My Experience With Alexander Normal Yesterday As A Tank

[Odett]

Well... to take an example from t9... there were several methods of spreading out the rocks. Most videos displayed one method (though fairly enough usually said there were several methods, but 'this method' was the one the video poster found the easiest to learn), but if you watched the 'wrong' method for the group you ended up with, you wouldn't know what to do when that bit came up, and you'd not only get completely confused, you'd also screw over the 'experienced' people trying to do it their way. That doesn't mean the 'newcomer' did the preparations the wrong way.

Different groups do things very differently. On A4 (have run it several times tonight to get a drop for a friend with bad RNG luck), I've had people marking out A/B/C with DPS people 'claiming' one letter. I've had people marking out A/B/C, then get impatient when I'm waiting to see if anyone's going to claim a spawn point before pulling. I've had people not do any marking at all. That's just a minor detail, which isn't really part of the 'strategy' itself, but it still shows a difference in method and approach.

Either way, if you say you're new there and ask for any pointers, it's fair enough for the experienced people to not have to give said pointers. But if they don't, it's also not fair of them to bash the new person for not getting the mechanics. They said they were new (plus you get the 'one or more players hasn't completed this' message), and when you have someone new (who isn't an alt of an experienced player) you really shouldn't expect to down it on the first try.

Right, but by watching the video (using your example), you learn that meteors cannot be placed any closer than roughly 10 yalms from each other (which is conveniently the distance of Cover) or they will explode. You also learn what "Stardust is", and what to do when you have a red or yellow mark above your head instead of running around frantically. Since you already know this, it's a lot easier to shift from the strategy you saw to a new one. Going in COMPLETELY blind makes players have to explain all of this to you before the group is ready to discuss strategy.

[Kolaina]

if you refuse to watch a video for whatever reason (spoilers, laziness), don't expect others to give you the run down. if they do, bonus. if not, well, it's not their responsibility to coddle you. if you get kicked after a couple wipes due to your ignorance, don't be surprised.

[Twilite]

Why are you relying on someone else to tell you how to do it when you're already in the instance? Five minutes on youtube will save them the time of explaining, and won't make your attempt any less valid - you're still being told by someone else how to do it.

Put some effort in o_0

Videos are fine, but you still need actual experience. First time runs are going to difficult because we're human and do experience anxiety.

OK well, I'm human as well as the OP. I don't know about the rest of you.

[Amberyl]

Videos are fine, but you still need actual experience. First time runs are going to difficult because we're human and do experience anxiety.

Of course. No one said you have to first time it flawlessly. But showing up without any prior preparation, not knowing at all what you should be doing, and expecting everyone else to educate you on their time, is... plain wrong.

What happened to common decency?

[Noxifer]

No one did.

But rolling up with no idea whatsoever of what you should be doing, in endgame, (on a tank, no less,) and expecting everyone else to tell you is... lazy, at my most polite. And seemingly specific to the NA data centres?

To be fair, there are two tanks. In for example A1, it's pretty quick to tell the new tank pointers if it should be needed. For Faust, either 'take him, hold him, ignore adds' or 'grab all adds, hold them'. For main fight, 'grab second robot, ignore adds, don't point big one towards blue beams'. Unless I've forgotten something important, those are pretty much the only 'tactics' for it. The rest (for a tank) is just 'pop cooldowns when appropriate, avoid aoes, survive, do as much damage as you can' which pretty much should be second nature.
Other fights have trickier mechanics, of course. But still not so difficult that you shouldn't be able to figure most of it out fairly quickly, even as a tank, especially if (as the OP stated he had) they've read a brief guide on the fights. And especially when you have the other party members doing the mechanics.

When I went in the first time, I wanted to go in blind, so I got myself a team of seven other people who felt the same, and we did. The only one we didn't manage to down was a4, the rest of them took just a few wipes to figure out what to do -- with some theorizing amongst us, of course. And even A4, we got to see until the last phase (wiped the last time we had time for at around 20% or so, and didn't have time to go back inside that night).

