If you never felt that you were good enough to raid or do ultimates...

Hello, Aurelius here.

I wanted to have a little chat regarding raiding. In this game, there are high end raids including Extreme Trials, Savage, and the new Ultimates. I want to post this here as living testament that if you work hard enough, you can accomplish anything in game.

I have never played an MMO seriously before, besides a few free Korean MMO's like Conquer Online and 2moons. I don't have any raiding experience whatsoever, and little experience with the Final Fantasy series, outside of FFVI, FFVII, and FFXIII.

When I began the game, I had no idea what to do whatsoever, and had no idea how the game worked. I could barely figure out where to go let alone optimize dps rotations or understand how to even tank, heal, or dps properly. I mean, literally no skill or knowledge.

I was given the blessing of joining an FC that had players that were at endgame, and while not hardcore or even midcore themselves, were a welcoming bunch that answered my questions, and helped me figure out how to run content as best that they could.

I stumbled and struggled my way to HW with Black Mage, and upon learning that at the time it wasn't very good for raids (I understand now this was opinion over fact), I decided to go back tanking, and wanted to try out Paladin since no one in my FC really mained it.

My rotation needed some serious love, but being the perfectionist that I am, I studied hard and learned how to do things. I asked around for guides and was led to the Balance, where I received my first crash course on raiding. I learned the rotation, and through this I formed my first static. Needless to say, it was a TOTAL disaster. I had no experience, and take full responsibility for the failure of that group I tried to be more commanding and controlling, and it backfired as the members had raided before, and most likely didn't want someone "new" to tell give them guidance, even though I would frequently check with Balance members to make sure what I was saying was sound. It feel apart.

The next group I joined was a seasoned group of raiders from Coil and Alex, and they helped me after I got to Guardian with my old group. After I trialed they took me on and we cleared Guardian eventually, but struggled GREATLY with God Kefka (we literally had our first clear of it on the day Sigma was unlocked). Having to pug most of my clears of Godka, I began to hunger and thirst for optimization, raid buff alignment, strategy, planning between tanks and healers for mitigation, swaps, and the like.

It came to a boiling point where I was frustrated, depressed, drained, and didn't like raiding because of how inconsistent that group was, and how slow prog went as well as well as other issues. Needless to say, the group had one way of thinking, and I, had developed in my experience, another way.

I parted with them and joined my current static, a huge upgrade and honestly, everything that I've ever wanted in a static. Having cleared, I had some confidence, but my past two failures still weighed on me. I doubted myself and my abilities. I started an Ultima Weapon Ultimate group as the leader after clearing Godka. I wanted to push myself to the highest level of play possible. I wanted to prove to myself that I was good enough, ,that I was a good player, maybe even a great one if only at one job.

The group had a lot of hiccups at the start, balancing schedules, desired outcomes, prog rates, and so forth. We had members leave as we progged through Titan, and it was a huge blow to group morale, as prog dried up. I began to think back to the Sigma groups that I had, and I started to worry that I wasn't good enough to hold this group together. I watched PoV's, looked up strats, and tried to help as much as I could. Eventually, we had a full roster again of very talented people, and we killed Titan. This was after about 2 and a half months on UwU or so, longer than most groups would run it. The prog came pretty consistently after that, with some bad weekends and days mixed in. It was a BRUTAL slog through some of the MOST demanding content.

14 minutes in and wipe because someone made a small mistake? Back to the beginning, when most savage fights end at the 9 minute mark, or, have a doorman fight as a checkpoint.

When we got to Suppression, I truly felt like we could do it, our group, after four months could really do it! We pushed and we pushed and we pushed. Just last week we went from cleaning up suppression in UwU, the last true phase of the fight, to enrage at about 23 percent as our BEST run of it. Last night, having one lockout and a sub, on the last pull of the 2 hour instance, we ended up killing him. We all became "The Ultimate Legend".

At last, I felt like a weight (of the land) was lifted off my shoulders.

Similarly, during Alphascape, I progged the last fight ahead on my own, and ended up clearing with the help of some amazing friends and some randoms. Now, savage raids are at the "Normal" or "Hard mode" level, with EX trials being nothing for me. I look forward to progging Ucob and getting that kill as well.

