Suggestions to improve Ambuscade

[Catmato]

But if you're doing Normal, why waste your time finding a group when you could do it solo? I don't mean you personally, Rooj, but in general. Is it common to find 5 people with the right jobs idling in Mhaura waiting for a Normal shout?

[Zeldar]

But if you're doing Normal, why waste your time finding a group when you could do it solo? I don't mean you personally, Rooj, but in general. Is it common to find 5 people with the right jobs idling in Mhaura waiting for a Normal shout?

Because with a group you will get it killed much faster and also get gallantry.

[Stompa]

You all need to come to terms with the fact that not playing with PUGs is a mistake. A big one. The positives far outweigh the negatives. I don't mean choosing PUGs over your friends. Basically any normal person is going to ask their LS for members first before shouting. Yes, you need to occasionally deal with either a rude player or a bad player. It's really not that big of a deal though. It's pretty simple to ignore someone and not say anything at all when someone's being a doofus in chat. A bad player is harder to deal with. I recently had to politely kick a THF from my VD Ambu group that was in sparks gear. There were no tears or drama. I simply stated that their gear/damage wasn't up to par and I was going to find a replacement. Nothing wrong with that and I don't think the THF thought so either (though they never said a word). You're only screwing yourself by being so sensitive and over exaggerative - no one actually believes that "every time" you join a group with PUGs, that it performs badly or there is some poophole in it that ruins the game for you.

Next, this "my gear isn't good enough" crap in regards to content with F I V E different difficulty levels. Lol. Having returned to the game a few months ago and having to walk up the gear treadmill myself, I had no problem getting i119 before attempting Ambuscade. However as a RDM, who needs more equipment sets than any other job in the game, I didn't yet feel comfortable doing the highest tiers of Ambuscade. So I shouted for Normal Ambuscade. And guess what? People were interested. The whole benefit of content like Ambuscade is that you can go for what ever difficulty you THINK you can beat, and then adjust accordingly. If your group seems weak, lower it. If it seems strong, raise it.

There are other people, who are also uncomfortable for any number of reasons of doing VD or even D Ambuscade. Some people are just naturally uncomfortable when performing in front of others. Some people want the best possible gear they can get before attempting content (I've made this POINTLESS mistake so many times in the last 18 years), and some people just want to do content that is a little easier. If you don't even attempt to reach out to these people, that's no one's fault but your own.

Oh and one last thing, @ "most people only play with their friends." Wrong. A lot, sure, but not most. Then again, I don't play on Zzzombie servers.

You say a lot of things that I agree with, about being tolerant and open-minded and things like that.

But you talk about kicking a sparks THF politely, and he was okay with it, he just shuffled away. That's fair enough. But that isn't what we mean by "bad PUGs."

The problem with PUGs is that we will be philosophical and cheerful about them until we come across a nightmare PUG group, which will leave us shaken so badly that we never want to PUG again. It has happened to me several times, and it has made me want to only party with people I know and trust.

One of the most special PUGs in my memory was a YOYD, it was /random my Orb first, and we entered the BC and this guy pressed auto-run on his keyboard and ran into the main room with all the mobs, he died and the mobs party-hate charged the rest of us, before we could buff and even finish entering the zone properly. His explanation was that he didn't know about auto-run, he didn't know how to cancel it. These are things we should learn in Dunes at level thirteen, not at end-game when somebody else's hard-earned seals are on the line.

And the guy was like "lol oops." He did not say "omg I'm so sorry, I owe you a huge apology, I will make it up to you." So now I refer to these PUGs as "lol oops" groups.

None of my friends ever say "lol oops" they turn up for events all ship-shape and smart, and they play their jobs with professionalism like its their last day on God's clean Earth. Which is what I expect of them, and what they expect of me. "Lol oops" doesn't figure into our plans. If anyone is feeling tired or poorly, we cancel the run, and wait until everyone is on-form.

So it isn't snobbery or anything, I hope everyone has fun in the game and makes progress. But I don't want to waste my time with "lol oops" and infact I would rather solo. Or in the case of Ambuscade, just not bother doing it anymore since it makes me feel so old inside.

[Rooj]

That's the thing, Normal and below doesn't require "the right jobs." Pretty much any job in the game could main heal Normal and below with /WHM or /RDM or /SCH or /DNC. You could take a WAR/WHM in there and succeed.

That's how a lot of my Ambuscade got done when I first started doing it. We'd take whatever was LFG, and if we couldn't fill the party up, we'd use whatever trust would round the rest of the party out. We'd go and spam the buhjeezus out of it while watching another group shout for a GEO for VD for an hour.

You should still shout in between runs if your party isn't full. Shout once or twice, do the run. Shout once or twice, do the run. You can even shout while in queue now thanks to the newest update. Just let them know you'll invite them after the next kill.

[Rooj]

Just saw a shout in Mhaura (a shout not a yell, sadly) for "Normal or Difficult" Ambuscade. 3/6.

[detlef]

Form the biggest PT you can and tackle the hardest difficulty you can. This month is really, really easy. People need to give themselves more credit. Gallantry is a thing and you can get up to 5 dyes with it.

[Castanica]

FFXI is a solo game with optional multiplayer in 2016. If that makes you mad you just have to learn to deal with it, it is what it is.

As the saying goes, you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink. People who solo DO NOT WANT to group, it's just that simple.

Also people who are mad and solo players making them wait would be mad about gimped groups taking too long if solo play was stopped, there is no pleasing the kind of people who complain and will always find something to complain about if they can't get what they want when they want it. Anyone that has played this game long enough knows the mentality of the playerbase.

[Zeldar]

FFXI is a solo game with optional multiplayer in 2016. If that makes you mad you just have to learn to deal with it, it is what it is.

As the saying goes, you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink. People who solo DO NOT WANT to group, it's just that simple.

Also people who are mad and solo players making them wait would be mad about gimped groups taking too long if solo play was stopped, there is no pleasing the kind of people who complain and will always find something to complain about if they can't get what they want when they want it. Anyone that has played this game long enough knows the mentality of the playerbase.

The developers of the game disagree with you 100% . If you don't believe me, read the reddit AMA again. They flat out said they still design the game as multi-player and intend for you to team up. Its laughable how wrong you are in your first line of this post.

As for your last 2 lines, isn't it ironic that YOU are the one who started this thread, finding something to complain about?

[Castanica]

The developers of the game disagree with you 100% . If you don't believe me, read the reddit AMA again. They flat out said they still design the game as multi-player and intend for you to team up. Its laughable how wrong you are in your first line of this post.

As for your last 2 lines, isn't it ironic that YOU are the one who started this thread, finding something to complain about?

I did, and I watched the videos interviews. What I came away from them with was that the developers want the game to be more group orientated but the producer thinks otherwise and he rules the house.

[Zeldar]

Please show me where the producers thinks otherwise.