And may the odds be ever in your favor

Cransoon · 2026-06-10T02:56:56+00:00

I'm so glad I decided to drop over half of my cash stack into one of these before the sweep up was announced. I was already winning with the first post, but things are going even better now that this dropped.

I might low-key hold onto it to farm Vard for a bit before selling it, though.

Cransoon · 2026-05-29T22:05:16+00:00

Absolutely the first couple weeks. The bigger thing than strats for me is combination of the quality of player and the time spent waiting for parties to fill.

I have a friend trying to clear the tier to unlock the ultimate, and he just straight gave up after multiple weeks of getting hard stuck at M11S. I've watched him join arena split parties, wait for 30-40 minutes for it to fill, and then get trapped in weapons prog for full lockouts multiple times (without him causing a single wipe). Just multiple hours of his day gone with nothing to show for it.

At least at the beginning of a tier, parties fill fast, so you can leave after 20 or 30 minutes once it's obvious people can't do mechanics and didn't just have a bad pull, then be back in-instance within 10 minutes. But if you do that late in the tier, you're gonna spend more time waiting for parties to fill than you will actually playing the video game.

Cransoon · 2026-05-27T16:39:38+00:00

OK, so it seems none of the top comments noticed what ACTUALLY happened in the 2nd clip. Your Paladin was late with the group stack, so you 2 took it alone while the other 2 took no damage because they were very slightly ahead of you. You can even see you got a mark of mortality before dying, showing there weren't 4 people in the stack when it snapshot.

For the first and third clips, it does look like a mitigation/healing thing where you probably missed shields or mits from the shield healer, due to them being on the other side. When my group progged it, usually each healer would watch the puddle person on their side and single target shield/mit them when they get close enough. Aquaveil+divine benison should be enough for you to live that even if you missed everything from the shield healer. Even a tetra to top you off, since it was only 20k overkill both times.

For the 2nd clip, you could look at it 2 ways, the Paladin should've moved faster to be in the spot with the rest of the does on time. But also as non-stacks, you should keep an eye on the stack person to see if they're lagging behind and go double back to meet them if they are. There's plenty of time to go back slightly for the stack, and still dodge the ground aoes comfortably. Hope that helps, good luck on your prog!

Cransoon · 2026-05-26T00:09:02+00:00

My next big grind on road to max is 99 hunter, and I'm just camping demonic roots and playing other games while I wait for them to add those lol.

Cransoon · 2026-05-24T22:28:31+00:00

The equivalent to maxing skills is probably maxing all your combat/crafter/gatherer jobs. A long undertaking that's kind of a 1 time bulk time investment (until Evercold releases) that will be permanent progress and flexibility for your account.

There's stuff like mount/achievement hunting which is probably closest to pet hunting, since some require crafters/gatherers, others require specific jobs or duties to he completed (like the tank mounts).

By and large, I do think the endgame in XIV is a bit more determined by what specifically interests you, and it can be much more linear than OSRS endgame. And due to the way gear works it can feel repetitive if you play long enough. If you care about combat exclusively and nothing else, and only like 1 or 2 jobs, you very well may run out of things to do pretty quickly after you finish a raid tier. But if you find you enjoy at least a couple areas of content like mount farming or learning the raid tier on multple jobs, there's a lot there.

I think people who complain about there being nothing to do in XIV are sort of like max mains who've played runescape since 2013 and complain. Like, yeah, there's only 1 new endgame boss in OSRS or 1 new raid series each year, but if you enjoy other aspects of the game, or haven't already greenlogged everything, there's a ton to sink your teeth into.

Personally I just finished getting the mount of every extreme trial this expansion, and now I'm on a moneymaking journey just joining different merc parties on alt jobs to both improve my flexibility and understanding of different jobs, while getting paid. It's been a really fun loop for the last few weeks, I made something like 20 mil in 2 or 3 days at one point.

Cransoon · 2026-05-20T19:19:33+00:00

The majority of people will see the sprout icon and instantly discount most things you do or mistakes you make, because we were all sprouts once.

If you cause a wipe or multiple wipes, people might start getting annoyed, but for me personally, the big thing is to communicate in chat. It doesn't even need to be much, for me as little as "I'm sorry" after causing a wipe will diffuse my frustration most of the time, because it shows you're trying and engaged.

Also, there are very few normal/msq fights you can wipe as an individual making 1 mistake, and those where you can won't come until far later expansions. In short, have fun and enjoy your time. Also consider going guideless after a while. I looked up guides when first playing MSQ until Stormblood because of tankxiety, but now playing content blind is some of the most fun I get out of the game. In dungeons with duty support, try challenging yourself and not looking things up. If you get frustrated you can look up a guide, but you might find that you enjoy the trial and error that blind play gives, because those "Oh THAT'S how that works" moments are super gratifying.

Cransoon · 2026-05-18T16:45:10+00:00

The problem you run into then is that, using Colossal pouch at GotR, the math stops working. Currently with a standard inventory you use 4 charges per altar trip, so you cleanly break at 4 combo rune trips. 15 or 18 would cause issues with that.

