To everyone complaining about the difficulty...

I am sorry that you are all struggling so much with a game that we all love. With that said, I am going to officially extend to each and every single person here on these forums an olive branch. If you are having any kind of difficulty with DT content, be it MSQ Dungeons, Optional Dungeons, Trials, Normal Raids or even Extreme Trials and want help completing these things, I invite you to reach out to me.

Barring any kind of extraordinary circumstance, there is no reason that Dawntrail should be giving any one any kind of severe difficulty in my personal opinion. So, if you find yourself struggling, I would suggest that, despite however many hours you have invested, it is time for you to become more familiar with the games less explained mechanics.

Specifically the ideas of a proper rotation, and of differentiating your Global skills from your Unique skills (aka your GCDs from your oGCDs). I played thru all of ARR, HW, SB and ShB until finally catching up to current content in late patch 5.2 not understanding these two concepts, and Final Fantasy XIV FAILED IN EVERY WAY to teach me about these things. It wasn't until I had friends invite me to start savage raiding that I knew either of these concepts were even a thing in this game, and I had been playing for 3 or 4 years at that point.

You cannot know to ask the questions if you don't know they're there to ask, nor can you learn to utilize them if you're unaware that they even exist. So please, instead of coming to the forums to complain about a "difficulty spike that makes the game unplayable" take the time to improve your own abilities, and understand that while learning, failure is ok, it is allowed, and even expected.

Many of us, who seem to be learning more quickly, or seem to be "more skilled" are actually not, we just understand these two fundamental concepts that you may or may not even know exist, let alone interact with. So please, reach out, take the time to improve, and let's all enjoy Dawntrail together, in a way that makes everyone happy.

P.S. To those of you who decide to come here and say anything to the effect of "I shouldn't have to do any of this." You are, objectively, wrong, and I will say now, unabashedly and unashamedly that if this is, in fact, how you feel, this game is not for you, bar none.

To add:
With very few exceptions (mostly continuous damage over time attacks), the animation isn't dangerous. The moment the cast finishes, it is generally safe to move into that aoe. This works both ways, moving late, even if the animation didn't hit you, is still moving late. Understanding snapshots will help you immensely.
This game isn't about reacting, it's about spotting patterns in how mechanics are ordered and overlapped. The sooner you stop playing by reaction and start playing by prediction, the easier things will be for you.
It's okay to stop your rotation and focus on mechanics. Yes, even in savage and ultimates. Especially in savage and ultimates, actually. First live, then get the uptime during the mechanics once it feels easier to you.
Do "/petsize all small" to make summoner pet animations much smaller. Change your animation settings for party members to limited, and for everyone else to off. You'll be able to see the boss and actually react.
Actually pay attention to the boss, to things that get placed around the arena, and again - predict, don't react.
You don't need to get super sweaty and know a perfect rotation. Most jobs work on the principle of overlapping all your buffs with other people's buffs, using your highest hitting skills during your buffs, and using your skills on cooldown. Do this and damage will not be an issue until later savage fights.

You should know this by now. Either from other players (including content creators), or experimentation. If you didn't, you do now. Take it bit by bit and incorporate this stuff into your gameplay, and you will do better.

Honestly, I agree with OP here. I'll throw my hat into the ring too and also help answer any questions.

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Originally Posted by yoshinoharu

Honestly, I agree with OP here. I'll throw my hat into the ring too and also help answer any questions.

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I'm glad to see I'm not the only one. It's very sad to me to think that there are people who are struggling for literally no real reason.

I think most of us who are on the "better at the game" end of the casual spectrum are really eager to reach out and offer help.
The problem I see is that the few who complain don't want help. Either they say it flat out, or excuse themselves with X or Y factor.
There's a point where it becomes legit to ask ourselves "Is this game really for you ?", and in a "I care for everybody's interests equally" way.
I dropped pages of advice concerning mechanics and game concepts these people seemed to struggle with, and it just gets brushed off.
I see plenty of sprouts with pristine attitude in game who actually ask questions, have an open mind, and want to learn tho, and these people are amazing to work with.

Hell, even hardcore raiders are generous with help. I don't consider myself to be particularly high-level in raiding- I've cleared a few savages but haven't cleared a tier while it was current - and I'd definitely be willing to help someone that asks for it, but they have to be willing to learn. You can't help somebody that doesn't want help.

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Originally Posted by jdtuggey

I think most of us who are on the "better at the game" end of the casual spectrum are really eager to reach out and offer help.
The problem I see is that the few who complain don't want help. Either they say it flat out, or excuse themselves with X or Y factor.
There's a point where it becomes legit to ask ourselves "Is this game really for you ?", and in a "I care for everybody's interests equally" way.
I dropped pages of advice concerning mechanics and game concepts these people seemed to struggle with, and it just gets brushed off.
I see plenty of sprouts with pristine attitude in game who actually ask questions, have an open mind, and want to learn tho, and these people are amazing to work with.

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You're 100% correct. the amount of times I have told someone "That marker with the arrows pointing in means we need to stand together to spread the damage" and they respond with a variation of "DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO" is frankly insane, and either equals or outweighs the times I have been thanked for relaying this information. Let alone more complex mechanics, etc. I'm convinced that the problem is nothing to do with the content itself and everything to do with the attitude someone has to hold to believe that self-improvement is anathema to enjoyment.

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Originally Posted by Rydia_Misuto

You're 100% correct. the amount of times I have told someone "That marker with the arrows pointing in means we need to stand together to spread the damage" and they respond with a variation of "DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO" is frankly insane, and either equals or outweighs the times I have been thanked for relaying this information. Let alone more complex mechanics, etc. I'm convinced that the problem is nothing to do with the content itself and everything to do with the attitude someone has to hold to believe that self-improvement is anathema to enjoyment.

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This right here is why I've stopped trying to give advice to people in general. The simplest advice gets thrown back into my face regularly, and that's exacerbated any time I happen to be wearing an ultimate title or have an ulti weapon glammed. I feel like I can't actually use any of my achievement rewards or offer advice from my own experience without being immediately spat on for being an 'elitist.' It feels like the people who are already trying a bit don't really need the advice and the people that really need the advice are dead set on not trying, it's super frustrating.

I'll help too. If you need an extra person to fill a spot in a learning group I could meat shield or slash things.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jdtuggey

I think most of us who are on the "better at the game" end of the casual spectrum are really eager to reach out and offer help.
The problem I see is that the few who complain don't want help. Either they say it flat out, or excuse themselves with X or Y factor.
There's a point where it becomes legit to ask ourselves "Is this game really for you ?", and in a "I care for everybody's interests equally" way.
I dropped pages of advice concerning mechanics and game concepts these people seemed to struggle with, and it just gets brushed off.
I see plenty of sprouts with pristine attitude in game who actually ask questions, have an open mind, and want to learn tho, and these people are amazing to work with.

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Yeah, I'm fully aware of the "You don't pay my sub" types, and that's not who this thread was meant for. As I said in my op, I know that the game fails to do an adequate job about explaining most things to new players, especially if this is their first MMO, and as such, there are questions to ask that most people don't even know that they SHOULD ask because they don't know they exist. Those are the players that this was originally aimed at. The ones who do want to improve, but don't know how, nor why they are failing to improve even if they are trying to do so.

Yeah, I was saying this because of context, like, the current events surrounding difficulty with the release of dawntrail. :P