“Don't like poor play? Use a static!” thoughts

[MoroMurasaki]

I’ve had iterations of this shouted at me by rabid forum-goers and party members alike when I have either dared to offer advice during a duty or dared to complain about the skill of the playerbase as a whole after some frustrating experiences. Like any argument that can be turned on it's head and defeated I’ve done just that - “Don't like critique and effort? Use PF to find other poor players,” is a perfectly fine response to that in my opinion.

If we take this assertion out of the context of winning a pointless argument though… it’s a lot more interesting of a suggestion and one I may have passively adopted, at least in part.

I’m in an FC comprised predominantly of players more senior and skilled than myself. I’m also part of a discord that has some friends from the forum and outside of it of which I would place myself still nowhere near the top of.

Playing with these two groups of similarly or better skilled players is absolutely wonderful. I can trust everyone to perform their job, put the group first and either understand the fight or ask questions/inform themselves. Many of the more experienced players have statics and are progressing later stage Savage but that hasn't stopped some of them from helping with Byakko/earlier Savage clears, it's just a really positive environment.

In my own way I’ve taken the advice of those salty little forum monsters who tell me to not have standards outside of people I know - I have sequestered myself in a bastion of competence, the walls of which have been thick enough to mostly protect me from the shambling masses.

Is that actually good though?

Occasionally I still don my DF cloak alone and wander into the scary dark to see things like zero DPS healers, OTs in tank stance and the illustrious Ice Mage. The difference now is that I'm all the more startled and frustrated by people making these mistakes because on literally a daily basis I play with people who don't.

It's hard for me to say as one person whether or not my exposure to the finer things in life has left me more irritable when confronted with the player-equivalent of mac & cheese and hot dogs but I think it's something that bears discussing. We are all inevitably going to use DF sometimes - is more frequent exposure better at dulling the sense of ‘dear god why is that AST in Noct with a SCH cohealer’ or am I such a toxic elitist for even having that thought that I should huddle with my own kind and not expose the playerbase to my rampant, harsh judgments?

I’m curious to hear from anyone in a similar situation - do you feel like playing with more reasonable players makes you dread DFing things? ‘Cause I am considering not DPSing in DF content without a healer I know now after some bad healer experiences. I wonder if I would have that same train of thought if I didn't know so many amazing healers.

[Krokov]

4 players might upset me mistakes so forth might upset me I usually don't say anything and just go along with it. In other words I just try to run the dungeon and try to complete it if I'm removed because entire group decided to leave the dungeon and I will usually just Q up again. Does it make me dread using Duty Finder no I just use it again until I complete my objective.

[Krokov]

I will admit though it is nice running with a static because everyone's on the same level if you will everyone knows each other able to communicate and things usually go pretty well but as long as there's some communication I'd say any run can be done pretty well even if you do have players that aren't performing very well.

[Enjuden]

I had that thought for a while. I'll be honest. I'm not nice when it comes to criticism for other people. Though the dread for pf exists, I've grown to the point where I don't care anymore. Good, bad, it doesn't matter, but I always expect the worst from a player in all content, in all instances, and in all situations. Not only do I expect failure, I expect the mistakes made to be the very reason that content isn't cleared.

Most just don't care to improve, and it was painfully obvious when I began out dps'ing others that were in raid or full gear for a patch on off classes that I dabbled in, not best in slot or with raid gear. If people are still playing badly in Stormblood, they are a lost cause. I firmly believe that if they couldn't figure it out or have some basic idea after one expansion and the base game, there is nothing to improve since they do not want to improve. The only way to make those that don't care to improve is to have MSQ force them to, which is not really in the realm of possibility for this game.

There's some nice people at least, maybe some that might ask from people that don't care for playing at a higher level. That's fine, and it's nice to chat with them. But I expect dps from the last expansion or even from several patches ago since that is a pass for casual content. So why bother stressing over it? Duty finder is duty finder. So long as the other person can press 1-2-3, then it's fine for that content. I try to have my expectations to be bare minimum since if I wanted to analyze and critique every single piece of content, I would have stopped playing this game a long time ago. I do what I can to analyze as little of other people as possible when it comes to non raid content (anything not savage pretty much), and even then I avoid it unless it's obvious mistakes, and not having to do with mechanics (health/stress/fatigue/etc.)

