Rage Quitting this game

Hi everyone,

I started FFXIV again last week with the road to 70 buff. Rather than do all the boring MSQ all over again, I bought a story skip potion.

I was leveling a scholar initially on dungeons but swapped over to astrologician after reaching 50.

I was having a lot of fun leveling up in the newbie dungeons with the healer. However, after reaching level 50, about 10-15 new dungeons became available.

These dungeons are much, much harder than the newbie dungeons. I tried a couple of them, and healed well. However, every time I log in, I am dreading queuing up for the dungeons, as I know, I'll be presented with a difficult dungeon run which brings stress to me.

I kinda like doing the newbie dungeons because they are easier than these ones. I run the low level dungeons on alt jobs and feel good when we complete it easily.

Last session, I loaded up my astrologician level 56, and was doing the Aery. I tried watching a video before hand to see what it was. The tank said it was his first time. However, when we were on the first boss, I tried dodging the orange circles like normal, but then all of a sudden I got one shot.

I then just rage quit the session. I'm not sure if it was my fault or not, but what I don't like about this game, is that there are so many dungeon bosses with different mechanics, other than the orange circles, that I feel that it's impossible to get through the game being new and learning everything.

I'm kinda half thinking of boosting this astrologician to 70 and just doing trusts, which are npc controlled dungeons. That would defeat the purpose though of my goal of leveling via dungeons and experiencing the dungeon runs in this game.

Otherwise, I might quit the game, and try out an easier game.

I don't think this game is very newbie friendly, especially the dungeons because there is so many different special mechanics on each boss.

Now, if the game was just simple 'avoid the orange circles' then I'd be happy enough doing dungeons. But when a big effin dragon boss turns around and one shots you with a bolt of electricity, it really ruins my fun. It feels like I've done something wrong.

I know dungeons are meant to be a challenge. Maybe, I just don't have the right mind-set starting out or something.

I just don't want to presented with stress everytime I queue up for a dungeon.


What's everyone's thoughts on this? Are dungeons way too hard at level 50? Do people enjoy memorising all the boss mechanics in all the dungeons? Should I even start out with a healer?

Thanks

Being new to the game and just to a new dungeon.. deaths are going to happen, its about learning from what killed you on the next pull or attempted at the boss/dungeon.

As a healer main your job has to be to stay alive and keep others alive, that means learning what attacks do and avoiding them..

a lot of attacks have different names but behave the same way.. like for example all the cyclones an most of the giant minotaur have a swing and a swipe attack.. they're usually not shown as markers and you'll have to learn how to avoid them or you will most likely die from the damage..

Its might also be a good idea to try out another class, maybe a DPS until your more comfortable with the fights. I'm not saying you should stop healing but if your having so much stress you want to quit.. maybe its time to change jobs, at least until you sub runs out.. then decide if you want to keep going.

Good luck!

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Originally Posted by Baxcel

Its might also be a good idea to try out another class, maybe a DPS until your more comfortable with the fights. I'm not saying you should stop healing but if your having so much stress you want to quit.. maybe its time to change jobs, at least until you sub runs out.. then decide if you want to keep going.

Good luck!

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Thanks Baxcel. I might try out a different dps class then.

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Originally Posted by aindriu

I'm kinda half thinking of boosting this astrologician to 70 and just doing trusts, which are npc controlled dungeons. That would defeat the purpose though of my goal of leveling via dungeons and experiencing the dungeon runs in this game.

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Boosting your level wouldn't help on this front. Trusts are only available for dungeons in Shadowbringers, regardless of your current level.

There are definitely too many inconsistent markers for learning fights, but they have improved this from Lv60 onwards - eg. a consistent "stack together" marker.

It's definitely less stressful learning dungeons as DPS, and even as a healer I remember struggling with astrologian compared to white mage.

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Originally Posted by Iscah

There are definitely too many inconsistent markers for learning fights, but they have improved this from Lv60 onwards - eg. a consistent "stack together" marker.

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I must say I agree with that statement. But saying the game is not newcomer friendly (as the OP said, if I'm not mistaken) rings false to me, honestly. If anything this game takes hand holding to an absurd degree.

All level 50 dungeons, are a giant tutorial, all raids get nerfed, etc etc. And to rage quit just because you died once in a new dungeon is something I personally don't understand.

