Tales from Duty Finder: Some make you laugh, some make you cry. Let's vent.

[Slevin_Impudicus]

Did leveling roulette, again, with an FC mate. Went, again, on my level 58 NIN. Still haven't done my level 58 quest (I know, I know...but I was doing the ARR Allied Beast Tribe quest line thing today D: !!!). Surely, I won't get the Vault again. Surprise! The Vault! And boy, did the roulette gods hate me today.

Get paired with a DRK and a BRD. My FC mate is on SCH. And I'm, of course, my scrubby NIN.

This BRD. Is level 60. Not using Wanderer's Minuet. I noticed before the first boss because the mobs were taking forever to die (didn't help that they weren't AOEing them, or using their Flaming Arrow). I figured, maybe they forgot to turn it on. After all, they got synced down, and I've done that before. So I mention it. Silence. They don't turn it on. Mention it again after the first boss. They finally turn it on...only to turn it off after one trash pull. They came in with the tank, because every time I or my FC mate asked them why they kept turning it off (and NOT turning it back on), the tank answered with: "They haven't played in a while, and forgot." ...Yeah, but they had it on, AND THEN TURNED IT OFF. This continues on to Sir Grinneaux. I mention that Wanderer's Minuet is a 30% damage increase, and it also gives a bard access to Iron Jaws AND Empyreal Arrow, their most potent attack after Sidewinder. Well, the bard refuses to turn Minuet back on for the rest of the dungeon. I ask why is it off again, and the tank said that they told him to.

?!?!?!?!!

WHY WOULD YOU TELL SOMEONE TO PURPOSELY GIMP THEIR DAMAGE!??!?!?!
Ofc, the tank wasn't hardly ever using Darkside, so I guess I really shouldn't be surprised.

I can't. I just can't with people.
I'm going to go do my level 58 NIN quest now... while drowning in my BRD/DRK tears.

Wanderer's Minuet is a jarring change of style that will not give a boost to DPS right out of the gate. That "30% increase" is not what you think it is. Unless one practices in WM, they will probably suffer a nice DPS loss, just due to canceled skills. Since this bard was already not using their available skills, I question whether they would quickly pick up WM within a single DF run.

The next time (because it will happen again), I suggest that you mention (diplomatically) that they have the potential to increase their performance by using WM, and that they might want to try practicing with it (at a later time) to make their DF runs a bit easier. And then drop the subject. If they aren't used to WM, then you really don't want them trying it out in your DF, and harping on about it will make the run less fun for everyone... That is unless you want to ignore how much time the run takes and go into full angel mentor-mode, turning the DF run into a helpful training session for all of the bard's skills. In which case, bless you. However, it doesn't sound like they were necessarily in a very teachable, receptive mood.

[HyoMinPark]

Snip snip.

First, I would be more sympathetic if the bard in question was not a LEVEL 60 BARD, and that this was not a LEVEL 57 dungeon. Now, if this was Sohm Al, and they were level 54 (which is when Minuet becomes useful, since you learn Empyreal Arrow at level 54), I would be more understanding. However, that was not the case here. The bard was already max level. Plus, it was their only 60, even though the had other jobs leveled to the mid-30s or so. That means they probably went through 2.x, and the entirety of 3.0 on this job.

Second, the tooltip for Wanderer's Minuet says that it adds cast time to all skills, removes all auto-attacks, and increases damage dealt by your attacks by 30%. We were not telling him that his DPS would do a flat increase of 30%; just that now their attacks are 30% stronger, which would be extremely useful in speeding up the dungeon...since we saw the first boss charge three times, and Ser Grinneaux has so many portals, one more pushback and none of us would have been safe. Even with myself and my FC mate DPSing on his SCH as hard as we could, and I'm not the best geared on NIN. The bard wasn't doing much moving (died on second boss twice to the portals because they wouldn't move away from them fast enough), so it's not like they were that concerned about mobility, and you can't really cancel out cast times if you aren't moving. It may take some getting used to, but considering they were level 60 and have had these cast times for 6-8 levels. The change isn't as jarring as some claim it to be--not enough to continue to neglect it when you're level 60. Sure, others adapt faster, but there is never a need to run circles around a boss and attack it. Or run back and forth flinging arrows at things. Especially if you aren't dodging AOEs.

