Do other people depend on guides for trials?

A common thing I've been seeing nowadays are a lot of parties demanding that players know the mechanics the first week of a patch release. I've always been one to go in blind for things because I honestly like learning and experiencing things on my own. I like the idea of other people actually helping and giving pointers during the fight itself. I know that guides like MTQcapture and Mr. Happy have been around for years. They are nice resources to have for those who simply don't have the time to learn and just want to run through it. Guides have been available for games for who knows how long...But at the same time, I feel like it takes away from the point of an MMO and learning/helping people get through content.

I'm asking this because I'm thinking of doing Ruby EX for the first time when I get some time and I'm feeling like I'm going to run into the problem above at this point because it has been a few weeks since the release of the fight. But I don't want to watch a 15-minute guide on mechanics that I'll probably forget when I get into the fight. Is it bad that I'm like this?

One more thing...No, I don't have a static or friends that I actively play with. My FC is pretty much dead and all the friends I've tried to get into the game quit before they can even get to HW. The one who reached SB quit due to boredom.

Depend on? No. Make a learning party that says blind prog. Take initiative.

I learn it physically and myself I'll put up a pf/join with fc but for the most part I learn on my own. I Don't use guides and honestly I refuse to use them for one it kills out any enjoyment of the game and for two thats not how I learn and honestly I'd screw up more with reading a guide/watching one.

For normals, sure I like going in blind and learn just by experiencing it.

For extreme or savage I do prefer do watch a guide vid first before entering some practice party, so I have a vague idea of what to do.
Don't wanna hold others back just to save myself the time of watching a 5-10min video beforehand.

Though I guess if I did want to learn such a fight by going in blind, I'd make sure the entire party is on board with that first.

There's wanting a different experience, and there's being lazy and expecting others to pick up your slack.
I think its okay to depend on others so you can ask why you died at a specific point, or to figure out what mistake you did.
But where I'd draw the line is going into a fight and expecting others to explain it for me from beginning to end - I don't think that's okay when you have the option to just learn it by taking a look at a guide (which is often able to explain it better since it can show you visually what happens while it explains).

Just my opinion.

I have more fun when I go in with a game plan. I learn fast on my feet and love progression on the bleeding edge, but I refuse to be the reason anyone else is held back otherwise.

The friend that convinced me to pick the game back up after 6 years kept wanting me to do fights blind to "get the experience", but it always reduced my enjoyment dying to a mechanic I didn't know to look out for. I hate not being informed, especially when being informed in current year is 2 clicks away. My joy is mostly in executing. I don't need any fancy paint by number stuff - just a list of mechanics and what they do.

If I had close friends all at the same point and we were all going in blind, id prefer that. But I try not to waste the time of strangers if I can help it since the parties are more than just me.

By the inverse, I am not even slightly bothered by others going in blind and needing assistance if they are trying.

Yea your best bets would be your own PT finder group and probably finding a new FC.

Guides have the benefit of streamlining strats for most parties across PF, so everything's more or less the same no matter what party you join.

It's hardly something you need to depend on - most trials in this game are easy enough that you can prog and kill it within a few lockouts - they simply help making prog faster since at this point most people are less interested in progging it and more into being able to farm as soon as they can, and since guides are out anyway, I guess most people just don't wanna be bothered with blind progging a fight that's been picked apart enough times for guides of it to be out by now.

With that said, there's nothing wrong with wanting to experience and prog a fight entirely blind, you'll just need to find like minded people that have this goal in mind as well. PF is your friend, make your own party and specify that no guides are required and that you'd like to go blind. :)

If I was pugging I would to make my life easier. Pugs aren't a great medium for discussing tactics.

I have my own static and we never look up guides. We prefer to work things out for ourselves. We find that to be more fun than just copying someone else's strat.

Unfortunately, running content blind, and running content solo, are mostly mutually exclusive concepts.
If you want to run it blind, you need everyone else willing to do the same.
You might get lucky on PF, but your chances are decreasing by the day.

Some do. Thing is, not everyone learns the same way. Videos are a waste of time for me if I've never been in the fight. Luckily, the concept of blind runs has caught on a bit. I try to jump in those first, then watch video and things make sense.

For most content, I just run it blind to be honest.

Don't stand in the bad stuff. Stack on the big, shiny, noisy stack marker. Be number 1/2 on enmity. Don't run into the edge of the arena because you'll fall to your death/be vapourized.

Uhh... That's pretty much every encounter in a nutshell.

Sometimes it can be nice to watch a video just to see the occasional mechanic that might catch you out (Notably, E7 with the birbs and portals seems to make way too many people fail).

Though, for EX/Savage/Ultimate you'd probably want to put together a blind run PF group. Shouldn't be too difficult, heck I've been able to sign up to blind runs of EX trials on BLU and there's all of like 3 people who actually use that job!

I watch a vid if I'm doing ex or savage, otherwise blind. The video doesn't help me anyways.... I have to experience the attack for myself to get it.

It depends. I don't look at guides for anything lower than EX. For something like Ruby or any other trial that has been out long enough for guides to be made, I will definitely check them out before going into the fight so I have somewhat of an idea of any certain requirements I will likely be dealing with in there. I don't do relevant savage fights. My FC and I tend to go in and clear the previous expansion's savage raids sometime around patch .3/.4 of the current expansion. In these cases, we do try to figure out the requirements to clear on our own, but will go to a guide once we get stumped.

In short, I definitely feel a greater sense of accomplishment figuring out mechanics on my own. At the same time though, I also want to be as less of a burden as possible when I know having at least some knowledge of the fight is a requisite.

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Originally Posted by Infindox

I watch a vid if I'm doing ex or savage, otherwise blind. The video doesn't help me anyways.... I have to experience the attack for myself to get it.

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Same here. The guide helps the confidence level a smidge or two though. But yeah, I'm like a BLU and don't learn about an attack until getting nailed with it.

I used to go in blind! It was fun :'D but I did watch most of the Copied Factory guide when it 1st came out--- otherwise I'd run blind until- one or several of the raiders used a DPS log to see everyones DPS then uploaded it after, I only learned of it bc suddenly my FC mates I was with were all ecstatic- I've gotten harassed for not doing well & it wasn't even my choice or my knowledge to have my dps out there- It felt invasive.
But because of the amount of crap I've gotten, just on 3 occasions but it was enough- I always watch a guide now. Do I try to do the most DPS on a healer? No, if someone wants to say something about my dps numbers? Go ahead, SE loves people like that.

I always watch a guide for trials, because I don’t want to be that guy people are bitching at. I may not get it the 1st time, but I will remember most of it once I start repeating the fight.

Like others said, just make your own blind run party in PF. I think in normal mode no one is going to care if you die because you didn't know the mechanics, however in extreme you have to make sure everyone is on the same page. It can be frustrating for players who have tried for a while to get the clear, and got to the point that they understand the mechanics well enough, to be teamed up with people who go in totally blind.

Ruby EX is a really fun fight, and it's not that difficult once you get used to the placements. Good luck with it and enjoy ! ^^

If you're joining a standard Extreme fight, you're going to be expected to have at least basic knowledge of what you're doing. There are too many ways to get others killed and cause a wipe to go in blindly beyond the first few days, and it's generally not a simple explanation of what to do for someone in the fight to explain it to you. You're going to frustrate your party members by not having a clue of what to do, and also wasting the party's time if they do have to explain it to you.

If you really want to go in blind, I recommend you set up a blind PF where people who join know what they're getting into by partying with you.