10 common FFXIV mechanics that sprouts usually fail

I compiled a list of 10 common mechanics that can be difficult to understand the first time you encounter them.

Feel free to add anything you think I've missed and let me know what you think of the video!

https://youtu.be/PMPMQGLFORo

It could get to the point and start listing them right away.

It doesn't need to clarify that it's not including extreme and savage, because only so many players do raiding in any MMO and almost no sprouts do. Those that do raiding should understand that a new player video won't be talking about that.

These mechanics look spot on and most new players fail them.

:cool:Kind of makes me wonder if this would have worked better as a short, but I also don't know the time restraints that shorts give you.

But yeah, agreed with the above. Shorten your intro and just get right to the point, I clicked off before you even started with #10. Not meant to be an insult, just gotta keep people's attention spans in mind. I do really like the graphic for your name tho ^_^

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by LianaThorne

Not meant to be an insult, just gotta keep people's attention spans in mind. I do really like the graphic for your name tho ^_^

---

I love the effort, but anything over 3 mins and I start to zone out.

While I dislike the idea that everything needs a guide, it's nice that you are offering the helpful voice that some desire.
Very spot on for what new adventurers tend to struggle with. One of the youtube comments I replied to was regarding chains, which I think isn't TOO common but likely the only other regularly appearing mechanics I'd have included.

Keep up the good work.

Length is fine, iirc i think vids need to be over 8min or something to qualify for ad revenue

Good info though... one notable I think that maybe got left out are "Chasing Markers" or consecutive AoEs that chase a targeted player, I don't know what the common terminology is. Which is funny cuz you briefly show the "new marker" in the e8n fight while you were covering the Flare marker. The reason why I think this one is more notable is because in addition to taking out the sprout, they can also accidentally KO multiple allies if the mechanic is handled wrong. Examples and variations I can think of off the top of my head:

- WoD final boss, Weeping City of Mhach final boss, Swallow's Compass second boss - red/orange crosshair on a player, smaller consecutive AoE chases the targeted player, can dmg other players in their path.

- Dun Scaith 3rd and final boss - red/orange crosshair on a player, larger consecutive AoE chases the targeted player, can dmg other players in their path and also does knockback

- e8n, Copied Factory second boss - "new marker" pulsing orange marker with 3 arrows pointing in a direction below targeted player, smaller consecutive AoE chases the targeted player, can dmg other players in their path

- Ridorana second boss - no marker on targeted player, larger consecutive AoEs markers appear below the targeted players, there is usually a generous delay before these AoEs resolve though.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Canadane

While I dislike the idea that everything needs a guide, it's nice that you are offering the helpful voice that some desire.
Very spot on for what new adventurers tend to struggle with. One of the youtube comments I replied to was regarding chains, which I think isn't TOO common but likely the only other regularly appearing mechanics I'd have included.

Keep up the good work.

---

Oh yah, Tethers/Chains too, but there are also a few variations on them, so would have been a longer segment for sure.

And actually, Forced March... Forced March definitely isn't super dangerous the first time players come across it... which I believe is Sirensong Sea final boss... but subsequent occurrences of Forced March have gotten progressively more lethal to mistakes.

Try to can think of neat ways to make each entertaining. That should help get peeps to watch the whole video.

I love to see players fail Jammer. It just really catches you off guard when you are not aware you have the debuff. Even better when you are aware of it, and the game baits you to move ;p
I also call it the taunt mechanic for greeders, as the game is literally telling you, "Keep DPSing. I dare you. I double dare you."

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rowde

Oh yah, Tethers/Chains too, but there are also a few variations on them, so would have been a longer segment for sure.

And actually, Forced March... Forced March definitely isn't super dangerous the first time players come across it... which I believe is Sirensong Sea final boss... but subsequent occurrences of Forced March have gotten progressively more lethal to mistakes.

---

Tethers could probably be their own video as there are a myriad of ways they are resolved. The failure rate on those with new players is likely very near 100%, and even after you've seen them a time or two, when you get one in a new fight you will still have to figure out what the boss is doing.

