Tank-specific tips for Extreme Primals

[bokchoykn]

While its easy to say "if it ain't broke don't fix it", many melee needing to complete/farm this EX are screwed over everyday because of a choice in perceived superior strategy, which might save literally no time to thirty seconds in the end.

Your final statement here completely relies on your self-made premise that Garuda PF groups can't find tanks because tanks are intimidated by the default method accepted by the community.

This is not an actual fact. Here are some actual facts:

Fact: Tanks need this fight just as much as DPS or Healers do.

Fact: There is a tank shortage at all levels of this game, not just Garuda EX.

The reason why the ratio of tanks to other roles in this game is lower than 1:3 is a very complex topic that delves into aspects of MMO psychology that people may never truly understand. Being a tank just isn't very popular. It's just simply the nature of MMO's and the people who play them.

Despite what you suggest, changing the default Garuda strategy will not change that. This is not the reason why there is a tanking shortage. There are tank shortages on Japanese servers, where the triangle method is apparently the universal default Garuda strategy. There was a tank shortage before Garuda EX even existed.

To say that melee is screwed because of a tanking shortage caused by the double Wicked Wheel strategy is very farfetched. Even more farfetched is the notion that a change in default strategy would cause tanks to come out from the woodworks and tank Garuda EX for PF groups. Vortex rings for everyone.

Double WW strat relies on tanks previous knowledge/experience to be able to do it.

Every difficult encounter requires some degree of learning and experience to do it properly. It's called practice. Practice is used to acquire skill. Skill is required to beat content in video games. This concept is not unique to the Double WW strategy or Garuda EX.

Really all it takes is for the top DPS to face Chirada away from the group first (it always comes at same time, herp derp), then move on for downburst after friction.

Here is a problem with this strategy: DPS classes do not have the means to hold aggro. A monk or dragoon might get aggro first and he might be smart enough to turn Chirada away from the rest of the group, but what if he loses aggro? Remember: Upon gaining aggro, he can only attack Chirada from the front and all of his attacks are completely neutered. So, Chirada aggros the Black Mage who is standing with the rest of the group and casts Slipstream. Nobody reacts to it. Wipe.

It wasn't on a popular YouTube vid for NA people however, so it has never become an established strat.

This is a good point and I hate as much as anyone else the fact that the first and/or most popular YouTube video automatically becomes the default strategy, for better or for worse. When it comes to Garuda EX, I think that the "YouTube" strategy is fine. It's hard to say which strategy is better for PF groups, but I don't think the triangle strategy is any better.

An example of a strategy I hate is the general PF strategy for Ifrit EX. Running straight back for Eruptions, stationary healers, and tanks standing in a V formation, etc... I've never liked it, but everyone on our server learned it that way and Ifrit is easy enough that people can clear it with an unrefined strategy, so it's hard to steer anyone away from it.