General Wonderings

/wave

I'd like to ask a few questions. They are just random wonderings/wonderments/musings? which I either forget to ask when people are about, or not sure who to ask.

1. Why is there no red mage class/job in this game? >.<
2. Why does Dragoon armour look so awesome? ^.^
3. As a Dragoon, I've been struggling being a stunbot - Ifrit HM is the main mob that comes to mind if we haven't got a Paladin. I end up invariably being in the middle of a move animation when he starts erupting. Does anyone have any advice? Should I just stop DDing and sit there on auto attack when its my turn to stun?
4. This one is probably for tanks/healers: in WP and AK I've been drawing more and more hate recently. I normally switch target and carry on on a new one, but normally the tank either doesn't manage to get hate back on the first one, or I get hate too quickly on the second. Should I just carry on and burn the first one? Or actually pull back and wait for the tank to regain hate? What is preferable/least stressful for you guys?
5. There are a few bosses, Chimera and the last one of AK come to mind, who have a rear attack that is triggered by someone moving behind. Do they use their other moves at the same time as this one? Just wondered if you were to trigger that move often whether it would cut down on them using their other ones?
6. Should I spend my phil on getting a complete DL set....or wait for patch and see what new loot is there? :p
7. And finally....why did the chocobo cross the path?

I appreciate any and all answers, to one or more of my questions :) Or(and?) feel free to add your own general questions about anything!

Why is there no red mage class/job in this game? >.<
This is my understanding: When they decided on the starter classes/jobs after Yoshi-P took over, they wanted to start with the speciality jobs as classes were all able to borrow so many abilities that they were sort-of Red Mages anyway. The priority for jobs was to have White Mage and Black Mage, and then once they added in a new class they wanted to have Summoner. Red Mage doesn't make sense as an alternative job for White Mage, Black Mage or Summoner (Red Mage uses a sword), so Scholar was introduced instead - mostly so they could have an alternative healer option given they don't want a single class to hold up the Duty Finder at all times. There is the intention to have something like Red Mage in the game, and I believe it will be the same class as Blue Mage. We'll have to wait and see, though! I imagine a new class will be created rather than using Gladiator, which is more likely to have Dark Knight + Paladin.

Why does Dragoon armour look so awesome? ^.^
Because Dragoon!

As a Dragoon, I've been struggling being a stunbot - Ifrit HM is the main mob that comes to mind if we haven't got a Paladin. I end up invariably being in the middle of a move animation when he starts erupting. Does anyone have any advice? Should I just stop DDing and sit there on auto attack when its my turn to stun?
I don't really know enough about Dragoon for this, but my impression is that if you haven't got a Paladin, the tanks should take it in turns to stun. I don't think three plumes come in a row quick enough to make WAR+WAR not able to stun the third. If it does, simple... dodge the third plume. ;)

This one is probably for tanks/healers: in WP and AK I've been drawing more and more hate recently. I normally switch target and carry on on a new one, but normally the tank either doesn't manage to get hate back on the first one, or I get hate too quickly on the second. Should I just carry on and burn the first one? Or actually pull back and wait for the tank to regain hate? What is preferable/least stressful for you guys?
If your tank can't beat you for hate, it's your responsibility to slow down. That's how I see it. This should only happen if you are overgeared in relation to the tank.

There are a few bosses, Chimera and the last one of AK come to mind, who have a rear attack that is triggered by someone moving behind. Do they use their other moves at the same time as this one? Just wondered if you were to trigger that move often whether it would cut down on them using their other ones?
No idea on Betsy (AK), sorry. My understanding is that Chimera's "rear attack" move is just part of it's rotation and does not interrupt any other skill, nor does it occur at the same time as any other skill (otherwise we'd see two castbars).
Should I spend my phil on getting a complete DL set....or wait for patch and see what new loot is there? :p
Up to you! It's a slight gamble I suppose, but always remember that the game is going to be around for years... you can always get more gear later.

And finally....why did the chocobo cross the path?
There were Gysahl Greens on the other side.

Spend your Philo to get DL. The loot from the Pharos Siris is the same quality as AK loot. Crystal Tower has better loot but as far as I know you only get to loot bosses in there once per week.

1. Red Mage is almost certainly coming. If you want to feel better, check this link.

2. Tradition states Dragoons have to look badass.

3. I could've sworn Leg Sweep, like most stun moves, was off the GCD. You should be able to do it at a moment's notice regardless unless you're in an overly long animation. The only ones I know are a problem are some of the Jump things but those are being fixed in the patch. Until then, just use abilities that don't have huge animations, but I wouldn't back off to only auto-attacking.

