time I only pulled first group". One of the dps said just go at your own pace don't worry about what other people say. Sound advice, I'm gonna take it from now on.

[Iagainsti]

Leveling my Blk with my Healer friend; we get LCA for the lvl 50 roulette with a BRD who not only didn't pop Foe's once for the mad pulls, but left Mage's Ballad up the whole duty, I mean every boss, every pull. My Healer friend kept typing /p <mp> top me up plz!!!! every chance she got when her mp hit 90% xD. Pretty hilarious time all around really, even the df tank was cracking bad DJ jokes, still went completely over the BRD's head. Still ripped through it though, and topped 566 dps on diabolos #EFFdoorsLet'sDance

[Ashkendor]

.... I truly should start to get Quelling Strikes, even though I don't plan to run any Savage Content in the Future, just for that Reason...

Enmity is pretty fragile until a few GCD's in for any tank, even with their tank stance up. The first hit of any of our combos doesn't even generate extra enmity. If you're going to use a strong opener in any content, you need to either get Quelling Strikes or resign yourself to getting punched in the face a lot. The fact that it was a Paladin (the lowest enmity modifiers among tanks) that wouldn't even put Shield Oath up (why would you even do this?) was making it much worse than it had to be, though.

The BLM says something along the lines of "you need to do a proper pull, two mobs is not a proper pull". She then proceeds to run off and pull the next group.

You're far nicer than I would've been. I would've just let them die since they obviously pulled on purpose. You pull it, you tank it!

[Twilite]

snip

The Aery's packs are too far apart for speed running anyway. You can skip the first two "sleeping" dragons(I think) as they just waste time, but other than that it's just safer to do 1 at time. 2 groups if you have all your big CDs ready.

[Selli]

Ran Level 50 Roulette on my PLD with my boyfriend, got Bray HM.

Mass pull the first room, goes smooth. Put ignore on the next 2 adds so we can lock them out of the boss room. Our pug DPS, a DRG, starts whacking the enemies with ignore and rips hate off me and a manages to drag them both into the boss room. >.>

Pull them off him and kill them and start working on the boss. This idiot is stacked on top of me--the MT--spamming what looks like the exact same combo over and over (I saw Impulse Drive twice ._.).

They were level 60 too. =.=

---

Same day, I was running the Arey (I'm trying to get the tank boots and helm for a level 60 glamor ;c).

The run is going pretty smooth until we get to the last boss, the BRD is standing by Estinien when they get targeted with the Sable. The poor NIN doesn't see him and the BRD dies.

Nidhogg disappears while the BRD is in Sable a 2nd time and dies while the rest of us are trying to kill it and the adds.

We wipe.

NIN apologizes and the BRD throws a huge fit about it, I tell him that he should stack in when he gets targeted by the Sable because we have a melee and if he stacks far enough into Nidhogg, even I would be able to hit it as well. "No. I ALWAYS stay at max range." Guess they don't use Repelling Shot then, either?

We clear it on this 2nd attempt, BRD leaves in a huff and I give the NIN my commendation for not arguing back and being a good DPS the whole dungeon (they even Goad'd my lil' PLD during boss fights. o3o).

[TaranTatsuuchi]

Subversion time!

So I am a long time console peasant who only very recently switched to keyboard/mouse after 25 years of gaming with a controller. Gotta say, that adjustment is downright awkward. I am so accustom to griping something in my hand it just felt strange. Anywho, I did a fair bit of practicing on dummies before attempting Ramuh HM to finally carry on with the story. It did not go very well. Mostly because on my controller I relied heavily on lock-on targeting/target canceling, which I hadn't set up easily on my mouse. So I couldn't properly dodge AoEs at all, which was just depressing ;; But not only was the PuG group extreme chill, when I apologized for my crappy DPS (I had previously mentioned this was my first trial on keyboard/mouse), one was very encouraging. She lied, because there's no way my DPS was good, but I appreciated it all the same, xD.

I even got a couple recommendations.

That certainly made me feel better after a horrible run. Rare moment where a PuG was awesome.

I play on PC, and I personally prefer to use my controller.

