One shot mechanics in Normal Raids

[StriderShinryu]

The good thing about the line mechanic is that even on savage you can just stick with someone else if you feel more confident in their judgment.

There's little question that the mechanic, and this fight in general, does require a little more in terms of sort of general gaming skill than a lot of fights in the game. As such, it's definitely a fight that some people are going to have issues with even if/when they understand what's going on mentally. It's more about reading and reacting than just a "go here when this happens, or stand at X for that mechanic" fight.

That said, however, the advice quoted above is 100% true. You don't even need to have voice comms or know the person/people you're playing with. Find the person/people who do seem to know what they're doing and just follow them. That should help most people get through this one.

[Stanelis]

There's little question that the mechanic, and this fight in general, does require a little more in terms of sort of general gaming skill than a lot of fights in the game. As such, it's definitely a fight that some people are going to have issues with even if/when they understand what's going on mentally. It's more about reading and reacting than just a "go here when this happens, or stand at X for that mechanic" fight.

That said, however, the advice quoted above is 100% true. You don't even need to have voice comms or know the person/people you're playing with. Find the person/people who do seem to know what they're doing and just follow them. That should help most people get through this one.

Except this strategy doesn't work because light and dark debuff are attributed randomly. It then requires as much work to try to find the player with the same debuff on time than actually looking where light and dark will go during the mechanic.

[StriderShinryu]

Except this strategy doesn't work because light and dark debuff are attributed randomly. It then requires as much work to try to find the player with the same debuff on time than actually looking where light and dark will go during the mechanic.

Eh, you do have quite a bit of time to recognize what colour you have and what others around you have. It's random who gets what at the start of each phase but there is no randomness beyond that. If you're sticking close to the other players in general then find a player who has the colour you do and move with them. Your own colour will be swapped to match theirs as you do the mechanic. Maybe you're having trouble with the mechanic but it's just blatant hyperbole to say it takes as long to see what colour you have and figure out where you need to go as it does to just see someone else with your colour near you.

[WK74648]

It really does not. It deals like 90% damage to a decently geared non-tank character if you stand in the wrong spot. So if you're already missing some health or your gear is not so good, you will die. But it's not a true one-shot.

I hear this alot but I have yet to see it happen in the groups i'm in. I watch MTQCaptures videos on this one again here. https://youtu.be/0LWBk7HH2dU

At 2:35 she starts explaining the mechanic. At one point in the video she says "To avoid death." Shortly after she says it, the 2nd wave of light and dark goes off. The monk gets hit at full HP (91k) and dies instantly. Again at 4:19 the mechanic I'm referring hits one of the tanks who has max health at 142k. Dies instantly. What am I missing here?

[Gofr]

I've survived taking the wrong hit before, but I have to be at full hp and it leaves me with literally like 2% left (maybe also had a shield going too when that happened, not sure), so if you're missing even a small sliver of hp, you die. Anyway, as for the mechanic itself, it's pretty easy once you understand it. I usually take the time to preposition myself in advance before it fires off, that way once I'm in place, I can just stay there and continue dpsing. I don't see what's so hard about taking a few seconds to look where they're going and pre positioning yourself accordingly, really.

[tdb]

I hear this alot but I have yet to see it happen in the groups i'm in. I watch MTQCaptures videos on this one again here. https://youtu.be/0LWBk7HH2dU

At 2:35 she starts explaining the mechanic. At one point in the video she says "To avoid death." Shortly after she says it, the 2nd wave of light and dark goes off. The monk gets hit at full HP (91k) and dies instantly. Again at 4:19 the mechanic I'm referring hits one of the tanks who has max health at 142k. Dies instantly. What am I missing here?

I found another video where I could see some damage numbers and it does indeed seem to deal unsurvivable amounts of damage if you stand in the wrong color. I was maybe thinking of the damage amount of the mechanic where there's only white swarms. So fair enough, let's call it a one-shot.

Still, it allows plentiful time for you to maneuver yourself into position. I'll refer to the instructions Iscah gave on the first page:

Unless there are extra complexities I haven't noticed yet (having only cleared it tonight), figuring out where to stand for the portals + dark/light is a two-step process.

1. Portals appear - pick a square either side of the centre; it doesn't matter which for now. Make sure the portal behind you and to the side are different colours.

2. Dark/light beams appear - are you on the right side? If not, move diagonally to another square on the other side of the centre line.

The key element is to have different-coloured portals to your side and back.

I checked the timings from a youtube video, and you have 10 seconds to do step 1, then a further 8 seconds to do step 2. That's a total of 18 seconds from the beginning of the mechanic until it goes off. You don't even need to worry about your DPS on normal mode - you can stop doing anything else and take your time to position yourself correctly.

[Gemina]

Let me try. "Stand where the birds are opposite your debuff, and the portals behind and to your side are different." I got it down to 18 words, and a fairly simple explanation.

Not to sound rude, but this doesn't help much. You basically just told a player how to handle the umbral/astral debuffs and that the portals to the back and sides function differently. Trying to dumb down the mechanic isn't doing a service to anyone, nor does it pay it the respect it deserves. It really is an interesting mechanic to toss into normal mode, and luckily as others have pointed out, there's no enrage otherwise this fight would be even more troublesome for casual players.

I've seen the mechanic explained in many different ways. All of which I am sure are valid, but what it is, is players figuring out their own way to position themselves properly during this phase. It's not difficult to explain the basics of the mechanics: pay attention to your debuff and get hit by the birds of the opposite color. The back portals are the receivers, and the birds will come out of the side portals. That's it. That is the mechanic. What makes the brain start spinning is the mechanic tricks you into thinking you have to pay attention to two things at once. The side of the brain that perceives and processes colors and the side that uses logic are different. People who don't actively practice this are going to have trouble with this mechanic until they allow themselves to split it up.

The best way for me to explain it to myself is first stand in the path of the birds opposite your debuff, and then shut off all thinking pertaining to this part. You're in the safe spot, now leave it be. The next is to pay attention to which portal the birds I am not getting hit by go into. This is the portal that is safe for me to stand in front of. Thinking about my debuff switching is actually what was giving me trouble, because it made me think about more than I needed to. The key for me was the part I italicized, but in order for me to grasp that, I first had to fully understand how the umbral/astral debuffs and how the portals worked.

[tdb]

Not to sound rude, but this doesn't help much. You basically just told a player how to handle the umbral/astral debuffs and that the portals to the back and sides function differently. Trying to dumb down the mechanic isn't doing a service to anyone, nor does it pay it the respect it deserves. It really is an interesting mechanic to toss into normal mode, and luckily as others have pointed out, there's no enrage otherwise this fight would be even more troublesome for casual players.

Does it become clearer if you add "colors" to the end? Because "different colors" is what she meant by saying "different".

[Gemina]

Does it become clearer if you add "colors" to the end? Because "different colors" is what she meant by saying "different".

No. The side and back portals are not only different in color, they also function differently as well. By her saying different, I have no idea how they differ from each other outside the obvious color schemes and positions.

[Elladie]

I would just like to say that this thread has gone some way to restoring my faith in the XIV community. Unlike most threads on this kind of thing, very few people have been downright rude and told the OP to 'git gud'. Most people seem to understand why this mechanic can be very difficult to grasp. As Gemina said, it's two different thought processes at once (a bit like patting your head and rubbing your tummy at the same time).

I'm not asking for a nerf personally, I had fun doing this with friends (although it was definitely stressful). But if I didn't have such a great group to go with, I wouldn't do it. I wouldn't want to inflict myself on a random bunch of people. So it's sad that some will miss this story because they don't have an appropriate(and patient) friendship group.