This is the program I use regarding the official match schedule.
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For those really dedicated, we run a LS that focuses on playing with JP players in the diorama. If you are interested in becoming a member of Ballista Revolution; please don't hesitate to contact us, thank you.
It has come to our attention that some players may view this website or our videos but never come forward and present themselves. Even several of our current members admit that they were shy and hesitant before introducing themselves to us. As the group leader, I really want to make it clear that we want you to come play Ballista! Even if you’ve never played a single match or don’t have any level 60 gear, it doesn’t matter. Take that first step, and I guarantee you’ll enjoy what we have to offer.
P.S. To those who may have quit FFXI or have lost interest in the grind, consider trying Ballista. With us, Ballista is a completely separate game from FFXI. The mechanics and strategies are totally different. You can have a fresh start in a whole ‘new game’, and your hard earned gil and job levels give you a nice head start!
Like most FFXI players, I cherished the many challenges of the game since I first started playing, from completing the subjob quest to limit breaks. After hours upon hours and days upon days of tedious play, I finally reached the maximum job level, found myself a loving linkshell, and was able to participate in the endgame events in which I always dreamed of doing. However, those endgame days were short lived and slowly faded away, as I found a new purpose of playing FFXI.
I found Ballista.
When I first started playing, it was a blast, killing friends and foes on the blood-stained battlefield. It was an experience like no other. Of course, it wasn't always fun and games. I had my share of the bitter taste of defeat several times, but that didn't stop me from playing. In fact, those defeats motivated me to improve as a player. Over time, though, as new features were introduced to the game, the majority of the few who played Ballista gradually returned to endgame. I admit that even I did. Soon, the thought of Ballista escaped my conscious mind, but I always had a feeling that it was still lurking somewhere within my cloud of thoughts.
I was bored one day, browsing through many different sites on multiple windows of Google Chrome: Facebook, Gmail, Youtube, Redtube, etc. Somehow, I ended up doing a Google search for Ballista and came across a variety of Ballista videos. Most of them were of seemingly senseless '1 on 1 duels', but I stumbled upon some that just blew my mind away. They were from a Ballista LS known as BallistaRevolution, and from there, I was linked to their LS website. I discovered something completely out of the ordinary. Ballista teamplay? There are actually people who do this?
Immediately, I became a fan of their work and wanted to join their Ballista community. Although we were on different servers, I paid the transfer fee and hopped over to theirs without any regret. At first, I was a bit hesitant to speak with them; they seemed to play at an entirely different league than what I was used to. Eventually, I summoned what little courage I had at the time and went for the touchdown. Talking with them turned out easier than I originally thought. After introducing myself, my motives, and goals, my chances of joining their LS seemed more than likely, or so I thought. My Ballista aptitude was tested... rook guard, hyper, third eye ws dodging.. sprint ws dodging, poison>sleep timing.. communication... it was like a game within a game, but rather one so much deeper.
Currently, I'm a proud member of BallistaRevolution, a well-respected LS within the Ballista community.
I just wanted to share with everyone my passion for Ballista, and how those varieties of events influenced me.
I realize that this post is fairly long and completely understand if it was skimmed, but regardless, I humbly thank you for your time in hearing me out.
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I will supplement this thread with Ballista videos, screenshots, live streams and blog posts from our community.
I thank you all for your time and will be happy to answer any questions.
Though I'd say that page certainly isn't helping Abraham, Anahalal. Whatever. Haha.
This entire website excites me greatly and I learned much from it, which was an incredible feeling.
This is quite promising there are people this knowledgeable, one day with server merges I hope with Liberator to duel all of them, Burtgangs, Aegis, Ochain, Death Penalties, Blue Mages, Red Mages and all!
Truth of the Matter is, While I admire you trying to revitalize
ballista, It has been attempted over and over again. I recently
came back to the game specifically for Ballista. I wanted to do PvP
60 cap while at the same time playing FFXIV for PvE, and I must say
the way Ballista has gone is down right embarassing.
Very little teamwork and even less communication. Most people going
just for kills and not scoring. It seems the mentality of the NA players is strictly "I'm gonna dominate over every player in this
battle" while remaining entirely solo and not score. Even when you try to play like this, It's nothing but a /sprint fest. I played a 5v5 and could not kill ANYONE since all the other team did was run in hit you once, and run back to their team. How is this suppose to be fun?
It's honestly so awful that I am gonna play my character until the
time runs out at the end of the month and once again let it remain
deactivated until FFXIV gets PvP. It's not even that I suck, I've been doing ballista since 2006 or 2007, and at least back then it was fun and had the elements to keep me playing it.
Sure, I've done ballista where I haven't scored, but I was always
stopping others from scoring or at least calling GB and Petra status out.
I don't blame JP players for giving up on this. Sorry for ranting on your post man, good video and good commentary. I'm just ashamed to see what ballista has been reduced to.
Truth of the Matter is, While I admire you trying to revitalize ballista, It has been attempted over and over again. I recently came back to the game specifically for Ballista. I wanted to do PvP 60 cap while at the same time playing FFXIV for PvE, and I must say the way Ballista has gone is down right embarassing. Very little teamwork and even less communication. Most people going just for kills and not scoring. It seems the mentality of the NA players is strictly "I'm gonna dominate over every player in this battle" while remaining entirely solo and not score. Even when you try to play like this, It's nothing but a /sprint fest. I played a 5v5 and could not kill ANYONE since all the other team did was run in hit you once, and run back to their team. How is this suppose to be fun? It's honestly so awful that I am gonna play my character until the time runs out at the end of the month and once again let it remain deactivated until FFXIV gets PvP. It's not even that I suck, I've been doing ballista since 2006 or 2007, and at least back then it was fun and had the elements to keep me playing it. Sure, I've done ballista where I haven't scored, but I was always stopping others from scoring or at least calling GB and Petra status out. I don't blame JP players for giving up on this. Sorry for ranting on your post man, good video and good commentary. I'm just ashamed to see what ballista has been reduced to.
.... I couldn't agree more with what you said.
Ballista is the most misunderstood event in FFXI. Thus it promotes certain tactics that stray far away from actual Ballista gameplay.
However, Lakshmi, in it's current state is a shadow of its former self.
Honestly, all of us have been there, no need to apologize.
I encourage everyone to read this blog entry: Why Are People So…?
As many may already know, within the past few months, there has been a sizable influx of transferees to Lakshmi from a variety of servers, most notably Fenrir. I must admit that their reputation precedes most of them in terms of manner, skill, as well as knowledge of the game. Unfortunately, the typical NA style of Ballista revolves around slaughtering and completely domination over other players through solo effort. Practically none of them actually play Ballista for the game itself—a team game in which involves quarrying, scoring, and teamwork—but rather for bloodshed. For some reason, I’m apparently ‘cheap’ for using—say—a max potion during the midst of battle. If quarrying is part of the Ballista, how exactly am I being ‘cheap’ for using a mechanic that’s part of the game? And hell, it only gets worse from here. It’s also apparently ‘cheap’ and cowardly to work as a team with allies—in other words, working as a team is synonymous to being a coward. Other than with Lazurus, I consider myself patient in terms of dealing with these types of people, but even I can hardly maintain my composure sometimes. Yeah, that’s me using Ukko’s Fury in town. Out of fury.
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Let’s be honest here, though. A lot of the new transfers are garbage and ruin the balance of official matches with their absence of skill. The trash talk through shouts and emotes is endless, as well. It’s no wonder that the JP have slowly been abandoning this wasteland and transferring to Carbuncle. Take Zahara, formerly known as Nathien, for example. He probably needs no introduction, as he’s quite notorious on multiple servers—second only to Feiwong, I would presume. For those who don’t know who this joker is, this should sum everything up:
According to him, Evv and I ‘hack’, and for some reason, he used Laz’s and my name in the same sentence. Now, that’s just embarrassing. Oh, and I’m also a ‘Noob’ with a capital ‘N’. The way he types simply amuses me. I must admit that I’m impressed, though. He manages to piss off every person whom he makes contact with.
Typically, when a player examines another, he’s checking to see whether or not you have any petras on hand. This isn’t the case for our friend Zahara, though. He seemingly takes it as a challenge to a duel of some sort, but unfortunately for him, he needs to learn how to land his weaponskill on his opponents first.
In terms of handling Zahara, I should definitely learn from Yozen. He’s basically like Yoda. Black list Zahara, you must.
By the way, this is his Youtube channel if anyone wants nightmares: Zahara’s Youtube. You’re welcome.
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Zahara isn’t the only nuisance, though. What truly bothers me is the fact that practically every NA Ballista player doesn’t know how to play Ballista. I find them too fixated on their implied goal to be obtain a status of a war veteran of some sort—much like The Last Samurai. They always tend to want to kill people through solo efforts in a team game. In turn, their mentality is skewed such that their attention is focused on the strengths of jobs through one on one. However, the reality is that teammates cover for each other’s weaknesses in combat, as—I can’t stress this enough—Ballista is indeed a team game. Often, NA players will have conversations like the following, completely centered around individual jobs in one on one duels:
Sayomi claims that his DRK can easily defeat PLDs in uncap when he’s buffed. Why would anyone sit around and wait for the opponent to buff before engaging in a fight? That only happens in Dragonball Z where one person powers up to Super Saiyan 9000 while the other quivers in fear and eventually gets owned. If Sayomi is indeed as skilled as he claims to be, then I really wonder why he got schooled in all four Ballista games in Diorama a few days ago.
We had a practice Diorama session with some of the new transfers: Ryolen, Aboutsixmidgets, and Sayomi. The teams and job setups were fixed as follows:
The subjobs for DRK and RNG had to be accommodated for Ryolen’s and Aboutsixmidgets’ lack of having SAM as a subjob. Either way, though, the results were relatively predictable. The ’20 point win’ rule wasn’t applied, so the final scores were as follows:
[Griffons - Wyverns]
Game 1 results: 0 – 28
Game 2 results: 1 – 29
Game 3 results: 0 – 28
Game 4 results: 0 – 14 (naked)
Game 4 Video:
I only uploaded the fourth game, since the first three were meaningless one-sided games. That was also the case in the fourth game, but at least my team was naked and thus provided some sort of entertainment.
Anyway, after getting steamrolled in the first three rounds, Sayomi senselessly blamed his team’s losses on equipment, claiming that they couldn’t do anything against us due to our higher defenses. Heeding his accusation, my team decided to remove our head, body, hands, legs, and feet pieces, subtracting well over 100 defense in gear. For whatever reason, Ryolen, who was on the opposing team, wanted to join our ‘no pants’ party, but regardless of our nude play, the results of the match were still the same. After they lost the fourth game, despite my team doing the undie run, Sayomi admitted that his team lost due to lack of teamwork but never put any blame on himself. It seemed as though all of them simply blamed each other for the team’s downfall, never once admitting that they themselves could use some improvement. If an individual doesn’t admit his flaws and mistakes, then making corresponding amends and improvements is impossible. This is one of the reasons why NA players don’t succeed in the Ballista. They don’t admit fault. They seem to have some belief that they’re almighty, omnipotent, and flawless. This, however, is not the case and never will be for anyone. People who have played Ballista since its introduction to FFXI are still learning and improving. There’s no shame in admitting fault, as they can only be amended. If these newcomers could actually abide to this mentality, perhaps they can change. It’s certainly not likely, but nevertheless, it is a possibility.
As a side note, Chancellor T booted Sayomi from the LS, so that’s certainly a thumbs up.
