18-Hour Final Fantasy XI Boss Induces Puking

[devotedsniper]

Ah this brings back memories of when i was on it....i miss that game it was one of the only mmo i ever got into and the people on there were great.

 

[Lunar Templar]

That's why however good WoW is, it will never beat EQ. 180 people... Even the Jello fight on CoH only lets you have 70 attacking.

>.>
i've been on CoH, a while now, never once done a Hami raid (the Jello Fight for every one else)
probably should though, as the drops are pretty good. the New Dragon in Vin to, hear that's pretty intense.

but really? an 18 hour boss fight? are they stupid? who thought this was a good idea, cause they need to be fired, since they clearly don't get that boss fights aren't about stacking retarded amounts of HP on a monster, they're supposed to be a test of team work and skill, in this regard they have failed totally as game designers

That depends which boss you're talking about.

Pandemonium Warden, the subject matter for the 18 hour boss fight, didn't have a retarded amount of HP at the time. He had a retarded amount of forms he could switch to. That being: every raid boss of every endgame event present in the expansion. In 1 fight. That's what made it 18 hours.

The boss in the picture is actually Absolute Virtue, who was yet another "impossible" boss. He never had retarded amounts of HP, he just had the ability to fully recover all damage done to him with one ability, and 1 shot every player within a 10 mile radius with instant cast Meteor.

Good times. Both have been beaten since post-nerf, ironically Pandemonium Warden much sooner than Absolute Virtue (who was implemented much earlier.)

Here's a few pages for those who care:

http://ffxi.gamerescape.com/wiki/Pandemonium_Warden

http://ffxi.gamerescape.com/wiki/Absolute_Virtue

I'll admit, i like the sound of how PW works as far as boss concepts go for a raid boss anyway. *tries imagine a version for Vin*

the fact that they still managed to turn both into 18 hour affairs means some one fucked up, but it is an FF game they do like wasting peoples time with bosses that take all day to kill

 

[Aeonknight]

That's why however good WoW is, it will never beat EQ. 180 people... Even the Jello fight on CoH only lets you have 70 attacking.

>.>
i've been on CoH, a while now, never once done a Hami raid (the Jello Fight for every one else)
probably should though, as the drops are pretty good. the New Dragon in Vin to, hear that's pretty intense.

but really? an 18 hour boss fight? are they stupid? who thought this was a good idea, cause they need to be fired, since they clearly don't get that boss fights aren't about stacking retarded amounts of HP on a monster, they're supposed to be a test of team work and skill, in this regard they have failed totally as game designers

That depends which boss you're talking about.

Pandemonium Warden, the subject matter for the 18 hour boss fight, didn't have a retarded amount of HP at the time. He had a retarded amount of forms he could switch to. That being: every raid boss of every endgame event present in the expansion. In 1 fight. That's what made it 18 hours.

The boss in the picture is actually Absolute Virtue, who was yet another "impossible" boss. He never had retarded amounts of HP, he just had the ability to fully recover all damage done to him with one ability, and 1 shot every player within a 10 mile radius with instant cast Meteor.

Good times. Both have been beaten since post-nerf, ironically Pandemonium Warden much sooner than Absolute Virtue (who was implemented much earlier.)

Here's a few pages for those who care:

http://ffxi.gamerescape.com/wiki/Pandemonium_Warden

http://ffxi.gamerescape.com/wiki/Absolute_Virtue

I'll admit, i like the sound of how PW works as far as boss concepts go for a raid boss anyway. *tries imagine a version for Vin*

the fact that they still managed to turn both into 18 hour affairs means some one fucked up, but it is an FF game they do like wasting peoples time with bosses that take all day to kill

Indeed, these 2 bosses were pretty much Yiazmat before it was cool.

Although slight correction, AV never took 18 hours to kill. He just murdered you within a few minutes.

PW on the other hand, once square enix did make him killable within a 2 hour window, people figured it out pretty quickly (turns out suicide blue mages was the key.) AV on the other hand was still a friggin monster. He still would be too... if it weren't for Summoners getting Alexander (95% damage reduction for both magic and physical damage, immunity to status ailments, AoE) Now he can be zerged down, provided the DPS classes are good at what they do.

 

[Lunar Templar]

Indeed, these 2 bosses were pretty much Yiazmat before it was cool.

Although slight correction, AV never took 18 hours to kill. He just murdered you within a few minutes.

i've had raids like that ...... good times ......

