I posted something similar in another thread earlier (http://ffxiv.zam.com/forum.html?forum=152&mid=1379954600151985574), but I just beat Titan HM in a PUG, so I thought I'd share what we did, and hopefully it helps others trying to PUG it.
First of all watch the videos a few times, practice a lot!
As the tank or sub-tank, I'm not too busy so I setup three macros to warn people about the most important killers:
(landslide) <se.8>
(area of effect) @2s (run away) (gather together)X <se.9>
(mountain crusher) (flash) HP > 3000 (please check it) <se.7>
The problem I find with Titan is it's totally an ADHD thing that'll kill you before your gear does, you get tired from dodging the first attack and think, phew, that was a close call - now I can take a break, but Titan is unrelenting, it's awesome fun but if you snooze just once you're dead, so my macro warnings are meant to be just that, a warning to keep you on your toes and simple enough to remember so you can be doing other stuff "like dodging yourself". Plus if you macro warn each and everything it just becomes spam to people, most people can dodge landslides easy - you don't need to warn those, except when it's critical (such as when breaking people out of gaol at the end)
As for gear, it's not really what kills people, you can do the whole thing without taking a single hit, so I wholeheartedly agree the best advice isn't you need x amount of HP or a certain gear level, my best advice is to learn the key aoes that usually kill people, dodge those urself and warn others too. These usually follow a particularly grueling combo of aoe dodging.
If anyone else wants to try the same idea of manual macro warns I'll share what I base my macro calls on, I'm not too technical so phase to me is when what I watch for as a warning sign changes.
Phase 1 - after first Titan jump
This is easy, after tumult (which is your warning sign) and immediately after he lands, I ping (area of effect) @2s (run away) (gather together)X <se.9> - he throws two more punches then I call (landslide) <se.8> - not really necessary, everyone should be dodging landslide on their own
Phase 2 - after second jump
Call here is the landslide 1 punch after tumult, and most importantly 1 second after the landslide I hit (area of effect) @2s (run away) (gather together)X <se.9> - this is where some die, after the landslide they want to cast something
Bomb explosions are followed by landslide quickly, and the same thing 3 seconds-ish plumes
- plumes after landslide continues into the heart stage, I really don't bother here, everyone should be able to dodge landslides, the key warning sign here is to just watch for landslides, then always warn about the plumes after the landslide, that's what gets people
Phase 3 - after heart
So now his order is no longer simple, and I admit I don't even totally remember it, but there are two patterns here so this should really be more than one phase, but that's a bit complicated so I wouldn't give that as advice. I'm also busy not dying so I just watch for a couple warning signs and hope everyone is on their toes.
1. Warn for plumes
he lands, warn mountain crusher, tumult is the warning sign this is followed by plumes which you need to warn about
later on the plumes follow the mountain crusher too, I kind of go on instinct for this since I know the two patterns. If I mis-call it's not a big deal usually, good to keep people on their toes haha.
So starting out just watch for tumult and mountain crusher, warn about the plumes that come after - once you get familiarized you'll know when the plumes come.
2. Warn for mountain crusher
WHMs need to top off the PLD, so this is important and the PLD needs to flash/def buff -
Watch for right after bombs go off and u dodge the bombs/landslide - there's a mountain crusher coming
Watch for after the gaol (rock prison) he'll landslide of course, then mountain crusher, so just after these two things, warn mountain crusher
The gaol stage is also when the plumes start following the mountain crusher (don't forget you are warning these too) - you'll learn this through trial and error - then instinct, it's too hard to try remembering these patterns when you're in the fight.
So basically by watching for these warning signs and firing my macros everyone knows to do next.
These are just loose guidelines and you'll refine themselves as you learn, especially the last phases after the heart. But someone should be calling these out, if no one is, you should step up and do it. I tried this strategy and failed about 20 times before I won, but everyone loved me for it and even the JPs were impressed, obviously when we won they all flisted me without a second thought :)
Lastly, WHM should be using the limit break after the heart if 1 WHM goes down (which happened in my fight) or party is low, otherwise it's your discretion, but saving the party from dying on the tumult is critical. If you get to the end and a DD limit break will finish the job by all means, but that's a big IF, especially in a PUG.
Edited, Sep 25th 2013 7:39pm by SyniteonReflux