Markers as well. You get a marker over your head and you could be leaving behind a puddle, players might need to stay away from you; players might need to stack with you; you could be getting kicked back. A common mistake is when markers and stacks show up at the same time, and a marked player joins the stack group.

I'm not too sure about Forced march. You'll definitely see it in normal content. I just don't think it is as common as some of the ones listed. It can be used as a mech on its own, or a debuff inflicted on you for failing another mech. Failing it usually results in death though, so it is a good one to make new players aware of.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Gemina

I'm not too sure about Forced march. You'll definitely see it in normal content. I just don't think it is as common as some of the ones listed. It can be used as a mech on its own, or a debuff inflicted on you for failing another mech. Failing it usually results in death though, so it is a good one to make new players aware of.

---

For sure. Like I said, iirc the first time we see Forced March is Sirensong Sea, so it's one of the "newer" mechanics introduced. In Sirensong it's not super dangerous, but later instances of it like in Dalriada, Paradigm, DRS (i know, they weren't covering savage) messing up Forced March is more punishing.

I also think it's important to highlight what makes it different from knockback mechanics: One, you lose complete control of your character. Two, the distance traveled is affected by increased movement abilities like Sprint. Which may or may not become a factor/issue if there is a SCH in the party in EW.


And since I brought up Paradigm, another common mechanic are "Out of Arena" indicators. Which are most commonly cleaves, but other variations exist for sure. The main thing is that the telegraphs or additional information appear outside the arena when a lot of sprouts might still be staring at the floor for indicators.

Again, not an exhaustive list, but stuff I can think of off the top of my head:
WoD final boss, o8n, rabanastre second and third boss, ridorana 3rd boss, copied factory second boss and third boss, puppet's bunker second, third and final boss, paradigm all bosses, qitana ravel second boss, etc.

Oh... and actually... another variation on Stack Markers perhaps... but "Doritos" or Dancing red triangle above players heads. This mechanic requires players to be touching at least one other player with the marker to avoid the bad that happens afterwards. The bad changes fight to fight though, sometimes it's debuffs, sometimes it's big damage. Examples: Weeping City second Boss, Ridorana first boss, Sophia (which has an additional mechanic), Kugane Ohashi etc.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jeeqbit

It could get to the point and start listing them right away.

It doesn't need to clarify that it's not including extreme and savage, because only so many players do raiding in any MMO and almost no sprouts do. Those that do raiding should understand that a new player video won't be talking about that.

These mechanics look spot on and most new players fail them.

---

Yes they do, they trap mentors doing the mentor roulette and come on to the forums complaining that they couldn't be healed through live or die mechanics.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Bsrking5

Yes they do, they trap mentors doing the mentor roulette and come on to the forums complaining that they couldn't be healed through live or die mechanics.

---

How did I trap the mentor(s) in my Crystal Tower run a couple months ago? :/

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by RobynDaBank

How did I trap the mentor(s) in my Crystal Tower run a couple months ago? :/

---

I love how you talk about clearly different content like its the same content. Please do go on and tell me how that savage crystal tower went or was extreme? Or are you going to say that ifrit normal and ifrit extreme is the exactly same.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Bsrking5

I love how you talk about clearly different content like its the same content. Please do go on and tell me how that savage crystal tower went or was extreme? Or are you going to say that ifrit normal and ifrit extreme is the exactly same.

---

Maybe he doesn't know that mentor roulette is about extremes and is genuinly asking ?
If you're not mentor yourself you dont know what mentor roulette is all about, and since he sees mentors in his crystal tower run he tought it was his mentor roulette.

That's how i see his answer maybe i'm wrong tho.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Izscha

Maybe he doesn't know that mentor roulette is about extremes and is genuinly asking ?
If you're not mentor yourself you dont know what mentor roulette is all about, and since he sees mentors in his crystal tower run he tought it was his mentor roulette.

That's how i see his answer maybe i'm wrong tho.

---

Thats not their point. Their point is that alliance raids are equivalent to savage or extreme raids simply because they are called raids, ignoring that me and the person i reply to were only talking about savage or extremes and not normal raid versions.

