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Last night I put my flag up and went farming, figuring it would take another 4 hours to get an invite as DRK as it did the night before. To my surprise, in about 20 minutes I get a /tell asking if I wanted to join a party this guy was building. I accepted and started heading to Whitegate.
When I got there, and was finally invited, I checked to see what we had so far. We had a BRD, RDM, MNK, myself as DRK, and the BLU/NIN that was starting the party. He mentioned somebody else was on the way, but didn't lead onto what job they were. Once the person got to Whitegate, we found out the current set up was BLU, MNK, DRK, RDM, BRD, and BLM. We all hit the realization of "Where's the tank" at about the same time. The MNK beat me to it, and asked what we were doing about a tank, and the BLU said they were going to tank.
Immediately a number of us expressed our skepticism, but the BLU assured us that with spells, gear and food, he could reach PLD like DEF. Then the issue came up of could a BLU keep hate from a Chronic Big Hitter (DRK), and a DoT King (MNK). I volunteered to sub /THF for SATA to take Berserk out of my equation, and help with hate issues, and we all aggreed to give it a try.
We get the the camp, and I pull our first Puk, and hate is all over the place! Turns out the RDM he found only knew how to use two spells. Refresh and Cure IV. So the BLU takes a scratch and the RDM drops Cure IVs. We survived the first fight, MP seemed a tad low, but with a BRD and a RDM, MP shouldn't be a problem. Next fight we start out with the skillchain. RDM didn't stop their Cure Bombing, but hate was pretty well secured after a good Sickle Moon, and a rather impressive Distortion. (I actually felt like a THF at times. Distortions doing 300 to 490dmg at the highest.) Next fight, basically the same thing. Even if the MNK couldn't turn the Puk with Howling Fists, I still managed a decent enough Sickle Moon to secure hate.
We kept this up for about an hour and half, at which point the MNK had to leave. We maintained Chain #5s the entire time, BLM was blasting with AMs near the end of the fights, and even thought the RDM never learned to hold off with Cure IV, I managed to help keep the BLU at the top of the hate list.
After about 15 minutes a BST came to replace the MNK. Since there weren't any favorable Skillchain options with the BST, I switched to Scythe, the BST used an HQ Tiger Pet and DW'd Axes for Rampage. (I really wish I was on PC to have had a parser. BST was doing a consistant 400dmg+ Rampage, and I'm curious how he and his pet really measured up in overall damage.) Absorb-TP made sure I had TP at the start of every fight so I could drop a 500~900 TA Guillotine at the start. (I'd say Guillotine average was in the low to mid 700s. I had a few where the Puk would pop Zephyr Mantle or Flash on me so Acc was impaired on those lower ones.)
Hate was set and we continued to Chain #5 all the way up to the end of the party. We never came close to breaking into Chain #6, but we only stopped pulling like 3 times for quick breaks, and replacing the MNK. (Wish I remembered that MNKs name. Would have liked to have given him credit. Was doing good damage, usually turned the mob with only Howling Fists, and had me on my toes trying to catch his TP. Double Attack & Kick Attacks really helped him jump ahead in TP.)
The BLU's name was Saeval I ~believe~, and he did volunteer to tank, so I don't know if he already had "tanking gear." He had a Scorp. Harness at times, wore the Lv.55 Jaridah Peti at other times, I never paid attention to what sword he was using, and had no shield. So I have no idea if any BLU could do this, or would you have to be specifically geared toward it, but I'm now considering adding BLU to the list of possible tanks when I'm building parties. They'll need more help than a NIN to keep hate, but they can take the beating and put out some decent damage as well.
When I got there, and was finally invited, I checked to see what we had so far. We had a BRD, RDM, MNK, myself as DRK, and the BLU/NIN that was starting the party. He mentioned somebody else was on the way, but didn't lead onto what job they were. Once the person got to Whitegate, we found out the current set up was BLU, MNK, DRK, RDM, BRD, and BLM. We all hit the realization of "Where's the tank" at about the same time. The MNK beat me to it, and asked what we were doing about a tank, and the BLU said they were going to tank.
Immediately a number of us expressed our skepticism, but the BLU assured us that with spells, gear and food, he could reach PLD like DEF. Then the issue came up of could a BLU keep hate from a Chronic Big Hitter (DRK), and a DoT King (MNK). I volunteered to sub /THF for SATA to take Berserk out of my equation, and help with hate issues, and we all aggreed to give it a try.
We get the the camp, and I pull our first Puk, and hate is all over the place! Turns out the RDM he found only knew how to use two spells. Refresh and Cure IV. So the BLU takes a scratch and the RDM drops Cure IVs. We survived the first fight, MP seemed a tad low, but with a BRD and a RDM, MP shouldn't be a problem. Next fight we start out with the skillchain. RDM didn't stop their Cure Bombing, but hate was pretty well secured after a good Sickle Moon, and a rather impressive Distortion. (I actually felt like a THF at times. Distortions doing 300 to 490dmg at the highest.) Next fight, basically the same thing. Even if the MNK couldn't turn the Puk with Howling Fists, I still managed a decent enough Sickle Moon to secure hate.
We kept this up for about an hour and half, at which point the MNK had to leave. We maintained Chain #5s the entire time, BLM was blasting with AMs near the end of the fights, and even thought the RDM never learned to hold off with Cure IV, I managed to help keep the BLU at the top of the hate list.
After about 15 minutes a BST came to replace the MNK. Since there weren't any favorable Skillchain options with the BST, I switched to Scythe, the BST used an HQ Tiger Pet and DW'd Axes for Rampage. (I really wish I was on PC to have had a parser. BST was doing a consistant 400dmg+ Rampage, and I'm curious how he and his pet really measured up in overall damage.) Absorb-TP made sure I had TP at the start of every fight so I could drop a 500~900 TA Guillotine at the start. (I'd say Guillotine average was in the low to mid 700s. I had a few where the Puk would pop Zephyr Mantle or Flash on me so Acc was impaired on those lower ones.)
Hate was set and we continued to Chain #5 all the way up to the end of the party. We never came close to breaking into Chain #6, but we only stopped pulling like 3 times for quick breaks, and replacing the MNK. (Wish I remembered that MNKs name. Would have liked to have given him credit. Was doing good damage, usually turned the mob with only Howling Fists, and had me on my toes trying to catch his TP. Double Attack & Kick Attacks really helped him jump ahead in TP.)
The BLU's name was Saeval I ~believe~, and he did volunteer to tank, so I don't know if he already had "tanking gear." He had a Scorp. Harness at times, wore the Lv.55 Jaridah Peti at other times, I never paid attention to what sword he was using, and had no shield. So I have no idea if any BLU could do this, or would you have to be specifically geared toward it, but I'm now considering adding BLU to the list of possible tanks when I'm building parties. They'll need more help than a NIN to keep hate, but they can take the beating and put out some decent damage as well.
). I logged back in after I posted that and realized that I still had my Marron Glace active - I thought it had worn off before I logged out, but that's not the case - it still took another 15 minutes for it to wear. Realistic estimate for the time I spent actually earning XP in that party is closer to 2.25 hours, and looking at my merits, I went from 3 merit points + ~7000 limits to 8 merits + ~6000 limits, with no XP ring available. Roughly 21K/hr (!).
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