Almighty Apkallu: Found, and then lost again.

[Khamsin]

requiring certain jobs, let alone 3 different people on 3 different jobs, is a pretty big requirement... and i don't recall there being any real thing in the game that requires 3 different jobs to unite, except for the horutoto mage gate, which actually is logical.

apkallu are mnks, there's no connection between them and blu/cor/pup... aside from blu learning yawn which isn't really a connection either

BLU: Yawn
PUP: H2H
COR: Luck

OMG, there's our connection! But yeah, remember people, AA has popped and nobody has seen him, so it has to be a condition that was likely to actually be fulfilled unwittingly, and unobserved.

[Demonsparta]

Have no one go on the top floor for a few minutes ;o Then go up after bit and see if it pops(or has popped)? He likes to fap in private

[Jedimasta]

AC was just lost on Bahamut, gogo ride the boat!

[Pergo]

Have no one go on the top floor for a few minutes ;o Then go up after bit and see if it pops(or has popped)? He likes to fap in private

i usually start the ride with fillmode on for this reason, haven't seen anything different.

also, carbuncle lost AC recently, i'm going to check the boat out again, although i've tested this before and found nothing

[Khamsin]

AC either doesn't need to be lost, or must be in Aht Urghan, since it's popped on a server that hasn't lost the AC before (since maintenance). Unless, of course, anyone from Diabolos can say otherwise.

[Sonded]

AC was lost on Phoenix someday recently; rode the boat and checked what popped. Neither #7 or AA popped on Phoenix since server maint. Not sure if the AC was lost before or after though.

[Sargas]

AC either doesn't need to be lost, or must be in Aht Urghan, since it's popped on a server that hasn't lost the AC before (since maintenance). Unless, of course, anyone from Diabolos can say otherwise.

Just checked the Whitegate guard on Diabolos, and he says we've defended the AC 82 consecutive times. Safe to say we haven't lost it since well before the maintenance.

[Pergo]

i don't like to quit on things or say that things are broken, especially SE says they're not, but i'm stumped here. i've tried tons of logical and illogical theories.

i most recently tested an idea i never though of before, and i was sure it would work... i was bored last night and decided instead of walking from staging point to nashmau, i'll take the ship there. on the ship, i had 3 apkallu spawn (each within 60secs of the other's death)... i then connected this to something i noticed in mount zhayolm. if you get a lot of hate on the zhayolm apkallu, and then run to the king apkallu (higher level ones in the zone), their hate isn't shared.

so i figured, what if you need high apkallu hate, but it can't be from a different apkallu. even though the boat from wg>nashmau is a different zone, it technically is the same 'type' of apkallu. so i continued to ride both boats in hopes to raise my apkallu hate.

it seems like at least 1 apkallu always spawns on the boat ride to nashmau. the most i've ever seen was 4. on the ride with 4, i took to notice my apkallu hate.

apkallu1 used yawn.
apkallu2 used wing slap.
apkallu3 used wing whirl.
apkallu4 used wing slap and then wing whirl. (by this point i ran out of mp so i meleed, which is why 2 tp moves)

there was definitely a difference in hate from these 4, but when i took the nashmau boat back to wg, the 1 apkallu that spawned was yawn only. i took the boat back and forth about 3 more round trips, and on the route to nashmau i had 1-3 apkallu pop each time... their tp moves varied from yawn to wing slaps, but nothing affected the nash>wg apkallu.

it's a shame. i had so much hope for this theory, especially since it actually related to a 'cryptic hint' that SE gave us. the "many people ride the boat to nashmau, but don't take it back"... it could've been a clue in itself saying that the ride to nashmau might be involved in the process, but nope.


anyways, in conclusion, i think it's safe to make some solid generalizations about Almighty Apkallu:

1) It doesn't involve realistic player interaction, which strongly suggests it doesn't involve player interaction at all.
2) Following #1, it is likely that Almighty Apkallu pops independently, free from any player responsibility or action.
3) Following #2, it is basically proven that if Almighty Apkallu pops without any required player interaction, it's independent pop requirements follow no given pattern.

those 3 generalizations spell broken regardless if SE wants to acknowledge it or not.

[Napukin]

AA popped on Caitsith sometime between 4am-12pm est on Dec 23. That's four days since last maintenance? Has there been a server that hasn't had it pop yet? Do we have a max non-pop time yet to determine if it's a timed spawn?

Also, Full moon ended sometime last night. I'm not sure how far the moon theories have gone... But maybe it pops on wanning moons? It lives in the sea and the sea is subject to the moon's gravitational forces. Don't moon phases have about half a month before it hit's 100% through a cycle?

[Pergo]

AA popped on Caitsith sometime between 4am-12pm est on Dec 23. That's four days since last maintenance? Has there been a server that hasn't had it pop yet? Do we have a max non-pop time yet to determine if it's a timed spawn?

