Anyone else love promys?

[Mhurron]

I liked the promys. If you gave me a heads up I'd help people with them anytime.

OT: Ok what the hell happened here. I replied to a thread and it's at the top?

[Skoal]

@Mhurron: The clock on the website is f#cked up like a lab rat.
There was a thread about drake earring earlier that makes no sense because all of the posts are mixed up.

[Celeal]

I don't have much luck on Promys so far. 0/5 for Mea T_T
Spend hours of farming animas, an hour to get to the boss, then one mistake or accident wiped the group. 2hr JA are used, animas are gone, that promy run is lost and game over...

[Sabaron]

I've had good pick-ups, but they're hit or miss. I've also taken several green parties in (I've done 6 enms, 1 Mea boss, 3 Dem Boss, 5 Holla Boss), and they do excellent with Mea and Dem. Holla boss gets problematic because of the low-hp Drain spam if the Hysteroanimas are not properly timed. I would say that of the 3, it is the hardest--because of the dead city area (Non-ring level 3, western facing entrance), the fences on 2, and the necessity of Hysteroanima.

I'll put some Holla detail here since I've got the most experience with it:

Greens often grab multiple aggs in the fences. This is deadly to the member who does it since it is not usually possible to defeat multiple aggs on 2. A lot of times, other party members will try to assist, but it is important that they know that death in promy is temporary unless the WHM dies. People will get aggs on level 3 in what I like to call the "Dead City" because they hide around the corners of the buildings and you cannot see which way they are facing.

Shade gear is absolutely the sh.. in Promy. I have 3 pieces: Shade Tiara, Shade Mittens, and Shade Tights. I have never tanked in Promyvion, so I divide the Shade pieces amongst the tanks. If you lead promys invest in at least two pieces as most runs are dual tank. If you have a PLD (dedicated tank), give all the pieces to him--they only work when the mob is looking at the person wearing them. Anyone who has or uses Provoke should have at least one piece on. The proc rate supposedly increases with more pieces, but I think the rate with just 1 (or 2) pieces is enough--it's effectively a second paralyze spell. I have no idea if the +1 has any better Intimidation rate.

Green white mages assume the standard fast-button healer position and do little else--intending to conserve MP since they have a poison potion on and can't rest (in Holla). This is wrong. The white mage is responsible for the debuffs as well--Paralyze, Blind, Slow, Dia. A WHM, at the end of the battle, can also become a Nuker. If they've been sneaky and thrown a few Banishes to keep their Divine skill up, a Banish II from a WHM can do a good bit of damage--enough that they can decide the battle. Green WHMs also tend to forget Reraise--they need at least 2 charges--1 for level 4 and one for the boss. If you are leading an expedition with a green WHM, remind them beforehand and/or bring an earring to share.

There are some nuances to using 2-hours on the bosses. We do Summoner #1 at 75%, Summoner #2 as #1 activates second pact. Also as a caveat... if you know your way around promy you can replace your Widescanner with another SMN--this makes victory very simple, but you won't even be close to needing another SMN if you time your Astral Flows for Magic Burst. Warrior 2-hour should be used early to get some nice hate built up to protect the mages. Paladin 2-hour is used in the event of a WHM failure (due to sleep or lack of mp). BLM and RDM 2-hour should be used in conjunction with Terroanima or they'll get eaten alive. RNG 2-hour should be reserved for use as a "Finishing Move". WHM 2-hour should be used after or in conjunction with Invincible and make sure Reraise is up before you pop it off. Other DD 2-hours can be used at any time during the battle.

Skillchaining has fallen out of favor in the FFXI community, but one thing you must note is that SMN using Astral Flow gets significantly better mileage from Magic Burst than the puny amount that a BLM gets (+30% no resist). We always try, but always fail. Astral Flow bursts apparently return 2 to 10 times the base damage (and even 2 would be awesome).

