ATMA is probably going to kill me...

[Woggers]

Be sure to spirit bond too. This will help you get a headstart on your Novus materia as well

[Skander]

It's just not fair that normal people can go for hours and it's nothing and they even brag about it. Meanwhile if I try to do it to accomplish what they've done it could possibly kill me from a seizure.

As an epileptic myself, I can say with certainty that your condition is not something that you want to get into the mentality of 'proving yourself'. Although I can understand where you're coming from (and have, on more than one occasion succumbed to this line of thinking), it's more or less a ridiculous stance to take. Moreso, the projection that you are 'abnormal' (and that you need to be catered to) does both yourself, and the rest of us (epileptics and gamers alike), a disservice. Most people have health concerns, and there are a myriad of options and consequences related to caring for one's health. This desire to 'fix' content relevant to your own personal condition implies that you are ill equipped to make your own informed decisions. My case may be vastly different than yours, but I have had tonic-clonic seizures since I can remember. Thus, the breakdown for me happens this way; I do thing A [contains epileptic trigger(s)] for a certain amount of time. I begin experiencing petite-mal contractions. I STOP exposing myself to said triggers immediately, take a break and rehydrate. Once I have leveled out and am confident I can resume... I continue doing the things 'everyone else' can do. Taking care of your health is no one's responsibility but your own, and grinding away for 6-8 hours at a time is no less unhealthy for a person with zero pre-existing conditions. If you are photosensitive, try turning off or limiting outside players combat effects.I'm really not trying to be a jerk about this, but in my youth I had enough people prodding at my condition and making jokes at my expense to account for many people's lifetimes. The implications of this thread strike an unpleasant chord with me. I do hope and urge you to find a balance that works for you, and understand that more than simply killing or (more likely) inducing a coma in you... These seizures ARE doing damage. You need to be cognizant of them and protect yourself. Your health is more important than any piece of content for any game ever made. I just noticed you're on cactuar... maybe I'll see ya around in game. Until then, [Take care.]

[braneri1]

Yeah, like Skander said, take more frequent breaks and set character effects of other players to limited. Even without having your condition, I find that setting very helpful especially while playing as monk during raids and trials as all those effects (especially from black mages) can really obscure the target circle and make it difficult to see where you need to be to hit your positional attacks.

[Emiru]

Yeah the whole Atma thing is really bad game design. The books which you upgrade your weapon with is a cool idea, but really bad made. I just wasted half an hour in a dungeon because I weren't alive when the boss died...

[Dragoon4life]

sorry for that but seriously Atma farming should be easier. My first Zenith took like a month to get because Titan Hard was near impossible (ahh the memories) but the quest to get it was fun. I just got my 5th Zenith and it only took like 3-4 hour of non intense gameplay did all three hard primals in just 30 min. there just jokes to me now. And now there we get Giant Myth dumps that help with Animus which I much gladly appreciate. theres no excuse why atmas are still the way they are.

[Giantbane]

Ok I'm prepared for a lot of negative feedback and I won't respond to it but the atma quest line is seriously effecting my health. There's absolutely no way of getting an atma in just a few minutes of grinding fates. It literally takes hours and in my case days. I try not to play more than 4 hours at a time but doing fates for the hope of an atma drop has caused me to have a seizure twice. I have epilepsy but I've grown up playing games, it's not something I wanna give up. I just don't understand how the developers can not acknowledge the negative health effects of making things in the game that require you to sit in front of your computer for hours at a time and not do something to address the problem. It is absolutely not healthy and with me being epileptic there is always a chance I could die from having a seizure.

Yes, Atma is awful. For now, just take it in small chunks and don't worry about not having it. Do fates in one zone for 30 min, if you do not get a drop, go do something else or pick a different zone. I do not have the same health issues as you do, but for my first atma, I did a very, very solid grind for about a week. However, in hindsight, I regret it. It was not worth it and wished I had not focused on it so intently to the exclusion of everything else (and I'm saying this after earning my novus). I would not stress over this.

As was mentioned before, the *sane* way to an i110 weapon is to go to Syrcus Tower and get an unidentified tomestone, and use that to turn into a Weathered i100 weapon (Animus equivalent). Then join the hunt and earn 750 seals to get a single sand and you'll have a weapon that's every bit as good as the Novus with infinitely less stress. Just remember on the hunts that you won't make every hunt, you'll miss some and that's ok. If you keep joining groups and join a few hunt LSs you'll find some good people to hunt with and you'll be more successful at it. It's also usually better if you can hunt late night or early morning (fewer people usually means less competition and less drama), but I don't know how plausible that is for your condition.

[LadyVaJedi]

I can understand how you feel. I am dyslexic and have ADD. And I understand how you want to be "normal" . Your health is most important. I am also working on Atma it is boring as hell and some times it can get pretty overwhelming with all of the visuals going on and doing the fates for 4 hrs or more and not one drop can be pretty frustrating and annoying. I suggest to spacing out the fates and not to worry about people and what weapons they have. Just work on the tomes and have fun.

[Vanguard319]

I feel your pain, it took me two months to get my first atma, and it's looking like it'll be another two months before I get my next one. The stress actually DID put me in the hospital for a week. (not the only factor mind you, but it certainly didn't help.)

[ruinedmirage]

I thought I'd chime in with my own view as an epileptic as well (before the devs make any hasty decisions). I have grand mal seizures that last up to 15 minutes, and have been diagnosed with epilepsy for the last 18 years.

First of all, using the disease as a scapegoat or an excuse to modify content is a disgrace and puts other epileptics in a bad light. Sure, living with seizures isn't easy, but that means you have to take more responsibility for your own actions and condition.

Second, simply having seizures doesn't inherently KILL someone. Over the nearly 2 decades I've gone into fits, I've had 8 at work (around heavy machinery and forklifts, as I work on CNCs), 1 in an airport, a few in parking lots, 3 while riding my bike on the sidewalk, 2 while getting out of the shower, and countless times at school. At home in a padded chair is probably one of the safest places you could possibly be to NOT be killed.

Lastly, as was mentioned before, you can feel seizures coming on about 10-30 minutes before they happen. My neurologist knows this to be true with almost everyone she sees, and if you can't tell when it's coming, you're not very aware of your own condition. Just like Hunts in this game, if you write down what time of day they happen and how many days apart, you'll start to see patterns and be able to predict them (unless you're not taking your meds >.>)

Sorry for the rant, but blaming SE's content is simply bad form.

[Raist]

Learn to follow a horde farming fates in the zone you need (or form a small group to do it with you). The faster you are able to complete fates, the better your chance of getting the drop.

This is basically why the Zodiac Clock method appears to work for so many. It isn't the fact they are farming Leo from 8:00 to 9:00 JST--it is because a boat load of others are also there farming the fates at the same time. When you are knocking out fates in something like a 2 minute cycle, you dramatically increase the success rate.

For the record, I followed the clock when it was aligned with the zones I needed. For zones I had already cleared, I focused on another zone that wouldn't line up with my play schedule (like I went for Taurus at 9:00 JST , because I already had Pisces and I rarely get home before 5:00 JST during the week). I got all 12 atmas in 10 days this way.