Duty Anxiety

Having just completed the 2.0 storyline, I'm at a point in the game where dungeons and bosses are becoming more involved than simply moving forward and fighting everything we see. Whenever I come upon a new challenge, I always end up putting it off for fear that I won't perform well enough.

I enjoy playing this game, and I don't want this hang-up to get in the way of my fun. Any advice for getting over this?

Just do it. If you hesitate to get into new instances, you will have a miserable time moving forward.

It would be good if at the beginning of duties you could tell people, not in detail, but just let them know to be more patient with you, or else it's going to be very rough. Good luck!

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Originally Posted by Rosentretter

It would be good if at the beginning of duties you could tell people, not in detail, but just let them know to be more patient with you, or else it's going to be very rough. Good luck!

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I had a tank a couple weeks ago open a dungeon with something along the lines of: "I haven't tanked in a long time, so I apologize for the crimes I'm about to commit."

We thought it was really funny and it let us all know that this tank would probably take things slow while he got his feet again. That's really all it takes. Most people will be patient with you if you just ask them to. The difference is if you don't tell them and then end up wasting everyone's time by not knowing what you're doing and then getting like.. super defensive when someone tries to help.

Tell people and relax.
I acted like this when I began tanking too, so I know your feeling.
Just have fun, three runs and you can do it without blinking! Cheers for you!

Reasonable people, if you ask for patience, will give it to you.

Unreasonable people won't, whether you know the fight or not, and even if you're good will probably still be jerks, so not knowing isn't going to make you any worse off there, either.

There's always guides, if you want to have an idea of what you're getting into, and the reasonable people far outweigh the unreasonable, I promise. Once you've seen it, you'll know it, and you can practice as much as you want.

Good luck!

I go through it every time I do my roulettes, especially as tank; and because I always queue up as whichever role is currently the adventurer in need, I think this will likely clue you in on how much anxiety there is in the air just from roulettes alone.

I wrote a blogpost on this very topic and invite you to read it:
https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes.../blog/4021829/

In short, I can't really say that you actually get over it so much as you get through it because eliminating anxiety entirely isn't possible. The overwhelming feeling of it however, can be lessened to more reasonable levels where it no longer affects your performance and you become confident inside of duties. What this takes though is throwing yourself inside of duties. You can't learn to swim without getting wet is the best way I can put a metaphorical spin on it.

The benefit to anxiety is the massive euphoria received when you get through a duty knowing that you performed well. It is a highly rewarding experience that transfers over to your subsequent runs in DF. In the blogpost I linked, I talk about a really bad run I had in Bardam's Mettle as a DRK. It was so bad I couldn't even really sleep that night thinking about how atrocious my performance was, but I had been tanking so long now that I already knew that I was far better than that performance. The way I countered it was the very next day, I queued specifically into Bardam's, lassoed its hooves and owned it.

You've gotten this far and you are still here, correct? We oft have to remind ourselves that this is a game, and with players with anxiety issues such as you and myself, nobody and I do mean NOBODY puts as much pressure on us to perform well than ourselves. We have a great community, and most players are going to be understandable if you're not the best of the best.

I wish you the best of luck during your future runs. Get out there cowboy!

Yell at the dps for not controlling their aggro and compliment your healer for healing you. That's what I did when I first started tanking back in 2.1.

On a more serious note, just concentrate on your role first and foremost. You are a tank that is supposed to be the one getting hit. If any targetable mob is not a giant red(or whatever color you see) square then make it that way using your enmity tools. In the case of Paladin don't be afraid to just blow your mp bar to basically empty on flash. It's not like you use it for anything else until level 58 and even then you mostly just flash still. Always use Circle of Scorn whenever its off CD as well. It's free and free enemity is best enmity.

Once you have yourself used to the basics just keep them strong and second nature.

Oh and the most important part: Don't let other people control how you feel. Any decent person will be more than happy to give some lenience and maybe even a tip or two. Some people are more direct than others in advise so just be warry of that

TL;DR: Focus your role first then expand comfort zone and your anxiety should be a little less irksome.

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Originally Posted by PhantomDave

Having just completed the 2.0 storyline, I'm at a point in the game where dungeons and bosses are becoming more involved than simply moving forward and fighting everything we see. Whenever I come upon a new challenge, I always end up putting it off for fear that I won't perform well enough.

