There is something extra special and poetic about the fact that in the end, you did it with other people also doing the Solo Challenge. Real "learning the power of friendship" moment lol
ARR veteran here, I won't explain too many of the mechanics the bosses had that I remember from way back when but I do want to point out two main things really quick! 1) Daybreak on Scylla is, to my memory, time-gated. When the raid was new it usually came out around 40% of her hp and fucking it up was just as much of a raidwipe as it was for your solo crew. 2) LV 100 Flare and LV 150 Death are references to ff3 and ff5 spells based around the math of the total level of players hit by it. LV 100 flare activates if the total level of all players in its aoe adds up to a multiple of 100, and the same is true but 150 for death. Also, knowing Crystal Tower is possible in Ironman rules makes me want to start a Solo character myself! Maybe I'll give it a shot at some point in the near future thanks to your videos.
I'm curious if the L100 and L150 spells are actually programmed with levels in mind; that is, if you're able to completely ignore it if you unsync at level 51 or something like that
@@ShermTank7272 I think so! The way the solo crew beat it was more or less doing that exact thing. The "tethers" he mentioned show up when you have math that adds up to the spell actually going off. They brute forced a solution by having everyone leave the circle every time, meaning the total level was always 50, which is not a multiple of 100 or 150! No tether = good math, visible tether = bad math, basically. The real way to test that would be to have two level 90 players stand in LV 100 Flare. If it was by players, the game would assume they were both 50 and make it activate. But if it's actual math, the game would know 90 + 90 = 180 and not activate the flare.
@@Flight_Of_The_Spoon Except... you can 100% unsync alliance raids. Literally discussed and done in the video - you need to use party finder to form an alliance of 3 parties that have 1 player each minimum.
the platform phase still is cool even ten years later!!!! i will forever defend that everyone should do a ct mine run at least once exclusively because you can usually see the platform phase in mine runs
It is legitimately impressive that you have come this far with a solo challenge in XIV. Not only that, but you have inspired OTHERS to do it along with you. I think it's only fair that they be allowed to help you with the impossible bits. Almost like the Warrior of Light summoning aid in their darkest hours.
As anyone who watches OSRS youtube knows, it isn't a real series until you've made an exception to your rules ;) And this is one well worth making, since it opens up so much more interesting content to do *within* the rules. Congrats on clearing this and I can't wait to see how you fare in the expansions!
The fact that you still didn't see bacon (Hundred Slashes) from Acheron (Phlegathon) saddens me. It's such a fun mechanic to look at. But hey; you got to see the best part of Syrcus - the intermissions. I've missed those so much. Edit: Nevermind, you didn't see EVERYTHING. To give a breakdown of what you missed: For Glasya Labolas: -The Magitek Bits are charging him up to the massive move you saw that made him untargetable. They're immune to all forms of damage until someone stands in their circle, which renders them untargetable but lets the Bit be killed, stopping it from charging Glasya. -A little bit later after the big untargeted AOE he'll move to the middle and start slowly casting it again, charging up while doing so with six lasers from the outside of the arena. Six robots will appear and the mechanic here is that you need to kill a robot inside each beam, which short-circuits the robot and redirects the laser into them and not Glasya. Redirecting all six lasers correctly activates the jump pads which launch you to the outside, leaving Glasya to safely explode in the middle. However, now there's a new problem - adds spawn on the platforms outside and deactivate the jump pads of the platform they are on. Kill the add and it lets you jump around to help the other people with their adds; kill all the adds and everyone can jump back to the middle with the inner jump pads turning on, letting you finish the fight. For Five-Headed Dragon (or Tiamat): To preface all of this, text will pop up saying 'the heads of (blank) and (blank) are flailing about!' which tells which mechanic is going to happen. -Ice: White swirling AOE's will appear on the ground and, a short while later, ice AOE's will land and expand up to two times. Anyone caught will Deep Freeze inside them. -Fire: Two normal AOE's will drop to the ground and spawn a Wyrmling, who'll tether to a random person. They'll launch up to five fireballs while they're alive but the tether can be passed by merely running into someone else, but this also gives you Slippery Prey so you can't retake a tether. -Poison: One bigger AOE will drop to the ground and leave a poison puddle there that'll periodically spawn poison slimes. Killing a slime causes it to explode, giving anyone nearby Poison Resistance. Standing near the centre of the poison puddle prevents any slimes from spawning - if no one does this and three slimes spawn, they fuse into a nigh-unkillable large slime that channels a five-second cast that deals massive raidwide damage AND silences everyone. Lightning: A stack marker will appear over someone's head and you stack with them. Before they changed the marker it was merely a purple orb marker over someone's head which...didn't tell you much. You just kinda had to know it was a stack marker. Outside of this there's two other mechanics: -Black AOE's will drop to the ground and leave Prominence orbs behind - if these aren't killed in twelve or so seconds they explode and give everyone a Vuln Up. -A yellow marker will appear over someone's head and the text 'the dragon takes a deep breath...' will flash up on screen. That person will be targeted by a HUGE AOE that gives them a Vuln Up and knocks them into the air, so they should take it far away from everyone else. Little sidenote - this will always be paired with the ice AOE's and getting Deep Frozen prevents you from being knocked into the air, but you still get the Vuln Up. There's the third other mechanic in Pyretic but you already saw that. Finally the serpents you saw at the end of Cloud just spawn late into the fight on a timer and yes, they're incredibly annoying. Another plus note is that once the three adds in their own arenas appear, if you have a caster LB3 stocked, you can place it in the middle and it'll oneshot all three adds at the same time, completely skipping the mechanic. Placing it correctly can be a bit awkward as it's JUST big enough to encompass all three adds, but it's so satisfying to pull off.
Seeing y'all completely mishandle the platinals was some whiplash as a veteran lol. None of them need to reach the boss - if they're dragged away and killed in individual locations, they'll be much slower to reach him! It's that kind of ancient knowledge lost to time, but that's what makes this fun lol.
