So Ive finally found a max level job I really want to progress beyond what I can do in normal content. My greatest barrier to entry ( I think ) is the anxiety of messing up as a new person and wasting 7 other peoples times.
TLDR Where should I start? Doing some older ex synced? Does party finder have a way to find groups for new raiders who are happy and willing to wipe over and over to learn and not expect completion? Or should I watch how to videos on current Pandemonium stuff and focus on that instead? What is expected of me to have before I even start? Raid consumables of some kind? Potions? Certain materia's or item levels? (side note, I still dont understand materia...at all)
I really dont know how the social structure of raiding in this game but want to learn so any advice or direction to helpful websites for noobies is appreciated.
I really love this game but I want to do more than level jobs to 90 only to stop and level another. That isn't going to keep me engaged forever no matter how much I enjoy the game.
Wanting to start ex/savage
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12-29-2021, 11:22 PMXaruko_NexumeWanting to start ex/savage
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12-29-2021, 11:29 PMNegativeS
This is what I did:
Step 1. Decide what content you're doing.
Having a basic understanding of what you're going to be doing is leagues better than most people, and outside of that, the main variable is practice.
Step 2. Look up it up on google, click the first FFXIV consolegameswiki link you see.
Step 3. Read the guide.
Step 4. Queue for the content.
People who choose to play with randoms sign the social contract stating that they acknowledge and accept that there is going to be at least one person who knows less than everyone else. People who dump on newbies tend to get mass reported or vote dismissed.
Trust me, I have some pretty bad anxiety when it comes to stuff like that. I almost quit the game when I got to Sastasha in the MSQ because I was so worried about messing up group content.
You'll be fine, and you'll do great. -
12-29-2021, 11:30 PMZomkei
The best thing you can do for yourself is make sure you understand your chosen job. The balance (https://www.thebalanceffxiv.com) is a good resource for guides and information relating to your job, including what to slot for materia. For consumables, food is usually expected in both savage and EX, and potions are expected for savages once youre close to clear or actually doing your weekly clears.
I know its easier said than done, but don't be anxious. Join practice parties up to your level. If you're uncertain about mechanics, join parties at that or slightly before that mechanic and keep going until you are sure. Ask questions, read guides, and just be open to criticism. Ignoring people who are trying to help you will only hurt you in the end.
I recommend strongly to join the balance discord. It's a great place to learn many things. -
12-29-2021, 11:38 PMxxmiamorecadenza
This is how I did it.
I legit started by mount collecting and working my way up.
50 - then 60 - then 70 - then 80.
This lets you both collect mounts and learn how the scene may look like as you progress. Additionally, play the job you intend to stick with.
Afterwards just jump into PF and join a prog group. A fresh group, actually. And you should be fine! Or you can immediately hop into fresh groups. It'll work either way. -
12-29-2021, 11:41 PMXaruko_Nexume
Thank you all for the responses so far. I am completely open to criticism. I welcome it. I WANT to be told when im doing something wrong, so I know to fix it. I still seem to have a lot of old habits in playstyle and thought process from previous games that I need to let go of it seems. That said, I am generally a non-confrontational person. It makes me very uncomfortable and tends to initiate a flight response from me. The main reason I stopped raiding in WoW years ago. We will see how it goes I guess.
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12-29-2021, 11:42 PMAzuri
Read/watch a guide (or not, if you are interested in blind progression) and join a [Practice] Party Finder group that fits your criteria (i.e. "practice from start" or "blind"). There is also "beginner-friendly" symbol some groups may use. Most importantly, read the party description and don't join parties that don't suit you.
Once in the fight, just do your best. The average player in PF is pretty bad so you are very unlikely to waste 7 other players time.
Don't bother with old content as a first timer, it's entirely irrelevant and doesn't offer any sensible learning curve. -
12-29-2021, 11:46 PMXaruko_NexumeThats especially reassuring. I had no idea PF had beginner friendly symbols. That is wonderful. I will look for that. 6 months in, this game continues to still amaze me around every corner in what a contrast it is to other games out there.Quote:
Originally Posted by Azuri
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12-29-2021, 11:50 PMRisvertasashi
You'll find there's a bunch of other people that are very new, anxious, and so forth - especially while content is new. As long as you're careful to not jump into something like "enrage to clear" before you're ready, you'll be fine.
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12-29-2021, 11:53 PMEndariel
Meld 8th grade materia Crit >= DH > Det. Can 10th, but 8 is already great.
Buy some food (optinal), read the guide, create party “from beginning” or something, go in ex.
