@Shadur I can, just lemme know when you're on! @Meagen Image Spoiler I am wheezing Also I love Estinien, he's another one of those "starts out as an annoying douche, slowly grows on you as he gets character development" guys @Mercury same hat when I got there. D: the end of 2.* is ROUGH. I think you'll appreciate Swiftcast when you get it, though it is a pain in the ass. (thm is probably my least fav class)
I Do Not Like THM. My FC peeps told me it doesn't even really get fun until high levels, and it's the kind of fun that's micromanaging ADHD hell, so. No thanks! I'm not all that great at DPS anyway. This is the first time I've tried out being a healer from the beginning and I'm finding I really like it and I'm actually pretty decent at it. I just got to Ishgard, so I'm also going to give DRK a whirl and see if tanking suits me at all.
I'm honestly not a great DPS either, I prefer healing or tanking. DPSing is too likely to result in tunnel vision and i fumble rotations constantly (ADHD on my end too, it's apparently a legit impulse control thing that I have trouble with. Brains are weird.) Bard I'm best at I think, but even then it take a lot of focus for me to play it effectively. I'd say if you haven't tried one of the other tanks, DRK is kinda like Hard Mode, so it might be worth at least unlocking them. Also Provoke is p much necessary for tanking (Gladiator 22). I'd recommend maybe running it in low-level Palace of the Dead or guildhests to get the hang of it since getting 30 levels of skills dumped on you at once can be confusing.
Concur with Enzel -- not that DRK tanking is necessarily harder than GLD/PAL or MRD/WAR, but starting at level 30 means it throws you right into the deep end. ... In fact, all three of the HW classes assume that you're at least familiar with the basics of their respective roles; it's just most acutely visible with DRK.
Now I wonder why my FC leader suggested it. XD I think she probably just assumed getting through some of GLD first was a given. *shrug* At any rate, it won't hurt to give it a go in solo content or having a hilarious time in a low level dungeon with FC people.
Alternately, visit the Hall of the Novice and complete the Tank training course. It'll teach you the basics of tanking, tailored to the tank class you're on.
Yes, that too! I really didn't need it for healer but it gives out very nice gear for the level, so time well spent nonetheless. (Won't be useful for DRK, I know, but if I need to go through GLA to 22 I'll need it anyway, so.) It'd be great if SE would add like, a journeyman level to the Hall of the Novice. I blazed through the healer lessons because I'm not new to MMOs and all of it was stuff I'd already figured out, but I faceplanted hard when I hit Brayflox's Longstop, which is, what, 30ish? That's the point that I had enough skills to really drain my MP and the mechanics got complicated enough that I really needed some lessons.
...goddamnit, I spent so long lining up this shot and I completely forgot to close the goddamn options window. Spoiler
Brayflox's has a really annoying feature in that cleanses are really really useful on the final boss, but only CNJ/WHM has a cleanse by that level; if you're ARC/SCH you're just out of luck and have to hope people don't stand in poison.
Fortunately, the Hall of the Novice healer training track helpfully includes a section on "How to keep the DPS alive when they insist on standing in the damage threat areas". Squenix thought of everything!
Oh, nice! I think the Hall of the Novice must be from after I stopped playing, I'll have to check it out if I end up giving it another go.
It's basically a set of solo instances functioning as step by step tutorials on How To Class, accessible once you unlock Sastasha. You're also automatically pointed at the Hall of the Novice when you get the quest. It covers three separate tracks in terms of style - tank, healer, DPS - but it will tailor the actual lessons to the class you're playing. IE, MRD will be told to use Overpower and aim that cone; GLD will be told to get into the center and Flash, etc. Completing each track will get you a set of role-appropriate gear of the same quality level as the Sastasha drops, plus a ring that gives a 30% XP boost while you're below level 30, which stacks with all other XP boosts. And yes, if you're level 45 but doing a level 34 dungeon it counts.
Worth noting that the Stormblood preorder comes with earrings that also give a 30% exp boost, but up to level 50. (and theoretically should stack with that ring too) If anyone hasn't bought Heavensward yet, it's included if you buy SB.
Included, but not unlocked until SB comes out, which was part of the reason why I got HW immediately rather than waiting. (That, and I could afford 15 euros but not 40. Ah well.) I got distracted from DRK and ended up grabbing AST instead. It's a lot of fun, and after a quick PotD run to get me up some real game levels because I was about to die of boredom doing FATEs, I can see it'll get really fun in the mid-40s. And it's so pretty. Last night my FC took me and another person who hadn't been through it through about 2/3 of Coil, which was mostly a mad dash to keep up as they essentially facerolled it. :') The only part where we genuinely had a struggle was a couple of the bosses - I can't remember what the one was since everything was kind of a blur, but suddenly 4 of the 7 of us dropped dead, and I was the only healer up. THANKFULLY I'd just that day gotten swiftcast, so I scrambled over the raise the other healer and we set about getting everyone else on their feet. The other hard time was Nael, but given the mechanics I think that's a given. By sheer luck we didn't wipe even once, but I died... two or three times? Which was not a surprise, given I only have i115 gear and the rest of them were at whatever you have when you've been level 60 for ages. Also, my FC trolled me on the beginning of the second chunk of Coil by telling me that the floating rocks were a jumping puzzle and falling was instant death. I veeeery carefully positioned myself for jumps... only for them to run across and the empty air to solidify under them. I was so mad. :P I'd be mad at myself for taking the bait, but after playing TSW which actually DOES have jumping puzzles, it was a reasonable assumption on my part, I think.
I probably shouldn't have, but I resubscribed. Going to poke around and see what all I've missed and probably end up pre-ordering Stormblood as well just to see that. Dunno if I'll have actual fun playing the game but there's things I just miss so much.
Progress update! 57 Bard (Artemis Bow Animus), 56 Monk, 50 Dragoon (Gae Bolg acquired), 39 Paladin, 32 Machinist. MSQ up to The Vault. (In Soviet Ishgard, Inquisition never expects *you*.) Also unlocked Battle On The Big Bridge in the Hilderbrant.... thing. (I hesitate to use words like "quest line" or "story" or "plot" because they imply a far greater degree of logical cohesion than is present here.) ETA: Shenanigans. The Hilderbrant Shenanigans.
Would people like it if I made a Discord server? It might make planning cross-server shenanigans easier.