The problem is that you can heal through pretty much everything bar current end game so receiving a slap on the wrist and loosing just a couple of HP isn't teaching new players much other than to not bother much with AoEs. At least that's the only explanation I can think of when players drop left and right in a difficult dungeon where everyone has to pull their own weight.

And (again) I don't see a problem with dying. Just have fun out there and try to improve. :)

I wouldnt boost as it will just be the same 70 to 80. I would stick with it and see if it improves. I'm also leveling an AST and I have the whole healer anxiety thing, but the more I play and get used to it, the more fun I have.

I'm no where near a great healer but as small as it may be, you feel good when you get comms, and I got three the other night when I thought I was terrible. No one died but I always over critique what I could have done.

In the end, most people are cool if you just mention you're still a leaf in regards to AST.

Good luck!

Unfortunately the problem is that you skipped the story, and are gaining too much exp from road to 70. (its meant to encourage players to balance the servers. its not meant to truly be the best way to play the game) It takes time to get used to the basics, and to learn mechanics.
Let me put it to you this way. Lets say you're trying to make a fight, and you want players to do something, other than mashing 123, while watching netflix. You make orange markers, to tell players not to stand in it. If they stand in it, they die. Great! now they wont watch netflix, but actually look at the game screen! (trust me, i know way too many ppl who say they were watching netflix when they stand in orange circles)
But now, the players are mad they died to standing in the orange marked ground! They complain, demanding u fix it! So now you adjust it, so this way they barely get hurt. This should discourage them from standing in the circles, get them to pay attention to the game, and also not punish them too much, right? Wrong, they go back to watching netflix, since they can now just stand in it, knowing they can survive it. Why dodge it, if its not fatal?
So now you up the damage, to the point of REALLY hurting. They still stand in it, and now just blame the healer for not healing them, if they actually died.

There is no winning when it comes to making games like this.

The player is the one at fault 99% of the time. They created a VERY lengthy story, to teach u as much as u can learn, and normally the leveling process is slow enough to let u see fights enough times to learn them. You should never know how to win a fight the first time seeing it. This also doesnt mean a fight isnt winnable your 1st time either. The argument I feel you're mostly trying to make is that the game lacks conveyance. When you see the purple marker in World of Darkness, you dont think "oh, i should gather together with people" you think "oh, better not stand near anyone, so they dont get hurt"

As another said, later on, most AoE markers become more reasonable. But some bosses, the whole puzzle of the fight, is to learn what to do. (You dont always tell someone how to solve a puzzle, before they attempt it and fail)

As for "Difficulty" this is one of the easier games on the market, and is easily counted as an "Easy" game as a whole. Healer is probably the easiest role you can play right now. (In how to actually play the role) But unlike a DPS, its more punishing when played badly. Its also punished for being played at a medium degree, if the rest of the group is trying to maximize your potential with massive wall pulls in leveling dungeons. (otherwise medium play is faceroll easy in single mob pulls, with no punishment)

If you came to the game back in 2.0, when the game was harder, you'd actually argue this game was too easy. Because players over explained all mechanics before hand, to make sure u dont mess up, and because most players were new. And it took forever to level up, so you got to see and learn everything before you reached Lv50.
I have a Lv60 alt, who hasnt even unlocked the Lv24 dungeon yet. Road to 70 is unreasonably too much exp, even more so for a player skipping the story, who can level up even faster than my alt. (I have 4 new friends, 3 of which have road to 70, and are Lv60+ in every single job. They still dont even know how to target mobs effectively)

My advice to you, isnt to play a DPS. Its to play a tank. If you mess up a mechanic as a DPS, u die, then get rezzed by the healer. (Also endgame is hardest on DPS, not healers. Healers have it the easiest, except in groups of players who werent capable of winning anyways, then it can be torture.) if u mess up as healer and die, u can only hope a SMN or RDM will revive u, otherwise u start the fight over again. but... as a tank? you mess up a mechanic, you're usually still at 90% hp. and you gain a vulnerability stack.mess up again, now u survive with 80% hp. and now gain a second stack of vulnerability. Ive seen tanks with 12 stacks of vulnerability. Its pretty hard to die as a tank. Tanks are the 'middle ground' when it comes to complexity. not as easy/simple as healers, but not as complex as DPS. The most complex is PLD. The "easiest" is arguably between DRK and GNB, depending on how good/bad you are. If a player is absolutely terrible, DRK is the job that gets the most out of them. If they are only semi bad, and actually try, then GNB is easier, and gets more out of the player. (Both DRK and GNB have room for good players to maximize them.)