Myself (I main bard; I started this game on bard and I think I know how to play the job fairly well) and my FC mate both explained to them MULTIPLE TIMES the benefits of Wanderer's, and why they should be using it, especially considering their level. We also explained that Empyreal was their most potent attack after a properly executed Sidewinder, and that Barrage+Empyreal Arrow is one of the best skills to use on bard. We also explained how useful Iron Jaws was.

I understand being rusty, but this bard just either didn't care to try and play decently (adding to the already bad rep bards get from those that don't bother to play songs), or they were too busy listening to their friend, who was telling them NOT to use Wanderer's. Their friend was also doing a poor job playing Dark Knight (e.g., not using Darkside, and we had to explain to them why Delirium is useful on Ser Sherbet). I'm aware that there was probably no helping this bard. But that still doesn't mean that it wasn't painful to watch. Especially considering I main bard, and know that even though we don't put out as much damage as the others, that we can still produce good results if we stick to it.

Considering that run was 40+ minutes long, I would think anyone would be frustrated. It pains me to see people purposely gimping themselves. Especially when the person is at max level.... I would honestly rather them be trying to improve their performance in my DF runs than just sit there and be lazy, or not care. If we wipe because people are actually trying, I am fine with that. I am not fine with us wiping, and people just being lazy.

Sorry if I sound snippy, but I just can't find excuses for poor performance when you have two people with level 60 bards trying to help you perform better. Even if it is just The Vault.

It should be added that I was being as polite as I could be with this person. No matter how frustrating it was to watch, or how frustrating it was that their "friend" was telling them to purposely gimp themselves. It makes me feel like: why even bother mentoring when you get so many people that don't care, or don't listen, or just start verbally attacking you. But I guess my last good mentor experience got me excited, and hoping for at least another individual to listen and care about the advice they were being given.

[Artemiz]

I don't usually kick people either....but verbal abuse? Why didn't you guys just vote kick his bum out instead of letting him treat everyone like that and get clears?

If I'm honest I didn't even think about it, I've been called much worse so I just ignored him. Sticks and stones and all that.

[VanilleFang]

I completely agree with HyoMin, especially about people having no excuse for being lazy/bad performance but I would go so far as saying I don't think there is ever an excuse for it.

I always see players say "let people play how they want to play". Okay, fine, just don't effect my play time with your "play style". See: Ice Mage.

This kind of ties in with a run of Amdapor HM I did last night with my fresh 50 DRG. First thing I noticed us the tank (PLD) didn't pull big, at all. Like he wouldn't even move a group at all. He would tank every group individually. I first thought he was trying to be nice since I was a barely geared DRG, but I quickly came to the realization he was pretty new to tanking, so that was fine. I don't mind people who are new. It was the SCH who ticked me off.

I know it's a major disagreement among healers in this game if healers should DPS (trust me, I frequent the Healer Roles forums. It get pretty ugly) but I just... why? Why are you just standing there for 15 seconds doing nothing? And how does the tank almost die? You don't even put up Cleric Stance, and the tank isn't even mass pulling, so why is his HP dropping to like 20% before you heal him? If you aren't going to cast Bio could you at least cast Adlo or something? I don't particularly like seeing WHM or AST doing this either, but SCH really erk me. For 30 levels you are a DPS, and you have a free healing fairy.. and you're a fully geared level 60. Why are you slowing our run even more by not DPSING?

She also only uses DoTs on the adds during the final boss (why?) without Cleric Stance (double why?)

[Kallistra]

So now that Selli is free from the Mentor grind, her new favorite phrase is "Bar, I'm bored." (Hi, I'm Bar) So I decided to take her into Thordan EX a couple days ago since she had been putting off a lot of stuff for the past 6 months. I had her OT it, since OT doesn't have much to do.

Like an idiot, I looked at Thordan during gaze (I was more worried about the eye and forgot about Thordan), we had been doing really good up until that point, Selli included. So I asked Selli if she could pick up the boss while I got raised. Now, Selli is not a tank main...or secondary. She gets nervous while tanking even if she's doing fine. So when I told her she had to pick up the boss, she stopped trying to dodge things and tried to make a straight line for the party. She ended up eating five 9.9k Dimensional Collapses (the black and red AoEs that are also in A12) and died as well.

Thankfully the healers were A++ and able to recover, so Selli got her clear in one shot. We had a good laugh about it. My fault for dying, honestly. No bird drop, the Axe did drop and we let the party free roll for it.

