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

[Metalwrath]

...You have too much faith in people. More often than not, when people are faced with a situation like that they will vote abandon.

There's a reason why new players dont learn mechanics.Its because older players know they can ignore them because of the ilvl situation.Yes we can argue that new players should read guides on old content but a lot of casuals learn in duty finder.This in the long run is why people vote abandon constantly in Raubanestre because there is a built up learning system between lvl 50-70 of its ok you're overgeared so you dont have to care too much about mechanics.If you start getting players used to learning and doing mechanics at level 50 you're less likely to end up with the huge problems that we are seeing at lvl 70.

[VanilleFang]

I could put a lecture here about insensitivity of this kind of jokes but meh.

I'm gay and don't find the joke insensitive. It was just a joke.

But anyways my story is fairly short and on the laughing side of things. Ran Sigma 2.0 a few days ago and I recognized the tank's first name. I wasn't sure if it was who I thought it was so I kept quiet. The group was really good. I was trying my hardest and I couldn't keep up with the other WHM so I knew they were all experienced with raids. Yeah turned out the tank was who I thought it was (a mentor I see in the NN from time to time) and they were running it with their FC so... I got 7 comms.

[MoroMurasaki]

There's a reason why new players dont learn mechanics.Its because older players know they can ignore them because of the ilvl situation.

This is a byproduct of the generous ilvl sync you see in those dungeons though.

My boyfriend and I did Xepatol yesterday in 50/60 roulette, me on WHM and him on PLD. One dps was a returner and the other a sprout, neither had much above about 61.

Xepatol's healing requirements are notoriously low to the point that in the first pull up to the first wall the only heal I cast was Tetra on a dps who stood in a bunch of AoE.

It was clear from the second boss these guys didn't understand this dungeon's mechs, they were dropping their tornados off in the worst places but it didn't matter because with Medica II ticking they essentially couldn't die.

During the last boss they both ran away with the stack marker. I tried to chase them down, not wanting them to die, and didn't get there in time. The RDM took the stack alone and survived with 4k hp. After that I didn't chase them because if they weren't dying it didn't matter.

I did explain what stack markers means afterwords though and both were receptive to the help. I told them there were encounters coming that they would need to follow this mech for or die. Both of them had gotten to 60 not knowing this and likely would have continued after this dungeon without knowing it too.

Don't get me wrong, I feel kinda like a super hero when I get a dungeon where regen can literally do all the healing for me but something about the way we're almost steered to ignore mechs in the 50/60 dungeons seems like SE setting people up to fail in later content.

[SenorPatty]

I'm gay and don't find the joke insensitive. It was just a joke.

I don't find it insensitive as much as...well let's try this:

"Hi. I'm straight!"
"Me too."
"It was just joke"

Kind of like this.

[Kakiko]

Just wondering what is with black mages I'm encountering not using Fire 4 in content they can use it in? I've had three separate instances in the past week, from three different black mages, in three different types of content, where all they did was alternating between Blizzard and Fire.

One was in Nidhogg Ex, we weren't meeting the DPS checks and dying to the claw/post thing (b/c they weren't dying fast enough). I had been kind of noticing the other BLM not throwing out any Fire 4s so I went back through the battle tab and then checked the FFlog. Sure enough, all he did was Fire and Blizzard, and the occasional Foul. Not one cast of Fire 4 or Bliz 4. I asked why he wasn't throwing out Fire 4 and he said he didn't see a need to do it. When I asked what his rotation was, he said it was blizzard, then Thunder, then Fire 1 until Foul and then Foul then Blizzard. At this point, someone else in party chat was also a bit shocked and I gave a quick run down of my rotation. BLM didn't say anything else but left shortly thereafter. I was trying to be polite and he wasn't the sole reason we were wiping (and I didn't mention the wipes at all), but c'mon!

A similar thing happened in Raba earlier this week, as well. BLM in my alliance was spitting out Fire 1 and Bliz 1 without a Foul or F4 to be seen.

And again last night in Xelphatol running it with my sister who is a WHM. Lvl 70 BLM going through without using Fire 4 or anything more than Bliz 1, Fire 1, Thunder 1. (He also stood on the spikes and ate damage before I pointed out that spikes = damage). Not one time did he throw anything more than a Fire 1 out.