For this kind of challenge it is great that Square nerfed the damage from the skeletons when they reach the dragon. Back in ARR if only 2 or 3 reached him everyone was dead because the damage was much higher and the healers couldn't heal so fast. Soooo without this nerf it would be undoable ^^
*Whistle of The Warrior starts playing* My old bones have a story for you, about Glasyas Labolas... or however you spell that big buffoon's name. The way he functions is that the bits charge his ultimate. If no one stands in the bits, they charge him instead. The bits can only be targeted to be destroyed by having someone stand in their field, and the field inflict a minor dot. However, if you DPS him quickly enough, the bits disappear and he does his ultimate regardless. In days of yore, you would then reach a point where he would go untargetable and begin charging his ultimate attack. 3 Robots similar to those found in Binding Coil of Bahamut Turn 4 would come down at triangulated points on the edge of the arena, near tether generators. These robots had to be held close to the generators such that when they "died" they would tether to the generator, keeping the add dead AND opening the way to the bouncing platforms. This was a tank check and DPS check, as the tank for each party had to hold the robots in the right place, while the DPS had to slowly DPS it until it was in the right spot and then quickly DPS it. Once the platforms were open, you could leap onto them for safety from Glasyas's fully charged raid wide which had this cool burning effect on the center platform. You would hop around killing adds on the platforms until they were all dead, so that you could leap back to Glasyas, the fight would then repeat. Back then... in those cross class skills times, if you had an exceptionally undergeared/underskilled/under-engaged alliance, then it was possible to see not just 1... but TWO rounds of platform jumping. But perhaps I misremember...
Congratulations Rath!! This journey was an insane odyssey which will sure inspire more Solos, including me! Shoutout to everyone who helped during Cristal Tower, and now our eyes point Heavensward...
Whoa, never even seen those later Scylla mechanics before - the petrification and the pads. I'm tempted to try running Syrcus at MINE with smaller parties to see that
The fact that 15 people had the time to do this and so few of them knew the mechanics to the first boss of LoTA and scylla makes me feel very old, but good job! You guys did awesome! Congrats on the awesome achievement!
Very nice. You could always bring this back for the alliance raids, even though they're not mandatory after CT. The number of solo's you'll have will probably keep increasing
29:50 - A small note on that! The mechanic deals damage equal to your maximum health, and doesn't count shields. Meaning a tank will always die to Ancient Quaga unless a shield gets chucked on them. I used to just chuck up Manaward when I was levelling BLM and never died if I was full hp lmao 36:40 - If you stand in the very center of the arena (anywhere underneath the Atomos's hitbox), you can avoid being knocked off the ledge by Shockwave. Just be careful with this bc if you move into the center after the spinning discs come out, there's a chance you might be hit by them and have a vuln stack applied to you That ending section was amazing btw. Amazing work from the animator!
Legitimately teared up starting at that quote from the Crystal Exarch, and all through the ending sequence after it. What a journey. What a wonderful journey.
Congratulations! I honestly wouldn't have blamed you if you stopped after Ultima Weapon. That you've managed to keep going, finding ways to deal with even these nightmarish raids, speaks volumes for your sheer tenacity! I'm looking forward to seeing the challenges Heavensward brings.
Not gonna lie, maybe it's just the sleep deprivation but I actually teared up and started sobbing happily just a lil bit when you revealed the full team. what a fucking magnificent culmination of so many peoples' journeys, all inspired by this very challenge (well, maybe not all but still very thematically appropriate). I was wondering how you were going to tackle the crystal tower, and I honestly couldn't have thought of any better way to do it. Now, there's only one way to go. Onward, upward... heavensward. See you on the other side.
What a wild wild experience and ride this must have been. I'm in awe and emotional just seeing you do CT then hearing your relief at the final blow. It really has been a long journey, and yet so much remains ahead, I'm excited to see how you move forward and press on. Keep up the fight Warrior of Light.
It's great how this community has formed around this challenge! This is worth watching all the way to the end. I want to look into more of Magitek Productions' work.
~immediately pauses the vid to giggle over that liking and subscribing bit~ I'm sure I'll be back down here shortly but can't believe we're finally here! This has been such an amazing journey to watch and I'm not enough of a masochist to do it myself but it sure is fun to watch you do it!
Forgiven Solitude is such a good name for a Solo player omg. SOLO TATARU OMG OMG OMG. Tataru figured out fighting and she's making it on her own now lol. (Seriously everyone agrees if Tataru figured out fighting she'd be peek WoL, right??? Right????)
So I was watching this while doing stuff in Genshin. I...I had to tab over to watch with all my attention for the Cloud fight. Omg. OMG. YOU DID IT! YOU ALL DID IT! THAT WAS AMAZING!!!!! I had four of the cats that live with us crowded around. (likely cause of the unreasonable for Texas cold but shush). I'm literally crying. You all did it. And LEVEL SYNCED! Just congrats to all of you. You all put in the work and you absolutely deserved it!
I paused watching the series for a bit and just got back to watching now, this fine 5.20 AM as I type. I can't possibly imagine the effort it took, but I know there's a lot of time put into the whole ordeal, not only for you but for all the others who took on the challenge. I remember watching your videos on this whole Solo XIV deal a year or ago. How time flies. Thanks for sharing your experience with the rest of us, to stream and edit all of this! I look forward to more and catching your streams one day.
im so unbelievably happy that the yt algorithm recommended me this epic journey. seeing mechanics ive never known about was just jawdropping, and its amazing to see just how far this journey has come!!! i cant wait for season 2 ❤
Incredibly underrated series, deserves so much more attention. Was here from the start, and will be here for as long as it continues. Love it all, keep it up :)
A friend asked me: "Have you watched the brand new hit anime adapation, of the hit web novel and web toon, Solo Leveling?" "Yes," I answered. "Just finished Season 1, all 13 episodes!" >:) Goddamn this has been an amazing series to follow along, can't wait for the next adventure! I love these kinds of Ironman challenges, I particulary love how they make you engage with pretty much every mechanic and facet of the game I would otherwise sideline or ignore, like gathering your own materials, crafting your own consumables and items, and finding ways to survive and beat even the smallest boss mechanics in order to squeeze out that last bit of damage that is INTEGRAL to beating the encounter! Kudos to you, instant subscribe! History has been made!
