Garo Event Survival Guide? Or How to get by while my friends are on a PVP high?

[Ninster]

Of all the things that hit with 3.5, the Garo event was the one that barely registered on my radar. Yet here it is, and my friends are all over this. One is a "veteran" (as in, used to play regularly as DRK, and I would assume very well), the other two are a BRD and NIN that completely fresh but want the gear/mounts/titles/everything. And then there's me, who barely picked up the new anima step is mostly interested in upgrading it to keep up with the PvE game. I too, have never stepped into PVP, although I had a bit of a mind to with the minions and music. But one look at the PVP skills tells me I have a hotbar reorganizing job to do, and one I'm not exactly looking foward to. Not to mention figuring out the how's and what's and why's of each skill. I play SMN, with BRD as a second choice (which I will turn to later if I start the 270 anima step with it).

This isn't to say I have a distaste for PVP or the community as a whole. But it's like trying something new for the first time in a fancy restaraunt that you've never even heard of. I mean, you have to at least attempt to eat whatever it is that's on your plate to appease your present company and not look silly doing it.

Simply put: my mentality is that if I go into anything new, I need to at least at like I'm not being a liability. It's why I still haven't stepped into Thordan or A1S farms or any EX Primal since release, even though I'm ilvl 256. So as SMN, what do I do that won't get me yelled at? Frontlines, Feast, whatever I get dragged into. I went into Shatter last night and I guess I did okay. I mean, our team won but it was just confusing and on edge for me. I focus targeted one of my party's healers just so I wouldn't get lost and at one point I actually lost that target and got stranded a bit until I located them again. I can't remember all the end match stats but I remember it was something like 0K/1D/5A and damage numbers of around... 30k each? Afterward my friends took some downtime and I just went back to crafting to sort of de-escalate my nervousness.

The thing is, I really don't want to end up by myself while my friends PVP all night every night, but again I don't want to continue being a liability in every match and get myself cross-server blacklisted because I get nervous and mess up.

Because character limit tl;dr: I feel out of place in PVP but my friends are gonna do it because OMGGARO AND GLAMOURS AND MOUNTS AND WE ONLY GOT SIX MONTHS!

[loreleidiangelo]

As a caster DPS in Shatter, you should re-roll BRD.

Jokes aside, there's a few things I do as a SMN in Shatter (main AST, but swap to SMN if we're loaded up on heals). If I can, I try to Ifrit stun or Garuda pushback tanks that are harassing our healers or DPS at ice. Tri-Bind also works. I'll dot up ice, Bane it onto the pile of melee there, then try to either Fester snipe a low HP target or Painflare ice to keep my stacks rolling if ice is about to die. Last Aetherflow stack I'll burn on Fester or Energy Drain and try to explode a straggler with Deathflare as everyone is rolling out. Caster DPS on ice is pretty low, but given that Bane exists there's no reason not to at least put dots on the ice.

For actual PVP engagements, it's important to remember that you're squishy AF and even a good WAR can delete you if you're not careful, so don't overextend. LB in PVP isn't shared, so I like to Tri-Bind a huge pile of people at ice and drop it on them. Even if I don't kill anyone, it makes tons of melee panic and try to GTFO, so that's less damage they do to ice. Casting LB will animation-lock you for a few seconds afterward, and you can be stunned out of the cast, so don't conspicuously rush in to drop it or you'll have a bad time.

Virus and E4E work in PVP, so don't forget about those. If we're about to engage in a drawn-out brawl, sometimes I'll send my Titan Egi in with E4E and Sustain/Earthen Ward it and watch as a bunch of people give themselves the debuff whaling on it lol. Ifrit's Radiant Shield also helps when your whole team is getting hit or when your tank runs in as bait or when your healer is getting jumped on by a melee.

Largely, Shatter isn't about kills, it's about being in a good position to get to ice spawns fast and DPS it. SMN lacks in this area, but if you can get quick kills on low HP targets that's less enemies hitting ice, so you can still support your team. Make sure to learn and use your PVP abilities, especially Purify (Misty Veil is nice if you're trying to out-range a BRD/MCH during their burst), as well as think outside the box about how to use moves in your PVE toolkit (Virus, pet stuns, E4E, Tri-Bind, Blizzard II).

I'm at work currently, but if you have specific questions just ask and I'll try to reply when I can (or better SMNs than me can haha).

