Why I didn't do Extremes or Savages and now I do.

Whilst I have dabbled in Ex content, I don't tend to so much.

In my case, I've watched guides. Repeatedly. Sadly, I've found that I can neither remember the guide very well (if at all) nor perform in the manner the player(s) in the guide did. Even when I get something right my reaction time is often slow enough that I still get hit.

I don't tend to think about doing them so much anymore as a result. Not just because of my poor performance in such content, but also because the majority of PF listings say "watch a guide", "know the fight" or simply "Hector". And one first-hand experience of someone in an instance saying "didn't watch a guide?"

No point in someone like me queueing for those.

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Originally Posted by Fyrebrand

I would be all over this kind of content back in the old days when all my friends had time for MMOs and we were all playing WoW together. We weren't great, our gear sucked, but we all knew each other and organized well over voice comms. We could set a date to play, and we knew when we could be available.

I don't really want to dedicate multiple hours of my night, on the fly, with random strangers, trying to talk with them through text. And then maybe not even clearing anything, and starting all over from scratch the next time I even think of trying again. And that's if the Party Finder group actually fills. How long does it take to get enough people who are interested? And what happens if someone gets fed up and leaves? Do you have to abandon and recreate the PF entry again?

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This 100%.

I got all my clears from Pandæmonium Savage 1-4 (maybe 5 as well?) through Party Finder, before I put FFXIV to the side due to real life.
Halfway through my progress I joined a Static. But at the end of each week, after our last scheduled run I jumped into PF again to grind some more and that's how each my clear post- joining a static were still through the PF.
so it's completely doable, just need to have the patience of a saint (and more) and a lot of time.

I've never done Savage before Pandæmonium, never really cared for it.
But this time I was bored and with little to nothing to do I thought that I'd challenge myself with Savage, see how far I could go.
I didn't even expect to clear the first one, and each one after.
And even though it was tough and sometimes killing me inside, I had a lot of fun in the end.

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Originally Posted by Carin-Eri

In my case, I've watched guides. Repeatedly. Sadly, I've found that I can neither remember the guide very well (if at all)

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You're not supposed to remember the guide. Who would remember a whole guide just like that? Everyone says the same thing as you, so I suggest watching and then forgetting the guide.

When you actually do the content, a mechanic will come up that you don't understand. Your brain will try to figure out how to handle it. One of the ways it tries to figure it out is to draw upon previous memories that could relate to it. The most recent memory relating to it is what was shown in the guide and you will probably remember 1 or 2 words the content creator said and suddenly, it can click.

If you didn't remember anything from the guide while doing the content, you can re-watch the guide after doing the content, now that you've seen the mechanics for yourself and it'll all make a lot more sense.

Another option is to take note of each mechanic that you think won't be obvious in the moment and is relevant to the class/job you use and write it down in a notepad.

You can also make /echo macros to remind you of things. You can press these echo macros in the game to remember something before a certain mechanic. You could have an echo macro to list important phase1 mechanics, important phase2 mechanics and so on and put these macros on a hotbar.

(I don't normally do all this, but I used to when I was new to the content in Heavensward and it was very effective)

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nor perform in the manner the player(s) in the guide did.

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What can help is to watch a clear PoV video of your class/job on youtube (for example, Extreme Name clear SMN PoV). These show mechanics happening in real time and how someone with your class/job handles the situations, which can help with a lot of things a guide can't.

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Even when I get something right my reaction time is often slow enough that I still get hit.

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You usually have at least 3 seconds between each mechanic. What helps with reaction time a lot on keyboard/mouse is using Legacy controls, so that pressing the backwards button instantly turns you around and runs backwards instead of a slow walk backwards.

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Originally Posted by Fyrebrand

I would be all over this kind of content back in the old days when all my friends had time for MMOs and we were all playing WoW together. We weren't great, our gear sucked, but we all knew each other and organized well over voice comms. We could set a date to play, and we knew when we could be available.

I don't really want to dedicate multiple hours of my night, on the fly, with random strangers, trying to talk with them through text. And then maybe not even clearing anything, and starting all over from scratch the next time I even think of trying again. And that's if the Party Finder group actually fills. How long does it take to get enough people who are interested? And what happens if someone gets fed up and leaves? Do you have to abandon and recreate the PF entry again?

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Yeah I think at some point a dev might look at an audience that isn't taking part, and at least those that align with this (myself included) the answer is basically "never" (anymore.. :P). It's not interesting to spend hours herding cats at the chance of winning something, but mostly just being stressed lol. If you get a good group of regulars you can make great progress, but then you're beholden to that schedule which is a different and other non-negotiable issue.

The way the content /is/ would never interest me in anything beyond if it was like a guild mate who wanted to do it simply to complete it 'because of me' (I'm not counting unsycnc / 'epic echo' type engagement, I'd do that).


That said there is nothing wrong with people who do like it :), also glad someone found a system that helps them get the content done exactly in the way that they like.