Day 1:
Lv. 16+ Roulette – Copperbell Mines (cap level 20)
Successful.
I ran into weird lag problem near the end. I kept seeing the tank and archer still standing at a treasure chest (frozen and when I targeted them, it says they were targeting the chest) and there were also 3 monsters staring at them and having names in orange (agro, but not claimed). While in reality, they already went ahead and killing next group monsters. When I caught up with the group, I saw the tank and the archer fighting with enemies, but I couldn’t target them either from party list or from on-screen mouse click. So before last boss room, I let the tank die, he returned and ran back.
We engaged the boss and started killing. I still had problem targeting the two of them. At times, I would be able to target the archer, and it would show that the archer was targeting boss with 0 HP. LOL!!! I had to rely on my faerie to auto cure them because I couldn’t target them. So I helped to nuke the boss instead. All the time, I was screaming about not able to target tank or archer. And I still got 3 commendations at exit. TAT Whoa, must be because of my dramatic screaming. Sorry guys, hope I didn’t annoy you with all my whining. That sure was a horrible bug to happen inside a dungeon!!!
Day 2:
Lv. 16+ Roulette – Sastasha
Successful. Very easy. I had Eos on auto, though. I ran around to try to shut the gate on the floor to prevent adds popping, but it got out of hands and near the end we had lots of adds popping up. The party seemed to completely ignore them so we just tried to kill the boss as fast as we could. I helped nuke while letting faerie cure LOL.
Main Scenario Roulette – Praetorium
Successful. Had another healer who was White Mage. So it was quite easy.
Lv. 50 Roulette – Pharos Sirius
Miserably failed. Details here : http://www.aleczan.com/FFXIVARR/2014/my-failed-pharos-attempt/
Day 3:
Lv. 16+ Roulette – Haukke Manor (cap level 31)
Successful.
I got in as a healer replacement while the party was about to fight last boss. The fight went well. I still had to keep Eos on auto-mode because the battle was overwhelming and I couldn’t keep up with manual mode. ><;;
Lv. 50 Roulette – Amdapor Keep
Successful.
I got into a party with 2 bards. One seemed to know a lot of shit and always went ahead to pull or activate stuff in order to speed up the run. They were nice and forgiving, but not quite communicative. I aggroed some Armor guy while they were fighting something else and they managed well and said np. They did very well and killed fast. Demon Wall was tough but with my Faerie on auto mode, I had a bit extra cure power.
I couldn’t keep up with the cure at Demon Wall, though, so the other bard died right before we won.
At start, I told them I never came here before and they didn’t bail, yet didn’t tell me anything either, LOL. Had to learn on the spot and kept dodging stuff which I see coming. Like the first boss with freaking huge hazard zone….I had to keep following the tank and hug tight when I saw the 2 bards came hug the tank. Then at Demon Wall, I had no information other than I had to stay in the middle of the bridge to avoid being knocked off into the cliff. So I learned to dodge shit by getting hit once. LOL.
Anyway, at last boss, I asked and the tank said to follow the hax bard. LOL. OK so I stood where he stood, and moved when he moved. It went smoothly until near the end where I was targeted by the purple line, and then a globe of dark energy drew near. I dodged but didn’t dare to leave my spot because it was the safe spot for when boss did AoE. But I got hit and the party was in a very bad shape, but they killed the boss immediately after that.
So, I didn’t learn the mechanic of the last boss in AK at all. LOL. Gotta research some time later.
Day 4:
Lv. 16+ Roulette – Tam-Tara Deepcroft (cap level 19)
Successful.
Never had to switch Eos back to auto mode. Yay!~
Lv. 50 Roulette – Amdapor Keep
Failed badly.
I got in as a replacement healer when the part was stuck at fighting Demon Wall. Their healer seemed to have bailed because time was running low (about 25 mins left). We went and wiped. Then at next try, BLM got knocked off the bridge and we wiped. Not enough time, so everyone quit.
Lv. 50 Roulette again – The Wanderer’s Palace
Successful.
I did this dungeon in a daze, I don’t even remember now whether I had Eos on auto or manual. All I remember is that I told the party that I never came here as SCH before, but usually a WHM. They said good enough, and that it’s a chance I get to practice SCH. Right!! ^^ Then my Eos kept getting eaten by big bad Bob (Tonberry Stalker).
We won and parted happily. The tank was exceptionally friendly. He even asked how did I like playing SCH so far. ^^ Of course, I like it so much, but there is so much to learn.
Day 5:
Lv. 50 Roulette – Haukke Manor (Hard)
Failed.
I got in when the party only had Black Mage and Dragoon left. The BLM was a screenshot enthusiast. So we took some pics before a new tank arrived. Then we had a pic with the tank as well.
