I’m really hoping for some DNC adjustments in PvP. Right now I would describe it as high risk, low reward. Your attacks are weak, and you’re made of glass. I’ve been doing okay in spite of that in Frontline, but I wouldn’t mind some buffs. Now, what would really be nice is making en avant go in the direction I’m pushing the stick. Getting yoinked into a crowd then trying to escape only for the game to decide I was facing towards the blob is a very efficient way to get instagibbed (right up there with using the DNC PvP LB against more than one or two opponents).
Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker - Conquering Despair Itself
- Thread starter ess-vid
- Start date
Huh. There's a decent subset of players who think that 5.3 was just as good or better than 5.0. I thought 5.3 was fantastic, just didn't get a whole expansion of buildup, and isn't quite as good as the main villain of 5.0. 5.3's Villain is what cements SHB as the best expansion, despite EW being REALLY good, it's just so hard to top 5.0 AND 5.3.
5.3 Spoilers:
Alright, but seriously. Elibidus/WoL was pretty cool. Especially with Emet Selch coming in to help from the cheesy imprisonment thing. Plus the crystal of Azem, and all the crystals that were used to ascend shards of other sundered ascians. Maybe you weren't in the right mood, but I personally LOVED the 5.3 story and super enjoyed the romp through Amaurot.
The new trial is just so much fun. Having a blast going thru it with people in my FC going thru the 6.2 MSQ and hearing their reactions to how it goes.
One of the major highlights is always the mini-cinematics with camerawork they do for abilities. The new trial is no exception. Innocence always stands out too for great camerawork.
We got the new EX trial done yesterday, and got a few clears in tonight. Pretty tough at min ilvl (600), for an EX fight at least. Once we're wearing some 620/630 it'll be easy, but for now it's no joke. I'm planning to play Sage this tier, and man am I still learning. I've been panic mode on the EX fight, but getting a lot better at managing cooldowns.
We got the new EX trial done yesterday, and got a few clears in tonight. Pretty tough at min ilvl (600), for an EX fight at least. Once we're wearing some 620/630 it'll be easy, but for now it's no joke. I'm planning to play Sage this tier, and man am I still learning. I've been panic mode on the EX fight, but getting a lot better at managing cooldowns.
As a fellow Sage, I feel like the EX is just always going to have a low level panic aspect.
We worked on it last night, but did not clear.
We worked on it last night, but did not clear.
I'll agree with that, but to me the story isn't ever as important as the characters. A strong character can make up for a weak story. Elidibus was a good character, but he had the misfortune of following what (IMHO) may be one of the greatest antagonists I've ever watched in any medium. Emet-Selch was a tour de force of both writing and voice acting.
Just played my first sessions and first duty roulettes in just over a year. [Godfather]Just When I Thought I Was Out, They Pull Me Back In![/Godfather] It all comes back pretty quickly. Off to Sharleyan. Sage looks interesting - I may have to try a new class seriously for the first time in years.
Elibidus isn't Emet-Selch by any stretch. He reinforces Emet, and Ardburt is pretty great as a contrast of the WoL/WoD. It's more of the solid reinforcement the rest of the expansion had. Then throw the Sorrow of Werlyt in there, and all the ShB patches hit the feels pretty hard. ShB beats EW for me just because of the great 5.0 patch, plus all the following ones. 5.5 was probably the weakest. There's some dang good stuff in there with Cid backstory leading up to one of the EX trials.
EW is good so far, and I give them a little slack due to being ambitious to get us back in adventuring mode.
Sage is really rough at unlock. Until 80 it's kinda brutal, especially since you get pushed back into sub-70 content a lot more. It's definitely an updated take on SCH, lots of jankier things about SCH are reworked into a less obnoxious form - like their equivalent of Sacred Soil. At max level, I'm super enjoying it. It has great movement tools, AoE damage, and on-demand mitigation.
I view SGE as SCH with most of the rough edges filed down. It feels good to play, has great movement for a healer, and pew pew lasers. Looking forward to taking it into the next tier tomorrow.
