To everyone who has read my Ballista related threads and posts, I sincerely thank you; the continued support has given me the motivation to continue for this long :)
There is a lot of love for this event, and my only wish is for the rest of the FFXI community to take over where the devs failed, and make this a player run event.
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!
I know that it has been a while, but I got a new video up. This time, I've added a brief analysis of what's going on during various time stamps, and hopefully, this will give more casual players some insight of what's occuring during the match.
I suggest viewing the video from YouTube for ease of timestamp navigation.
Soboro Sukehiro pre-hyper (http://vyiv.wordpress.com/2011/09/05/strategy-006/) trial runs are in effect.
Wyverns
PLD/WAR Southamerican (Jspromlx)
SAM/WAR Scudo (My alternate character used for Ballista, recently however, I have gifted this Character to Kayci.)
WAR/SAM Megume
DRK/SAM Weaponbreak
0:30 In my opinion, this is one of the best setups for pre-hyper SAM.
0:43 Incredibly fast and efficient provoke by Zirk that nullifies my attacks directed at the DRK or WAR(main targets).
1:14 I make the mistake of pressuring the PLD with a weaponskill, instead of the main targets.
1:28 My mistake in pressuring the PLD is evident here, as Weaponbreak luckily gets off a weaponskill on Zhouer to bridge the gap. As can be seen, the opposing team's DRK is full health, while the WAR has more than half HP.. we have a lot of catching up to do.
1:45 I still decide to pressure the PLD.. bad mistake.
2:10 Weaponbreak insists that we target the DRK.
2:45 Herald rook, almost 3 minutes into the reservation and the DRK is still alive.
3:16 Finally, the DRK is down. Excellent kiting by Kayci, and terrible mistake by me to not target her.
4:49 Knowing that he will be the target of the enemy's onslaught, Weaponbreak compensates for my long bind by bringing the enemies next to me.
5:13 A skillchain is often necessary to take down a defensive target.
5:38 One of the great things about pre-hyper SAM is the ability to keep Hasso + Berserk on.
6:22 Lethe water +1 by Teishi luckily bypasses my body boost. (Usually, you would refrain from using a body boost in the pre-hyper metagame, but I decided to try something different).
7:25 I keep a good distance from the rook so that I can have greater chances of digging up petras. In this situation, having a high petra count, with a body boost on almost forces the opposing team to kill me, and thus, activate hyper.
7:35 Weaponbreak decides to kill Teishi, I can only assume it is because; A) Keep the DD ratio in our favour. B) Minimize the opposition interrupting our scoring. C) Because he's Weaponbreak, *** AHHHHHHHHH. Teishi has a choice between returning to camp and waiting for recovery. Normally, it's best to choose whichever option will have you return to the battlefield the fastest, as you want to minimize the amount of time that you're 'removed' from the game.
7:59 Clutch provoke.
8:29 DD ratio is effectively 3:1.
8:40 As you can see in my TPParty plugin, all 3 of our DD had TP, so missing a weaponskill here was extremely bad for our momentum.
8:55 I decide to pressure Teishi in hopes that my teammates can dispatch the WAR with a skillchain.
9:29 DD ratio is back to 3:3.
10:14 Weaponbreak cleverly pulls the DD closer to our team's camp, I follow in an attempt to assist.
10:37 Bad situation to be in, the opposing team has GB and a multitude of petra, guarding the rook and recognizing target priority here becomes extremely important.
11:15 Thankfully, Lamian Kaman +1 is quick enough to interrupt Kayci's scoring here, and Teishi's leg sweep misses.
12:06 Once again my body boost stays intact after a lethe water +1 by Zirk.
12:51 It's important to remain focused during Ballista. At this point, Zirk lands a provoke on me, so I immediately switch target to him to prevent a cure 4 that's being casted.
13:40 Quick reflexes and awareness by Zhouer prevents me from scoring a clutch 2 petras.
14:10 With less than 2 minutes remaining in the match, I am aware that I might be the main target henceforth.
14:52 Scoring together is very efficient, as you can see, we have myself, the PLD, and soon to be DRK with 4 ON attempting to score with less than a minute left. During tight and competitive matches such as these, the result is often reached in the last remaining seconds.
15:28 Warcry interrupted the scoring attempt of one of my team members, however looking at the score it didn't seem to matter as 2/3 petra holders scored to take the lead.
Thanks for reading my in-depth analysis, hopefully this will help a few people watching the videos recognize what's happening.
As you can see, Ballista when played to its fullest is extremely competitive, challenging, and incredibly intense. Hopefully one day the general populace of FFXI players learns to understand, regardless of "No Rewards".
0:40 I move out of Action range before the match starts to prevent a provoke interrupting my quarry and or meditate.
0:55 The main target is the DRK. Giving a DRK breathing room in this type of configuration is very dangerous, as their mass arsenal of tools breaks down a team quite effectively; think bio2/poison2, bind, sleep, absorb-tp, aspir, etc. (Watch for effective use of these spells during the match.)
01:00 I am flashed, thus I have no reason to keep attacking for the duration of the effect. I disengage and quarry while shooting my bow simultaniously.