I want to share my experience as a total newbish greenhorn that may have been labeled one of those people that "had no business raiding" or "was a scrub" or what have you. If you ever felt like you werent good enough, like you didn't have a place raiding or that it was too hard, people might be mean, etc... GET RID OF THAT perspective.

You're only holding yourself back. You have no idea what you are capable of, until you try. Don't give up, don't disband your group, or walk away from clearing anything that you want to. Don't give up on being a highly competent player that performs well in content. Don't feel like you can't play a role and give up on it, either. I went from being yelled at in Copperbell normal for "not tanking properly to block from the front with my shield" (which was wrong, by the way, blocking was omnidirectional by the time I started to tank) to a tank that cleared savage tiers and farms them with ease, and someone who's cleared Ultimate.

If you want to do something in this game, then do it! Your own attitude and feelings are the only things holding you back. You can do whatever you put your mind to, and don't let anyone get you down. Even in the worst situations, when everything falls apart, there are always people willing to help you, and you always have strength that you didn't know that you had to carry you through.

This actually cheered me up a lot.

I messed up last night, not on a raid but on a party finder attempt at farming a mount. It was for an extreme run that I initially thought I'd cleared recently. Big mix-up, as it turned out I hadn't. Had been reviewing the fight mechs regardless and felt reasonably sure that while I might not have it down cold, I'd be able to get it in two-three tries and breeze through. That has generally been my pattern when trying upper level content.

I wasn't the only new player in my group, and I was DPS. It took a long time for the party to fill up. I explicitly told the initial members I was new but learn fast, and while I didn't state it outright to the rest of the group I referenced it in pretty clear terms.

We wiped twice. The first time I made some dumb mistakes, which I noted and fixed the second time. I definitely did better in the next attempt, surviving stuff that had previously killed me. But we still wiped.

People left the duty silently. I followed suit, confused. One person simply said not to advertise for farming if I was new to a fight. Nothing more was said and everyone left before I could even type an apology.

I felt terrible. It seemed like everyone thought I was the sole reason that party failed. And while I definitely saw other people mess up too (dying in very avoidable ways), part of me has been worried acknowledging that to myself would be skirting responsibility or something.

I seriously want to learn that fight. I want to run it multiple times and I do want to farm. As I'm doing that I want to get better and better. I've done that in other fights, sometimes even with newbies. Didn't mean to mislead anyone or waste time but I felt too guilty/ashamed to try again before.

This was encouraging and reassuring. Ultimately it's all just a game for fun and different people enjoy in their own ways. I'm going to take a break for a while, then will try again with a very clear explanation in party finder.

Well congratulations for your achievement.

I have that thinking too, that I'm not good enough for raiding. But I don't really want those clears. I will spend so much time, effort and will have to eat so much crap and even have to nail it on the first try (because the system itself doesn't want me to be training). I don't even have time or a good conn or even an PC who's oficially supported. Maybe, with much effort I can be good enough for this, but I don't want it. I just want to have some stress-less fun, some dungeon runs and that's great, not a second job where I am not even paid for it.

Maybe on next patch.

On the one hand - yes - if you're willing to put in many hours of practice, most anyone can get up to the level of content they choose and shouldn't be discouraged. Keep at it and you can do it.

On the other hand, raiding isn't for everyone - not for a lack of skill but due to simple preference, or perhaps a shortage of time, etc. And that's ok too.

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Originally Posted by Aurelius2625

"you can do anything if you keep trying"

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I'm really glad you stuck with it. your experience is very similar to mine as it took 3 attempts at having a static for raiding to actually be fun. All I've wanted was the savage raiding weapons/armor/mount from a current tier and Alphascape was the first one that I was able to clear. o/

If stars align, and you get a good group of supportive and tolerant people that will stick with you through learning the ropes, you will be golden.

Personally, I was unlucky every time I tried. The range of reasons it didn't work was all over the place, from RL friends that played other MMOs and felt raiding here was designed for babies, to fellow casual players that quit the game entirely over being insulted for failing a mechanic on their first attempt. Not to mention the time where the a group was looking OK, but would not stop racist profanity that, as a Latino person, I just was not willing to suffer though. I just had so much time to put in the game, and enough stress in real life, to stick with the trail and error of finding the right group of people.

