[FFXIV] Dusk Vigil (Hard) suggestion.

=== Dusk Vigil (Hard) ===
This is a concept/suggestion, and not indicative of a final version that Square Enix is planning.

Some time after the dragonsong war came to a close, the temple knights had been ordered to reclaim the Dusk Vigil from the elements so that it could be used once more as an outpost against would-be invaders. To their dismay, however, the temple knights were greeted with a rather frosty reception. The chapel where Halone was meant to be worshiped had been destroyed, but as soon as anyone entered the remaining portions of it, a large icy version of what seemed to be Halone came up and froze some of the temple knights. The temple knights now call upon brave adventurers to investigate the creature and put a stop to it and other anomalies.

-- "Boss" 1 --
Upon entering the dungeon, a cutscene will play where you are seen running to the end of the original Dusk Vigil near the chapel area. The cutscene ends when the large halone appears. Similar to that of Bardam's Mettle's second boss, the large halone cannot be targeted. Instead, two ice themed versions of succubi voidsent are floating around what remains of the arena. Yes, there are no trash enemies before the first "boss," much like Dun Scaith.

When getting near or attacking either of the ice themed succubi, they will act similar to normal enemies at first. Every now and then they will turn to a random player and use a cone attack, which will deep freeze any player unlucky enough to stay in the cone. In addition, the giant halone will sometimes do a cone attack where she lets out an ice breath attack to deep freeze people.

Once the two ice succubi are defeated, the large halone will slam her hands down on the arena, sending out a shockwave of frost from each and applying "Slow Freeze" to all of the party members. This debuff has a 30 second timer, and as the timer goes down, the stacks for it go up, causing the players to move slower and slower. They must avoid AoEs as much as possible during this, or do mechanics from previous dungeons until the slow freeze timer runs out, at which point all players will stop and get the debuff "Permafrost." At this point the boss will reach around the arena, similar to Lakshmi, and bring everyone close to the giant halone. Afterwards, the giant halone boss sucks the players into her lips (or bosom depending on cinematic direction.)

-- Dungeon Part 1 --

Players will then awaken at what seems to be the start of the original Dusk Vigil, but their bodies will be translucent, and they will have the debuff similar to that of when "Soul Extraction" was applied in the second boss of Ala Mhigo. During this time, players must navigate around various frost succubi that are patrolling the halls. Failing to do such will have them bind you and deep freeze your soul, losing valuable time.

Once the players reach the entrance to dusk vigil where the original first boss was, they are pulled into icy versions of their bodies, which are constantly taking a damage over time spell. Here it is where the first true boss is presented.

-- Boss 1.5: Frost Halicarnassus --

This boss fight is a lot similar to that of the final boss in Haukke Manor (Hard.) Only this time, the boss can slow your movement in addition to charming players. It can also add stacks of a damage over time effect to random players, and must be either cleansed with Esuna or healed through.

After she gets to half HP, she will quickly go to the middle of the room, and start sucking in the players slowly from all directions to her with a fiercely cold wind. As players try to stay away from her, large chunks of ice and debris get pulled down and must be avoided or else players will get inflicted with down for the count for 1 second. If a player is sucked in, they get inflicted with "Permafrost," and cannot act until the phase is completed. If all players get sucked in before the phase completes, she laughs loudly and wickedly, and does a quick self-circle AoE of more ice, sealing permafrost players in tombs of ice with a second stack of Permafrost, this wipes the party.

If successful, the boss will do a self circle aoe similar to the above wiping mechanic, killing any player unfortunate enough to be permafrosted. The boss will then continue its assault on the tank as per normal, but will every now and then go to the middle to start sucking in again, for a shorter time than before.

-- Dungeon Part 2 --

Once the boss is defeated, players will notice that the door that they took in the original instance is too frozen over to pass through. Instead, a piece of the floor in the back crumbles and players must jump down into the cellars of Dusk Vigil. Continuing onward with their icy bodies, which still have their damage over time effect. In the cellars, they will sometimes find blue flames that flicker to a normal firey orange color. Evidence that your actions are starting to "thaw" out the vigil. Players will face enemies that can add stacks of the damage over time effect their icy bodies currently already have. If too many stacks are accrued, they are sent into a permafrost state, and lose time. To remove the stacks, players must get near the normal / orange fires. Eventually, players will get to the second boss.