Either way, if u switch to tank, i suggest u start in sastasha, and work ur way up, getting used to tanking. (its not hard, its literally just "run up to group, spam AoE".) later u pop cooldowns when ur ready to start pulling more mobs. just focus on doing damage, and you'll do the bare minimum of the job, even if it isnt being played to its maximum ability.

If youre not sure how to do a mechanic as a tank, just stand there, and observe what others do, and what happens. You almost never die, and you get to see what happens. (and hopefully learn from your observation.)

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Originally Posted by aindriu

Now, if the game was just simple 'avoid the orange circles' then I'd be happy enough doing dungeons. But when a big effin dragon boss turns around and one shots you with a bolt of electricity, it really ruins my fun. It feels like I've done something wrong.

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You did do something wrong, you're supposed to give the lightning tether to a statue. But that's fine, most new players I see in there do the same mistake.

I don't think the dungeons are too hard. I think you just need to stop stressing out and that if you die, try to evaluate why and try something different that you didn't do last time. Look at the floor patterns, they usually have hints on where to stand etc. If there's a statue or something in the zone, it's usually not decoration either so it's highly likely that will be used in a mechanic.

If all dungeons had the same identical mechanics it would be boring. In fact, you don't have to do any of these after you complete them once, just level up with fates and take your time, if the dungeons are too stressful, maybe don't do more than one in a play session.

A lot of us had to learn these dungeons without guides, I don't think you should watch guides before every dungeon, that just increases stress to perform at a good level just tell the group you're new when you join so people lower their expectations and say sorry when you die then try to do better, that's all. No one is expecting you to play at a top tier player in a dungeon. It's a leveling dungeon.

All you need to do is make sure the gear you're wearing is at the relevant ilv for the dungeon you queue it and that you are clear with your intentions when you queue in. Your party is not psychic. Communication is important (but sometimes people don't care). Also if you are struggling with a dungeon you can always apologize and leave. You will get 30min penalty but they can always get a replacement in progress and you can just chill out in the meantime, it's not a big deal.

That mechanic targets anyone at random so it's not relevant as to what job you use. I do think it might be easier to start as dps. You kinda need to understand how mechanics work in the game in order to mitigate them better and it's easier to be in a position where you're not going to wipe a run, but your dps contribution is also a lot more important and I have a feeling you will hate the stress that comes with that more than healing.

Anyway, at the end of the day you're supposed to have fun with it so if it stops being fun, don't force yourself through it because of the amount of time you spent on it, go do something else and if you miss it, it'll be right back where you left it.

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Originally Posted by aindriu

Last session, I loaded up my astrologician level 56, and was doing the Aery. I tried watching a video before hand to see what it was. The tank said it was his first time. However, when we were on the first boss, I tried dodging the orange circles like normal, but then all of a sudden I got one shot.

I then just rage quit the session. I'm not sure if it was my fault or not, but what I don't like about this game, is that there are so many dungeon bosses with different mechanics, other than the orange circles, that I feel that it's impossible to get through the game being new and learning everything.

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So generally speaking, if/when i recommend someone watch a guide i usually tell them that Mizzteq(MTQcapture on youtube) usually does a good job on them. She doesnt often miss/forget mechanics, and her explanations are usually fairly brief and understandable. She doesnt always offer the "best" strategy for a fight(making videos when a fight is new means that the "best" strategies havent always been found yet), but her techniques are always workable. I remembered this boss having one extra dangerous attack, so i pulled her guide and sure enough im sure i can explain what happened. So you were dodging the orange circles, like you expected to. This is likely Rangda's Ionospheric Charge attack - random lightning strikes. At the same time that mechanic is happening, he targets one party member at random and starts charging a large lightning bolt. This is done using the "Prey" mechanic, which appears in several other instances(although this might be the first MSQ one that includes it). The person hit with "Prey" basically has a bullseye on their back(and the marker on the party buff/debuff list is indeed a bullseye - this particular one includes a purple tether as the attack is getting ready to go off). There are(generally speaking) two types of "Prey" attacks. Ones where you need to hand the marker off, and ones where you need to direct the upcoming attack away from everyone else. In this case, there are large lightning rods around the outer part of the bosses arena. If you run behind one, the "Prey" marker will switch to that instead, and you take no damage from the hit(in the MTQ video for the dungeon, this mechanic is explained around the 38 second mark).