The fight was so crazy and I also had to put my Faerie on auto (after a few failed attempts to manually control her). Even then, I still couldn’t keep up with healing. We didn’t have enough DPS to kill the maids, so the Rain something attack killed us every time. I also couldn’t dodge some of the AoE attacks. The party was often in bad shape. I and the tank didn’t know the fight and was our first time in Haukke (hard). We kept trying until we had 5 mins left. Then we stood and chatted at the entrance, LOL. We took screenshots until we got kicked.
Lv. 50 Roulette again – Copperbell Mines (Hard)
Successful, with a lot of wipes.
I got into a party full of French people. They were talking French to each other, probably discussing about battle plans and stuff. I relied mostly on my knowledge from previous run (using WHM) where I was just following the tank around, especially at the boss fight on wooden bridge, because he told me to always hide behind him.
We did very good this run, until the last boss. The BLM kept dying because he was on feeding duty, and whenever he got heavy debuff, he would get eaten. I wasn’t fast enough to run and cast Leeches (SCH’s Esuna) on him. They talked about plans and stuff in French. Then at one point, the BLM spoke in English telling tank to place the boss near the middle (on the rocks, not on sand) so that I would be in range to cure worm feeding person.
We did ok until BLM died XD LOL. Then on last try, which was the successful try, the BLM said we will get it this time, and my work will be lighter. I think maybe they noticed that I couldn’t keep up with the cure and debuff ; ;
I had my Faerie on auto mode on this boss (and also on the bombing bridge boss) because I couldn’t keep up with the hectic rhythm of the battle.
The monk managed to use Limit Break on the boss before dying. I raised BLM and they went crazy on the boss near the end. At one point I only focused on curing the tank and let them die, but we won just in time before something else worse happened.
>_<
Lv. 16+ Roulette – The Thousand Maws of Toto-Rak (cap at level 27)
Successful.
My Eos was on manual mode full-time. ^^
We ran into a minor hiccup when my bro knocked on my door to summon me for a piece of pizza, and I left my chair, typing something like “BRB a sec, somsone knocked on my door.” I returned and saw that the party already went ahead and fought next group of enemies ALL BECAUSE I didn’t type in Party, but in Linkshell channel!!!!!!! TAT So the tank died and the Archer had to tank while I caught up with them and tried to cure. Then the Archer died while I was resurrecting the tank. Archer returned to run back, we killed a web what’s blocking the way and entered a room where the 2nd boss would pop. When the Archer arrived, he couldn’t enter the room! His character kept running forward, but was pushed by an invisible wall (he said it’s not invisible on his screen, but for me there was nothing! In the above screenshot, he was blocked out just before reaching the purple line.) I saw it. And he kept saying he can’t pass that spot. It was a bizarre glitch! Maybe it happened because we killed that web barricade while he wasn’t in the screen, so his system still thought there was a web blocking his way. TAT After a while he probably returned to the entrance and then came back again, then he was able to get in.
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Right now I’m on a break, as I feel like I’ve been doing too much dungeon runs with strangers, it’s getting stressful, especially when the party keeps dying because I cannot keep up with the healing. It makes me feel bad about myself and I take some mental damage to my healer esteem. I also feel bad for being a hindrance for the party. I think I might have to start again from partying up with friends, so that if we keep dying, we can communicate and work on what I need to improve, or get some advice. Also it will not drag strangers into my practice so they won’t have to suffer my mess.
Problem is my friends are hardly online at the same time, as people have their own schedule in real life. And even if I only pair up with my tank friend and seek 2 random DPS from the Duty Finder, that would not serve as a practice run, as he is too good. He almost never died. So I won’t be able to evaluate myself whether I am doing good or doing bad, because he would just not die. ><;;
My other problem is I am not familiar with partying up with strangers. So when I’m in random party from Duty Finder, it’s a little stressful.
Ugh, I just need a little break. I’ll resume my training with Duty Finder soon….. Probably during this weekend.
Aww you shouldn’t blame yourself if you can’t keep up with the healing. I’m sure you do fine, but if the people go in braindead mode á la AOE CIRCLE, MUST STAND INSIDE. and then go: WTF SHIT HEALER Y U NO HEAL?!??!!?! what should I say… you know who to blame, and that is not you!
I like that you take the Scholar training so serious, haha. I am going to train healing as well, with WHM though. At weekend I’ll try to que for Ultima. I need something hardcore to learn how to heal, because tbh, random pugs are the best way to train. If you would go with a premade no one would get hit anyway, but pugs are always really challenging. That’s the best way to learn it and to become a great healer (and I’m sure you are) =)
Awwwwwwww thank you! So far I didn’t have enough time to observe if my Duty Finder parties did good or bad in dodging the AoE. So I can’t really say whether it was the party members’ who didn’t dodge AoE or if it was me who couldn’t keep up with standard healing circumstance. However, really, really lucky me, until now no one had been mean and yelling at me for letting them die yet.