Sorry for being so negative on your uplifting thread.

Hello there. I appreciate your share on raiding. I personally hated raiding when I first started. Everyone else had done LotA and syrcus and WoD so many times I didn't have a clue what I was doing. Another Problem I have had in the past to was either no one really knows proper mechanics of the instance or there ilevel was insane so it didn't matter.

First time doing LotA I told everyone I new and it was my FT. I asked for help....no response....I think I died like 6 or 7 times. The last time they didn't rezz just cleared the dung. I was pissed and frankly my attitude was f-raiding.

However, I stuck with it for awhile and started to learn the mechs take better prep for each run, and even if I died I ask for rez sometimes yes sometimes no...but I didn't leave.

So to speak, I took my medicine and got better. I guess the main point is to not let other players get you down when you mess up or are lost. Take any positive criticism and use that to improve. Ignore the self righteous douche bags who are not there for fun or challenge but there to troll.

Just about everything I've experienced with FFXIV is patience, patience, and more patience when doing group activities. I don't rush to quit anymore. I stay to play.

One thing that always keeps me going, especially when it's rough, is that it doesn't matter how other people clear: Faster, better, and so forth. The clear I am getting will be MY clear, and I'll do it my way. My group was remarkably salt free, and I can't believe, given my past experiences, that it was to be that way. Even in my bad groups, I still tried to focus on, "What can I do to be better?", in order to have experience and be able to speak on that, should the opportunity for a more hardcore group arrive.

There was one hardcore static that wanted to recruit me. I didn't know why, and the leader essentially said, "If we didn't think you were capable, we wouldn't even be having this discussion right now". These were people going after week 1 or 2 clears of the entire tier, and people who had cleared the ultimate raids. For me, who had only cleared Sigma with above average/average performance on my part, I suppose it was my mentality that caught their attention.

For me, I always look at a run at "what did I do wrong?". Even the trappiest of traps becomes a learning experience. I get to perfect my opener, my rotation, not overcapping or wasting resources, and so forth. No matter what, a run attempt is never "bad" or "lost".

Yes, you can get a good or bad group, but it's not simply that "if the stars don't align, you WON'T accomplish your dream". The BRD that is in my ultimate group pugs the entire thing. So he never has the ability to know what he's getting, he just has to make do with whatever he's got.

Raiding includes some of the best, and some of the worst people in game, imho. Generally, people are really, really good about this game and interacting with people. Most will just leave the party if things aren't going so well, very rarely have I ran into bad situations, although I have as well done so. Some of the nicest, most supportive people I've bonded with over raiding, and have helped me improve in ways that I can't repay them for.

Keep at it, you never know where you will go.

Savage raiding is about your willingness to slam your hand in a car door on a schedule a few times a week.

This was very uplifting I've mained as a healer during my entire duration of FFXIV (about 2 yrs) and am finally making the transition into maining a DPs class. I'm terrified to jump into a raid because I feel like my dps would be terrible in comparison of others. I practice my rotation on dummies but I just don't have faith of doing them well while actually performing mechanics. Honestly all I have to do is jump in and try. I use to be scared to raid as a healer but I finally got the courage to do so. Idk why DPs is scarier for me.

I always give myself the excuse of "I need a static" but I feel as though its hard to find one this late into the game. I know ShB is coming out soon but I really wanna get some DPs raiding practice in before it begins. Gah I just need to get over myself...

I love your positivity, OP. :)

Recently, I've been thinking I should try and get a group with some other people. I really go back and forth on this, though, for the following reasons (and others I don't need to mention):

I have social anxiety. In just ordinary dungeons or trials, I can be physically shaking with anxiety, even when I know the dungeon well. I have to literally tell myself to stop it and that works for the most part; but this is when I've had my husband playing with in party too, so it's not like I'm entirely "alone". In real world stuff, I can be pretty crappy to deal with as a result: up, down, non-communicative, won't shut up. I'm not, nor have I ever been, an overly sociable person, but that does not mean I do not want contact with other people! It's just very hard, I don't do small talk and can be a bit intense. It's understandably off-putting.