So thats what happened. You got randomly selected for Prey, didnt notice(it was the first time you ever saw that type of move, easy thing to miss), and died from the big hit that followed. So if you were in my group and this happened(assuming you didnt quit before i could say anything) i would have just told you that attack could be avoided by moving behind the lightning rod pillar things around the arena. No big deal, we all die sometimes. As for the rest of your questions, i am one of the people who thinks its a good thing that not all bosses have the same 2 or 3 moves. The wider variety makes them more special. I also happen to be the type of person who remembers little details like this fairly easily(but sometimes cant remember names or birthdays). Dungeon difficulty does trend upwards as you go up in levels, but its not a straight or smooth line. You tend to get several easy dungeons in a row, then one difficult dungeon which seems even harder by comparison. And as for starting as a healer, if its what you enjoy i would never tell you to play something else. But if its too stressful for your first time in a dungeon to also be healing then a DPS role could very well help you easy into it.

At the end of the day, the game is meant to be fun to play. If you can find a way to have fun, id tell you to keep playing. If its just stress with no enjoyment, maybe its not right for you. Only you know for sure.

Hey guys,

Thanks for all the tips and suggestions.

I found I was letting my emotions and performance anxiety dictate whether I should play the game or not and perhaps rage quitting was premature. I realise this is a fun game, and that there are many challenges in the game, one of which is learning the different dungeon mechanics as you progress. I understand this is a game which you learn progressively what to do and to just skip dungeons is probably not helping me.

I am going to do a bit of exposure therapy next week on dungeons for myself. I am going to take my 57 Astrologician (either that or a tank or a dps [I haven't chosen yet]) and do every single dungeon 3 times in the duty finder. I'll read up on each dungeon on MTQCapture first.

My brother says just keep doing the dungeons over and over, and don't give a fk what other people think. I think he might be right.

Thanks again,

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Originally Posted by aindriu

Hey guys,

Thanks for all the tips and suggestions.

I found I was letting my emotions and performance anxiety dictate whether I should play the game or not and perhaps rage quitting was premature. I realise this is a fun game, and that there are many challenges in the game, one of which is learning the different dungeon mechanics as you progress. I understand this is a game which you learn progressively what to do and to just skip dungeons is probably not helping me.

I am going to do a bit of exposure therapy next week on dungeons for myself. I am going to take my 57 Astrologician (either that or a tank or a dps [I haven't chosen yet]) and do every single dungeon 3 times in the duty finder. I'll read up on each dungeon on MTQCapture first.

My brother says just keep doing the dungeons over and over, and don't give a fk what other people think. I think he might be right.

Thanks again,

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I can sympathize where you are coming from. Performance anxiety is common in these types of games and that's a whole other topic. But moreso than some other currently top end MMOs, FFXIV is about choreography. While there are some common markers and recycled mechanics, there's frequently an expectation that you know precisely what to do in a particular boss fight even if there aren't always easy to interpret telegraphs. As you go from dungeons and normal trials to EX trials to Savage Raiding, the choreography becomes more noticeable, longer, and more complex. The pinnacle of this process is Ultimate Raiding.

Even if we nix all but dungeons and remove most of that choreography, as mentioned some telegraphs aren't clear in their meaning on their own. Oh the boss's eyes flashed blue... what to do? Oh now they've flashed purple? Or a boss raises a hand... in one case it's sign of an impending tank buster and in many others it means stand on the boss's other side to avoid a massive AoE. Hey look the boss' staff got longer... does that mean get closer or does it being shorter mean get closer? Sometimes things appearing over your head that aren't the common stack marker also mean huddle with other players, though most of the time they mean run away and drop an attack away from other people. Stuff like this is littered throughout group content. And... there's a LOT of group content.

Some people will reflexively tell you to watch guides, which is fine and worthwhile, unless you are doing random roulettes. If you've unlocked lots of things, who know what will pop up? And there is no guarantee you will remember all of the key parts of the boss fights in whatever you get. Unless you play the game regularly and do group content frequently, there will be things that turn up where you kind of blank. And while it happens less often to those who are constantly running group content day in and day out, they also sometimes go... "???"... on some fights, too. It happens. To the most experienced players and to the least. It isn't a personal failing of great shame.