[Hen-Hen]

I'm so angry right now I could spit.

I rolled Garuda Extreme on mentor roulette, and ask if everyone knows what they are doing. I get a couple of "no"s so I proceed to explain the fight. I'm getting tired of ex primals on mentor, and I'm especially mad that I only ever seem to be the mentor willing to try explain how they're done.

So my explanation maybe has some all caps for bits that are really important ("DO NOT KILL THE SPINY PLUME") but I don't throw any insults I just explain the fight, then at the end, I throw in a cheeky "Let's spend an hour wiping".

And then this turdblossom decides that I have an attitude problem. That I am the shittiest mentor going, "... that attitude". I've just spent the first five minutes listing every single mechanic going on in the fight without having to look it up and these tossers threw it back in my face. I was trying to help and maybe I coulda thrown in more "sweeties" and ""s and sugar coated the whole thing but every day I have to explain at least one ex primal and every day I have to watch that one party member who is just ignoring the chat like it's a sculpture made out of poop.

I hate mentor roulette and I hate that even if you try to help people hurtle abuse at you. They should change the little crown to a little target, because everyone aims all their ire at you no matter what you do. I'm nearly at a thousand, I'm dreading the next thousand. I'm tired, and I don't need your thanks for explaining what to do (ever so rarely that I get it), all I want is to get through, just like you. There's no need to start slinging abuse at me when I'm trying to help.

[Chocolys]

<snip>

There is bad mentors and bad novices unfortunately. But at least you're trying. Please don't give up, there is more people appreciating your effort (even silently) than the voiced morons.

[Sil3ntxR3qui3m]

This just happened, they're probably finishing up the dungeon as I type this. I went into level 50 roulette as a healer, the tank I ended up with was a fresh level 50 PLD (which was his only level 50 job) and we were doing Amdapor Keep. I thought he was keeping up hate pretty well considering he's fairly new and it's his first time in the dungeon. I suppose the other two DPS didn't think so, because after he died to repel on the second boss (the demon wall) they vote-kicked him with reasoning being "AFK." I felt bad for the guy and another tank (who I assume was probably a friend of the two DPS) came in and said "Now THIS is how you freaking tank!" I left immediately. I so wish I could get those guys reprimanded. The least they could do is give him tips to help him improve.

[Yeol]

Mentor roulette, landed in Stone Vigil.
Had a DRK level 42 leveling his job. I was SCH.
I realized he was taking lots of damage even though he was using CDs.
He died a couple of times before he asked what was wrong? I told him he is taking too much damage.
I then check his gear. He had some STR, DEX pieces.
I advised him to go for VIT and not wear any random gear just to reach the required item level for the dungeon.
He took it nicely and actually change few pieces to VIT from his inventory and things went a bit smoother.

[HyoMinPark]

snips.

I really do dislike people like those 2 DPS, and I don't blame you for leaving the dungeon. You could always try to report them for abuse of the report feature, and see if anything can be done about it. Even if it's not much, it will still be a strike against them in case they misbehave in the future, and are reported again. Also, sometimes just venting your frustrations to a nice GM just helps to make you feel better. :3


Since I mentioned this sorta off topic in another thread, I'll mention it here. Kind of a funny story.

The basic premise is: I dislike when people waste the LB. Especially an LB3 in a trial fight, no matter how easy. Like...why? Anyways, my FC mate and I were doing roulettes, and queued up as double tank for Trials. I was on DRK and he was on WAR. We get story mode Bismarck, and I say to him "Prepare for the facerolling." Spent most of the time not even tanking in Grit, and we were generally having a laugh. But the DPS (all 4 melee) was pretty slow.... Bismarck flew away three times after the add phase.

We had LB3 built up where a melee could easily use it the second time he slammed against the island. But...they...didn't...use...it. The thing had 3% HP left when he flew away again. I was kind of like >.> but whatever. Figured one of them would use it when he landed again. Nope. Fight ended and no one used it--no one even attempted to. I say to my FC mate "Dat wasted LB yo...." And when the black screen went away, mashed my LB button on my hotbar, using it for DRK LB3. My FC mate goes: "DANG IT YOU STOLE IT RIGHT OUT FROM UNDER ME!" We proceed to have a good laugh, and leave the duty.

Still doesn't change that I dislike seeing those LBs go to waste. I was more surprised the melee weren't tripping over themselves to use it first.