This was so brilliant and I'm looking forward to season 2! It makes me want to try a solo run! Thank you for loving this game as much as I do and reinvigorating my desire to do insane ideas like this!
The end of the CoD fight just made me think of my all challenge modifiers run of DQXI, especially with the choice of background music. What an astonishing accomplishment, the amount of planning and work on everyone in the alliance's part is nothing short of incredible. Now that the game's opened up after that grueling struggle I can't help but think of content that would be fun in a similar setting, DRS and BA in Bozja and Eureka come to mind as both have an active challenge run community where they try to cut down the minimum required number of participants. BA is especially fun and I'd love to see it in this series one day. Especially because Eureka is designed like a traditional MMO with how you grind elemental exp and inch your way through it. It'd be tough to find instances willing to let you solo NMs, but I think given the structure of the content there could be workarounds for it. Maybe what you did here but on a bigger scale if enough people followed in your footsteps to fill an entire instance or simply asking in /shout to be allowed to attempt each NM solo at least once for it to count. I knoe for a fact they're designed to be soloable in low population instances so it's definitely doable. BA would just require a minimum head count and specific actions.
Been watching you for half a year now and you never fail to surprise me with clever solutions for all kinds of problems on your way. I hope Solo going through future expansions will be just as awesome!
When I was watching the livestream I got emotional seeing the Let the Sun Shine In achievement bc I was just so happy for you, and I got emotional seeing it here too! That ending animation was also amazing (: congratulations and good luck in heavensward!!
Been here since the beginning. Novel and goofy concept, I'm glad you managed to not only foster such an amazing community but get to get excited about the game again and re-experience that mysticism of playing for the first time. Two weeks ago my raid group, which we've been doing all the extremes/savages in order of release Blind MINE, finished O12S. A group I made two years ago expecting it to fall apart long before I saw Heavensward content. That feeling of looking back where you came from, seeing you surpass all your expectations for your goals is unlike any other. I'm happy for you, and am looking forward to watching you travel through the rest of the game.
I wish i'd been there from the start to keep up with this journey but I have watched everything to keep up This video really shows just how amazing a journey this has been, the culmination of all the planning, the pain and suffering was all worth it Amazing video and an amazing journey that I look forward to enjoying more and more as you progress
Watching this live was amazing, and it's so good to have the full ARR saga up on youtube now. Truly, it's been incredible seeing just how tough some content is when you only have yourself, but overcoming such obstacles is incredibly inspiring, and having it culminate in a show of cooperation is poetic. Thank you Rath, for the explainations of things most players won't ever think about, for the amazing storytelling, for the hours of glorious content in this series alone, for the care and love put into each and every video. I along with many others eagerly await the edited Heavensward videos, though honestly I should start watching the streams :P
I’m not sure if I was really spotted, but I was present for some of the Scylla attempts! It was cool to watch and helped build my excitement for jumping into FFXIV with my mom later this year. :) Side note: it has been an honor to witness this series, to see this growth, to watch the rise of someone who, to me is a true legend! :D
Ive been watching since the beginning, and I still cannot believe that you made it. Crying at watching the impossible done, may season 2 be even more awe inspiring than season 1.
Congratulations, seriously thought that was going to be the end of Solo's journey, but you put in the grind and work, and you got there in the end. Very well done, and I'm very excited to see you in Season 2!
Late to comment but incredible job Rath, you and the other solos did so good and are honest to god a giant inspiration for returning to this game. Excited and eager to see what you do next!
That ending is the only thing, I think, that could capture the joy of watching this happen live. I have been watching and loving these videos since the start, and only recently joining the streams but it has been a blast seeing you, and the others, experience this game in such a unique way. That ending fight scene was FANTASTIC, and this video was definitely worth the wait!
Congratulations!! I surely didn't expect a whole team of solos that's actually awesome and made me wanna try this challenge too! Looking forward to Season 2!
huge congrats on this monumental achievement, everyone! I'm glad to have followed the streams a bit and also the whole episodic series on the channel; onwards and upwards, we go heavensward! Also Forgiven Solitude is such a sick name for a Hrothgar, big props!
Just finished binging the entire series after getting this video recommended to me. This is probably one of the best pieces of ffxiv ever created on youtube. I can't think of a single content creator for FFXIV that has created something this unique for the game, something so common in classic wow and osrs. In fact this is what I love about those alot of osrs content on youtube, people taking a game they love and finding a radically new way to play it and enjoy it, and I'm glad someone found a way to do that in FFXIV. Your early adventures really reminded me of when I was leveling my crafters in stormblood. I didn't have any gil, so I did what you did. I gathered my own materials, I crafted my own crafter gear upgrades, the only thing I didn't do was farm mobs, which impressed me so much actually. I remember trying to get alchemist mats and realizing it would've taken forever, so of course I used the market board and retainers. I can't wait to see your heavensward adventures >:)
This is incredible 👏 I just found your channel and wow what a perfect series to watch today. My friends want to play FF14 as a solo player as well thanks for sharing your Journey ❤
the dedication to this ..... incredible that a challenge about playing fully solo brings so many ppl together like this 😭 amazing video, keep up the good work o7
My dearest ffxiv buddy and I have taken to duoing older savage and extreme content, and it has been so satisfying to get through those challenges. She was the one who told me of your series, and I just spent the day watching it all. I'm so inspired! Its been awesome to watch so many items/materials/paths used that are basically just overlooked now. I was really impressed with your Chrysalis run, and I smiled the whole way through this CT finale knowing that other solos went through the same trials to get there with you. I can't wait to see the rest of your journey! Cheers and congratulations!
Dude, this journey was insane. I speculated for a long time how you would handle the tower even if you did, and to even beat it the sheer amount of man-hours that goes into preparations for content like this. It all just seemed highly improbable! But when you dropped the curtain and revealed the plan, that was some Avenger's Endgame level shit! You are a jewel of this community and I look forward to all of your content moving forward!
I became a member back on either the first or second video and I've never regretted supporting you since. This is truly an amazing series and keep up the great work.