Why - why would you not utilize everything at your disposal? All you did was make those runs longer/harder. >

[Anarnee]

-pulls on hair- WHY do people think that you should sit on LB and only use it in the last fight of dungeons? Can someone tell me? This has never been a thing in the years I've been playing, but now twitch people have been like. "Why LB?"


XDD So I am on one of my alts, running expert as DRG. Queue in and there is a WAR, WHM and BLM. It's Fractal Continuum Hard Mode. The Tank says its only their second time and there is the usual hello banter and some jokes.

We do the first boss, the BLM dies to the gate mechanic, but whatever, it's not that big of a deal.

The lb pops, I use it like a good melee.

We beat it eventually and the first thing I know, the BLM is like "Um why lb?"

I am flabbergasted. I'm having flashbacks to idiocy. (See page 1373 for that story, Balmung Tank.) But I breath, and try to be reasonable.

"What? Why not?" I ask.

The healer chimes in, and this is when I notice the BLM and the WHM are from the same server. Another one of my "favorites". Jenova. Jenova players pleaseeeeee. "It's technically a waste." They say, and I am scoffing. No. It. Is. Not.

"What?" I wait a moment to let them explain as we move on through the trash. No one says anything so I keep typing. "It's a waste if we don't lb, it'll be back up after a bit" As I'm killing the trash I think about it, OH they must mean they wanted to lb the trash because it was more efficient for a Magic DPS to kill the mobs. That is logic I can get behind. I wait and no one says anything still so I reply "Unless you mean you wanted to lb the trash"

Finally I get a reply. "No just usually use it at the end lol"

I'm disappointed in all of mankind at this point. How dare I doubt myself. No of course they didn't have an actual GOOD reason. "That is a waste" I'm very annoyed at this point, and I look at the lb bar and try to be reasonable again. "Look, it's already half back" No one has anything to say and we keep killing the adds.

Now I admit, I'm defensive, if someone is gonna tell me I'm wrong, fine, but I need to know WHY? Why would you sit on extra DMG? Why do people wait to the last 5% when the LB does more than that? Why? If I'm wrong please explain it to me, because I like to learn and get better. "why only use it once at the end?" "That's stupid"

"I guess" Is the only reply someone can give me so I assume that that is the end of it.

We get to the second boss and the lb pops shortly into the fight, I use it, and the fight goes for the most part perfect. I even run to the BLM when Sophia's mechanic's pop so that they can keep dpsing. I don't have any hard feelings. We're a mostly good group some silly mess ups like them standing in the middle of the blast, but there are no deaths, and I was enjoying the run, though I was annoyed at the LB thing. We kill all the trash again and move on.

Then comes the last fight. I don't think anyone was new, but everyone watched the CS again cept for me, so I was waiting at the boss gate doing the Songbird dance.

The tank pulls and we do the thing.

Some silly mess ups, like the WHM gets hit by the spin cleave, and the BLM doesn't move under the boss for the other one (I mean they are a BLM, I sometimes understand eating a move for the sake of DPS. He was with the healer so I assume they have an understanding.)

LB2 pops and I use it. At the same time, the BLM must have tried to LB2 as well because a macro goes off that just says "EXPLOSION" I think nothing of it, other than how it irks me when casters and ranged sit on the LB when there is a melee in the group. That's a waste too.

It's about at like 20% or lower that I notice something must be wrong. At the part that everyone is marked with a circle aoe, I'd moved away from the boss to give the tank room, and the BLM makes a B-line for me. I am still assuming the best, I think maybe they are panicking because we were all close. So I move back more. They follow. I move back again. They follow. These aoes are about to go off so I'm trying to think fast and save us.

They go off. BLM bites the dust. They are better geared than I am. My Alts DRG is only 319, I didn't look at their gear, but they usually had more aggro than me, and when they didn't, I was putting out a flawless rotation, so my guess was the discrepancy was gear, not skill. I can't tell for sure but yeah.

I'm a DRG, I have higher DEF than you silly caster. Why would you do a dumb like that.

