Item Level and You

[Ronyx]

BLM is not best dps class against titan, the dodging nerfs your overall dps considerably.

People are fine to ask for ilevel above the minimum, it is giving yourself a bigger margin of error and it's unreasonable to trust pugs to play so well that they can preform at the minimum.

Indeed. I dont believe a single word of that blm with item Lv 57 to be the highest DPS in the fight. Casters like BLM cant have a good and constant DPS in such fights, you have to move and dodge A LOT specially with your super low HP, so you will be interrupting your own spells most of the time. Specially in that last phase when all Titans atks start going faster.

[chocomaid]

That's the problem though, you are putting so much focus in upgrading gear than upgrading playstyle (which people can actually converse about and help each other with). I agree that whichever group we fall in, no one wants to waste time, but I also don't want it to be bland regardless if I've cleared once or multiple times.

Options to overgear content is beginning to be a popular trend in games nowadays. They can say it's game design but that's just a facade.

It's just that overgearing content takes out that feeling of being on the edge of your seat while progressing with your group slowly but surely, whether it be a test of gear or skill or whatever. Finally, proceeding with a "silent cheer" when you've cleared it knowing that you've done the best you could've with whatever gear/skill/group you had at that time. The sense of satisfaction is much greater the more effort you put in.

[SarcasmMisser]

Something I'd like to point out; it is really easy to get carried as a dps and people in the group, including yourself and other dps, don't realize it. If a tank underpreforms you see it by mobs not staying still, if a healer underpreforms you see it because people die. DPS can disappear in a group, not take their equal share of damage output and come out thinking they're good.

Titan HM is a good example of this. The soft DPS check is really generous. so people take the ability to dodge as the only requirement of the fight, and even go as far to call it a skill check and disregard gear. I've seen so many players who think they can do it because they can dodge, but they do it sacrificing too much dps and depend on other dps to carry them without realizing it. In my opinion a dps at the ilevel req would have to be doing optimal dps while dodging to meet the hard and soft checks, assuming all other dps are at the same level. This rarely ever happens, so you don't see this demonstrated. In titan EM though you do see it, and I feel its a flaw of the game design to let dps go this far into the end game before they hit a skill wall.

A good exmaple I had the other day was in garuda EM, we managed to clear it while carrying an absolutely terrible BLM dps who we were only able to call out on their lack of ability when someone was running a parser and noticed he was only doing 40% of the dps I was doing. Gear could only account for a fraction of that, and we passed anyway so even in garuda extreme BLM who don't even know how to output damage well are getting through. If that was a tank unable to play his class he would stand no chance.

[Moirear]

*snip*

Titan HM is only a good example of game design clashing with the technical limitations of the game to create an unfair disadvantage. I dare you try playing any caster or healer on Titan HM from the EU region and still think you're good at it. You will have to learn how to do the fight with a penalty to your dps output or healing capabilities due to the fact that you have to make a habit of dodging plumes and landslides BEFORE they actually happen on your screen. Pair this with a lack of routine on a specific fight which is relatively new to the player and you will inevitably end up spending more time not dying than fulfilling your role.

I don't know though, maybe that BLM was doing something fundamentally wrong when given the opportunity to burst dps. But just saying.

[SarcasmMisser]

I dare you try playing any caster or healer on Titan HM from the EU region and still think you're good at it.

Hi, I play a BLM from Australia, I played on Behemoth before coming here on Tonberry and I cleared titan with 300+ ping, and I still play with 200+ ping. I predodged for titan on behemoth before I started tunneling and on Tonberry I play without tunneling, and can dodge weights consistently. My reactions to the tells has to be very tight, and on EM you can't pre-dodge due to positioning but believe me I know what it is like to pre-dodge.

I am of the belief that you simply need a better connection for EM, and on HM you can pre-dodge. If it was lag or not, the bottom line is that there is no way around having to avoid the weights consistently, so unfortunately you have to bow out. Look into tunneling services and experiment, and if it is still too bad then you need to consider that it may be impossible for you and you are just burdening groups

[alhandra]

i understand full what the OP is getting at, i too wonder why people go into fights so unprepared/undergeared. sure, the fight may be doable, but if you are rockin ilvl 57 gear while the rest of your pt is ilvl 70+ who do you think is going to be carrying all the weight? im all for helping people and regularly will. but only if the people are helping themselves first

[Purrfectstorm]

i understand full what the OP is getting at, i too wonder why people go into fights so unprepared/undergeared. sure, the fight may be doable, but if you are rockin ilvl 57 gear while the rest of your pt is ilvl 70+ who do you think is going to be carrying all the weight? im all for helping people and regularly will. but only if the people are helping themselves first

You got it!

[ZephyrAM]

This is the same issue as waiting until you're a high enough level to be sync'd down before entering a dungeon: by that point you're higher then necessary level with better then needed gear, and the whole activity becomes a yawn fest. I understand that for many players 'everything' is a means to an end, and anything that makes it faster is the best solution.

Nevermind that you just spent 60 hours doing something you didn't enjoy so that you could get to the end and either start all over on another class/character, or stop playing and complain that there's nothing else to do.

The most fun I 'ever' have in games is when I'm running with others I know and we're only just 'barely' not getting stomped flat into the ground. Having a situation go sideways on you and frantically changing tactics to compensate... then coming out alive at the end. Playing the game and enjoying the time therein.

Which no, often doesn't happen, as there is a lot of just grinding out the levels in every game, but it certainly doesn't happen more often at the end of the gear chain, nor by playing everything safe. Not that I like going solo into the DF at minimum req, but if I've got a friend or two with me, bets are off. That's when it gets fun.

Live a little... then die occasionally, and laugh about it


Edit:
Also, if your problem lies in repeating the same fight over and over, either because you're farming it or just failing to complete it, well, that's what the Party Finder is good for. Stop using DF ^_^

[MariyaShidou]

Case in point, I played in a Titan HM party tonight that was fantastic. They never got hit by anything and everyone was always healed up to full health. We wiped for an hour and never getting past the heart phase. We'd come close and our level of skill was tantalizing. Surely we could win eventually right?

Wrong.
After several perfect attempts and having this same problem, I checked the gear of the DPS classes and discovered that it was terribly gimp. Oh, they were good players no doubt and we were doing everything right. But c'mon, there's a certain point at which fights are just impossible without proper gear.

Did you healer DPS the heart? This is pretty important for low iLvl pt or 4/5 men pt.

ILvl 55 and ILvl 88 in my experience, the difference is only 30% in term of DPS, and if people can 5 men iLvl 80 Titan HM you should have no problem 8 men iLvl 57 Titan HM. People actually did Titan HM in AF gear before.

[Enok]

I want to add a little on the subject, Pre 2.1 I had a difficult time beating titan on Summoner, I beat it a few months back but took me nearly a month to clear, while my attempts were mainly DF. I play on the PS3 and titan as a summoner was a predictive fight meaning you had to be moving before everything actually happened, it took a bit of time for me to learn the fight. Eventually I was able to overcome Titan and it was a mixture of getting better gear, and learning the fight and adapting to my own situation. Still I found myself getting hit by plumes I should not of got hit by. Tested it just recently and was able to get it in one go, not hit once. pre 2.1 one for me was much needed experience for me. It made me a better player, post 2.1 I can't say if it is easier because they changed how the servers interact with the client or I am that much better having done more challenging content. All and all I agree gear and skill are needed. Much words no need DOGE