1861: Raid Night

It was Raid Night this evening, and the assembled forces of LoCoBomb (sans Andie, who was not feeling too hot earlier) once again took on Final Fantasy XIV’s The Second Coil of Bahamut, Turn 4, aka Turn 9.

This is, as I’ve noted in previous posts, one of the toughest fights in all of Final Fantasy XIV. Up until the Final Coil of Bahamut launched with patch 2.4 a while back, this battle was effectively the “true final boss” of the game, demanding that all eight party members know their jobs well, can learn mechanics and know what to do when. Since Final Coil became a thing, it’s been gradually made a bit easier, but it will still absolutely obliterate any party who goes in there unprepared thanks to more than a few instant-kill mechanics, plus some seriously hard hits from both the boss and the additional enemies that show up over the course of the fight.

It’s been a strong test for our assembled group, but it’s brought us together and helped us understand how we all play. I’ve been developing some strong tanking skills — they’re demanded in this fight, particularly if you take it on, as we are, with just one tank — and that’s been helping me play better elsewhere in the game.

It’s been an interesting personal journey so far. When I first started playing FFXIV, I had a ready-made group of acquaintances to play with thanks to the fact that someone I knew from 1up.com and Twitter invited me to come along. I was still somewhat anxious about playing with people I didn’t know, though, particularly if it was in content that was new to me. I chose a DPS class (Black Mage) because they’re perceived as having the least responsibility, at least in the early stages of the game — in late endgame encounters, they have a lot more to do — and they’re less likely to get everyone killed. I didn’t like running things without at least one person I knew, and I was nervous about asking for help.

There are still times today when I don’t like running with strangers — usually if they’re the aggressive, unpleasant, rude, elitist type — but I’m much more confident about it. I’m also happy to jump in on the healer or tank roles — roles which have direct responsibility for ensuring the rest of the group doesn’t get killed. Black Mage will always have a space in my heart, of course, but I’m spending a lot of my time tanking on Paladin at the moment, and really enjoying it; I don’t know if it’s my “main” as such — my Black Mage is technically further advanced thanks to its progress in the lengthy Relic weapon quest — but it tends to be my default choice when given the option these days.

Anyway. Exciting times are ahead, since on Tuesday patch 2.51 is released, and coming with it is the long-awaited arrival of Gold Saucer and Triple Triad. I’m looking forward to it a lot; after that, it won’t be all that long until PAX East!

In the meantime, I guess it’s back to jobhunting, though…