Why do you raid?

[FinaSel]

I am beginning to wonder why I do raids, or, why anyone does them. (This is kind of a rant but also serious question)

Before 3.4, I was not interested in raiding. Even in my FC, only a handful of people do them.
Only a couple of weeks before 3.4 did our other members attempt them. We cleared 1st and 2nd floors of savage Midas.

I also had some pressure from friends to get into raiding. So, with 3.4, I decided to try it.

[ RANT ]

Right from the beginning, I spent a lot of time gathering all the mats to make a complete set of 250 gear for my ninja and white mage, switching specializations to do so.
Spent a lot on V materia.
And started raiding seriously.
1st floor was easy and cleared quickly.
2nd floor was a little tougher, but went with the same group of all first timers and cleared it in 4 or 5 sets.

I wouldn't say it was "fun", and the rewards were a book and I got one new piece of equipment in the last 2 weeks.

Then came 3rd floor.
After many many many failed attempts, I still have not cleared it.

I have gone with many different groups, and one group I go with regularly. After reaching time limit a few times, I have become confident enough to join clear parties.

Yet, despite being a clear party, I keep seeing these things:
People can't dodge left and right sword.
Healers don't heal everyone before Whirlwind.
People ignore Lapis Lazuli order or green sphere order. (Despite macro)
People standing in the middle during final green orb phase.
And so many more.

Just yesterday I was in a clear party where we only cleared the lapis lazuli phase once.
Even though, I, as Ninja, was top on enmity list after the tanks.

[ /RANT ]

Today, we got the boss to 6%, which was a new record for me. But I just wondered "Even after we defeat the boss, someone gets some treasure and we all get a book page. For what?"

I wonder, why do we do raids? Why do we spend so much time and in-game currency to buy the best materia, best gear, best food to go fight for several hours? For a couple of pieces of gear? Even though gear with same IL can be obtained with Tomestones SO much more easily and without costing any money at all.

And, even if we do get "the best" gear, then what? What is the reward for having best-in-slot and putting out the most damage? Where is the incentive?

After many disappointing failures at clearing 3rd floor, I am losing motivation to raid. But I want my motivation back, having come this far.
But I don't know why I should do it.


So, why do YOU raid?

[Scyi]

The challenge<3 and I have a static group so its pretty fun to play with them, when we get frustrated from wipes we start killing each other, it gets pretty amusing.

[starLivitation]

ur right the loot alone isn't incentive. i do it for the challange. if i don't find a challange in the game , then i will have no reason to work towards something. raid is the main challange in the game, the other challange to gain enuf gil to buy a house in limsa xD

[Werhusky]

I raid for fun and challenge. My personal RNG is to say it nicely shit. So the book system should make me happy but nah I actually preferred the coil system ^^
I like running content with friends and challenge myself on different classes. Without the fun it is not worth anything to me.

[Dualgunner]

I raid...for HONOR! FOR GLORY! FOR KING AND COUNTRY! DEUS VULT!

[Sparktacus]

Even though gear with same IL can be obtained with Tomestones SO much more easily and without costing any money at all.

And, even if we do get "the best" gear, then what? What is the reward for having best-in-slot and putting out the most damage? Where is the incentive?


So, why do YOU raid?

What would you do with that tomestone gear? You do it because it is something to do. Otherwise what else is there but leveling. What is the point of leveling and powering up at all? This is a bigger question with many different answers. But I come from a time where the ONLY thing to do was raid or craft. So I have always viewed the road to raids as simply an arduous means to an end. I can't stand leveling, I abhor it but I do it to raid. Others love nothing but leveling.

There is also the issue in this game specifically that rewards do not match the difficulty of these raids, though that has been toned down this patch. A big issue is that raid rewards get outdated very quickly.

Then you have those raiders who admonish the other raiders for only raiding for treasure and not the challenge itself. I raid for a mix of both but if the reward was not there I would not raid at all, that's simply me.

I chose to stop raiding until they returned the difficulty to ARR raids which they have and I am having fun PUGing stuff while my old group reforms, but it will all be erased and reset come 4.0 and we all start over again.

[FinaSel]

What would you do with that tomestone gear?

This is a good point. I always thought I should get Tomestone gear so I can do the next dungeons when they are released.
But then I wonder, why do those dungeons?

Many people mentioned the challenge. I agree that the challenge is exciting and it's very wonderful when you clear the raid after many tries.

But now on the 3rd floor, after many groups and many failures, I'm not sure balancing time / reward is worth it. Perhaps I am better suited for a crafter after all.

I got into raiding mostly from the pressure from friends to join. Until then, I spent almost all my time crafting and gathering and doing dungeons for tomes to do more crafting. And getting achievements.

But by not raiding I do kind of feel like I am missing out on an important aspect of the game.

[Xlantaa]

Challegue and fun, I will do it even if not gear drop from there.

[Sparktacus]

This is a good point. I always thought I should get Tomestone gear so I can do the next dungeons when they are released.
But then I wonder, why do those dungeons?

Many people mentioned the challenge. I agree that the challenge is exciting and it's very wonderful when you clear the raid after many tries.

But now on the 3rd floor, after many groups and many failures, I'm not sure balancing time / reward is worth it. Perhaps I am better suited for a crafter after all.

I got into raiding mostly from the pressure from friends to join. Until then, I spent almost all my time crafting and gathering and doing dungeons for tomes to do more crafting. And getting achievements.

But by not raiding I do kind of feel like I am missing out on an important aspect of the game.

Raiding here is not as fleshed out as it should be either. I think you are right about balance, I just cleared A10S myself and i found it very fun, but I know 11 will be daunting and require a much more coordinated dance that I can definitely empathize with your exhaustion. If it isn't fun don't do it. Perhaps have fun with ex primals, I find them a lot of fun. There is also some rumors that there will be a 3 tier difficulty system in 4.0 which might help give some more balanced and fun raids.

[ruskie]

Hmmm when I started the game I never thought I'd do much more than lone wolf it through everything and eventually do everything. Well about 5 months down the line I entered coil for the first time. The story hooked me. I wanted to see more. But I was also having fun, I was with friends(how that happened I still don't know but I've made quite a bunch of friends by then) and we had fun. I never thought of myself as anything more than a decent player so always felt like I was holding people back. But I always kept trying to improve. And that also became a part of my reason to raid. To challenge myself, to push myself to the best I can be.

To sum it up: I raid for friends, fun, story, challenge.