The "optimum" party setup that people always over-glorify is the WAR/NIN, WAR/NIN, RNG/NIN, WHM/BLM, SMN/WHM, SMN/WHM group. Yes, this group does great... Technically, WAR/NIN x 2, WHM/BLM, SMN/WHM x 3 is better, but people seem too attached to wide-scan. You can do promyvion with almost any group. Terroanima is bad for standard setup because it is very bad for melee and SMN 2-hours. It is, however, excellent for nukers and rangers who don't need to worry about mob proximity. When doesn't a Monk using Hundred-Fists do horrible, gut-wrenching damage? We've taken Dragoons--their 2-hour is excellent. Subbing NIN, they can also tank admirably (better as a short-duration Utsusemi-down tank for a WAR/NIN) at this level--make sure Wyvern recast timer is at 0:00 and wyvern is out when you enter. A THF can tank under Hysteroanima and is best used with a dedicated tank. Take your misfit group in and practice. You might lose the first time--"optimum" parties do too, but once you've got the idea of it, you'll get it--just don't keep swapping members.

Every Promyvion Guide that I've ever seen says "Anima is the Key to Promy"... They're correct. Hysteroanima is best saved for the end of the battle because of the TP move spam. Psychoanima is used at the beginning to conserve the WHM's MP while the tanks build hate. Terroanima is used in extreme situations on level 4 or for spam-nuking/arrow-spam.

• Promyvion Rule #1: Any person who incurs multiple-aggro or single IT++(+) aggro on any level except 4 is a dead man. Let the aggs despawn, raise and continue.
  
  Promyvion Rule #2: Green White Mages often forget reraise.
  
  Promyvion Rule #3: Bring at least two pieces of Shade gear (Girls seem to prefer the Tiara--I think it's a "Queen of Promyvion" effect).
  
  Promyvion Rule #4: White mage is more than a healer, here. Use your debuffs and nuke at the end.
  
  Promyvion Rule #5: Bursting Astral Flow off a Skillchain is better than spamming TP.
  
  Promyvion Rule #6: Stagger your Two-hours.
  
  Promyvion Rule #7: "Optimum" setup is overrated.
  
  Promyvion Rule #8: Anima... bring it... love it... use it...

[Skoal]

I dreaded doing these missions a long time ago. The only reason I leveled nin was to sub for my war.

Now that I have done all 3 and about 6 ENM's with no losses, I love them. I haven't done them in a few months. I was just thinking about how much fun an ENM would be tonight.

Anyone else love them or hate them? Please share funny or awful experiences. My favorite one was when we did both mission and ENM in Holla and didn't use 2hrs or animas.

How are the fights in Vahzl compared to the other spires?

[Jei]

They're not that bad with a good group. I hate picked-up prommies. LS prommy run usually turn out nicely.

[Feenicks]

Echo what Jei said. I loved doing Promyvion, it's a blast as long as you're with friends you know. Personally I think it's best if you ignore any strats you read and just try to work with what you have. There are too many people who think that Promyvion is impossible without 3xRNG or 3xSMN or other equally silly combinations. I've beaten Promyvion many times with standard XP parties as well as more non-traditional combinations. It's always possible, you just need to analyse where your strengths and weaknesses lie.

[Cometgreen]

Like a lot of things with this game, it's not the event that might piss me off, just the players. I personally like Promies, but I hate that it can take 3-4 hours because people can't show up on time, or someone "forgot" to get anima, etc. I like working my way up the tower, sneaking around enemies, making a run for the zone, working up a strategy, etc. Maybe it's because I haven't gotten to any end game stuff or big bosses yet, so promies are the only times I fight something outside of grinding.

As for set up, I only had a SMN in my party once, and that was a pickup party that failed quite quickly (of course, it turned out only two of us brought anima... on Mea). In my successful LS parties, it's usually 2x WAR/NIN, myself as RNG, a BLM, WHM, and then something else. Most times we're lucky to get another RNG from our LS, but I believe we've beaten bosses with only myself and no SMN. Mea is the only one that, imo, needs 2 RNG or SMN, as you need to take him down before you run out of anima. And yes, everyone should have both anima. Even if it's Dem when you only need three or four pairs... everyone! 'Cause you know someone won't bring it.