PW on the other hand, once square enix did make him killable within a 2 hour window, people figured it out pretty quickly (turns out suicide blue mages was the key.) AV on the other hand was still a friggin monster. He still would be too... if it weren't for Summoners getting Alexander (95% damage reduction for both magic and physical damage, immunity to status ailments, AoE) Now he can be zerged down, provided the DPS classes are good at what they do.

o.o now THAT'S a kick.ass. buff right there. how longs that last?

i play DPS 90% of the time >.> (well i play bulldozers, DPS/tank hybrids) not a hard hard style to play but i find it the most satisfying. the real trick is the min/maxing stats x.x and i suck at that

 

[Aeonknight]

Indeed, these 2 bosses were pretty much Yiazmat before it was cool.

Although slight correction, AV never took 18 hours to kill. He just murdered you within a few minutes.

i've had raids like that ...... good times ......

PW on the other hand, once square enix did make him killable within a 2 hour window, people figured it out pretty quickly (turns out suicide blue mages was the key.) AV on the other hand was still a friggin monster. He still would be too... if it weren't for Summoners getting Alexander (95% damage reduction for both magic and physical damage, immunity to status ailments, AoE) Now he can be zerged down, provided the DPS classes are good at what they do.

o.o now THAT'S a kick.ass. buff right there. how longs that last?

i play DPS 90% of the time >.> (well i play bulldozers, DPS/tank hybrids) not a hard hard style to play but i find it the most satisfying. the real trick is the min/maxing stats x.x and i suck at that

90 seconds only. and it can only be used once every 2 hours. So yea, you either kill that bastard quick or it's over.

 

[Lunar Templar]

90 seconds only. and it can only be used once every 2 hours. So yea, you either kill that bastard quick or it's over.

90 seconds is still a long time for a buff though, the 2 hour cool downs kind of a ***** though, but given how good it is, kinda amazed its a 90 second buff and not like 30 seconds

 

[Grunt_Man11]

Someone needs to link this story on the WoW forums. Let those whiny, lazy, self-entitled elitists see what a real boss that needs "nerfing" looks like.

See a boss that takes nearly a day to kill warrants a massive "nerf"!
A boss that wipes your raid group because you were too busy watching Jersey Shore to pay attention to the fight does NOT warrant a massive "nerf"!
(Only thing warranted there is a swift smack upside the head for watching Jersey Shore.)

 

[samaugsch]

Can someone explain to me why this thread's so active all of a sudden? It's a four-year-old article for heaven's sake.

Call me pathetic, but if I find a story interesting and haven't heard of it before, I don't give a damn if it happened over a century ago.

 

[Shining_Pyrelight]

Didn't realize this thread was so old. At least until halfway through the first page a WoW player talked about Karazhan being relevant content.

That being said, the longest I've ever spent on one single boss is about 30 minutes. 18 hours seems almost inhuman, my eyes get tired after a couple hours just playing WoW.

 

[Murmillos]

I'd remember doing things like this in WoW, our first attempt at a boss would take 4-5 hours to learn; maybe numerous wipes during the go; but even then, we would spend 6 hours MAX any night playing.. maybe 7 if the night was going good, we didn't want to stop.

But even then, after a while, that 4 hour boss fight later turns around to being only a 2 hours, then 1 hour, then finally 30 minute to kill.

Its not the boss takes "18" hours; just just they didn't have the know how of the boss fight the kill him better.
Often in cases like this, developers have to "hint" a suggestion to the guild.
"when you see him do X or say Y, try ...."
Then the guild goes in there, applies the hint and brings him down - but still takes 6 hours doing it. A few more tries later, the guild has enough practice to kill him in only 2 hours.

 

[kouriichi]

I remember playing FF XI. I had a great time, i wont lie. Riding around on my chocobo, Warrior/White Mage hybrid, swag on full blast 8)
People kicked me from their group, told me "Warrior/White Mage is Useless! Why arnt you Warrior/Monk for the damage!?!?"
So i asked them, "If im useless, why am i the only one still standing?"

The community for the game was pretty good to. A little segregated between the Super Hardcore MLG worthy RAIDRAIDRAID mmo players, and the semi-casual group, but it was still pretty fun. Though i can say i never did get to go after a real boss >.>; I didnt even know there was an 18 hours+ boss.

 

[Aeonknight]

I'd remember doing things like this in WoW, our first attempt at a boss would take 4-5 hours to learn; maybe numerous wipes during the go; but even then, we would spend 6 hours MAX any night playing.. maybe 7 if the night was going good, we didn't want to stop.

But even then, after a while, that 4 hour boss fight later turns around to being only a 2 hours, then 1 hour, then finally 30 minute to kill.

