The Trust system will always remain a failure and garbage to me

I like the concept of Trusts and think they pretty much do exactly what they're designed to do. They allow me to get a first look at a dungeon without feeling rushed and without being expected to already know all of the mechanics. And they do provide a more hands on training and levelling ground for the 70+ range when I'm levelling jobs I don't already have capped.

That said, I do wish they had been done as more of an extension of the Squadron system instead of something that basically completely replaces it. Allow for faster Trust levelling, a growth of stength/speed and a passive way for the Trusts to gain XP and I'd be content. I know they've already buffed the XP gain for Trust members since they launched as it is but it still feels very slow to me considering that the runs themselves are also very slow and there's no way to level them without personally going in and doing runs with them. And it also doesn't really feel like there's a tangible difference between them at a higher level versus a lower level other than being able to do more dungeons. I guess if you've already grinded them out to level 80 it's no big deal but starting out I'm not finding it a particularly good time.

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Originally Posted by kaynide

I'm not sure your definition of MMORPG matches ours; We both play the entire game solo with exception of stuff we're forced to group up with. She likes the story.

For me, "MMO" does not necessarily mean "have to play with other people", rather "a lot of people play this game simultaneously". Guildwars 2 is for all intents and purposes a single player MMO.

The last time I played an MMO of any kind that required me to meet other people was..what.. FF11? Like 15 years ago.

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Same! I like the story too! I also play the entire game solo with the exception of stuff I'm forced to group into. I don't have an FC, I barely chat in-game, and I haven't used party finder for the greater part of a year!

However, I recognize that since this game is an mmorpg, I expect to have to see and play with other players. Whether I like it or not, it comes with the territory.

I think Trusts are great. While it's probably best to do roulettes and dungeons with real people for faster leveling, Trusts are nice for lazy leveling.
I usually just pull a group and stand there while tabbed out watching some YT or something and NPCs do all the job for me lol

It's also nice to be able to use NPCs to quickly progress through the story. When you're a DPS (and sometimes other roles too) it kinda sucks to have to just sit there for half an hour waiting for someone to queue for that specific dungeon just so you can finally continue your quests. It's also nice for immersion to finally see these guys do something and help us rather than standing there and waiting for us and our "fellow adventurers" do all the work >->

I didn't have the patience to level them either. They do feel weak, but I couldn't give any insight on improving things because it's all so debatable, and it can affect Duty Finder as a whole if accidentally taken to an extreme.

I agree that Trusts are bad, and I don't like them as a concept. As this thread demonstrates, many people use them to essentially not play the game while being handed the EXP, even if it's very slowly. They also denigrate social interaction in a game where social interaction needs all the help it can get.

The benefits of Trusts are literally to take a dungeon at your own pace. That's it. The queue argument doesn't hold much water, because if you have a long queue, that is time where you can do other things like gather, craft, make gil, daily hunts, follow a hunt shell etc. Trusts only real advantage is that they eliminate you needing other people to come with you into the dungeons for which they are available.

It also saddens me to know that my Trust's performance suffers from my performance being good. I've used them before on my Let's Play alt, and I totally understand why people like them, but to me they really do seem more like automatons than the characters they represent. They're programmed to dodge a single AOE, and then to stand still, even if they're a caster or ranged. This means if they get targeted by multiple AOEs, that they obey their dodge subroutine first, which does cause them to fail more intricate mechanics. This means that for every dungeon that's made with Trusts in mind, that Square has to take more time programming the Trusts to act out a certain set of movement in order to actually do new mechanics, which means it's less time they actually spend making the dungeon good for real people.

Like, I understand liking their NPC banter, having it feel like you're more immersed with integral story characters. I understand liking getting away from randos. But the ultimate prospect of trusts is that they play the game for you, and you don't have to improve. Not as a player or as a person.

I think my favorite thing that has come out of Trusts is the meme making from their dialogue. But most of that happens outside of the game as a reaction, rather than as part of gameplay.

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Originally Posted by Vyrerus

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They did say at the start of ShB that the main point of Trusts was to provide an alternative for those that just want the clear for story progression. While they are programed to have consistency in clear times, they have said from the beginning that if you're looking to farm loot or exp then the DF is the way to go.

I also enjoyed using them to level jobs I didn't care for too much when I just wanted to crank out a dungeon run before work or so. I also went through the process of leveling all of them to 80 and trust me, that was a bit of a slog within itself since I did it pre-trust exp buff.

I love trusts in the sense that when running a dungeon for the first time they teach you the mechanics of the dungeon. I never run the new dungeon with DF until I do it once or twice to get the mechanics down with trusts.

While it does have the caveat of the negative aspects you pointed out, XIV loves accessibility and elements of convivence. I've played this game since 2.0 launch and back then I had much less time to sit down and play so being gated by the DF as a dps was a big problem since it severely limited story progression.

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Originally Posted by Espritduo

The Trust system was possibly the best thing they added to the game in ShB, and I haven't done a dungeon with a group since the twinning.

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To each their own but as far as my understanding of MMOs goes, that's a giant failure in my book.

MMOs should encourage cooperation at every turn, not make you loathe it.

And I personally don't experience drama, least of all in dungeons. If anything people are quite open to a nice chat while running through one. The only drama I see is usually in savage content.

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Originally Posted by Payadopa

To each their own but as far as my understanding of MMOs goes, that's a giant failure in my book.

MMOs should encourage cooperation at every turn, not make you loathe it.

And I personally don't experience drama, least of all in dungeons. If anything people are quite open to a nice chat while running through one. The only drama I see is usually in savage content.

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Whenever drama starts in DF just start doing the lali-hop or eating bread and just be the silent one. It's worked everytime for me. Especially in my snowman dancer glam. xD

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Originally Posted by Payadopa

To each their own but as far as my understanding of MMOs goes, that's a giant failure in my book.

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You're entitled to have your own book and not like it. Sorry but there are many of us who are extremely pleased this was introduced and it's much better than squadrons ever were in my view. Got to love the group content crowd with their wall to wall pull philosophy and they don't aoe so Trusts have to suck.

Simple enough if you don't like them don't use them but for many there are many good reasons for using them from farming loot to leveling roles (experience is pretty sweet) to playing and learning roles outside of DF that you rarely play. As I've said earlier I've taken two characters to Trusted Friend and hope to see this expanded upon.

And relative to group content I play more of it than most each week and welcome this as an alternative to have fun with. I'd be willing to bet Trusts are here to stay and will continue to be a part of the msq progression in xpacs to come.

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Originally Posted by Payadopa

To each their own but as far as my understanding of MMOs goes, that's a giant failure in my book.

MMOs should encourage cooperation at every turn, not make you loathe it.

And I personally don't experience drama, least of all in dungeons. If anything people are quite open to a nice chat while running through one. The only drama I see is usually in savage content.

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I much prefer to use DF myself because it's faster, but people that are disinclined to speak or be social aren't magically going to become that even if Trusts didn't exist.

The average DF run may as well be AI because beyond the initial "o/" there's very little communication if any at all. I use DF over Trusts specifically because it's faster not because I'm particularly interested in having a chat in between pulls.

Though that's not to say I'm unfriendly or just don't reply when people say/ask things, because I do, but it's just not my main purpose for using DF.