Final Fantasy XIV (Guide in first post)

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hodj

Vox Populi Jihadi
<Silver Donator>
31,672
18,377
I can't find solid answers with google, one person says you don't need the disc, another says you do, another says if you download the trial and use the disc code to upgrade that, then you can start the game without the disc in, so forth and so on.

That is very frustrating.

See if you can download a trial from psn first, I think if you upgrade that with a code from physical disc you don't need the physical disc. Its confusing though. Lot of nonsense information out there about it.
 

hodj

Vox Populi Jihadi
<Silver Donator>
31,672
18,377
Well he has it on pc as well, he just wants a ps4 copy but doesn't want to cop an extra 10 bucks just to download it digitally, which is understandable.

The "must have a disc in for ps4 version" is fucking retarded as just about anything I can think of though.
 

Malkav

French Madman
2,686
1,583
Is Steps of Faith that much of a pain with the Duty Finder?
Just got to this step, and I'm trying to prepare myself mentally for the clusterfuck.

Anyway, you guys were right, story really starts to get good starting 2.4 stuff.
 

Kriptini

Vyemm Raider
3,675
3,572
Is Steps of Faith that much of a pain with the Duty Finder?
Just got to this step, and I'm trying to prepare myself mentally for the clusterfuck.
Oh yeah. Steps of Faith is one of those trials where if a problem isn't handled it will snowball very quickly.

First thing about Steps of Faith, your WHM needs to be ON POINT. Their job is to stand a few yalms in front of the big dragon, centered, and put Medica II and Regen on people. This will snap aggro to the WHM when adds spawn, which is very important, because trying to pick up moving enemies as a tank in this game is awful.

Having your WHM magnet all of the enemies to one spot means it's easier for a tank to pick them up, let's pick the PLD (though it doesn't matter if you choose PLD or WAR for this). So our "magnet group" is the PLD and WHM, and we've got 6 unassigned people.

Next, choose your 2 best AoE DPSers. (Best AoE DPS is BLM > SMN > DRG > SCH > BRD > NIN/MNK; NIN AoE is garbage here because you can't really do Doton). You're going to stick these two in the "magnet group" as well and have them help burn down the adds in the magnet. Their AoEs should hit the big dragon, too. For this example, let's put a BLM and a DRG in the magnet group with the PLD and WHM.

So you've got 4 unassigned party members now, let's say it's a WAR, SCH, BRD, and NIN. Your BRD and NIN are going to start on the big dragon, but once the dragon starts getting in range of the cannons, they're going to run ahead and get on those. The cannons have a skill called "Iron Kiss" the does 2k damage to everything it hits on a 2 second cool down. These cannons are the MOST important part of this fight. If you don't get the cannons down, you won't win, so make sure your 2 cannonneers aren't mouthbreathers.

It's difficult to say exactly when the big dragon is in range of the cannons, because although the cannon's range extends really far, the hits don't register unless the big dragon is fairly close. The cannoneers need to spam Iron Kiss (don't even look at the other abilities) on the magnet, which will do 2k damage to all the adds and the big dragon per shot. Eventually, the big dragon is going to attempt a cone attack on the cannons. Your SCH is going to Adlo the cannoneers and they are going to take that AoE to the face and keep firing. When the cannons are destroyed, they move to the next set behind them. When not Adloing your cannoneers, your SCH should be DPSing (or healing the MT if your WHM is awful).

That leaves your offtank, in this case, a WAR. He has two jobs: 1. Find the Biasts and bring them to the magnet, because they don't respond to heal aggro until someone hits them. 2. Activate the Dragonator. After the first ward on the bridge is breached, there will be an opportunity to use the Dragonator on the big dragon after the first set of cannons is destroyed in each subsequent ward. When the first set of cannons in a ward are destroyed, the cannoneers will standby on the chains modules, and activated when instructed. While that is happening, the WAR is climbing the top of a really tall tower and standing ready by the Dragonator. As soon as the big dragon is chained, launch the Dragonator to inflict heavy damage. If the dragon is not chained, it will miss.

