FFXIV: Earning Confidence in the Duty Finder
Last week, I wrote about how I was struggling with anxiety in the Duty Finder dungeons. Despite my fears, I’ve continued to run daily Leveling Roulette and Trials Roulette to earn Law gear (we haven’t braved Expert Roulette just yet).
The more that I play these dungeons, the more confidence I’ve earned in my ability to play as a valuable member of the party. Now, I’m not the best dragoon ever. In moments of panic, I can totally blow my rotation or forget to reapply dots or self-buffs (I’m getting better). But the commendations I’ve been earning from runs have been super-encouraging… especially after playing so many high level scenarios where no one gives the dragoon the time of day.
It’s a blessing and a curse that I seem to be getting dungeons and scenarios that I previously considered a bit of a challenge – Vault and Ultros, I’m looking at you. Once, I saved the run at the second boss of the Vault (bacon strips and voids) when the tank and other DPS went down while the boss was at 5% life. Along with the healer, I was able to finish off the boss for a win!
I also seem to be getting Ultros as a trial over and over again for some reason. The first night was super smooth and the most amazing first time win I’d had in this trial. The second night we had new DPS and DPS who didn’t remember the mechanics.
It took us several wipes before we even got to the second rotation phase… and we almost wiped again… except for by some miracle, I was the last one standing in the ring after Typhon sneezed. I have no idea how that happened, but at the end of the run, someone shouted “TsuYa Tai prevented a wipe! He gets my commendation!”
And then I got three commendations, rolled a 99 on the Ultros minion, and got the Ultros/Typhon Triple Triad card drop. 😮
Last night, I got Dzemael Darkhold as a roulette dungeon, which I haven’t run in over half a year at least. I hardly remembered it, but the tank was polite enough to give a quick boss battle rundown (after which I did remember), and we did a good job getting through. I think I amazed the tank because I was using leg sweep to interrupt AOEs when I could. 😉
The second boss, Taulurd, was nothing but a mass of AOEs flashing everywhere on the ground. I don’t know if it’s because I’ve practiced so much with higher level content and AOE avoidance… but I was surprised and super proud of my ability to dance around the boss while still maintaining positionals and DPS. In fact, it was quite exhilarating, and I walked away from that dungeon with two commendations.
I don’t know what changed or why it clicked, but it was the first time I’ve felt exhilarated dodging AOEs, rather than alarmed or frustrated.
And then I got Bismark as a trial last night. Ugh. This time, we cleared it (with new folks) the second attempt, and I also didn’t get knocked off the island a single time. Yay for improvement! o/
Tai’s ilvl is now 152 with my second piece of Law earned and another to be earned tonight. No, I haven’t progressed into Alexander, nor am I in a rush to do that or start running Expert Roulette to earn the new Eso tomes. Between roulettes and hunts, it’s been taking up all the gaming time I have.
Oh, and I got level 54 botany and mining on Zuri. Poor Zuri… I’m still so indecisive about what I want to do with her. She’s so far behind.
I’m really considering leveling Ninja or Monk, though. I’m in love with the Monk AF2 (Yang) armor. 🙂