Please don't join endgame content with a job you dont know how to play

[KyahAlmasy]

Honestly, the base concept of this post is kind of a catch-22. Yeah, you can read your skills and such, you really should be familiar with what they do and all but there really is only so much you can learn outside of end-game content about how to play your job. For the most part, specifically in reference to your main complaint here, you're running mainly 4-man content in which case you will never get to experience 2 of the same tank or healer class together in the same content.

Yes, there's Bismark and Ravana that are 8-mans, and we have Void Ark now, but none of that content is really to the level where it's going to force the kind of 'perfect coordinated play' that is required in the hard end game content. Even Alex NM isn't going to really force you into positions of playing your role to its utmost. I agree, you should have an understanding of how your job works before taking it to that level, but there's no real good way to learn how to play a role in a specific composition for end game.... unless you go and play in that composition in end game.

Also, since you say that you hate getting 'paired up' with another class means you're doing DF stuff... which, first off, is DF so you shouldn't be surprised that you run into some bad players... but also the real end game content where you reeeaaally need to know your job is only available for pre-made groups at the moment.

Even if you've never done any content as AST (Which is hard to believe, considering that you to level the job.) simply reading the skills should provide you with sufficient knowledge of the job to play correctly. It tells you the effect cannot be stacked, and even goes as far as to tell the player that Noct shields will not stack with Adloq shields. The rest comes with practice, I agree - but if you don't even know the basics of the skills than therein lies the problem.

You don't have to have joined a Savage Alex run to learn what is literally spoon fed to us in the description of each skill as it's learned. It's literally right there. While content like Bis, and Ravana, Void Arc are not at the same level as Alex, you can very well wipe a group if a dps check isn't reached, or you're forcing the other healer to spend all their MP picking up your slack, especially in new content.

I don't mind being paired up with an AST player, and I get paired up with them pretty frequently in Party Finder. Two ASTs can sync with each other pretty well. It's when another AST player has NO idea how the job operates that things become frustrating to deal with, especially when you're losing out on a lot of MP and draws because they have no idea what they're doing. In almost any instance when two AST players find themselves in the same group, they immediately switch to differing sects, even beginners, heck beginners know to switch to Diurnal when they even get partnered up with a SCH. This doesn't require you to have taken on Alex Savage to know, it's honestly the very basic to playing AST.

[Malzian]

You don't have to have joined a Savage Alex run to learn what is literally spoon fed to us in the description of each skill as it's learned. It's literally right there.

I've done content as everything, since I do have everything leveled and while I am good on a number of the jobs I do feel like some of them I play less efficiently than others. Now, that being said... and I will note this as an actual teacher... there is a rather huge gulf between the theory of how your skills work (i.e.: reading them and taking note of what they tell you) and application of how they work (knowing when to use them, how they interact with other skills, when to skip this skill, etc.)

Theory is easy. Theory is useful. In theory I know how a guitar is supposed to be played, I understand the musical scales and their relationships to each other. Can I play the guitar? Passably, because I've spent hours on hours on hours practicing it, but just reading a book on playing the guitar does not mean I'm going to be able to do it.

Don't confuse theory with application. Having one does not imply you will have the other, and the only place to learn the application of the theory is in the execution of the content itself.

[KyahAlmasy]

I've done content as everything, since I do have everything leveled and while I am good on a number of the jobs I do feel like some of them I play less efficiently than others. Now, that being said... and I will note this as an actual teacher... there is a rather huge gulf between the theory of how your skills work (i.e.: reading them and taking note of what they tell you) and application of how they work (knowing when to use them, how they interact with other skills, when to skip this skill, etc.)

Theory is easy. Theory is useful. In theory I know how a guitar is supposed to be played, I understand the musical scales and their relationships to each other. Can I play the guitar? Passably, because I've spent hours on hours on hours practicing it, but just reading a book on playing the guitar does not mean I'm going to be able to do it.

Don't confuse theory with application. Having one does not imply you will have the other, and the only place to learn the application of the theory is in the content itself.

Your analogy isn't appropriate for this situation.

If you read a book on how a Guitar is supposed to be played, then even if you've never played one in the past, you know the basics like how to hold the guitar, you know that you're supposed to use a pick, etc etc. You don't read a book on a guitar, and try to hold it like a cello, and play the strings with a violin bow. You will never become familiar with playing a guitar if you didn't read the book well enough to know how it's held, or how the strings work - to play efficiently it would be the equivalent of an AST knowing that pairing Celestial Opposition with Luminferous Aether grants you more MP. Or that Lightspeed grants you instant stoneskins. Not something you'd learn from reading the skills like you would read from a guitar guide, like hey DONT USE A BOW on a guitar like you would on a violin, or don't try to stack your shields with another SCH or another Noct Ast.

If you just got finished reading a book on playing a guitar, you don't immediately jump into playing professionally in a band. Your example seems very contrived in order to suit your agenda in the conversation, which leads me to believe that you're only arguing with me here for argument's sake.

[Leigaon]

I am sorry you had that experience OP, like some of the others posts have said it doesn't start at just Endgame content..it's throughout the entire game.

there is one major thing I've noticed so far and that is a FC is nothing more than a place to gather and chill out. In 1.0 when we had to run along a dungeon to get our AF, or farm Garuda..take out the White Raven, we played with a normal set of people most of the time. This encouraged my LS at the time to help each other out and people learned their jobs. Even in 2.0 I had an astounding group of people, for the most part, who encouraged training for those who needed to get to a certain spot. The leader at the time was a wonderful, and well level headed person who encouraged the higher ups and help the others perform better but in a good way. I became better because of that.

As time went on and as we hit into 3.0 my other groups of people became more of a place to hang and say hi. Sure we craft for each other and if someone needed it, they will gear up what is needed to help people. My FC now are made of truly outstanding and helpful people. The game though doesn't encourage much interaction with FC members as it use to or like in the forbidden game FFXI. Maybe that's the problem. Where people would have to FATE grind if the XP parties provided something could do and run over and over, learning their job. For a MMO, I really feel like I'm doing it alone a lot of the time.

Still, very fun game..I adore FFXIV and appreciate the beauty of it all.

[Doki]

Please don't join endgame with a bad attitude and be so generally annoying in voice chat that everyone mutes you and eventually ejects you from the group entirely. At the end of the day, people play the game to have fun, and not be talked down to. Regardless of how wide a gap you perceive between your skill level and other players, it's still a team effort, and learning will always be part of that.