I used to fear using Duty Finder because I cannot cope well with verbally abusive people. I had a lot of encounters with rude people since the introduction of Duty Finder back in Beta test phases. It really made me stiffened up whenever I would join a stranger’s party.
I must say, though, that in later months, people in general (in Duty Finders, in FATEs, in shout chat, etc.) are kinder and friendlier. I see less rude people and hardly got cursed at. So I got a bit comfortable in joining Duty Finder solo by using Daily Roulette. ^^
I agree that with your own friends in premade party, it is hardly a chance to practice. One reason is that you know each other and you know what to expect, and you know their mindset (at least a little) so the battle will go more smoothly than with random people. I still remember the first time I did WP with random tank. I was like…. WTF? Is this the real challenge of WP and what I had been in all along was exceptionally easy for me only because of the tank!? Because my tank friend and my own WHM had been a duo in many battles since 1.0. I got spoiled! Hahaha!
Let us both keep up the good work and good luck and have fun with your WHM training! ^^ Also, good luck with Ultima! I still have Hard Ifrit, Hard Garuda and Hard Titan to go challenge before I get confident enough to tackle Ultima. XD
I main a sch, use it for coli too, key things about sch tbh in my opinion is when are where to use certain skill, gear (like all classes) but particularly stats from each gear. and when to keep ur fairy in auto or manual, Usually on low lvl dungeons its always in auto, and i usually in cleric stance, mainly because fairy does enough healing, i only go to healing mode if the tank is new. now for lvl 50 dungeons, i do a mix for pharos i usually keep it on auto, as i do 1k physicks as it is without fey illumination (ilvl 76 sch here) use stat food which gives high determination, which gives a heavy boost on ur heals. and dont worry about insults, mainly from dps classes as they probably play dps they suck at anything else :P. Also what ive seen in 8 man parties, 2 schs usually doesnt work for example in titan hm, Not because each sch sucks, its because they cant do wide range heavy healing like a whm. i noticed that u r using vanyas, make sure they are 5 melded, and maybe get a 5 melded astral ring. best way to get money fast is doing CM and sell philo ingredients(just a side tip :P). Stats which ive focused on alot is CRIT, i do 2k heal crits when fey illumination is up, 1.3-1.5 other wise, i crit often aswell, determination should be also considered into ur gear. When i first beat pharos as a sch i was ilvl 72, so u dont need great gear to beat it, but then again i knew the fights pretty well. But one thing, never be afraid, no point stressing, have fun playing and enjoy ur lil fairy. Just remember that manual is only useful in some places where u know, u need to time whispering dawn and fey illumin. other then that im always on auto and i never had a complaint :). hope this helps!
It helps immensely!!! Thank you very much. I’m currently using healer gear from my WHM job, I’ll look closely into the stats for my SCH. You gave a lot of useful tips here. Thanks a lot!
And yeah I should enjoy playing and have fun with my faeries. XD So far, there has been no insult from people in party yet, so why stress!? It’s just me being silly from having bad experience in the past, hahaha.
glad it helped :)! also, when u think u cant keep up with heals throw in a few lustrates! just always keep an eye on how many atherflows u have and the cool down on the skill, to be a good healer is about rotating ur atherflow skills, another thing u can do is always place eye for an eye on the tank, and keep his stone skin up as much as possible. that will greatly reduce on the amount of healing spam u gotta do, and ofcourse randam succors help for galventise skill to be up. and about those 5 melds, I got 5 melded HQ astral ring and vanya hat, materia in my ring are as follows, Vitality grade 4, Savage aim grade 3 x 2 and piety grade 2 x2. and in my hat savage might grade 4, quicktounge grade 4, savage might grade 3, quick tongue grade 3 and savage aim grade 2. so all i recommend for both healing classes, if ur using vanyas look at the stats, for sch we dont gotta worry about piety while whms do. my gear is based for both classes and hasnt failed me yet! if melded right! they are usually better then af2 gear, but thats my opinion, alot of people get af2 gear because they want high ilvls, me xD i look at the look of the gear, current how ive geared my scholar is 5melded vanya hat, ct chest piece, coli t1 gloves, Myth tome belt, ct legs, ct feet, 5 melded astral ring, then rest are darklight till i get enough myths to get full myth accessories, as i like the crit they give xD BUT if u can get t1 earrings, get em! or ultima chocker, they are good if u dont wanna focus on the crit aspect :) or waste myths on accessories, but i do recommend getting a myth ring. Again i hope that helps