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zavodilaterrariumLast edited: 20 February 2026.
Did some alliance raids with a full blue mage group for BLU logs just then! We did ARR, HW, and StB with some breaks inbetween to fill spots when people left. I only needed the ARR logs, but I like the job and filling parties for it can be hard (you need the parties to be fully BLU for the log to register). As expected, Dun Scaith posed the most threat and wiped us 2 times, with Orbonne Monastery and The Weeping City of Mhach also being quite scuffed but no wipes (by the skin of our teeth!).
EDIT 2026-02-16: I think I only died like 3-5 times, with two of those times being from when I was one of the last people alive in a wipe. I am quite mechanically familiar with these raids from doing them frequently + I was DPS or healer mimic so I was never tanking (BLU mits and heals are not good at recovering from problems), so I think it is reasonable I died a lot less than the tanks and those who were only here for the BLU logs.
The Weeping City of Mhach:
People struggled with Forgall's instadeath mech, which requires you to willingly pick up the zombie debuff to avoid death, and his "friendship doritos", which requires you to stand with other marked players.
He actually tells you how to solve these mechanics:
"Solitude weakens the spirit and warps the flesh. Stray from the pack at your peril!" = friendship doritos
"Will you glimpse the realm that awaits you after death? Drink deep from the chalice of oblivion!" = purposefully gain the undead debuff in order to survive
Additionally, he warns you of another mechanic, one that is very simple but often leads to the main tank dying because Forgall uses autoattacks soon after:
"Its winds will strip you to the bone!" = warning for heal check, hp set to 1
EDIT 2026-02-16: Can't believe I forgot, but we also struggled against Calofisteri. She explains 2 mechanics:
"Behold my magnificent mane! these curls are blades that cut, and roots that drain!" = pay attention to her hair
"Do you dare face the halo of my unleashed glory? Or turn your back and risk the sting of my rejection?" = either look at her or look away, in this case look away bc her 'unleashed glory' just means stronger violence against you (aka a gaze mechanic, but without the classic purple eye telegraph)
Many people did not check/understand her half-room cleave telegraph; 1 side of her hair turns into blades, which indicates which half the room will get cleaved. People also did not pick up on her donut vs circle AoE hair mechanic; hair vines with 1 of 2 bulb types sprout from the ground — ball indicates circle, blades indicate donut. I think almost the entire raid got caught by her gaze, which doesn't do that much damage if you have no vulns, but it gives you like 3+ vulns.
I can't remember if there was a specific mechanic that caused so many people to die, but we had about 5-10 people out of 24 by the time we got to the phase where she starts using the AoE hair vines over the entire area.
Dun Scaith:
Scathach's frontal cleave tankbusters and adds often catch people lacking, while Diabolos Hollow can be quite hard to heal in general (he loves knockbacks, tankbusters, DoTs, trailing exaflares, untelegraphed donut AoEs — the whole works) and my alliance didn't even have a healer mimic during the HW raids!
A minor problem with Cidolfus Orlando was that the tankbusters targeted party members based on the presence of the tank role, and as BLU is for most intents and purposes considered DPS (even with job mimicry or tank stance), the tankbusters just hit random players who could not survive the attacks. The real problem came at the end, where we actually saw the ice mechanic: most of the ground is deals DoT when stood on, and there is 1 icicle add per alliance to destroy before they explode for significant damage. I had kinda thought we could just focus the boss down, but I turned out to be wrong. I am not sure why other people did not focus on the adds properly, but I suspect a combination of players who had never seen the mechanic, those who also thought the same as me and tried to out-DPS, and those who just burned through their high-damage abilities. We just barely survived and moved on.
I'd expected Ultima The High Seraph to pose more of a problem, but she was fine, besides people not paying attention to the first use of Grand Cross, which is where she places down 3 pillars that shoot out 1 'block'-wide perpendicular line AoEs (that look like crosses) — the area is considered 4x4 'blocks', and she always places the pillars in a configuration that leaves 1 block safe. When she first uses it, it's 1 of 2 patterns that always leaves you within melee range. Considering she is stuck inside the wall on 1 side of the arena during this, you do have to actually look away from the boss to see the pillars (though you should have heard them violently land from the sky if you have your sound mixed effectively, 1 may also be barely in view if you're zoomed out all the way).
My mother just used a cuff to test my blood pressure and such, but when I commented that it hurt so much that my pulse skyrocketed and thus wouldn't be effective (my pain tolerance is somewhat low), she said it must be too tight and we should try again. Turns out, the cuff is a bit too small for me (I'm quite chubby), so my other results are not that accurate either — GanGan tried it while making it tight, and got almost the same results as me, despite being the healthiest in the house by far.