Finally!! We got the CT video as promised, and it did not disappoint!! That was so engaging to watch, thank you for the eight months of Solo Only, now onto Heavensward!!
finding this and binging it in the last two days was an absolutely wild ride. absolutely incredible. gamers really are a whole different kind of people, and by gods, are they some of the best, most motivated folks sometimes. good luck and godspeed as you aim ever heavensward!
This was amazing. I feel that you have found a good solution to this problem. It was also really nice to see these old mechanics. I've never got to see them in my play troughs. the old alliance raids where a lot more interesting back then then what remains of them now.
I didn't watch these streams, cuz I wanted to see the culmination of the progress that was made in a more edited format, and I'm glad I did. This video was absolutely fantastic, and a huge shout out to the dps clutching out in the end
I'm so glad this stream was one of the few I got to catch. The hype was real! The anticipation for the true Glasya Labolas fight only for him to die too quickly like he always does was hilarious!
I'm sure someone pointed it out already, but the way the skeletons work on Bone Dragon is you drag them away from each other and the boss before killing them. If they are still alive or too close to each other when the dragon dies, they rush to him and explode. If they are dead and spread apart, they slowly walk to the dragon and can be easily killed before reaching it and exploding. Also the second boss in Syrcus Tower eventually does a massive raid wide on the main platform that will wipe the group, so you jump to the outer platforms to avoid it. It's very easy to skip even doing a min ilvl run.
As someone who knows nothing about ff14 but really enjoys the ironman gameplay style I've been thoroughly enjoying this series. though I do have a few things to say about how ironman works in runescape. Old school RuneScape Ironmen don't technically need to do other content with other irons. However until relatively recently in RuneScape3 group bosses had to be done either solo or in a group with iron, with any boss being viable to kill solo usually done solo because getting drops in your name was important due to no trading. A streamer and youtuber did an rs3 ironman that takes the restriction serious and solos the bosses that are not meant to be done solo and its very interesting. However in old school ever boss besides like 2 can be done completely solo. That said I do think you "exception" still fits well within the rules of what the ironman mode suggests because ironmen can raid with anyone, they just have to get the unique drops in their name to actually use them so. Can't wait for season 2 of solo ff14
Wow, genuinely got teary eyed seeing you guys get that clear. Massive congrats to everyone on this incredible achievement!!! Been such a blast watching this series and I can't wait to see season 2!
Thanks for explaining the iron giant mechanic, cause that happened in a lota I was in a while ago lol (only was able to get like 3 people in C lane before everyone else was dragged into A lane).
You are such an inspiration!!!! I've followed your videos and streams for a while now I absolutely admire your spirit, will and willingness to make your fun thorough. Cannot wait to see more!!
This series has been incredible. Inspired, insanely dedicated and totally bonkers. Well done to all 15 in the video, and anyone who is trying the same thing. You're crazy, and that is a biggest compliment. I want to give a specific shoutout to the madlad who took Dancer in. I love the irony of one class that needs a partner being used in an alliance full of Solos and they can't even use DP in Crystal Tower because it doesn't unlock until 60! Absolute king or Queen of a Gamer.
Congratulations this journey has been a delight to watch. To the ever more challenges that await you, you shall rise above them all. As you ever have, solo.
Wanna say 2 things 1: I stumbled across this after the Limsa only run and I've been loving seeing all this progress i never would have thought possible, even with some of the exceptions you've made. This series has been an absolute blast to watch and follow 2: i have learned more about Crystal Tower in this video than in the (probably) dozens of hours i've spent getting this in alliance roulette
![We Ranked all the Lanterns in Hollow Knight [ft. @Ccmaci]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/qvDqcDVL9ww/mqdefault.jpg)
Thank you so much for being a part of this journey everyone. I hope you enjoy the video.
"I can't solo this alone. But we can solo it together."
This statement breaks my brain 🙃
It was fun trying to communicate mechanics nobody has seen in half a decade through Twitch chat and teaching you about Scilla's petrify!
A lifesaver as always Jade :'^)
Scions: ...does he know he can ask us for help? *sipping tea*
WoL: *getting up from their 782nd defeat* again!
There is something extra special and poetic about the fact that in the end, you did it with other people also doing the Solo Challenge. Real "learning the power of friendship" moment lol
I can't think of a single better way to have gotten around this. Congrats to everyone for clearing this.
ARR veteran here, I won't explain too many of the mechanics the bosses had that I remember from way back when but I do want to point out two main things really quick!
1) Daybreak on Scylla is, to my memory, time-gated. When the raid was new it usually came out around 40% of her hp and fucking it up was just as much of a raidwipe as it was for your solo crew.
2) LV 100 Flare and LV 150 Death are references to ff3 and ff5 spells based around the math of the total level of players hit by it. LV 100 flare activates if the total level of all players in its aoe adds up to a multiple of 100, and the same is true but 150 for death.
Also, knowing Crystal Tower is possible in Ironman rules makes me want to start a Solo character myself! Maybe I'll give it a shot at some point in the near future thanks to your videos.
I'm curious if the L100 and L150 spells are actually programmed with levels in mind; that is, if you're able to completely ignore it if you unsync at level 51 or something like that
@@ShermTank7272 I think so! The way the solo crew beat it was more or less doing that exact thing. The "tethers" he mentioned show up when you have math that adds up to the spell actually going off. They brute forced a solution by having everyone leave the circle every time, meaning the total level was always 50, which is not a multiple of 100 or 150! No tether = good math, visible tether = bad math, basically. The real way to test that would be to have two level 90 players stand in LV 100 Flare. If it was by players, the game would assume they were both 50 and make it activate. But if it's actual math, the game would know 90 + 90 = 180 and not activate the flare.
@@ShermTank7272 well considering that you cant do unsync alliance raids, i think it's programmed with number of players inside.
@@Flight_Of_The_Spoon Except... you can 100% unsync alliance raids. Literally discussed and done in the video - you need to use party finder to form an alliance of 3 parties that have 1 player each minimum.
@@EPICZEUS. oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know, didn't reach that part in a video yet.