Those with more practice and a quicker memory for certain game design mechanics will do better at avoiding those "???" moments than those with less practice or who find the design philosophy unintuitive. And if you also are prone to getting anxious or upset when you make a mistake or feel like you've failed, this can really make running group content a dreaded chore rather than a fun experience. After you've been in the game a while longer, you will be able to see what comes easier for you and what is a struggle. There is always advice, but no magic bullet. Some folks love the game, but avoid chunks of it because it's too frustrating. Others quit. And still others muddle through parts of it when necessary to get to other parts they enjoy. Keep trying and see what works for you (and what doesn't).

Don't rage quit. Just find someone who would be willing to give you guidance and help you learn this game from the inside out. If you were on my data center I would love to help you and que dungeons with you while you practice and learn. I find when your learning with friends it is much more enjoyable as opposed to queing with strangers who may potentially be toxic. Anyways, if you ever come to Primal give me a shout. I enjoy helping new players.

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Originally Posted by SweetestLily

Don't rage quit. Just find someone who would be willing to give you guidance and help you learn this game from the inside out. If you were on my data center I would love to help you and que dungeons with you while you practice and learn. I find when your learning with friends it is much more enjoyable as opposed to queing with strangers who may potentially be toxic. Anyways, if you ever come to Primal give me a shout. I enjoy helping new players.

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https://media.giphy.com/media/gOkawaguYNiSI/giphy.gif

Hey guys,

I started out a marauder yesterday, and got him to 31 today. I tanked the first five newbie dungeons. I was going great. I was gaining more confidence with dungeons.

Then, I decided, hey my astrologician is level 57, and I'll try getting to 60 so I can do the tradeskills in the diadem. I *thought* I chose the lower level dungeon roulette, but must have accidentally chosen the wrong one. Anyway, got sent to the highest dungeon available - level 57 The Vault. We encountered swarms of mobs that the tank was pulling. Managed to keep her up. The first boss was really tough, went out of mana though. Then, she pulled and pulled and pulled loads more mobs, wall to wall, and I couldn't heal her and she died, and we wiped.

I decided that's it with these higher level dungeons. I really need more experience before I enter these dungeons again. I didn't know if it was me that was the weakest link, but I don't understand how a tank can pull so many mobs, knowing the healer is a sprout. I was just overwhelmed.

I just have a hard time understanding if these dungeons are designed to just take you down a peg or two, or if I'm under-geared, inexperienced or the tank is over-zealous or what. Because, I just don't get these dungeons. They are so difficult.

I think for me, I am going to try and level up my astrologician with standard level roulettes and PotD. Then, I'll have the tradeskills I can do.

I will go back to my warrior and get more experience in the low end dungeons. Then, I'll work my way into the harder ones, one at a time.

Otherwise, I'm not playing in these high-level dungeons for the while being. I think I'll just enjoy leveling up alts or whatever in the base dungeons.

You sound like me, we like content that is easy going and relaxing that looks and sounds cool and is fun, super hard stuff ain't my thing either, though me and u differ on what we call hard, I still feel ya my lala bro.

When I first started out on this game in 2013 I never played an mmo and hadn't touched any rpg type stuff since Zelda a link to the past in the early 90s, I started as a warrior cause my friend chose paladin and warrior/paladin looked the coolest to me, I didn't even know a tank was or a dps, I just pressed buttons and stayed up front cause my xwife was a dragoon and my buddy was a paladin and I thought if you weren't in melee range you weren't hurting the boss, I thought healers were the ones who stood back and thought ranged jobs like black mage and bard weren't doing any damage since if they weren't up close, didn't know any of the mmo terms, didn't even know how to read the map till a month of two in game.

Reason I tell u this is you are similar to me and if noobs like me can do it then I have faith in you to do it as well, my advice is use jump potions if you want or lvl without em, whatever floats your boat, maybe learn this game on a dps first cause it's the least stressful role, I learned this game on a bard cause at first I sucked at tanking but I'm now good, unless your super dedicated to learning on a tank or healer cause ultimately play what u want, also ask questions and keep watching guides cause repition is good way to learn and hopefully one day we'll end up in a dungeon together, till then do what content u think is fun and keep learning at your own pace my fellow lala friend.

