We had a lot of people to assist us with KSNM99 yesterday, but we failed both our attempts. Now, for 95% of the attendants this was new (including me), so it was more of a learning experience than anything else. Even though we failed, we will do this again, and this time we'll pay more attention to the strategy and the actions of each particular job.
First of all, here's what the battlefield looks like:
- The CAVE area is the place where people rest. NOBODY should ever bring Chlevnik here!
- The CIRCLE area may be used to turn Chlevnik around again, so NEVER EVER rest there.
- The grey area is the kiting path.
Next, every job is categorized:
- Tanks: NIN, PLD.
- Support: BRD, RDM, COR, SCH, WHM.
- Nukers: BLM, SCH.
- Melee: any melee job should try to come /sam. If not possible, /war, if not possible, /drk.
Now, what are every jobs's starting positions?
Some people have said that there's no way PLD/NIN can hold hate, which is true to some extent on these kited battles. /War is not an option either because you have to pass it due to the nature of the battlefield. Circular kiting would allow /War, but not this time. BLMs will kite at some point, PLD's job is to try and grab hate (which works after a Flash or two), so the BLMs can rest again.
Here's how the battle will go:
- PLDs pull it, Flash as much as possible and kite it in the grey zone, they can include the Circle area if wanted. After a minute or 2, there's a minimum of hate build, it still won't be enough to keep hate off the BLMs, but it will be enough to GRAB hate afterwards. That's the idea behind the initial hate build. So after the mob has passed 2-4 times, BLMs can start their nuking.
- BLMs nuke, and whoever has hate will kite along with PLDs and their support. EVERY BLM WHO DOES NOT HAVE HATE STAY WHERE YOU ARE, DO NOT RUN AFTER THE MOB. Unless you have Meteor going off on a target near you, don't run. It's easy: if you have hate, kite. When PLDs grab it again, go rest and prepare your next nuke. You can always safely rest in the Cave.
- Everyone should make a macro like this:
/assist <t>
/wait 1
/p <t> has hate!
This will allow us to see who has hate. If the macro says CHLEVNIK has hate, that means that his target is out of your reach. Now, I was using this macro yesterday, but since it removes my target from the mob, it's not very practical to use as PLD whilst kiting. So I'd prefer the BLMs to use this, or RDMs, just not PLDs.
- Once you see Meteor go off, use your macro and RUN from whoever has hate. DO NOT NUKE, FLASH OR SOMETHING THAT CAN CAUSE A HATE SHIFT WHEN IT IS CASTING METEOR! If you are the target, RUN AWAY FROM THE MOB and DO NOT RUN INTO OTHER PLAYERS!
As PLD/nin, it's easy to pass it. Run when it's after you. When it starts casting Meteor, run away and recast shadows when out of range. When it's coming back to you, Flash and pass it, repeat. If you do get hurt or suspect a Meteor coming your way, click your MDB (magic defense) macro. I have about 25% magic defense reduced in gear from Allied Notes and 10k on the AH. I plan on getting more, but not right now. Still, that saved me once last night, so I advise every PLD to make such a build, it's quite useful.
The things we didn't do right yesterday:
- Kiting/resting. For some reason, I saw people running after the mob. Only tanks, support and whoever has hate should run around, the others should stay put and nuke when it's passing.
- Area positions. NOBODY REST IN THE CIRCLE AND NOBODY BRING THE MOB IN THE CAVE! I don't even know how it fits in the cave.
- Meteor management. We need more 'idle' people (read: who won't be kiting 80% of the time, read: not PLDs) with the macro I mentioned before, and less people grabbing hate during Meteor, or running into others. I KNOW it's hard to outrun Meteor sometimes (also because it's the fastest Meteor in the game), but after last night, you should have a general idea of how to attempt it.
- This is how we kited yesterday:
(warning: image may not be 100% accurate.)
Now, yesterday may seem like a complete waste of time, but that was far from it. I, for one, learned a lot from our attempts, and I hope we can get this down the next time. Remember, practice makes perfect. So don't be discouraged by the exp loss and the lack of structure, we WILL beat this sooner or later. Hopefully sooner!
March 31, 2010 (but I came back four months later just until FFXIV) [