I'm photosensitive epileptic, so certain patterns, colours, light frequencies, can make things difficult at best, deadly at worse. Black and white contrasts? Patterns over them? No thank you, please. Though, this game doesn't really fall into the latter category, there have been issues along the way - World of Darkness and Tsukuyomi spring to mind. Swirly patterns and grids, and certain other graphics can screw up my already poor reaction time (which we'll get to), meaning I'm a potential liability in those moments. My eyes sometimes cross and I lose focus. Could be bad. XD

I have hand health issues, so can't always get those keys accurately - though I think I do pretty okay, even so. I also play on a potato, which is more likely the main problem regarding reaction time. This I am slowly working on fixing - one part at a time! - but it will be the best part of a year before that very fixable area is actually fixed. These two things combined though, plus the issues mentioned above, mean it feels inconsiderate to ask people to give up their time to effectively support me trying to play something that, when it comes down to it, may not even work. Of course, I know I won't know that until I try, but at the same time? I'm not entirely sure I should.

I'd need the most patient, kind people in the world, with lots of time on their hands, with the foreknowledge that some stuff, I may never be able to do, no matter how hard or how many times I try.

That said, I'll see how well I can fix the potato, and if that works out, I might swallow those nerves and actively try and find some people. I'm not going to care if they're the best players at that point, because I'm certainly not, but I'm going to give it a bloody good go and will expect the same. It will either work or it will not, but I won't know until I try. :)

Well done everyone else who sticks with it and wins or has fun trying, and good luck to anyone else like me who have yet to get a handle on this stuff. I wish you all many clears! :D

As I've said with my other static before the one that I'm in now, it was..... awful. We literally had to beg for a skip because we couldn't clear guardian guaranteed. It was pathetic. I had to prog Kefka and clear it, along with Godka, on my own. Of my over 50 or so clears of it to get glams and weapons/armor, I had to do it in a pug on my own. It was literally better in a pug, than in a static...which was supposed to be better than pugging. Don't worry. Pugs aren't so bad for the rep that they've been given. They are only as bad as people allow them to be.

At the beginning, I be sure to advert what I really want in the PF description, then, I'll be very blunt and clear in party chat for those that forgot/didn't read it. I'll be sure to clarify things and offer discord, clear up any problems, and do callouts. It's only as bad as people will let it be. Some of my best friends I made thru random PF's. What separates a static from a pug?

Communication?
Team work?
Coordination?

All of these things you can do thru discord of party chat.

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Originally Posted by Aristotle

Savage raiding is about your willingness to slam your hand in a car door on a schedule a few times a week.

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except raiding can be very rewarding to those that commit and you can make friends with similar mindsets/timezones, which generally leads to you doing other things with them since you spend 2-3 nights a week together in chat.

i love the friends i've made because of raiding.

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Originally Posted by Nora_of_Mira

except raiding can be very rewarding to those that commit and you can make friends with similar mindsets/timezones, which generally leads to you doing other things with them since you spend 2-3 nights a week together in chat.

i love the friends i've made because of raiding.

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Yes, absolutely! Nothing is more thrilling than clearing something tough with your friends. That still doesn't change my statement at all. :p

As long as we all remember that we all started low on the raiding totem pole once. Be helpful to those who are trying to learn. If you're new, be open to advice and guidance and don't feel offended when someone gives you tips. Most of all let the salt slide off your shoulders, and don't let pettiness spoil your fun. :)

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Originally Posted by Aristotle

Yes, absolutely! Nothing is more thrilling than clearing something tough with your friends. That still doesn't change my statement at all. :p

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But there's nothing rewarding about smashing your hand in a car door...unless..you're into that sort of thing..

Congrats on your achievement OP.
And while your story sounds nice and will probably give some people the confidence to challgent themselfs, I myself will never ever touch Ex or Savage content ever again. Throughout my entire time playing this game I never managed to kill something before Echo/Nerfs. Not even Bismarck which was supposed to be "easy" for the most people.
It's kinda crazy how silly I was to think I would have a chance at Thordan ex back when it was introduced. After 5 Weeks (and I was doing it 4-5 days per week for 2-3 hours per day) with several pf groups I never saw the fight past meteors which is nothing less than pathetic. Over those 5 weeks that fight shattered the confidence in my player abillity into nano bits and litereally crushed my fighting spirit. I simply gave up.
I never made it to recover from that "trauma" or desaster or whatever you want to call it, not even to this day years later. (Granted the fact that I made the mistake to jump into Susano and Lakshmi ex with the fc group didn't help either. They basicly killed it with 6 people since one healer was assigned to res me which was almost like a fulltime job for him.)