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Yes, I do realize that I sound like a pretentious douchebag, and by no means does anyone need to listen to my gibberish as to why NA players are meager in Ballista skill. So, instead, I happened to have asked two notable JP Ballista players, Saffier (formerly Kyanos) and Byrnie, relevant questions pertaining the skill levels of NA players several months back. Perhaps people would rather listen to JP players than some random NA whose name is the 22nd letter of the English alphabet. It all began with me questioning why most JP lack interest in uncap. Enjoy.
Well, there you have it, folks—opinions from two respectable JP Ballista players. As Byrnie said, there’s no Ballista handbook for dummies, so learning how to play Ballista properly is primarily based on the player himself. Although players who know the correct ways of Ballista can aid in helping others improve, all efforts would be meaningless if they themselves don’t accept the reality of how Ballista should be played: “if not agree it. live alone shutting eyes and ears.” Essentially, NA players need to adopt open minds and acknowledge some ideas that may be otherworldly to them. Undoubtedly, practically every NA Ballista player has had some sort of misconception of the game at one point, but by keeping an open mind, they may be able to learn proper and effective Ballista strategies—fundamentally accepting a new mentality for the game. Otherwise, stubbornness in this sense would only lead to ignorance, denial, and consequently poor gameplay.
This reminds me a lot of that forum troll Alhanelem/Tahngarthor who I call Abraham because I can’t read for ***. Ridiculing him, however, would have to wait another day. I’ll also do a blog post on improvement some time soon, and I’m open for any suggestions on how to go about this. Believe me, I’m more than happy to help people in improving in Ballista as long as they’re responsive and willing to learn. Don’t forget, though, that I’m still learning, as well. As such, I can’t say that I know everything but will do my best in terms of helping.
Anyway, I promised some people that I would write a blog post today, as well as uploading that ridiculous video, so there you have it. Thanks for keeping me up till 3am, jackasses. Good night.
I do apologize that Youtube does not currently have functional links for hourly time stamps. Also, if possible, please let me know if uploading whole reservations like such or individual matches like originally is preferred. Thanks.
38:08 - The P-turn:
I must give Pik credit for pulling such an innovative maneuver. That's the first time that I've ever seen anyone use that shortcut in an actual game, let alone making such practical and effective use out of it. Thus, history has been made, as I title that stunt the P-turn.
I do apologize that Youtube does not currently have functional links for hourly time stamps. Also, if possible, please let me know if uploading whole reservations like such or individual matches like originally is preferred. Thanks.
Also, if you enjoy ballista, and haven't actually taken a glance at v's blog, I strongly urge you to take a moment. Rukenshin is to PvE as Vyii is to PvP.
I'm not a huge fan of ballista but just spent the last hour reading through your posts and I must say there are some crazy die hard fans of it.
It's awesome you find enjoyment in it and make it seem so appealing but god damn >_> The inventory space I would be giving up to do it would be so sad.
I'm not a huge fan of ballista but just spent the last hour reading through your posts and I must say there are some crazy die hard fans of it. It's awesome you find enjoyment in it and make it seem so appealing but god damn >_> The inventory space I would be giving up to do it would be so sad.
Die hard fans indeed lol.
Just to clarify, this is Vyii's blog, not mine;
Inventory space is indeed an issue, I agree - if you're looking to equip a multitude of jobs.. your inventory will be pretty full. However, a lot of the jobs re-use a majority of the equipment, and in reality gear was never the main component of 60 cap ballista(unless you're min-maxing to an extreme degree; read repeated augmenting).
As reference, I have a few basic, easily attainable equipment sets listed for every job: Basic level 60 equipment sets
Also, my personal belief:
Variables that come to my mind, not listed in this blog entry:
Race, equipment, skill, strategy.
In 60 cap ballista, the following remains true:
Strategy >> Skill >> Race >> Equipment
In 99 cap ballista, the following remains true:
Equipment >> Strategy >> Skill >> Race
Internet speed, and computer speed not included.
Share your thoughts~
Copy pasted from the comments section Ranking
1st I would like to apogoly that i'm drunk and my grammar is pretty bad my native language is Finland I'been played Ballista since 2006 and I have met great Ballista players most of were from JP like Munieru I have proud to see his name still in my Flist even that he quit long time ago.. you guys are great players can't deny that so Greetings V and Evv u guys know me I understand that playing in Laksmi didn't challenge much..but I play Ballista as for fun and would like to see myself as average player at least,umm point what I am try say is if u play Ballista too "Professional" way kinda kills Ballista most of us play Ballista for fun. After all this just MMORPG^^ many players came from Fenrir cuz they think this is Balli server where Balli really happens but... u guys jumped to Carbuncle ofc I can live without it ... just make me thinkin thats not cool.
1st I would like to apogoly that i'm drunk and my grammar is pretty bad my native language is Finland I'been played Ballista since 2006 and I have met great Ballista players most of were from JP like Munieru I have proud to see his name still in my Flist even that he quit long time ago.. you guys are great players can't deny that so Greetings V and Evv u guys know me I understand that playing in Laksmi didn't challenge much..but I play Ballista as for fun and would like to see myself as average player at least,umm point what I am try say is if u play Ballista too "Professional" way kinda kills Ballista most of us play Ballista for fun. After all this just MMORPG^^ many players came from Fenrir cuz they think this is Balli server where Balli really happens but... u guys jumped to Carbuncle ofc I can live without it ... just make me thinkin thats not cool.
/wave Gnus
My personal belief is that rude and arrogant players destroy Ballista. Not "Professional" players.
It's interesting, information pertaining to our linkshell has always been readily available. Even during the Siren days. Numerous outreach attempts have always fallen on deaf ears.
Lakshmi was heaven for us. Official matches occurring at any time of the day, competitive diorama matches around the clock. In spite of this, only a select few recognized this phenomenon. That said; our objective was always eloquent - have fun(to us, nothing in this game quite compares to Ballista), persist a respectful communal, rectify the NA Ballista player image, and of course play with the best.
Prior to the arrival of the hot mess Fenrir players, the status of Lakshmi was beginning to falter. Principally, a large collective of very respectful players transferred to Carbuncle. Essentially, a lot of players missed the boat.
Truth of the Matter is, While I admire you trying to revitalize
ballista, It has been attempted over and over again. I recently
came back to the game specifically for Ballista. I wanted to do PvP
60 cap while at the same time playing FFXIV for PvE, and I must say
the way Ballista has gone is down right embarassing.
Very little teamwork and even less communication. Most people going
just for kills and not scoring. It seems the mentality of the NA players is strictly "I'm gonna dominate over every player in this
battle" while remaining entirely solo and not score. Even when you try to play like this, It's nothing but a /sprint fest. I played a 5v5 and could not kill ANYONE since all the other team did was run in hit you once, and run back to their team. How is this suppose to be fun?
It's honestly so awful that I am gonna play my character until the
time runs out at the end of the month and once again let it remain
deactivated until FFXIV gets PvP. It's not even that I suck, I've been doing ballista since 2006 or 2007, and at least back then it was fun and had the elements to keep me playing it.
Sure, I've done ballista where I haven't scored, but I was always
stopping others from scoring or at least calling GB and Petra status out.
I don't blame JP players for giving up on this. Sorry for ranting on your post man, good video and good commentary. I'm just ashamed to see what ballista has been reduced to.
I am able to see how our play-style can be interpreted as "Professional", likewise I am able to see this as a potential deterrent. However, to better understand these terms in regards to Ballista, I believe strict meaning goes right out the window.
For example:
- Player A loves Ballista.
- Makes the utmost effort to participate in every official match as time allows it.
- Frequently checks other players equipment for comparison.
- Indulges in job combinations tailored for individual exaltation.
- Actively participates in endgame events and casual FFXI related events.
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- Player B loves Ballista.
- Makes the utmost effort to participate in every official match and competitive diorama match as time allows it.
- Frequently checks other players equipment for comparison.
- Indulges in job combinations tailored for group exaltation.
- Remains informed via various sources.
- Augments certain equipment pieces manifold.
Dedication and attitude is the largest facet that differentiates the two players. Skill is secondary and tertiary, and is absolutely adopted.. willingly, that is.
From our perspective, the people that play for "Fun"(Player A) - are an amazing addition, they are not even remotely the reason that we left Lakshmi. Instead the reason might be more clear with this entry.
In a nutshell, the goals that I listed earlier in this post were being questioned; forcing our move.
You're absolutely right. Lakshmi was the Ballista server.
I wouldn't be to sure of that, I've been on both Lakshmi and Fenrir and would have to say Fenrir was the better AND biggest Ballista Server til lv increase. Wouldn't it be awesome if they merged the two?~:)
I wouldn't be to sure of that, I've been on both Lakshmi and Fenrir and would have to say Fenrir was the better AND biggest Ballista Server til lv increase. Wouldn't it be awesome if they merged the two?~:)
You're right, I was on Fenrir for a long time before the level cap increase as well. It had many many players~
I can't personally speak for the quality and quantity of Lakshmi before the level cap increase.. as I was on Siren and Fenrir respectively, however...
I honestly believe a server merge is inbound in the near future, we'll just have to wait and see!
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Fenrir: The Legnam Days, A Martyr
Fenrir has been notorious for its barbaric style of Ballista since the beginning of time. Most people on Fenrir don’t play Ballista to win; instead, they play only to kill. SAM/RNGs thrive the land with their Soboros, Haubergeons fly across the battlefield, almost everyone subs NIN, and the endless cursing always adds the cherry on top. The implied motto is “You killed me, so I’m going to kill you—or at least try to for the rest of the match until I do so.” Grudges from the cyclic effect of the motto usually carry on to future matches, and people even make small alliances with friends or acquaintances solely to get their revenge.
One general misconception is that only the NA on Fenrir ascribe to this style of play, but little do people (the NA community) know that the JP have also adopted this behavior. During Gyaiko’s campaign, Siren’s Ballista population was divided amongst many servers, but only two or three players transferred to Fenrir. Legnam, a well respected and experienced Ballista player, returned to his home server with hopes to change the people’s brutal style of play. Since he practically had no allies on his trip, no one knew what “methods” he used to execute his “conversion.” As T would put it, Legnam was a religious zealot who tried to tame savages.
Regardless of how “adept” the JP on Fenrir seem to be [to the NA on Fenrir], reliable sources point out that they’re actually unskilled in terms of true Ballista play (scoring/winning). Legnam stepped on blood-soaked soil when he entered the “dog-eat-dog” world. The JP weren’t aware of the Rooks’ locations and just like the NA, they mainly concentrating on killing. While Legnam was trying to change their perspectives on Ballista, the JP ignored and rejected his suggestions. They had their own pride, too—of course. He was saying that their style was “wrong” while his was “right.” In short, he practically walked into a church preaching Satanism, and thus the JP on Fenrir disliked Legnam for his arrogant and judgmental actions. From other sources, I heard that the NA didn’t like Legnam either for whatever reasons. Thus, his good intentions of converting his home server from an uncivilized land of barbarians to a prestigious Ballista server ended in failure.
Eventually, Legnam disappeared from Fenrir and stopped blogging on his Zoome webpage. No one knows of his whereabouts today; however, it can safely be assumed that he was devoured by the savages of Fenrir and died a martyr.
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So, I uploaded a Lakshmi vs Fenrir Diorama match with a commentary included. Hopefully, it’ll be able to help some people out. I don’t have much to say here, but now you can listen to my rants instead of only reading them. I sound stoned, but, hell, maybe I was stoned at the time. Even I don’t remember. Anyway, if possible, let me know if it’s all right because I may decide to continue with commentating. Constructive criticism is also welcomed. Please and thanks. Much appreciated. Peace out.