I enjoy playing this game, and I don't want this hang-up to get in the way of my fun. Any advice for getting over this?

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I used to feel this way when I first started. I know before I enter any new dungeon I always watch YouTube videos so I have an idea of what to expect. After doing so many dungeons because of MSQ requirement, I just stopped caring about what other people might think and just do the best I can. I figure, I only have to do it once, and it's the DEVS forcing me to do this, not by choice... but in order to progress the story, I have to do it. Perhaps the new TRUST system coming with 5.0 will help a lot with anxiety issues and get people more comfortable with group dungeons.

It helps if you read your tool tips or a guide or two and have a basic understanding of your role and abilities. You don't need to be a god, just know the basics. Simple things like, face the boss away from the pt unless you are 100% certain it only single targets and doesn't cleave. Also practice on a dummy if you wanna learn your rotations well.

I had a tank today, a sprout, in a lvl 50 story dungeon that you haven't been to yet, who said nothing, that just stood in everything, didn't dodge most things and when he did dodge he turned the boss to the pt and just let it cleave them. Also was in gear that was way below lvl/ilvl, not using cooldowns and I am quite convinced he was dual boxing the drg in our pt.

As long as you're not that guy, most ppl will be understanding. With that guy though, I took a 30 minute hit, not healing thru that.

Also when I tank on my alt I try to pull as much as I am comfortable with but I stay on top of things, meaning no needless standing around or slowly marking targets and I push myself to pull bigger just to hone my skills (which is frankly the only way your gonna get better) and if a dps pulls, I just let it eat them.

I get that way when I tank on my paladin for the first time I do a new dungeon or raid. I prefer to go DPS, but I get more gratification doing something for the first time as a tank. I’m not really into role-play, but I like to imagine that the fight is “thrust upon me” and I have “no choice”. It makes my gaming experience more interesting, and I always feel more accomplished. It’s kind of silly, but it’s how I like to play the game.

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Originally Posted by PhantomDave

Having just completed the 2.0 storyline, I'm at a point in the game where dungeons and bosses are becoming more involved than simply moving forward and fighting everything we see. Whenever I come upon a new challenge, I always end up putting it off for fear that I won't perform well enough.

I enjoy playing this game, and I don't want this hang-up to get in the way of my fun. Any advice for getting over this?

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Going into Heavensward, you can just ask your party for tips on facing the bosses, some of which are tricky. By Stormblood, you may have to do some homework and watch MTQcapture's Dungeon Guide. Though personally, I find MTQcapture's videos more mandatory for Trials as the boss difficulty curve for some of the Stormblood Primals is as steep as a cliff.

My advice: You're going to have bad runs; You'll even have such bad experiences you may not want to log in again for a while. I can't say "don't let it bother you!" because that's stupid. If it was so easy to let bad experiences roll of your shoulders you wouldn't have anxiety to begin with.

So, I'm sorry I can't help you 'get over it' but I can assure you, without a doubt, you will have good runs. This game is a lot of fun and there are actually some pretty cool people playing it. If you communicate with people, for the most part, they'll be very understanding. Plus, most of the time you'll be with experienced players who're doing a dungeon for the five hundred millionth time and really don't care and if they're new they won't know much better, haha.

I can't speak as a tank, only a DPS, but recently I've been too anxious to try anything in game that involved other people.. Just tonight I actually summed up enough courage to finally enter the latest StormBlood dungeon and it actually turned out to be rather painless.. Though I know I was under-performing badly, haha. Go at your own pace and do things when you're ready to do them, don't rush! ShadowBringers is still a few months away, you've got plenty of time to get more comfortable.

Read or watch a guide. Make sure your gear is up to date. If you feel prepared, your anxiety will lessen, and while you're in the fight you won't have much time to feel anxious even if you do forget. The best way to combat anxiety is to dive in head first. If someone's mean to you, remember it's just words on a monitor. We've all taken hits before. You just have to relax and move on. Everyone has the potential to be competent at whatever content they want to play, so if you remember that it should help as well.