Also if you haven't unlocked daily hints then go to your grand company and unlock them, their ok exp and super easy cause all u do is kill open world enemies, I can't remember if the a realm reborn ones give exp, I think they do but I know the heavensward, stormblood and shadow bringers ones do , plus the daily hints are a good way to try out your moves in a non stressful way.

Healer is a harder role to get into starting out but it gets easier once your gear is decent and your confidence overall is improved.

I will say those that Astrologian is a little harder to level since it has a but more to track.

If you want to try high content and not deal with tracking cards, healing, and mechanics at the same time, try playing WHM. They are similar in terms of healing style but more simple so you can focus a bit more on the mechanics.

Healer naturally comes with the pains of being responsible and anxiety is often the main problem of the role. It's something you get used to over time.

First rule when doing new content is NEVER fear death, the game is very easy and it usually rarely happens unless it’s new content. I highly highly recommend DPSing the dungeon any dungeons before healing. As healers are the heart of the party if they die the run will go wayward. Even the most OP savage bound dream team can fall apart without aware healer

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Originally Posted by aindriu

Then, I decided, hey my astrologician is level 57, and I'll try getting to 60 so I can do the tradeskills in the diadem. I *thought* I chose the lower level dungeon roulette, but must have accidentally chosen the wrong one. Anyway, got sent to the highest dungeon available - level 57 The Vault.

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So one important thing to realize is there is no roulette which only includes low level dungeons. The Leveling Roulette includes leveling dungeons from every expansion- 1-49 for ARR, 51-59 for HW, 61-69 for SB, 71-79 for ShB. Since you bought a story skip you have the higher level leveling dungeons from the story you skipped unlocked and in the pool. It's only the level cap dungeons (50 for ARR, 60 for HW, 70 for SB, 80 for ShB) which are separated out into other roulettes.

If you want to practice healing in lower level dungeons you'll need to manually queue for them instead of using the roulette.

At level 71, when you start doing Shadowbringers dungeons, you will get the option to run them with trust groups, that is, with bots instead of other players. The bots are actually programmed to do the mechanics, so you can watch them to see what you need to do.

The Vault has always been known as a challenge for healers. Getting it at-level and most likely undergeared is going to be tough.

Also, are you keeping up with your quests from the astrologians' guild? Most of your skills are unlocked that way, so you'll be missing a lot by that level.

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Originally Posted by Iscah

The Vault has always been known as a challenge for healers. Getting it at-level and most likely undergeared is going to be tough.

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So i almost said something like this in my original reply. The Vault is a rough dungeon for starting healers. First, its at a point in the level range where if you havent been upgrading then your gear is going to be noticably worse then it should be(and youre still missing some important higher level skills). Second, a lot of the enemies hit hard(like, harder then you think they will). Third, the sub-bosses hit hard too(and have some semi-tricky mechs). And fourth, the final boss can wreck people who arent prepared. Hard hitting mechs, happening quickly, happening back to back, starting to overlap, happening all at once, SICKNESS MUST BE PURGED. And then fifth, story related spoilers i wont get into. Yeah, the Vault can be a lot the first time out. If you can get through that, youre good for awhile(Doma probly being the next tripping point for healers).

Like one big post at the beginning already said, play a Tank.

Start the tank from level 1 and do dungeons to level it.
Communicate with your group at the beginning and tell then that you are a new player and that it is your first time tanking the dungeon. The big majority will understand that and react positive towards you.

Some will tell you to take it easy and will try to help you and give advice.
Others will push you into the cold water and tell you to pull everything. (do it, laugh in case of a wipe and try again with less)
And again other will say nothing, so take your own speed.
But the most important thing is, take the friendly advice and critique to improve your tanking, they say that to you to help you.

Here's a few things I'd like to mention/ask:

1). Did you buy a full suit of Ironworks gear while you were Lv50? Though if you're 56 and at the Aery then this might not really apply to you, BUT, here pretty soon you should be arriving at Idyllshire and when you do.. buy the Lv60 Shire gear ASAP with the Tomestones of Poetics (run the 50/60/70, Trials, and Main Story roulettes to get these in large numbers). Even if you're not to the end of Heavensward quests yet and you end up being Lv61+, being Item-Level Capped helps loads in your dungeons and such armor lasts you through at least the Lv63 dungeon, and arguably the Lv65 one.