[Ninster]

Thanks. I'm not sure if they will keep doing Shatter or if it's just what happens to be most popular or what, but I'll see if I can rearrange my hotbars to include skills and I'll try to remember the tips. I just hope this gets more comfortable over time. I overthink a lot, so it's hard to concentrate when I'm suddenly being attacked or when my team is marking a target. Not to mention the whole mentality of "you're new and it's your fault we can't have nice things" that seems to have arisen regarding PVP. I feel less like 8v8v8 or 24v24v24 and more like it's me against everyone there. That being said, regarding the ice having magic resistance, is it possible to circumvent that by Baning off an attacker, or is there a chance the dimishing returns on Bane (1/2 potency for 4+ targets in PvE) is worse?

[loreleidiangelo]

Thanks. I'm not sure if they will keep doing Shatter or if it's just what happens to be most popular or what, but I'll see if I can rearrange my hotbars to include skills and I'll try to remember the tips. I just hope this gets more comfortable over time. I overthink a lot, so it's hard to concentrate when I'm suddenly being attacked or when my team is marking a target. Not to mention the whole mentality of "you're new and it's your fault we can't have nice things" that seems to have arisen regarding PVP. I feel less like 8v8v8 or 24v24v24 and more like it's me against everyone there. That being said, regarding the ice having magic resistance, is it possible to circumvent that by Baning off an attacker, or is there a chance the dimishing returns on Bane (1/2 potency for 4+ targets in PvE) is worse?

I honestly haven't tried using Bane off of a melee to see if the dots snapshot. There are so many melee that there's high odds it'll get the full 4+ target reduction anyway, but I suppose on the chance it doesn't it's always better to try. Be warned, sometimes your target will Purify before you can get Bane off, which is another reason why it's risky. It takes a quick reaction time, but it is possible for people to do it. (Whether they care enough during ice is another matter entirely.)

Most everyone is queuing Shatter because of this weird self-fulfilling prophecy where people believe that the only mode that anyone is DOING is Shatter. Occasionally I'll get a Seal Rock pop when I have all 4 PVP options queued, but I have never once since Shatter was introduced gotten into a Slaughter (or, heaven forfend) Secure match. So it's best to familiarize yourself with Shatter first, unless your team is also planning on trying Wolves' Den, in which case you'll want to learn about Feast.

I personally don't really see any instances of "new people are ruining PVP" except in regards to the Feast chat ban...you won't find much sympathy from the veteran crowd if you're in favor of it. That said, I have yet to see anyone rage out in all of the FL matches I've done since Garo was put in, and I've clocked about 20 of them in two days. I admit that I'm losing more queuing as freelance, possibly due to being placed with solo-queuing newbies instead of the veteran partial premades or duo/triple queuers, but that doesn't really bother me. Don't let the forums put you off giving it your all - people are just understandably pissed about the chat ban, as it's a patronizing and lazy measure to moderate the situation. Players who are learning the ropes in Frontlines hardly fall under the same jurisdiction as people who deliberately queue ranked Feast solo having no clue what they're doing, and thus causing their team to lose.

As for making decisions under pressure, sadly, that's a talent that can only be taught with practice and time. I've been PVPing since Secure and I still do dumb stuff and get caught in a pain train and panic, rather than use my head and my cooldowns to wiggle out of the situation. It's okay to make mistakes and die, especially in Frontlines - victory is usually decided by which team does the best at securing objectives (whether it's Shatter or Seal Rock or one of the level 50 modes) rather than which GC lays the biggest smackdown. You obviously shouldn't be TRYING to get yourself killed, but if you're separated from your team and get picked off because you're still learning the map, don't beat yourself up over it.

My final piece of advice would be to say that if you're not having fun, don't force yourself to do it. It's just costumes, in the end. I like reading posts from new PVPers who have tried at least Frontlines because of the event and really wound up enjoying it, but it bums me out to see people stressing over doing something they don't enjoy simply because they want the cosmetics or because everyone they know is doing it.

[Geologo]

Regarding Bane sin Patch 3.21

The damage calculations of Bio, Bio II, and Miasma spread by Bane will now be affected by the beneficial and detrimental effects of targets.

So if you put dots on a melee then you use Bane to spread them to the ice, they will still be nerfed.
I think it works even in the opposite case, you put weak dots on ice, than Bane to close players, the new dot will have 100% potency.

Anyway when you use Bane you have a PvE trait that can put full lenght dot on the other targets, and they will have the real PvE full lenght (30, 24, 18 sec), but I said it just because I was curious to know how that Trait works in pvp.
You should avoid to waste Aetherflow stacks on Bane 90% of time you would do it in pvp, you will still do good damage because almost you have already Painflare, deathflare and Enkinde that will do heavy AoE damage, the Bane's one will be too slow for a burst.
(In my Opinion, I'm not such godlike pvp player unfortunately xD)