I have found the weakness in the wall that is Titan Extreme (and, retroactively, Titan Hard).
I had fully accepted that I was one of those people with a bad connection that simply could not dodge plumes or landslides. I was completely ready to start learning the specific timing of my lag so that I could dodge at just the right moment. I was 100% prepared to spend weeks wiping while learning his rotation and still be ready for the random lag spike that would spell my doom. Worst of all, I felt terrible for using such a flimsy and unprovable excuse to justify my failures at content that my entire server has been farming for a long time now.
I was ready for all this, until I looked (REALLY looked) at what was happening during the Weight of the Land. If it was really lag, it should affect the entire instance, right? But I noticed that I could dodge just fine in the first couple phases when there are only 2-3 plumes. Then it got harder and harder to get out in time when there were 4-5 plumes. I also noticed that my movement speed seemed to get cut in half during the later phases. Everything slowed down noticeably.
It never occurred to me that LOWERING MY GRAPHICS QUALITY was the solution. I spent 10-15 minutes after first getting the game dumbing down the quality so my computer wouldn't explode. It never occurred to me to do that again, until an FC mate suggested trying again. Turns out I didn't lower them enough. I lowered the settings to the Laptop (Standard) pre-setting, disabled shadows, movement physics, and party skill effects, and then reduced my resolution by 2/3. That last one may not be necessary, but the effect was immediate. I have changed from the first to get kicked to a dodging champ!! Even in the open world, I'm hitting a consistent 60fps now. That completely makes up for the less-than-noticeable quality loss.
So, for anyone still knocking your head against the brick wall that is Titan, consider pretending that your computer is a potato and disabling all the fancy-shancy graphical awesomeness. Your computer and your sanity will thank you.