So the first 2 level 50 dungeons(the 8 man ones) give a little bit of a false sense of whats to come. There are no other 8 man dungeons(trials and raids will be 8 man instances however), you revert back to 4 man for the next story dungeon(roughly halfway through the patch-line quests). I would tell you not to worry about dungeons much(i know, easier said then done). You find a few strange mechanics here and there, but most fights are either very straightforward or what you need to do is fairly obvious. As others have mentioned, tell people that youre new at the start. The good ones will cut you slack for most screw ups and possibly offer tips to help, the bad ones will show themselves to be bad and you can avoid them(the bad ones are never worth your time). Its also good advice i read to try to keep your gear up to date(one less thing to worry about when you know your gear isnt holding you back). Beyond that, keep learning your class. Know what your skills do, how and when to use them, and in what order they work best. You can possibly find a player to work with you, but even just practicing on a dummy can be a big help. If you still feel anxious you can look up guides for the fight youre about to enter, and even bring a friend or two along you know to be supportive. But ultimately what will probly help the most is getting the experience of running the content. Youre nervous about something new, but something youve done a dozen times? So keep putting yourself out there, and these feelings should pass. Best of luck!

One thing I didn't see mentioned yet, or missed in which case I apologize, is getting your feet wet in new duties through a Party Finder group rather than jumping into the Duty Finder on your own.
It let's you tell people up front that you're new to the duty, may need some time to adjust to the place and thus might make mistakes. Anyone joining the group knows what they're in for and you get to avoid the worst of the DF speedrunners.

If you also need some 'practice' running dungeons or trying different roles, I would highly recommend the GC Squadron Command Missions... I've actually been using them to level from 60 to 70 and find it a lot of fun. Sure there is a lot of repetition, I've run Sohm Al close to 100 times already, but I've also nailed down some dungeon achievements along the way too. I've found doing the Command Missions to be a great way of learning new roles and practicing without infuriating other players. ;)

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Originally Posted by ADarklore

If you also need some 'practice' running dungeons or trying different roles, I would highly recommend the GC Squadron Command Missions... I've actually been using them to level from 60 to 70 and find it a lot of fun. Sure there is a lot of repetition, I've run Sohm Al close to 100 times already, but I've also nailed down some dungeon achievements along the way too. I've found doing the Command Missions to be a great way of learning new roles and practicing without infuriating other players. ;)

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I was going to say something similar to this. I wish that you could run ALL the command missions with your squadron before you do the real thing with other players. It would lessen the anxiety and stress if you know what mechanics are like ahead of time and how hard the mobs hit overall. Because of this I can run Brayflox literally in my sleep.

I would joke when I was levelling SCH.

I would enter the dungeon and say "Oh no, this healer sucks". We wiped once and the tank said - "You did warn us".

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Originally Posted by PhantomDave

Having just completed the 2.0 storyline, I'm at a point in the game where dungeons and bosses are becoming more involved than simply moving forward and fighting everything we see.

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I'm struggling to recall any dungeons post Ultima Weapon that can really be considered that involving for the tank, at least I assume you're tanking given the character you have selected on your profile. I guess an argument could be made for the Yeti in Snowcloak since someone has to hit a snowball into him during his room wide AoE, or for the last boss in Keeper of the Lake due to the amount of AoEs and the insta-wipe mechanic? I wouldn't say that the mechanics get that hard in dungeons. Just keep up aggro and use your defensive cooldowns and most people won't complain. It'd help if you read up on mechanics, especially since the content is so old, but they're usually intuitive enough that you should be able to figure it out.

No worries man, if people get salty, they got salty. Usually veterans are patient and will teach you the ropes, but in the end just go for it. No one gets good at something without practice.

Cheers mate

Tell people that you are fresh

But also do your part and help THEM by knowing the dungeon and knowing your class

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Originally Posted by PhantomDave

Having just completed the 2.0 storyline, I'm at a point in the game where dungeons and bosses are becoming more involved than simply moving forward and fighting everything we see. Whenever I come upon a new challenge, I always end up putting it off for fear that I won't perform well enough.

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Same, the duty finder horrors thread doesn't help either. (pro tip: don't read that thread)

Watch a video so you understand the major mechanics, if you are worried about that. I like to know what to expect, I don't like blind dungeon runs. Mr Happy and MTQcapture have some great dungeon guides on youtube.

Just tell people in the beginning and it helps a lot. People are more understanding and even offer help when you do that

Same boat, Its just peoples general attitude that makes me not want to do dungeons. Don't wanna learn new roles because people are just snotty and terrible, So i'm stuck as healer all the time and healing is stressful.