Also, Full moon ended sometime last night. I'm not sure how far the moon theories have gone... But maybe it pops on wanning moons? It lives in the sea and the sea is subject to the moon's gravitational forces. Don't moon phases have about half a month before it hit's 100% through a cycle?

i think this has been the best concrete info on this nm, ever i'll check my memory again now

[Khamsin]

No sign of AA or #7 on Pandemonium. A couple more fished up mobs have popped since I last checked, but otherwise it's same as before.

[tuggler]

Rather than setting HP in Nashmau, riding Nashmau -> Whitegate then warping back to catch the very next ferry, has anyone with two characters tried riding the boat both directions, but with each char starting from opposite ports? That should cover all sailings and, if it's a hate thing, ensure that it's not wiped somehow by the act of warping back to Nashmau from Whitegate.

[Mierin_Eronaile]

AA popped on Caitsith sometime between 4am-12pm est on Dec 23. That's four days since last maintenance? Has there been a server that hasn't had it pop yet? Do we have a max non-pop time yet to determine if it's a timed spawn?

Also, Full moon ended sometime last night. I'm not sure how far the moon theories have gone... But maybe it pops on wanning moons? It lives in the sea and the sea is subject to the moon's gravitational forces. Don't moon phases have about half a month before it hit's 100% through a cycle?

You got a screenshot to verify that?

[Guitarman]

What about AA being tied to Proteus? Maybe AA will spawn on the next N > Aht boat after proteus is killed? It wouldnt be the first nm based on the death of another; lumberjack only spawns after weeping willow is killed, etc. Would explain why some servers have seen it and others havent; people see proteus, kill it with their group, then tele or warp off the boat, which would explain SE's cryptic hint "we suspect no one has seen AA because they warp out of nashmau" or however they said it. Some servers havent seen AA because proteus isnt exactly camped regularly? Bit of a stretch but who knows.

Is there a way, for people whos servers have had AA pop, to tell if proteus had actually died the previous ride?

Edit: something odd. Rode a boat from al zhabi > nashmau while the mamool ja were advancing, and no apkallu ever appeared. By time the nashmau > al zhabi boat took off, the mamool ja were attacking, and no apkallu on that boat either. Probably nothing, but its the first time ive seen no apkallu on both rides back to back. Again, probably means nothing but thought id throw that out there since it was odd.

[deliphas]

checked sylph last night, AA hasnt popped since last maintenance. When i rode the boat over from whitegate, proteus has popped (of course) but i currently do not know of any way to tell if he actually was killed or not.

[Koga]

What about AA being tied to Proteus? Maybe AA will spawn on the next N > Aht boat after proteus is killed? It wouldnt be the first nm based on the death of another; lumberjack only spawns after weeping willow is killed, etc. Would explain why some servers have seen it and others havent; people see proteus, kill it with their group, then tele or warp off the boat, which would explain SE's cryptic hint "we suspect no one has seen AA because they warp out of nashmau" or however they said it. Some servers havent seen AA because proteus isnt exactly camped regularly? Bit of a stretch but who knows.

Is there a way, for people whos servers have had AA pop, to tell if proteus had actually died the previous ride?

Edit: something odd. Rode a boat from al zhabi > nashmau while the mamool ja were advancing, and no apkallu ever appeared. By time the nashmau > al zhabi boat took off, the mamool ja were attacking, and no apkallu on that boat either. Probably nothing, but its the first time ive seen no apkallu on both rides back to back. Again, probably means nothing but thought id throw that out there since it was odd.

The thing with your theory is though that mobs that spawn based on another NM's death are in the same zone... But it's still worth a shot.
Could possibly set a server side flag that Proteus has been killed and thus AA is now able to pop.
Can the other guy who said AA popped in that 4 hour window check if Proteus has been killed?

[Demosthenes11]

That's not possible -.-

[Guitarman]

Two topics and how many theories have been tried. AA popping when no one is on the ship means the spawn requires no player action on the nashmau > al zhabi boat. If AA was as simple as a weirdly timed spawn like argus, it would have been spotted long before now with all the people looking for it. The only thing left is meeting the pop condition on the other boat.

[Gergall]

Did anybody else doing the Windurst WotG quests notice how many times the word "birdmen" is used to refer to the Yagudo?

I just wanted to get this on the record now so that in 8 months when somebody figures out how to pop AA and it drops something else, I can quote this post :D Then we can spend a few years figuring out where the broken Yagudo NM is that drops the cape.

[Shredder]

AA is obviously never seen cause the chances of it is just that bad. Assume AA has a 72hr window (window may be constant or only starts during certain game months) if no apkallu on ship from Nashmau to Whitegate is killed. This would mean once these conditions are met, you would have to ride 108 consecutive boat trips for 36hrs stright warping back to Nashmau everytime to get a 50% chance at seeing it.