Clarifications:
• At 7:44, I meant to say that planning for a “skillchain”, not “weapon skill”, could be worse than using your weapons skills at the same time.
• It’s usually better to participate in the fights and help your teammates score instead of only focusing on yourself, trying to be a hero and score 5 petras in at once. Assuming that your other three teammates have one petra each, they have a considerably higher chance of successfully scoring. Even if one or two of them die, at least one of your teammates will most likely get his petra in. After all, it’s much harder for the enemy to stop three people from scoring than stopping one.
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I do apologize that I lose my train of thought and go off talking about something else. There’s just so much happening at once that it’s easy to lose track of what I was originally saying, especially when I interrupt myself. If there’s anything that needs further clarification, please let me know. I’ll be more than happy to provide a clearer explanation.
The equipment set that I am using in this particular game is my pre-hyper damage set - a very risky set used to goad the enemy into killing you(hyper activation). With how the game was setup, killing the ranger and paladin would have been detrimental. Running the risk of the ranger achieving hyper was too high. However, as can be seen, the opposing team's ranger was disposed of, this was a risky decision, but it worked out in the end.
For this reservation, I was able to record only one game out of 5.
As can be seen, we had 3 rangers in total, so we had to cycle rangers for each game.
Having re-worked my macro quite recently, I found myself scrambling profusely x_X
This reservation was sponsored by the Japanese linkshell - Hakoooooooooooooox
Disclaimer: This page was entirely written by Teishii/Desutaru. Hopefully, these guidelines will help everyone with rook locations during official matches when communicating with JP players.
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2010/08/30
In order to help communications during matches, I’ve compiled the names for rook positions that the JP players have adopted, along with a visual aid. Nobody is crazy enough to learn Japanese just for Ballista, but memorizing a few things could really help out.
I’ll ignore the 3 and 4 rook formations, as games don’t usually get that big, and there aren’t really any established names for those rooks.
I’ll try to work in the format of:
Kanji [very complicated character, if applicable]
Hiragana[less complicated, longer]
(Pronunciation) [English characters that Japanese players will understand]
English translation
Basic compass points:
北 きた （KITA） North (“Kita” has other meanings and can be used in ballista from time to time. It can also mean “coming”, as in “they’re coming”. Can be a little confusing.
南 みなみ （MINAMI） South
西 にし （NISHI） West
東 ひがし （HIGASHI） East
Everyone knows N S E W, but some Japanese players will write the Japanese forms just out of habit, so the Japanese forms are good to know.
Many of the rook names have some relation to other rook positions, so even memorizing one or two can help tremendously.
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Map Key
Pink – Herald
Green – Home Points
Blue – Rook locations
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Jugner Forest
A NW Don’t think there’s a name for this one, but most people just say NW.
B 一番西 いちばんW （ICHIBANNISHI） First/ForemostWest
C へらW （HERAW） West of Herald
D たいがん （TAIGAN） OP-N
E へら （HERA） Herald
F Nキャンプ Nきゃんぷ 北キャンプ （N－KYANPU） N－Camp
G 中央 ちゅうおう （CHUUOU） Middle
H 橋 はし （HASHI） Bridge
I やまうら （YAMAURA） Hillside
J だぼいよこ （DABOIYOKO） Beside Davoi
K だぼい （DABOI） Davoi
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Pashhow Marshlands
A いちばん北 一番北 （ICHIBANKITA）First/ForemostNW
B NE
C つうろ北 つうろN （TSUUROKITA）（TSUURON） HeraldNW
D へらN （HERAN） HeraldN
E いけ 池 （IKE） Pond
F へら （HERA） Herald
G つうろまえ （TSUUROMAE） That place SW of Herald in the rocks
H つうろ （TSUURO） The westernmost rook
I はし 橋 （HASHI） Bridge
J SE
K SW
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Meriphataud Mountains
A NEキャンプ （NE-KYANPU） NE-Camp
B 三叉-N さんさN （SANSA-N） EastRook(North version)
C へら （HERA） Herald
D へらS （HERA-S） South of Herald
E 三叉S さんさS （SANSA-S） EastRook(South version)
F SE
G がけ （GAKE） Valley Rook
H 骨上 ほねうえ （HONEUE） BonecraftNW I usually just say “Bonecraft” for this one; everyone gets it.
I 一番西 いちばんにし （ICHIBAN-W） First/ForemostWestRook
J 骨下 ほねした （HONESHITA） SW.. most people will understand SW here.
K がけS （GAKE-S） Rook south of the Valley Rook
L ごぶきゃんぷorゴブキャンプ （GOBCAMP） Rook on top of the goblin’s camp
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Reporting Rook Positions in Japanese
Japanese players will understand “camp” with or without the auto-translate. However, things like “hole” and “bridge” would have to be in auto-translate for everyone to understand it. Whenever the Japanese form of a compass directions (kita,minami,etc) appears in a name, you can use N S W E for the same effect. Basically, the Japanese understand the English compass but may not use them during Ballista, as they’re already accustomed to their native tongue.
2010/08/14
Testing how an item level syncs to 60 is always a hassle. Thankfully, in courtesy of Roid, we have some general guidelines for level 60 syncs. These are the maximum stats that each item slot can attain at Lv60 from level sync. Defense varies by job. The only attribute missing from the list is evasion, as it is a lot more difficult to test.
A rank :
PLD WAR
B rank :
MNK THF RDM DRK BST RNG SAM NIN DRG BLU COR PUP DNC SCH
C rank :
WHM BLM BRD SMN
For clarification on how the varying defense values in regards to job ‘ranks’ work, here’s a brief example:
Askar zucchetto has the following stats at Lv75: DEF 23, STR+4, DEX+4, VIT+4, Haste+4%.
The maximum stats acquirable for Lv60 sync’ed head gear are: DEF A24 B21 C17, HP+10, MP+30, stat+2, Atk+3.
Therefore, Askar zucchetto at Lv60 would have the following stats: DEF A23 B21 C17, STR+2, DEX+2, VIT+2.
However, the defense value is dependent on job. If it is equipped by a ‘rank A’ job, such as PLD, the defense on the helm would be 23. On the other hand, equipping it with a ‘rank B’ job, such as DRG, would yield a defense of 21.
Please note that all standard rules of competitive level Diorama have been developed by the JP. Since their competitive player population exponentially exceeds the NAs’, we have choice by to abide to their methods. Needless to say, they are conservatively strict with playing by their definitive rules and have little to no intention of changing them. Moreover, they have been playing with those same—or at least similar—rules for several years, as they are indeed the founders of the competitive Diorama form. NA players merely realized and were invited to play in this intense environment around 2008, and even now in the year 2012, only a few NA players have been able to reach a high enough skill level to play against the JP on even footage. In order to build public awareness and understanding of the highest form of Ballista, as well as allowing people to set up their own competitive games, the standard rules of Diorama are explained below. Please keep in mind the JP have established a well-organized competitive environment with these standard rules, which evidently produce the highest quality of games.
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Jobs
Only the following jobs and their corresponding subjobs are played in Diorama.
Jobs are listed below in terms of relative difficulty, starting with tier 1 as the hardest to play.
Tier 1
WHM RDM PLD
Tier 2
DRK WAR
Tier 3
MNK RNG DRG SAM
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Team Setups
Job setups are dependent on the amount of people participating in the match and should be identical on both teams (mirror match). There should not be any duplicate jobs on a single team, and the maximum amount of players in any given game is 12 (maximum 6v6). A team should only have three DDs at most. If a fourth DD should be added, it would ideally be MNK, a slightly lighter DD, as seen in the case of a 6v6 setting.
General setups are listed below. Unless stated otherwise, the subjobs for the listed jobs are standard.
3v3
• DD DD DD
• DD DD PLD
• Personal ideal: WAR DRK PLD
4v4
• DD DD DD PLD
• DD DD DD WHM/RDM
• Personal ideal: WAR DRK MNK PLD
5v5
• DD DD DD WHM PLD
• DD DD DD WHM RDM
• DD DD DD RDM PLD/WHM
• Personal ideal: WAR DRK SAM WHM RDM
6v6
• DD DD DD WHM RDM PLD
• DD DD DD MNK WHM RDM
• Personal ideal: WAR DRK SAM WHM RDM PLD
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Settings
In most cases, the MC (Master of Ceremonies) will adjust the following settings at the Herald. Everything else should be left untouched.
Game type: Auto-balance (‘Open’ if playing with fixed teams)
*Briefing time: 1:00 (3:00 if playing with RDM)
*Match time: 15:00
Item usage (outside items): OFF
Point difference: 20
*The briefing a match times used to be 3:00 and 20:00 respectively, but the JP have recently modified those times, allowing for more games to be played in a single Diorama reservation.
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Starting the Match
The MC’s Job:
1) Before starting the match and after everyone has signed up, the MC must manaully auto-balance the jobs at the Herald.
2) *After each match, the MC should reset the entries and allow everyone to sign up again.
3) Repeat step 1.
*If the entries are not reset, the Herald will not rearrange the jobs for the next match, and thus, the teams will be remain unchanged, despite opting for an auto-balance.
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If there are still unclear explanations, please let me know. Thanks.
GameStart>>
A) Uruz&co attack Desu
>>1) Vyi&co attack Uruz(berserk,etc, possibly leading to B)) &RDM cures Desu
>>>>>>a) Desu dies
>>>>>>>>>>a1) Vyi&co change target to enemy WHM
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>a2) Desu returns, repeat from A)
>>>>>>b) Desu survives (Uruz is defeated)
>>>>>>>>>>b1) Vyi&co target enemy WHM
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>b2) Vyi&co kill enemy WHM, go on WHM-Kill strategy
B) Uruz&co attack someone else.. we’ve had success with this and I’m not sure there’s much to say. Sharp mage kills are the key to victory with this style of game, not to mention a little luck with petra.
WHM-Kill strategy) We’ve seen them do it many times. Front line jobs attack WHM hard. In the event the WHM gets away (runs away with sprint) front line jobs should return to fighting a DD until the WHM returns – and this is the key part, the reaction to WHM returning must be instantaneous. If the WHM can constantly walk in, curaga 3, sprint out, repeat, the game’s over. A quick provoke will stop any MP use and all three front line jobs should quickly (try to) dispatch the WHM asap. Same goes for when the WHM is killed, a quick reaction to his return is essential.
Killing the RDM) Prepared TP and abilities are important here, and using TP at once rather than trying to wait and skillchain. If we can’t pull it off with our first barrage of WSs, its better to stop and go back to attacking someone else. Obviously sometimes it’s necessary to stay on that RDM (like near the end of a game when his scoring would win them the game, and there’s nobody else with petra). It’s the mages’ jobs to keep that RDM from scoring while front line jobs build up TP again. Depending on the situation, it may be better to abandon the RDM kill entirely as getting it done may take too much time/leave an opening for other people to score.
These are just a few things that I would like to point out.
When it comes to strategy, I believe that our two hours should be key components of our battle plan. A mage (holding petra) needs to be taken out sometime during the match. We need to sync our weapon skills so that their mages don’t have time to heal.
Two Hours:
Consider the following example: use Meikyo Shisui to kill a mage.
This may sound very simple, but I believe that it will be very effective. Mages are hard to kill because of their buffs, but a well executed two hour can easily override their defenses. The problem with mages is that they can heal themselves back up, which is why the point of the two hour is to kill them before they get a chance to do so. The key here, then, becomes speed. We need to be fast and efficient. The entire team should know when one is going to use a two hour. This way, provokes can be landed, gravities can be landed, other weapon skills can be landed, etc. How will we know? Through communication.
