The cycle of disbanding that keep casuals from doing content

[Noshpan]

I know how you feel Alexion. I still need to do T5, but nobody wants to do it. Twintania is still a kick in the balls for some folks, and those whom have past it really do not want to do it again. (They just want a different kick to the groin.)

I came close, though. If the other person had showed up, I would have been on the second static for Second Coil between the FC I'm in and another FC.

[Xystic]

This is a pretty sad reality, if there are no solutions...

Start your own casual static and learning parties if there are none. Your on behemoth, a pretty high population server, there is a very high likely hood that there are many more like you. They are probably just sitting and waiting for someone to start such parties and statics but because no one starts one, one never forms, that's reality.

Shori and the poster above me is a prime example that there are others like you. Go out there,find them and smash some content.

[Izsha]

I can't count how many times I've read 'I'm a competent skilled player who can only raid 1-2 days a week so I can't get a group' on these forums. Apparently there's millions of you guys out there actively looking for groups and yet no one can put one together. It doesn't add up.

My statics frequently fill holes from within our fc, with friends of people outside the fc. We have friends in other fc so we reach out to other link shells and fc frequently when building statics. My groups tend to run only 2 days a week. All the groups I've been a part of have been very flexible in accommodating people's schedules (and some of them have really wonky schedules). Nearly every pug I've joined has some core group of 2-5 people that started it that ask me to join on a more permanent basis after a run. We dig up new members from all corners of the world not just some elitest duechebag secret society.

Everything in my experience has shown that if you are in fact competent, finding a group is never some epic quest but a simple task even with 2 days or wierd schedules. If there are sooo many of you guys as this forum suggests it should be even easier to hook up.

It doesn't add up, and frankly I don't buy it anymore. You guys are either the most antisocial people on the planet and live in a friendless hole in the eorzea ground, or you really aren't as good as you think you are. According to these forums there's a bazillion skilled players that only want to run 1-2 days a week and it's the big mean elitest consortium that runs 20 hrs a week somehow put you on a blacklist so you'll never work in this town again? Please. If there are so many people in this boat then team up already. Talk to people. Network for all of 5 min. It's really not as hard to do as people seem to imagine it is.

Now there are rare cases when people schedules are so erratic and wierd that it really isn't practical to raid and my heart goes out to those guys, but they are an extreme minority. Most people DO have the time to if they choose.

[Buff_Archer]

Here's my current approach to forming learning groups based on similar outcomes. Final straw was one where I waited a full hour for party to form, and 2 minutes after we all watched the cutscene, someone killed it. "Oops late for dinner bye!" which sent us BACK to PF but it quickly fell apart so was all for nothing.

So now if I start a learning group, I put a "30 minute rule" in PF where anyone joining has to be willing to stay in the instance 30 minutes, and first wipe after that, if anyone feels it isn't working they're free to go. This works well because-

- If the group really is functioning well as a learning party and making some kind of progress, most people are going to want to stick with it.
- If someone is just not getting it and keeps causing a wipe at the same spot early on and no learning/progression is happening, I'm not going to kick them. But this gives the party a midpoint where they can call it off without calling out a specific party member... and at least whoever's lagging beyond the rest in understanding their role or the early mechanics gets 30 min of practice in to get better, vs. getting just a few min before they get booted or party dissolves.
- If someone does bust it up early (rage quitters especially) the other members have full justification if they decide to blacklist them (should they choose to do so) so they don't show up in their future learning groups and do the same. If someone needs to leave before the party fully forms that's fine- but when it's ready to start someone should know at that time if they still have 30 min to stay in instance or not.
- Experienced players who know a harder fight well are more likely to join to help a group (especially one that's destined to repeatedly wipe on extreme content) to help teach other players if they know they only have to give 30 min vs. are signing up for an hour commitment, which is a lot to ask of someone who's already mastered something. I'd take a 30 min learning group with one or two experienced players over 1 hour with an entirely brand new party of 8 any day of the week.

I hadn't thought of the last one when I started the whole "30 minute rule" thing, but I noticed once I did that it was much more common for experienced players to join and help out. Give it a try maybe you'll have similar luck, and hopefully meet some players who are in the same place progression-wise to network with.