Both extremes are super easy (as with every expansion start) so it's a pretty good entry point -
12-29-2021, 11:55 PMhfangQuote:
Originally Posted by Xaruko_Nexume
First of all, absolutely get rid of this idea that you're "wasting 7 other people's times" immediately. It is a videogame, and especially if you're going into fresh/learning parties, you should never be ashamed of learning. Now, that doesn't mean you shouldn't take (valid) criticism, either. Listen to the people around you. The only thing i'd recommend is try to at least clear the current EX fights before going into savage, as it's a whole new level of difficulty. Get some raid food, the highest ilvl with the stats your job wants that you can afford, and don't worry about pots and such right now. Materia are just items that give you small boosts in certain stats. You'll want to check out The Balance or other places like that to check what's the BiS (Best in Slot, i.e., the best equipment + materia currently available for your job) to see what exactly you need. Party finder has a few tags and make sure you join parties marked as [Practice] and "fresh prog" in the description since those are parties for people who never even started the fight, then you can move on to [mechanic] prog and so on.
TL;DR: don't worry about wasting people's times, it's a videogame and savage raids/ex trials aren't some godlike content that only the top tier of the game can clear. you can do it as well as long as you want to keep learning and you give it a fair shot. good luck and have fun! -
12-29-2021, 11:56 PMSeraphor
I wouldn't necessarily start with older EXs synced. Instead try older EXs unsynced, as this will give you a sense of the pace of mechanics without the risk of messing up for 7 other people.
Then move up to doing a couple level 80 EXs unsynced. If you can do those, and you know you level 90 rotation well enough then there's no reason you can't jump into current practice parties. -
12-30-2021, 12:06 AMRongwayIf one is interested in doing anything more recent than ARR extremes, queuing on an NA or EU data center is asking for a bad time.Quote:
Originally Posted by NegativeS
It's important to understand that Extreme trials [____ (Extreme) or The Minstrel's Ballad: ____] and Savage raids [____ (Savage) or The ____ Coil of Bahamut] have unignorible mechanics that require coordination to handle. The punishments for failing these mechanics range from a vulnerability stack to an instant party wipe, and everyone needs to know which mechanics must be handled and how to handle them. The cheesability of mechanics will vary by trial, particularly by how far into the expansion the trials or raids were introduced, because overgearing will make mechanics in most earlier content easier to ignore safely. However, it's unusual for even expansion max IL players to be able to ignore every mechanic in a fight; there will always be some mechanics that need to be choreographed.
Queuing is standard practice on Japanese servers, where the community uses standardized strategies that are easily diagrammed and explained in macro form. However, NA and EU servers don't have such widespread agreement on strategies and choreography, and hoping to get eight people in a matched party who all know the choreography for an Extreme or Savage fight is unlikely. As such, the convention on NA and EU servers is to gather your party in Party Finder with clear communication about goals and strategies so that everyone is on the same page going in. Whether your preferred format is fresh no spoilers or everyone watch a guide, this is the way to go about it. Just be clear about what you want and expect of your party members and you'll usually get some good runs in. -
12-30-2021, 02:41 AMLittleImpDo pandemonium normal, and then jump into a learning PF for one of the two EX trials. This late into the lifecycle of these EX encounters you will generally be expected to watch a guide first, unless the party is specifically labeled "blind".Quote:
Originally Posted by Xaruko_Nexume
Melded gear and basic raid food if you feel like it. You can meld using last expansions Materia for the time being, as it won't break when you take it out of gear.Quote:
Originally Posted by Xaruko_Nexume
Pieces generally have two substats (crit, direct hit, det, etc). One substat will be higher than the other; This substat is considered 'capped', so you can't meld any more of it. You can meld any sub-stat that isn't capped, up to the same amount as that 'capped' stat. Materia priorities for jobs vary, but it's usually hard to go wrong with a simple priority like Crit>DirectHit/Det. Meld crit unless the piece is capped on crit, if it's capped on crit meld DH or DET. While in the melding UI, it's possible to see these caps and it will indicate if you are going over.
There's a lot of more granular stuff to learn about melding later on, but for a learner the basics should suffice.
A lot of people will be willing to help you out in learning parties, as long as you are receptive and respectful. It's okay to make a lot of mistakes in a fresh learning party.Quote:
Originally Posted by Xaruko_Nexume
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12-30-2021, 02:54 AMThatusernameistaken
*Insert Just Do It meme here*. But seriously, all I do is watch a guide once through, meld my gear, get some food, then go die a few times until I learn it. Pretty much every learning party will be forgiving for mistakes.
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12-30-2021, 03:37 AMXaruko_Nexume
I hate to sound like a broken record but thank you all so much. This thread has given me a lot of confidence to try. I don't expect immediate success and I will make mistakes, but thank you all again.
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12-30-2021, 05:19 AMNitelancer
Add materia to your gear and use a food buff (if you do this you will already be more prepared than many others joining PF groups lol). If you have trouble finding a PF group, don’t be afraid to make your own. It will be the first time for others joining as well. And if you don’t clear it with your first group, you will eventually. It’s just a matter of time. I cleared both ex using PF blind. I would recommend blind first attempts, then watching videos for the parts you don’t get. Chances are someone in your group will have experience and be able to advise you anyway.
