Thistles are not for eating! >< (FFXI)

[thistlechaser]

I took a ton of screenshots tonight, but they were all spoiler-y so I can't post most of them!

ToAU Mission #42: Beaten! The second to last ToAU fight! Yay! With our very unorthodox party makeup (WHM, WHM, RDM, COR, THF, MNK) things looked really really bad for the first three tries. There are three different "stages" you have to beat, and we weren't even close to beating the first one. Finally we did one more attempt with our tank (Merton, THF) playing the role of a "real" tank and aggroing all the mobs and kiting them around while we killed the others one by one. The NPC who assists you (not naming, spoiler) messed up our plan once, but even with that we still won!

At first I had thought two different Immortals said these, which made it even more amusing:


Stop wanting to eat me, you evil BLU! Thistles are not for eating! ><

The CSs and storyline are sooooo cool! (Spoiler in image.) And she's all like "You hold those two for a minute, Thistle!" Ha ha, me with my fire staff! Sure thing, I'll hold them! *sweatdrops*

This is from an earlier mission CS. All text blurred, no spoiler. Isn't that fire realistic? And pretty, too!

We have almost two weeks until we're going to try the last battle, which is a good thing as I really need to spend a whole weekend day Campaigning so I don't lose my metal. (Plus I'd like to finally get WHM 70... maybe then the Jungles will stop being aggro!)

In Fishingbot news: He hit woodworking 80 and paused there to make ammo again. 15 hours of ammo making yesterday and another 5 hours today = two-thirds done with what he needs to do. I'd say "Please shoot me!" but with all that ammo on hand someone might take me up on that! I'd also say "I'm never doing this again!" but he still has to skill bonecrafting on scorp arrowheads, so more ammo in our future. :/

In "on this day in history", from two years ago:

Ha ha ha, one of the first Besiegeds I ever caught! Remember how the mobs all used to come in just the one exit, so everyone crowded there to try to get to take a swing at them? Heh!

Comments

[gconnor.livejournal.com]

Thistles are not for eating!

Well, except maybe artichokes. :)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Ha ha! Okay, I'll give you that one. :D

[veloxe.livejournal.com]

ToAU missions are soooooo fun! Although I hate cardians for the comment the one made during the airship scene. Just cause you acknowledge it doesn't make it any more funny SE ; ;

The last ToAU battle was really really fun. It's one of the few mission battles I have gone back, willingly, to do again.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

How hard was the last one, compared to the one we just did? I'm a little worried about our party set-up (it really can't change much, I'm the only one with multiple 75 jobs).

Edit: had = hard!

[veloxe.livejournal.com]

Much harder. Although I know people who will say "Oh just burn it wil ridill wars" (seriously I got that response once). The problem is that the BLU you are going to fight has a thing where he will become immune to physical or magical damage depending on the damage you do. He has 3 "forms" (he reraises). If you damage him with mostly melee in the first 2 forms then his 3rd form he'll be immune to melee. If you do magic in the first 2 he'll be immune to that. Best option is to kill mainly with magic or melee in first form, then switch for the 2nd form so in the 3rd form he will be immune to neither.

Then you fight the final big baddie for about 2 seconds, he goes SSJ on you and then you have to kill him. He's a toughy. I've tried many different setups and found that you don't want to give him lots of TP and you want to be able to do damage to him sufficiently fast. I know that a THF had extreme problems doing anything sufficient to him so that could be a problem for you.

You're also really going to want a tank unless you try to like manaburn him or something. The BLU can do Eye On Me for almost 1800 damage to a PLD with shell 5 (I took 1795). From my experience the best setup in a balanced one with a good tank (PLD or NIN tanking him from a distance to avoid AoEs on the melees and so his "2 hour" doesn't end everyone), at least 1 WHM, RDM (or BRD I suppose), a BLM (helps for the BLU forms and can MB on SCs), and then 2 heavy DD's (SAMs, WARs, MNKs).

Of course nothing is fool proof and there are other ways to do it but don't get discouraged if you guys wipe a whole bunch of times on the BLU alone and time out on the overall BC because that has happened many times with my groups even though we eventually win anyways.

