Quick question about assault rank progression

[Aurinq]

how far do you think you could go with a 4 person group? maybe some random /shout peeps too.

[Aragon of Odin]

All the way, so long as 1 person reads up on how the assault is won and the rest of the people can listen and take instructions. Not all of em can be won with 4 people, but as long as you don't get complete dumb asses they are pretty simple for the most part, although some of em are based purely on luck.

[Aurinq]

nice. what would be a decent all around setup for this type of group?

[Silenka]

My Assault group is a 4 person group consisting of close friends of mine. We usually go SMN (or BLM), WHM (or BRD), SAM (or THF), COR. Most assaults can be won with this setup plus some changing around. Of course, it helps to have each person have multiple jobs at 75, in case one particular job is needed for an assault (for example, Leujaoam T3, Escort the Prof which has a whm repose strategy). In general, a refresher/buff member, a DD that can tank or vice versa, and someone who can keep the cures coming.

There are some assaults of course that are really hard to win with 4 only and we usually have to shout-invite random idiots to help out for those, an example being Leujaoam's T6 Supplies Recovery, which requires you to pwn more imps faster than two imperial BLUs with speedhax. So far, we haven't found a way to do it with our group (but we haven't tried a kiting strategy yet, either). I imagine that down the line (we're only on T7 as a group) there are going to be several more that we can't do with 4, perhaps Mamool T7 Blitzkreig.

TL;DR version: 4 member group is ideal points-wise if your people are skilled with a good setup, but some assaults are going to kick your ass.

[Aragon of Odin]

Yes, having those people in your group with multiple jobs at 75 is the only way I could see this working. Your group must be versatile in order to get the job done.

Silenka for that T6 it's kinda about luck to. We failed the first 2 times we did it, even tho we killed a lot more imps then the Blu's did ours just seemed to not drop any supplies. On our 3rd attempt we pwnd tho, got like 4 or 5 supplies off the first 6 imps we killed, so kind of luck based on which imps will drop the goods.

[Mega]

In before advanced even though I myself was wondering this same thing.
Starting on Assaults 2 years late is fail.

[Silenka]

Argon, our problem is mainly that we kill them pretty slow. We split up into COR/SMN, WHM/SAM groups and tried that way the 2nd time, but it was even slower (as to be expected). Those BLUs cheat, they can kill your imps and get the supplies even if the imps are claimed, which is total BS. Together, however, I don't feel we cover enough ground fast enough, so either way I think we're screwed unless we get a couple more people.

Our setup is really good for most assaults, but I don't think it's conducive to winning this one (although I know there's a huge luck factor in the supplies dropping). I just don't want to keep getting screwed out of good points lol, better to rape it than scrape through it I guess.

[Aragon of Odin]

We did this one with 5 people, 1 BLM, 1 RDM, 2 Wars and 1 Nin. The 2 Wars, Nin and RDM ran to a point on the map (can't remember exact pos) where Wiki suggested then had the BLM start the Assault and then catch up to us. We just melee burned through them, and if one of the Blu's happened to touch a mob we were fighting we would leave it and move onto the next because if they touch it and it drops something I think they get the supply no matter what.

You wanna start near the end of the map I think because there's more Imp pops around there and you won't have to worry about the Blu's claiming your mobs and getting your supplies until you progress closer to them. We always killed more Imps then the Blu's did we just weren't always lucky with the way the supplies dropped, kinda bs sometimes but that's FFXI for ya.

[Silenka]

Thanks for the info, hopefully next time we'll win... some assaults are a real pain in the ass.

Did you happen to low-man any of the upper tier assaults, by chance? I want to know which ones are going to be super-impossible for less than 5 people to accomplish, if any. Tried Khimeira one once with a skilled group of 6 and still lost, so I'm betting at least that one...