You're gonna need to experience it and wipe a few times because this explanation isn't exactly intuitive. The TL;DR:

MAGNET GROUP:
  • WHM does massive heal aggro to magnet adds to the front of the big dragon
  • MT picks up these adds
  • 2 AoE DPS burn them down
  • Repeat

CANNONEERS:
  • Single-target down big dragon when not nearing cannons
  • When approaching cannons, run ahead and get on them, spam Iron Kiss on big guy and magnet group
  • DO NOT FEAR THE CONE AoE; KEEP FIRING, TAKE THAT SHIT TO THE FACE, AND BLAME YOUR SCH IF YOU DIE
  • Protip: If your SCH sucks, stand at max range behind the cannon when using it. While the cannon explosion will still hit you when it explodes, the cone AoE will not, so you'll take less damage overall
  • Starting in the second ward, get ready to do chains after the first set of cannons are destroyed
  • Move to second set of cannons right after chaining
  • Repeat

OFFTANK:
  • Pick up Biasts when they spawn, because they aggro onto the cannons and take a bit of effort to pull them off
  • Bring Biasts to magnet group
  • Starting in the second ward, when the big dragon is getting ready to destroy the first set of cannons, climb the tower to the Dragonator
  • Wait until the big dragon is chained, then fire the Dragonator
  • Repeat

SCH/2nd WHM:
  • DPS with the magnet group
  • Adlo+Stoneskin the cannoneers so they don't die to the cone AoE, if they die, it's your fault because they can't lose a second of firing those stupid things

The only caveat to this strategy is at one point there is an add that completely ignores threat and attacks whoever he feels like. If your DPS is good, you can kill him, otherwise, just ignore him because he's kind of a wuss.
 

Malkav

French Madman
2,686
1,583
Great. Just got in after 30 minutes in the queue...only for everyone to leave before the pull when they see it's the first time for 2 or 3 people.
 

Malkav

French Madman
2,686
1,583
The second time around got a group willing to stick around, got him down on the third try. I was on left cannon duty so pretty simple for me.

Fun fight though.
 

Draegan_sl

2 Minutes Hate
10,034
3
I've never played this game, figured I'd try it out. Is there anything worth discussing or looking up before I start or is it usually MMO stuff. Any thing I should avoid?
 

Springbok

Karen
<Gold Donor>
9,385
13,903
Welp, finished story finally.... What a slog. Liked how story ended though even if a lot of it was super telegraphed.
 

sike

Silver Knight of the Realm
246
-1,200
Just came back after 9 months, also finally finished the story. My god is that going to be a slog if you return at the expansion expecting to be able to play the new content... Steps of Faith was utterly soul destroying - I spent 10 hours of duty finder fail groups, 75% of which disbanded as soon as people zoned into the instance, and the rest failed utterly. Finally got it down once I got lucky enough to get a group with brains, but it was infuriating queuing for each wasted try.

I really think it's a poor decision requiring those trial instances for the expansion access, at the very least they need to add a scaling echo buff.

Just bought the game on ps4 too - wonder what will happen if you only have the expansion on PC then do some expansion content, will it log you out of a zone, or flag a character that goes over lvl 50 as unplayable on the normal version? Going to hold off on buying the expansion for ps4 to see what happens!
 

Amycus

Lord Nagafen Raider
845
102
Going to start a new toon to lvl and try to get relatively ready prior to the expansion. I only raid in WoW two days a week, so plenty of time for a second game. Leveled a few jobs to 50 at release, but that was about it. All the posts about how good the story and how much content there is have me really itching to give it another go.

Most of the endgame stuff is what, 8 players? May be interested in getting a kind of casual-ish group going like we have in WoW right now.
 

Xalara

Golden Squire
826
81
I am leveling all of my crafting jobs to level 50 in preparation for the expansion via levequests. I currently have Culinarian, Weaver, Carpenter, and Goldsmith at 50. What are the good resources for figuring out how to use your rotations and craft HQ reliably? I'm not looking to do star crafting, but to craft my own spiritbond gear for Urth's Fount without blowing up a bunch first.
 

Malkav

French Madman
2,686
1,583
After seeing the end of the main story, I must ask. Did Whedon write this?

So much death.... Do we really expect Yda, Papalymo, Thancred and Y'shtola to be really dead though?
 

Harkon

Vyemm Raider
1,549
4,090
Oh yeah. Steps of Faith is one of those trials where if a problem isn't handled it will snowball very quickly.

First thing about Steps of Faith, your WHM needs to be ON POINT. Their job is to stand a few yalms in front of the big dragon, centered, and put Medica II and Regen on people. This will snap aggro to the WHM when adds spawn, which is very important, because trying to pick up moving enemies as a tank in this game is awful.

Having your WHM magnet all of the enemies to one spot means it's easier for a tank to pick them up, let's pick the PLD (though it doesn't matter if you choose PLD or WAR for this). So our "magnet group" is the PLD and WHM, and we've got 6 unassigned people.

Next, choose your 2 best AoE DPSers. (Best AoE DPS is BLM > SMN > DRG > SCH > BRD > NIN/MNK; NIN AoE is garbage here because you can't really do Doton). You're going to stick these two in the "magnet group" as well and have them help burn down the adds in the magnet. Their AoEs should hit the big dragon, too. For this example, let's put a BLM and a DRG in the magnet group with the PLD and WHM.