I dont think they do actually, as stated before if you're not a mentor yourself you dont know what mentor roulette is about, and since there is a lot of mentors in crystal tower raids they thought that it's in the mentor roulette that's it.
You can't know that unless someone told you or when you become a mentor yourself so no need to jump on him for that.
The question seems to be just pure curiosity, not an attack to your previous statement.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Izscha

I dont think they do actually, as stated before if you're not a mentor yourself you dont know what mentor roulette is about, and since there is a lot of mentors in crystal tower raids they thought that it's in the mentor roulette that's it.
You can't know that unless someone told you or when you become a mentor yourself so no need to jump on him for that.
The question seems to be just pure curiosity, not an attack to your previous statement.

---

So if someone directly quote someone its ok to believe that they are talking about something completely unrelated. Even if they don't know whats in a mentor roulette they must have known i and the person before we're explicitly only talking about savage and ex. The question seems to be a purely a gotcha question and not out of any curiosity.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Bsrking5

So if someone directly quote someone its ok to believe that they are talking about something completely unrelated. Even if they don't know whats in a mentor roulette they must have known i and the person before we're explicitly only talking about savage and ex. The question seems to be a purely a gotcha question and not out of any curiosity.

---

Why are you bringing up mentors/mentor roulette in a thread that has absolutely nothing to do with it, even in the original post that you responded to? There's no need to derail a thread that is specifically made for a video that the OP made, please try to at least stay on topic and not get on someone's case if they ask you a simple question that could have either been ignored, or not responded to in the manner you have. Not everyone on the internet is trying to trip you up with "gotcha" questions.

How do you know ex and savages if you're 50-60 ? Those are not mandatory a lot of ppl do not know this kind of content at all when they start the game.
Bold of you to assume that all sprouts do know about savage raiding and extremes and to know what the differences are while all they must do during MSQ are dungeons and normal / hard trials for ARR and the raid 24 raid.
Only those who did push all of the blue quest will know about it, and it's clearly not the majority and when you're doing your first extreme i'm not sure you're already a god at the game, hence coming back to what you said earlier with mentors being trapped but hey you signed up for that if you dont like it dont use it.
Or maybe you do mentor roulette only to get a mount and dont care at all about teaching sprouts stuff.

Or one can say: ‘Sorry, I read it the wrong way, my bad.’

On topic, thank you for the guide! I enjoyed it, I liked the fact you showed multiple fights with the mechanic and for me the length was fine but then again, I like thorough guides :D

This game has so much stuff going on, and every time it introduces a new marker haha. I watch guides before I do dungeon runs and I try to remember everything but sometimes I’ll stand there thinking: oh gods, a circle of doom I can’t remember, what’s gonna happen this time?! Thank you for helping little sprouts in their struggle for survival.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jeeqbit

It could get to the point and start listing them right away.

---

Yeah, and flaming pigs (well, now pork I guess) could start falling out of the sky.

One of the worst things we are absolutely fascinated with right now as a people is surrounding pertinent information with a bunch of fluff and fat and hype. Most ten-minute YouTube videos could be one or two minutes. For that matter, most news artic---

===Today's post is brought to you by the ultimate mobile game, RAID SHADOW LEGENDS. In Raid Shadow Legends, you can pick a hero and level them up, conquer worlds and build up your army. Just look at all the heroes to choose from. And if you act now, and use the code BREAKBEAT4653546, you'll get a super epic SWORD of ICE for free, and this new hero, NINJA, based off of the world's best Raid Shadow Legends player.===

...(ahem), most news articles also have the pertinent information buried in amongst a bunch of useless information. Maybe you're old enough to remember when headlines actually gave out the pertinent information, instead of saying something like, "Iran flew planes around a US warship, then THIS happened...", but maybe not.

The world used to be a place where if someone was going to give you a top ten list, they just gave it to you, either spoken, or written. Not 'fleshed it out with garbage so the algorithm can promote the top ten list more effectively," or "padded it with nonsense for better monetization."

/shrug

Maybe we can have chapter marks?

Is there a way to summarize these mistakes without having to watch a video? Like maybe in a forum post?

