Why I Decided to Become an Elitist

[AlexionSkylark]

as much min/maxing as possible

You don't need that to be a good player.

[Rendecrow]

You don't need that to be a good player.

Yes you do. If you don't do that then you are an average player. If you do it, then you are a good player. Good players try to do the best job they can. That includes knowing fights in duties/alliances and getting ready for group content outside of group content (such as working on min/max). If you don't do that, and just do things as they come along you can still do alright, but you would land squarely in the legions of average players out there! :P

[Ashkendor]

Yes you do. If you don't do that then you are an average player. If you do it, then you are a good player. Good players try to do the best job they can. That includes knowing fights in duties/alliances and getting ready for group content outside of group content (such as working on min/max). If you don't do that, and just do things as they come along you can still do alright, but you would land squarely in the legions of average players out there! :P

Eh. I didn't want to invest the gil on materia or the time to spiritbond for my relics. The difference between a three-way split in stats and a two-way split is pretty negligible overall. Even without a "perfect" relic, I still consider myself a pretty good Paladin (not to mention Scholar, though I could use some work on Warrior and Monk.

I see what you're trying to say, but I feel like it's really simplified. I don't feel like you have enough tiers. "Average" to me is the guy in all poetics gear or even some soldiery gear. He's the guy that's still struggling with T9 and doesn't necessarily understand the full use of all of his skills and abilities. "Good" means you're working towards BiS and you have a solid grasp on your class. You can salvage some pretty dire situations through proper applications of skills. If you're interested in endgame content, you may be in deep progression or you may have it on farm, depending on how much time you can spend on raiding and how good your network is. "Great" would be the top of the line for me. Those are the players that not only have BiS and have turns on farm, they're doing crazy stuff like 7 warrior T13 clears. If shit goes south, it doesn't matter. It's all in a day's work and you can recover all but the absolute worst of mistakes. Those of us that are "Average" watch in awe. Those of us that are "Good" see something to strive for.