So you've got 4 unassigned party members now, let's say it's a WAR, SCH, BRD, and NIN. Your BRD and NIN are going to start on the big dragon, but once the dragon starts getting in range of the cannons, they're going to run ahead and get on those. The cannons have a skill called "Iron Kiss" the does 2k damage to everything it hits on a 2 second cool down. These cannons are the MOST important part of this fight. If you don't get the cannons down, you won't win, so make sure your 2 cannonneers aren't mouthbreathers.

It's difficult to say exactly when the big dragon is in range of the cannons, because although the cannon's range extends really far, the hits don't register unless the big dragon is fairly close. The cannoneers need to spam Iron Kiss (don't even look at the other abilities) on the magnet, which will do 2k damage to all the adds and the big dragon per shot. Eventually, the big dragon is going to attempt a cone attack on the cannons. Your SCH is going to Adlo the cannoneers and they are going to take that AoE to the face and keep firing. When the cannons are destroyed, they move to the next set behind them. When not Adloing your cannoneers, your SCH should be DPSing (or healing the MT if your WHM is awful).

That leaves your offtank, in this case, a WAR. He has two jobs: 1. Find the Biasts and bring them to the magnet, because they don't respond to heal aggro until someone hits them. 2. Activate the Dragonator. After the first ward on the bridge is breached, there will be an opportunity to use the Dragonator on the big dragon after the first set of cannons is destroyed in each subsequent ward. When the first set of cannons in a ward are destroyed, the cannoneers will standby on the chains modules, and activated when instructed. While that is happening, the WAR is climbing the top of a really tall tower and standing ready by the Dragonator. As soon as the big dragon is chained, launch the Dragonator to inflict heavy damage. If the dragon is not chained, it will miss.

You're gonna need to experience it and wipe a few times because this explanation isn't exactly intuitive. The TL;DR:

MAGNET GROUP:
  • WHM does massive heal aggro to magnet adds to the front of the big dragon
  • MT picks up these adds
  • 2 AoE DPS burn them down
  • Repeat

CANNONEERS:
  • Single-target down big dragon when not nearing cannons
  • When approaching cannons, run ahead and get on them, spam Iron Kiss on big guy and magnet group
  • DO NOT FEAR THE CONE AoE; KEEP FIRING, TAKE THAT SHIT TO THE FACE, AND BLAME YOUR SCH IF YOU DIE
  • Protip: If your SCH sucks, stand at max range behind the cannon when using it. While the cannon explosion will still hit you when it explodes, the cone AoE will not, so you'll take less damage overall
  • Starting in the second ward, get ready to do chains after the first set of cannons are destroyed
  • Move to second set of cannons right after chaining
  • Repeat

OFFTANK:
  • Pick up Biasts when they spawn, because they aggro onto the cannons and take a bit of effort to pull them off
  • Bring Biasts to magnet group
  • Starting in the second ward, when the big dragon is getting ready to destroy the first set of cannons, climb the tower to the Dragonator
  • Wait until the big dragon is chained, then fire the Dragonator
  • Repeat

SCH/2nd WHM:
  • DPS with the magnet group
  • Adlo+Stoneskin the cannoneers so they don't die to the cone AoE, if they die, it's your fault because they can't lose a second of firing those stupid things

The only caveat to this strategy is at one point there is an add that completely ignores threat and attacks whoever he feels like. If your DPS is good, you can kill him, otherwise, just ignore him because he's kind of a wuss.
That strat is great with a premade but way too complex for DF.

All you need to tell people in DF is this:

One: make sure your MT, Healer (prob WHM) and DPS are up front near the dragon mouth or at the same position but to one of the wall sides (this is also a good spot for casters if they don't want to be in the main clump since the mobs wont run out of range of the cannons). Make sure they understand to clump up the mobs as close to the front of the dragon as possible. Tell them if they are back by the tail they are too far back, casters love hanging out there and then end up dragging mobs there. (again tell em to go to one of the walls near the sides of the dragon mouth if they are worried)

Two: Put one of the healers on the cannons (one with the least healing potential) and the weakest dps. They do there cannon and chaining as above, however once the dragon does the cone you have time to fire a couple shots then leave before it goes off. Also ensure the cannoneers know to use the slow and interrupt abilities on the cannons.

Three: Make sure someone is on the dragonkiller. Ensure they know to wait till he is chained before firing.

Thats it, using this should allow you to easily kill it before the last barrier even falls.

The key is just making sure as many mobs are being hit by the cannons as possible by clumping up together as close to the head as possible so the cannons can maximize DPS. Once that happens all the trash mobs will be easily wiped out by each barrier and hopefully the main mob too. (IE turtle). Then your DPS just wails on the dragon waiting for the barrier to fall.
Also having one of the healers on the cannon frees up alot of DPS and the cannoneers should take little damage regardless.