Titan Extreme is NOT Fun

[gadenp]

I remember when Titan hard mode was actually hard. Extreme will be that way eventually, just get used to it.

Play Titan with everyone lvl 50 gear it will be hard again. And bring back the stupid inbuilt delay, that they reduced. Also go torrent some large file and make sure it take more then 90% of your internet causing you random lag. That should do it.

[Virtuso]

This whole thread reminded me of an awesome analysis video on video game difficulty and why this games idea of it is so messed up and frustrating while so many other "difficult" games are so widely praised and celebrated like Dark Souls.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ea6UuRTjkKs

[SarcasmMisser]

Yes we've been over that video, it is hogwash.

[Lemuria]

Yes we've been over that video, it is hogwash.

Care to explain your reasoning behind this response? To me, that video made a lot of sense. There is a big difference between making a fight fun-challenging and annoyingly brutal. Titan HM is basically a memory game. You need to know his rotations and be ready to dodge when he uses a particular attack. Titan extreme is the same except with less places to dodge to and less reaction time. This definitely feels like one of those 'punishing' moments, and certainly isn't my definition of fun.

To be honest, a lot of the fights are turning out this way. It's one thing to design a fight where you need to learn mechanics as the fight progresses, but it's quite another to design a fight where you need to experience the whole thing before you can actually figure out a way to beat it.

[Vhailor]

Obviously haven't read the entire thread, but here is one thought (about FFXIV in general): the difficulty is misguided. I love that hard fights exist, but many are ruthless from beginning to end. They severely punish even slight slip-ups, and in a way that makes recovery exceedingly difficult, if not impossible.

This is unlike, say, FFXI. I never had to maintain lightning reflexes for extended periods there - the fights were very challenging, but forgiving for slight reflex mistakes. You needed everyone to know the process of the fight, but didn't need perfection.

I'm a math instructor, so I'll use a classroom analogy - FFXI and other team-based games I've played demanded everyone have conceptual understanding (at most) to pass, bad gear notwithstanding. FFXIV requires the whole class to avoid screwing up a single negative sign on an exam. It's artificial difficulty that punishes slight mistakes just as badly as not understanding the battle mechanics. It needs adjusting.

[Dano]

it's an extreme mode fight, of coz its gonna punish mistakes heavily. If you want to win then the whole team must be on their A game, even if it means anticipating and moving beforehand or cheating with a spreadsheet, to be honest the timing of puddles are easier to anticipate compared to hard mode. I play on a 2 year old laptop with a 300ms connection, my reaction time isn't consider good either and i could still dodge puddles on reaction after doing it x number of times.

The only advise i can give is get a static going, once you've done enough times with the same group of people it will start clipping and you'll clear it eventually.

Err no sarcasm involved. I just really want all and any advise. If I cannot control how 7 other people in my party play. I will definitely want to ensure that I play Titan at the highest level of gameplay I can possibly do.

If a QB is not possible due to playing with pugs. What else is involved. From what I read, I know now to stand at 6' oclock bomb at add area. So where does the rest of dps stand? Where are the adds pulled too? During super bomb, which is the best bomb that healer stand and dps kill? Also during this super bomb dps period, how to not get weight of land spawn where dps is still killing bomb? Or will it definitely spawn there and dps have to work around it? So many questions ...

1.) Melee DPS and Off tank has to tank adds on west or east side, the rest of the party (ranged, caster, healer) must stack on the south, first bomb spawn pattern is North South East West, second bomb spawn is NW, SW, NE, SE. Unlike the old bombs, these bombs explode whenever they spawn first, not last.
2.) hate on adds can be an issue here, if you have shroud then use it.
3.) wait for the 3 way landslide, when it comes shift to left or right side.
4.) once the bomb on your original location (south or east or west) has exploded, immediately shift back.
5.) All the moving and dodging must be done WHILE killing adds/healing the party, it's best to finish off the adds right after the 2nd bomb explodes because puddles will come immediately after.
6.) dodge the puddles (thats why everyone other than melee DPS and off tank must stack, so puddles aren't all over the place)
7.) Off tank must take titan hate because by then Main tank will already have 2 stacks of debuff.

on the super bombs, people tend to gather on the south but to be honest, any bomb on the edge is fine as long as you coordinate everyone on it. There will be puddles when you are bursting down the bomb, so EVERYONE must stack and move out at the same time to avoid it , this is a strict DPS check if your party can't dodge and kill it in time it's pretty much a wipe.

[SarcasmMisser]

I explained my reasoning many posts back when this was first brought up, look through.

[Kaisha]

For fights reliant on reaction time, I only wish they synced up the enemy attack animations, and when the server declares you hit, better.

There shouldn't be these pregnant pauses between you declared 'hit' for an attack, and then the animation playing out after the AoE zone disappears, and then finally you getting your damage numbers/knockback/etc.

It's all too stilted at it stands, and doesn't help the "I was clear of it!" situation much either when animation has priority on everything.


On that note, I'm baffled knockback attacks are done client-side. Can go in a completely different direction than what you should have been if you lag for whatever reason when hit by one (or the server farts, which happens often to me on Demon Wall for whatever reason).

[Gardes]

I want to force the devs to fight titan with 300 ping combined with the game's stupid disjointed action/casting/animation system PLUS random lag spikes for no reason at all (edit: there's actually a reason, the servers are garbage). Have them do it for a week straight on their office hours and extend another week if they dont have a 95% win rate for that week. Including Yoship himself.

[gadenp]

I want to force the devs to fight titan with 300 ping combined with the game's stupid disjointed action/casting/animation system PLUS random lag spikes for no reason at all. Have them do it for a week straight on their office hours and extend another week if they dont have a 95% win rate for that week. Including Yoship himself.

Totally agree. Maybe next Q&A, tons of us should ask them if they actually play their content on live circumstances. In difference situations, like the above one. If they cannot more then 25% pass after like 50~ tries then they need to twitch it.