Two odd roulettes:
First, Haukke NM via lowlevel on my WHM. I get two cute lalafell dps (bard and dragoon) and a gladiator. The first maidservant is pulled, tank runs out of the aoe, dragoon stays in there and gets stunned. I tell both of them that they can stun the maidservant, but no reaction. Then, during the second trash group, the tank dies and leaves me puzzled. What happened? I look at my buff bar... nope, I didn't accidentally heal in cleric stance. I look at my equip... nope, nothing's broken. Then I look at the tank's equip and find that the best item they use is a lv24 sword. The rest is a mage's ring, mage's pants and lv20-ish dps gear. Nice. I tell them that they really need new equip - no answer. We get past the next trash group and then wipe at the group after it because I couldn't manage to heal my 3-dps-party through the attacks of two maidservants and three other mobs. I ask the tank if they could at least use some CDs, then they leave the duty without having said a single word. The dragoon says that CDs aren't neccessary in Haukke NM, which was generally right, but with this equip... urgh.
So, we wait for a new tank, the dps have a conversation about "lalafell master race" while I ask an FC mate if she wants to join in progress on her DRK. She joins, I give her Protect, she pulls the group we wiped on prior to this... and our dps are still standing somewhere talking to eachother. So, most of the rest of the run the dps are chatting rather than actually doing their job, leaving me wondering why I didn't leave the duty after the first tank left. At some point the bard sings the mage's ballad because the DRK is running out of mana - we explain them about the uselessness of mana heals on a DRK and get as an answer "but I don't have any other good skills". For Rhalgr,'s sake why did I not leave!? Then at the final boss the dps seem not to care about the lamps - thank the heavens that I know my tank, this way I can run around and care for the lamps while my friend simply keeps herself at good health ^^

Second, the Dragon's Neck on my paladin via trial roulette. I tell the party that it's my first time tanking this duty, hoping that someone will explain me if there's anything particular a tank should have a eye on (I knew from the start that one tank picks Ultros and the other takes Typhon, but I didn't know if there were any mechanics interesting for a tank). Most times the party stays silent, leaving me learning by watching what the MT does... but this time the scholar tells me everything I need to know and even marks a point on the ground to show me where I should stand to tank Typhon. Holy shit, there still are helpful people in Eorzea!!
Unfortunately the other tank and one of the dps were even more clueless than me - when the dps get turned into imps, the monk immediately runs to Typhon instead of Ultros, and the Ultros tank always turns the enemy away from the imps so that nobody could build up stacks. But it seems that squenix heavily nerfed the fight because not everyone got blown away by the big sneeze so we still managed to complete the duty in the first try.

Cooldowns are always necessary. XD
Better to be in the practice of using them than not.

Ravana Ex : ....

Oh not a Bonus this time, being Black Mage as I truly hate the Shield Mechanic as a Melee DPS.
Tank starts Pulltimer Macro ... pulls ...

Swiftcast --> LL --> Enochian --> Raging Strikes --> Fire III --> Augmentation --> Let the DPS Fest begin..... NOPE, first Fire IV hit and I just ripped off the Hate from the Main Tank.
Ravana goes to me, I open my Emote Window --> Annoyed as Ravana slices me into Pieces...

Ressurected and Ravana not being in his Damage Stance, buffed up myself, got my MP back and Enochian was used.... Ravana goes into his Damage Stance, I nuke him with 2 Fire IV Spells .... Hate ripped off the Main Tank.
Slices me into Pieces, there is a annoyed Black Mage on the Ground followed with other annoyed dead People on the Ground.

Next try ... of course we don't gained 5% Echo Buff...

This Time I would've been sure everything was executed perfectly at the start, oh Boy... was I wrong.

Started slowly,

Swiftcast --> LL --> Enochian --> Fire III --> Fire IV .... Yellow Icon --> Fire IV Orange Icon <_<* --> Blizzard III --> Still Orange Icon .... waits 2 seconds ... Blizzard IV --> Ravana wants to hug me but decides to slice me into Pieces...

Result ... The Main Tank (PLD) didn't had Shield Oath up, jumped into the Battle two times without even using any Stance.
Drama is going on, 3 People told the Tank to use Shield Oath, MT pulled again ... without Shield Oath, this Time I did nothing but watched what would happen, the NIN in our Group ripped off the Hate and got killed, followed with the other DPS and HLRs...

PLD be like ..."Git gud and watch a Video"

.... I truly should start to get Quelling Strikes, even though I don't plan to run any Savage Content in the Future, just for that Reason...

But as you can see ...



Just one Token more and I'm done being BLM LOL

That's a level 60 duty right?

Should have had the Ninja shadewalker the tank. ;P

[Ashkendor]

NIN apologizes and the BRD throws a huge fit about it, I tell him that he should stack in when he gets targeted by the Sable because we have a melee and if he stacks far enough into Nidhogg, even I would be able to hit it as well. "No. I ALWAYS stay at max range." Guess they don't use Repelling Shot then, either.

This reminds me of a SMN I got yesterday in Void Ark. He kept running all over kingdom come instead of staying near the party. At the third boss, he was clear over on the other side of the room from the rest of us. Not only was he not getting hit by AoE heals (or cards, we had two AST so the buffing was near constant), he was completely out of range even for single target spells. From time to time he'd bitch in party chat that we weren't healing him. That third boss is a big enough pain in the ass without having to chase people all over the damn place to heal them. I really wish more DPS would do the healers a favor and stay within range. :s