But enough of me crying over how much I suck. All I can do is wish you the best of luck on your way through Bahamut ultimate.:)

If you don't feel you're good enough for Savage, then stay out of party finder until you can prove to yourself you are.

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Originally Posted by van_arn

If you don't feel you're good enough for Savage, then stay out of party finder until you can prove to yourself you are.

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There is no need for you to say that. Those who don't feel that isnt good enough for savage won't apply for it (unless they're "forced" to) because they don't have confidence to do it to begin with.

Your problem is some players who think that FFXIV savage is made for babies, but manages to play worse than a greenhorn player. And, to add to the offense, that problem player don't take suggestions on how to play better.

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Originally Posted by Apriconi

This was very uplifting I've mained as a healer during my entire duration of FFXIV (about 2 yrs) and am finally making the transition into maining a DPs class. I'm terrified to jump into a raid because I feel like my dps would be terrible in comparison of others. I practice my rotation on dummies but I just don't have faith of doing them well while actually performing mechanics. Honestly all I have to do is jump in and try. I use to be scared to raid as a healer but I finally got the courage to do so. Idk why DPs is scarier for me.

I always give myself the excuse of "I need a static" but I feel as though its hard to find one this late into the game. I know ShB is coming out soon but I really wanna get some DPs raiding practice in before it begins. Gah I just need to get over myself...

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Healing has been my favorite role in the many mmos I have played too, FFXIV is no less enjoyable to be a healer. But just do your best and don't feel bad when you run across crazy people who live for the game as if it where life or death. No matter what, someone is going to eventually find something to complain about...just look at the petition mobs and "I quit" posts. "sigh."


Find a good guild to join who is "helpful" and "mature"...willing to run them for practice, and most importantly "fun." Teaming with random people who aren't emotionally balanced isn't going to help you build your confidence. It took me sometime before I was willing to run healer again after being yelled at a few times when I first began to play. Form your own sense of style and beauty; joyfully greet people when you arrive, comfort them if they mess up, and politely send them off after it is finished. Creating an environment where people feel calm and confident helps to promote better results. Tearing people down doesn't help and just shows how easily rattled one gets under pressure.

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Originally Posted by van_arn

If you don't feel you're good enough for Savage, then stay out of party finder until you can prove to yourself you are.

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You can’t prove anything unless you try, and some extreme runs are harder than some savage. Frankly, if the impatient savage players want a real challenge they should try playing either savage or extreme in duty finder. See if you can herd a fleet of newbies into a win after insane queue time. It’s doable but way harder and no syncing.

To everyone else I’ll suggest starting old savage runs unsynced before new ones. Getting comfortable with Warring Triad extreme is a pretty good transition to Alexander savage. As you get comfortable work toward more current content gradually. And speaking from my mistake, be super clear and specific about where you’re coming from in the party finder description. That way impatient people don’t enter, get miserable, and make you miserable.

In Dec 2017 , I had only been playing the game since the start of Stormblood and while I enjoyed the game a lot more than I expected, I had foolishly joined an FC who were just inviting anyone who was passing by. I ended up taking a couple of months off from the game, never having done much end game content. I only had a standard PS4 at this point and I was finding bigger raids difficult due to FPS drop etc. I was lucky enough to see a post on these forums for FC's on my server and like the OP I ended up joining a really warm and welcoming FC that had a great mix of people who were of a high standard.


The two things I have found to helped me experience more end game content was having a good FC who were patient with me (I have a lot of spinal damage, which means I am on Opiates all the time, which makes it hard for me to do long sessions and react quickly) and I ended up needing a new PlayStation as FF killed my old one, which lead to me getting the PS4-Pro. Suddenly I could be in the bigger sized raids and not suffer with FPS drop when lots of things were happening on screen. During the summer, a RL friend built me an older, but decent enough PC, which I then upgraded a few parts, so I could play FF on my PC. This has allowed me to do some content I was previously stuck on, as it felt like I was able to just control my char that bit quicker (I ended up using my Dual Shock 4 controller with my PC, as I just couldn't cope with the keybinds well enough).


