Considering hanging up my shield due to high level haters.....

[ispano]

I know this is a tad offtopic but even though I don't have a massive problem with it per se it does annoy me that this is the fruit of mechanics heavy combat systems. It's a bit of an immersion killer, as you said. In all my time in FFXI I don't think I ever watched a single video in order to learn a fight. At most, as a healer, I'd check the mob on FFXIclopedia to see what moves I'd need to heal against but that felt like a sort of positive research where videos are like "the game mechanics are designed such that there's only one way to actually do this... no let me hold your hand through the whole experience."

Maybe you should read some of Malakhim's posts again. While I disagree with their view on researching prior to a fight(ie videos/guides and such), their point about people not being observant applies here as well. What you described, ie; "the game mechanics are designed such that there's only one way to actually do this... no let me hold your hand through the whole experience." is what would happen with someone who is not observant. They watch the video and think that's exactly how it needs to be done. Where an observant person will notice things, replay parts to get a better look and see ways it could be done differently, or ways that might help their particular group composition and such.

And on my note of not agreeing with Malakhim, watching a video doesn't take me out of the game at all, because prior knowledge or not, I still have to play through the encounter. The one thing most sane people on either side would probably agree on is that watching is not the same as doing. And that applies in more than one way. But it also doesn't mean it's not useful in the slightest.

The biggest problem with old players is this attitude towards new players. Everyone was new once. No wonder why people want to quit when you hit them with this condescending attitude. Not all of us can sit around and play this to our hearts content, some of us have real lives to deal with, and play video games as a means to chill out and relax, not take it as a job.

This doesn't make sense, you know that right? Yes, everyone was new once. But being new doesn't automatically mean you have to learn slow or not at all. Also, their attitude isn't condescending in the slightest. I've seen this issue in the real world plenty enough. People just aren't observant to what's going on. An example. If someone says something to you, but the sound doesn't reach your ears, listening or not, you won't hear it. But if it does reach your ears and you're blocking it out because you don't care to pay attention, you still don't hear it. The first you can't help, the second you can. I taught myself at a young age to pay attention to what's happening around me. Getting tunnel vision upsets me and I try not to do it. It's not even what some people would call "work" anymore, it just happens. So, yes, people CAN teach themselves to be better learners, they just don't or won't do it.

And this is an RPG of all games, and not one of the more basic ones either. Being observant, paying attention and knowing how to learn are very important. But many people these days, don't do that. They want a sit back and relax experience, and sure, parts of the game can accommodate that, but not all of it. And those parts is where the problem lies. You don't need all the time in the world to learn, as Malakhim said, it only takes a few minutes. Take CT for example. My first time through, on King Behemoth. The group I was in wiped a few times due to no comets being alive for a meteor. I noticed within 2 attempts why it was happening, but when I told people, they ignored it. What was the problem? Magitek Ray from the Iron Giant. It can target either a comet OR a player. Ok, so what? It's an aoe, and all the players were clustered around the comets. So you can't avoid it hitting a comet directly, but when it would hit a player, the aoe would then hit the comet, damaging it and adding a dot. The reverse is also true, if a comet was the target and a player was nearby the aoe would hit the player. But very few people i've asked even noticed this. So honestly, it really doesn't take much effort, it's just people don't want or don't care to put even a little effort in. All because they see this as "just a game" which is a very poor attitude in any multiplayer game. Even in real life, playing sports for example, if someone doesn't care enough to put some effort in, even though it's just a game, people get annoyed or upset to some degree.