Of course, there needs to be additional planning in the event that the SAM is bound, provoked, etc. during Meikyo Shisui, but I still want to emphasize my point that we should integrate two hours into our strategy.
Our two hours are all very powerful, and I believe that Chainspell is pretty high up there among the best. I seldom use Chainspell, and if I do, it is only to save myself from losing 5+ petra.
I believe that we can be creative with this two hour..
As soon as the rooks move, I can Chainspell and gravity everyone.
I can Chainspell and drain (aspir) someone of their MP with Pluto’s Staff.
I can Chainspell and enfeeble everyone with Paralyze, Slow, Blind, Bind, etc.
I can Chainspell and Thunder II with Jupiter’s Staff (probably not enough MP for this one ;(
Anyway–What I’m trying to say is that we can use Chainspell in a variety of ways and that I should use it. Perhaps I can leave it to my own judgment as to when to use it, but I will definitely start using it more often from now on.
In the event that there are no items allowed, then food becomes much more important. In this case, not only does healing become more important in the beginning of the match, but so do two hours. If we can rid of the enemy’s food, using our two hours, then we are at a greater advantage.
Mage Killing:
How does one win? Through scoring.
Who scores? The mages (well, mostly anyway :p).
Who keeps their DDs alive? Their mages.
Who keeps enfeebling us? Their mages.
This is why I believe that it is absolutely essential to take down a mage (with petra) sometime during the match.
Once their mage goes down, then they need to go back to camp and sit out for about 2 minutes, or 10% of the match. They lose the petra they were holding, they lose potential petras that could have been quarried, and now they’re not there to keep healing our enemies and sticking their annoying enfeebles on us.
Whether it be through a two hour ability or weapon skills, or a two hour ability and weapon skills, we need to take down a mage somehow and sometime during the match. How will we know when a mage holds 5 or more petra? Through communication.
It should be noted that when they come back from their camp, they’ll come back only with their crucial buffs used. These buffs can easily be Lethe Water +1′ed. A Lethe Water +1 can also be used to greatly facilitate our job in killing a mage in the first place. How will we know if someone has a Lethe Water+1? Through communication.
If the mage comes back in about a minute, then they did not buff back up. which we can use to our advantage. We simply kill them all over again. How will we know this? Through communication.
Sync Weapon Skills:
Although it is wise to use weaponskills whenever one hits the 100% mark, it is sometimes even wiser to conserve TP so that everyone can WS at the same time. How will we know when everyone has 100%+ TP? Through communication.
In order to do this, the target needs to be kept in place.
If we have a DRK, then we can use Stun.
If we have a RNG, then we can use Shadowbind.
If we have neither, then the RDM can use Gravity.
(Whatever the case may be, the RDM should cast Gravity anyway)
In the event that we are going to sync our weaponskills, then it becomes crucial to keep all of our DDs alive. It thus becomes WHM, RDM, and PLD’s responsibility to keep the DDs alive during this time period. Once again, through communication (I’m starting to sound like Vyi :p), the mages will know to prioritize healing (and gravity) over everything else.
We can go into more detail, such as what to do in the event that we are provoked, bound, paralyzed, etc. Their mages can also be provoked, slept, or silenced to prevent healing the player back up. But then again, the whole point is to kill our target before they have a chance to be healed.
This month has been quite a rough ride: people have been cramming for exams, the holidays are coming up, and many of us have plans for vacation and other Christmas activities. Since some of us will be absent for the next week or so, we won’t be having official Diorama matches with or against the JP during this time. I realize that we should enjoy our holidays while we still can, but we should also take advantage of this momentary ceasefire to formulate some strategies for our next game—to destroy and be done with them in our next game. For starters, I took the liberty of compiling charts of job coverage of both sides, NA and JP, for reference. Take them as you will, and feel free to correct me if I missed anything.
A Diorama match typically consists of three front line jobs with two back line. The three jobs that are almost always used are WAR, WHM, and RDM, leaving the other two positions for variations of front line jobs: SAM, DRK, MNK, RNG, and DRG. During our time on Siren, we practically played with the WAR-SAM-DRK setup every time. To me, that seems to be the most logical choice, as I would personally rank them the top front line jobs in 60 cap Ballista. However, Lakshmi tends to play games without WAR because perhaps only a few people are comfortable with it. Instead, they usually play with RNG, DRK, and MNK in the front line. However, a game without an accurate Provoke seems rather bland—or too chaotic for that matter.
RNG games are definitely not our style. Adding RNG is equivalent to adding another scorer on the field, as they can simultaneously attack and quarry—not to mention that having an Earth Staff equipped effectively grants them mage-like defense. In addition—and probably the most principal reason of our struggles in RNG games—their WS is practically a guaranteed hit. Very rarely would anyone see a Sidewinder or Slug Shot be evaded (out of range), and the only practical method of defeating it is with a correctly timed Third Eye, which is difficult for the most part. With that in mind, they can readily execute their WS after another DD’s, resulting in an almost assured kill (GB), whereas regular melee classes need to be much more cautious in this aspect.
We definitely need to set RNG aside for now. Previously and only recently, we realized that our top front line setup is with WAR, SAM, and MNK. That should be our main focus. Ever since we arrived on Lakshmi, these guys have dishing out their “top” players—left and right—so assuming our primary setup with the worst case scenario, which is also the most likely scenario, our opponents are Putio as WHM and Lilyrose as RDM, followed up by a rotation of the Galkas—Absolutezero, Apollonrng, Irvines, and Itanotonomi—on the front line. Of course, another likely scenario would be Valenty as WHM, Leban or Dirac as RDM, and Lilyrose as MNK. Regardless, those are the players who we will most likely play against. We’ve played against them several times before, and there were also many cases in which I suspected them to be popping rabbit pies. In other words, they may have been cheating, and I’m certain that most of us have played enough Ballsita to be able to differentiate a rabbit pie user from another. However, there’s no irrefutable way to restrict pies entirely; it’s simply a code of honor not to use them. There’s nothing that we can do about it.
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Field Advantage
Before delving deeper into strategy, we should have a review on taking advantage of the field. The entire Diorama zone is quite spacious, but the focus is only on the typical Ballsita area.
On the map, points A through F are rook locations while points X, Y, and Z are the estimated positions of a fully recovered player returning to the battlefield from camp. The typical “names” of the rooks are:
Rook A: {Herald}
Rook B: NW or fences
Rook C: {Middle}?
Rook D: {river}
Rook E: {outside}{hole} or outside tunnel
Rook F: {hole} or tunnel
We also know that rooks move every third hour of the game with a total of eight rook movements. By approximately one game day being equivalent to one hour (60 minutes) in reality [for simplicity], the rook should change locations every seven and a half minutes. Each Diorama game is 20 minutes in duration, so there should be either three or four rooks in a single game, depending on the start time. We should be aware of the in-game time during matches to prepare for rook advancements. Although I find myself guilty of phasing out or losing focus in many Ballista matches, keeping track of the time (and consequently the rooks) is key in claiming victory.
Going back to the map, in terms of distance, it seems as though Rooks A, B, and D are in favor of Griffons, E and F in favor of Wyverns, and C neutral. The JP have strictly placed us on the Wyvern’s team almost every time without question perhaps for the rook advantage—who knows? We should assume the Wyvern’s side for the purpose of this discussion. When the rook isn’t in our favor, it would be best to try to lead the battle closer to our camp. Even small distances can make a huge difference. Many of the greatest scoring opportunities come when the rooks are in our favor (E or F). While the rooks are in these positions, killing one opponent delays him by over a minute; it takes him a minute or two to return to the battlefield from camp. In essence, take advantage of these favorable rooks to score.
Rook D (river) definitely gives the JP the greatest advantage because of the jagged ramp that we (Wyverns) need to bypass in order to reach it, whereas they (Griffons) can return to the battle from camp in an instant. While the rook is in this position, the primary combat zone is located on the side of their camp, giving them a distinct advantage. It may be in our favor if we bring the battle to higher grounds. That way, mages can cast on targets that are at lower elevations while being on the highest ground, avoiding direct melee attacks. If they were to be attacked, the enemy would need to move around that zigzag to reach them. Although this may not seem all too effective, delaying the enemy, even in the slightest, is always to our benefit.
Rook D is located across the river, and job abilities, such as Provoke, may not have enough range to stop the enemy from scoring while being on the opposite side of the rook. However, ranged weapons can. I realize that I’ve ridiculed Yiri’s Pebble MNK several times, but it actually works in this scenario. Perhaps for MNK, trading Bibiki Seashell (VIT+4) for a ranged ability may seem like a bit of a stretch, but the opportunity cost is worth the exchange. It’s either VIT+4 while risking the opponent scoring 5 petras or an effective ability to interrupt scoring. With that said, it may be a good idea for our SAMs to use Lamian Kamans over Lightning Bows for faster attack speed to prevent enemies from scoring. The choice ultimately the user’s, but it’s either DEX+3 while risking the opponent scoring 5 petras or an effective ability to interrupt scoring. Usage of ranged attacks to interrupt scoring applies to any rook, not just this one. Delay the enemy’s scoring until reinforcements come and slowly move in to “finish the job.”
While still talking about the river rook’s region, let’s return to the topic of delaying the enemy. If anyone of us are on the verge of life or death near the river, take a dive and go for a swim. With taking only a few steps down into the water, the melee can be delayed several folds if they follow up with the kill. Should you survive and need to get back up yourself, there are two ramps that lead back to the battlefield. The left is smooth sailing, but the right may be a bit of a struggle.
Tilting the camera angle may help, and of course, switching to first person view, as well. It may depend on the game console or computer’s capabilities, so do whatever works best. Taking the left ramp is definitely safer if you’re afraid of having trouble and wasting time getting up the right.
In the case where two of our members die, the front line job(s) should make use of the fences to stall for time and delay the enemy until reinforcements come (if the rook or combat zone is located in that general area). In terms of Rook C (middle), it is almost always better to score behind the fence. That way, front line jobs—such as WAR, SAM, RNG, DRG, or MNK—would need to walk around in order to interrupt the scoring process due to them being unable to “see the target” with their abilities. This means that only magic (DRK, PLD, RDM, WHM) can be used to interrupt scoring while being on the opposite side of the fence. Since our focused setup doesn’t involve DRK, the only two jobs capable of interrupting scoring across the fence are RDM and WHM, forcing the enemy front line to walk around the fence to attack the scorer. Moreover, the combat zone is typically on the same side as the rook, so all the better for sneaking behind the fence to score. Again, every bit of time delay counts.
EDIT: Actually, I take back what I said. Job abilities like Provoke can go through the fence, so it’s only a barrier for melee and ranged attacks.
Although this isn’t related to taking advantage of the field, I should touch the topic of Third Eye before I forget. Third Eye is a dangerous technique. Falling victim to someone who has strong command with this ability can lead to devastating losses. From my experience, there are three typical scenarios for anticipating weaponskills with Third Eye:
1) After taking one regular hit
2) After taking one WS
3) After running [and stopping]
In the first scenario, the opponent (with full TP) may be switching target to you and require the first hit to ensure that you’re aligned for the upcoming WS. After the first hit, there’s a chance of a WS. Third Eye. Or the opponent may have ~90% TP a require one more hit to execute a WS. Same deal: after the first hit, there’s a chance of a WS. Third Eye.