I feel saying "so low I need you to tank" would make everyone in this group turn their head in response haha
The Glasya Labolas part made me so sad
THE PLATFORM PHASE WAS SO COOL TEN YEARS AGO
the platform phase still is cool even ten years later!!!! i will forever defend that everyone should do a ct mine run at least once exclusively because you can usually see the platform phase in mine runs
It rather just proves that the whole crystal tower series is in desperate need of a rebalance
It's sad that CT has been reduced to such a lame state.
It is legitimately impressive that you have come this far with a solo challenge in XIV. Not only that, but you have inspired OTHERS to do it along with you. I think it's only fair that they be allowed to help you with the impossible bits. Almost like the Warrior of Light summoning aid in their darkest hours.
As anyone who watches OSRS youtube knows, it isn't a real series until you've made an exception to your rules ;) And this is one well worth making, since it opens up so much more interesting content to do *within* the rules.
Congrats on clearing this and I can't wait to see how you fare in the expansions!
The fact that you still didn't see bacon (Hundred Slashes) from Acheron (Phlegathon) saddens me. It's such a fun mechanic to look at. But hey; you got to see the best part of Syrcus - the intermissions. I've missed those so much.
Edit: Nevermind, you didn't see EVERYTHING. To give a breakdown of what you missed:
For Glasya Labolas:
-The Magitek Bits are charging him up to the massive move you saw that made him untargetable. They're immune to all forms of damage until someone stands in their circle, which renders them untargetable but lets the Bit be killed, stopping it from charging Glasya.
-A little bit later after the big untargeted AOE he'll move to the middle and start slowly casting it again, charging up while doing so with six lasers from the outside of the arena. Six robots will appear and the mechanic here is that you need to kill a robot inside each beam, which short-circuits the robot and redirects the laser into them and not Glasya.
Redirecting all six lasers correctly activates the jump pads which launch you to the outside, leaving Glasya to safely explode in the middle. However, now there's a new problem - adds spawn on the platforms outside and deactivate the jump pads of the platform they are on. Kill the add and it lets you jump around to help the other people with their adds; kill all the adds and everyone can jump back to the middle with the inner jump pads turning on, letting you finish the fight.
For Five-Headed Dragon (or Tiamat):
To preface all of this, text will pop up saying 'the heads of (blank) and (blank) are flailing about!' which tells which mechanic is going to happen.
-Ice: White swirling AOE's will appear on the ground and, a short while later, ice AOE's will land and expand up to two times. Anyone caught will Deep Freeze inside them.
-Fire: Two normal AOE's will drop to the ground and spawn a Wyrmling, who'll tether to a random person. They'll launch up to five fireballs while they're alive but the tether can be passed by merely running into someone else, but this also gives you Slippery Prey so you can't retake a tether.
-Poison: One bigger AOE will drop to the ground and leave a poison puddle there that'll periodically spawn poison slimes. Killing a slime causes it to explode, giving anyone nearby Poison Resistance. Standing near the centre of the poison puddle prevents any slimes from spawning - if no one does this and three slimes spawn, they fuse into a nigh-unkillable large slime that channels a five-second cast that deals massive raidwide damage AND silences everyone.
Lightning: A stack marker will appear over someone's head and you stack with them. Before they changed the marker it was merely a purple orb marker over someone's head which...didn't tell you much. You just kinda had to know it was a stack marker.
Outside of this there's two other mechanics:
-Black AOE's will drop to the ground and leave Prominence orbs behind - if these aren't killed in twelve or so seconds they explode and give everyone a Vuln Up.
-A yellow marker will appear over someone's head and the text 'the dragon takes a deep breath...' will flash up on screen. That person will be targeted by a HUGE AOE that gives them a Vuln Up and knocks them into the air, so they should take it far away from everyone else. Little sidenote - this will always be paired with the ice AOE's and getting Deep Frozen prevents you from being knocked into the air, but you still get the Vuln Up.
There's the third other mechanic in Pyretic but you already saw that.
Finally the serpents you saw at the end of Cloud just spawn late into the fight on a timer and yes, they're incredibly annoying. Another plus note is that once the three adds in their own arenas appear, if you have a caster LB3 stocked, you can place it in the middle and it'll oneshot all three adds at the same time, completely skipping the mechanic. Placing it correctly can be a bit awkward as it's JUST big enough to encompass all three adds, but it's so satisfying to pull off.
Seeing y'all completely mishandle the platinals was some whiplash as a veteran lol. None of them need to reach the boss - if they're dragged away and killed in individual locations, they'll be much slower to reach him!
It's that kind of ancient knowledge lost to time, but that's what makes this fun lol.
For this kind of challenge it is great that Square nerfed the damage from the skeletons when they reach the dragon. Back in ARR if only 2 or 3 reached him everyone was dead because the damage was much higher and the healers couldn't heal so fast.
Soooo without this nerf it would be undoable ^^
You weren't kidding Rath; the thumbnail DOES look awesome! Can't wait to see the video!
*Whistle of The Warrior starts playing*
My old bones have a story for you, about Glasyas Labolas... or however you spell that big buffoon's name. The way he functions is that the bits charge his ultimate. If no one stands in the bits, they charge him instead. The bits can only be targeted to be destroyed by having someone stand in their field, and the field inflict a minor dot. However, if you DPS him quickly enough, the bits disappear and he does his ultimate regardless. In days of yore, you would then reach a point where he would go untargetable and begin charging his ultimate attack. 3 Robots similar to those found in Binding Coil of Bahamut Turn 4 would come down at triangulated points on the edge of the arena, near tether generators. These robots had to be held close to the generators such that when they "died" they would tether to the generator, keeping the add dead AND opening the way to the bouncing platforms. This was a tank check and DPS check, as the tank for each party had to hold the robots in the right place, while the DPS had to slowly DPS it until it was in the right spot and then quickly DPS it. Once the platforms were open, you could leap onto them for safety from Glasyas's fully charged raid wide which had this cool burning effect on the center platform. You would hop around killing adds on the platforms until they were all dead, so that you could leap back to Glasyas, the fight would then repeat.
Back then... in those cross class skills times, if you had an exceptionally undergeared/underskilled/under-engaged alliance, then it was possible to see not just 1... but TWO rounds of platform jumping. But perhaps I misremember...
after playing this game for 5 years i finally get to see how crystal tower mechanics work. this series is truly enlightening
Congratulations Rath!! This journey was an insane odyssey which will sure inspire more Solos, including me! Shoutout to everyone who helped during Cristal Tower, and now our eyes point Heavensward...
