"Tips/Hint" Display for Duties and Whatnot

A problem the playerbase seems to be experiencing is a growing gap between advanced players and beginners. Aside from the Hall of the Novice, the game leaves telling you how to play your role or how to use your skill rotation to the best of its abilities to the community. It could possibly help in encouraging people to interact with each other, but it doesn't really allow a graceful transition into advanced playstyles without having to leave your immersive experience behind look up a guide.

So, what I'd like to propose is something a few other games, like League of Legends and even single player games like Skyrim have done: giving out short tips/hints during intermediary periods to remind players on how to play the game. It would make better use of the loading screens than just some big, black empty space with a buffer wheel on the corner.

Keep in mind, these tips can be obtuse enough so that it doesn't feel like a big info-dump. It can serve as something to help players transition to the advanced level a bit more smoothly.

Some examples could include:
"In dungeons, enemies will pursue their target much farther than in the overworld. Tanks can use this to their advantage to clear large amounts of foes."

They can also be specific to boss fights (this would be a GODSEND for savage/extreme content):
"Ramuh can cast Chaotic Strike to enthrall your companions, leading them to a shocking doom. If marked by Thunderstorm, you can move towards these victims to give the shock that'll save their lives."

Even stuff we take for granted?:
"Cross-class skills provide much versatility to any job. Using the 'Swiftcast' spell from Thaumaturge, for instance, on your healing class will speed up the cast times of 'Raise' to get your fallen comrades back in action."

I think this would be a big boon, if done properly, for easing players into content while alleviating the concern among the community about a rise of low-skill players. Thoughts? Ideas?

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Originally Posted by Windi

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This would definitely help a lot to those playing the game, as off-hand tips rather than reading through a book(The Play Guide) would be a lot more helpful in learning miscellaneous things.

And incorporate a personal dps meter

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Originally Posted by bardaboo

And incorporate a personal dps meter

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SHOO YOU. This is literally a tips suggestion, not a freaking DPS Meter discussion. The tips would be there to help newer players learn different things about their job, other classes, and miscellania(i.e. "Melding Materia to gear can help in different ways, so make sure to try them all!"). They'd be appropriate according to their current level and Main Story progress. If you really think this is incorporating a personal DPS Meter, give me one good reason how it would become a DPS Meter(because chances are these tips will be randomized on screen).

This would probably be useful in leveling dungeons (Sastasha, etc), but annoying in recent content or raids. Imagine going in day one and the game tells you how to do everything.

Tips and hints are good for some, while not good for others. Some people need a message to jog their brain, while others see things happen and try to break down what is actually happening. this can help some but also ruin the game for others. As a side note, people play the game differently, and while I'd like to see more people push into "Advanced" players, not everyone will be fit for it, and not everyone will want to make that transition. The way I see it is, if people want to get better, they will practice and ask questions. There are people here, and in game that know how to help these people, its about finding the right people.

If people cant be bothered to read the tool tip for a new skill, why would they bother to read pop ups.

This game needs less handholding not more.

Adding tips to loading screens would be a nice idea. It's present enough to not be overlooked, but not as intrusive or easily dismissed as the help topic system sometimes is. This can also cover more subtle nuances not easily taught, i.e. "With the exception of persistent area of effect attacks and proximity-based attacks, as long as you are not within an aoe marker when it vanishes, you will not take damage."

Quick visual guides on mechanic markers might help too. For example, showing a picture of an enemy using Petrifaction and saying "The glowing red eye marker signals an attack players must turn themselves away from to avoid damage or negative status effects."

It's hardly hand-holding to provide passive, but present, intuitive play guides. And no information is bad information, unless clearly intended to be so.

Doesn't matter if 95% of the content they release is face roll.

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Originally Posted by HyperiusUltima

SHOO YOU. This is literally a tips suggestion, not a freaking DPS Meter discussion. The tips would be there to help newer players learn different things about their job, other classes, and miscellania(i.e. "Melding Materia to gear can help in different ways, so make sure to try them all!"). They'd be appropriate according to their current level and Main Story progress. If you really think this is incorporating a personal DPS Meter, give me one good reason how it would become a DPS Meter(because chances are these tips will be randomized on screen).