The second scenario is quite obvious, as well. If two opponents are on you, both of them may have already built enough TP to WS in unison. After eating damage from the first WS, a second WS may be coming up. Third Eye.
Finally, in the third scenario, the opponent may already have enough TP to WS, but you’re moving around too much for him to unleash it with a high success rate. As soon as you use a job ability, cast a spell, quarry, or anything that forces you to stop, a WS may follow. This becomes increasingly obvious if you sprint and the opponent continues to chase you with his own sprint. If this is the case, your “stopping” ability should be Third Eye to “anticipate” the WS. Watch out for the first hit, though, as it would rid of your Third Eye, [almost] guaranteeing weaponskill’s hit.
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Strategic Advantage
Throughout our many Diorama games on both Lakshmi and Siren, I’ve pinpointed several differences between the players on both servers. The two most distinct differences between Lakshmi and Siren are:
1) Lakshmi RDMs devote almost all of their MP to healing
2) Lakshmi front line jobs are very patient—perhaps even unnecessarily patient
Assuming that the average weaponskill deals 400 damage, one Cure IV or 88 MP essentially neutralizes it. That’s all it takes. Lakshmi RDMs use a strict MP build for cure bombs. On Siren, RDMs tend to reserve their MP for emergency cures while spending most of it on enfeebling magic. There are the occasional Firagas or Aerogas to finish off a target with already low HP, though—similar to a WHM’s Holy. Siren RDMs leave most of the healing to the WHM; however, Lakshmi RDMs act almost entirely as a WHM. Even if a melee receives damage from a WS at full HP, the RDM would instantaneously begin casting Cure IV. If that melee is taken to roughly 50% of his full HP, both the WHM and RDM cast Cure IV on him—almost immediately. Perhaps this is because they suspect another WS to follow.
On Lakshmi, the mages’ spell casting decisions are directly connected to the front line jobs’ extreme patience. By patience, I mean that they’re willing to wait for all three DDs to have sufficient TP to execute a WS before doing their own in order to guarantee a kill. This is the regular fighting style on Lakshmi. They take no chances at wasting a WS. If they were to execute a WS, it better ensure a kill. Because of this style, the mages instinctively expect one WS to follow another. However, on Siren, executing WSs even with a 15 second delay between them can grant GB through the simple use of Provoke. Once the WHM (main healer) was provoked, killing a DD was generally no sweat, as the RDM concentrated on enfeebles and conserved MP. That was the case on Siren anyway.
Cure bombing is a problem, especially if the enemy’s front line consists of three Galkas. Playing with WAR, SAM, and MNK as the melees, the typical target would be the WAR. Let’s begin by assuming that he has 1600 HP, topped with a Black Curry Bun and Defender. The average weaponskill would deal roughly 300 damage. By these assumptions, even eating damage from three weaponskills, he would only receive 900 damage. This means that we would need to bring his HP down to a little over 50% to have a chance of kill him—in which case is difficult with cure bombs blasting away. We’ve experienced fighting against this sort of “invincibility” before due to both the WHM and RDM launching barrages of cures. If only one mage was curing, this wouldn’t be too big of an issue, so let’s work around that: kill the source.
It’s always easier to kill the WHM than the RDM due to the RDM having Phalanx. The two WHMs who we usually face off against are Valenty and Putio. Given that the RDM is Lilyrose, the WHM will probably be Putio. On the other hand, if the RDM is Dirac, the WHM would be Valenty. I say this because I don’t recall Lilyrose playing with Valenty. It seems as though he strictly plays with Putio in the mage department. I must say, though, that those two have some chemistry going on. I refer to them as the Paralyze Twins, since they literally cast Paralyze with seemingly no end. Although Valenty’s WHM isn’t that much harder to kill, fighting against Putio’s WHM would probably be the better scenario. He is a Tarutaru after all.
On the diagram, green and blue represent attacking, red Provoke, and yellow cures. Let’s assume that we’re against Absolutezero (WAR), Irvinez (SAM), Apollonrng (MNK), Putio (WHM), and Lilyrose (RDM). With the WAR, SAM, and MNK setup, WAR would probably be the main target on both sides. If this is the case, then the SAM should try to provoke Absolutezero in an attempt to spread (or neutralize; third eye) the damage. MNK is the key element here, I believe. The MNK would be attacking and Provoking Putio in attempts to prevent him from curing himself, as well as his team. Eventually, Stoneskin will be broken. Stripping the WHM of his Stoneskin allows all of our DDs to gank him, but only after at least one DD acquires enough TP to WS. I personally believe that is enough. If Putio’s Stoneskin is taken down, the WAR and SAM could also switch targets to him and get a hit or two. Remember that we need to play a mind game, too. Doing this scares the WHM, RDM, and WAR. When Absolutezero sees any of us attack Putio, he would be more inclined to provoke a front line job (probably WAR) rather than a mage in hopes to save his team’s healer. Doing this also forces Lilyrose’s attention to curing Putio.
When we feel like we’re ready to finish off the WHM, we move in for the kill. The MNK should be the main announcer for this event. Constantly hitting Putio, MNK can see his HP at all times, as well as his Stoneskin status and Flash recast. Putio should cure himself when he’s at roughly 70% HP. I would consider this a good time to go in for the kill. MNK and SAM should provoke Putio while WAR does the same to Lilyrose. If the MNK and SAM fail to land Provoke on Putio, then constantly hitting him would yield a high chance of spell interruption anyway. That way, we hinder their healing almost completely. Even if Absolutezero manages to provoke one of our DDs, if two of us have enough TP to WS, Putio is as good as dead anyway, especially if followed by a Holy. Assuming that Putio has 1000 HP and that each WS deals 300 damage, attacking him at roughly 70% HP—or even 80%—and with his Flash already used would be ideal. Situations which we won’t be able to execute this plan successfully include (1) more than one of our DDs get provoked, (2) one gets provoked with another being Flashed, (3) one of our DDs die, (4) Putio uses Benediction, or (5) Putio uses a Carnal Incense.
We haven’t quite tried this before, so there’s no guarantee that it would work. However, I strongly believe that it will. They’re too “patient,” which means that they won’t execute their WS until at least two of their DDs are ready—and in many cases, they wait for all three. By “ready,” I don’t mean 90%; I mean 100%+. This will be our advantage. We’re fast. We’re fast at gaining TP, switching targets, and executing our WSs. I’ve always noticed that we execute our weaponskills much earlier than they do, so if we take out Putio, we can move on to chipping away the DDs. After Putio dies, the best target would be Irvinez (SAM), as long as our MNK stays on him to rid of Third Eye. If not, WAR would be a good target, as well. Our starts have always been magnificent—even against Siren players. We just need to maintain that lead.
We have to kill Putio as soon as he pops. Given the case where Putio dies, we’re working on Absolutezero, Putio returns to the combat zone, and Absolutezero is still alive, switch targets to Putio. Kill him. Get rid of him. I don’t want to see that guy alive in Ballista again. Just kill him. This would eventually deplete Lilyrose’s MP. If I’m on WAR, I’ll try my best to count his MP. If I suspect a Convert drawing near, I’ll hold my Provokes for a bit, and as soon as I see that Convert, he’s as good as dead. If we successfully kill Lilyrose after Putio’s consecutive deaths, it’s checkmate. Keep note that Lilyrose’s RDM has about 800 MP. If someone would like to count along with me, that would be great.
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Most importantly, keep in mind that this isn’t a strict procedure but rather a general guideline. In actual play, there are too many changing variables to account for, so I respect everyone’s decision making in response to the current situation on the battlefield.
This tactical forecast—which wasn’t really too “tactical” and not much of a “forecast” either—was brought to you by Yours Truly. Hope you enjoyed it. You better enjoyed and read every last word of it. Let’s win the next one.
By now, we’ve already played countless Diorama games either from random practice sessions or legit games with the JP.
As mentioned several times in our LS before, items (quarried expendables)—such as Megalixirs, Revitalizers, Body Boosts, and Carnal Incenses—play a prevalent role in achieving victory. In fact, these items prove to be so significant that they can evidently offset skill differences between players.
Throughout the many Diorama matches that we’ve played, there have been several instances where multiple people have been able to quarry multiple Revitalizers. However, cases like these hardly ever occur during official matches (OMs). People can argue that quarrying powerful items is a luck based phenomena. That may be partially true, but other factors, such as distance between the player and the Rook(s), play an evident role in quarrying. The shorter the distance between the player and the Rook, the lesser the likelihood of obtaining petras but the greater the likelihood of obtaining expendable items. The reverse is also applicable: Quarrying further away from the Rooks increases the chances of obtaining petras (40% maximum) and decreases the chances of obtaining [powerful] items.
Relative Rook distance is usually assumed to be the sole quarrying factor, but after multitudes of Diorama games, this claim deems quite superficial. During some unfavorable matches in Meriphataud Mountains, there were times when one of the three rounds is obviously lost. One of the best strategic moves in these situations is to give up the round, rush to the Rook, and quarry for stronger items, hoping to turn the tables in the following round. Although items like Body Boosts are commonly quarried in OMs, it is exponentially rarer to quarry higher tier items like Revitalizers and Megalixirs. During Diorama games, on the other hand, Revitalizers are somehow more commonly quarried—even at distances seemingly “far” from the Rook. Witnessing and experiencing this on more than a few occasions leaves me curious of this issue.
The Diorama games that most people are accustomed to are the typical 20 minute matches of 5:5. Lately, though, we’ve been playing smaller games of 2:2 ~ 4:4 to accommodate for lack of cooperation and/or interest with most JP players. Smaller sized games were continued to be played at the 20 minute duration; however, that much time proved to be too tedious for a reduced match size. Because of this, the duration of smaller sized games has been reduced from 20 minutes to 15 minutes. I might be delusional, but from this deduction in match length, Revitalizer usages seem even more prevalent. Keep in mind that Revitalizers still and most definitely appear in 20 minute games (such as the games in which Dario and Elegy spammed Benediction). This leaves me to believe that the total game duration is associated with quarrying items, especially since Revitalizer spamming is hardly seen during OMs on the contrary.
With these observations, I conclude with three notable factors that contribute to quarrying powerful items:
1) Quarrying closer to the Rook. [proven]
2) Smaller match size. [proposed]
3) Reduced match duration. [proposed]
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“Aight, V, why the hell are you talking about this *** anyway?”
Well, my friend, Mami (Yes, it sounds like a silly name in English, but it’s beautiful in Japanese—literally) aka Miyuto/Merlia suggested that it takes skill to quarry good items, as skill is to luck and luck is to skill. In a smaller sized setting, one Megalixir or Revitalizer can steer a relatively even match to the user’s favor. Choosing to quarry for a petra or a powerful item is a decision that the player has to make. In which case, the player has to decide whether to quarry closer or further away from the Rook. Obtaining a powerful item in place of a petra potentially pushes your team’s score back one or two points; however, the win will be marginally easier. Aside from where to quarry, the player also needs to decide when to quarry. Quarrying at the wrong times can lead to devastating results, such as giving the enemy a guaranteed WS hit and so forth. After deep contemplation, I must admit that being able to quarry good items is definitely associated with some skill. Keep in mind that quarrying for powerful items becomes increasingly significant in smaller sized settings (Diorama) and is less of a necessity in larger and longer duration games (OMs).
So next time during Diorama, don’t just quarry blindly. Think twice before quarrying—what are you trying to quarry for?
Sally, calm yo *** down. Although this post may be intimidating to read due to its traumatic length, I hope that you, the reader, will do your job and—yes—read this post entirely and carefully. If you play Ballista, I guarantee that it will be worth your time. If you don’t play Ballista, read it anyway. For the shits and giggles. Mostly the shits.
