Yeah LB3ing before final phase is a gain (assuming you get another LB3, and with a standard comp you should get another before just before GA100). Everything after the 54% push (where rotation starts with OT Photon) seems to be strictly timed, so any damage after that point contributes to killing it before GA100. Maybe with some crazy damage you can push in to the final phase earlier(?), but I've never seen anyone push to skip the 3 photons in that phase yet. Definitely won't be on first clears.
So the rule is LB after 54%, after the OT get Photon and it contributes?
The rule is LB3 as soon as it's safe to. You won't be able to use an LB3 at a time when it would hurt you, since you won't have it yet. The only actual skip you can really see at current gear levels is the shield/charge skip, which you won't have LB3 before anyways.
I think you're just confusing what percentage things get pushed at. You skip the shield phase at 54%, he doesn't go into the final phase at 54%. He could coincidentally enter the last phase at 54%, but that seems unlikely unless some people have died and your DPS is low as a result.
I saw a video earlier of a group skipping the Lapis phase completely. This cycle is lol.
So we ended up doing the 2 lb3's, One right as it was avaliable, was skipping the shield limit cut much before so one less stack. Then another lb3 at the end. Was not the most clean run but I'll take it. The last G-100 went off, OT was still 'alive' from the hit and as we were falling through the floor the dots finished the boss off. Here is to hoping future weeks are a little faster on the kill.
Don't get me wrong, as for the aesthetics and originality of this tier, it is better than Midas or Gordias IMO. The bosses are cooler, the fights are more interesting, they just aren't fucking tuned. The fact that people are skipping entire phases on week 4 is just ridiculous. I am certain it will continue on this way, however, because at fan fest Yoshida said that they were trying to make the fights "accessible to the most amount of people".
That's why him saying "We want to do it" in regards to odd number patch savage mode raid content is my one sliver of hope right now. If every "raid" patch is this easy/untuned, it will kill my desire to play this game unless we are guaranteed actual savage level difficulty raids in every odd numbered patch.
Agreed. I really want to keep testing myself with tougher content, but when raids get easier...
I'd also like some variety. I'd like some DPS check heavy turns, with some mechanically heavy turns, and some turns that are more punishing for mechanic failures. It just seems SE sets a theme for a raid and goes with it until people moan.
On A10S, how necessary is caster lb3 for adds? Just seems this part is always the part that gets messed up in PUGs.
You just need to be prepared to stun the Knight if you don't LB them, since he'll try and recast the vuln down buff that they have. They're very easy to burn without that but if he recasts it they're probably going to get self destruct off.
DPS check phase is fine - I actually didn't mind hand of pain in A3S lol, but I like the low enrage because I like epic recovery from bad runs ;o
If your weeklies don't look like this can you really say you're having fun?
I felt like they hit perfection with Midas when it comes to balancing dps checks with mechanics. I always thinks mechanics should be the main focus. Sad we'll likely never see it again.
Some what, as long as it doesn't cause a raid scene crash, you can have both. A3S was a good fight for a savage difficulty, but, it wasn't a good fight when savage was the only other difficulty. Your mid core players make up a significant margin of the playerbase(20-25%?) and the casual base more so. If you were only going to create two raid difficulties then savage should have been targeted at mid-core. Harder dps checks like a3s was too much of an ask for many and was poorly tuned.
If the armory system was better designed such that switching jobs was less disruptive/frustrating then something like higher dps checks/required setups would be ok.
Since the armory system isn't, DPS checks should be low enough that a properly setup group should be able to clear, and especially so if you're not coming out with a mid core tier.
The easiest solution to dps checks? Create limited time raid achievements/leaderboards and award mounts/titles/minions/whatever if you clear a fight under a certain amount of time or perform mechanics in certain ways. Create challenge in a fight for the few that want it without impacting those who do not. Or create a third tier for them.
Honestly though, the current raid is about as mid-core as it has been in a while and is about in line with coil difficulty. I'm not against raid scene revitalization. If it means skipping phases because we can push dps? W/E
I mean, it is a playerbase that despite this being the most accessible raid since Coils, still complain it's too hard. Nevermind the players that utter fail in normal mode with no bonus popping up....but that's a different topic.
I just hope for 4.0, with the new battle system (or whatever they're doing) it will require less "balancing" so they can sneak in a 3rd tier. I mean they doubled the budget for Stormblood, we all know they ain't changing the basics from 2.x ever again as per Yoshida circa this past E3 and Gamescom, so they have the budget to do shit now.