The curse of promyvion

[Kafeen]

Again the curse of Promyvion has struck again. Maybe its something to do with all the dark magic or something in those places but they have ways of currupting parties beyond anything you see outside of them.

We had 2 parties to go in, not the best set ups but they should have been good enough to complete it. We were going to go in and farm for some anima first them go for the boss.

While we were farming it was easy to see that thing were starting to come apart at the seems, people were getting edgy, they just wanted to go for the boss, others wanted more Anima.

After farming for a while we had found a few recollections so it was suggested that we go back to Jueno to get the Animas. No, the leader has a new idea, just go for the boss. At this point some people in the allience still havm't even made it into the spire and needed to clear their memory from other places so there was no rush. The leader was set, no animas, dispiute the fact that we already had around 5 recollections we could use.

Others were getting on edge too, one person left because they had to do GK3, we'd only been in there around 15-20 minites, what did they expect. They left. A few minites later someone else decides they also have something to do, they left too.

This was looking like almost every other promyvion I've attempted, only 2 groups have ever made it to the top of the spire and not because of the mobs. One of those fell to the boss, the other kept their heads together fending off the curse and making light weight of the boss.

Eventually the inevertable, we're going back to Jeuno. But unfortunatly not for the Animas. Either the magic of the spires or the view of the twisted ladscapes, but something in there has a way of corrupting people to protect its secrets.

[Icemage]

Re: The curse of promyvion

Pickup parties for CoP missions are highly inadvisable at all levels. Promyvions are no exception. If you think those are tough from a logistical standpoint, wait until you see the later battles where item/medicine use (which for some reason scares the majority of players) is not just beneficial, but expected and required.

From farming Giant Scales in Riverne to navigating the Sacrarium without pulling aggro and dying, the CoP missions seem deliberately designed to weed out the uncommitted, lazy, and incompetent, at every step.


Icemage

[Hereaux]

Re: The curse of promyvion

Wow... you scare me Icemage... yet I am really looking forward to it!!!

[Amora]

Re: The curse of promyvion

Sometimes I think I have the curse too Mea and Dem where a snap but Holla UGH my total on it is 0/5 runs. Two where before the update couldnt make it past the 2nd floor. Twice I made it to the third floor but got agro (stupid thinkers). And once We made it to the boss but we almost had him and we all wiped. -_-

4/5 times I went as a whm the lag is so bad there and the mobs just swarm due to almost no ppl there. Went as a blm 1ce in an alliance (before update) all wiped on the 2nd floor.

I am growing tired of wasting my time and gil with this one thing. Im planning on going as a different (non mage) job next time.
It Even made me loose my lv and Raise 2. ;_;
I can only pray that the curse will fade and ill at least be able to get through this.
-_-
Amora

[Jei]

Re: The curse of promyvion

it's not only that. usually in a pick up group you may get some really skilled players too. But... even if you get 5 skilled ppl with tons of medicine, 1 clueless player who doesn't prepare anything can and will ruin the battle... wasting not only everyone else's time but money

[Niwaar]

Re: The curse of promyvion

it's not only that. usually in a pick up group you may get some really skilled players too. But... even if you get 5 skilled ppl with tons of medicine, 1 clueless player who doesn't prepare anything can and will ruin the battle... wasting not only everyone else's time but money

here here... but icemage put it best. SE made these missions painful, yet highly rewarding. They ALL require preperation, strategy, and trial and error. They are not for the meek or weak willed and most definately they are not for the pick up party. I would have to say that the only mission that can be done with a pickup group is the Minotaur mission, which I did with a subligar group not once, but three times.

In the end its all in the preperation. I wouldn't go to proms with a pick up group if my life depended on it. I have several friends that need them and are actively looking for others to help them through, drop me a line and maybe I can set you up with them.

[Feenicks]

Re: The curse of promyvion

Well ... I did Promy-Holla with a pickup party, right when CoP was released and we survived it easily enough. All the other CoP missions I've done with my LS however and I think that no part of it with the exception of Minotaur and the Ch3 NMs could be done with a pickup party. Even the easier ones like 2-5 need a lot of preparation. God help you if you try to do Ouryu or the Airship battles with a pickup party.

[ifandbut]

Re: The curse of promyvion

Your best bet is to do do them with your LS/People you know and trust. Before I took my break I was doing the missions with 5 good friends, sure we did not have the best jobs for the missions (thf, drk, pld, rdm-blm, smn-blm, whm-smn) so that made the missions that mutch harder, yet we had fun...we wiped something like 5 times on Diablos and spent god knows how mutch gill on the Oryu fight. We got through them because we all wanted to win and we were driven to win.
Pick up PTs suck...nothing more to say. It is better to go with friends that have strange ass jobs and seem to have no chance of wining, then to go with a party of the "best" jobs yet they wont listen to sencable advice.
Most importantly, in any CoP dundgon....take your time and avoid arggo at all cost and when the time comes that you do get arggo DEAL WITH IT, dont run around going "OMGOMG THIS SUX" lol.