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In the past week, I’ve been busy with mundane routines of the notorious phenomenon commonly known as ‘IRL’, but during my downtime from FFXI, I’ve been brainstorming a few notable thoughts and ideas in regards to—you’ve guessed it—Ballista. Between the few NA players in my LS, two novel terms have been coined in order to describe and categorize Ballista aptitude more effectively: ‘battle skill’ and ‘technical skill’.
More or less, the term ‘battle skill’ is quite self-explanatory. Battle skill, as the name implies, refers to the raw finesse of the user to maneuver and persist in combat. This includes the ability to predict and evade enemy WSs, as well as executing job abilities—especially Third Eye—and WSs with precision.
Technical skill, on the other hand, is a term that was somewhat recently coined in order to better characterize the styles of certain players. It would be best described as ‘quarrying technique’: when and where to quarry. Since this ‘quarrying technique’ is definitive and explicit to Ballista, it’s usually overlooked. When the general public—or anyone for that matter—thinks of ‘PvP’, fighting and killing other players to win is typically the first thought that comes to mind. However, Ballista differs in that the objective is to score more petras (points) than the opposing team—much like a sport. Because of this prevailing fact, technical skill should be taken more into consideration. (As a side note, I believe it should also include the timing of items, such as using incenses—carnal, celestial, and spiritual.)
Aside from battle skill and technical skill, I would like to coin another term that includes communication and cooperativeness—or teamwork (for lack of better words). This has been discussed several times already, but I don’t quite remember if a term was coined for this skill. This skill entails notifying teammates of the enemies’ petra counts, the player’s own petra count and TP, calling targets, and executing WSs in unison with teammates to create spike damage or skillchains in order to cause an immediate drop in an enemy’s HP. Those who have played the highest form of Ballista in Diorama should already have a strong understanding of the importance of spike damage. To list a few reasons, spike damage (1) evokes panic and alert to both the target and the opposing team as a whole and (2) can prevent the target to escape or recover—either by items, cures, or job ability (Charka?). A valid name for this skill could perhaps be communication skill, but it sounds too lame for my taste. Vocal skill maybe? Eh—no, that reminds me of American Idol. If anyone has appropriate suggestions, please feel free to voice it, but for now, I’ll refer to this as ‘communication skill’. (Another side note: communication skills also imply leadership.)
Although it’s less significant, a fourth relevant term would be dedication. Within the black LS, Irvines and Lily would probably be the best examples of dedicated players. Dedication includes devoting time and gil to Ballista, such as augmenting and attending Diorama events. People may think that dedication may not directly affect the overall skill of a player, but it certainly drives one to improve, grow stronger, and even innovate new Ballista ideas. Moreover, attending matches keeps a player in ‘good shape’. It’s like hitting the gym to workout. Sort of. I don’t know about other people’s cases, but I get sloppy after a week without playing Ballista. Both my movements and reaction speed become considerably impaired, and I usually end up looking like I’m still cruising in ’04. In that aspect, I would acknowledge that dedication does indeed affect a Ballista player’s overall skill.
“Aight, V, I’ve been playing Ballista for years and already know this ***inside and out. Why the hell are you bringing it up now?”
Very good question, my friend. Overtime, I’ve noticed prominent differences in the play styles between the black LS and us, and I’m sure that I’m not the only one who has realized this either. It’s evident that we concentrate our training on battle skill and communication skill. Almost everything that we’ve discussed in terms of Ballista improvements involved dodging WSs, Third Eye, executing WSs, calling targets, notifying teammates of petra counts or Rook moves, and so forth. Very little has been directed to technical skill. In other words, our overall play style is rather raw for the most part.
Players from the black LS, however, do quite the opposite. They apply their technical skill to gather high tier items, such as Revitalizers, Giant’s Drinks, and Megalixirs, in order to win the game. As previously mentioned, the term ‘technical skill’ is still relatively new. The primary reason for coining this term was to be able to describe the black LS players better. It is ‘their’ style after all. Quarrying is usually seen as a method of acquiring petra and not necessarily items, and on top of that, it’s based on luck—or so people think. It has come to Ballista community’s attention that it’s a technique—a skill. How is it that they’re able to spam Eagle Eye Shots and Spirit Surges in multiple matches so consistently? It’s a skill. Their style of play allows them to win the game much more smoothly than those who have a weaker understanding of quarrying technique. With an arsenal of powerful items, they’re able to survive longer which implies that they’re less susceptible to losing their TP due to death and have higher probabilities of finishing off their targets, acquiring gatebreach, and scoring.
“Dude, you’re boring the ***out of me. What’s your point?”
Sally, calm yo *** down. Looking back at past matches both with and against the black LS players, they show lower battle and communication skills but have technical skills that undoubtedly surpasses ours. These differences in the variations of Ballista skills between the black LS and us have become gradually apparent. Despite the significant differences, they tend to win more matches than us due to their ability to access higher tier items. With that said, I recall a certain series of Diorama matches, where T and Apollon/Mrrng were both playing DRG. He actually mentioned these games in his previous post. T was able to Third Eye and evade Apo’s WSs but still lost to his consistent Revitalizer/Spirit Surge spam consecutive times.
I also recall games in which the black LS players failed to quarry higher tier items, and needless to say, it was like a walk in a park. I remember one match in particular that abides to that claim. It was a recent 3:3 game in which the jobs were WAR, DRG, and PLD. The participants were initially Aya (WAR), Saraphy (WAR), T (DRG), Lily (DRG), Mami (PLD), and Yours Truly (PLD). No offense (even though this is offensive), but we all know that Saraphy blows hard. Aya raped his WAR every game. Eventually, he gave up, and Varier (on his Galka—of course) substituted in. It just so happened that the Herald shuffled the teams to Aya, T, and I vs Varier, Lily, and Mami. At first, even I was a little worried because Varier’s WAR is quite skilled, as I’ve sparred with him before. Unfortunately for Varier, Aya showed no mercy and ripped his penis off. And his balls. Neither teams were able to quarry game-changing items that match, so it was a raw fight of battle skill. The final score ended up to be 16 – 3 (our way, of course). Go team. And yes, I do realize that Mami is part of our LS, but this example was just to show the differences in expertise.
“tl;dr afk”
Well, if you’ve stayed with me this far, you’re in luck because I’m going to provide brief overview on technical skill and the methodology of quarrying higher tier items.
Here’s an attempt to categorize the Ballista items into tiers. High tier items would probably include Revitalizer, Giant’s/Wizard’s Drink, Megalixir, Max-Potion, and Hi-Elixir. Daedalus Wing, Carnal Incense, Pro-Ether, Elixir, Healing/Mana Powder, and Body/Mana Boost would be considered mid tier while everything else is low tier.
The quarrying topic has already been discussed within the JP Ballista community, and certain players—namely Selt and Irvines, as T mentioned—have already cracked the code for quarrying high tier items. Since this information spread like wildfire across the JP Ballista community, a number of players are close to mastering or have already mastered this technique. It’s a phenomenon in which they call ‘hyper’. Here are a few links to Selt’s and Irvines’ blog entries that concern this matter. Apollon also wrote a blog entry regarding quarrying, but it was difficult to determine what he was saying through a mere online translator.
Moreover, Selt uploaded a video of 45 minutes of quarrying to test and provide proof of quarrying being more of a skill rather than a head-on gamble, as shown below. Of course, I don’t expect anyone to watch more than a minute of it. Well, actually, even a minute is a bit of a stretch.
So the technique is actually quite simple, but discovering it just took a while—somewhat like the discover of ‘F=ma’. There are a few prominent factors that increase the odds of a player quarrying high tier items:
(1) The player must accumulate about one to three deaths.
(2) Expended job abilities. Having job abilities used up, especially 2-hour, significantly increases the chances of quarrying a Revitalizer. I believe Selt was able to quarry 10 Revitalizers in 9 minutes.
(3) Using a Petra Shovel supposedly helps.
(4) Being on the losing team helps but plays a lesser role compared to (1) and (2). I suppose it’s comparable to a losing situation in a game of Mario Kart. When you’re losing—like cruising in 8th place—you have a greater chance of obtaining the thunderbolt that turns everyone into munchkins. Sweet item. Sweet game.
Although many trials of testing have been conducted, these are still mere theories, but despite that, by applying these basic steps, a player can head near the Rook and receive consistent quarry results like such:
Players from the black LS have been practicing this strategy since we first met them. With such consistent results from following the quarrying strategy, is it still a theory? Is quarrying based on skill or luck? Easy? It surely sounds that way, but T makes a valid point from his previous blog entry: “Although this seems very easy, incorporating it into your usual match play is what makes the difference.”
Now that I think about it, I’ve always wondered why Apollo (DRG) asked me (PLD) not to cure him during the initial fight. He intentionally died. I suppose it was to return to the battlefield quicker, as he claimed, and acquire one death in order to improve his chances of quarrying high tier items. However, just the thought of wanting to die in Ballista in such a manner seems counter-intuitive; people are caring much less whether they live or die. It’s like saying, “If I die, I’ll just come back with a Revitalizer or Megalixir to make up for it.” Needless to say, I’m not very fond of it.
As previously mentioned, the black LS players have been practicing this strategy for a while now and have made it the ultimate theme for Ballista. Since this strategy is open to the internet, “newer JP players to the Diorama scene seem to try to focus on the item strategy before even learning the original ways that have been honed for years,” says T. “It’s a sad devolution of play.” Despite their lesser battle skill, black LS players have been able to obtain consistent wins with the quarrying technique. It’s definitely not an overwhelmingly difficult technique to master; battle skill is much harder to improve upon. If we’re able to tap into ‘hyper’ mode more freely, readily, and naturally, it would be bad news for them. While fighting near the Rook, take a bow (as Rihanna would say) and give quarrying a shot. That Revitalizer just might pop. Then, you’ll be like Chris Brown and destroy worlds.
Anyway, aside from the Fenrir style match between Chris Brown and Rihanna, let’s return to the Lakshmi scene. Currently, the situation appears to be a high battle, low technical skill group against a low battle, high technical skill group, and the pros and cons of the styles regarding both groups are quite apparent. In order to be a well-balanced player, all necessary skills need to be polished through practice and finding ways to improve. There are also other important factors that constitute a skilled player. One of which would include the versatility to play a variety of jobs [well]—especially being able to switch between front and back line jobs. However, I’m aiming to describe a skill much rawer—more raw?—than that. Rawr. I’m looking to coin a final term that I would like to call ‘sharpness’. This brings me to a Starcraft documentary by National Geographic that I watched way back in my days of youth.
“*** Starcraft.”
Bare with me; it’s relevant, I promise. Professional gamers are typically referred to as ‘pro-gamers’. No surprise. In the documentary, scientists were startled upon the lightning fast reflexes of professional Starcraft players who have APMs (actions per minute) of 300-400 or above, whereas casual players could barely reach APMs of 100. Scientists ran an experiment with two people playing Starcraft, a pro-gamer and a casual player—who we’ll call Bob and George respectively for convenience. Here’s the broadcast word for word, besides the players’ names:
“[Bob's] superhuman abilities have aroused the interest of the medical community. Doctors are curious to find out if it’s genetics that make a pro-gamer special. With a casual player [George] as a control subject, they’re about to probe the secrets to [Bob's] brain. What makes him so extraordinary? The players are led into a room, where they play Starcraft against each other. When the game starts to pick up, radioactive glucose is injected into their bloodstream. The more active parts of their brains get more blood flow and hence more glucose. Minutes later, the players undergo a brain scan. The results could explain why some people play for hours everyday but never achieve the same level of skill as pro-gamers.