1:18 I am provoked by Zirk, so I stay attentive and switch target to not waste any melee hits. Reflexively, I provoke Zirk, succesfully interrupting his quarry(read; interrupting a quarry cuts the player's animation and nullifies any items or petra found, i.e. you find nothing).
1:49 The next target in this configuration was the WAR. The reasoning behind this is due in part to main job WAR having a 70% success rate of a provoke landing on a target (in Ballista, being provoked prevents any self-actions, likewise it forces you to target the player who provoked you for roughly 10-15 seconds.) WAR SJ receives a 30% success rate when provoking a target in Ballista.
2:06 It's good to be aware of your surroundings. Ballista is a game of awareness.
2:43 If a players is already under the "Provoked" status, additional successful provokes will have a "No effect on player" message.
2:48 Weaponskill evasion is identified as a skill in Ballista. In this particular case, Zhouer does a good job of staying mobile, and seems to instinctively use third eye as a means of weaponskill evasion. My impatience didn't help!
3:20 "1r" means 1 ire, roughly meaning; "Scoring 1" in Japanese. An adopted shortcut to relay information.
3:41 Interrupting a scoring attempt is important, but it is also important to take advantage of high traffic situations to score your own petra.
4:06 Samurai was the third target in our team's strategy, only to be killed in the dying moments of the game, or in the case of a high petra count carried 4+. To elaborate; killing a SAM in this type of match grants the effect of "Hyper" (For more information in regards to Hyper, please visit vyiv.wordpress.com/strategy/) effectively amplyfing the samurai into a one-man-army if executed correctly. Granting the SAM hyper in this case was a judgement call I made.
4:55 Where am I going? Branching further away from the Rook activates a higher chance of quarrying a petra -and- in this case, I am waiting for Teishi to re-surface so I can immediately apply pressure on to a -now- hyper activated SAM.
5:05 I know where you live Zirk!... ; ;
06:04 Zirk dies from DoT damage, this gives him a fresh MP pool if he decides to HP, and access to hyper.
6:13 Weaponbreak checks my petra count, Kayci being the excellent player that she is, weapon bashes him so that I can score.
6:30 Great weaponskill evasion reflexes by Weaponbreak, display of impatience on my behalf.
07:43 NICWE and Zhouer being sneaky.
8:36 Kayci and I attack the PLD so as to not break Zhouer's bind, while waiting for Megume to assist us.
11:14 Southamerican covers Zirk, the perks of a one handed sword is absolute quarry interruption, as long as engaged(unless provoked or stuned).
11:55 Just as Zhouer before him, Zirk hides inside of the rook so we're unable to identify when he attempts to score(it's evident when a player is targeting the rook and attempting to score by head movement).
12:35 Oh ***.. oh *** indeed. Zirk masterfully scores while Southamerican casts Cure IV on Kayci.
13:32 I use a Giant's Drink, in hopes my next quarry might be a megalixir, or hi-elixir.. highly unlikely, but not much hope was available at this time.
14:10 After I use a petra eater, I immediately sprint west knowing that the rook will move soon, and the only possible place for the rook to spawn is west of our current location. I hope to get some footing on the enemy, and possibly even a quarry or two that amounts to a petra that I can score.
14:17 Out of my way!
15:22 Tachi: Hobaku to stun Teishi, Kayci stuns Zhouer in hopes it will be enough for Southamerican to score..
15:43 Match end.
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Thanks for reading my in-depth analysis, hopefully this will help a few people watching the videos recognize what's happening.
hopefully, this will give more casual players some insight of what's occuring during the match.
Wait so casual players don't know what ballista is? Great way to start our by talking down to your audience.
Interesting comment.
If you'd prefer, I can rephrase that to include -all- players.
In terms of being 'logged on' my LS mates and I are extremely casual players. We do, however, consider ourselves Ballista enthusiasts, as we have for a very long time. Thus, my definition of "Casual Players" refers to Ballista players that prefer to participate on a not so competitive level and aren't as infused into the game as we might be.
In our experience, a large percentile of players "don't know what Ballista is", be they casual or hardcore.
Alternatively, my analysis has a purpose of sharing information, and teaching something new. Casual players fall into the fray of not having enough time to research, my analysis is an attempt at making this painless and hopefully entertaining.
I apologize if this offended you, we are only accustomed to FFXI players not caring as much as we do, coincidentally falling into the 'don't care enough to know' category.
The NA were short one member so Ryvi played with us from the JP side. I thought we played pretty well. I expected the NA would lose all of the matches, but I was surprised how close some of them were, with the NA sometimes holding a significant lead midway through the match. The JP would eventually reclaim the lead, and from that point on they were excellent at defending it, the NA could barely score any petras in the final minutes it seemed.
