Whos doing the interview?

[Daemonxel]

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=zerg

[geno]

You don't understand the real meaning of the word zerg then. Zerg is when you bring mass amount of people and you literally need to use them all due to people dying. Bringing x amount of the same jobs to a fight doesn't make you a zerg LS.

this is the definition I think is right. I mean, haven't you people played starcraft?! The reference was only made because Zerg units take up much less resources to make than the other races (hell, zerglings don't even take up 1 unit each) and thus, when you fight with them, you end up with massive ammounts of slightly weaker units. God now I want to play starcraft.

[Ryko]

I know what the actual term of a zerg rush means but read sassi's post and then the response, I was responding in that context.

[SassiAsura]

A battle where you can't simply completely overpower a monster with enough man-power, may it be enough melees to completely put the monster in submission or enough BLMs to take off 20% off in a single volley, or chainspell stunning. Simple things can be enough to put some real challenge into battles. Aspid is named after a turtle who ships would think is an island and then sink and die when it woke up and dive. Something I said in an very early draft was that Aspid should give off a 80-100/tick Drown effect when it goes into its shell and when it is in its shell its takes 0 damage save SCs and MBs. A good way to prevent a full on zerg is upping the monster's potential to kill everyone unless something special is done. Anyway, SMNs is a very tricky thing to handle because its is a flatout broken damage dealer in terms that its hard to hold back a large amount of them being used enough being very damaging to melee. I won't even bother talking about SMN at this point.

I was disappointed on the scale of the "BLM Nerf" while most things should be uneffected, stuff like Diabolos Prime and The Wyrmking Decends should be adjusted, like they said they would.

0 dmg, 0 tp, 0 SC
How could this be resolved? Lots and Lots of Sams due to time constraints of a BCNM. I wouldn't exactly see this as an improvement of strategy though

[BRP]

I'm only speaking in theory. Battles need to be hard, thats all. I'm not putting too much thought into any examples.

[Khamsin]

Well, let's brainstorm a moment then. Here's a puzzle:

Let's say there was an HNM where the most efficient method of killing it for an experienced LS that has won this fight multiple times is with an alliance setup that coincidentally has no more than 3 of any one particular job. This particular setup is the kind of setup that most people will gravitate toward because it is the fastest and easiest.

Alliances that use BLM or SMN parties or one type of melee, for example, will not win as easily as the mixed job setup mentioned above.

This is a fight that is challenging enough that it never becomes routine. Each time you fight you will have to pay attention and operate at the best of your ability or you risk a loss. This possibility of a loss is not due to luck, but rather the intense challenge this fight represents.

This challenge is not a result of lessening any one job's importance or role in a fight. This HNM is not immune to either magical or physical damage, and does not have highly damaging moves that penetrate shadows.

Instead, this fight is about skill, control, and teamwork. LSs that routinely kill Kirin and the three kings, yet have little other accomplishments, won't even dream of attempting this fight. LSs that have killed JoL, Hydra, Cerberus, Proto-Ultima, Dynamis Lord, Ouryu and Bahamut V2 will likely attempt this fight, but it will take them several tries to begin to have a chance at succeeding.

What kind of HNM is this, and what kind of fight might this be?

Hint: There can be more than just a single entity. There can be adds, summons, or more. Adds generate TP for melee, summons keep people on their toes. They all add an element of strategy to the mix.

[BRP]

What kind of HNM is this, and what kind of fight might this be?

The kind I've been talking about to be the HQs of the system that SE viewed. In my opinion it would have to be a fight with different phases of strengths and weaknesses, a constant changing HNM(s). Favoring too much in one type of damage could make it too hard to win.

Another important factor would be merits(and gear). The best way to strengthen a character is through merits, so natually they would be required to fair well against the hardest of the hardest encounters, may it be Weapon Skill, or Magic Skill or Group II abilities.

[SassiAsura]

I like the idea of a NM with different stages of weakness, and strengths. Now this doesn't exactly pose much of a difficulty in terms of strategy rather. But can encourage things like diversity in the Party/Alliance and will almost need adaptability. Imagine for one second having an NM weak to an element or type of damage and then having it completely rotate around and finding itself being healed by a certain damage type.

I guess this would reflect Limbus a little too much though. ^^

[JoOeetheplatypuS]

I like the idea of a NM with different stages of weakness, and strengths. Now this doesn't exactly pose much of a difficulty in terms of strategy rather. But can encourage things like diversity in the Party/Alliance and will almost need adaptability. Imagine for one second having an NM weak to an element or type of damage and then having it completely rotate around and finding itself being healed by a certain damage type.

I guess this would reflect Limbus a little too much though. ^^

You're thinking somewhere between temperance and ultima...

