Etiquette Questions.

Being somewhat new to online gaming, I have a couple of questions about etiquette in....

1. When doing quests or just getting from A to B in the open world, is it acceptable / appropriate / polite to heal another player if you notice they're not doing so well in a fight?

2. Similar to #1, but swap "heal another player" with "attack another player's target" if they're not doing so well?

3. During the Open Beta, I was at the Magic Stump (or whatever it's called), I saw someone complaining about "queue jumpers" - can anybody elaborate on what that was most likely about?

For both 1 and 2, go ahead and help other people out. 99% of the time people will thank you for it, and the 1% that get annoyed are pro gamer pride douchebags.

For number 3, there was in issue in Beta where there were a severely limited number of slots for instances that was unintended, so people made lines to enter instances. This has since been fixed.

Thanks for the response, I will keep on healing and taking pot-shots as I wander the world :D

Doh....I'm guessing the "queue jumper" quip may have been aimed at me then. If you're reading this, and you got queue jumped at the Magic Stump on Moogle - I apologize!

Yes it is fine to help others and when attacking their foes, be sure to not take more than 30 percent of the kill or they may not appreciate it, esp if you use an attack that grabs the foe from them and gives it to you. :) just be careful and I am sure any time you see a player dead on the ground near a story quest point, and you have the healing skill, they will appreciate being revived. :)

i personally will ask if i see some1 struggling with a mob etc but if i see thier hp bar is really low n they are runnin i always stop n grab agro so they can recover :3

I think most people welcome random heals when their hp is down to half. And help only if they're struggling to kill something with their health bars being low. Or if I see them getting aggro of two mobs, I put the other one they're not currently attacking to sleep.

There are some quests that require you to have a monster to near death before using a key item on them so I don't advise helping them finish them off, especially when they don't look like they're having trouble with it. There was this black mage that probably thought he was helping me by firing at my targets the other night causing the next following spells to kill them instead. Not sure if trolling or if he was on the same quest and didn't know he wasn't supposed to kill them.

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Originally Posted by Yarikh

There are some quests that require you to have a monster to near death before using a key item on them so I don't advise helping them finish them off

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That's most unlikely to happen (unless you're in the group with the player) as when you attempt to attack (a vaste majority of) leve quest related mobs it will fob you off with notification "the target is part of another's player duty". You can also recognize by icon on the player if (s)he is in the duty at the moment or not.

In principal (as healer) if I see anyone running away from mob with life bar very low I'll atemp to heal them or (worst case) raise afterwards.

I've done tons of healing people/casting stoneskin on people who are having trouble in fights, and the only reaction I've ever gotten is people thanking me (/bow or /salute or whatever). I've also helped people by fighting/killing/provoking mobs they seem to be having trouble with, and again, never had anyone upset with me. But if you're going to hit the mob -- and you're just trying to help -- make sure you let the person hit the mob first; that will allow that person to get the claim on the mob, so they'll get the XP and any drops. Otherwise, they might think you're trying to take over their camping spot.

It's an MMO. Interacting with people is one of the best parts. And people tend to appreciate random acts of kindness.

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Originally Posted by VydarrTyr

I've done tons of healing people/casting stoneskin on people who are having trouble in fights, and the only reaction I've ever gotten is people thanking me (/bow or /salute or whatever).

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I do exactly the same and i'm always receiving words of thanks, making it worth it. (^_^ )-b

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Originally Posted by VydarrTyr

It's an MMO. Interacting with people is one of the best parts. And people tend to appreciate random acts of kindness.

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Exactly! +1 like. (^_^ )

Regarding number 2 (tehehe - sorry immature sometimes), this game is a little different from most in that hitting someone else's mob can actually give you experience. You have to do a certain amount of damage to the mob to get credit, but it is generally in your benefit to "help" ESPECIALLY if you are doing the same quest. Mobs can be a little scarce on some quests so if I notice someone killing the same mobs as me in an area here is what I generally do.

1. If I am the one to tag the mob (it is red to me), I do just enough damage to ensure I have hit it enough and then just leave it alone. This ensures that the other person hitting the mob is also able to get enough hits in to get credit.

2. If I am not the one to tag the mob first I will simply do enough damage to get credit and then leave it alone, again to ensure that anyone else around has ample opportunity to get credit for the kill as well.

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Originally Posted by ChickensEvil

Regarding number 2, this game is a little different from most in that hitting someone else's mob can actually give you experience. You have to do a certain amount of damage to the mob to get credit, but it is generally in your benefit to "help"

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This, you really do benefit from helping somebody out in this game. If the mob tag is purple then they have tagged it and you can also earn XP by helping out! I do this all the time and I've not had anybody moan yet :P You can also help in the opposite manner, if somebody starts attacking your mob and it's at 50%, I often leave the mob for them to finish off so they can do enough damage to also get some XP for it.

Also, high five for asking! It's very refreshing to have a new online gamer asking how to address things in the community and not being a complete ass! Welcome!

Also - by helping to kill each other ("primary") mob you're both increasing your (chances of) chain bonus as well so it's hardly bad thing for either of the sides.

Just to add another vote for "go for it."

I've only ever gotten 3 reactions when I pile on with someone else's mob. Complete lack of response, a thank you, or temporarily teaming up. One person invited me to party to finish off our hunting logs in the area together. A few people have just started grabbing mobs with me (without partying), where we both run around together and duo up on each mob in turn. And yeah, if I'm the one with the tag when that happens, I'll ease off on the damage to make sure they get credit.

I especially jump in if I see a melee class kiting (or trying to). Figure that's a pretty sure sign of desperation.

The only time I don't really jump in is if I see someone just running in a straight line with a mob at full health on their tail. Chances are they're just ignoring the aggro on their way through, and I always seem to try to grab it just as it's reaching its leash point, so my "helping" in that case is useless. Which is disappointing, because saving someone from drive-by aggro was always one of my favorite Helpy McHelperson things in FFXI.

Thanks for the responses - it's very much appreciated.

I should mention that my comment about being new to online gaming isn't quite accurate - I've been playing DCUO for about a year or so, but FF is an entirely different kettle of fish.

I'll keep on healing and taking a shot or two at enemies that seem to be causing people trouble...and now that I realize it's possible I'll probably throw a protect or two into the mix.

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Originally Posted by Anarkh

Also, high five for asking! It's very refreshing to have a new online gamer asking how to address things in the community and not being a complete ass! Welcome!

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If you don't ask, you don't find out...and there's no point doing something if it's going to aggravate other players :)

I rez people when I find them randomly dead in the world.

Well I felt like an idiot the other night...I usually skip the bestiary because they are mostly familiar to me. But I ran aross an issue with a tonberry mob the other night. I joined in with my level 9 black mage and tried blizzard first since I knew feeding it fire would make them explode. Somehow it didn't matter which spell I used .
What I expected was for them to grow at least once giving warning of their impending explosion? Not an immediate kaBoom! It took me 3 times to realize I was not really helping in this mob fight...and even though I kept switching targets hopefully far enough away from the other players, I still felt awful exploding things in peoples faces.
Next time I'll focus on casting my haste on the other members and bring a shield so I can dodge and run :)

I always heal people as Im running past if they are in a losing position in a fight. I also heal in fates inbetween doing damage (Im a conjurer).
You will notice that if you hit someone elses target early enough you both share the success ie killing x number of anoles for a quest.
I also always say TYVM to my hest groups at the end.