Its not the boss takes "18" hours; just just they didn't have the know how of the boss fight the kill him better.
Often in cases like this, developers have to "hint" a suggestion to the guild.
"when you see him do X or say Y, try ...."
Then the guild goes in there, applies the hint and brings him down - but still takes 6 hours doing it. A few more tries later, the guild has enough practice to kill him in only 2 hours.

You've got it half right. PW was the boss that took 18 hours, and fighting him was pretty straight forward. The only problem was the sheer amount of forms he had and his massive AoE that downed everyone in range. After 18 hours, they still lost.

Then this article came out, and Square Enix immediately nerfed both PW and AV. The nerf basically scaled down their HP to where they're easily killable within 2 hours (it's actually mandatory. 1 second after the 2 hr mark and it despawns, all drops and pop items lost), but they raised their attack power as a result.

In other words, there wasn't really a trick to killing PW in 2 hours that they just overlooked. It just couldn't be done pre-nerf. Now there were a few fights back in the day that met your criteria (like Kirin) where a little practice goes a long way. In fact I'd say almost all of the big fights were like that. A good group could kill a raid boss in under 20 minutes, where a bad group could take hours to do it.

But not these 2. That's what made them special, it wasn't just lack of practice, they were just that bloody hard.

 

[zombiesinc]

Kinda scary on multiple levels. I can't deny I've sat down for a my fair share of long sessions but eighteen hours is caaarazy. They must have been extremely determined to succeed...

 

[Amnestic]

Back in the day, some WoW bosses would take 20-30 minutes (occasionally a little more). Old Four Horseman, Old Onyxia (at release), C'thun, Old Nefarian, they were all bosses which took a fair amount of time. Longest enrage timers are generally 25 minutes (Illidan), but even they wouldn't normally take the full 25 to kill.

These days, most bosses take under 5-10 minutes. It's quite possible to clear Dragon Soul in less than an evening. My pretty casual guild had 6/8 done in less than two hours, including a 10-15 minute break before we called it due to some IRL problems for some of the raiders. Chances are if we'd continued we'd have it done in less than three hours fairly easy, which is a good half hour before our 'normal' raid end time occurs.

The two Deathwing encounters (Spine and Madness) can be an exception. Spine because it has no enrage timer and you can fight as long as your healers have mana and you can handle the Bloods. I don't normally keep track, but judging by the youtube video timers, it takes about 6-8 minutes to kill. Probably closer to 5-6 after the nerfs.

Madness seems to take around 10-12 minutes. Maybe a little more, maybe a little less. The problem? It's a boring fight. You repeat the same thing four times (Mutated Corruption->Deal with Elementium Bolt->Bloods->(Blistering Tentacles)->Arm Tentacle before Cataclysm) and then do something different at the end. Pretty much the entire fight comes down to the fourth platform. Each platform takes 2-3 minutes. This means that you have 6-9 minutes of yawn, 2-3 minutes of 'difficulty' and then another few minutes of 'yawn' as you finish him off.

I am fine with Kael'thas being 20 minutes long because pretty much each of his five phases feels notably different. Madness of Deathwing couldn't last 20+ minutes, people'd get sick of it.*

I can't see a reason for any fight to last more than 20-30 minutes other than to fluff 'hardcore' gamer ego.

[sub]*Another thing I think is relevant is that Kael'thas' phases get steadily more difficult by throwing new challenges at you. Madness of Deathwing's phases get steadily more difficult because you lose buffs as the fight goes on. That's less interesting.[/sub]

 

[geizr]

An 18-hour boss fight is the definition of bad game design and untalented game designers, IMO.

 

[geizr]

Any boss fight that drags on for more than 18 minutes makes me want to puke.

I hate boss fights.

So is that why all your articles are more than often horrible? If you can only handle 18 minutes of a boss fight then surely that translates into most things.

Maybe you should switch career?

Wow, dude! That is totally uncalled for. That's not even a good friendly jib. That's just plan crude and rude.

 

[ReinWeisserRitter]

This sadly doesn't surprise me. Final Fantasy XI remains the most hateful and pointlessly difficult game I'd ever played.

I mean yeah, I'm still depressed that not only did the idiot developers try to top their previous impossible boss by making one that's legitimately impossible, and even more so that there were people willing to go this far to find that out, but does it surprise me? No. The poor bastards are just suffering through the abused spouse syndrome. All they know is torment and misery, so they think it's a badge of honor to be the most tormented and miserable of all.

 

[Octorok]

Sweet arthritic Jesus, I feel old. I remember this news article. Seriously, my brain is drowning in nostalgia and memories of 08.

http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Pandemonium_Warden

Apparently they got him in the end. So there's something.