-- Boss 2: Visage of Halone --

The players run outside the dusk vigil, only to be greeted by the giant icy halone from the start of the dungeon. The camera angle becomes fixed at this point, and makes it look like you are playing some sort of side-scroller game (like Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria.) Players must use cannons here to destroy the boss. Cannons are all frozen however, and must be brought an orange / normal fire source to thaw them out to be used. As the HP of the boss goes down, the boss will start using its breath attack, which will re-freeze the cannons, and will deep freeze anyone not standing behind walls within the vigil where the orange fires are located.

After the boss' HP gets to half, the boss will punch through one of the walls (hence the side-scroll nature of the boss fight.) This removes one of the fires players can use to thaw out cannons. The boss will also start getting closer than before and a player will sometimes get cross-haired. This player will be the target of a suck-in attack, and must hide behind a wall, or else they will be sucked into the mouth (or bosom depending on the original cinematic direction) of the giant halone boss, where they will take massive damage before being thrown back out. Once defeated, the players are free to continue left and onward, toward the depths of the vigil. Continuing through the cellars and into a larger area, where the real final boss finally shows themselves.

-- Boss 3: Snow --

The boss' cut-scene will show a beautiful woman encased in ice, similar to that of Ysayle when turning into Shiva. The ice breaks, and show a large (larger than any male Roegadyn, if not twice their size) seductive looking woman with a leotard (much like the original FFVII Snow design.) Blue lips, and crimson eyes, long silvery blue tinted hair and a huge bosom. She will dance around and then slowly go into her Final Fantasy VII battle pose shown here: http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Snow_(Final_Fantasy_VII)

Once the boss is pulled, she will start doing an auto attack where she bends down a bit to slap the tank with a back-hand. Every now and again, she will cast "Fascination" on a player that isn't the tank or healer, this will confuse that player until the confusion is cleansed with Esuna.

After the boss' HP gets to 66% (or 1/3 gone) the boss will go to the far end of the arena, and start casting "Cold Breath," which will start pushing players to the opposite side of the arena from her. A rectangle of white aether similar to that of the poison pool from the demon wall in Amdapor Keep, but white, will appear and players must not step in it, or else they will be inflicted with Permafrost. Once the Cold Breath cast finishes, she will stop pushing players, but the white rectangle will remain, permanently removing part of the arena until the boss is defeated or the party wipes. The boss will start using cold breath again (but the arena won't be reduced further) randomly until the boss gets to half HP.

At Half HP, the boss will jump out of the arena and become untargetable. They will begin a long cast bar with "Ice3" as the name (yes, without a space between Ice and 3, and not the roman numeral of III, to keep in line with the FF7 reference.) During this time, players must slay clones of snow before the cast time is up. Each snow clone that is defeated will set down a large piece of ice, players must gather ice together to make a barrier to place between the boss and them to survive the attack. Once Ice3 is cast, another section of the arena will permanently turn to a white rectangle. After this, she will start attacking the tank again, and begin using a more damaging twirl-kick attack on the tank as a tank buster.

Once the boss' HP lowers to 33% (or 1/3 remaining.) The boss will go to the center of the arena, and begin to twirl around on the spot, emitting an icy wind that slowly pushes players toward the edges of the arena. Ice will start falling from above trying to hit players at random, and being hit will cause the player to have the deep freeze debuff for a short time. After this, the boss will jump to a side of the arena that has a white rectangle, but none opposite of it, and start using "Cold Breath" similar to before, and a new white rectangle appears. She will stop and go back to attacking the tank and then eventually use cold breath again on the remaining side that doesn't have a white rectangle yet. If the players don't defeat the boss in a timely manner, she will start using "Cold Embrace" after all four sides of the arena have been frozen with white aether. This will permafrost the entire party once it gets off, and wipe the party.