I mean you are a tank, if someone gives you any lip, ask a question, or look at you funny= just leave and reque...
I mean that's how most people do it I've seen

Yes, it happens. Even after nth times doing the same dungeon, it always give me that butterfly nervousness inside my stomach. If you are the type who get stage fever, this happens because, and especially as a tank, you feel like your perfomance dictates the success of the run, and because you are leading, everyone is watching every steps you do. Which is not true at all actually because the success or failure of dungeon depends on teamwork and efforts of every single members. Everyone did a mistake, and just because we are tank who lead, it is not necessary we don't do any mistakes. Mistakes done, move along, everyone try their best to help each other. You are not god.

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Originally Posted by Shibi

Same, the duty finder horrors thread doesn't help either. (pro tip: don't read that thread)

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I disagree. The "tales from the duty finder" thread can be a great help if you read it in the right context/frame of mind. If you read it(or even just acknowledge its existence) as "proof" that everyone is judging you and expecting perfection all the time, then yeah that isnt healthy or useful at all. But that isnt what the thread is about. Its people who ran an instance and wanted to share their story - plain and simple. Is there venting over people being unable to perform the simplest of tasks? You bet. Its also people apologizing to the group they didnt play well with, people sharing stories about an amazing run, and people praising new players for asking for help when they needed it/accepting help when it was offered. People post stories and ask the community which side was right in an argument, or for tips on how they could do something better. Hell, even if you just read it as a "dont do this" type advice thread, it could still help some people. Does any of that mean its required reading? Of course not. But it can be helpful to some people - either as a source of inspiration or as a place to vent.

I'm gonna give the point of view from the people you might fear to encounter, so that you feel better about it.
Without being a raider anymore, I do strive to be good at the jobs I play, optimize my dps, etc. Ideally it's nice for me to be with people with that state of mind in any duty, so that I feel challenged to get better, or compete. However, there is nothing at stake in PVE, so it's no problem to be in a party with casual players, best case scenario if I have something to say I'm gonna give you a piece of advice or two, or just remain silent, worst case scenario, if we are really getting nowhere after multiple wipes I'll just leave the duty. And you shouldn't really feel bad about it. Just consider that having done some duties multiple times already, I'd rather put my time in something more productive. So don't worry too much about what other people think, you'll encounter weird cases once in a while, we all have. That said I would recommend trying your best at the jobs you play, and if not your best, the basic minimum, tank, heal, dodge, etc, and ask for advice if needed.
I do get stressed if I join content later after its release, as i enjoy performing well, but I find that even if I make multiple mistakes people are usually patient, and as I said if their patience runs out they don't really point fingers, they just leave the duty or vote abandon.
Be it in real life or in a video game, worrying too much about what people think about you is going to limit your experience.

I hated duty instances at first (and still kind of do when I'm forced to play with randoms and not FC mates). I was under the impression that everything could be done solo as many people seemed to tout but this was not the case. My first class was WHM so the pressure was much higher since the entire party relied on my ability to heal and stay alive, not to mention learn how to play at the same time. It wasn't easy and I admit I made a lot of errors along the way. But you play with people around the world and you will never see them again most probably, and most people understand what "New player dungeon bonus" means and will pick up your slack or even give advice when needed. Some mentors are absolutely hateful though, but you can always report them. Maybe you might not want to join an FC immediately and feel like there's a huge burden like some other MMOs put on you when you join one but don't worry, as long as you join a FC that has the casual tag in the recruitment page, you're golden. You will grow and likely become more social over time.

There are a lot of game mechanics to learn but they are all pretty much the same from dungeon to dungeon. Learn what they mean from a youtube video and just adapt and improvise. Until you reach savage content you probably won't need to look up boss mechanics and can enter blind as I have. The party might wipe once or twice for the difficult ones but it's part of the experience of becoming better. If you solely rely on guides all the time, you won't learn to adapt as well.

You can use party finder, which is a wonderful tool not very well known to new players. Say you are a new player in the title and people will join fully understanding of the situation. Try different classes too to get a better understanding of roles. Like WHM is DPS primary and heals secondary, which is contrary to what you would expect. These kinds of insights will help you play your main role better as you come to synchronize with party members.