They bite the dust, and I'm alive with about 10% of my hp left, I second wind and boost myself up and wait for the heals to save me. This is when suspicion hits me. The healer does not heal me for the remainder of the fight.

The tank wasn't low, they were not low, there was no reason not to heal me. The proximity aoe comes up, no heals, so I'm running for my life to get at max distance. They revived their friend, and still do not heal me. The alagan flare goes up on the tank, I run away and manage to live until the enrage is casting.

We beat it.

Those suckers tried to kill me.

What in the actual hell?

[AxHell]

Just did my second run of Hell's lid today as an AST with a PUG and they were all wonderful. There was a new RDM and he listened to our advices and performed admirably during boss fights.

And in between boss fights, we bantered a bit and joked about some deaths (for example, the adds on the second boss ganking up on me and pushing me into a tornado or the water tiles during the final boss).

In short, I had the pleasure to do this fun and great dungeon with great people and I hope I'll see them again someday.

[NosamKin]

I've been doing a lot of Alexander lately; done Fist of the Father several times - unsynced is ~5 min. I see a group in PF join in.
First clue - we waited for a full party "because this one is hard". Ok - filling all the slots didn't take long - but then the fun begins. Everyone is 68+ - but they don't know mechanics. Everyone runs from the stack marker - we wipe.
Try again - wonder why the boss isn't dying - check the party list - 5 are dead including both healers. Raise the healers (I'm SMN) and continue on. People won't get out of the AOE. They again run from the stack marker . Survive this time - more raises. Eventually get to a point where it's just me and tank (really? yup) but we beat it. Total time - about 15 minutes. Said thank you and left. They were going to do the next level - shudder.

* how do you get to be high level and not know the stack marker?

Lessons reinforced:
* There is a huge discrepancy between players - even when they are high level.

[Kacho_Nacho]

Got bored earlier and decided to unlock CT on an alt just so I could have Alliance Roulette unlocked for any jobs I plan to pick up on said alts after maxing out her current main (WHM).

Labyrinth goes slightly okay. The Bone Dragon bit was a bit of a mess and the pads part was the usual hit or miss bit, but otherwise it was a decent run. Syrcus was definitely better as there were little to no issues.

But World of Darkness? It was way messier than any other WoD runs I ever had. 3 wipes to just Angra Mainyu. Namely due to the fact that my alliance's tank apparently kept zoning out and eating all the bad, as well as none of the other tanks thinking to grab the Ahriman adds that get summoned, thus killing the healers and DPS. Dragon boss was a bit of a mess as well, as no one wanted to kill the slimes. Cerberus was a slight mess too as the before mentioned tank of mine decided to pull him around (and when my coheal asked him to stop, he just responded with "I'm dancing"), but despite all the cleaves people got hit with due to the "dancing", it could have been worse.

Everyone has off days but it sounds like you ran into one of those tanks who thinks it's funny to intentionally mess up. They are stressful to deal with. I would have initiated a kick on Mr. "I'm Dancing."

[MoroMurasaki]

Helping my boyfriend gear up to 340, this means farming creation. I invited him to a party and thought he accepted, queued for trial roulette and accepted my insta-queue. Turns out he hadn't accepted so I did a pointless Chrysalis run alone. He queued for his own roulette and got everyone's favorite Shinryu.

I've very rarely not healed Shin normal. I think the only time actually was on my alt where I did it on RDM. I sat back and watched and wow was it a dumpster fire.

New AST, geared WHM. Two NINs and two RDMs plus my boyfriend on WAR and another WAR cotank.

The first wipe was to most of the party falling off to Tidal Wave. Subsequent wipes in the add phase because people weren't reacting to the impact markers fast enough and almost no heals were coming out.

That's when I see it. Veraero. One of the RDMs is hardcasting all their 5sec spells. Okay, so we know that one is useless in terms of dps. The WHM is healing most AoE with Cure III and the AST is popping Ewers trying to keep up in Noct stance. Credit to the AST for overall outshining the WHM though - not only did he seem to adapt to carry the brunt of the healing but he funneled buffs to the one competent RDM in the party since the rest of the dps seemed MIA.

Overall this just reminded me why I tend to heal - nobody carries like a healer.