Skirmish: Findings and Information

[Jem]

I typically find my Pyres are front-loaded as well, but I really wonder whether it's like:
"There are 5 Pyres in the .dats. They have a 20% chance to spawn after killing any monster and a 16 minute repop time."

This kinda matches my farming experiences. Wasn't specifically Pyre farming but I would always get like 2-4 in quick succession and then nothing for a while. Rinse and repeat.

[Ophannus]

I think there will be some Tier2 coalition referendum bonus that enhances Soul Pyres somehow. Whenever you examine a Soul Pyre it says something along the lines of "Using your limited knowledge of such phenomena you sense you have 5 attempts remaining." This message reeks of some kind of KI, quest or Coalition referendum bonus that would enhance Pyres along the lines of Abyssites that increase drop rate, value and # of attempts for Sturdy Pyxis.

[Cambion]

I think there will be some Tier2 coalition referendum bonus that enhances Soul Pyres somehow. Whenever you examine a Soul Pyre it says something along the lines of "Using your limited knowledge of such phenomena you sense you have 5 attempts remaining." This message reeks of some kind of KI, quest or Coalition referendum bonus that would enhance Pyres along the lines of Abyssites that increase drop rate, value and # of attempts for Sturdy Pyxis.

Interesting... My first assumption would be Mummer's simply because of where you obtain the spectacles. Checked the Colonization Thread real quick to check the text and found this:

Mummers' Guild:
Coalition Flag
Minor Combat Skill Gain Rate/ Minor Magic Skill Gain Rate
NPC's for Boom or Bust (Game) will increase

Signboard
Minor Experience Point Bonus
NPC's for On the Dot (Game) will increase

Emblem
Minor Reward Obtainment Rate Increase
NPC's for Cascade (Game) will expand

Probably not related, but if we're speculating... Maybe having Emblem Ranked up increases the chance of Skirmish Items from Soul Pyre's.
Don't suppose any of the people reporting multiple success happen to have Mummers Emblem Ranked up already?

I'm not sure if I buy into the 'first pyre' theory yet, but yesterday we did obtain a Torso III on the first Pyre after I entered the zone. (And I got the killshot)
The person I was with was already down there, but I don't know for how long. Like others, after that it was nothing for the next 1-2 hours before we left.

[Ophannus]

Once you get the emblme/flags/signboard, apparently new ones will be released to expand coalitions further. Thats what I had hoped would have the soul pyre bonus.

[Jem]

I'm not sure if I buy into the 'first pyre' theory yet, but yesterday we did obtain a Torso III on the first Pyre after I entered the zone. (And I got the killshot)
The person I was with was already down there, but I don't know for how long. Like others, after that it was nothing for the next 1-2 hours before we left.

Wild, wild incredibly unlikely speculation but it could be something like how Marble Bridge operates with it only performing the check when you first zone in.

[Vaantalus]

[IMG][/IMG]

Got this in Rala today, after maintenance.

2 other people in zone, my 2nd pyre, took 6 spectacles.

This was about my 4-5th farm tho.

[doctorugh]

Just throwing in personal pyre experience (for what its worth). The only two times I triggered(and failed to get) a skirmish item was on the first pyre in Rala.

[Byrthnoth]

My experience has been that Bayld Pyres are really really forgiving. You essentially just need to optimize one of the two components. Skirmish items are much less forgiving, and you need to be almost perfect with both components to hit 0% distortion.

[TummieGaruda]

I typically find my Pyres are front-loaded as well, but I really wonder whether it's like:
"There are 5 Pyres in the .dats. They have a 20% chance to spawn after killing any monster and a 16 minute repop time."

I checked the .DAT's and there appears to be 6 Soul Pyre's per zone so I wouldn't doubt that it is exactly how you describe it. Compared to treasure caskets @15-17 per zone in the middle lands, you really begin to see just how rare Pyres are.

[Fival]

Got a Faithful Leggings I from doing Survey: Ceizak with 1 Imp used.

Did skirmish and got Bow, SMN staff, and H2H.
Bow with Ghastly stone = DMG+5
Bow with Ghastly stone +1 = DMG+9 STR+4 AGI+5
Bow with Ghastly stone +2 = DMG+25 STR+1 AGI+5
H2H with Ghastly stone +2 = DMG+30 STR+1
Staff with Ghastly stone +1 = Avatar MAB+21

The skirmish itself was clear 60 mobs, and near the end of the 60, when the last few mobs poped by killing 2 other mobs, it ended up being 66 mobs up, we killed them all and achieved the second task within a minute of the first.

[Cambion]

To expand on what Fiv said:

We got a Kupo group together and did a Skirmish.
Entered with:
Cirdas Visage I
Faithful's Torso II
Faithful's Legs I

This resulted in:
Task 1: Defeat 60 Enemies:
Upon completion of Task 1
Task 2: Defeat remaining Enemies 60/66 (6 more mobs)

We entered with
Ukon War x2
Vere Mnk
Whm, Cor, Brd

Mobs varied quite a bit and pretty much saw every mob in the normal zone, including Umbrils, which st20/zombie. Bats, Umbrils, Spiders, Acuex, Fungars and so on.
We would enter a room that appeared to only have 1-2 mobs in it, and then about 5-8 more would spawn on top of us.
The zone was huge, 2 levels and extremely hard to navigate.
The

As we killed mobs, (Every 20% progress it seems?) we got progress reports that inform you of your individual and group progress. (This is based on individual...effort? DD's had the clear advantage as usual)
So, at 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100, it gave us a report saying that based on our current accomplishments your individual chest will contain:
And then it list 1-4 items, and the quality seems to be directly related to Damage, cures, or whatever formula SE cooked up. It seemed to me (The Cor) I couldn't do enough to get any higher than the nq Ghastly Stone, whereas the DDs were getting multiple +1s and +2s.