Oh, and Bob meant eruptions...don't stun plumes or everyone will hate you when the diminishing returns and resists kick in during phase 3.

4. Switching targets is a good idea if you're starting to get ahead of the tank. Go ahead and do whatever you can to reduce damage or apply dots to each mob in the pull. Feint is amazing and lowering the damage output of enemies.

However, once the primary mob is back under control, do switch back to it. For the sake of the healer, it's always the best idea to eliminate a target. So beat on what everyone else is beating on so long as you can stay inside the hate envelope.

Of course, when you're running with decked out crews, the rules almost stop mattering and you just kill whatever you can, but especially with undergeared tanks and healer, they need to have less targets hitting them as soon as possible, so make that a priority.

5. Wark!

Thank you very much for your replies all :)

1. Watching that video was certainly interesting...not sure if he was reading a bit much into a single sentence in a translation! But the 8 man parties would certainly make sense for introducing a support class. I have been worried on how they would work it with the currently structured Tank/Healer/DD. It would be difficult to imagine people wanting to lose just one DD, let alone two, for a dedicated support class unless their abilities were truly amazing....but we'll have to see! Fingers crossed!
2. Can't wait for AF2! =D Had AF for such a short time... :(
3. Yeah, I think my stun is on a similar cooldown as warriors - I just assumed dragoon was recommended to relieve the pressure of the MT? And yes, Leg Sweep is oGCD....but I have so much oGCD already (cooldowns/jumps) that everything is busy! The main point though is that I still can't use it during an animation - I'll spam the skill but its always too late by the time the move has finished. Maybe the animations are just too fancy! :P But that is a good point, I'll have to test out which moves have the shortest animations and stick to those while LS is up, if ever I get asked to stun again :)
4. Slow...down....? What does that mean....? :P All good points though. I have been going halfway, not using my cooldowns to try to reduce damage, but keeping my moves going to keep me interested lol. I admit, I rarely use Feint - most bosses resist it, and trash dies too quickly to benefit. I suppose I could place it on all mobs at start of a pull and let tank build up hate...I'll have a go :) Maybe the patch will change things - my damage will be ramped up, but both tanks are getting enmity boosts...will have to see what happens!
5. Was just curious if it'd been tried - I know the AK one is definitely triggered by going behind him. But the real killer moves are def on a timer (the move you have to hide behind the pillar, the adds, and the ball thing). You're prob right on Chimera Bob, now you mention it.
6. Just 400 more phil to go, and I'll have full DL! Then I'll be buying crafting ingredients lol.
7. http://home.eyesonff.com/images/icons/bocoboco.gif

Regarding slowing down, you might not always have to. For example, if the enemy is nearly dead, just kill it asap because the tank may just not want to bother wasting emnity moves on something that will die in a few seconds anyway. I know as a tank that if I am tanking a few mobs, I often would do something like this... (where [1] is target flagged with a 1 sign, etc, and ignoring defence buffs etc)

1. Target [1], Flash all mobs.
2. Target [1], Fast Blade
3. Target [1], Savage Blade
4. Target [1], Rage of Halone
5. Target [2], Fast Blade
6. Target [2], Savage Blade
7. Target [3], Rage of Halone
8. Target [1], Fast Blade while checking hate levels of party members

...and from that point I would just focus on ensuring that [1], [2] and [3] all have decent hate levels.

Now, by the time I do my first Rage of Halone (move 4), I should have enough hate to pull off moves 5-7 without losing hate on Target [1]. This means that I can avoid the healer pulling hate on [2] and [3], because if I simply sit there focusing on one target then the healer will gain hate on them. Flash is another way to get past this, but in my experience it's not nearly as effective as circulating the Rage of Halone combo through multiple targets.

However, sometimes I'll have some really well geared DPS on my side and they will rip the hate meter up on target [1]. The way I see it, I can get the hate back with a Rage of Halone combo far more often than not (hell, I can often do Fast Blade and Savage Blade on the other mobs and still get the hate back with the Rage of Halone on [1], the hate boost is massive on that last hit), and if I can't, then the DPS is so strong they're going to slaughter the enemy faster than the enemy can do any significant damage to the DPS. :D And if it's a powerful enemy with a lot of health... Fast Blade, Savage Blade, Provoke, Rage of Halone. Bang, instantly back on top of hate and I can carry on with the combo to retain it. If I still can't retain it... the DPS is insanely powerful and needs to slow down, no question about it. I'm well geared and if someone can hold hate from me, then they can die and I will not blame myself. :p

I can't think of a time that I've had a party collapse using m 'circulation' method so long as I'm paying attention. Flash is good for when there are more than three mobs, though.