I strongly agree with the OP on just how much a difference a good FC around you can make the game so much more enjoyable. I don't really do much of the end game raiding content, but whenever I do, I am no longer as stressed and self conscious of my playing, when I was playing in my first 6 months. Going over many posts on these forums, I think the EU servers are typically more friendly, than what I have read on the NA servers, which might be why I've not been "shouted" at by other players when doing the more difficult content.

Having an open attitude and asking other what I am doing wrong has enabled me to learn and typically stops no FC players from shouting at me and guiding me on how to correct any errors. MTQCapture on YouTube has been a great resource, as she does very detailed guides on all raids and trials. For players who like me, are trying the end game content weeks or months after they came out, taking the time to learn the fights helps in several ways. If you are in a PUG, I have found people are more forgiving after a wipe if you've at least shown to understand what you need to do.

I really have liked this thread and it's encouraged me to try and do more end game stuff while we wait for ShadowBringer to come out in late June.

I have a similar story. I started the game at the beginning of HW, having absolutely zero plans to participate in raid content. Indeed, I sat out of Gordias and Midas while friends all around me were raiding, while I was still trying to figure things out, content with where I was.

Around the time that Weeping City came out about a year after I started playing, something clicked, and I discovered that I enjoyed Bard far more than White Mage, though I still actively played both classes. It was around that time I noticed that random people I ran into in Expert Roulettes started complementing me as a Bard (a significant factor in this likely being that VERY few people played Bard as their main class during that time period), saying that I should get into raiding. I still didn't plan to do so, but then I always wanted the Warring Lanner from Sephirot EX too. So I finally ended up getting enough confidence and read a rough guide to do Sephirot EX, and spent like 10 hours over a single weekend participating in prog parties in order to do it - and repeatedly failing. Someone actually did notice my efforts that weekend and dragged me into a clear party, and we one-shot the fight for my first clear.

(I actually did clear Ravana EX and Bismarck EX back when they were current content too, though it was mostly friends teaching me the bare minimum to get through them. I didn't properly learn the fights until way later.)

I still didn't participate in Midas, however. But when Creator was released, a couple people from my FC flash invited me out of nowhere saying they needed a Bard for something. Turns out they threw me into A9S blind, we cleared in a single lockout, and I ended up being recruited as their static Bard thereafter. That was when I started to push myself, for the sake of my static members. It was rough going, but I learned a lot throughout all of that. The static collapsed, but I did manage to clear Creator, get the BiS gear for Bard for that raid tier, and finish all of the other Heavensward EX fights before Stormblood hit.

Nowadays, I've cleared every raid tier and EX fight in Stormblood as they were released (minus Shinryu EX, although that's mainly because I already had a Genji Bow by then and had zero motivation to do it), though I've had to go to different statics each tier due to scheduling conflicts. I've had other people call me one of the top Bards in my server, but I don't really feel like it. I'm still learning as I go along.

I've spent the past two months working on clearing UwU, and I think a clear is within reach. I did not imagine I could do anything like this when I started out.

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Originally Posted by Risvertasashi

On the one hand - yes - if you're willing to put in many hours of practice, most anyone can get up to the level of content they choose and shouldn't be discouraged. Keep at it and you can do it.

On the other hand, raiding isn't for everyone - not for a lack of skill but due to simple preference, or perhaps a shortage of time, etc. And that's ok too.

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Basically this. While I commend the OP for hopping out of that oh so sticky comfort zone, I personally don't do savage/ultimate not necessarily because I don't think I'm good enough, but rather because of the same reasons why I don't do Chocobo racing, PvP, Eureka, and PoTD/HoH. It is simply content I am not interested in, and requires attention I prefer to place elsewhere. It is definitely a preference.

When it comes to challenge and since I am a healer main, I prefer the unpredictability of randoms and is why I absolutely love alliance raids. Battles in FFXIV are heavily scripted, so I find high-end content to be a chorus that you need to learn and perform correctly to clear. Once you and your static get it down, then you're kinda just waiting for the next one to come out. With randos though, you never really know what to expect. You still learn the fights and how to do them, but at any given time you might be faced with an unfavorable situation and still have to dance the dance while dealing with it.

