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

[Otaru]

Yesterday, leveling roulette gave an alt's WAR Gubal Library. Had a newbie, which I loved because I was needing the second chance points. Healer mentions they're new to healing (or at least healing the dungeon), so I did smaller pulls. Everything goes well, then first boss hits. I wasn't sure if the newbie was actually new or just someone on an alt, and I think the others weren't sure as well, since no explanations went out.

Anyways, the newbie died to the first area swap. Then healer went down, then the BLM. All this happened around 40% or so left on boss. Meanwhile, I was trying to stay alive as much as possible to hope that I could clear, only to fall at about 5% or so. Failed at that, but learned newbie was actually new, so explained mechanics that were shown and off we went. The rest of the dungeon went amazingly well and I'm sure the reason I got three comms was due to the attempt at a solo clear of the first boss.

Today, leveling puts same alt into Vault. Right off the bat, had a DPS who apparently had better things to do as they would wait until the last few mobs were left alive and would sprint off to the next set (or in the case of pre-first boss, sprint off towards the steps leading to boss). I'm also not sure if healer was in a ultra DPS mindset or what, but I have never had to Holmgang so often just to try and self heal, even with buffs and Conv up. I'm honestly surprised the run went as semi-well as it did, only had a few deaths (RDM got knocked into the vuln portals on second boss and healer stood in bad while trying to holy the vodoriga near the end and died to chains near the end of last boss).

I can understand getting into a DPS tunneling on healer, I've done it. I just don't understand DPS who think they don't have to help finish killing things just because it's trash mobs. If you feel like you have some place better to be, why are you even queuing up in the first place?

[KaivaC]

You know…I caught some flak for a couple of threads that I put up, and then I see it happening in endgame that makes me feel justified, but not any better because it’s impending my progress. Went into O5S for my weekly clear (but it might as well have been the last three weeks given how many times I’ve had to give up on progging O7S because I don’t want to miss out on my loot chests). The story is the same as always – the beginning starts off fine, then once the ghosts start showing up, everything just goes to hell. I get it – stuff happens, the randomness will throw people off, but the fact that I can call it consistently is just ridiculous.

And this was a PF weekly clear – with ‘duty complete’ checked off. It’s to the point where it’s almost not worth the aggravation of doing O5S anymore because it feels like PUGs have started to get worse.

[duvvvv]

First time I used AST LB3, ever. and it was stupid how I realized I could cast it.
DR: Alliance, got Dun Scaith, long run, our party had several DPS who left and were replaced, wiped 2x at Scathach. my WHM co-healer was new to the dungeon so I switched to diurnal for more HoTs. gave tips so we be better at dodging mechanics, though I didn't do so well myself. at Diabolos 2nd phase, all the alliance except for our tank and I wiped, and I was in my mind "OK, let's wipe this", not realizing we had LB3. I was trying to die so hard but didn't, thank goodness I was paying attention to the party chat xD hit LB3, tried rezzing as many healers from other alliances. we cleared. didn't expect my first LB3 would be that disorienting xD

[Moogly]

Mentor DK, first weeks of O2S

DK starts MT, first swap dude stays in grit, stays in front of boss, dies to 3rd stack, second swap DK doesn't taunt, I die to 3rd stack, wipe
Asks DK why he didn't taunt : "Well didn't you want to MT ?"
Group and I tell him about strat : DK says : "go"

DK starts MT, first swap dude stays in grit, moves to side of boss, after boss ping pong eventually dies to 3rd stack, second swap DK doesn't taunt, I die to 3rd stack, wipe
DK says I didn't taunt, or don't know how to aggro, I tell him about stance dance and shirk.

DK starts MT, first swap dude stays in grit, moves to side of boss, after boss ping pong eventually dies to 3rd stack, second swap DK taunts, I shirk, smooth swap
DK says : "See, this is how you take aggro !"
I answer him : "This is how shirk works"
We somehow wipe.
Group and I suggest I go MT.

I start MT, first swap DK doesn't taunt, I die to the 3rd stack, wipe
I ask : "Why didn't you taunt ?"
Dk says : "I tought you wanted to MT lol"

Nana Hya has left the party.

Mentor healer, low level dungeon (think it was tam tara)

Tank pulls, healer doesn't do anything at all, just stands there. Tank eventually starts running in circles then dies, co-DPS and I manage to kill the rest.
We ask healer if he's ready (may be he was afk).
Healer says he is.
Ask him why he didn't heal the tank.
Healer says tank do not need his heals, can sustain himself only with bloodbath.
Group tries to convince healer to at least heal the tank.
Healer firmly maintain that he is right
vote kick sent
I /huh the healer and click on "Yes"

Myself, the Chrysalis
Leveling monk
Am already a longtime fan of Tifa from FFVII
LB3 is up (we hadn't warped yet)
No one is using it
Am thinking : "cool, nobody noticed the LB was up"
You know what's next : Final Heaven
We wipe during warp phase

Now each time I run chrysalis, I tell the group : "Don't forget to save LB3 for the warp phase !"

[Sesera]

Snip

How someone with mentor status can be that bad?

[Moogly]

How someone with mentor status can be that bad?

How did he even manage to pass O1S ?
I wonder.
He did mention something about swap being useless for this fight though, when we were explaining strat to him.
I think it was more about him offended of not being the MT hero or something like that.

[HoodRat]

How someone with mentor status can be that bad?

I'm not sure what people are expecting; as long as you know how to log into the game, use df, and switch classes you can pretty much be a mentor.

[Avatre]

I'm not sure what people are expecting; as long as you know how to log into the game, use df, and switch classes you can pretty much be a mentor.