Thank you for your contribution.


Possibly for a future video, some suggestions of general mechanics:

• A lot of fights in FFXIV have a kind of "show and tell" part of their fight, where most mechanics are shown in a survivable way. The purpose being to learn these before they start chaining them together.
• Especially 2.0-3.0 bosses have vague indicators. You don't need to memorize them, but re-remember/learn during the fight itself on the spot. As an example, Sohm Al's second boss has a Blue and Red marker; The Chimera in Cutter's Cry just has glowing eyes (Blue or Purple). A general rule of thumb: an "Ice" based attack isoften "Run Away"; "Fire" is often "Stop" or "Gather Together"..but this is obviously not always the case.
• Not really as big an issue now with Coincutter being nerfed, but some monsters/bosses simply don't have hazard indicators.

10: Thunder Cloud placement; Sohr Khai/Ramuh (Eden).

9: 3 stacks of DoT before eating fruit; Aurum Vale final boss.

8: Cannons; Stone Vigil HM

7: Knock-back Mechanics; Ravana/Sophia/Leviathan (EX and Eden)

6: Fear Itself (look away mechanic); Hydra/Calofisteri/etc

5: Healing to full to remove debuff (doom); Wanderer's Palace HM/Orbonne

4: Math; Construct 8, Ridorana Lighthouse

3: Burning Chains (tether mechanic); The Vault/misc

2: Pads (4 people); Labyrinth of the Ancients/The Weeping City of Mhach (Ozma)

1: Levitation is a STACK; Final boss, Syrcus Tower (I see people die to this...literally EVERYTIME I get this raid)

Stacking in general tends to be confusing for sprouts because not everyone is familiar with that terminology. I remember one time someone kept yelling 'soak! SOAK!' in chat then got mad when no one knew what in the Hell they were talking about. But anyway. There are so many more but these are the ones I see the most.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ursa_Vonfiebryd

Stacking in general tends to be confusing for sprouts because not everyone is familiar with that terminology. I remember one time someone kept yelling 'soak! SOAK!' in chat then got mad when no one knew what in the Hell they were talking about. But anyway. There are so many more but these are the ones I see the most.

---

This is a big thing I noticed now that we have a larger population from another similar game.
Not the stacking specifically but terms for things. A lot of new users will use terms from other games rather than learning the established terms we've had since the XI days. It's an interesting phenomenon, but I do think it's on them to learn in this case.

Sprouts can't even dodge titan landslides in my experience. Just move! You're not even casters!

Your Animal Crossing looking avatar enraged me for reasons I cannot understand :0

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ursa_Vonfiebryd

Stacking in general tends to be confusing for sprouts because not everyone is familiar with that terminology. I remember one time someone kept yelling 'soak! SOAK!' in chat then got mad when no one knew what in the Hell they were talking about. But anyway. There are so many more but these are the ones I see the most.

---

When I see someone saying "soak" I instantly think of a Tank needing to soak damage, either from a meteor or something else. I would NEVER understand "soak" to mean "stack on top of each other"

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Nishira

I watch guides before I do dungeon runs and I try to remember everything but sometimes I’ll stand there thinking: oh gods, a circle of doom I can’t remember, what’s gonna happen this time?! Thank you for helping little sprouts in their struggle for survival.

---

Same here. I always watch a guide video before tackling a duty for the first time. I feel more comfortable having a thorough understanding of what to expect and I enjoy the run more when I'm informed. I get easily flustered and frustrated when things get chaotic and I don't know why, and as a healer I don't need that stress on top of trying to save my little dungeon babies from their own mistakes. Plus, Mizzteq's guides are so fun, and I like her dumb jokes. Having her coach me before each dungeon is comforting, ha ha!

Also, what are the odds that you and I are both Elezen, both White Mage mains of almost the same level, both have first names ending in "riel," and both wear flowers in our hair? (Well, my current forum pic doesn't, but most of the time I do) That is wild!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Fyrebrand

Also, what are the odds that you and I are both Elezen, both White Mage mains of almost the same level, both have first names ending in "riel," and both wear flowers in our hair? (Well, my current forum pic doesn't, but most of the time I do) That is wild!