It has always been incredible to me how many other people have taken up the challenge run since I began. I'll always love to see more :^)
Whoa, never even seen those later Scylla mechanics before - the petrification and the pads. I'm tempted to try running Syrcus at MINE with smaller parties to see that
It would be cool to see people having to properly do it :^)
It was indeed a legitimate raid when it first came out.
Good work to all the solos! It's been absolutely wonderful seeing you all progress through this challenge. You did amazingly! 🎉
Thank you :'^)
The fact that 15 people had the time to do this and so few of them knew the mechanics to the first boss of LoTA and scylla makes me feel very old, but good job! You guys did awesome! Congrats on the awesome achievement!
Very nice. You could always bring this back for the alliance raids, even though they're not mandatory after CT. The number of solo's you'll have will probably keep increasing
29:50 - A small note on that! The mechanic deals damage equal to your maximum health, and doesn't count shields. Meaning a tank will always die to Ancient Quaga unless a shield gets chucked on them. I used to just chuck up Manaward when I was levelling BLM and never died if I was full hp lmao
36:40 - If you stand in the very center of the arena (anywhere underneath the Atomos's hitbox), you can avoid being knocked off the ledge by Shockwave. Just be careful with this bc if you move into the center after the spinning discs come out, there's a chance you might be hit by them and have a vuln stack applied to you
That ending section was amazing btw. Amazing work from the animator!
Legitimately teared up starting at that quote from the Crystal Exarch, and all through the ending sequence after it. What a journey. What a wonderful journey.
I'm glad you enjoyed.
What a journey!! So proud of our funny Solo man and his crew of Solo friends. Congratulations on the clear!!
Thank you gamer. :'^)
Congratulations!
I honestly wouldn't have blamed you if you stopped after Ultima Weapon. That you've managed to keep going, finding ways to deal with even these nightmarish raids, speaks volumes for your sheer tenacity! I'm looking forward to seeing the challenges Heavensward brings.
Not gonna lie, maybe it's just the sleep deprivation but I actually teared up and started sobbing happily just a lil bit when you revealed the full team. what a fucking magnificent culmination of so many peoples' journeys, all inspired by this very challenge (well, maybe not all but still very thematically appropriate). I was wondering how you were going to tackle the crystal tower, and I honestly couldn't have thought of any better way to do it.
Now, there's only one way to go. Onward, upward... heavensward. See you on the other side.
What a wild wild experience and ride this must have been. I'm in awe and emotional just seeing you do CT then hearing your relief at the final blow. It really has been a long journey, and yet so much remains ahead, I'm excited to see how you move forward and press on. Keep up the fight Warrior of Light.
We shall push on, as always. Thank you
It's great how this community has formed around this challenge!
This is worth watching all the way to the end. I want to look into more of Magitek Productions' work.
~immediately pauses the vid to giggle over that liking and subscribing bit~ I'm sure I'll be back down here shortly but can't believe we're finally here! This has been such an amazing journey to watch and I'm not enough of a masochist to do it myself but it sure is fun to watch you do it!
Forgiven Solitude is such a good name for a Solo player omg. SOLO TATARU OMG OMG OMG. Tataru figured out fighting and she's making it on her own now lol. (Seriously everyone agrees if Tataru figured out fighting she'd be peek WoL, right??? Right????)
So I was watching this while doing stuff in Genshin. I...I had to tab over to watch with all my attention for the Cloud fight. Omg. OMG. YOU DID IT! YOU ALL DID IT! THAT WAS AMAZING!!!!! I had four of the cats that live with us crowded around. (likely cause of the unreasonable for Texas cold but shush). I'm literally crying. You all did it. And LEVEL SYNCED! Just congrats to all of you. You all put in the work and you absolutely deserved it!
@@SailorMusicCat i like to think the cats came around to watch the ending.
I paused watching the series for a bit and just got back to watching now, this fine 5.20 AM as I type. I can't possibly imagine the effort it took, but I know there's a lot of time put into the whole ordeal, not only for you but for all the others who took on the challenge. I remember watching your videos on this whole Solo XIV deal a year or ago. How time flies.
Thanks for sharing your experience with the rest of us, to stream and edit all of this! I look forward to more and catching your streams one day.
im so unbelievably happy that the yt algorithm recommended me this epic journey. seeing mechanics ive never known about was just jawdropping, and its amazing to see just how far this journey has come!!! i cant wait for season 2 ❤
Incredibly underrated series, deserves so much more attention. Was here from the start, and will be here for as long as it continues. Love it all, keep it up :)
Glad to fight alongside you King, Tanking was wild in CT
A friend asked me: "Have you watched the brand new hit anime adapation, of the hit web novel and web toon, Solo Leveling?"
"Yes," I answered. "Just finished Season 1, all 13 episodes!" >:)
Goddamn this has been an amazing series to follow along, can't wait for the next adventure! I love these kinds of Ironman challenges, I particulary love how they make you engage with pretty much every mechanic and facet of the game I would otherwise sideline or ignore, like gathering your own materials, crafting your own consumables and items, and finding ways to survive and beat even the smallest boss mechanics in order to squeeze out that last bit of damage that is INTEGRAL to beating the encounter! Kudos to you, instant subscribe! History has been made!
Im glad you're enjoying the anime adaptation. Please look forward to the movie releasing in imax theatres in 2087
That ending was absolutely fantastic. Massive congratulations!
I'm glad you liked it! :'^)
Geez, i started tearing up at that final montage. Excellent work, everyone!
that is positively mindblowing lol
i wonder if anybody in the other alliances knew history was happening about 20 feet away
This was so brilliant and I'm looking forward to season 2! It makes me want to try a solo run! Thank you for loving this game as much as I do and reinvigorating my desire to do insane ideas like this!
Best video series I have found. I've been playing solo but not to the level you have. I just started on Xbox. Great video and congrats.