[Eaglestrike]

I like the idea of a NM with different stages of weakness, and strengths. Now this doesn't exactly pose much of a difficulty in terms of strategy rather. But can encourage things like diversity in the Party/Alliance and will almost need adaptability. Imagine for one second having an NM weak to an element or type of damage and then having it completely rotate around and finding itself being healed by a certain damage type.

I guess this would reflect Limbus a little too much though. ^^

You're thinking somewhere between temperance and ultima...

A mob that changes weapon immunity and elemental immunity every few minutes / every % damage done to it / after certain ws's?

[MisterBob]

Temperance and Love combined!

[Machazareel]

I liked the concept of Temperance and Love myself. Wouldn't really mind seeing it applied to more HNMs.

[epigram]

The problem with temp and omega is that the fights just gravitate towards using wars, smn's, and blms again for damage with the usual support jobs.

There really are no nm's that say throw more dragoons, or darks without krakens, or beastmasters, or puppetmasters, etc... at them.

As a beastmaster it really sucks that most of the time I end up saying to myself that I would be a hell of a lot more useful as rdm. I can't do shit on DL with no burst damage. MPK patch kinda fucked over all bst tiamat, and I don't think dumping 200-400k into a jorm kill with 18 other beasts is really a good use of gil.

Ouryu is nice, but I can just sub bst and still play rdm.

[BRP]

BST needs a boost in the jug pet department and/or 2hr(like increase the monster 8 levels would be nice), but thats another story.

HNMs that gives bonuses to 2-handed weapons would be nice start on things. Giving more importance to killer effects isn't a bad idea either.

[Khamsin]

No one has mentioned it, but I actually liked the Carbuncle Prime fight. It's not quite as challenging as one of these HNMs should be, but aside from the all-SMN approach, it was the type of fight I think is fun, challenging, and is best fought with varying types of damage at your disposal.

The avatars were easily taken down with BLMs, however due to their elemental nature, you couldn't simply Thundaga IV all of them. You had to tactical nuke each one down individually while the melee held them at bay. Carbuncle Prime himself is nearly immune to magic. So the melees and mages worked together, the melee tackling Carbuncle Prime when he was up, and the mages taking out the avatars when they were up. When Carbuncle Prime splits himself, you need people to kite some of them while the melee take out one at a time.

I would like a fight as unique and fun as this, on a higher level of challenge, that can not be burned with one type of job (e.g. all SMN).

EDIT: Was gonna edit, but changed my mind.

[Don Katsu]

SE needs to hire BRP onto their development team.

[Not Kuno]

SE needs to hire BRP onto their development team.

I hope not

[BRP]

People tend to disagree on a lot of things. No one is 100% right, but I'd like to think I'm pretty close even if I'm misunderstood on something. I hope SE can at least see the basic good things that we can all agree are good.

[Charitwo]

SE needs to hire Kuno onto their development team.

Fixed

[Khamsin]

The problem with temp and omega is that the fights just gravitate towards using wars, smn's, and blms again for damage with the usual support jobs.

There really are no nm's that say throw more dragoons, or darks without krakens, or beastmasters, or puppetmasters, etc... at them.

Put in a Colibri King HNM that is weak to piercing and has a special damage reduction on other types of damage (that can be temporarily negated with Tomahawk or Formless Strikes). Give it a modified reflect, and minor AoEs that frequently wipe shadows. However, also give it devastating abilities worth having a stun order for (like GoH).

With its modified reflect, it would instacast whatever you cast on it, onto the current hate target. During this brief time, it is immune to magic. Therefore, you wouldn't want to make a habit of stunning everything because each time it becomes unstunned it will instantly stun its current hate target. The tank would become annoyed at you, but there are some things you will have to stun. If you try to CS stun, the moment you pull hate, it'll just stun you back between stuns. You can enfeeble it, but be sure to status cure the tank afterward. If 12 BLMs all cast Thunder IV on it, only the first will hit, and be reflected. Due to temporary magic immunity during the time it is casting the reflected spell onto the tank, the rest will be resisted.

Also give it some dark resistance to nerf Nether Blast spam, and let it spam abilities just enough to make a 12 WAR or MNK PT with Tomahawk and Formless Strike rotations not a desirable choice compared to polearms, SATA+WS from THF, slugshots, etc. (with the melee gaining TP on adds). Give PUP a (strong) Subtle Blow attachment. The adds will be Colibri, so they will need a bit more care than lullaby and sleepga, lest you be lullabied or sleepga'd upon awakening.

Maybe then you'll see an alliance setup consisting of THFs, DRGs, RNGs, and PUPs with Sharpshooter. Maybe.