Maat and RDM -explicit language-

To expand a bit on my last post, red mage Maat is a monster.  As RDM is my main job, I don't have any experience to compare it to, but I have to imagine that not many people would have 75s if all the fights were like this.

I've  attempted it upwards of ten times; I honestly haven't kept count, but I do know that it's over ten.  I've tried every strategy I could find; I had the best results with a combination strategy.  Start slow by buffing myself, sleeping him, dispelling and debuffing him, using ethers to regain my MP, then going all-out on chainspell nukes.

The first fight wasn't even an actual attempt, it was a sightseeing trip.  I wanted to see the fight so I had some idea of what I was looking at.  The second fight, I came unprepared.  After that, it was down to business.  I brought 100k in consumables to each fight.  (That's right, it is not just a matter of consumables, I don't care what the THF, NIN, and SAM fights entail.  And screw your cream puff, I was using Crimson fucking Jelly.)  I capped my skills (okay, nearly capped, I'm still 6 points short on elemental).  I tried every strategy I could find, I settled on what worked best for me.  And it still didn't work.

I had multiple fights where everything went perfectly, I was one good nuke away from the win.  And then bam, out of nowhere, Maat hits me for 250 and Asuran Fists fucks me for 900.  Honestly, I can no longer be near a 71+ Monk in combat.  The appearance of Asuran Fists in my combat scroll sends me into hysterics.

You can do everything right.  Every sleep can land, every nuke can hit, Blind, Slow, and Paralyze can be unresisted.  And the fact is, it comes down to simple fucking luck, every time.  Stoneskin isn't a huge buffer, Blink isn't a guarantee.  Even with everything going absolutely right for 5 minutes, he just needs to get lucky once.

As always, Cinn has been absolutely awesome.  He helped me research strategies, equipment, and consumables.  He helped me get my skills capped.  He's helped me farm testimonies, and he's been there for me when I've been in tears over this damned fight.  And when I finally threw the towel in on it, he decided to level another job with  me.

The current plan is that I'm going to level DNC while he catches up to my SCH, and then I'm going to take SCH up to 70.  I am not a former mage, I'm not even a former red mage.  I'm a red mage who happens to be leveling another job for the limit break.

To everyone who has helped me and tried to help me along the way, thank you.  Even though I've taken offense to most of it, I do appreciate that your intentions were good.