The end of the CoD fight just made me think of my all challenge modifiers run of DQXI, especially with the choice of background music. What an astonishing accomplishment, the amount of planning and work on everyone in the alliance's part is nothing short of incredible. Now that the game's opened up after that grueling struggle I can't help but think of content that would be fun in a similar setting, DRS and BA in Bozja and Eureka come to mind as both have an active challenge run community where they try to cut down the minimum required number of participants. BA is especially fun and I'd love to see it in this series one day. Especially because Eureka is designed like a traditional MMO with how you grind elemental exp and inch your way through it.
It'd be tough to find instances willing to let you solo NMs, but I think given the structure of the content there could be workarounds for it. Maybe what you did here but on a bigger scale if enough people followed in your footsteps to fill an entire instance or simply asking in /shout to be allowed to attempt each NM solo at least once for it to count. I knoe for a fact they're designed to be soloable in low population instances so it's definitely doable. BA would just require a minimum head count and specific actions.
Been watching you for half a year now and you never fail to surprise me with clever solutions for all kinds of problems on your way. I hope Solo going through future expansions will be just as awesome!
there is so much stuff you just dont know because of how easy this content is under normal circumstances
When I was watching the livestream I got emotional seeing the Let the Sun Shine In achievement bc I was just so happy for you, and I got emotional seeing it here too! That ending animation was also amazing (: congratulations and good luck in heavensward!!
The reveal actually made me tear up, what an awesome adventure!
This was such a fitting end to the ARR solo challenge. Proud of everyone that took part!
I regret ever doubting you back in the first couple of videos. This series has been a fantastic watch and I cannot wait to see your future projects.
Thank you :'^) that's very kind
@@rathgames No Sir, Thank YOU for the dedication to the series.
Been here since the beginning. Novel and goofy concept, I'm glad you managed to not only foster such an amazing community but get to get excited about the game again and re-experience that mysticism of playing for the first time.
Two weeks ago my raid group, which we've been doing all the extremes/savages in order of release Blind MINE, finished O12S. A group I made two years ago expecting it to fall apart long before I saw Heavensward content. That feeling of looking back where you came from, seeing you surpass all your expectations for your goals is unlike any other. I'm happy for you, and am looking forward to watching you travel through the rest of the game.
That was an epic set of alliance raids. Great job everyone.
I wish i'd been there from the start to keep up with this journey but I have watched everything to keep up
This video really shows just how amazing a journey this has been, the culmination of all the planning, the pain and suffering was all worth it
Amazing video and an amazing journey that I look forward to enjoying more and more as you progress
I loved the Fell Cleave at the end there.
Probably one of the greatest, not to mention coolest things ever achieved in this game. Fantastic job to all of you
I like how you all look like true adventurers though. Just seeing rising stones full of adventurers reminds me why I played FF14 :)
Watching this live was amazing, and it's so good to have the full ARR saga up on youtube now.
Truly, it's been incredible seeing just how tough some content is when you only have yourself, but overcoming such obstacles is incredibly inspiring, and having it culminate in a show of cooperation is poetic. Thank you Rath, for the explainations of things most players won't ever think about, for the amazing storytelling, for the hours of glorious content in this series alone, for the care and love put into each and every video. I along with many others eagerly await the edited Heavensward videos, though honestly I should start watching the streams :P
I’m not sure if I was really spotted, but I was present for some of the Scylla attempts! It was cool to watch and helped build my excitement for jumping into FFXIV with my mom later this year. :)
Side note: it has been an honor to witness this series, to see this growth, to watch the rise of someone who, to me is a true legend! :D
Ive been watching since the beginning, and I still cannot believe that you made it. Crying at watching the impossible done, may season 2 be even more awe inspiring than season 1.
Thank you. I count myself incredibly lucky to have folks like you along for the ride :'^)
Congratulations, seriously thought that was going to be the end of Solo's journey, but you put in the grind and work, and you got there in the end.
Very well done, and I'm very excited to see you in Season 2!
Late to comment but incredible job Rath, you and the other solos did so good and are honest to god a giant inspiration for returning to this game. Excited and eager to see what you do next!
crazy that I've been rouletted into this raidset hundreds of times and didn't know like a single one of these mechanics.
thank you for finaly teaching us the mechanics of the raid we were always hoping to run through with a chance others will know what to do
That ending is the only thing, I think, that could capture the joy of watching this happen live. I have been watching and loving these videos since the start, and only recently joining the streams but it has been a blast seeing you, and the others, experience this game in such a unique way. That ending fight scene was FANTASTIC, and this video was definitely worth the wait!
Congratulations!! I surely didn't expect a whole team of solos that's actually awesome and made me wanna try this challenge too! Looking forward to Season 2!
huge congrats on this monumental achievement, everyone! I'm glad to have followed the streams a bit and also the whole episodic series on the channel; onwards and upwards, we go heavensward!
Also Forgiven Solitude is such a sick name for a Hrothgar, big props!
Amazing video! Glad I was here for the premiere
I'm glad you could be here for it as well :^)
This is so amazing. Seeing all the solo adventurers coming together for this. Been here since the start of the series and it's my favourite on YT :)
Just finished binging the entire series after getting this video recommended to me. This is probably one of the best pieces of ffxiv ever created on youtube. I can't think of a single content creator for FFXIV that has created something this unique for the game, something so common in classic wow and osrs. In fact this is what I love about those alot of osrs content on youtube, people taking a game they love and finding a radically new way to play it and enjoy it, and I'm glad someone found a way to do that in FFXIV.
Your early adventures really reminded me of when I was leveling my crafters in stormblood. I didn't have any gil, so I did what you did. I gathered my own materials, I crafted my own crafter gear upgrades, the only thing I didn't do was farm mobs, which impressed me so much actually. I remember trying to get alchemist mats and realizing it would've taken forever, so of course I used the market board and retainers.
I can't wait to see your heavensward adventures >:)
This is incredible 👏 I just found your channel and wow what a perfect series to watch today. My friends want to play FF14 as a solo player as well thanks for sharing your Journey ❤
the dedication to this ..... incredible that a challenge about playing fully solo brings so many ppl together like this 😭 amazing video, keep up the good work o7
My dearest ffxiv buddy and I have taken to duoing older savage and extreme content, and it has been so satisfying to get through those challenges. She was the one who told me of your series, and I just spent the day watching it all. I'm so inspired! Its been awesome to watch so many items/materials/paths used that are basically just overlooked now. I was really impressed with your Chrysalis run, and I smiled the whole way through this CT finale knowing that other solos went through the same trials to get there with you.