[Aragon of Odin]

I haven't actually had the chance to do any of the T10's yet. Something always happens and I end up getting stuck bringing more people up through the assault ranks. Stared with one group then some quit and others joined and had to start at T1 for them again, got them to T5 then same shit happened. With the people I do it with now I've got them to T6 now so hopefully pretty soon I'll be able to do assaults I actually need.

Between T6-T9 there are a number of them that can be done with the minimal 3 ppl tho. Quite a number of them are pretty easy as long as you read up on a strat before hand so you know what to expect when you enter. Think I'm sitting at about 41-43/50 completed so there's still a few T9 and all T10's I haven't done but hopefully will be done them all soon so I can just spam RvB.

[FailureMidgard]

There are very few that cannot be done with 4 people short of the FL ones. Some have a small aspect of luck, but I think that is being overplayed here. You can work around bad luck on most of them, and should at worst fail once. All the ones listed so far my group did with 4 fine. Also, if people have some 50-70 jobs that would give you a better setup, don't forget that you can level cap any assault.

As for T10s, we successfully did 2 of them with 5 people, and I see no reason why they are not all 5mannable with a solid group. I wouldn't try with a pick-up though, personally. If you want to go with 4 or less, I think the Hydra and Vampyr may be doable with 4, the other 3 seem more risky.

[Aurinq]

awesome, thanks everyone for the input. i'm also wondering if a 4 man group can do any dynamis-xarcabard NMs(preferably barith)? with the new price i may be able to afford weekly runs

[Chen]

please don't, this is exactly what the dynamis ls's are worried about, low man groups screwing up the schedule

[Pergo]

edit: didn't think about the post above yours, maybe i should go back to sleep

[Kaylia]

Never done dynamis with 4 (least I went with was 7), but I'm sure rdm/brd/meleex2 could fight almost any NM. Nin or mnk, probably works the best.

Brd suicide pull, melees voke and pull away to avoid link. The rdm should be able to grav/bind nasty 2h, but some like AF/mijin might require a wipe

[Hashmalum]

please don't, this is exactly what the dynamis ls's are worried about, low man groups screwing up the schedule

Agreed. Personally I hope SE changes Dynamis in the next update so that this can't happen--either by instituting some sort of quota that must be met or the reservation ends and the group is kicked out, or just by making the mobs too hard to low-man.

[Aragon of Odin]

Never really looked into it or seen anything posted regarding it but is there a reason why SE can't make it so multiple groups can be in Dynamis just like they can be in Assault or something?

[Hashmalum]

Never really looked into it or seen anything posted regarding it but is there a reason why SE can't make it so multiple groups can be in Dynamis just like they can be in Assault or something?

You mean instancing Dynamis? That would be the best solution of all, but SE seems to think it's too hard. Typical shortsightedness--sooner or later, the contracting playerbase will force them into merging servers, and when that happens, Dynamis competition will turn toxic. If that happens, more decent people will leave the game rather than compete in "Dragon's Aery on the glacier", making the play environment for those who remain that much worse and further hastening the ultimate demise of the game.

[Isiolia]

Did you happen to low-man any of the upper tier assaults, by chance? I want to know which ones are going to be super-impossible for less than 5 people to accomplish, if any. Tried Khimeira one once with a skilled group of 6 and still lost, so I'm betting at least that one...

My Assault static for getting captain was 3 people, later 4, which is how we beat the majority of them up until T10. Occasionally had other help...like, Lebros Supplies I know we did.

T10, with the right jobs you may be able to 4 man Hydra and Dracula. I think we beat most of them with 5...I know we had 6 for The Price is Right, but others I think 5. Did attempt the Hydra one with 4, but we damaged too slowly for the time limit. With heavier DDs in the mix it might be doable.

[Aurinq]

great thanks again. i actually know a bit of the schedule's for the dynamis groups on the server and i'd assume that if we only go for what we need we should be able to hammer it out fast enough to not be a burden on larger shells. still that's if i can manage weekly runs, if it's less than one a week they can piss off. can't blame me for SE's poor design, i want a hat too.