2). Just keep practicing the mechanics, and if you die and don't understand why, ask one of your group members why you died. There was probably some hidden mechanic you didn't see. The fight you mentioned, has a tether that's easy to miss.

3). If you do die, just pick yourself up and get back into the fray. It's frustrating at first, but you will learn and you'll get better. Heck, when I first started Eden's Verse, I used to get so frustrated, but now I can usually do the fights with only 1 or sometimes 0 deaths unless I really screw up bad. It just takes awhile of getting used to the dungeons and their mechanics.

Just keep trying, you'll get the hang of it. It also helps when the Tank isn't also a newbie. And I suggest getting into an FC and making friends with at least a tank so you two can Q together for new dungeons and he can explain stuff to you.

Also... making friends with a RDM is nice if you happen to be a healer at later levels. They get access to a Raise spell they can insta-cast as often as they want.

Hey, I had a few ironworks pieces but mostly everything was level 50. Maybe that was why I was doing so terribly in the instances. Thanks for the tips about getting better gear and the motivating tips to keep at it. Anyway, I did PotD on my astrologician and got the last few levels to level 60. He is now retired. Now, I am doing the diadem and leveling up some tradeskills. I reckon, I should be able to make my items once I get my tradeskills to 70. Sometimes, the marketplace doesn't have good items when you are leveling up.

A good idea for those issues that happened in the Vault with the tank wall pulling.. while the dungeon is starting.. type out a message for the tank..

Something like "Hey this is my first time here, can we do smaller pools so I can learn the dungeon?" Or something simular.. just let em know your new and would like smaller pools..

A good tank will understand an accommodate you on it.. a bad one well.. you just can't do anything about those kinda tanks..

Bonus tip: In regards to upgrading your gear. Your weapon is the MOST important piece of gear in determining how strong your heals are. Depending on what you have an upgrade could potentially be a large boost to how strong your heals, regens, shields AND damage spells are. When you can do more with less casts, keeping up with unexpected mechanics isnt quite as hard.

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Originally Posted by Frizze

Bonus tip: In regards to upgrading your gear. Your weapon is the MOST important piece of gear in determining how strong your heals are. Depending on what you have an upgrade could potentially be a large boost to how strong your heals, regens, shields AND damage spells are. When you can do more with less casts, keeping up with unexpected mechanics isnt quite as hard.

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couldnt agree more. Ive been in both scenarios. Had up to date gear, except my WHM weapon was i270 in kugane, and spamming cure2, with oGCDs weaved inbetween, and still struggle to out heal incoming dmg on the tank. But in the reverse, Id have a WHM weapon above the dungeon, but be MASSIVELY behind in gear, and have no trouble healing and throwing up DPS constantly as well.
Granted its much easier to do large pulls on AST and SCH, due to way more frequent oGCD healing, when the GCD isnt enough. So I never really needed updated weapons on those two. Just "generally" ok~ weapons.

i personally never needed to watch a guide for any dungeon/raid/trial and just went on intuition,but i AM AWARE,that this is most probably due to me having playing multiple mmo's in the past,i DO get hit by mechanics sometimes,as some mechanics arent that intuitive and require experience to know what to do,however "dying" shouldnt be taken as a stressful event,as you'll most likely be ressed,and even if you wipe,it will be a learning experience,unless you are going to do savage difficulty,i doubt you are going to have any troubles,gear can also be a big issue that can make you win or wipe,as is reckless players,like a tank taking entire rooms of monsters rather than a few at a time.

Sounds crazy but I always tell people play tank. Its the easiest role in the game for regular lvling content. You can face tank alot of mechanics and survive. You dont need to memorize alot of things because its the dpses job. You dont have to keep your butt alive as well as cover for others stepping on aoe like healers do and the queues are great.

Healer to me is the hardest because you are basically the backbone of the team that smooths over others mistakes by healing them through it. I dont really like healing at all since the potency/ dps nerf.

As others have said, it will help a lot if you take it easy with the low level dungeons first as a new player. The higher dungeons will start to expect healing cooldowns that use no mana, but restore a decent amount of health. A certain gear item level is also expected, so we need to make sure we get new gear whenever we can. Try to aim to keep the gear around your class level the best you can.