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12-30-2021, 05:24 AMPacketdancerWhile I always recommend doing older extremes synced, because it's fun (and also a learning experience, because a lot of mechanics you don't see doing them unsynced are mechanics you will be seeing again later), I don't think it's the best place to start if you haven't already been doing them. If you want to start practicing higher-level content, I'd recommend doing it in current content such that you're learning with your current kit for the job.Quote:
Originally Posted by Xaruko_Nexume
Folks have already covered party finder for starting out in-depth, so I'll share an anecdote from my own experience to illustrate something.
For me, I wanted to start doing higher-end content, and someone in my FC started a static for first-timers. I joined in, and we started with what was then the current extreme, the third extreme trial of Shadowbringers. I will be honest, I was what I would term "not good". (Honestly, I was what I would term "a massive liability".) But we cleared that extreme, and moved on into savage.
And in time, the group disbanded and folks went on to new statics and more seriously raided. (And the "newbie static" became a tradition in the FC, for folks who want to get into that content.) And that was partly because as time went on, some of the group wanted to be more serious about stuff, and some wanted to stay casual.
And that's what I'd say I'd focus on most: find a group where the expectations are in line with yours. If you're in a casual group and want to focus more seriously on it, that's going to lead to frustration than if you're in a serious group and aren't feeling up to that commitment and challenge.
I think one of the keys there was that we were starting out and no one had expectations of anyone being really good right out of the gate. And when folks' expectations no longer were all in alignment, it was time for the group to disband amicably and move on. (Which is also a tradition for the newbie static in my FC, at this point.)
That said, there are plenty of newbie-friendly statics out there, especially at the beginning of a raid tier -- lots of people want to get into raiding, and there are people who are experienced but also enjoy helping folks get started. You can poke on your server's subforum here, or hit up /r/FFXIVRECRUITMENT on reddit, and there are raid community Discords for most of the datacenters which have 'looking for group' and 'looking for member' type channels. Primal, for instance, has (among others) the Primal Raid Community or "PRC". (Which you can find here, as you're on Famfrit and thus a fellow Primal player.)
As others have said, as long as you're willing to learn -- and do the bare minimum to show you're a team player out of the gate, like melding reasonable materia and bothering to have a food buff going -- people are generally going to be willing to help you learn. -
12-30-2021, 05:28 AMSieyaM
I am pretty sure it has been said before in the thread but the party finder is where you need to go to get grouped up for this content. You can certainly watch a guide to help you get familiar with what is going on but no guide is going to prepare you to make a clear run before you practice. The PF has parties that are specifically for learning/practice, and those groups that I have been in generally expect mistakes. Usually learning/practice groups aren't expecting a clear that run.
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12-30-2021, 05:36 AMYeol
1) Learn how to play your job. Balance Discord you’ll find guides and help here.
2) Practice rotation on a dummy. Your rotation will become 2nd nature to you.
3) Join practice parties. You’ll slowly get used to doing rotation mid combat.
No need to do old content. Just do the most recent Extremes/Savage.
Always remember that even the best players in the world make mistakes. -
12-30-2021, 09:32 AMJeeqbitYes, it does. Look for a [Practice] party because these are not intended to clear but just to practice and wipe. Read the description. If it says "fresh" then they are starting from the beginning, but occasionally it will say "from phase 2" so only join those if you are getting to that phase without mistakes.Quote:
Originally Posted by Xaruko_Nexume
You can lookup a guide on youtube before joining if you want to not waste their time as much. You should do this unless it says "blind" in the description. You can also watch a "RDM PoV" video to see someone clear in real time as an RDM.Quote:
Or should I watch how to videos on current Pandemonium stuff and focus on that instead? What is expected of me to have before I even start? Raid consumables of some kind? Potions? Certain materia's or item levels? (side note, I still dont understand materia...at all)
For consumables, you should get the highest item level (currently 560) high-quality food available with desirable stats such as crit, direct hit and determination. You should have a stack of the latest high-quality potions (Grade 5 Tincture of Intelligence for RDM).
Next week it will be very easy to obtain item level 580 with crafted gear so you should consider that. Materia is just used to boost the stats of your gear, so simply get some crit, direct hit or determination X materia, go to a materia melder and put it on. If a stat appears as red then it will overcap on that stat, so meld a different one to that piece of gear.
To gain confidence, you can unlock the The Burning Field at Radz-At-Han and do the DPS check for the new raids. If you don't beat it before the time limit you may need to work on your rotation or gear. If the quest is unavailable you will need to unlock Stone, Sky, Sea first at Idyllshire https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/w...Place_to_Train
For optimization and doing better damage, you can join The Balance discord.