During each of these progress reports, it also shows what the 'group' has earned as a whole. (These are weapons)
At 80% completion it listed Bocluamni + Uffrat
At 100% completion (of Task 1) it listed Bocluamni + Uffrat + Pair of Ninzas
There were no weapons listed at all in the previous two progress reports.

Each player gets an individual chest, containing the items listed in the individual progress report
Fiv(War1): Nq, +1 x2, +2
Projekt(War2): Nq, +2, Midrium Ingot, Rhodium Ingot
Reyo(Whm): +1 x2, Ingot, Log
Jenks(Mnk): Nq, +2, Phil Stone x2
Warukyure(Brd): +1, +2, Log, Phil Stone
Cambion(Cor): Nq, Nq, Log, Fire Bead

Fiv got the Bow and Augments are as follows:
NQ: +5 Dmg
+1: +9 Dmg, 4 Str, 5 Agi
+2: +25 Dmg, 1 Str, 4 Agi

Jenks got the H2h:
+2: +30 Dmg, 1 Str

Reyo got the Staff:
+1: +6 Dmg, Avatar MAB +21

[Karbuncle]

Does not bode well for Support classes, as expected... Thats really kinda sad how consistantly SE makes Support/Healing so nerf compared to DD. Definitely going to have to rotate jobs in my group so everyone gets a fair shot at something useful.

I might have missed it, but with that set up, How much time was remaining when you finished?

[Projekt.Ein]

I might have missed it, but with that set up, How much time was remaining when you finished?

Finished both objectives with about 10-15 minutes left, strictly because the zone was huge and we had to back-track about 4 times.

Little snippet of the objective completion logs. We didn't even recognize the 2nd objective, until we killed the remaining 6 mobs.

http://i49.tinypic.com/o6msyd.jpg

[dasva]

Wonder how well mixed classes like blu would work in there as far as individual credit. Might be better rewards overall to do a few well rounded people if time isn't that big an issue

[Cambion]

Keep in mind, that for the higher tier pieces, there will be more or harder mobs, with the same/less time.
But most of our time was spent finding the mobs. The only issue we ran into other than that, was the group of Umbrils and st20, but everyone lived, although with weaker DD's, that one room could have resulted in a full wipe.
Reraise the 'spell' did go through on entry, and was not wiped. Not sure about other buffs, looked like TP was wiped.
There's a "Noetic Ascensions" (looks like the VW start that you trade cells to) that gives you a buff of choice.
I was the first to touch it, and selected an increase in Obsidian Fragments. The drop rates appear to be static, and are zone wide, as I was not in EXP range for some of the kills, but ended up with the same number (129) as Proj.
I'm not sure if anyone else was able to use it after that, so it might be a 1 time thing.
The available buffs that I can recall:
Attack
Mag Attack
Mag Acc
Obsidian Increase Rate
Max Mp

And, based on the fact that we all ended with the same Obsidian, it appears that it effects your whole party, regardless who selects the option.

Also, just realized this... whereas previous posters implied you can only purchase 'parts' you originally traded, I'm getting alternate options.
Maybe it's because I wasn't the original trader/KI (Projekt was) but I only have the three T1 parts available, despite the fact that we used a T2 Body.
Furthermore, the headpiece available is the T1 Rala, even though we entered the Cirdas Arena.
Possibly the previous poster just happened to trade 3 T1 items, and it was coincidence, but worth mentioning.
I'm curious if another successful run would open up T2 options, a 3rd = T3, and so on.

I assume we'll be doing another run in the near future, so we'll see.

Last note: If one person in the party uses the "Fenestral Key" it forces all individual chests to appear, and they appear where each person is currently standing.
I almost missed mine, because I had just turned around to run back to the group.
Each person gets a Fenestral Key.

[dasva]

Well was thinking Sudden Lunge would've probably made some problemtic things easier. Were the umbrils suspectible to light sleep? Army of blus go? Also wondering if locations might be fixed or somewhat ordered

[Gwynplaine]

Also, just realized this... whereas previous posters implied you can only purchase 'parts' you originally traded, I'm getting alternate options.
Maybe it's because I wasn't the original trader/KI (Projekt was) but I only have the three T1 parts available, despite the fact that we used a T2 Body.
Furthermore, the headpiece available is the T1 Rala, even though we entered the Cirdas Arena.
Possibly the previous poster just happened to trade 3 T1 items, and it was coincidence, but worth mentioning.
I'm curious if another successful run would open up T2 options, a 3rd = T3, and so on.

I noticed he offered only the first tier of them when in fact we had used one tier 2 to enter. Although all of them were also the same type (name) so maybe then that was a coincidence and no matter what you used on to enter he will only sell those 3 initially.

[Fival]

Well was thinking Sudden Lunge would've probably made some problemtic things easier. Were the umbrils suspectible to light sleep? Army of blus go? Also wondering if locations might be fixed or somewhat ordered

I think lullaby was working but i didn't pay close attention and just used fell cleave when mobs were close to each other and they seemed to have <5000 hp and hit for maybe 100 in PDT. I can ask the bard if lullaby was working when he gets home from work though.

[Alistrianna]

Just got a Faithful Torso I form first pyre in Rala. We changed to Cirdas Caverns afterwards and got another Torso in the second Pyre.

[Obsidian]

Well was thinking Sudden Lunge would've probably made some problemtic things easier. Were the umbrils suspectible to light sleep? Army of blus go? Also wondering if locations might be fixed or somewhat ordered

I've slept the ones in Morimar with Repose before (on RDM...), and you can Break/bind/grav them, but dark sleeps are a no go.