[NyarukoW]

.. finding a group is never some epic quest but a simple task even with 2 days or wierd schedules. If there are sooo many of you guys as this forum suggests it should be even easier to hook up....

This is utter BS. How many people you see here are even on the same server? And then how many of them will have the same hours on the same days that line up? And remember you need 8 that line up in all those aspects. And then people need to be looking to do the same content. Those looking to clear T5 are not going to help with T7. Those looking to do T7 are not doing to be able to help with T9 etc. It is not easy by any stretch of the imaginations. It needs a lot of things to line up just right.

...
It doesn't add up, and frankly I don't buy it anymore. You guys are either the most antisocial people on the planet and live in a friendless hole in the eorzea ground, or you really aren't as good as you think you are...

You can't add and much less do probability and statistics to really understand the odds of things lining up. You just want to come here and insult people and call people names.

[Anapingofness]

I'm sorry to hear your frustrations OP. I totally get what you mean though!

I will say this much.
Setting up a static isn't easy as some people would have you believe. (Although if you have to rotate people in and out it's not really a static now is it...lol)
It's not like you can wave your hand and you'll magically have 7/8 players who are both skilled, dedicated, and have the same play time.
Everyone wants a 7/8 group made up of Dragonborn Players -_-;

The reality of making a static is not so fanciful.
It requires a lot of work and a lot of dedication, especially on the part of the person who is trying to set it up.
Casual or not, your best bet may be to try and set up a static.
The benefit of a static means that if/when you manage to get those people you will all be in agreement about when and how often to raid.

-hands cookie- Don't get too discouraged! I know there are like minder people out there! Just do your best! ^^

[Teirshin]

I can sympathize. I havent seen Coil at all yet myself.

I've honestly had less fun since I hit endgame than I did in levelling and exploring things. I stopped my auto billing for my sub and have just gone month to month up until now because of it.

Now I've got ROG/NIN to level while I finish my crafting classes... but once those are done (and I'm not rushing at them believe me), I dont know what I'll spend my time doing really. Raiding is just such a nightmare to organize, and thats assuming you love to raid in the first place and dont mind putting in the insane amount of effort it seems to take based on the griping and such that I see in Mor Dhona about getting groups.

I wish you luck in any case.

[Lidocaine]

I can sympathize. I havent seen Coil at all yet myself.

I've honestly had less fun since I hit endgame than I did in levelling and exploring things. I stopped my auto billing for my sub and have just gone month to month up until now because of it.

I'm in the same boat--I have yet to experience any Coil content. I reduced my sub from 3mo to 1mo because I keep taking breaks. Thankfully, between 2.4 and the Fan Festival a couple weeks ago, my passion for the game has been reignited.

Hopefully, I can at least have 1/2 of a fully party made up of IRL friends--one of whom has already done most of CoB... but I work too hard everyday to come home and play Project Manager just to runs some dungeons.

[Teirshin]

It doesn't add up.

Then I guess you're bad at math?

Everything in my experience....

And your experience is all that matters of course.....

You guys are either the most antisocial people on the planet and live in a friendless hole in the eorzea ground, or you really aren't as good as you think you are.

Thanks for an exmaple of that "anti-social" behavior.....

Most people DO have the time to if they choose.

Source? I'd love to see it. Oh whats that? Cant pull it out of... right, gotcha.


What works for one DOESNT work for all, so think before judging.

[Shori]

It doesn't add up, and frankly I don't buy it anymore. You guys are either the most antisocial people on the planet and live in a friendless hole in the eorzea ground, or you really aren't as good as you think you are.

Its called timezones and life. Eorzea friendlist does not equal popularity or a person's worth.

I'd be interested to know how people who joined the game much later than myself fair up. They've not had the luck of people wanting to battle the same content as them. I'd hoped at least some of these players were at SCoB or Ex primals by now, yet a Party Finder will take several re-listings before itll form. And like Alexion, I'm hardly on an underpopulated server.

I'll just sit in the corner of Revenants Toll on my fat chocobo swilling mead until something not-end-game comes along (like ninjas!)