[F_Maximillian]

This is pretty much it for me. I joined a static (I'm really not a fan of statics/scheduling my game time like that but I found one that I don't dread logging in for weekly clears with) and have been rarely doing things without at least one friend that I know, usually more than one. If I'm really desperate or have time to waste then I may venture outside my closed circle but I basically keep to myself and people I know to be competent nowadays.

[VanilleFang]

I know where you are coming from, I feel the same way. Running things with a good group from discord has made me realize I've been dealing with a lot of garbage since ARR. I have been finding myself to be a tad more irritable in situations, and have found myself speaking up more when I feel someone is massively under performing.

For example: I called out an AST earlier who, on top of not DPS very much (using gravity on a single mob?) and spamming Benefic(II), only used 1 card and held another during an hour run of Eureka. I'm getting sick of carrying people and playing with certain people has made me realize this more than ever.

I know I'm not the greatest in the group, but the group has helped boost my ego. It's helped me agree to try to break from my comfort zone and try new things, but again it's also caused me to be a tad more testy with PUGs. I'm generally really easygoing and nice, but I've been finding I've been getting more blunt and straightforward toward those who tick me off. A major part of it is the trust that comes with the group. Like you mentioned, you know the others in the group will do their job, and will put the group first. This is a huge jump from PUGs who sometimes seem more interested in trying to break the record of doing as little as possible and still get a clear.

[SenorPatty]

It's just a matter of setting expectations for each group (DF and PF I mean) and most importantly, accepting those expectations beforehand. If you find yourself unable to accept the lottery that entails DF but still continue to march on, it's normal to find yourself irritated, especially if you regularly use a static/PF.

I think that's why I've personally stopped caring about who does what in DF roulette so long as it actually doesn't hinder or strain my runs. Or rather, to be specific, I've stopped setting standards for DF. I know people will say "But Vice, you should say something when you encounter an ice mage". Believe me, I do. I'll tell that blm to use fire spells and shrug. I don't say it in hopes he becomes a better player. That's reserved for sprouts in the early dgns. I say it because I need to know if I'm going to have to adjust. That's it. I've basically been shrugging off bad play for a long time because the alternative is being angry and I don't like the idea of being angry about people who don't care how they play. It's even worse knowing that they'll just go on about their day, satisfied with the run completion while I'm still seething in my chair.

So yeah, in a nutshell, me having very very low expectations of DF has actually saved my sanity and left me carefree as a bird.

[NovaLevossida]

Look at what's expected from players: they complained about Titan Hard being tied to the relic, so the relic has no challenge ever since. They complained about Steps of Faith, so it was nerfed (you actually have people on the forum saying they don't have a keyboard or typing is too hard on the PS4 so basic communication in party chat was just too much to ask). The difficulty of "expert" dungeons are so low that in a lot of fights the healer can die at 50% of the boss's HP and the tank / DPS can down it without the healer being present.

Know why Ozma was hard? Here's why: People don't know left from right.

When you set the bar so low in player expectation, you're going to get a terrible experience from the average player in group content that has actual difficulty. Moreover, your randoms in difficult content seem to lack emotional maturity, interpersonal skills, and the patience to stick around and learn rather than disband while looking for a carry.

A static can help with all of that of course. I don't have the time for a static these days. But I also don't have the time to deal with any of the above either.

[Sesera]

For example: I called out an AST earlier who, on top of not DPS very much (using gravity on a single mob?) and spamming Benefic(II), only used 1 card and held another during an hour run of Eureka. I'm getting sick of carrying people and playing with certain people has made me realize this more than ever.

You can't expect people to be better if everybody just complain instead of trying to give advice on how to improve.

For the statement of the thread it's both right or wrong.
It's right because DF is a place where you will meet a lot of different people ( good, bad, new..) and if you can't accept someone to make mistake then yes don't use it.
However DF shouldn't be a safespace for people to be bad and not willing to improve.

[Redname]

4 players might upset me mistakes so forth might upset me I usually don't say anything and just go along with it. In other words I just try to run the dungeon and try to complete it if I'm removed because entire group decided to leave the dungeon and I will usually just Q up again. Does it make me dread using Duty Finder no I just use it again until I complete my objective.

This is the actitude i have and the right one in my opinion. Dont overthink too much. Dont get mad if they make you lose time. Dont overanalyze their gear and performance. You do your best on your own and thats all. If you find some efficient group to do it, thats good too. Its the best if you have to farm. But unless you specifically need that efficiency, try to no think about it. There are all sort of characters. Some are poor playing cause they are new and thats natural. Some play the game casually. They all dont do it intentionally, you have to be patient