Tales from Duty Finder: Some make you laugh, some make you cry. Let's vent.

[Kaoru_Nagisa]

pumpkin, you need to become a Real Woman and have some muscle, and dominance if you want me to be your boyfriend!

Right, well, think we can mark this off as a troll.

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Do Trusts count for DF stories? Doesn't matter, telling one anyway.

So I've been almost exclusively doing Trusts for 4-man stuff on my alt, and I've learned quite a lot about how they work through the consistent trial and error. It's fun to see how much they can really do and how far you can push when it comes to pull size - and funnily enough, they can handle large pulls really easily despite the lack of AoE.

So we all remember that one huge pull in Anamnesis Anyder, right? The one from the second boss all the way to the door to the last boss?

Yeah. I tested how much of that they could manage and... surprisingly, they could do it. By the skin of our teeth and with one res on Thancred (because that man doesn't know how to use Superbolide apparently, which I know he has, as he gave me a heart attack with it once during Amaurot), but like.. we managed it. Granted, we managed it on the second attempt after all of the extra stuff had spawned from the crystal tube thingies, but hey.

If I have one complaint about Trusts that doesn't involve the time they take to finish a dungeon compared to a semi-competent DF group, it's that we don't have an Engage button like squadrons. Having to face pull even the bosses or first set of mobs is a little tiring.

[Nishira]

If Trusts don’t have an engage button Kaoru, do they not have a disengage button either? Or are they a bit smarter about not standing in oozing puddles like squadrons happily do if left to their own devices?

[AlyaNimfa]

Right, well, think we can mark this off as a troll.
.

He really is, and a crap one.

[Kaoru_Nagisa]

If Trusts don’t have an engage button Kaoru, do they not have a disengage button either? Or are they a bit smarter about not standing in oozing puddles like squadrons happily do if left to their own devices?

They have much better AI than squadrons do, far better; they're programmed to move out of AoEs and perform mechanics. Unfortunately they won't attack or heal while moving, and they seem to prioritize healing you over healing your Trust tank... which is usually how the wipes happen when you're forced to face/ranged pull while going on DPS, lol. <.<;

[RitsukoSonoda]

They have much better AI than squadrons do, far better; they're programmed to move out of AoEs and perform mechanics. Unfortunately they won't attack or heal while moving, and they seem to prioritize healing you over healing your Trust tank... which is usually how the wipes happen when you're forced to face/ranged pull while going on DPS, lol. <.<;

Moving out of AoEs already makes them smarter than alot of players... Don't make them too smart otherwise they'll gain sentience and take over... >.>

[Kaoru_Nagisa]

Moving out of AoEs already makes them smarter than alot of players... Don't make them too smart otherwise they'll gain sentience and take over... >.>

SE knows that if they make them perform too well, that a lot of people - good players and bad players alike - would probably end up abandoning 4-man dungeons with other people altogether. The best we can really hope for is some tailoring to improve on what they can already do, as well as a couple extra tools (like an Engage button) to make using them just a little more user friendly without making them completely replace real people.

That said, even if they aren't as fast as a semi-competent DF group, I admittedly am having a ton of fun with Trusts and am glad they'll continue to be utilized for the MSQ going forward. The more runs I do with them, the better I understand the limits of their capabilities as well; sciencing with their viability is enjoyable!

[Nishira]

Thank you for your response Kaoru That’s good to know, I’m really curious about Trusts! And I guess it is an improvement over Cecily… I’m terrified of doing dungeons with her

[Katie_Kitty]

Probably as many playing male characters that are really females irl.

Lets stay on topic though, I'd don't need to prove my gender to anyone here, and no I wont be your girlfriend.

Seriously, what a weirdo to even ask that question. Nobody here wants to date them anyway so maybe if that's what they're after they should go outside into the real world instead.

