Alright, let me tell you about getting that Battle Panther mount in FFXIV. It wasn’t exactly a walk in the park, let me tell ya.
First off, I saw someone riding this cool, armored black cat and thought, “Okay, I need that.” Looked it up, found out you gotta be a Dark Knight and run a whole bunch of duties. Like, a LOT.
Getting Started – The Dark Knight Life
So, the achievement is called “But Somebody’s Gotta Do It (Dark Knight)”. You need to complete 300 dungeons, trials, or raids that are level 61 or higher. Three hundred! Seemed kinda nuts at first.
Luckily, I already had my Dark Knight leveled up pretty high from the last expansion. If you don’t, well, that’s step one right there – get your DRK to at least 61. Then the real “fun” begins.
I figured the best way to chip away at this was just doing my daily roulettes as Dark Knight. Every single day. Made sure I queued up for:
- Leveling Roulette (only counts if you get a 61+ duty, bit of a gamble)
- 50/60/70/80 Roulette
- Trials Roulette
- Normal Raids Roulette
- Alliance Raids Roulette
- MSQ Roulette (counts as two!)
Doing these most days gave me a decent chunk of progress without feeling too much like banging my head against a wall doing the same dungeon over and over.
The Long Haul – Just Keep Tanking
Man, this part took a while. Weeks turned into months. Some days I’d get a good string of runs in, other days I just didn’t feel like tanking, you know? You gotta be in the mood to lead the party and manage all that aggro.
I kept checking the achievement tracker under the Battle category. Seeing that number slowly tick up… 150… 200… 250… it felt like watching paint dry sometimes. There were definitely times I thought about giving up or just switching jobs for a bit.
Sometimes, if I had extra time, I’d just spam the quickest level 70 or 80 dungeon I could think of. Something like The Burn or Holminster Switch. Just pop on some music and zone out, pulling wall-to-wall when the party was up for it. It breaks up the monotony of roulettes, but it’s still a grind.
There were good runs, smooth runs where everyone knew what they were doing. Then there were… other runs. Wipes, people arguing, tanks forgetting stance (not me, usually!). It’s all part of the duty finder experience, right? Just gotta roll with it.
Finally! The Payoff
Getting close to 300 was exciting. I started really focusing, making sure I did every possible roulette as DRK. The last few runs felt like the longest, even though they weren’t.
And then… bam! After finishing some random trial, the achievement notification popped up. “But Somebody’s Gotta Do It (Dark Knight)” complete! Felt so good. Like a huge weight lifted.
But wait, you don’t just get the mount. You gotta go claim it. Flew over to Old Gridania, went to Apkallu Falls, and talked to the achievement guy, Jonathas. Found the achievement in the list, got the Battle Panther Whistle.
Used that whistle right away. And there it was! The big, armored panther. Looks pretty awesome, not gonna lie. All that tanking, all those queues, finally paid off.
So yeah, that’s how I got my Battle Panther. It takes dedication, patience, and a whole lot of tanking. Was it worth it? Yeah, I think so. It’s a cool mount, and it’s kinda like a badge showing you put the time in on Dark Knight. Just be prepared for a long journey if you decide to go for it!