I can't wait to see the rest of your journey! Cheers and congratulations!
this was amazing to watch grow on the streams and the vods, and this video is a brilliant finale to series 1 of solo
Love the series and was really fun seeing the mechanics that typical crystal tower raid runs never get to see. Great stuff
the crystal tower solution was elegant and wholesome. I loved this journey. Thank you for recording it.
I love your solution to the Crystal Tower problem, and so glad that your journey does not ended here! Love your content, keep up the good work!
Dude, this journey was insane. I speculated for a long time how you would handle the tower even if you did, and to even beat it the sheer amount of man-hours that goes into preparations for content like this. It all just seemed highly improbable! But when you dropped the curtain and revealed the plan, that was some Avenger's Endgame level shit! You are a jewel of this community and I look forward to all of your content moving forward!
INCREDIBLE, Thank you for hours of content. Cant wait for HW!
Wow thank you so much :'^} I hope HW will be just as enjoyable.
I didn’t expect the Crystal Exarch quote at the end to make me cry. What a journey!
I became a member back on either the first or second video and I've never regretted supporting you since. This is truly an amazing series and keep up the great work.
Finally!! We got the CT video as promised, and it did not disappoint!! That was so engaging to watch, thank you for the eight months of Solo Only, now onto Heavensward!!
finding this and binging it in the last two days was an absolutely wild ride. absolutely incredible. gamers really are a whole different kind of people, and by gods, are they some of the best, most motivated folks sometimes. good luck and godspeed as you aim ever heavensward!
Thank you so much :'^) im glad you enjoyed
I'm so glad to be a part of this community. Massive props to you, and all of the other Solo's! Pumped for next season, Rath!
This was amazing. I feel that you have found a good solution to this problem. It was also really nice to see these old mechanics. I've never got to see them in my play troughs. the old alliance raids where a lot more interesting back then then what remains of them now.
The best part of this video is seeing Crystal Tower mechanics for the first time in 10 years :)
I was here for this one live! :D I choose to believe these folks aren't together, they're just 14 solo players who wound up in the same place.
What an incredible feat you've all pulled off. Such dedication!
I didn't watch these streams, cuz I wanted to see the culmination of the progress that was made in a more edited format, and I'm glad I did. This video was absolutely fantastic, and a huge shout out to the dps clutching out in the end
Well played and what a journey! 'Been along for the ride, lurking since the first part, the ending brought tears to my eyes.
I'm so glad this stream was one of the few I got to catch. The hype was real! The anticipation for the true Glasya Labolas fight only for him to die too quickly like he always does was hilarious!
I'm sure someone pointed it out already, but the way the skeletons work on Bone Dragon is you drag them away from each other and the boss before killing them. If they are still alive or too close to each other when the dragon dies, they rush to him and explode. If they are dead and spread apart, they slowly walk to the dragon and can be easily killed before reaching it and exploding. Also the second boss in Syrcus Tower eventually does a massive raid wide on the main platform that will wipe the group, so you jump to the outer platforms to avoid it. It's very easy to skip even doing a min ilvl run.
As someone who knows nothing about ff14 but really enjoys the ironman gameplay style I've been thoroughly enjoying this series. though I do have a few things to say about how ironman works in runescape.
Old school RuneScape Ironmen don't technically need to do other content with other irons. However until relatively recently in RuneScape3 group bosses had to be done either solo or in a group with iron, with any boss being viable to kill solo usually done solo because getting drops in your name was important due to no trading. A streamer and youtuber did an rs3 ironman that takes the restriction serious and solos the bosses that are not meant to be done solo and its very interesting. However in old school ever boss besides like 2 can be done completely solo.
That said I do think you "exception" still fits well within the rules of what the ironman mode suggests because ironmen can raid with anyone, they just have to get the unique drops in their name to actually use them so.
Can't wait for season 2 of solo ff14
Oh, yknow, I do vaguely remember that. Maybe it was an older thing from rs3 that I was thinking of. Hmmm
Wow, genuinely got teary eyed seeing you guys get that clear. Massive congrats to everyone on this incredible achievement!!! Been such a blast watching this series and I can't wait to see season 2!
Thanks for explaining the iron giant mechanic, cause that happened in a lota I was in a while ago lol (only was able to get like 3 people in C lane before everyone else was dragged into A lane).
The fact that the video opens with "Travelling Alone" from DQ5 goes surprisingly hard.
You are such an inspiration!!!! I've followed your videos and streams for a while now I absolutely admire your spirit, will and willingness to make your fun thorough. Cannot wait to see more!!
This series has been incredible. Inspired, insanely dedicated and totally bonkers. Well done to all 15 in the video, and anyone who is trying the same thing. You're crazy, and that is a biggest compliment.
I want to give a specific shoutout to the madlad who took Dancer in. I love the irony of one class that needs a partner being used in an alliance full of Solos and they can't even use DP in Crystal Tower because it doesn't unlock until 60! Absolute king or Queen of a Gamer.
Congratulations this journey has been a delight to watch. To the ever more challenges that await you, you shall rise above them all. As you ever have, solo.
Fantastic video and an amazing ending, congrats on the clear to you and the other solos!
Freaking Amazing. I look forward to seeing more!
This has been one of my favorite series on youtube.
:)
What an amazing journey. Thanks for letting everyone watch this spectacle.
Wanna say 2 things
1: I stumbled across this after the Limsa only run and I've been loving seeing all this progress i never would have thought possible, even with some of the exceptions you've made. This series has been an absolute blast to watch and follow
2: i have learned more about Crystal Tower in this video than in the (probably) dozens of hours i've spent getting this in alliance roulette
its always funny when i watch this vid is i have done these raids for years but i still did not know half this stuff till this video
as someone who has only the Crystal Towers left to complete, thank you for this wisdom, and congratulations!!!!