SCH is still the "better" class, but I just haven't been able to get it into a comfortable place to play.
SCH is still the "better" class, but I just haven't been able to get it into a comfortable place to play.
Isn't SCH only the better class because of Expedient? Raid-wide sprint button. Reducing greedy dps deaths is a big thing. There's the crit buff too. But otherwise it's the same kit, different flavor, with the added jank of fairies and aetherflow management.
I'll probably end up making an Icarus macro to jump to my ranged dps, since from experience with EX4, they can preposition way ahead of everyone else.
So the lasers of SGE are a little lackluster in my opinion. Not quite what I expected, some things sound right, but the default attack is definitely a hard miss.
I'll probably end up making an Icarus macro to jump to my ranged dps, since from experience with EX4, they can preposition way ahead of everyone else.
So the lasers of SGE are a little lackluster in my opinion. Not quite what I expected, some things sound right, but the default attack is definitely a hard miss.
Expedient, Chain Stratagem (the 10% crit buff), and Deployment Tactics to spread a crit Adlo are the big flashy things a SCH can do that SGE doesn't have any direct answer for. While I find SGE's mitigation to be better over the course of a fight sometimes you just want a giant shield.
Because of SGE's ease of movement, I don't use Icarus as much as I should. Most of the time I just use it to gap close after a party spread mechanic so I can get a damage GCD in before everyone else is close enough I can start healing them. Like in EX4 after the first enumeration, I jump to the boss immediately after the second cones go off.
Dosis (the standard attack) is meh visually, but I spent enough time as a Glare mage I'm okay with that. Toxicon and Pneuma more than make up for it.
Because of SGE's ease of movement, I don't use Icarus as much as I should. Most of the time I just use it to gap close after a party spread mechanic so I can get a damage GCD in before everyone else is close enough I can start healing them. Like in EX4 after the first enumeration, I jump to the boss immediately after the second cones go off.
Dosis (the standard attack) is meh visually, but I spent enough time as a Glare mage I'm okay with that. Toxicon and Pneuma more than make up for it.
I played DNC for most of season 2. I am now stuck in the bottom of bronze in CC, and my conclusion is DNC sucks. If I get lucky, and the other team is stupid, I can pick off loners. Otherwise? I’m basically useless.
Honing Dance provides a shield and does AoE damage. Nuce? No, you have to charge it up and hope your team stats nearby. If you get CC’d during it, you can’t cleanse. Assuming everyone doesn’t ignore you after they move out of the effect, you’re going to die without being able to do anything to mitigate the income damage.
The same is true of your LB. It has a huge windup animation, and you can’t do anything while it plays. The only way I have found to use it effectively is when the team is burning someone down, and I use it as an expensive stun. That’s ridiculous.
Your main damage combo requires En Avant (twice!). Assuming I don’t accidentally fling myself off a cliff (because En Avant goes where the server thinks you are facing), I have to dash either towards the enemy (bad because it puts me in range of their team too) or away (bad because it takes me out of range).
En Avant also sucks when trying to defend the crystal during overtime. You can try dashing into a wall, but if the server has other ideas, then it will take you out of the crystal where you can be CC’d and lose the match. En Avant is also your escape button, and using it that way risks preventing you from doing your damage combo. Whee!
So back to RDM I guess. I like DNC, but I usually get assists not kills. That’s a liability in PvP.
Honing Dance provides a shield and does AoE damage. Nuce? No, you have to charge it up and hope your team stats nearby. If you get CC’d during it, you can’t cleanse. Assuming everyone doesn’t ignore you after they move out of the effect, you’re going to die without being able to do anything to mitigate the income damage.
The same is true of your LB. It has a huge windup animation, and you can’t do anything while it plays. The only way I have found to use it effectively is when the team is burning someone down, and I use it as an expensive stun. That’s ridiculous.
Your main damage combo requires En Avant (twice!). Assuming I don’t accidentally fling myself off a cliff (because En Avant goes where the server thinks you are facing), I have to dash either towards the enemy (bad because it puts me in range of their team too) or away (bad because it takes me out of range).
