Am I really responsible for the ideal newbie experience?

Hi folks,

Just wanted to get some other tanks to weigh in on this anecdote. I ran Sastasha Seagrot the other night for a new member of our FC. He was ready to run it and one of my FC healers volunteered to join him and said they needed a tank. I was on, so I offered to run it with them.

I gave them a full clear. I marked tarkets. I provided feedback to our new member one time, letting him know he ought to focus on the targets that I mark. I explained the (minor) mechanics of the second and third boss fights - first is just tank and spank. It took about forty-five minutes and my explanation of the third boss was a bit rushed because a) it's kind of hard to explain to brand-news until you've done it and b) I had pressure at home to have started dinner about fifteen minutes prior. We killed the boss and did have a bunch of adds, but still burned him just fine with no deaths. I bowed, ran out, and went to make dinner.

Now I'm getting a complaint from my healer that I "rushed" his first dungeon experience and didn't explain enough to our new guy. This blindsided me because it was a perfectly fine, full run. I don't really get what she felt was rushed about it.


As a tank I always do my best to make sure sprouts have a good run. But I also try to keep things moving for veteran players. I don't have downtime between pulls but I wait for mana, etc. But is it really our job on top of everything else to make sure that people have an "ideal" time? I feel like if I'd spent more time on the keyboard we could have been there an hour or more.

tl;dr It's hard for tanks to please everyone. How to find a happy medium for noobs?

Imo, 45 minutes is average for full clears. From what you explained here, you did give an ideal first dungeon run. The only thing that may be is that you were moving slightly faster than a first-dungeon-ever DPS might have expected since you had people waiting in you for dinner. I personally try to avoid runs of anything when I have close to 45 minutes left before something important like food or going somewhere. Just food for thought.

Jsyk, for the last boss, you can simply say: Pick a gate, and if you see it start to shoot bubbles, go click on it. That's pretty much all there is to that fight, though you can largely ignore that mechanic as well.

It sounds like, while you may not have noticed, you were internally rushing due to other obligations. Your healer could also be wrong, you may want to ask the guy you helped what he thought rather than getting a second-hand take on it.

45 minutes is on the longer side of the spectrum for any dungeon run. If you took that long while explaining things then you were fine.

Honestly, sastasha shouldn't require more than a few statements here and there on what to do. There's no reason to write a book about it. The purpose of the dungeon itself is to baby step new players into their roles.

It's true you can't make everyone happy. I'm usually in the pickle where if i dodge the aoe's on a large group pull and it forces me to move the mobs a bit and the DPS or pissed, or i take a few any my healer asks me why I can't dodge. Your never gonna make everyone happy on tank, but as long as you run the dungeon at reasonable pace then your are doing your job.

Enjoy tanking, because you cant always enjoy the party.

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Originally Posted by SpookyGhost

Jsyk, for the last boss, you can simply say: Pick a gate, and if you see it start to shoot bubbles, go click on it. That's pretty much all there is to that fight, though you can largely ignore that mechanic as well.

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That's more or less exactly how I outlined the fight to him. I even assigned him a grate and placed a waymark at it.

And I do plan on asking him how he felt the run went next time I see him. Thanks for your feedback!

It was definitely not a speed run but I did skip the last group of mobs bc that was when my IRL party members started saying "hey...dinner...?"

It sounds more like this person's expectation was out of line with what a FFXIV dungeon experience really is.

Perhaps they expected to stop and read some flavor text or to take a swim with the jellyfish, I have no idea; however, there is a limit to how far you should be expected to go to cater to other players. If anything it would appear that you hosted the longest, most help-intensive newbie dungeon run I have ever heard of.

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Originally Posted by bounddreamer

tl;dr It's hard for tanks to please everyone.

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If you try to please everyone, somebody isn't going to like it.

If you go into business school, one of the things they teach you early on is that you will offend most people and you need to pick a target audience. Now tanking isn't running a business but one thing about people is the same: What one person thinks is perfect another will hate. Just do the best you can and leave it at that.

yeah...you did fine..I mean are you suppose to hold their hand while they look at the scenery and then walk down each path instead of running...I don't get it either. Sounds like you were a good sport and help out when needed, they have got to give it a rest.

Boy, I'd kill for some people who wanted to take their time. Feels like I can't run a Sunken Temple of Qarn without an angry ninja throwing me into enemies like a cannonball.
But no, it sounds like you did plenty well. Don't want to make them too pampered, it'll make the culture shock of their first no-stop dark knight run fatal. ;P

I personally like to keep things moving I'll stop for people I'm helping to read the side notes and I'll kill all the mobs but at the same time your not really a tour guide you know? They shouldn't need the full dungeon timer to feel they got the full experience. We aren't required to look at every rock in the whole dungeon to fully clear it lol. But then again they might be so new they can't really enjoy the scenery while in combat. Either way I'd say you took more then enough time for them