In other news, today I'm going to check out where my classes for this semester are located. It's approaching Autumn down here, so it's finally cold enough for me to wear my new jacket out (it's got very cute embroidery)! Not that I can wear warm stuff long if I'm walking around. I heat up and sweat very easily, which is annoying but I suppose means I don't have to cover up my nicer clothes with jackets in winter? lol
Did some alliance raids with a full blue mage group for BLU logs just then! We did ARR, HW, and StB with some breaks inbetween to fill spots when people left. I only needed the ARR logs, but I like the job and filling parties for it can be hard (you need the parties to be fully BLU for the log to register). As expected, Dun Scaith posed the most threat and wiped us 2 times, with Orbonne Monastery and The Weeping City of Mhach also being quite scuffed but no wipes (by the skin of our teeth!).
EDIT 2026-02-16: I think I only died like 3-5 times, with two of those times being from when I was one of the last people alive in a wipe. I am quite mechanically familiar with these raids from doing them frequently + I was DPS or healer mimic so I was never tanking (BLU mits and heals are not good at recovering from problems), so I think it is reasonable I died a lot less than the tanks and those who were only here for the BLU logs.
Heavensward Alliance Raid Spoilers
The Weeping City of Mhach:
People struggled with Forgall's instadeath mech, which requires you to willingly pick up the zombie debuff to avoid death, and his "friendship doritos", which requires you to stand with other marked players.
He actually tells you how to solve these mechanics:
"Solitude weakens the spirit and warps the flesh. Stray from the pack at your peril!" = friendship doritos
"Will you glimpse the realm that awaits you after death? Drink deep from the chalice of oblivion!" = purposefully gain the undead debuff in order to survive
Additionally, he warns you of another mechanic, one that is very simple but often leads to the main tank dying because Forgall uses autoattacks soon after:
"Its winds will strip you to the bone!" = warning for heal check, hp set to 1
EDIT 2026-02-16: Can't believe I forgot, but we also struggled against Calofisteri. She explains 2 mechanics:
"Behold my magnificent mane! these curls are blades that cut, and roots that drain!" = pay attention to her hair
"Do you dare face the halo of my unleashed glory? Or turn your back and risk the sting of my rejection?" = either look at her or look away, in this case look away bc her 'unleashed glory' just means stronger violence against you (aka a gaze mechanic, but without the classic purple eye telegraph)
Many people did not check/understand her half-room cleave telegraph; 1 side of her hair turns into blades, which indicates which half the room will get cleaved. People also did not pick up on her donut vs circle AoE hair mechanic; hair vines with 1 of 2 bulb types sprout from the ground — ball indicates circle, blades indicate donut. I think almost the entire raid got caught by her gaze, which doesn't do that much damage if you have no vulns, but it gives you like 3+ vulns.
I can't remember if there was a specific mechanic that caused so many people to die, but we had about 5-10 people out of 24 by the time we got to the phase where she starts using the AoE hair vines over the entire area.
Dun Scaith:
Scathach's frontal cleave tankbusters and adds often catch people lacking, while Diabolos Hollow can be quite hard to heal in general (he loves knockbacks, tankbusters, DoTs, trailing exaflares, untelegraphed donut AoEs — the whole works) and my alliance didn't even have a healer mimic during the HW raids!
(Stormblood) Orbonne Monastery Spoilers
A minor problem with Cidolfus Orlando was that the tankbusters targeted party members based on the presence of the tank role, and as BLU is for most intents and purposes considered DPS (even with job mimicry or tank stance), the tankbusters just hit random players who could not survive the attacks. The real problem came at the end, where we actually saw the ice mechanic: most of the ground is deals DoT when stood on, and there is 1 icicle add per alliance to destroy before they explode for significant damage. I had kinda thought we could just focus the boss down, but I turned out to be wrong. I am not sure why other people did not focus on the adds properly, but I suspect a combination of players who had never seen the mechanic, those who also thought the same as me and tried to out-DPS, and those who just burned through their high-damage abilities. We just barely survived and moved on.
I'd expected Ultima The High Seraph to pose more of a problem, but she was fine, besides people not paying attention to the first use of Grand Cross, which is where she places down 3 pillars that shoot out 1 'block'-wide perpendicular line AoEs (that look like crosses) — the area is considered 4x4 'blocks', and she always places the pillars in a configuration that leaves 1 block safe. When she first uses it, it's 1 of 2 patterns that always leaves you within melee range. Considering she is stuck inside the wall on 1 side of the arena during this, you do have to actually look away from the boss to see the pillars (though you should have heard them violently land from the sky if you have your sound mixed effectively, 1 may also be barely in view if you're zoomed out all the way).
My mother just used a cuff to test my blood pressure and such, but when I commented that it hurt so much that my pulse skyrocketed and thus wouldn't be effective (my pain tolerance is somewhat low), she said it must be too tight and we should try again. Turns out, the cuff is a bit too small for me (I'm quite chubby), so my other results are not that accurate either — GanGan tried it while making it tight, and got almost the same results as me, despite being the healthiest in the house by far.
In other news, today I'm going to check out where my classes for this semester are located. It's approaching Autumn down here, so it's finally cold enough for me to wear my new jacket out (it's got very cute embroidery)! Not that I can wear warm stuff long if I'm walking around. I heat up and sweat very easily, which is annoying but I suppose means I don't have to cover up my nicer clothes with jackets in winter? lol
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