The results surprise the doctors. The scan shows that two parts of [Bob's] brain were most active—the frontal lobe (responsible for reasoning and decision making), where huge amounts of stimuli were being processed, and the limbic area (responsible for memory and instinct)—which seems to suggest that his decisions were being made instinctively. Playing Starcraft to [Bob] feels almost like typing to a secretary—the fingers instinctively finding the keys. The amateur player [George], on the other hand, was using the part of his brain responsible for vision. Like everyone else, he was consciously deciding his response to every movement he saw on the screen, but [Bob's] lightning reflexes will probably slow down by the age of 25.”
So we can see that you’re going to blow once you hit 25. Just kidding. Moving on. From the study, the difference between the skill levels of Bob and George were determined by their brain functionality. Bob’s decisions were primarily processed by his limbic system, whereas George’s were processed by his visual cortex. Even if George dedicates himself to play day in and day out, he will never be able to reach the same level of skill as Bob due to the different functionality of their brains.
Relating this idea to Ballista, there are some players who seem naturally talented and skilled, whereas others never seem to improve, despite the amount of practice they receive. Those naturally talented players possess a certain ‘sharpness’ that others lack, and such sharpness allows them to do extremes. Some examples include (1) predicting enemy maneuvers with precision, (2) being alert of when an enemy is about to score (especially the famous invisible-hide-in-Rook scoring technique), (3) evading WSs one after another, (4) quarrying and using items at the most convenient and perfect times, and (5) being able to score petras with everyone and their mothers on their ***. Somehow. Those are only a few examples of the raw attribute that I call sharpness, and there are certainly countless situations where this sharpness can be applied. Again, it’s a trait that only a few possess and many lack. I’m not trying to discourage anyone from improving in Ballista, but it’s not certain whether it can be ‘learned’ or ‘acquired’ through mere practice; it almost seems innate. With that said, this ‘sharpness’ could potentially be the prevailing factor—the gap—that distinguishes between the ‘really good’ and the ‘truly great’.
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So overall, a Ballista player’s aptitude can be broken down into five categories of measurement: battle skill, technical skill, communication skill, dedication, and sharpness. Without doubt, having exceptional and exceeding proficiency in these categories would make one an extremely talented, ‘truly great’ player. In terms of the few of us improving as a group, we should direct most attention to technical skill, as we’re too ‘raw’ as a whole. Communication still can also use a bit of work, too, but that’s an easier skill to improve upon. Other than that, I would say that we’re in good standings regarding overall aptitude.
I don’t really have much else to say here. Everything that needed to be said has already been said unless I carelessly neglected something. Some ideas may have been poorly phrased, so if anything is still unclear, let me know.
Well, folks, this blog entry is coming to an end. Even though this is a traumatically long post, I hope that you took the time to read it because I took the time to write it—durh. Anyway, thanks for tuning in, and I hope that you gained something from reading this entry. May the product of mass times acceleration be with you.
“HOLY ***TOO LONG DIDNT READ AND WHO THE *** IS SALLY”
The topic of quarrying has been commonly discussed within the Ballista community, primarily regarding ‘hyper’, a mode in which a player is able to quarry excessive high tier items. As previously mentioned in Strategy 005, prominent factors that supposedly increase the odds of a player quarrying high tier items include: (1) the accumulation of one to three deaths, (2) expended job abilities, (3) the use of a petra shovel, and (4) being on the losing team.
By now, it’s clear that these conjectures are most likely true. However, exactly how many deaths are required? The difference between one and three deaths is quite significant, so is it one, two, or three? Furthermore, is there a certain ‘window of opportunity’ before this ‘hyper’ state ‘wears off’? Does acquiring kills affect anything?
In order to answer my curiosity, further investigation of ‘hyper’ was done with Aya’s help. Throughout the experimentation, job abilities were kept expended with the exception of low reset duration abilities, such as Provoke, Third Eye, and Hasso. Quarrying for items was done near the Rook with changing the quarrying location every so often. The quarrying results are as follows:
Petra Eater
X-Potion
Petra
Nothing
X-Potion
Body Boost
Celestial Incense
Petra
Body Boost
Eye Drop
Poison Potion
Revitalizer
Elixir
Spiritual Incense
Remedy
Nothing
Celestial Incense
Nothing
Poison Potion
Spiritual Incense
Giant’s Drink
Nothing
Petra
Eye Drop
Eye Drop
Pamama au Lait
Hi-Elixir
Petra
Poison Potion
Prism Powder
Demoralizer
Elixir
Megalixir
Body Boost
Elixir
Elixir
Revitalizer
Poison Potion
Lethe Water +1
Barthunder Ointment
Barblizzard Ointment
Petra
Revitalizer
Revitalizer
Petra Eater
Lethe Water
Poison Potion
Spiritual Incense
Elixir
Demoralizer
Revitalizer
Poison Potion
Revitalizer
Lethe Water
Barwater Ointment
Body Boost
Celestial Incense
Demoralizer
Revitalizer
X-Potion
Revitalizer
Barthunder Ointment
Pamama au Lait
Hi-Potion
Baraero Ointment
Poison Potion
X-Potion
Hi-Elixir
Eye Drop
Revitalizer
Nothing
Hi-Elixir
Drachenessence
Elixir
Petra Eater
Lethe Water
Nothing
Carnal Incense
Poison Potion
Nothing
Eye Drop
Barblizzard Ointment
Nothing
Drachenessence
Body Boost
Nothing
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The key to the experiment is consistency. From the data, what struck me the most was how common Daedalus Wings and Carnal Incenses were. Although they’re both useful items, they can be obtained even without a single death. Another interesting find was that it seems as though a player must acquire at least one death before having access to Body Boosts. The player who didn’t die was never able to quarry a single Body Boost; however, as seen in trials 5, 6, 19, 22, and 23, a player who has died will have a decent chance of quarrying a Body Boost within the first 10 attempts. Revitalizers don’t seem to come at a steady rate until the third death. Although it’s still possible, it’s unlikely to quarry a Revitalizer with only one or two deaths. Three deaths appear to be the minimum amount in order to achieve ‘hyper’, as depicted in trials 43 and 44. Trials 39 to 42 had nowhere near the quarrying power as 43 and 44.
The amount of kills doesn’t seem affect anything. The ‘killer’ in this experiment received no deaths and was mostly only able to quarry low tier items.
There doesn’t appear to be some sort of ‘duration’ for ‘hyper’. From trial 43, the true ‘hyper’ didn’t ‘activate’ until much later on—which suggests that as soon as the mode ‘hyper’ is achieved, it should last the duration of the game.
Score doesn’t seem to matter too much. As trial 5 shows, a player can still obtain several good items with both teams having the same score. The next course of testing would have to include achieving ‘hyper’ while on the winning team—which is quite possible, as it has been several times already. Of course, word is much more credible with concrete evidence rather than hearsay.
From the analysis, the two dominant factors that affect hyper are (1) the accumulation of three* deaths and (2) expended job abilities.
As a side note, I also wonder if using items, such as ointments, instead of tossing them away affect quarry results. That will probably be difficult and tedious to test, though.
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These quarry results remind me of a few recent 2:2 hako games that we had. It was Evv and Loblolly against Aya and me. Hey, don’t blame me. Evv insisted. Anyway, since Loblolly lacked experience, sufficient gear, and SAM subjob (DRK/SCH), the only way for Evv (SAM) to win was to achieve ‘hyper’. Based on this fact, Aya (DRG) and I (DRK) decided to avoiding killing Evv and leave him hanging with roughly 25% HP as much as possible. Despite that Aya and I were winning, we ended up getting much better items than Evv. In fact, as memory serves, I believe Aya was able to quarry a few Revitalizers and Megalixirs. Evv, on the other hand, wasn’t able to quarry powerful items of any sort, as he only died once or twice more than half way through the game.
Furthermore, looking back at my most recent video of a hako match posted on my Youtube channel, I achieved four deaths before being able to quarry Revitalizers consistently (total 3). However, there are some cases in which a player does not die three times and yet is still able to quarry Revitalizers consistently—such as in the case of Elegy in this match. Despite that he only died once, he was able to use Benediction three or four times. In that case, luck was probably on his side, as three deaths is definitely the spot-on number.
As we all know, ‘hyper’ has been a hot topic for quite some time now. Despite that some evidence of its functionality has already been recognized, there has still be controversy on its true ‘activation’ requirements. It was originally proposed in Strategy 006 that the prerequisites were the following: (1) the accumulation three deaths, (2) expended job abilities, (3) the use of a petra shovel, and (4) being on the losing team. However, from further experimentation, not all of these clauses are true. In fact, it seems as though the requirement of three deaths has been proven otherwise. Time after time, many of us have witnessed players achieving ‘hyper’ in Diorama with only a single death. On the contrary, it is seemingly ‘more difficult’ to achieve hyper in OMs (official matches). It turns out that during the original testing, the match duration was set to one hour while standard Diorama games are either 15 or 20 minutes in length. A plausible explanation is that there is a mathematical relationship between the game duration and the number of deaths required to achieve ‘hyper’. In OMs, perhaps the three deaths rule still holds true, but in Diorama, only one death seems to be necessary to achieve ‘hyper’—at least in terms of obtaining Revitalizers.
During the original tests, I distinctly remember a number of instances, where there seemed to be a state beyond ‘hyper’. At that time, I had thought that it was merely luck, but after further testing, it appears that getting those dozens of Revitalizers was far from a fluke. There’s actually a methodology to it. These tests suggest that there are only two requirements to achieve this extreme form of ‘hyper’—or perhaps to achieve ‘hyper’ at all: (1) receive one death and (2) expend applicable job abilities. The difference between the ‘regular hyper’ and the ‘extreme hyper’ is that in order to achieve the latter, job abilities must immediately be expended after the use of a Revitalizer. I’ve recently uploaded a video that portrays the reality, authenticity, and existence of this so-called ‘extreme hyper’, dubbed ‘x-hyper’:
Revitalizers were quarried at the following relative time stamps of the video: 1:39, 2:38, 5:58, 6:48, 7:40, 8:28, 9:15, 10:41, 11:01, 12:15, 13:00, 13:23, 13:59, 16:42, 17:06, 17:39. Of course, it is easier to view these on the actual Youtube page, as the website allows for instant and exact snapping to the desired time stamps. In this test, a total of 16 Revitalizers were quarried in a 20 minute game. The ‘x-hyper’ seemed to be triggered by the immediate expenditure of applicable job abilities after each Revitalizer use. By doing this, Revitalizers can be quarried in approximate succession—usually one to three quarries after the initial Revitalizer. Such an overwhelming Revitalizer count in a short duration is rarely seen in actual play because most people tend to save their 2 hour ability and Revitalizer for a potentially significant moment later in the match. In other words, it seems illogical and absurd to blast away a job’s strongest abilities for no apparent reason. The intuition of preserving those abilities and making ‘better’ [apparent] use of them is the more realistic reason why almost all players do not achieve the ‘x-hyper’ status.
The other reason is that the ‘x-hyper’ technique is seemingly applicable to a low selection of jobs. The jobs that are more likely to achieve ‘x-hyper’ are those which have instantaneous [and useful] abilities, including the 2 hour. One example of a job that can make full use of this technique is RNG, as it has infamously powerful job abilities, as well as the capability of attacking and quarrying simultaneously. Essentially, a RNG would be quarrying much more frequently than other DD jobs—which gives it more chances to quarry Revitalizers and consequently a higher likelihood of achieving ‘hyper’ or even ‘x-hyper’. The RNG could simply waste away his job abilities after using a Revitalizer and continuing quarrying, hoping to get hold of a replacement Revitalizer.