(Take that ordered thought)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Thanks for all the info! I passed it on to my group. This is going to be kind of rough for us! Worse comes to worst, one of the two WHMs is leveling PLD (60-something now), we might just wait for her to get to 75. :P

[veloxe.livejournal.com]

I actually decided I was going on too much and cut it short, I could go all in depth if you would like the info but ya, you are probably going to have a rough time with that setup unless you can get the WHM to finish of their PLD and even then it might be tricky since the THF won't be able to do all too much damage overall.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I'm kind of very surprised that we beat 42 with this setup. Two WHMs is crazy. Problem is, I'm the only one with multiple 75s and the leader doesn't want to drop/kick anyone from the group... I'm not holding my breath that this will work at all. :/

[xvolph.livejournal.com]

Enjoy the final mission and custscenes for it. :)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Thanks! How hard was the final battle compared to the one we just did? Since we have almost no flexibility in our party set-up (I'm the only one with multiple 75 jobs) I'm a little concerned.

I can't wait to see the rest of the CSs! :D

[xvolph.livejournal.com]

It's a challenging fight, but a fun one. It's very much an endurance run, mixed with a little luck, and some careful timing. You will need a Paladin. A Ninja -might- be able to pull it off, but I think a goal is to be able to soak damage, rather than avoid it. The final boss' 2 hour will flatten most people, but a Paladin tank has a chance to survive it if he/she is at full/almost full health.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the info! We don't have a "real" tank at all (THF/NIN) which might make this highly painful...

[xvolph.livejournal.com]

They should probably tank from behind, then, since they'll want to do damage. If you do get a Paladin, "distance tanking" from in front, or to the side is the way to go.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Ah, cool. Thanks!

[quistie.livejournal.com]

Congrats on completing ToAU 42! I think that's the first ToAU mission that's more difficult than fun, so it's no small accomplishment.

ToAU 44 is definitely another tier altogether in terms of difficulty. Eyes On Me is a real problem. A Paladin would be nice to have, but even so sometimes Eyes On Me will one-shot the PLD anyway. I would say something about the latter stages of the battle, but we're 0/5 on the BLU part. :x

(Veloxe does have a really detailed comment about the fight above, though.)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

but we're 0/5 on the BLU part

Aw, man. And I thought the BLU would be the easy part!

[xvolph.livejournal.com]

blu strat I've used with reasonable success: He will build immunity to the primary source of damage each time he revives. For example, if you nuke him for the first two forms, he'll be immune to magic on the third. If the first two forms are mostly ranged damage, he'll be immune to range on the third. Likewise, if the first two forms are taken down mostly by melee damage, he'll be immune to melee on the third form.

Eyes on Me is a B****. Azure Lore + Eyes on Me is ten times worse. It is absolutely imperitive that your mages Sleep Eyes on Me, and especially if they can Sleep him after he triggers Azure Lore. This will almost certainly one-shot your tank (read: Paladin). A Paladin can possibly survive Eyes without Azure Lore, but for the amount of MP and such you'll spend healing him/her afterward is not worth the risk of not landing Sleep on the Blu.

Your best bet is to Sleepnuke the first two forms. Or Sleepnuke the first and melee/range the second which will leave his third form with no immunities.

If you die during the Blu fight, bail out and start over. The time it takes for people to reraise and unweaken will drastically effect your success on the final boss.

As a tank, I also kept a ton of hi-pots and hi-ethers on hand. These make a world of difference in both fights, but try to conserve these as you're grinding down toward the last 20-25% on the final boss. Save all 2-hours for the last 15-20% of the final boss' HP, and make sure that everyone with the ability to Cure is safely out of range and ready with a quick heal on the tank when the final boss gets down to 5-8%. They will need it.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Your best bet is to Sleepnuke the first two forms. Or Sleepnuke the first and melee/range the second which will leave his third form with no immunities.

Yeah, we're shooting for trying to have the third with no immunities, but it's going to be tricky. WHMs and RDM nuking and me shooting the first form is our plan, but 1) I highly doubt we'll do enough damage that way, and 2) Almost anyone who gets hate that way will be a sucky tank (COR, WHM, WHM, Taru RDM). We have no one with voke. (MNK and THF are the other two, both /NIN.)

If you die during the Blu fight, bail out and start over. The time it takes for people to reraise and unweaken will drastically effect your success on the final boss.

That's good to know, too.

Thanks for all the info, I'll pass it along!

[xvolph.livejournal.com]

I'd offer to tank it, but... y'know... Bismarck.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

*laughs* Thanks. I'd love to have you tank it, but the problem is that we have six people now (two WHMs...). One offered to drop (Danoille, I think you might know her?), but I'm sticking with her and really want to continue on with her. The other one isn't a LS member, just a friend of the group's leader...

[xvolph.livejournal.com]

Danoille sounds familiar somehow.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Close friend of Nai's, maybe you heard of her through her.