The Royal Menagerie (From a Healers standpoint)

[Avatre]

I'm dreading this Trial. Every thread, ever post on this one continues my belief that Trials are a thing that should just not be a story block. And this belief happened back when they were 4 person deals. Titan... oh how it took my 4 person team forever... Oh Gaurda! Then to my horror 8 person parties... far easier to coordinate with 4 than 8 as 4 are not within grumble range! And such things continue... to now.

Yep. Not looking forward to this one. Somehow I suspect I'll level more of my classes to 70 well before I get 1 clear.

It honestly is not as bad as most people would have you believe. As long as you, and the people you are running it with, can move OUT of AoE telegraphs, understand that standing in a puddle while a lightning attack marker is showing is a BAD idea, and that standing INSIDE the puddle when a FIRE attack is being cast is a good thing, you will NOT have a bad time. It is all things that you have seen if you've played any of the outside story content(from the Crystal Tower raids to the Void Ark/Weeping City/Dun Scaith, even all the 12 levels of Alexander show 90% of the mechanics in the trial).

How, as a tank, can I help my healers do better in this? I have had 7 groups and wiped around twenty times. I love the fight because it forces me to use everything in my kit, but I keep failing and am at a loss for how to improve. I dodge all the mechanics. I TBN every big hit. I have a bloody macro to explain the fight at the start and I mark safe spots and people to follow. It's like herding cats, and this fight actually seems to require more skill than I can coax out of my pugs. What more do I do? Is there a typical rotation of cooldowns that I should blow that my healers are expecting, so that they can optimize their heals?

Is it you that's causing the wipes or other people?

If it's you, I'm not going to touch on that as I haven't even tried tanking since SB released so I have no advice to that end.

If it's other people, the only things you can do are:
1. Keep trying to explain it to people, and hope they learn to move when and where they need to.
2. Pray that you get a DF group that can clear it with 1-3 wipes.
3. Make a PF group and hope that people will join it to help you clear it.
4. Find FC members that have cleared it, and lure them in with the enticement of the bonus Verity and Second Chance point.

[Age_of_Oblivion]

I'm the last person alive almost every time. Usually what happens is both healers go down and we can't recover. Part of the problem is the length of the fight - even assuming nobody afks, you've really only got 3 attempts or so per group. And then you have to start fresh. I guess I'll try PF again... had one of those groups fail too.

[RhaegarFFXIFenrir]

It's an EX fight because it has some new mechanics no one has seen before that wipes the party? They come out pretty early in the fight....yeah Tidal Wave will send you over the edge the first time, but the fight isn't "too hard" because of that. You take your wipe, ask yourself how you can not die to that mechanic, and learn from it. Diamond dust, the floor giving way, etc. These are mechanics that you should only have to see once to understand and avoid. It isn't that the fight is too hard, it's that people don't want to put any effort into it. They expect to just stand there, run their combos, and have it fall over like Thordan did. Personally, I applaud SE for the fight design. It's not poor design, it's highly appropriate for the monster in question and its place within the story. This fight was a far cry from an EX fight, but I can't wait to see the EX version.

[Avatre]

I'm the last person alive almost every time. Usually what happens is both healers go down and we can't recover. Part of the problem is the length of the fight - even assuming nobody afks, you've really only got 3 attempts or so per group. And then you have to start fresh. I guess I'll try PF again... had one of those groups fail too.

In that case, where both healers go down, you might want to try queuing with one that you know and trust to be able to dodge stuff. First thing I tell new healers(even though I'm not the best healer out there) is to dodge an AoE, even if it means interrupting your cast. Step just outside it and restart your cast, and 9/10 the tank will still be alive.

As my above comment, you can't really do anything regarding the other people other than try and help them understand how the mechanics work.

[MirielleLavandre]

I'm the last person alive almost every time.

Your co-tank dies, too? I'm guessing the only way this could happen is if both healers die first, then the MT and then you [if you are OT]. I've found that as long as one tank and one healer are alive, groups can pull through a little at least until the other healer is back up and the other tank. If the other MT is dying to damage, maybe remind them of their invincible and, if PLD, to keep using Divine Veil and clemency (tanks are close enough during akh morn to share the shield, I think...at least that's what I do). PLD can also clemency any healer that is close to death and low on MP just to help keep them up // every little bit helps ^^

[Age_of_Oblivion]

Your co-tank dies, too? I'm guessing the only way this could happen is if both healers die first, then the MT and then you [if you are OT]. I've found that as long as one tank and one healer are alive, groups can pull through a little at least until the other healer is back up and the other tank. If the other MT is dying to damage, maybe remind them of their invincible and, if PLD, to keep using Divine Veil and clemency (tanks are close enough during akh morn to share the shield, I think...at least that's what I do). PLD can also clemency any healer that is close to death and low on MP just to help keep them up // every little bit helps ^^

The Co-tank varies wildly. One of them was a PLD that managed to outlast me once the healers died. But almost every wipe has been both healers being killed, yeah. Maybe I should start using TBN on THEM during raid damage. Not sure.

[NocturniaUzuki]

@Age_of_Oblivion

If you haven't cleared it yet, I will help you. Highly-experienced AST.

[Mycow8me]

Usually if one of the tanks go down the wing starts attacking one of the healers cause they are next on the hate list, this can end a fight quickly if the tank is not revived and regains hate cause those lazer things do alot of damage to a healer and break casts. Sometimes a DPS is next on the hate list but I haven't seen that very often. When the healers start getting hit by the wings it can end the fight quickly and make recovery difficult.

[NocturniaUzuki]

I'm not entirely sure how it works in 8-player runs, but a solo tank should be able to take both hits. I've done RM as a light party several times now, and the solo tank has no problems holding both wings' autos. Probably just based on how much more aggro the tank has than everyone else.

[Averax]

From an AST perspective:

"GIVE ME MP OR YOU WILL ALL DIE"