Pretty much this. I achieved the status when I finished getting my WHM to 60, and I am a below average healer. Sure, I could improve myself by practicing(same with tanking as a WAR...pretty much hate using WAR tbh), but healing just doesn't appeal to me as much as it does to others.

[Kakiko]

Went into Hell's Lid a couple of nights ago with my partner, Wolf. I'm BLM and Wolf is SAM (I know, I know lol). Healer is (I think) Scholar, tank is a DRK. Both tank and healer are lalas, Wolf and I are cats (although I've not returned to Lala for a while).

I notice tank starts out in Darkside. No grit. Hrm. Interesting. After that square room, in the tunnel with the lion and crags, I had to use Lucid Dreaming as I ended up ripping the lion off the tank. We make it to the first boss and I decide to use Diversion before I begin my single-target rotation (which I think needs some work as I really only manage about 4k on it..). Even still, I'm seeing my aggro meter grow with the tank still in Darkside. Soon as Lucid Dreaming is off cool down I'm on par with the tank for enmity and I pop it. I think the healer died here, but I can't recall. We did finish though and carried on.

Next comes the fun part. The pull before the ferret boss. Tank takes that snake in the hallway and begins to pull it towards the rest. No big deal, this is how it usually goes, except because tank is in Darkside still, my partner Wolf ends up pulling the snake off the tank. Tank doesn't come back for it, Wolf nearly faceplants. I aetherial manipulate to the tank to hopefully get a jumpstart on aoeing the mobs after the tank grabs them. I'm not seeing any cool downs on the tank at all. I'm doing on aoe rotation (which I also think needs work maybe) and I've had to use Lucid Dreaming again as soon as it came off cooldown. Next thing I know I have full aggro and the tank is dead. Healer is trying to hardcast raise them, I'm using manawall(ward?) and Wolf manages to take a few of them off me while the tank is being raised. Wolf kites them away from me, but I end up dying. Tank didn't grab them quickly enough and so Wolf died and then the tank dies and then the healer.

Tank: "For future reference, don't run away from the tank when they're trying to pick mobs up."

See, now I was mildly annoyed to begin with because the tank had been 100% in Darkside never used Grit at all from the start of the run and obviously was having difficulty holding aggro. Had they not said that though, I would have just ignored the wipe and carried on. No big deal. But no, the tank had to essentially blame us for trying to stay alive long enough for the tank to get a) raised and b) healthy enough to even grab the mobs.

Me: "For future reference, we were dumping our aggro constantly. You're not holding aggro in just Darkside."
Tank: "You mean when I died? lol You only got aggro there"
Me: No, right from the beginning of the dungeon. I've been using Lucid Dreaming every time it's off cool down and I'm still pulling off you.

Nothing else from the tank. Then Wolf says in voice chat to check the tank's gear. Oh boy. I'm ilvl 351, Wolf is 353 (or higher). Tank had a few 340 pieces (Genji ring of fending from o1s) but *most* of their gear was 320 or under so we're guessing that they might have just been at ilvl for Hell's Lid.

So, you'd think that dying would have made them more cautious for the next big pull after the ferret boss (which I pulled off them despite using Diversion and Lucid Dreaming) but no. Oh no. They decide that after the fall, they're going to pull EVERYTHING to past the first bridge and then grab the two enemies on that second bridge (before the two big lions) while still just in Darkside. I'm on voice chat saying this isn't going to end well, they're not geared enough for that pull. And sure enough, they weren't. They die. I die, healer dies, Wolf dies. Wipe. We try again. Now this time you'd FOR SURE think they learned their lesson? And you'd be wrong! They try that pull again and again they die. This time the healer manages to get them up and we somehow didn't wipe again (I think a few baddies were dead though so maybe that helped).

By this time, I've stopped bothering to use Lucid Dreaming, maybe to see if the tank will actually start trying to hold aggro by going into Grit and maybe to see if I'll actually pull off him again. We get to the final boss and it doesn't take long before I pull briefly off the tank before they grab it back with Provoke of all things. We did manage to finish the boss though and both the tank and healer left after the loot roll. Neither wolf nor I got a comm. I commed the healer at least.

Second story!

Also from Hell's Lid. I go in on BLM with a member of my FC on his WAR. We get an astrologian healer and another black mage with some 370 gear. Other BLM dies on first boss (oopsie) then healer dies on first boss. We manage to get the first boss down. Healer dies on next trash pack. Healer dies on second boss because they weren't standing in the right place, we manage to stay alive. I for some reason have Drain on my hotbar. No idea when or why I added it but there it was and it actually worked enough to keep me out of dangerously low HP levels. Everything else uneventful; healer figures it's their VPN giving them a faster connection than usual (??) but it's really no big deal. We're making good time regardless.

Get to the final boss aaand healer dies with the boss at like 20%. Then other BLM dies (didn't see how). I'm 100% expecting a wipe but again for some reason I have Drain slotted on my hotbar. I figure - it can't hurt but I wasn't expecting a miracle. Tank goes ham on DPSing, I pop Manaward(wall?) and because I'm sitting at only about 20% health, I spam Drain and... hot damn it works. I get up to 80% health and the boss now is at about 15% or so. Between the two of us - we power through it and finish it off.

No comms.

[HoodRat]

See, now I was mildly annoyed to begin with because the tank had been 100% in Darkside from the start of the run

Darkside isn't a stance and, with the removal of the mp drain in SB, the only reason not to have it on outside of a few very specific situations is to be synced below level 30. As for grit, they definitely should have been using that, especially considering their gear level.