Is it even possible to do Operation Archon?

[aboveinfluence2]

I can get to phase 3 of the fight after that his attacks are so frequent that I don't get a chance to cast and eventually I make a mistake. I'll try this rotation - Bliz3 Thun3 Fire3 Fire1 F1 F1 F1 F1 F1 B3 and repeat. Usually I don't get to cast so I don't get any damage done. Often I have to interrupt my cast so I don't get to do damage.

[Frizze]

The video made it look like the last phase was just an endurance test. He seems to bind you in place, then start bombarding the area with attacks. My guess would be that the play at that point is to completely stop trying to move and just burn him down. Once he gets you in place and the first missile goes off id probly try to hit manaward(or possibly just before that first missile? not having done the fight, im guessing at which timing would work best), then go full speed on the attacks. Once ward wears off, try surecast. By the time thats over the fight should be more or less done.

SannaR - I didnt mention Scathe because that can be a new player trap sometimes too. Ive seen some people think they were doing better damage because the spells were hitting faster and/or being frustrated with casting times and defaulting to scathe because it doesnt have one. Scathe damage... it feels wrong to call it damage its so much worse then true BLM potential, it doesnt refresh your AF/UI timers which can cause actual issues if you arent cognizent of it, and casting times are the class so someone too easily frustrated by that would be better off switching to RDM or SMN rather then playing BLM wrong. But all my issues with the spell aside(which i mention not for your sake, but any potential newer player reading this because they have similar issues), you are of course correct. And especially the potion bit. It shouldnt be needed since this duty includes a regen buff, but having a backup plan isnt a bad thing.

[Hasrat]

The video made it look like the last phase was just an endurance test. He seems to bind you in place, then start bombarding the area with attacks. My guess would be that the play at that point is to completely stop trying to move and just burn him down. Once he gets you in place and the first missile goes off id probly try to hit manaward(or possibly just before that first missile? not having done the fight, im guessing at which timing would work best), then go full speed on the attacks. Once ward wears off, try surecast. By the time thats over the fight should be more or less done.

Assessing the video, thinking in terms of BLM, I'm not so sure this is the play. The attacks all look simple enough to dodge, the intent seems to be more "get your hits in when it's safe."

At that stage, BLM probably suffers more than any other job regarding rotation. I'd say, Fire 1 should probably be the spell to focus on casting every time you have a few moments between attacks. Once the attacks start coming and you won't be casting anything for several seconds, just Transpose to recover MP for the next breather. Trying to work in the B3/F3 swaps runs the risk of losing timers and sticking you with a long cast to get going again, and just not really getting a chance to get the engine revved in all that movement.

Additionally, after having failed the fight... there should also be an option to do it with Easy mode... unless devs forgot to put that in with this rework...

[Pashen]

I haven't been able to beat the new SOLO version of Operation Archon either. I tried my best I can get to stage three of the boss and then die with barely having a chance to cast. If this isn't fixed I am going to quit and play the WoW expansion and EverQuest2. I loved the game up until this point, it was perfect, I don't want to have to quit before the game is done.

Please fix this, I selected Very Easy and it is still very hard. Once I get to level 90, I will be spending money in the shop but not before I beat the Virgin game.

I feel your pain. I came here to get away from WoW. Cape Westwind/Operation Archon may be my Waterloo in FF

[Seera1024]

I feel your pain. I came here to get away from WoW. Cape Westwind/Operation Archon may be my Waterloo in FF

What class are you using for the mission?

What's the level of your gear on the left side?

What are you dying to?

[Pashen]

Thanks for showing interest. I'm not ready to tackle it again just yet, though. In all honesty I only attempted it once, at approx. item level [edit: 123, not 213 as originally stated] as character level 59. All my gear was top notch. I say "was", because since dinging 60 yesterday, I'm now IL 198, using Wolf Marks to buy pvp gear for all slots. I have only one character, archer/bard, the one showing as my forum avatar.

The result of my one attempt was to make it past the adds, then getting overwhelmed by the large aoe circles he lays across most of the combat area. I know I need to up my reaction time to find those slivers of safe ground, I'm just not looking forward to it, particularly as the point I died appears to be only part 2 of 4.

I'm interested in any comment but it's probably premature to ask for advice when I haven't yet invested the time required to grapple with the issue of dodging his aoe attacks. I also need to pick through more videos to find the ones that were made after the change to SOLO mode.