This leads into the main thing I noticed when playing these matches. The JP strongly adhere to a deny metagame. Every time you quarry, the JP make a deliberate attempt to try and interrupt it. In the NA games, quarrying is very lax and almost assured to be successful, it is very easy to take for granted. Timing your quarries against the JP is essential, and even when done properly it is no guarantee against being provoked or otherwise. I spent the first couple matches just trying to adjust to this. Denying becomes of even greater focus during the final rook in order to prevent mages from collecting petras or preventing DD's from quarrying revitalizers and gain footing to stage a comeback. The JP do this very well and I think this is why they are so good at defending their leads.
I need to start using Ballista Band, keeping sprint available in these games is huge for survival, I was often getting taken out rather quickly returning to the battle, I probably should stop sprinting back from camp as well. I'm looking forward to many more of these matches so I can continue improving my skills and learn more new tactics.
Comments for Match #1:
12:18 I should have waited a couple extra seconds to close skillchain with this Penta Thrust.
13:05 Upon review, I'm not even sure if Pepsichan had any petras here, I'm not sure why I decided to switch to the RDM. At least Vyii was also targeting Pepsichan so that gives me some hope I didn't make a mistake.
18:08 Don't know what I was doing with these little side steps, but it put just enough time between my ranged attacks for Saraphy to score.
I'd like to hop on and join you guys sometime on the test server, fenrir atm.
I can also livestream if needed for people wanting to watch.
Got a pretty immense upload speed, 10MB+ Usually between 12-16
Sounds good. I think starting an official match would be the way to go at first, but I feel setting a date in advance is necessary.. something like a week or two in advance, landing on a weekend.
We've had numerous ideas for the test server, such as server-wide tournaments, every level cap official match, 1v1 show downs etc. However, to make this happen we need as much participation as possible.
I encourage anyone interested in test server Ballista to drop a line, thanks~
I just made a decent size post that didn't send apparently, so I'm going to try to do the same thing with far less words, but getting the same out of information back hopefully.
Can you add friends on the test server and see them online on another server, making it to where you can message cross server? Could that be a means of notifying people of ballista other than this thread?
How do you go about getting your 60 cap gear? To my knowledge, you have to get your gear from a storage slip/moogle that doesn't give that option. I'm sure I'm under educated on that though, and there actually is an extremely obvious/easy way of going about that.
Can you make relics/empyreans/mythics? I could see this being douche worthy, but if everyone as a mean of doing so, I don't see why it would be a big deal for uncaps.
At any rate, alot of questions. Sorry in advance! (However, extremely interested!)
Can you add friends on the test server and see them online on another server, making it to where you can message cross server? Could that be a means of notifying people of ballista other than this thread? )
Unfortunately not, while you're logged on to the test server, you're unable to view your friend list. The only other option I can recommend is, searching for me via PoL and adding me as a friend that way.
Can you make relics/empyreans/mythics? I could see this being douche worthy, but if everyone as a mean of doing so, I don't see why it would be a big deal for uncaps.
Yes, you can make any relic/empyrean/mythic.. you can even make them glow!
I'll participate in a few 99 matches, but I largely prefer 60 cap :)
How do you go about getting your 60 cap gear? To my knowledge, you have to get your gear from a storage slip/moogle that doesn't give that option. I'm sure I'm under educated on that though, and there actually is an extremely obvious/easy way of going about that.
60 cap equipment is very rare, if you want the really good stuff, you're going to have to pay. Either with time, or gil.
On the test server, you have access to every magian trial item and storage slip.
This would be my current DRG/SAM 60 Cap Ballista set.
Every item that can be augmented, is:
Dark Mezraq+1: AGI+1 INT+1
Chivalrous Chain: Evasion +3
Nuevo Coselete: Attack/Evasion
Pallas's Bracelets: DEX+3
Phalanx ring: STR+2
Phalanx ring: STR+2 VIT+1
Behemoth mantle+1: DEF+2
Blitzer Poleyn: Attack/Evasion
The test server also offers infinite merits, and 60 cap Ballista players have adopted a standard formula:
HP 7
MP 7
Cassie earring and intruder earring are standard earrings used for any dd, thus the mp conversion justifies the MP merits.
STR7
VIT7
AGI7
DEX3
STR and VIT 7 are a constant, AGI and DEX can be switched around pending your preference, but this is the ideal distribution for a versatile DD in 60 cap Ballista.
Polearm 7
Evasion 4
For this particular case, DRG/SAM, this is all you would really need, if you want to venture into other jobs, 7 is always the magic number.
Enhancing 7
Enfeebling 7
Healing 7
Dark 3
This is my current setup for magic skill merits.
Critical hit rate 5
Enemy critical hit rate 5
If you were primarily playing a mage character, you can switch critical hit rate for spell interruption down.
Job specific merits do not sync.
It should be noted:
Our community is extremely dedicated, and thus, we focus our efforts on 60 cap Ballista only. The item sets and merits that I listed might seem daunting to many, but please understand; we don't actually play FFXI anymore..(ex; when an update hits, we comb through items that might be a better sync than what we currently have available) we are full on ballista players. Our main focus is competitive Diorama play with extreme Japanese players. This isn't to say that we don't play other jobs, or official matches!
I hope this helps.
There is a huge amount of information that we can share, if you need to know anything else, just ask :)
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.
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