Bleeding Ifrit again...

[Fazrenar]

Greetings to all. I make my first post today, a sad day it is.

A brief bio My partner and I have been playing XIV since beta! Yup, from the beginning we have grown as the game has, casting, slashing, crafting, enjoying ourselves by and large. Slow and steady we have played together whenever we can, pushing thru the UI lag, waiting on patches, loving the look of the game immensely.

We capped our primary class last night, very excited I capped my Thamaturge and my partner his Archer, ready for the Primal... right? The biggest meanest boss in the game. Ahem! The only true boss (mega-boss?) in the game (atm).

Not good enough we are told... repeatedly. Why? Could it be the "elite" types saying no? Perhaps some of the rejections were from e-types.

Could it be the difficulty of the battle? I'm a FF newbie (only VII, XIII, and here), but plenty of other games and gaming experience under my belt. And there are folks out there who don't mind players that sometimes make mistakes, don't know every weakness and battle mechanic, I have heard from them whilst we tried to get to Ifrit.

Could it be the game itself? Fanboys are shuddering, I know. But if NO-ONE will allow an ARCHER in an Ifrit battle, who is to blame? If no one wants your participation unless you have Gladiator 36 as well as your capped class, how do you get to kill Ifrit?

Reminds me of older FFXI, says my partner. Dragoon or Dark Knight anyone want them? Red or White.. which mage will get picked?

If the battle is so hard (not that we are gonna find out anytime soon) as to require a FULL party, then a diversity would seem the best option. ONLY 7 battle classes, 8 members in the battle party, but never an Archer!

So what will we do? Both get Gladiator to 36 to get "Sentinel" to just survive the battle? Then level a third class **NOT** archer, then try get 6 others to join us....

I feel defeated, we have worked so hard to level cap. I've looked forward to the end-game content and the big battle! Moogle boss is coming I hear ya say, but what if similar conditions apply... Another month or 3 getting the requisite class to appease the community that we are good enough? The community we are required to combine forces with just to get there?

Should I pay for this experience as well now? I am really upset today, this has tarnished the experience I have enjoyed all year.. I've worked HARD for all year.

If you're an archer you can't play, Archer, archer go away.

*sigh*, Faz.

[Chardrizard]

When it comes to contents that people have spammed repeatedly like literally 100times, nobody really wants to experience wiping ever again, they are long over that, thus they chose the most safest path to win. New players that have yet to experience Ifrit are expected to either catch up really fast or they will be left behind, that is how it is if you wants to do any contents with pick up groups. (alternatively, you can get a good and solid Linkshell that can carry you)

The novelty of trying out fun and different party setups will only be there for the first few attempts when it was just released.

[TheVedis]

just an fyi, you dont "need" sentinel to beat this.

his move does roughly 2600 damage, if you can buffer that you can survive it. sentinel is the best way to do this, but you can also make sure to stay topped off along with +hp materia to help you survive it without sentinel too

[Reinfeld]

Nice to see veterans are doing their part to keep newbies interested and server population up.

1.20 Might make it better too. I could be wrong, but with 1.20 I think Sentinel either doesn't exist or is a GLA-only skill. I can't say whether or not it will make Archer any less useless.

[EdenT]

Nice to see veterans are doing their part to keep newbies interested and server population up.

This exactly.

Though one of the groups actually invited us to their LS so that we may lvl up with them etc etc. This community spirit was warmly welcomed after some curt rejections.

It's just a little disappointing that this battle has been designed in a way that turned the community to effectively lock out 3 of the 7 battle classes from participating in it. Yes we could try and do it in a different setup for fun...but why now? Since we'd have to figure out tactics that nobody else has, even after hundreds of attempts.

I could shout for a PT, but when the invitees walk up for their invite and see a bow...will they still want to accept?

[Cale_Imrik]

I had the same issue months ago when Darkhold was released, LNC was my only 50 at the time and after a couple of weeks of getting rejected because no CNJ/THM/ARC 50, I ended up taking a 2-3 month break.

People in a PUG won't want to test out new and strange setups, because they all just want to win and hope for their drops, Linkshell groups are a different matter and a solid group can carry 2-3 players learning the fight with little trouble.

[Mushy]

It is the same for me, I bought this game when ifrit was announced, having played beta too. When I picked THM it had AOE heals. now it seems like a crock of shit class. Not only do I have to get sentinel, I also have to level a complete other job to 50 if I am to get to fight ifrit. If this is not fixed in 1.20 with people rethinking their battle strats. I wont pay until it is fixed. I want to be a THM/BLM that is why I leveled the job. No I dont want to take every job to 50, I have other things to do. I dont care if it takes some people a week to 1-50 I cant and wont. I dont even need the stinking ifrit weapon. I just want to fight the thing. seriously make every class a viable option or dont nerf it into oblivion which is the case of THM AND ARCHER...

[HoolieWho]

Wait for 1.20. No one should be complaining about not having high level abilities from other classes then. What will the classes even be like after the next patch? Thaumaturge especially.

There will also be some sort of seek/search feature which might make it easier to find like-minded people interested in the fight. And maybe people will be shouting in the streets, desperate for THM and ARC for the moogle fight.

[Avraym]

Not to belittle you, but if you just capped your primary class and have been playing since beta and you've been playing "Hard" all year as you claim, then you're doing it wrong.

I made friends with a newbie this week who has managed to hit 50 within 7 days, and thats not all the fast either.

As for your confusion of the non-diversity in jobs, ifrit fight is only a challenge because of the server lag.
All attacks give fair warning, but the server lag response time fulls short, and many people get hit/wipe even if they aren't standing in his attacks. So people want the best classes to fit a situation they can't avoid.

1.20 will usher in class reforms, encouraging party diversity. However, nobody can say what the "ideal" makeup of a party is at the stage, until we have a chance to test the abilties for ourselves.

Also, you should be leveling multiple jobs. One of the best things about FFXIV is that you can play everything and cross-class abilities. There are some excellent CON abilities that even your THM would greatly benefit from and its expected if you want to do end game content to be appropiately prepared.
You also get your own loot for Ifrit, so you can still gear your main, playing as a different class.

Unfortunately, You'll just have to wait for 1.20 and beyond to find your place, Find a good LS willing to take you in, or level conjurer (Conjurer is the most sought after class in most cases and is clearly the best healer).

[EdenArchangel]

I would invite you on my server.

I've been in groups with archers (two at most, personally) beating Ifrit. It's not so much 'hard' as it is being even more careful than the mages (who have a lock at beginning and end of spells). You're looking at approximately 2/3 of the damage of the average melee, and that's when you're performing optimally.

Sentinel isn't needed either, but I eventually caved and took the three hours to get to 36 to get that awesome damage reduction of 2500 to 500...

Do you not have a LS (with people willing to try new things)?