General Difficulty varies with members?

[Alereth]

I've been doing several Amarok and Orthrus runs in an attempt to get my Ardor stones for the +2 PLD body. While I've finally succeeded, there has been something amiss with the last three runs.

Orthrus has gotten harder, stronger and more resistant. Now I can only think of two things: Either he got ninja buffed by SE so he wasn't as easy to kill, or his difficulty is dependent on the number of people in your alliance when you pop him.

The first several times I fought him, I was in a group of 7. He went down at a moderate pace and we didn't have any problems.

On the last few runs, we went in an alliance of 10-13 people. The fights were suddenly taking nearly an hour and he was resisting ALOT of whatever was thrown at him. Our damage output dropped considerably; he was just taking less damage than usual, almost as if he was raged from the moment of pop.

I intend to test with another group of 7 or less but has anyone else experienced this either on him or on other Abyssea NMs?

 

[Taurothar]

Was he getting a lot more TP and therefor using a lot more TP moves, making it a harder fight?

I've seen that a lot where a low man is far more successful than the full alliance right behind it.

 

[Raesvelg]

Some of the mobs have secondary abilities attached to their TP moves, apparently. Chillwing Hwitti, for example, has a Bio aura that goes up by 10/tick for each Tantara he uses.

I suppose it's possible that SE has put some sort of scaling mechanism in, but I can't say for certain.

 

[Alereth]

Was he getting a lot more TP and therefor using a lot more TP moves, making it a harder fight?

I've seen that a lot where a low man is far more successful than the full alliance right behind it.

Nah, the same people were on the NM in all cases. My MNK friend and I duo tank it (for enmity reset when it Howls) so TP gain for it has remained consistant through each fight.

The best suggestion I have for you if you happen to pop him in a similar state is to stack on fire resist. Gates of Hades hardly broke 100 and Acheron Flame averaged around 250. Firaga IV managed to spike at 600 damage, but it was stunned most of the time. The only time Flare caught me without shadows, I absorbed the damage (50dmg). I stacked on MDB, Barfira, Fire Carol I & II and Atma of the Brother Wolf (Fire resist superior [+100]).

I have to test a bit more, but either difficulty scales depending on members when you pop it or SE buffed him up a bit. I would say that we may have just been unlucky, but we didn't change anything and our damage just dropped for no apparent reason.

 

[Myrrh]

SE is such a douche for nerfing shit. I miss soloing hard ass Nms on SMN with ease. That shit was fun man.