En Avant also sucks when trying to defend the crystal during overtime. You can try dashing into a wall, but if the server has other ideas, then it will take you out of the crystal where you can be CC’d and lose the match. En Avant is also your escape button, and using it that way risks preventing you from doing your damage combo. Whee!
So back to RDM I guess. I like DNC, but I usually get assists not kills. That’s a liability in PvP.
I spent way too much time in the PF working on P7s; never beat the enrage. And the worst part is I’ll have forgotten just what a miserable experience it was by the time the next tier starts.
Ah Fantasia. I still have my original one from finishing ARR. Good thing hairstyle changes are practically free.
It's only been a week. P6S seems clearable by my static by the end of this week, mostly because we had some people clear last week. Cachexia isn't too bad, and good callouts go a long way. The third fight always has some gear checks built in though too. Man was P5S reclear hard last night, took more than a lockout to get it done. Don't worry, we secured our BLM the 4414/4447 parse. It said it was the worst one last night, at 3710/3710. Either way, a couple deaths and a damage down will do it.
I took the dive into Island Sanctuary. Pretty solid, even if it is just a distraction. Feels bad once you hit the island level wall after burning through 1-4/5 quickly. Long term it has some solid rewards.
It's only been a week. P6S seems clearable by my static by the end of this week, mostly because we had some people clear last week. Cachexia isn't too bad, and good callouts go a long way. The third fight always has some gear checks built in though too. Man was P5S reclear hard last night, took more than a lockout to get it done. Don't worry, we secured our BLM the 4414/4447 parse. It said it was the worst one last night, at 3710/3710. Either way, a couple deaths and a damage down will do it.
I took the dive into Island Sanctuary. Pretty solid, even if it is just a distraction. Feels bad once you hit the island level wall after burning through 1-4/5 quickly. Long term it has some solid rewards.
I looked through the hairstyles and frankly don't see any that are as cute as the one the toon has sported for 7 years now.
About 1/3 of the way through the Endwalker MSQ. Pretty good as expected so far, but it's hard to keep the eye-rolls down every time Fandaniel is on screen. His VA scene-chews almost as bad as the original ARR Gaius VA.
About 1/3 of the way through the Endwalker MSQ. Pretty good as expected so far, but it's hard to keep the eye-rolls down every time Fandaniel is on screen. His VA scene-chews almost as bad as the original ARR Gaius VA.
dferrantino and I's static start P6S tonight after a Devour filled reclear of P5S last night. My PF experience of P6S is if you can learn the first Cachexia, you can pretty easily get a clear by just Tank LB3ing the second Cachexia.
Devour isn't even the hard part anymore, even one person missed just means we have the OT fill and the MT invuln. The group was splitting really poorly into light parties. We had one person out, so we had a fill, but still had people on the wrong side of the room for the spread+stack+bait when there's two poison pools on the floor. One time we hit enrage with 11 deaths, it was at 10%. Last night in general was a fiesta.
P6S feels so radically different from P5S. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's the grid.
Eh, I really like my base hairstyle and always end up back on it, but sometimes I really need a change of style. Maybe it's a glam needs something different, but more styles are always appreciated. I'd prefer more longer styles that work with physics, but new styles are typically all braids which isn't bad but I feel like they could do more.
Fandaniel is fine, he's a bit over the top but never got on my nerves too much.
P6S feels so radically different from P5S. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's the grid.
Eh, I really like my base hairstyle and always end up back on it, but sometimes I really need a change of style. Maybe it's a glam needs something different, but more styles are always appreciated. I'd prefer more longer styles that work with physics, but new styles are typically all braids which isn't bad but I feel like they could do more.
Fandaniel is fine, he's a bit over the top but never got on my nerves too much.
Cleared P6S last night. It's a bland fight, mechanically it's a little bit too much safe spot and light party juggling. Reminds me of the EX1 trial - almost possible to do it blind with as long as you have a dorito to follow. Thematically the parasite stuff could be cool, but it just feels so bland and underused.