I'm not saying it's more challenging than savage/ultimate, of course. But it's just the right level of challenge that I am willing to invest into.

To the guy who posted above saying that people shouldn't "do savage until they prove they can"... that's like asking for five years of experience out of college. You can't get experience if you don't have opportunities. I'd say, pug a few runs with a buddy. Or join softcore/casual statics to get your feet wet for it, then move up to midcore when you are more talented, have some good performances. Whatever you feel comfortable with. Content ain't goin' anywhere.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...04/unknown.png

My case in regards to these content items are as follows.

1. I often forget about them when added because I rarely look in PF or notice that other tab in the DF window.

2. I've never been huge on scheduling my leisure time in a game so I rarely commit to statics. My schedule often doesn't work for others anyway.

3. I can get burnt out on it very quickly doing these though PF with randoms. Not because of the content itself but because of certain attitudes by randoms that can be present.

Why would I throw away hours of my life being yelled at because my gear sucks because I can't raid because my gear sucks?

I don't feel like the initial post was really to people who don't like/don't want to do raid content.

It sounds pretty geared to people who want to try it, but are nervous/anxious to try it out. Which is pretty common, I wouldn't have raided in Sigma or learned how to tank at all had it not been for a chance friend-of-a-friend who wanted to make a group for new/beginner players and see how far we'd be able to go together (which was 3% God Kefka enrage until the group fell apart, mostly since half had to step out for life obligations and the others got frustrated over trials). Kinda felt bad near the end that I was on DRK, but :B

But I was pretty surprised how I improved that tier, and after picking up a new job in the same role, been having a lot of fun in this tier even though we started really late in January after BFA crashed and burned. (And haven't been 8/8 since... like, early Feb really). I like the sensation of improvement, even if picking up a new job after a 6mo break or so from the game made me really rusty for a bit until I got the hang of things again.

For stuff in PF, most of the time it's pretty chill if you join a group oriented to where you're at. Be it learning a fight (so, a learning/prog party), or going for a clear of a fight you feel confident on (so, a clear party). Farm parties tend to be 50/50 I've been in some solid ones, but some that just get stuck really fast and struggle.

I do get a bit of stage fright in PF whenever a well-known enough streamer joins in, but the actual individuals have always been really helpful in terms of teaching.

But since it can be done via PF, raiding doesn't even really need to be a heavy commitment. Can just be "got an hour to spend, maybe I'll try to learn this fight" etc...

Ofc the entire conversation changes if you don't like to raid, but if that's the end of it then it's like... well... don't... raid? (like how I choose not to... craft).

Ultimates are the ones that spook me, more since I'm not confident enough in my own ability to attempt them, but also they tend to require a heavier time commitment since each pull can be anywhere from 30s to 15+ minutes with a reset back to the start. (And also just... lazy to go back to kill the fights I need to in order to unlock them, since I didn't raid in Delta and stopped playing after the 3% Enrage since the group fell apart on Godka).

Idk, I rambled some but figured it'd kinda fit in with the overall theme of the original post a bit.

Personally, while I could welcome some challenge, my average ping is 230 ish (WTB South American data center :'C), so I tend to avoid potential high stress content where a single second can save or doom a group.

I raided before, back in vanilla wow and TBC especially where it was at its peak, so I know I can do it if I put effort and I enjoy raiding for the challenge - although FFXIV raiding is less than a challenge and more of "remember everything to a tee or else you restart". Now, I did manage to reach bahamut eventually so I'm not new in raiding in this game.
However, I just don't like the OHKO mentality of the raiding system here: it's like restarting a game because you messed the stats and the game became harder, but you didn't know that doing the other way around could've made it so easy it's insulting ("Cough" dragon quest 8 "cough").

Problem is the static mentality is a toxic one and it's all about "first come first served" where if you're far behind in progress - as in learning the bosses - well, good luck learning in PF with pugs: nobody's gonna carry you while you're far behind, even if you got the latest gear and back when I started cross party PF didn't exist so it was either hard or impossible. There's just no real cooperation except for that one goal, which is clearing the raid. Everything else doesn't matter really, heck you'll probably never play with your static members. I never did at least and I was in several statics during ARR.