Other jobs, such as MNK, are less subject to achieving ‘x-hyper’ because the functionality of their 2 hour abilities. Unlike Eagle Eye Shot, Hundred Fists is not instantaneous. It would probably be too much of a waste to use Hundreds Fists and immediately returning to quarrying. Besides, it is more likely that the MNK is already engaged with an enemy during the time Hundred Fists is activated, making it less convenient for the MNK to quarry.
Anyway, the bottom line is that achieving ‘x-hyper’, the technique that allows quarrying Revitalizers in succession, is no longer a mystery. The greatest concern is that this technique requires little to no skill while providing the one user the strength of an army. If they have knowledge of this, newer and less skilled players would most likely attempt to rely on this strategy rather than focusing on the fundamentals of Ballista simply because ‘x-hyper’ or even ‘hyper’ is easy to learn. Although some of the many Ballista mysteries have been defogged, instead of improving, players seem to be ‘devolving’ in skill, relying too heavily on a simple, but powerful, tactic that any amateur player can pick up in a matter of moments. Originally, dying has always had negative connotations; however, these days, it has been increasingly more acceptable because, after all, it’s a requirement to achieve ‘hyper’. Many players hardly attempt to dodge or Third Eye WSs anymore, and in many cases, they ask not to be cured for a certain duration of the game—all this for the sole purpose of having a shot at ‘hyper’. In a nutshell, the Ballista today is almost completely centered around the concept of ‘hyper’.
Well, the cat’s out of the bag now. The ‘hyper’ case has finally been cracked [in English], so go ahead and enjoy the power of ‘x-hyper’ [without forgetting the fundamentals of Ballista, of course].
Before I start, I realize that most of my audience consists of NA players who strongly believe that they’re almighty and possess some sort of unshakable skill in Ballista. However, in order to improve in anything, it’s necessary to admit self flaws and leave an open mind for new ideas. Seeing as most NA players struggle with acknowledging the fundamentals of the game due to a variety of reasons—ignorance, stubbornness, and closed-mindedness to name a few—I took the liberty to write a resourceful Ballista guide for those who may be experiencing troubles in terms of improving.
To begin with improvement of any sort, an individual must determine his goal. With a particular goal in mind, identifying appropriate measures and adjusting oneself in attaining that goal become much more evident. Consequently, results of improvement may become more noticeable, as reflecting on that goal. Try to set a goal that would benefit or even apply to a team environment. Goals like wanting to solo every single known Ballista player in a one on one duel will probably lead to a dead end and result in little to no improvement in terms of Ballista skill. A common goal shared between several well-respected Ballista players is to reach their fullest potential with a specific job, which is an excellent goal to strive towards. Having a similar goal to such would most likely put a player on the right path to improvement.
Since Ballista does revolve around fights between players, people could easily become upset or irritated with losses. As such, the players’ frustration could quickly proceed to vile-mouthed arguments, which should best be avoided. Essentially, it’s important to maintain composure and good sportsmanship. This leads to the topic of having the right mentality and attitude to improve in Ballista. If an individual were to improve in anything, he must first desire to improve and stay open to suggestions and new ideas. Most importantly, though, all false beliefs must be discarded. Indeed, some players show poor performance simply because they lack knowledge of the game, but having false knowledge, on the other hand, could very well be worse than having no knowledge at all. Most NA players have numerous misconceptions of the game, ideas that are just flat-out wrong, which can inevitably stunt their improvement, and thus, despite that they play a million games of Ballsita, they’ll still be at a low skill level. This is presumably due to the fact that most NA Ballista players learn how to play from the wrong sources, such as people from random public forums who know little about the game. Unfortunately, other than the content provided within this blog, there are no other reliable sources for Ballista in English anywhere on the internet. Thus, people are stuck with my LS in terms of a reliable source. There are, however, many trustworthy Japanese sources, but unless fluent in Japanese, most of those sources would be difficult to make sense of, even with using Google Translate.
It’s imperative that players understand where they stand amongst others. In order to have a reasonable gauge, Ballista experience is obviously required, but modesty and admitting weakness are perhaps even greater necessities. Without admitting weakness, a player will never have an accurate gauge of where he stands amongst others and therefore unable to distinguish the veterans from the novices. Once able to differentiate the skill levels of other players accurately, pay close attention to what the better players do because even the most subtle of actions can change the tide of the game. In a nutshell, it’s usually best to learn from the more experienced players. It would be a waste of time to learn years worth of Ballista strategies through self efforts when they could be learned from veteran players through simpler and more efficient means. Despite being able to identify the better players, one notable problem is how to learn from them—other than through observation. There are only two other ways: (1) ask them for advice or (2) fight them in a fixed team setting in Diorama. Otherwise, without direct contact, observation is the only method of learning from them, whether it be in-game or in videos. Honestly, many well-respected players have Ballista videos uploaded on their Youtube channels that are open to the public, and studying their games is highly productive in terms of improving.
Watching veterans play also poses another problem: people just have no idea of what to look for while watching. Since an average player typically lacks understanding of higher level play, he can only comprehend as much as his current knowledge allows him to, unable to notice the subtle actions that make veterans so skilled. As they perceive professional games no different than ordinary play, their interest in continuing to watch quickly diminishes. They can hardly understand the occurrences in their own games, so relating to games that are played at levels several magnitudes higher is impossible for them. Perhaps this is due to the meager number of games that they have played. In other words, the average player has not played enough games to have a strong grasp of the basic principles of Ballista, lacking the key mental framework.
When asking for advice, anyone would answer with some variation of the cliche ‘practice makes perfect’. Although it may sound cheesy, this saying holds undeniable truth. Playing more games, especially with veteran players, is absolutely one of the most effective methods of improving. It promotes pattern recognition and gradually develops a mental framework for Ballista in the subconscious.
Despite playing more games, though, a player will have a difficult time advancing to understanding veteran level play without reflection and discussion; there must be a balance between practice and theory. It’s true that a player would be able to recognize various patterns through playing several Ballista matches and become aware of which actions are effective. However, they may still have a gap in their understanding. Although they know what is right, they may not know why it’s right without reflection. Analyzing why certain strategies work is just as important as playing, as the blend between practice and theory allows players to escalate from ordinary to extraordinary.
It has been mentioned a few times that playing with stronger players is effective in terms of improving, but most people fail to realize its imperativeness. Playing with veterans validates whether or not a specific strategy will work. As previously stated, many NA players have serious misconceptions of the game because they tend to play with amateurs. They play against people who have practically no knowledge of the game, so—of course—even the lowest level of maneuvers or strategies will annihilate them. This evolves into a greater predicament: they believe that their ideas are correct, since they reinforce their beliefs by crushing clueless opponents. Because of this, most NA lack an accurate gauge on the strengths and weaknesses of various jobs, claiming that <job X> is stronger than <job Y>, but in actuality, the strength should be based more on the user. Moreover, allies should cover for each other’s job weaknesses in Ballista anyway, as it is a team game. If they were to deploy similar tactics against experienced players, they would hopefully realize that they don’t work and develop a new strategy that does.
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Well, even though there’s a lot more to be said, I think I’ll end it here for now. I apologize if it’s a bit abrupt, but hopefully, I’ll be able to continue later on and delve deeper into strategies. Since I wrote this on a whim, I also apologize that my ideas are all over the place. Also, please, let me know if this was any help, and keep in mind that I’m open to any suggestions on other approaches I could take in writing the first legit Ballista handbook. Thing. In English.
In summary:
• Set a goal
• Discard false beliefs
• Learn from trustworthy sources
• Learn from more experienced players
• Practice and reflect
• Play against stronger opponents
Next topics of discussion:
• Play every job
• Don’t cut corners
• Basic, advanced, and undiscovered strategies
Also, for those who are having trouble with equipment sets, Evv’s ffxiah item sets will provide a better idea of what you should be using, and check the Lv60 Sync page for guidelines of how equipment syncs to Lv60.
Anyway, it’s 3am again. 3 large blog posts in 3 consecutive days -_-. Time for bed. Good night.
This is the program I use regarding the official match schedule.
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For those really dedicated, we run a LS that focuses on playing with JP players in the diorama. If you are interested in becoming a member of Ballista Revolution; please don't hesitate to contact us, thank you.
It has come to our attention that some players may view this website or our videos but never come forward and present themselves. Even several of our current members admit that they were shy and hesitant before introducing themselves to us. As the group leader, I really want to make it clear that we want you to come play Ballista! Even if you’ve never played a single match or don’t have any level 60 gear, it doesn’t matter. Take that first step, and I guarantee you’ll enjoy what we have to offer.
P.S. To those who may have quit FFXI or have lost interest in the grind, consider trying Ballista. With us, Ballista is a completely separate game from FFXI. The mechanics and strategies are totally different. You can have a fresh start in a whole ‘new game’, and your hard earned gil and job levels give you a nice head start!
Like most FFXI players, I cherished the many challenges of the game since I first started playing, from completing the subjob quest to limit breaks. After hours upon hours and days upon days of tedious play, I finally reached the maximum job level, found myself a loving linkshell, and was able to participate in the endgame events in which I always dreamed of doing. However, those endgame days were short lived and slowly faded away, as I found a new purpose of playing FFXI.
I found Ballista.
When I first started playing, it was a blast, killing friends and foes on the blood-stained battlefield. It was an experience like no other. Of course, it wasn't always fun and games. I had my share of the bitter taste of defeat several times, but that didn't stop me from playing. In fact, those defeats motivated me to improve as a player. Over time, though, as new features were introduced to the game, the majority of the few who played Ballista gradually returned to endgame. I admit that even I did. Soon, the thought of Ballista escaped my conscious mind, but I always had a feeling that it was still lurking somewhere within my cloud of thoughts.
I was bored one day, browsing through many different sites on multiple windows of Google Chrome: Facebook, Gmail, Youtube, Redtube, etc. Somehow, I ended up doing a Google search for Ballista and came across a variety of Ballista videos. Most of them were of seemingly senseless '1 on 1 duels', but I stumbled upon some that just blew my mind away. They were from a Ballista LS known as BallistaRevolution, and from there, I was linked to their LS website. I discovered something completely out of the ordinary. Ballista teamplay? There are actually people who do this?
Immediately, I became a fan of their work and wanted to join their Ballista community. Although we were on different servers, I paid the transfer fee and hopped over to theirs without any regret. At first, I was a bit hesitant to speak with them; they seemed to play at an entirely different league than what I was used to. Eventually, I summoned what little courage I had at the time and went for the touchdown. Talking with them turned out easier than I originally thought. After introducing myself, my motives, and goals, my chances of joining their LS seemed more than likely, or so I thought. My Ballista aptitude was tested... rook guard, hyper, third eye ws dodging.. sprint ws dodging, poison>sleep timing.. communication... it was like a game within a game, but rather one so much deeper.
Currently, I'm a proud member of BallistaRevolution, a well-respected LS within the Ballista community.
I just wanted to share with everyone my passion for Ballista, and how those varieties of events influenced me.
I realize that this post is fairly long and completely understand if it was skimmed, but regardless, I humbly thank you for your time in hearing me out.
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I will supplement this thread with Ballista videos, screenshots, live streams and blog posts from our community.
I thank you all for your time and will be happy to answer any questions.