I tried P7S prog as a SCH. Not sure if it's worth losing the mobility of SGE. Also SGE has so much more raw healing output, and less jank. I know I'm in solo-healer mode, but I'm out healing my AST co healer on P5/6S. Not so with SCH on P7S.
Tank LB3 is definitely a trap for 2nd Cachexia. You still have to pay attention to mechanics even with it running, it more lulls into a false sense of not needing to know anything, when you most definitely do. If you have healers disabled, it's still a wipe as everyone bleeds out. 2nd cachexia is so easy of a mechanic, I highly recommend just making everyone learn it. Safe spots are easy. It's easy to move out if you have the AoE, stay if stacked. Then just face everything away.
I tried P7S prog as a SCH. Not sure if it's worth losing the mobility of SGE. Also SGE has so much more raw healing output, and less jank. I know I'm in solo-healer mode, but I'm out healing my AST co healer on P5/6S. Not so with SCH on P7S.
Tank LB3 is definitely a trap for 2nd Cachexia. You still have to pay attention to mechanics even with it running, it more lulls into a false sense of not needing to know anything, when you most definitely do. If you have healers disabled, it's still a wipe as everyone bleeds out. 2nd cachexia is so easy of a mechanic, I highly recommend just making everyone learn it. Safe spots are easy. It's easy to move out if you have the AoE, stay if stacked. Then just face everything away.
Oh, as a static we’re learning it (had a 1% enrage last night). But in the PF people didn’t seem to want to learn.
I am so salty with myself about that enrage. Literally the whole fight, "man my rotation's completely fucked, glad we're not close to clearing this yet" and then that happens.
I’ve been leveling MNK, so I’ve been getting to see the redesigned leveling dungeon fights. I just did Keeper of the Lake, and it’s a travesty. You don’t have to do anything during the fights except dodge circles. The first and last boss are so boring now. The same is true of Copperbell Mines. I wish instead of doubling down on circle-dodging we got more fights where you had to do things during the fight to win. Even Toto Rak is a shell of its former self. You can argue that people would just take the optimal route before, but the trash is just so damn boring. 🫤
Keeper of the Lake's final fight was one of the hardest fights in all the dungeons in ARR. Not sure what they did to change it, I don't think I've done it yet. CBM is generally better now, since the slime isn't a snooze-fest for dps. Also its other fights are way better, definitely is better overall now.
Can't say Toto Rak was even hard before, it's not like there were actually mechanics. It's redesign is way better.
Can't say Toto Rak was even hard before, it's not like there were actually mechanics. It's redesign is way better.
Having to manage the adds is almost completely gone. They appear from time to time and do line-AoEs. When they do land on the platform, you don’t have to manage them. You also don’t have to kill the flying add to get the protective generator. Like almost all of the redesigned fights, it’s really bland now. The first one is probably worse though. You don’t even have to manage the ceruleum tanks—just avoid the circles while face-rolling your rotation at the boss.
I would rate them all as worse, even the slime fight. Sometimes it’s a nice change of pace to not just be smashing your rotation optimally 100% of the time, especially at lower levels where you only have a couple of buttons anyway. Trying to design lower level fights like higher level ones when individual play lacks depth doesn’t work for me. It’s bland and boring.
Toto Rak is boring trash after boring trash. The traps before at least mixed things up a bit. Sure, linearize the flow (since FFXIV dungeons aren’t about exploration anyway), but there needs to be something to break up the monotony of AoEing trash pack after pack when that typically means spamming one button (or maybe two) over and over.
You guys still active? Finally got back to this and just hit 50 on Excalibur. Don't really plan on doing anything but soloing but wouldn't mind the distraction of company chat if you guys don't mind.
Necklessone and I still raid together 3 times a week. We're not in the FC but ping me in game (Ferien Terzo) and I can get you added to the Linkshell. Not sure if I have rights to add you to the Cross-World one, though.