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Ehhh. Just saying it would help newer and veteran players get better. Not saying your idea is bad. Just saying a personal dps meter would be helpful.

A pop-up on screen like the Sephirot Battle challenge flashcards would help so much with jumping into old fights I've forgotten, or players entering new fights without researching / watching videos first.

For such a rule-based combat system with a lot of binary "right" and "wrong" reactions to make, it would help a lot to just give players a basic fighting chance before entering a battle — one that doesn't rely on a party member volunteering to type it all out in chat every single run.

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Originally Posted by Eorzean_username

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While making something like this would help people learn faster, it also breaks away from the fun of actually figuring out the mechanics yourself in the early stages of a contents release. Like I said previously, these things are good for some players, but not for others. I personally don't want the game to turn this route. I don't need or want this type of handholding. I'm not gonna say the game is super easy, but if you have the patience and can understand and grasp whats going on around you, you can clear anything.

I guess you weigh what is more important to you. There's a large number of players that perform a lot better once they're given instructions and guided through the basic mechanics, but without some intervention, will just burn out or shut down even after multiple pulls because their mind just isn't oriented toward a deductive response to figuring out a fight.

In those situations, you can either stubbornly remain silent and watch the group burn, or sigh inside and start typing and bring the run a lot closer to success (or actually succeed). It's basically doing the exact same thing as the flashcard system, but putting a great deal more burden on a volunteer individual every time.

It may be that your pride at figuring everything out yourself is more important to you than more players feeling comfortable with a fight, more clears without excessive burden on the volunteer tutors and video-makers, etc. And that's fine, that's as legitimate a perspective as any other.

Personally, though, it would be a great relief to me to be able to call up a flashcard set for new or inexperienced or struggling players the same way I can call up an official readycheck and countdown. That way, at least I know everyone is on the same basic starting page when we begin assigning roles, marker positions, etc.

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Originally Posted by Eorzean_username

It may be that your pride at figuring everything out yourself is more important to you than more players feeling comfortable with a fight, more clears without excessive burden on the volunteer tutors and video-makers, etc. And that's fine, that's as legitimate a perspective as any other.

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But that's the thing, no one is making them make the content to help people clear the content. Why should it fall to the developers to TELL the player how to clear their content. Just imagine if you were playing your favorite Final Fantasy title, and w/e boss battle you just happen to be on, an on screen prompt pops up and tells you "Hey, this guy is weak to lightning, and absorbs Fire, so make sure to use high dmg thunder spells and weapons, also beware his zombie move, having your whole party zombied could give you a game over!!", before you can even do anything in the fight. I don't want this. If they want to add this type of thing after it becomes the "not new" thing, I'd be okay for that to help speed the process of clearing older content faster, but on newer content, it should still be blind, and the player should learn how to do these things for themselves.

In a single-player game, no one else is affected if you decide to stubbornly wipe 10 times instead of looking up a video or strategy guide. Social environments, and coordinating time constraints among multiple individuals, bring a completely different set of considerations.

If you're concerned about 'spoiling' brand-new fights:

• Require the feature to be unlocked per-player, per-fight, by first clearing the fight at least once. (ie, a player can't initiate Flashcards unless that player has already cleared the fight once)
• Or unlock the feature on a per-fight basis only once the content becomes outdated ('next patch' system).
• Or allow each individual to opt-out of the display (similar to refusing to participate in a Ready Check). "Jophia Krownlege has initiated Flashcards for Akh Afah Amphitheatre (Extreme). View them? Yes | No"
• Or don't join parties that want everyone to know what's going on before pulling.

I don't understand how a Flashcard system is practically any different — or worse — than "Watch a video", or having 4-5 sentences of explanations typed out before the pull. Similar to how the in-game Countdown feature is just a streamlined improvement over the historical macro hack.

I like the idea for general advice, maybe hint at the necessity to cc provoke or the importance of swift cast but please no actually boss or raid advice just tips like

"Don't forget you defensive cool-downs, a properly timed cool-down could mean the difference between life and death"
or
"Accumulated Damage over time (DOT) abilities can provide a significant amount of damage"

Things that players new to FF14 or even MMO's in general might not realize at first until someone gets rude about it in DF.