Of course, there's always the "pay the gil" route which I don't recommend but hey, there's a reason why the PF is spammed with people selling raids right?

Very well put, Obama! I had a very similar experience to you; FFXIV is the first MMORPG I ever put any serious amount of time into. For the first four years of my career in this game, I had little to no raiding presence; some friends helped me through Turn 5 of Binding Coil, I subbed in for some Gordias statics, joined a Midas static for all of a month...not very exciting. I didn't do much of anything, and didn't think I was capable of much.

In Stormblood, I decided I wanted to be in a static and to really throw myself at it. I picked up RDM, studied it in and out, practiced against Susano, and my static made it to Exdeath Savage before the Paladin and I left (personal reasoning); we quickly assembled a new group of people I consider good friends, and finished out the tier in time for UCoB to be released. At the time the static didn't think it was good enough for UCoB so we never tried; Sigmascape came and went, and with UWU coming I really wanted to throw my hat in. I wanted to prove to myself that I could do whatever I set my mind to--and a little under three months later, we crushed the Ultima Weapon into the dirt!

Now my group is farming Ultimate Weapons since Alphascape Savage is over. Once we get 10 more kills we're also gonna move on to UCoB (hey, maybe we can make it a competition? :P I guess it kinda wouldn't work since we both have Kaeda in our static lmao) Actually my discord was one of the ones you posted your victory vod in--I'm so proud of you!

Thank you for posting this. I agree with the message wholeheartedly. The biggest obstacle for anybody is themselves: focus on improving every day, and even Ultimate will bow before you and your team!

Small update from initial post! I did the same recent extreme run with a group that was advertising in party finder it was to learn the run and git gud, and we cleared it together while having a lot of fun! One member got a mount too! :D Feel insanely better about participating in farms going forward. Thanks again Aurelius for sharing your story, honestly I was feeling awful before but knowing this is just part of the process really helped. :)

its not that they hard but honestly the mech fights really are lame and boring to fight in games so I skip any of them i can.. really hate robots/ and mecha stuff organic fights i can enjoy.. but if i can avoid it i will not fight a mecha

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Aurelius2625

I stumbled and struggled my way to HW with Black Mage, and upon learning that at the time it wasn't very good for raids (I understand now this was opinion over fact)

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As I started reading through all your posts, the above quote was the first element that cheered me up immensely... Black Mage is a beast of a DPS job if properly played and its rotations are well delivered. To further expatiate your point above regarding opinion, I can even provide further insight into one of the misconceptions that evolved about Black Mages. here's the summary:

A while back, a small handful of full time raiders made a few comments about how they would prefer certain DPS jobs over BLM in just a few of the savage raids. The premise was that they were trying to utilize the party buffs that those DPS jobs would bring to the raid... for instance, Bards...and in so doing changed their line ups to reflect this.

As always happens with the exponential development of fake news, when this information finally trickled down to the rest of the player base, the story evolved into how BLMs could never be used in raids. To compound matters, there was an influx of newer players who did no know how to play the job... which of course just ended up fueling the impression that BLM was no good. Hence the past stigma.

In reality, they couldn't be further than the truth... and as people gradually found out that Black Mage has actually been one of Yoshi's main job class since forever, the perception towards the job has massively improved.

By the way, great posts and great charcater name... I'm a real life fan of Obama.

I was in the "not good enough" mindset during HW, but decided to take the plunge in SB.

I managed to finish the entirety of Omega Savage in PF groups while each tier was still relevant, so I felt kinda stupid for not trying sooner.

A friend of mine asked me "hey you main paladin right? Can you help my static today?" (Back at A5) so I was like ok sure.
I was a fresh lvl 60 and didn't have that much experience at all. Turned out it was a permanent raid position.
I didnt even know my rotation!

But I got better with the group and we progressed! Every raid tier I improved my gameplay and I've been raiding with this static for ca. 3 years now.
I'm not the best Paladin ever since my parses are purple/blue but every raid tier I discover new tricks for my class to be more effective.

If you truly are afraid and scared to raid then get together with people you can get better with together

Cool story bro