Variant dungeons are super interesting. They're what they promised to be - hard four man content. The normal versions are braindead - they allow for makeshift roles with the variant actions. We put about a lockout and a half on the first boss last night, no guides. Saw enrage once. In lots of ways, mechanics are harder and tighter than savage fights, it's just that it's managable with 4 players, where in a raid with 8 it'd be simply too chaotic. There are lots more variations to understand, at least from what I've seen.
It's probably the best way to introduce players to hard fights simply due to less chaos of managing only 4 players.
It's probably the best way to introduce players to hard fights simply due to less chaos of managing only 4 players.
If this is the same one I’m in, I have rights to add people. I’d love to get more people and delegate some, so I could have more than just FC chat going. If it’s a different one, I’d also like to get in on that for the same reasons (and drop the basically inactive cross-world linkshell I am in currently). I just need to know when people are going to be online, so I can be online. I wish there were a way to throw out an invite to an offline player ….
I did the variant dungeon. It sucks on RDM that using variant actions kills my combo. I also did most of the other new content except for the criterion/savage dungeon. I think I don’t meet the ilevel requirement for the criterion dungeon yet.
I’m glad I leveled miner to 90 for my retainer. The miner tribe quests in Shadowbringers were fun. The Omnicron ones are also nice. I’m glad I can do the stuff for the café, though it looks like the improvements are being handled in a special zone rather than to the café itself.
The Hildibrand quests were funny, but I thought it was a bit short this time. I’d really like to see Hildibrand go to Elpis in one of the later patches this expansion. If Azem drove Emet-Selch crazy, just wait until he meets Hildibrand.
I’m glad I leveled miner to 90 for my retainer. The miner tribe quests in Shadowbringers were fun. The Omnicron ones are also nice. I’m glad I can do the stuff for the café, though it looks like the improvements are being handled in a special zone rather than to the café itself.
The Hildibrand quests were funny, but I thought it was a bit short this time. I’d really like to see Hildibrand go to Elpis in one of the later patches this expansion. If Azem drove Emet-Selch crazy, just wait until he meets Hildibrand.
Also, to answer this, I’m on Behemoth. I’m usually active in the evenings EDT for at least a few hours. While I think I should like doing savage content, I’ve not bothered to find a static due to not wanting to make time commitments or if using mods are expected. As noted above, I’d love to get people into the cross-world linkshell for some chat.
99% sure it is. Believe you can give people Invite rights while they're offline, so if you can get me next time you're on (assuming I don't already have it) that'll make life easier.
Just checked the player list in the OP, and it is. You have a gold star, which I think means you are the master of the link shell. I have a silver star, which is a leader (invite privileges only).
Add me if you think of it - since I restarted I haven't re-done the PBC membership. Still working through the last bit of the Endwalker MSQ - on the last dozen or so missions now. Garlemald and Radz-at-Han I couldn't get through fast enough - the story is at it's worst when it tries to force-feed weepy melodrama turned up to 11. The Loporrits were extremely entertaining - well written, acted, and funny. The Unsundered world was fantastic FF, and revised my originally low opinion of both the character of Fandaniel and the VA. So some low and high notes so far.
Is this the CWLS or the Local one? I thought someone else created the CWLS.
I'm over on Sargatanas (Aether), if anyone wants to add me to the CWLS - name is Myrrin Morningstar. I mostly main RDM, but I've been working on leveling SCH/SMN, lately. Haven't checked out the Variant dungeons yet.
My FC was made up of refugees from my old WoW guild, but no one plays anymore aside from me. Wouldn't mind some people to talk to and run stuff with.
My FC was made up of refugees from my old WoW guild, but no one plays anymore aside from me. Wouldn't mind some people to talk to and run stuff with.
The end of the MSQ of Endwalker was better than I'd thought it would be. Voice acting and writing were good, and the end of hundreds of hours of FF plot was largely up the expectations such a long story brings. Can't say much about it without spoilers. Two stray amusing thoughts I had playing through the last of the Quests:
- ...wait... is that the Normandy?
- ...and are those Geth?