Between Windows
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About the Column
Written by Vlorsutes of Siren. Between Windows is a column discussing his views or experiences with end game activities, and is not to be considered the viewpoints of Allakhazam.
Between Windows, August 16th, 2008
Seconds after I log in and announce to my linkshell that I'm on, I get spammed in my chat log with comments and orders to get to the past as soon as I can. So I make a shout in Whitegate, get a Retrace, and race as fast as I can to the given co-ordinates, only to hear the reverberation of Cures, the impacts of metal against flesh, and an ominous neigh followed by the sound of streams of electricity bursting from the ground. It was then that I knew all to well what battle I faced. It's been nearly two months now since the latest addition to the pantheon of hyper notorious monsters that roam Vana'diel galloped onto the scene, but like its present timeline and Aht Urhganian counterparts, Dark Ixion is not a creature without its fair share of issues.
As what I consider a countermeasure to the ever persistent problem of linkshells employing bots to claim HNM that always spawn in a specific area in a specific zone, Square-Enix gave Dark Ixion the ability to spawn in multiple zones in the past and traverse amongst and between zones at its leisure. Likewise, unless he's claimed by throwing and hitting him with a bag of Stygian Ash, any efforts to claim, or even approach him, will prove useless, since he will run away at an unmatchable speed, usually into a different zone. However, in a move that I find no better than botting, there are linkshells that exploit his behavior so they can prevent other linkshells from claiming him, as they'll send people out specifically to find and scare him off if another linkshell is gathering in order to claim him. This isn't an action that goes unpunished either, as Game Masters actually consider this a legitimate offense paramount to holding notorious monsters. I've personally seen players, openly scaring him away just to prevent my linkshell from getting him, sent straight to Mordion Gaol after a GM was called. Granted the player did actually say that he was scaring it away on purpose, but the fact remains that it is something they won't tolerate.
This begs to ask the question, why was Dark Ixion created to behave exactly this way? I mean the fact that he can spawn in multiple zones, that he'll go about from zone to zone whenever he wants, and that he can't be claimed without throwing AND hitting him with a bag of ash should be enough to discourage bot usage, so why would they decide to program him so that if anyone comes within his circle of awareness, he just runs away? It doesn't make any sense from a player's perspective, and doesn't fit well with Ixion's behavior otherwise. Considering how aggressive he behaves once you do claim him with the ash, there should be no reason that he'd be so timid and shy that he'll flee off to another zone when anyone walks up to him. While I'm not necessarily saying that he should attack anyone that comes up to him, he should at least be able to simply ignore them and go about his business. After all, this is a notorious monster that can drop you easily if he were to charge at you, let alone hit you with his Lightning Spear, so to think that he'd be scared off by someone that he could defeat easily almost makes him look pathetic.
I also find it extremely hard to believe that a notorious monster as powerful as Dark Ixion would flee to another zone whenever a Campaign battle starts up in the zone that he's in. The weakest of monsters, like the Lycopodium or Vultures, don't even seem to care when a group of the Shadow Lord's forces begins their march towards the allied Fortifications, so why is it that Ixion, one of the most powerful monsters in the past that we know about, so compelled to escape? What's worse is it doesn't even matter if he's near the fortifications or not, because if he's unclaimed and that tell-tale Campaign music starts, you might as well just have your linkshell start looking for him in one of the surrounding zones.
This in turn brings about another issue I have regarding Dark Ixion and Campaign. Campaign battles already make it difficult to get around to all the zones in the past, even when you're not trying to find or gather together with your linkshell to kill our favorite electrical equine. There have been so many times since Ixion was added that my linkshell will go to camp him, only to end up Retracing into a Campaign battle in our respective home nations which cuts us off from our access to the warp npcs. Then comes the hastened scramble to meet up with our White Mages to get a Recall or to warp back to the present and use one of the Cavernous Maws to travel back to the past again, only to find out that Dark Ixion has now moved from the zone he was supposed to be in to a completely different one because someone in another linkshell scared him off. Even before his inception, I felt that the warp npcs should remain when a Campaign battle hits one of the cities, but now with Ixion around, that desire almost becomes a necessity.
In closing, Dark Ixion was a novel attempt on Square-Enix's part to deal with a problem that has left a very sour taste in linkshells that camp HNM, but in my opinion he is not without his own problems that make him just as much of an annoyance to try and camp. I don't consider it a correction because a correction should be an overall improvement, and should most definitely not bring about a comparable amount of headaches.
Ever think Vlorsutes should rant about Dynamis? Or are you more intrigued by how he handles HNM camping? He's willing to take suggestions, so send them to Vlorsutes@gmail.com and you may see your topic in an upcoming installment of Between Windows.