Amidst numerous servers of “try hards” and longtime players lies Famfrit, a more casual area with a dense population. There are, however, many players who still challenge the progression content despite the more laid-back community. As the game slowly takes away more and more incentive to tackle the raid system other than for bragging rights, we hope to turn the spotlight on those who dare to take on what makes FFXIV less of a grind and more a sophisticated dance with death.
Team Secret Oatmeal defeats Creator Savage and successfully defends their Server First title! Fresh from their Server First victory in Midas, Secret Oatmeal set out to defend their title and faced extremely tough competition from Phoenix and Nova but persevered and had a successful title defense. Today, they are here for a short chat about the raid tier and what they plan to do next.
For their verbal interview, you can check out the Git Gud podcast held by Bellator Lucis and Commander Caine!
https://www.twitch.tv/yoyogur/v/96848086 – Their A12S clear video
Roster:
Tee Bao (Paladin/Dark Knight)
Fantasy Rain (Warrior)
David Anderson (Astrologian)
Hawken Pierce (Scholar)
Z’ekias Duskrunner (Dragoon)
Tristan Tamashii (Ninja)
Ezrael Samaiya (Bard/Machinist)
Evalara Fayth (Summoner)
How does it feel to beat this tier?
(Tee Bao) It felt great to beat this tier, but it really went by quickly. As someone who first raided in 3.0, the speed of this tier was sorta strange.
(Evalara Fayth) Feels Good Man.
(Hawken Pierce) It feels good to be able to defend our server first title.
(Ezrael Samaiya) It’s not quite as satisfying as clearing A8S was, but that was partially expected. The dedication and time it took for us to clear Midas made it so much better when it was all said and done. None the less, it still feels good to be done with the tier.
How much time did you put into beating each floor?
(Tee Bao) A9S – about 75 minutes, A10S – 2 to 2.5 hours, A11S – 12 to 14 hours, A12S – 10 hours
(Evalara Fayth) Not a lot. I feel like Tee would be able to answer that. Way less time than it did to prog A8S, that’s for sure.
(Ezrael Samaiya) We managed to clear A9S in one lockout and A10S in two lockouts. A11S took us a few raid nights. A12S was a little frustrating simply because of availability issues. We missed quite a few raid nights due to various scheduling conflicts with irl circumstances. I think A11S actually took us longer than A12S did as far as time in the respective instances goes.
Secret Oatmeal faced extremely stiff competition from Phoenix for server first. Did you anticipate this raid tier to be extremely competitive?
(Tee Bao) With the anticipation of this tier being much easier, I knew that it would be a close race. We had very limited raid times this tier due to some schedule conflicts, but everyone did their best to make time for raid so that we could be competitive in the server first race. Phoenix definitely stepped up their game and I think it helped motivate us to work even harder for our clears.
(Evalara Fayth) Not really. I think once we realized we were tight for time, we tried to stop expecting any kind of server first. Really proud of the team for studying extensively outside of raid time to pull off the 12s clear though.
(Hawken Pierce) Team Phoenix is a raid group full of skilled players. They have always been the group that consistently tries to compete with us for server first. Though they came up short, best of luck to them next tier.
(Ezrael Samaiya) I certainly expected this tier to be more competitive. A lot of new groups came out of nowhere and have really surprised me with how well they’re progressing. It’s been great watching the steady progress from the other groups this tier.
Your thoughts about Creator Savage. Did you like the design? Do you feel like it should have been more difficult?
(Tee Bao) The fights in Creator were lots of fun. The design of all the fights was definitely more interesting than some of the previous tier’s fights and I’d say that this tier as a whole was a great all-around tier for fight design. Personally, I think that some of the fights could have been more difficult, but I’m also happy with their current difficulty as it has really encouraged the raid scene on Famfrit. I see a lot of PFs and PUGs running content and it’s good to see people clearing the raid content. A10S is the most fun-looking fight of the tier, while I like the soft-enrage/coordination efforts of A11S, and the execution necessary for A12S. My only complaint about this tier is that I would have liked an A12S fight design which didn’t heavily favor Dark Knight over Paladin.
(Evalara Fayth) Creator Savage was boring, in my honest opinion. It gets old fast. However, I’m glad it is easy enough to the point where a lot more people can attempt it and clear through it. It’s what the raid community needs right now.
(Hawken Pierce) I really enjoyed the design of Creator Savage, especially the plane ride from A11 and temporal stasis from A12 the mechanic is unique and interesting. I feel like this tier is where it should be, as the design is around team work and less of a DPS check kind of fight and SE did a really good job of that.
(Ezrael Samaiya) The fights themselves were pretty entertaining, though I do wish they were more difficult. That being said, I understand that right now what the raid community needs isn’t content like Gordias/Midas. I would rather have a healthy raid community with plenty of groups clearing content, than the aftermath of Gordias ever again.
What are your plans after you get everyone their best-in-slot? Will you continue to raid?
(Tee Bao) Right now we’re looking to do speed kills and sales, both before and after we get our BiS. Otherwise, I’m enjoying helping PUGs and other groups do 0 or 1-chest runs after I’ve done my weekly clears.
(Evalara Fayth) We plan on selling content and stuff. I guess I will.
(Hawken Pierce) I will definitely continue to raid, doing speed kills on every floor is our next goal right now.
(Ezrael Samaiya) We’ll probably still continue to raid for at least a few more weeks to a couple of months. I’ll probably end up playing the game less to focus on irl stuff and just raid-log/help friends if they need it.
Any shoutouts?
(Tee Bao) Shoutout to the members of Secret Oatmeal for working extremely hard this tier on these fights and making an effort to carve out raid time each week. Special thanks to Tristan for all his crafting of gear, food, and potions – especially for our A12S progression. Shoutout to the Famfrit raid community for providing both friendly competition and support through both Midas and Creator.
(Evalara Fayth) Shoutouts to my laptop again, and to my friends.
(Hawken Pierce) Shout out to Tee for managing our raid times and everyone else for taking their times off work and school for raid and Geno for doing this amazing interview.
(Ezrael Samaiya) Shoutout to Tristan for the crazy amount of crafting he did for our group! I can’t imagine how much time it took to make all of that stuff. Want to also thank everyone that’s supported us along the way and wish all the other groups still progressing luck. Looking forward to seeing a lot more A12S clears in the near future!
Congratulations again and good luck in Stormblood! This is Genos Axel signing out.