[Kaoru_Nagisa]

Thank you for your response Kaoru That’s good to know, I’m really curious about Trusts! And I guess it is an improvement over Cecily… I’m terrified of doing dungeons with her

'Course! Squadrons are a bit faster if you stack DPS and go on healer to keep their idiot selves alive, but Trusts are a lot less of a headache usually - even if you're pushing them beyond what they're initially programmed for (small pulls with bare minimum assistance from you).

I actually feel pretty accomplished whenever we manage to pull off the standard pull sizes that most competent DF groups can do in their sleep, and the worst experiences I've had with them have usually just been poor prioritizing on the healer's part (either they'll focus you for heals while letting Thancred/G'raha eat dirt, or they'll be moving out of AoEs in a tight corridor and won't heal before/while moving).

If you aren't super pressed about their speed always being worse than a good DF group, they're fairly enjoyable to run with - plus make farming for a specific loot drop a lot easier. I'm actually planning to try spending a couple days closer to EW launch leveling them up on my main here, just so I can farm for the Paglth'an tank set on him so it's ready for when I can fantasia to a proper male rabbit.

I'll leave a lengthier dissertation I did over on reddit about Trust viability and performance across the three roles below, in case it'll help you (or anyone else):

I think they're arguably the worst experience on tank, despite seeming designed for it otherwise. Especially while leveling, you are more or less limited to single pulls with some rare occasional doubles if your gear is good and up to date.

The reason for this is, I think, due to the way they're tuned - they seem to be tuned around the minimum ilevel in terms of "power", so while your gear may be able to handle it, their own "stats" don't seem to be on the same level at times. I noticed this during Heroes' Gauntlet where I, as a DNC in basic Exarchic gear, had more HP than Thancred.

On healer, it's a little iffy. You can more easily force big pulls, but because Thancred or G'raha will rarely use their own cooldowns (which they have, apparently! I saw Thancred use Nebula once. Once.), and your DPS are single targeting, you have to babysit a lot more and blow more heals than you normally would in a semi-competent DF group.

DPS is certainly the easiest in terms of moving faster, as you have freedom to AoE - which does speed things up significantly, despite your group not attacking during mechanics or your fellow DPS not AoEing as well. I feel like it's the most... complicated? to pull on though.

Because of Thancred following behind you despite being the tank, you have to force pulls, obviously. Sometimes this can be difficult, especially if the next group is super far away. Even ranged pulling on DNC can be tough, because you can easily get your face eaten while trying to drag them back to your tank; and he also tends to be slow to gain aggro on everything. Whereas healers can at least heal themselves while performing the same sort of pulls, a DPS can easily die if he isn't fast enough to move to you or grab anything.

Which, in turn, can cause him to die since your healer is trying to heal you first. I've had barely a couple scratches from pulling an extra mob set, only for Alphinaud to be trying to heal me while Thancred's HP is melting.

In either healer or DPS event, though, it doesn't help that they seem allergic to using their invuln. :| And yes, they do have one! Thancred used Superbolide during a large pull in Amaurot... after he'd already gotten a Galvanize thrown on him. Scared the crap out of me, to say the least.

... But to make a large wall of text shorter: you actually can big pull on healer and DPS pretty often! It's just tricky sometimes, and may lead to a couple of wipes depending on how it's pulled or where the tank stops at.

They do get better once you get out of the leveling cycle, though. I was doing standard big pulls in Matoya's Relict with little issue and no uses of Clemency, Alphinaud didn't worry me a bit there.

I also just got done with Paglth'an, where we managed even that rough pull right before Lunar Bahamut. So they're certainly able to handle it! Maybe by the skin of the party's teeth, but hey!

[Nishira]

Yeah for the final GC rank I healed my squadron group in dungeons and that was actually very enjoyable I am leveling a paladin for fun and as I’ll always be a crap tank I won’t unleash myself on DF haha, but I finally understood tanks hollering HEAL ME as Cecily pretty much had the same effect on me

I think someone mentioned it in this thread… (?) but from what I understood with Trusts they talk about the instance you are in with them and such? That sounded amazing.