If it's possible, maybe try out the Conjurer / White Mage class for a bit to get comfy with the basic spells first. Satasha will start off with mostly using just Cure and Medica (or Benefic and Helios with Astrologian). I believe the cooldown Lucid Dreaming comes up fairly soon and that one is important to use when you drop to around 80% of your mana or lower. It contributes a lot of mana regeneration, so make a habit of using it whenever you can. Then when you get to level 30, don't forget to visit the class guild again to upgrade your class to a job class. It then sends you on job quests to earn spells that will be important to use. An example is Regen that appears for White Mage at level 35. That one gets put on the tank(s) as often as possible after they finish pulling enemies to heal them over time (a HoT for a short term). Try your best to wait for the tank to finish pulling before using the HoT heals or the enemies might potentially start chasing you if the tank accidentally didn't hit them all yet. Astrologian can use the Diurnal Sect buff and Aspected Benefic to get a similar regen too.

I agree that maybe you could start looking into tanks.
If you fail a mechanic you barely take damage and get a vuln stack in later dungeons but I've kept tanks alive that collected 5+ of them through tankbusters and they didn't even bother to use a cooldown. For the most parts, trash is "pull as much as you're comfortable with, use some cooldowns, don't stand in the orange" and bosses are "face away from group, don't stand in orange". If you don't recognize a mechanic, imitating what others are doing generally works and if it doesn't, it won't kill you.
You don't have to know every nook and cranny of a dungeon as some people say, that's nonsense. They're linear enough that it's hard to get lost and even if you took a wrong turn, you just run back.

You can always come back to healer if you want. But they're more dependant on other people's performance and if they die, they fight is usually over unless you either have a RDM/ SMN who can ress you (and hopefully in time) or a PLD who can keep himself alive.
Besides, AST is not exactly a good choice for someone who gets stressed out by what's happening pretty fast or hasn't played in a long time. Boosting it would be a terrible idea because you don't have time to get used to your skills. If you really want to keep healing, it might be best to stick to SCH or WHM for now. AST is even more dependant on decent group play than the other healers.

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Originally Posted by Psytic

Sounds crazy but I always tell people play tank. Its the easiest role in the game for regular lvling content. You can face tank alot of mechanics and survive. You dont need to memorize alot of things because its the dpses job. You dont have to keep your butt alive as well as cover for others stepping on aoe like healers do and the queues are great.

Healer to me is the hardest because you are basically the backbone of the team that smooths over others mistakes by healing them through it. I dont really like healing at all since the potency/ dps nerf.

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Parties sometimes want tanks to pull big and newcomers may not be comfortable with it

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Originally Posted by Yuella

Parties sometimes want tanks to pull big and newcomers may not be comfortable with it

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Parties sometimes want healers to dps and newcomers may not be comfortable with it.
Parties sometimes want good aoe rotations and newcomers may not be comfortable with it.
If you don't want to pull big, tell them. They'll either leave it at that (most likely) or kick you (rarely happens because getting a new tank takes longer than finishing a dungeon with single pulls). This whole "they may want this or that and it could be uncomfortable for you" is just needlessly feeding "tankxiety". Just like all this talk about how a tank needs to know the whole dungeon by heart, lead the way, know how capable a party is at a glance etc.
There will always be players that want a different playstyle from you regardless of role. But the solution to that is really quite easy: communicate. It's not that difficult to simply tell your party that you're not quite used to tanking yet and will keep pulls smaller. I honestly can't remember someone ever getting salty over it or even demand a kick.
The general reaction is as simple as "ok".

If you want to heal go white mage if you want to dps go machinist. Both easy to play. When healing what i did was just queue for dungeons normal don't use roulette. Pick lower level ones till you get comfortable and move upwards one at a time. Skip aurum vale unless you are doing it with friends, lol. Yes dungeons do get progressively harder starting with stone vigil. Some dungeon mechanics usually end up in other dungeons so if you are familiar with them it gets easier. Healer is a stressful job because you feel like if you mess up everyone will get angry at you. Just tell them you are new at the very beginning and could the tank please not over pull till you are comfortable. If have found when you are honest with the group up front before a wipe happens most people are cool about it. I had a friend that kept telling me "this isn't WoW", lol. It took a very long time to get over the fear of toxic attitudes from years of that game. Anyway, relax and have fun. That's what games are for. Hope you find your place here. :)