---

It’s funny indeed! My long lost Elezen sister!

I’ll take a peek at those guides, I had completely missed hers and they sound really nice :) And exactly the same reason here, I get easily flustered when I go in blind and that never helps with dealing with mechanics in a flexible manner haha.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by EzekielBook

Is there a way to summarize these mistakes without having to watch a video? Like maybe in a forum post?

---

Not when you can get some money from Youtube when people watching your 10 minutes video instead of reading a 1 minute text...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ursa_Vonfiebryd

10: Thunder Cloud placement; Sohr Khai/Ramuh (Eden).

9: 3 stacks of DoT before eating fruit; Aurum Vale final boss.

8: Cannons; Stone Vigil HM

7: Knock-back Mechanics; Ravana/Sophia/Leviathan (EX and Eden)

6: Fear Itself (look away mechanic); Hydra/Calofisteri/etc

5: Healing to full to remove debuff (doom); Wanderer's Palace HM/Orbonne

4: Math; Construct 8, Ridorana Lighthouse

3: Burning Chains (tether mechanic); The Vault/misc

2: Pads (4 people); Labyrinth of the Ancients/The Weeping City of Mhach (Ozma)

1: Levitation is a STACK; Final boss, Syrcus Tower (I see people die to this...literally EVERYTIME I get this raid)

Stacking in general tends to be confusing for sprouts because not everyone is familiar with that terminology. I remember one time someone kept yelling 'soak! SOAK!' in chat then got mad when no one knew what in the Hell they were talking about. But anyway. There are so many more but these are the ones I see the most.

---

Fear it's self isn't a look away. It's a stand near the damn boss. The reason why people get messed up by it is due to them not baiting the fire and ice puddles into the middle of the room. Penetration on the other hand definitely is a look away and don't be near bulbs. It's really just another take on any other gaze attack that either petrifies you or gives you doom.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Tint

Not when you can get some money from Youtube when people watching your 10 minutes video instead of reading a 1 minute text...

---

In this cause visual information is fairly important and useful. A text list would not help a sprout as much as a picture or video actually showing what the markers and visual symbols for Stackmarkers, Gazes, Earthshakers, Doom debuffs, Rotating AoEs, Towers, Acceleration Bomb and Proximity attacks are. 80% of the video has solid information with visual components.

Let's see...

It was a pretty good video. I thought the intro was relatively short and fine. Think people in here need to work on lengthening/honing their attention spans, rather than asking for content that will further reduce their attention spans.

The joke at #5 was funny!

When you went over acceleration bomb, I think you spent more time talking about Pyretic and Freeze rather than Acceleration Bomb. I found that weird, because they're rather different mechanics even though they have triggers in the same vein.

I just came here to say blue eyes in, violet eyes out.

No visual representation at all, just either be lucky and spot the text as it pops up, or check your chat log when you see breath casting. Poor sprouts.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Vyrerus

When you went over acceleration bomb, I think you spent more time talking about Pyretic and Freeze rather than Acceleration Bomb. I found that weird, because they're rather different mechanics even though they have triggers in the same vein.

---

Well it is pretty much a whole family of mechanics "act/do not act/move/do not move" and the original implementation, Blighted Bouquet in T6, lacked a visual indicator and only had a cast bar to indicate when not to act. Acceleration Bomb is the most noticeable and visible version what with the dice that count down at the end.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Yma

I just came here to say blue eyes in, violet eyes out.

No visual representation at all, just either be lucky and spot the text as it pops up, or check your chat log when you see breath casting. Poor sprouts.

---

Fun fact, I have two doors to get into my house.
They keys physically look the same, so to tell them apart as I get home from work, I painted one blue and one purple.

Mechanic #1 should be reading.


Tool tips, chat, pop up help windows...

o/ A has a stack mechanic

\o B has a stack mechanic

And they stack together...

\o/ \o/ \o/ \o/ Everyone else in raid

let's stack with them!

-.- Me standing on the on the side watching everyone die...