Why are NPC parties so bad?

[Jeeqbit]

Alphinaud healed the big pull at the start of Mt Gulg. You know the like 4 or 5 packs? I did that with Alphinaud.

As for them doing low damage, it's because they are trying to make the dungeon run last about 30 minutes and only do single target attacks. They want faster runs of 20 minutes or less to be something you get players for.

[Thangil]

Alphinaud healed the big pull at the start of Mt Gulg. You know the like 4 or 5 packs? I did that with Alphinaud.

As for them doing low damage, it's because they are trying to make the dungeon run last about 30 minutes and only do single target attacks. They want faster runs of 20 minutes or less to be something you get players for.

Then why is is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT when playing with my squadron?

[Jeeqbit]

Then why is is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT when playing with my squadron?

Because squadrons aren't meant for helping you clear dungeons. They are meant as a mini-game to command a squadron with only a limited few dungeons part of it.

[Thangil]

Because squadrons aren't meant for helping you clear dungeons. They are meant as a mini-game to command a squadron with only a limited few dungeons part of it.

Then why have them at all? If they cannot help with the quests, they're irrelevant, imo.

Btw, I'm NOT talking about squadrons, I'm talking about NPC parties.

[Jeeqbit]

Then why have them at all? If they cannot help with the quests, they're irrelevant, imo.

Because in order to increase our Grand Company rank, SE wanted to make it feel like we were actually a commander/captain of something. So they took a long time and developed an NPC system where we "recruit" and "command" a squadron and tackle dungeons with them, commanding to stand/follow/attack.

That's all it was ever intended to be. The reason Duty Support does not work the same way is because it has a different purpose and we don't "command" the NPCs, so they act independently.

Btw, I'm NOT talking about squadrons, I'm talking about NPC parties.

You mentioned squadrons, that's all.

[Thangil]

You mentioned squadrons, that's all.

I was VERY clear in describing the difference between NPC parties and squadrons. If you didn't get, that, that's on you, not me.

[Jeeqbit]

I was VERY clear in describing the difference between NPC parties and squadrons.

You mentioned "squadrons" multiple times across multiple posts, so I just clarified how squadrons are different and why SE designed them differently. But if you don't want to talk about squadrons, that's fine.

So, assuming if you're able to pull multiple packs and survive, can you lower the 30 minute average, or do your trust members end up doing basically no damage at all because you're ahead of schedule (for lack of a better term)?

Usually, it still ends up at 30 minutes whatever you do. They are supposed to scale their damage based on meeting this timeframe (from what I remember them saying in a live letter). Either way, whether it scales or is due to only doing single target attacks, the result is it takes a long time.

I think the only way to really get it lower is if your own damage can be great enough to destroy every single enemy fast, such as in the max level dungeons where your item level is allowed to grow too much.

[MsMisato]

Because squadrons aren't meant for helping you clear dungeons. They are meant as a mini-game to command a squadron with only a limited few dungeons part of it.

squadron is way better than trust especially when you get to mastery 5 on them. Honestly think SE should have went the route of Squadron's for at least ARR and HW for the MSQ. then moved to the scions helping out Stormblood and afterwards. Or at the least to include the mastery system with the duty support/trust npcs

[TheMightyMollusk]

squadron is way better than trust especially when you get to mastery 5 on them. Honestly think SE should have went the route of Squadron's for at least ARR and HW for the MSQ. then moved to the scions helping out Stormblood and afterwards. Or at the least to include the mastery system with the duty support/trust npcs

The problem is that squadrons require getting your Grand Company rank up enough to unlock them, plus farming the weekly challenge log until it decides to give you more recruits. They'd have to redo that entire process. Evidently they just decided that a handful of set NPCs was easier to manage.

There's also the story problem that, at least in HW, the Grand Companies can't openly support the Scions for a while because of the whole mess in Ul'dah.

[MsMisato]

The problem is that squadrons require getting your Grand Company rank up enough to unlock them, plus farming the weekly challenge log until it decides to give you more recruits. They'd have to redo that entire process. Evidently they just decided that a handful of set NPCs was easier to manage.

There's also the story problem that, at least in HW, the Grand Companies can't openly support the Scions for a while because of the whole mess in Ul'dah.

i always understood that the squadron was like an adventurer militia for the grand company thats why it was established because you never really have anyone from the GC on your team. just plain adventurer npcs. . But I get what you are saying about the the GC not being able to support the scions.

I just think the mastery system for the squadron could have been been applied to the trust system if anything in that case.