My first cynical impressions, not yet entering the zone :
This zone is a joke, no subjobs = everyone raped, pld cant hold hate for shit, etc.
However
A Japanese person on my server was shouting for Dynamis-Qufim, and seeing how a) I'm a dynamis-nut, and b)The time he was shouting for doesnt conflict with manaburn, I decided why the hell not.
After entering and being in there for a while, you become used to the fact you have no SJ, blms dont go nuts and overnuke unless they're safe, everyone can go nuts on the mobs, PLD seemed to hold hate fine.. how? Curing OTHER people! And using Cover, flash, etc. There really wasnt a problems with the PLD tanking, just untill you have blms nuking for 1k .
Subjob problem - at first you feel weak as piss, but you get used to it. At first I was like oh em geeeeeeee but then i'm like Oh get over it. Everyone got over it in seconds, When a PLD lost hate and I did a big nuke, a RDM used gravity and a warrior voked it, you learn strategies really quick. Stuns = wowzers, DRK, BLM are great to have here. The only people who have problems keeping hate are ninjas, but really, if you hit 75 in FFXI and dont know how to be a DD ninja, shame on you. A good use for the ninjas is when someone pulled a train, the nin's would target 1 and pick them off the THF who pulled them, since thf has no shadow,s and they'd just hold them there.
The mobs -
I was surprised to see Stirges, honestly >_> Obviously resist sleepga2, however, use elemental seal and they'll all be in bed faster than you know it. We ran into goblins and orcs, no yagudo at all. We also came across a Light elemental, and a train of snolls.
Melee damage is fine on them, since the zone is smaller, it's safe to do sleepga2 > Melee zerg 1 > move onto next. Just a tip to blms , sleepga 2 will get you pwnt ;( So you'll need backup from a SMN buffing you, or another BLM sleepga'ing over you. BLM damage was awesome as usual, I had doubts weather my DynamisLS could do these zones, and I have a feeling they'll be able to get far at least.
Everyone WILL die or get a near death experience, because they're not used to having no SJ. Im used to soloing a stone with blink and stoneskin up, not moving from my spot, however this time I had to nuke > stun > run > Drain(if i got hit) > Run > Nuke again, much different from what I normally do.
At first I thought this was SE's idea of a joke, but I gave it a chance and it's actually fun testing your subjobless limits. People came up with strategies on the fly (like when we got the orcs, we took them to the pond and trained them around and around in a circle, picking them off 1 by 1 from the thief who pulled). The drops sucked ass, but we didnt kill many mobs, the JP's just stood there alot doing nothing at times, I didnt understand what they were saying so meh. If we killed more i'm sure more would drop.
At the end we got about 10 coins, and 0 AF2, I feel sorry for the sponsor, but, it's all experimental so it's ok. This zone seemed to be the "easy" zone in comparison to what I've seen in Dynamis-Valkrum SS's. However , we didnt get too far in it so dont count on my word
All in all, in 1 hour of confuzzlement, we got from the pond, to Delkfutt's tower, and then got booted, we didnt find a time stone.
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