Thanks again.

What class are you using for the mission?

What's the level of your gear on the left side?

What are you dying to?

[Rongway]

Thanks for showing interest. I'm not ready to tackle it again just yet, though. In all honesty I only attempted it once, at approx. item level 213 as character level 59. All my gear was top notch. I say "was", because since dinging 60 yesterday, I'm now IL 198, using Wolf Marks to buy pvp gear for all slots.

None of this matters. The duty syncs to Lv50 and IL50. For reference, the Lv45 job quest gear is IL50 and the Lv50 job quest top that completes the set is IL55. The Lv50 job quest also gives you a coffer for a full set of the IL90 palette swap. All of that will sync down to IL50.


Something what might help you, in re: dodging AoEs, is that as soon as a cast bar finishes filling and disappears, or orange telegraphs on the ground disappear, it's safe to step into the AoE. In fact many fights in this game have rapid attack sequences that (due to latency) will require you to step into AoEs after they've been calculated but before their animations go off. Get used to doing this, maybe. It's extremely uncommon for attacks to hurt you just by running into the animation after the telegraph/castbar disappears (I can think of maybe two attacks in the entire game, both flamethrower type attacks), so if the attack doesn't leave an explicit puddle effect, don't be shy about running into the marked area after the orange telegraph disappears if it'll help you dodge the one that follows.

[SannaR]

Don't forget that you can cast Scathe while moving so if you do find yourself needing to run more you can still do some sort of damage. I know people love to meme on potions but they do come in handy at times.

[Frizze]

Is entirely possible you are right. I havent done the fight. But the vid made it look to me like you were bound in place and then bombarded. I didnt see the bind icon go away(is it maybe a 2nd target to break the chain and sam just didnt bother because melee?). The attacks do look simple to dodge IF you can move. If not, burning him faster then he can burn you seems like the logical play. So far im not curious enough to dig up where this would fall into the NG+ sphere to try for myself, but i guess if Niwa continues to struggle is a possibility.

[Seera1024]

Is entirely possible you are right. I havent done the fight. But the vid made it look to me like you were bound in place and then bombarded. I didnt see the bind icon go away(is it maybe a 2nd target to break the chain and sam just didnt bother because melee?). The attacks do look simple to dodge IF you can move. If not, burning him faster then he can burn you seems like the logical play. So far im not curious enough to dig up where this would fall into the NG+ sphere to try for myself, but i guess if Niwa continues to struggle is a possibility.

I went through the New Game +. It's in Chapter 4, which is the quests from Coerthas in the mid-30's through end of main ARR. It took several hours of speed running the MSQ to get there.

It's totally doable on a Black Mage. I did just realize afterward that my attempt at being geared 100% like a level 49 Black Mage as close as possible got foiled. One of my rings remained. And of course it would be the iLvl 600 Asphodelos ring of casting. Oops. You do get item synced down to iLvl 50, however.

Today was my first time doing the altered fight and I went in blind. I did get hit a few times during the first phase while trying to greed so there is at least some room for error.

Some tips:

1. Fish for Firestarter procs while in Fire. They're free damage and you can cast them on the move. Useful in the 2nd main phase. Stay in Fire until you can't cast Fire 1 anymore. Then and only then switch to Ice via Blizzard 3 ideally. When you're in Ice, perfect time to throw out a Thunder as a filler move while you wait for your mana to fill up. Only stay in Ice as long as it takes to get to max mana. Use Fire 3 to switch back. Using the opposite Element #3 is a fast cast skill.

2. Definitely use Thunder. Thunder procs are also free damage and can be casted on the move.

3. Not sure if this would work, but you should be able to Sleep the ads in the ad phase. If not, work on them one by one. This reduces the damage coming in. Or at least that's how I did it.

4. Don't forget about Manaward. It's our we take no damage button. Very useful for the final phase where we can't get out of the AoE. I also used it during the ad phase.

5. Don't forget about Sprint. Can be useful in the 2nd main phase if you realize you're on the other side from the safe spot.

6. Don't forget about health potions and scour your inventory for food that would help you. Either by giving you a way to heal yourself or to boost your stats.

7. Don't panic. Your brain shuts down the logic center when you panic.