This whole Meta Party thing is hurting me. x_x

[Okamimaru]

I used to worry about meta but realized that I'm not at the level of play where the meta matters much if at all... and if I can devote my time to getting to that level I can do it on any class.... I did things on a hybrid ninja/kagerou in Ragnarok online like capturing and holding a castle in woe with just ninja, or killing over 40 different mvps solo, climbing to floor 50 in endless tower solo... the point is play what you like and if it doesn't fit the meta break the meta

[CatStarPrime]

Well at least they know (?) how to read and write so maybe they're slightly smarter than baboons?

We think the baboons actually know how to read and write but they're too smart to let on.

[Bourne_Endeavor]

How important the "meta" is remains entirely subjective. Many groups, especially on the more casual side, aren't going to care. It matters more as you climb the totem pole, but even then plenty of people will take a good player who a meta job. For example sake, my Savage static has ran Monk since Creator and generally doesn't focus on meta jobs. My Ultimate group that formed more recently are a bunch of tryhards. We care more about squeezing out that extra DPS.

It all comes down to what you prefer. In fact, the recruitment discord often shows numerous statics looking for any roles. If you're ever looking, drop me a DM and I'll be happy to help set you up finding a group.

[gumas]

^pretty much

You only find meta talk (mostly) when you reach the top 10% such as endgame raid, 60-90% probably has stuff about meta too but only in casual way like based on log or parse where the top 10% goes deeper into calculation and % stuff.

As casual myself, the nerf (or buff) didnt bother me one bit, i play this for fun, for community, enjoy the story etc. hell iam even more hype about the msq continuation than the combat balancing.

Also, if you go to jp section forum and check the class role, there is no thread that bitching about class nerf or buff, they all more care about housing and socialising stuff lol

[Lelila38]

I found that not even the end game groups (apart from maybe bleeding edge, but I wouldn't know) care much about meta. It's mostly just the "would-be hardcore" groups on pf that make it a big deal.
Most endgame raidgroups are fairly chill about your choice of class, as long as you can play it well.

[zuzu-bq]

In the very scripted PVE fights of XIV, meta isn't subjective. The reason meta is subjective and shifts even though no change happens in other competitive PVP based games its because you've interactivity between opponents (player to player interactions) that slowly chnages how people react to eachothers. META means Most Efficient Tactic Avaliable, when the enemy always does the same thing, the best tactic will always be the same. You can see people doing speedruns of games in general and when a random factor is accounted for something, speedrunners just tend to say that if X doesn't happen by the game's built in randomness you should just restart and do it until the best random possibility happens. You see that on XIV speedruns as well, usually about Balance draws mid encounter. There is a really good Mogtalk about this from before Stormblood launched.

The reason why people get comfortable into forcing or letting to be forced to play the best jobs on Savage it's because clearing it isn't all that hard or not even considered a challenge by a very large amount of players. So clearing is treated as just a small step on the journey to master a encounter. Then you best yourself out then you best yourself out on a meta job so everyone can break their best by efficient buff stacking. The fact all fights follow a easy to memorize and plan around script and that the best jobs can be the best when adapted to ever one of these scripts also doesn't help and make the meta to just always be better in any encounter. It just becomes a matter of adapting to the script.

That being said, the real issue is that the game community of XIV replaced "besting yourself" as a first to "play a better job". When playing a better job should be one of the last steps when seeking the best result ever possible. And this is why you don't see people trying out the best damage composition on Ultimate, because right now clearing itself is a challenge and playing what is comfortable will oftenly matter more. That's something that was also present on Gordias, and a bit in Midas, when most of the playerbase was still struggling in Savage.

Metagame solutions shouldn't be demonized or idolized. Understanding why something is the best possible can help you into playing better with what isn't the best possible and become a better player. Once you can't progress further unless you change to the best job and you want to keep progressing, go for it. And build the perfect team in order to seek the best results.

[Waliel]

We think the baboons actually know how to read and write but they're too smart to let on.

I'm leaning more towards there being hundreds of baboons with keyboards and infinite amount of time.

[Neela]

Players tend to look at META and think it's the only way to get something done. and it's really not.

this is what its all about... but even more annoying is a pf description like "we'll be watching u, if under 80% uptime kick!" or "fflogs run below 4.5k kick!"... all this "end content" (mostly its not even endgame at all, also mount farm for the lulz) farm restriction with meta jobs or min. dps %... are problems we caused ourselves - pointing on the devs is just kinda flat and hypercritical imo.

[Benjo]

I'd rather pick a decent non-meta player who can clear stuff over a meta player who is just a tryhard.

[Tussin]