[tazirai]

Re: The curse of promyvion

I didnt have Problems in Pick up PT since most non japanese members didnt have Promathia yet. Over the course of the japanese release I did up to chapter 3 in 4 days.

Even After NA release I was up to chapter 4-2 , got stuck on Ouryuu for about 2 weeks then Koed it. Then got to chapter 5 and the LS finally started getting it. Now Im going thru it again with LS.

As Icemage put it, promathia as did genkai 2 at one point weeded out the lazy and uncommitted.

[Manatra]

Re: The curse of promyvion

Arguably as well, the fact that, as Icemage put it, CoP is "designed to weed out the uncommitted, lazy, and incompetent, at every step." could be argued as one of it's major flaws. Especially given that one of the only ways many players can get through the missions is through pickups :\

[Keyura]

Re: The curse of promyvion

3/21 on promy, and thats with mostly LS pts -_-; CoP is NOT easy, but the storyline and rewards make it worth it for me, and i'll waste a million gil and do the missions 100 times for their rewards

[CarbonFibre]

Re: The curse of promyvion

Lost a promyvion-dem and haven't touched anything related to CoP since. Had two parties, one knowing exactly what to do and with more skilled players, the second not having a clue or having even tried it before (not much for instruction either). You can guess which pt I was in.

[Kafeen]

Re: The curse of promyvion

Why are pickup parties affected like this though? We use them almost everyday for exp parties, never, well rarely do they ever fall apart like parties that venture into Promyvion. 99% of pickup parties for exp gel together quite well, you know what your doing, you know your roll in a party. None of this changes when you enter Promyvion, healers still heal, tanks still tank, damage dealers are still there to deal damage. So why does the bickering start as soon as you enter?

We didn't even make at attempt at the first portal, as I said in an earlier post some people didn't even make it into the crag.

This was nothing to do a lack of preperation, nothing to do with a lack of meds. We didn't even get to a point that any of that was needed, all we'd done was kill a bunch of EP's-T's to get some items for Animas. This is just like almost every other time. Only once did a group I was in fail because we hadn't prepaired properly, every other time it was because people started argueeing and dropped out before the end. Some times one person might get aggro, some times one person might die. None of this matters in a regular exp party, you get aggro and you deal with it, if you die you get a raise, why can this happening in Promyvion totally destroy a party?

[Icemage]

Re: The curse of promyvion

Arguably as well, the fact that, as Icemage put it, CoP is "designed to weed out the uncommitted, lazy, and incompetent, at every step." could be argued as one of it's major flaws. Especially given that one of the only ways many players can get through the missions is through pickups :\

Is that a flaw of the design, or a flaw of the players themselves though? I don't agree with the implication that everyone has the right, or even deserves to finish the missions. The fact that the missions are challenging makes them special. Take that away, and they'd be just as immemorable as the Zilart storyline.

---

Why are pickup parties affected like this though? We use them almost everyday for exp parties, never, well rarely do they ever fall apart like parties that venture into Promyvion. 99% of pickup parties for exp gel together quite well, you know what your doing, you know your roll in a party. None of this changes when you enter Promyvion, healers still heal, tanks still tank, damage dealers are still there to deal damage. So why does the bickering start as soon as you enter?

It is because some people don't really want to be there (read my above comments about being uncommitted). In an XP party, people are conditioned over time not to do stupid stuff. This is why parties in Valkurm tend to suck, because people who don't pay enough attention haven't had enough time yet to learn what not to do. By contrast, every CoP mission comes with a new and unusual set of challenges and dangers which you have to react to in a much more timely fashion - you haven't got the next 5 hours to "get it right".

We didn't even make at attempt at the first portal, as I said in an earlier post some people didn't even make it into the crag.

This was nothing to do a lack of preperation, nothing to do with a lack of meds. We didn't even get to a point that any of that was needed, all we'd done was kill a bunch of EP's-T's to get some items for Animas. This is just like almost every other time. Only once did a group I was in fail because we hadn't prepaired properly, every other time it was because people started argueeing and dropped out before the end. Some times one person might get aggro, some times one person might die. None of this matters in a regular exp party, you get aggro and you deal with it, if you die you get a raise, why can this happening in Promyvion totally destroy a party?

Players who quit out of these missions, can't find the locations, etc. are perfect examples of the uncommitted, lazy, and incompetent that I referred to in my first reply in this thread. Avoid these players at all costs when doing CoP missions, or suffer the consequences.


Icemage

[Macht]

Re: The curse of promyvion

I actually loved the Promyvion runs. I was Mea 1/1, Dem 1/1, Holla 1/2... Every one was a pickup party, somehow we always started as 6 members and fell to 4-5 members at the boss fights. The big key to it all is preperation and skillful use of the 3 Animas. Holla was tough the first time we tried, that damn spider wipped the floor with us with that special that reduces you to 1 HP. It spammed that attack like 8 times when it was about to die.

Next run though we prepared for that outcome and had the anima to stop the specials ready for it this time. That spider went down without making a rukus at all, first run we had 5 members, second it was 4 for the boss fight. We didn't even get to use our 2hrs it went down so fast.