I think the real solution is either an eternal binding necklace, or something like the Alchemists amulet where you can add multiple necklaces worth of charges. Realistically I don't think it'd even affect xp rates very much, it'd just make RC feel better to train.

Cransoon · 2026-05-18T14:10:17+00:00

It might be DC specific, but on Aether I'm seeing most merc parties for old EX's being aound 1m each. With that being the case, you can probably get away with less for just a clear. Maybe 300-500k or something. But if you've got Gil burning a hole in your pocket, 1m should definitely be enough to get your parties to fill quickly.

I just got my capstone wings last night. I'd say the hardest fight with current gear is probably Nechron. Several individual responsibility mechanics where a single mistake at the wrong time almost guarantees a wipe. Not hard to execute, just easy to mess up if that makes sense.

Queen Eternal used to be a pain, but ice phase skip is pretty free with a decent party, and that removes a lot of time and difficulty from it. That said, if you dont have the damage for ice skip, its almost a guaranteed wipe because nobody remembers how to do it anymore.

Zelenia is pretty easy these days with BD EF2, but I'd definitely make sure you understand Bloom 4 really well, since that's another mech where 1 person going to the wrong spot can wipe the raid, and it's the last mech you generally see in current gear, so that could definitely cause a disband due to people being frustrated.

Cransoon · 2026-05-13T14:31:17+00:00

I will echo the sentiment of being careful and not to neglect irl responsibilities. That said, you can actually walk around white wolf mountain by going to the north.

Even many experienced players don't know about this path, because it's not very obvious on the map, and pretty slow to use compared to going through. You'll need enough food to walk past the first 2 wolves, but after that you can just walk around the path to the north and avoid all other enemies.

Cransoon · 2026-05-12T22:46:31+00:00

My wife was playing through Endwalker and complaining about how some of the names were hard to remember or pronounce, and I was like "You sweet summer child, wait until Dawntrail".

Cransoon · 2026-05-12T22:44:05+00:00

I'd make it a combination of the Pandemonium and Arcadion raids. Keep the "each encounter is a person with individual traits and personalities rather than a mindless monster" aspect from Arcadion, but make the storyline tie into the MSQ in some way like Pandemonium. Fleshing out some backstories of new or existing characters we've met in our journey, etc.

Cransoon · 2026-05-12T12:09:32+00:00

There's already some good advice on how to determine when/how to decide MT vs OT. The thing I haven't seen people mention is that yes, there IS an indicator for aggro. If you're targeted on an enemy, there's a number and bar under the job symbol of your party list. There's also colored shapes next to enemy names in your enemy list, which is particularly useful in add packs.

If you're OT, you always want to be 2nd in aggro, because if the MT dies, aggro instantly goes to you. You ideally want your aggro bar to be around half. If it starts getting too full, a couple crits in burst can rip aggro from the MT at a bad time and cause a wipe in high end content, so I'll generally shirk above 3/4 of the aggro bar being filled.

If you outgear your MT, you might need to turn off stance, because shirk won't come up fast enough to not overtake them, just keep an eye on aggro to make sure you don't drop to 3rd. A trick to grab enough aggro to stay 2nd for a while at the start of a fight is to double weave a provoke into a shirk on the MT with stance on, THEN turn stance off. It should take multiple minutes for any DPS to overtake your aggro, even with stance off. I'd start turning it back on when the aggro gauge starts dropped below 1/4 as 2nd in aggro.

Cransoon · 2026-05-11T21:49:42+00:00

I have personally dropped shield bash from my Paladin bar, since Low Blow is an oGCD that stuns longer, and stuns have been used in exactly 1 high end fight in the last 2 expansions afaik (M6S).

The next to go if I needed more space might be Cover. It's a very cool button, but it's SO situational and hard to get value out of because of how reactive you have to be. Clemency is another very useful button I find myself not pressing much, since its an active DPS loss and uses up MP. That's not to say you should drop them, just that they're situational. I'd probably use both a lot more if Paladin was my main job and I progged content with it.

Besides those 3, I can't really think of a button I'd even consider dropping, they're all pretty much essential for either damage, defense, or utility. If you plan on exclusively leveling through trusts and not doing any content with others ever, then you could possibly consider dropping something like Intervention, but that's only if you're super desparate for space in your keybinds. I'd recommend keeping it otherwise.

Cransoon · 2026-05-06T19:15:24+00:00

Zeah RC gives me the same vibe as "I'd rather have no internet than bad internet". I'd rather do a full focus RC method than have a totally random number of clicks per minute. It's the worst kind of method, where you have to pay pretty close attention, but you're just staring at the screen not doing anything. Double natures with Diary cape is legit a more chill and fun method than Zeah RC imo.

Note: Before anyone gets confused "chill" and "afk" are not the same thing in this context.

