The Joy of Blind Runs

Your eyes are wide open.
Your mind, awake and alert.
Your hands are at the ready.
With adrenaline pumping through your veins.

There is nothing more exciting than a blind run, as you can only experience something for the first time once.



Being someone who consider fight mechanics to be an integral part of the gaming experience, explaining everything before experiencing a fight for the first time is akin to spoiling the twists in a movie.

Too many have become too comfortable, choosing to rely upon the charity of others instead of our own efforts.
And if said charity is not readily dispensed, it is perceived as a slight or insult.



The following is my mentality:

Death is the best teacher.
How many times you die matters naught.
What truly matters is what you have gleamed from the mechanic that killed you.

Failure is the best crucible.
Apologizing for a failure is meaningless.
Instead, analyze why you failed so that you can improve your tactics for the future.

After the first wipe, I would discuss my findings with the rest of my party.
If we wipe a second time with similar results, then I will accept explanations.
(unless a mechanic is total bs)



I am mostly speaking of normal difficulty content.
High-end players usually have these mentalities already.

I have attempted to convert first timers to enjoy blind runs in dungeons and normal raids.
Some seem to genuinely enjoy the experience, while others remain angry throughout.

Do you agree/disagree?
What mentalities/philosophies do you carry?
I'd love to hear what you think.

I salute you, more players need to adopt this mindset and be less worried about not knowing the whole fight before they even entered.

I dislike blind runs.

I want to get in, kill it, get out. Not be the reason we're not killing it because I refused to look at a guide.

But to each their own.

I always do normal content blind. This content is easy enough to figure out if you're paying attention and your brain is not turned off. It's also not very punishing. And I agree that figuring out stuff on the fly is really fun, though I can see how a healer might find this stressful (I play DPS).

As for high-end content (Savage, Extremes, etc.), I can only go in it blind with the right group of people. Everyone needs to be on the same page when it comes to blind runs. I don't want to be a burden to anyone, so I don't feel comfortable doing high-end content blind with strangers.

All new normal dungeons I run blind (most mechanics are recycled anyway or not very hard to grasp, I can't remember the last time I wiped twice to a boss in a dungeon). I don't mind people throwing in some tips though cause "go left" or "go right" are not spoilers in my opinion.

When I want to do harder content blind, I join blind practice partys in PF or host my own blind practice party. If I join a regular practice party in PF or a random party via DF I expect people to have watched or read a guide, because I consider it pretty rude to waste the time of 7 other players by wiping to simple stuff.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Niobee

When I want to do harder content blind, I join blind practice partys in PF or host my own blind practice party. If I join a regular practice party in PF or a random party via DF I expect people to have watched or read a guide, because I consider it pretty rude to waste the time of 7 other players by wiping to simple stuff.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Eien713

As for high-end content (Savage, Extremes, etc.), I can only go in it blind with the right group of people. Everyone needs to be on the same page when it comes to blind runs. I don't want to be a burden to anyone, so I don't feel comfortable doing high-end content blind with strangers.

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I feel you.

Being able to enjoy high-end content blind is essentially a luxury reserved for those with time to tackle new content on release day.

Looking up a guide saves so much time/headache, its simply too efficient to ignore.

If I die it is not a big deal in this game. I got to make the red mages feel needed after all.

I also enjoy blind runs, and if I get the added bonus of someone getting upset because I did not watch a guide, my sadist little heart feels even more joy and fun.

It's a little different for me as I don't mind failing but hate to be the one causing the rest of the group to fail. Plus, I can be a slow learner when it comes to even obvious mechanics if I'm seeing them in action for the first time so if there's a way for me to sink either myself or the whole party, I'll probably find it.

Trusts have actually landed in a pretty good place for me because of this. I can experience the content "blind" but still have the chance to figure things out by myself without ruining things for everyone else. If something isn't available in a Trust, I do tend to still at least skim through a guide once so I at least know the stuff that should be obvious or can be the most problematic.

Normal content I'm there 100% blind, I'll figure it out as I go. If I die, it's me learning the fight.
Extremes and Savage are a bit different. I have gone into some EX fights blind, but I had someone go.over stuff before we started. I usually try to watch a guide to get some what of an idea what to look for. (I still need to actually DO the fight, videos don't really help me as well as others). Savage I absolutely will at least use some sort of guide.

This is why I dislike doing Savage/Ultimate content because I have to look on a guide instead of going blind run.
I want to experience, to see mechanics, to learn how to avoid them, to be able to share my own knowledge with others, all on my own. This is why I enjoy doing Casual content while avoiding Savage/Ultimate.
But also each has their own preferences

Blind runs with like minded people cool? All for it, but doing a blind run within the DF nah hard pass. I rather not be the potential reason why we wiped a few times because I could not be bothered to watch a guide. Though if that is how one chooses to play more power to them, just probably would result in an attempted vote for removal at the very least.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kranel_San

This is why I dislike doing Savage/Ultimate content because I have to look on a guide instead of going blind run.
I want to experience, to see mechanics, to learn how to avoid them, to be able to share my own knowledge with others, all on my own. This is why I enjoy doing Casual content while avoiding Savage/Ultimate.
But also each has their own preferences

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Find a static and do week 1 or 2 attempts, or form your own static with like minded players.

I want to see people do literal blind runs. Turn off your screen, then do the fight. :p

When new content is released I do all of it blind. Would be quite boring to already know what to expect.

I wish blind runs were more frequently done and accepted, but generally if I want to blind run in an Extreme trial or whatnot, I will make my own party and specify as much.

In normal content, though, if someone says "no spoilers, please" before dying they've died to mechanics even once, I'm going to defend that preference. Though, by the time they've repeated a mistake, I'm not going to criticize if someone really wants to inform them of exactly how that mechanic works.

Similarly, if a bunch want to know but one guy doesn't, I'll ask if we can do one blind pull first, but otherwise I'd tend to just weigh the preference towards a blind run (at least until the first wipe) at about double and go with the vote from there. 5 who want the info to 2 who don't -- info wins out.

No real reason to look up a guide for anything easier than extreme, the mechanics are always very simple and/or recycled therefore intuitive.

For harder stuff I do things blind or with little resources as soon as I can and use guides if they're out by the time I get to it.
EX/Savage/Ultimate takes way too much time to prog for me to be completely willing to do them blind when guides are available.

I look up guides for the MSQ dungeons. I’m not great at figuring out stuff on the fly, esp because I’m focused on healthbars and healing and am a crappy multitasker. The idea of going in blind with content that has been done to death by others who just want a smooth run already causes me anxiety, let alone actually doing that :D.

I do really enjoy it tho when noone has a clue and/or if it’s new content. It’s fun, and often funny! So I fully get your feeling.

I usually watch a guide before I run something the first time. There were a few exceptions to this when I was leveling my first job to 80 when the creator would say at the beginning he recommends doing this fight blind the first time and just having fun with it. Watching guides is a habit I got into and stuck with from playing WoW back when I was still an active raider. I learn best my doing but I still like to watch a guide before I run something the first time (or to refresh myself if it is something I haven't ran in a long while) so I don't feel like I'm holding the group back.

I usually read guides so I have some sort of frame of reference for the thing I'm seeing. I'll die but when I'm down I can see what other players are doing and usually won't make the same mistake again.

...Except in Tower at Paradigm's Breach. It doesn't matter how many guides I read or watch or how many times I die in there, I will keep dying and never understand why.