Alexander Discussion, Round 2: Wait is this the easy mode thread?

[lilbubbles]

But it "feels" like hitting f once stops tracking at the end..

Idk, not sure how I could test if hitting once or spamming makes a difference.

[Neon_Sea]

spamming works for me hitting it once doesn't idk....

[Arthars]

you dont have to mash F, all you need is press F once

however wat dirtyhobo drew is fucking true, some sharp turn and no matter which F you press, cos its still will fuck up 1/2 of the time

[Kaisha]

I always felt like the LoS check was interrupted client-side rather than the server, even though that'd lead to some abuse in content like PVP.

Always felt good in T9 when you timed your 180-flip on Nael's jumps in first phase and kept the cast going though.

[TheDirtyHobo]

From my observations, it checks both. At least during the start cast time. That's why you can get immediate interrupts from LoS when something runs through you right at the start of the cast, but not midway into the cast.

Check if it's in sight client-side > start cast client-side > send information to server > server performs its own sight check before confirming the cast.

[Seravi Edalborez]

^ On top of that it checks for sight again at the end of the cast. The whole LoS check and it's many redundancies is dumb as fuck. Should just be

-Start cast (fuck facing)
-End cast, check facing, fizzle if facing is wrong

Or let's go further into stupidity and make "sight %" proportional to the damage the spell deals. Then make a boss that teleports all the fuck around.

[Kaisha]

Should just remove the client-side check because it's just as fucking retarded when your instant-use skills get cancelled.

[Neon_Sea]

If I enter as3 with a group without beating as2 for the week can I go back and still get a 2 chest clear?

[Kiarax]

If I enter as3 with a group without beating as2 for the week can I go back and still get a 2 chest clear?

No, it'll act as if you cleared A2.

[Carth]

I try this every time I do A1 because df tanks love pulling the boss south and wasting 10 seconds for no apparent reason.

To be fair, I do this because this is the standard for lowest-common-denominator players and I don't like applying effort in Alex runs anymore.

[technominari]

how are you bards handling x-pots/x-ethers and songs in general in a4s? a quick browse through fflogs shows some groups doing paeon as late as 8 mins+ which i dont have any clue how you can do that with a NIN/PLD in the roster. fflogs doesn't show x-ethers very well.

[StUfF]

how are you bards handling x-pots/x-ethers and songs in general in a4s? a quick browse through fflogs shows some groups doing paeon as late as 8 mins+ which i dont have any clue how you can do that with a NIN/PLD in the roster. fflogs doesn't show x-ethers very well.

There's a short break between each leg, and some downtime you are targeted for quarantine (you can control which tanks goes in).
Some strat's have tanks eating orbs and LB3 will revive you with full TP, with smart usage of goad I don't think TP is a big deal - the population of PLD's doing A4S is probably miniscule and singing Paeon just for the NIN is generally a raid DPS loss.

[Taint]

Is there any strategy to the tethers during the adds phase in A3S? We are hug up hard and its the tethers causing the problem.

Any advice would be welcome, placement, shielding, party placement etc.

[solracht]

Specific placement in the arena doesn't really help much because magnets and adds will force everyone to move

-Whoever gets tethered should only move far from the tornado towards the end of the arena to make the tether longer, never move the tether sideways. Doesn't matter how far you think your tank is, don't try to help them.

-Tanks run around and get the tethers without hugging the puddle. Once you get your tether, hug the puddle (this removes the scenario where tanks steal off each other) and stand still until it blows up (other people should be away from you). The moment you see the tethers spawn: if you have any doubts whatsoever about whether you'll make it or not, just sprint and don't risk it.

Lastly, turn your camera downwards when picking up the tether. A lot of times people blame lag when they're not actually standing on the tether.

Also, something that worked for me while learning is simply being aware of where my OT is running and making up for whatever he decides to do (ie separating myself from him before tethers spawn and just bolting to whatever tether he's not grabbing in the "shitty" formations).

[Kaisha]

I really hate the visual noise of Ferrofluid icons in last phase when the only one you need to be aware of is whoever you're connected to. Why couldn't they colour-code the tethers (orange/blue if opposites, orange/orange or blue/blue if same) so I don't need to spend two seconds double checking who my partner's polarity is and hoping they also noticed me?

It's not like T11 where you had to be aware of where the other tether pairs are.

[solracht]

spread out in a circle around the boss before the ferrofluid tethers actually appear, they're only annoying to notice when the raid is stacked directly on top of the boss

[Neon_Sea]

Those tethers are brutal, stoneskin adlo and still gibbed.

[Eanae]

Tanks need to be using cooldowns on them. Shouldn't be hard considering you don't need to use any in the split hand phase.

[solracht]

Those tethers are brutal, stoneskin adlo and still gibbed.

Like Eanae said, your tanks should be popping CDs for the tethers. If someone dies with shields/CDs on, odds are they stepped into the puddle for a second and ate a damage tick. Make sure someone checks for that sort of stuff between wipes.

As for tank CDs: I Grit + DA Dark Mind the first one and Grit + Rampart the second one. Our WAR IBs the first one and uses IB + Thrill on the second one. If our healers are ever slow with the shields because of DPSing/moving, they know to prioritize the WAR for the first tether and the DRK for the second one.

[Kiarax]

Is there any strategy to the tethers during the adds phase in A3S? We are hug up hard and its the tethers causing the problem.

Any advice would be welcome, placement, shielding, party placement etc.

We don't specifically do anything as far as placement goes, don't think it's really necessary at all and the second one comes out immediately after ferrofluid so it's gonna fuck things up anyway. Only advice I really have is to always try and be very aware of where your cotank is. If you and your cotank are pretty close to eachother and end up running round the same direction you can pick up a tether and immediately run through the other tether without taking it so your cotank running behind you can then take the one that was initially further away. If you can get comfortable doing this it should avoid a lot of problems that can stem up depending on where both mobs and tethers are spawning. Also don't be afraid to use Living Dead or Hallowed Ground if you're worried about a tether at the polar opposite side of the room. A lot of groups will Living Dead the first part of the hand phase on DRK to keep it facing away from the party but I prefer not to do that just to guarantee there'll never be any fuckery in tether phase, if I'm really not confident I'll be able to get round in time I'll simply run straight through the puddle and eat it with Living Dead.

For CDs I Grit+Shadow Wall the first tether and Shadowskin + DA Dark Mind the second for 50% DR on both. We've been cycling through WAR a lot lately because raiding blows but almost every one has done IB + Vengeance for one and IB + Thrill for the other.