In the best of worlds, of course, that's what you should do if you want to go in completely blind. Make a PF listing for a 'new people only' run to find like-minded. That way you don't risk getting 'spoiled' about the boss or puzzles/mechanics, and you guarantee that you won't 'hold back' whichever random people you end up with since they'll be there for the same purpose, so to speak (or at least willing to deal with it). But going in semi-blind (as in 'read a guide, but don't fully know the strat') is in my opinion very different.

just wow. is there an issue with this? -.-

It tends to be a general opinion of many, unfortunately. I'm not sure if it's just because of the language barriers, and English-speaking people expecting other people to know English coupled with French-speaking people who aren't good at English refusing to attempt to communicate, or if there are other issues. I know that for me, since my native language isn't English but it's the only language of the four client options that I can speak/write, it's the frustration of ticking only the English language option when I sign up, only to get people with only French or German language selected in their profile (underlined to show their client is in that language), and then trying to not only agree on tactics (which DPS goes where, which tank takes what, things like that) but also sort out any problems in case of a wipe. And even when you get members that have English selected in their profile as a language they know... as long as there's at least one other that has their native language selected, it often happens that those communicate only in their own language, ignoring that the rest of the party only have English selected in their profiles... While I get that you're usually more comfortable communicating in your native language, it's still common decency to speak a language that everyone has in common, isn't it?

Right, but by watching the video (using your example), you learn that meteors cannot be placed any closer than roughly 10 yalms from each other (which is conveniently the distance of Cover) or they will explode. You also learn what "Stardust is", and what to do when you have a red or yellow mark above your head instead of running around frantically. Since you already know this, it's a lot easier to shift from the strategy you saw to a new one. Going in COMPLETELY blind makes players have to explain all of this to you before the group is ready to discuss strategy.

Which is very true, and I'm not arguing that part =) But you can still get bashed/flamed for knowing the 'wrong' strategy. And somehow, if you say that you're new, but you watched/read a guide, some people expect you to magically know all available strategies ^^;

[Amberyl]

To be fair, there are two tanks.

And expecting the other one to educate you is no less rude and thoughtless than expecting the rest of the group to do it.

As you said, if you want to go blind or train, that's what the partyfinder is for.

[Kolaina]

It tends to be a general opinion of many, unfortunately. I'm not sure if it's just because of the language barriers, and English-speaking people expecting other people to know English coupled with French-speaking people who aren't good at English refusing to attempt to communicate, or if there are other issues. I know that for me, since my native language isn't English but it's the only language of the four client options that I can speak/write, it's the frustration of ticking only the English language option when I sign up, only to get people with only French or German language selected in their profile (underlined to show their client is in that language), and then trying to not only agree on tactics (which DPS goes where, which tank takes what, things like that) but also sort out any problems in case of a wipe. And even when you get members that have English selected in their profile as a language they know... as long as there's at least one other that has their native language selected, it often happens that those communicate only in their own language, ignoring that the rest of the party only have English selected in their profiles... While I get that you're usually more comfortable communicating in your native language, it's still common decency to speak a language that everyone has in common, isn't it?

whos to say the OP isnt the type to have all languages selected? ended up in a french party. also no matter the case sometimes if i have been speaking french exclusively for an extended period of time my english ends up not the greatest and i struggle to form more than short as possible replies usually consisting of fewer words than i have fingers. explaining a full (casual) raid encounter would prove difficult for me. OP could have done any sort of research. even if he refuses to watch videos, he must have at least 1 friend/ fc member he could have asked instead of getting upset complete randoms didnt hold his hand and change his depends

[Amberyl]

whos to say the OP isnt the type to have all languages selected?

I know, right? These English-first-language people that think the selector is just there to cut down queue times... o_0

If I join a party and they're speaking English, I speak English. If they're speaking German, I speak German. If they're speaking French, I do my best, and am the first to apologise and excuse myself if we're having problems, since better communication is always the first solution.

[Kyros]

Not trying to be rude here, but you realize you can make your own PF, yea?

As you said, if you want to go blind or train, that's what the partyfinder is for.

Ok, what is going on here? Are you people seriously suggesting to PF something so incredibly simple and easy to DF as Alex Normal? That's like asking for an Ifrit Hard PF.

OP was in the right to go blindly on the DF's. No one is going to join an "Alex Normal Learning Party" PF - nor they should have. Seriously, this is story content people. You are meant to go in there and learn. Asking people to have watched a video for Alex Normal is like asking people to watch a video for Praetorium or Castrum.

Anyone seriously suggesting that he should know the fights prior to doing them needs to get their stick out of their butt and let new players experience content meant for new players.

[Amberyl]

Seriously, this is story content people.

Alex is not main story content, and is not run by the majority of the player base. And even then, it is still rude to expect everyone else to explain your job to you.