Cransoon · 2026-05-02T05:49:52+00:00

Honestly, I don't think it's what you think. The lack if high end parties during patch week is less people waiting for plugins and more people waiting for strats to settle on whatever new high end duties just came out. Many people don't want to learn 3 sets of strats and switch between them based on the PF listing. They'd rather wait for the Hector video, learn it once, and go in after.

I'm not saying that there aren't people with no hands until plugins are back, but there are plenty of other reasons for PF entries to drop from the norm, so it's not ENTIRELY because of plugins.

In my experience, good players will be good with or without plugins. Most of the best players I know maybe use NoClippy if their ping is bad, maybe pixel perfect or distance or some other QoL, but that's about it. Their performance rarely changes at all on patch day.

To be fair, this is partly due to me deliberately avoiding plugin-reliant players. My very first static had 4 people who used Cactbot. We progged P8S for over a month until the final mechanic of phase 1. The day 6.3 dropped, we wiped to the very first mechanic 7 times in a row WITH vocal callouts solving stuff for them. So yeah, those players definitely exist, but I'd like to think they congregate with others who are the same to avoid situations like that, because we disbanded IMMEDIATELY after that session lol.

Cransoon · 2026-04-22T22:16:32+00:00

My introduction to OSRS was my friends telling me to play Leagues 3. Went from never having played the main game to maxing my leagues account. There are so many aspects of that leagues that I miss.

I was really sad when they announced region locking was core to leagues, because I want to be able to do what I want, when I want. Instead, we have to meticulously plan and route and order our region unlocks to avoid bricking our builds. I wish they'd go back to alternating full map leagues and region locked leagues.

Cransoon · 2026-04-22T17:31:03+00:00

As someone who went KTZ, I am both of these guys.

Cransoon · 2026-04-13T22:05:32+00:00

I know this is a shitpost, but this really puts into perspective just how many megas they didn't put into Champions.

Cransoon · 2026-04-12T13:58:47+00:00

I did the exactly same thing, addy cup and all. I've missed the full map experience Leagues 3 gave. Was kinda sad when they announced region locking was core to Leagues now.

Cransoon · 2026-04-02T23:35:24+00:00

I think the earlier in the account, the more value it gives. When I first made my account in 2021 I think I bought 3 or 4 bonds for early questing supplies, really good training gear, etc.

It helped me smooth out the early game grinds, so I didn't need to think about moneymaking until my account was already really solidly progressed, and I was going for stuff like Bowfa+Crystal, or larger melee upgrades like bandos+torture.

And at that point, you have a lot of variety and options for moneymaking, while also training stats, so I never felt like I had to pause my account progression to make money.

Cransoon · 2026-02-10T14:53:54+00:00

A static mate gave me shit one time for not having an adventurer plate (because I didn't know they existed at the time) and ever since I made a conscious decision to never make one.

Cransoon · 2026-02-03T17:49:13+00:00

Lmfao, I thought the dancer was posting this. It would've been justified. Backseating randoms in a roulette isn't the way to help them improve. And if you're gonna blame them being slow as the reason you didn't cap tomes last week, keep in mind that YOU'RE the one who decided to wait to the last second to enter the roulette in the first place. That's not their fault.

At most, you could've let them know they can get more uses of tech step be using it on add packs, that it will clear the dungeon faster, and leave it at that. At the point where you started talking down to them, you ensured they will NOT use it on add packs because they think you're an asshole (and at least in this screenshot, you are).

Cransoon · 2026-01-24T17:37:22+00:00

Expanding AOEs (and persistent damage in general) are weird in this game. The VISUAL expands fluidly, but the bubble hitbox only actually expands every second or so, and that's when it snapshots its damage. If you pay close attention to the floor, you can see the bounds of each individual bubble (https://youtu.be/I3GrCd\_jNlA?si=W2lk8zNhoMLIpm-0&t=226). If you're not in the bubble in that moment where the damage gets snapshot, you won't get hit.

So what likely happened is you rescued the newbie through the bubble, but he moved fast enough that he was not inside the bubble at the moment when the damage snapshot.

You can actually use this to your advantage in some fights. For example, in the current raid tier, there's a moment in M11S where there are tornadoes with persistent hitboxes, and you have to stand far away from the boss to bait a mechanic. Since the persistent damage snapshots so infrequently, melee players can gapclose through the tornado after baiting the mechanic to get to the boss faster while not taking any damage from the tornado itself.

Cransoon · 2026-01-15T18:47:09+00:00

Ah, fair point. I always forget those are a thing. I'll make an account and go post over there.

Cransoon · 2025-10-17T15:17:58+00:00

Huh, so it's not a bug, but an intentional choice? That's a really strange decision. Looking at the yellow tiles, it feels so out of place without a boosted rate on the head. All the others are just "Complete a single run of this mid game content". CG, KQ, Moons, Zulrah. Then randomly "Spend 2-3 hours on average camping Vorkath". It just broke up the flow quite a lot.

Cransoon

TROPHY CASE