A Crazy Solution To The Growing Problems of Inadequate Preparation For Duties.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

That is because there are simply too many of them, You need encyclopaedic knowledge of every class you play, every boss, every tactic (and there's hundreds of those, they keep piling on as well). It's little wonder some have just given up/stopped caring. It's a game, not a second job. They need to seriously pare back the skills OR introduce a proper macro system.

No you dont, you can get by in this game by reacting to mechanics as they happen. All you need is understanding on how the combat works. And once you understand that, you should be able to play any job at least moderately effectively by reading tooltips and fitting the pieces together.

[Nicodemus_Mercy]

No you dont, you can get by in this game by reacting to mechanics as they happen. All you need is understanding on how the combat works. And once you understand that, you should be able to play any job at least moderately effectively by reading tooltips and fitting the pieces together.

Can't say I agree with that assessment. As I mentioned earlier in this thread, I avoid playing the dps classes in group content because I can't perform well with them nor is it fun to try because the rotations at 60 are just too complex for me. I don't have the physical dexterity nor the mental acumen to keep track of all the different buttons and when to press them. I just can't handle the finger gymnastics. SE seems to realize this is an issue. The combat revamp in SB will hopefully make dps classes a bit less hectic to play and perform decently with. Following fight mechanics won't make dps rotations any less complex. Even if you perform all the mechanics correctly, just "reading tooltips" won't make you capable of "fitting the pieces together" when the puzzle is a Picasso to begin with.

[Naunet]

I always thought it was funny that you'd do this big long job quest and then at the very end they're like "and here, let me teach you this new ability" in like the last dialogue of the quest and poof you magically learn it. Like, uhm... okay??

[Zojha]

I just can't handle the finger gymnastics.

You say finger gymnastics, but I literally just press my skills with left click except for the easily reach-able 1-2-3 and I can perform quite decently. I mean, not exceptionally - My savage parses are only around 50th percentile, so average. But it's enough to get by >_>

[Kaethra]

Ramp out difficulty how? People really need to stop saying this. the dungeons are easy because you are overpowered for them do them at the item level they require to get in and you'll find a bit of resistance.

1. Heavier item scaling. A level 15 dungeon scales you to ilevel 15 for example.
2. More complex mechanics. Telegraphs like you'd see in higher areas. 'Eye' type AoEs you have to look away for.
3. Debuffs that need to be cleaned off (I'd make Leeches/Exalted Detriment available at 15 for this)
4. Basically all the issues people say people have problems with, introduce them earlier so people learn them.

GCD style mmos are not hard and can't really be made hard. the only way to make this game "hard" is to make every aoe an instant kill, auto attacks of everything hit like mini tank busters and cleave, Raid wide aoe damage that nearly kills everyone every 15 seconds or so.

If this was true. This thread would be irrelevant. If GCD MMOs are not hard, then there is no need for tutorials or practice. Just have savage style 'difficulty' from the first dungeon onwards.

[Nicodemus_Mercy]

You say finger gymnastics, but I literally just press my skills with left click except for the easily reach-able 1-2-3 and I can perform quite decently. I mean, not exceptionally - My savage parses are only around 50th percentile, so average. But it's enough to get by >_>

Not everyone is you though. What might be easy for you may not be easy for someone else. And also keep in mind, while you might find "getting by" acceptable, large swathes of the community tear people apart (either privately to their friends or to the person directly in chat) for low parses.

[Paladinleeds]

1. Heavier item scaling. A level 15 dungeon scales you to ilevel 15 for example.

Now this is something I'd love to see implemented on a much wider scale... but it'd kill off content quite hard I feel - you see people want superzergrushmustkillinrecordtimenostoppingjustgogogogogogogo - make content more difficult and people will try to avoid it where possible (even going so far as to quit the game if needed, which is bad business for SE). So I'm not sure if this would work.

[Zojha]

What might be easy for you may not be easy for someone else.

Did I claim that? No. What I claimed was that finger gymnastics are not needed and I think that's true, because there are several ways to reduce the amount of finger movement needed. Some people click, others buy a gaming mouse with 16 buttons, again others bind the hotbars to their mousewheel so they don't need to bother with CTRL/Shift, again others bind all the keys around their movement keys to hotbar slots, again others play without mouse entirely and use both hands, while others go straight for a controller. The technique is fairly individual, you gotta find what works for you.

I do think, though, that if someone is using the term "finger gymnastics" to describe playing a DPS, it sounds like something is wrong with their technique because none such gymnastics are necessary in the first place. It gives off the impression of someone who makes things harder for themselves than need be and then blames the game that it's too hard.
Now, it can of course be that you're just plain old or disabled. There are people with ADHD, there's alzheimer's, knuckle rot and a great many other things that can impair a person both physically and mentally. If that's your case, my condolences and apologies. In my argument, I'm assuming a healthy person somewhere between 18 and 50, because that's where the majority of gamers is gonna lie.

[XiXiQ]

No you dont, you can get by in this game by reacting to mechanics as they happen.

not a BLM, then, I assume? I wish this was a reactive game - it's nothing of the sort. To do it properly, you need to learn the mechanics. Yes, there are some convenent aoes on the ground now and then, but there's plenty of stuff you're never going to know what to do until you've figured it out. Stand behind something, stop and click on something, swap this to that, move close, move further.... and I've noticed in Dun scath too many non-cast bar/.5 sec aoe moves where you're looking for an animated cue (like anyone has time to watch how pretty it is when keeping track of 30+ button rotations, buffs/deuffs, and half a dozen timers.). No-ones checking their tooltips during all that either, I can assure you.

That's why a lot of people end up as you say "moderately effective". It's overblown, pure and simple.

[CosmicKirby]

Yeah, you needed to have some sense to progress to the high content, not to mention that the punishment for failing was rather harsh.

This is probably the core mechanical reason why people are content with laziness in MMORPG design now. When the stakes are higher, very few people are going to phone it in. Even the worst worker will try at least a bit harder if you threaten to fire him right there. The only penalty for doing poorly in this game is ostensibly time, something people who don't try very hard tend to value fairly lowly, combine this with the lazy sometimes being inconsiderate and it gets worse. They're content to waste not only their time but others as well.

These are for the most common cases, as I'm sure there's fringe bits where people with disabilities or the like are just slightly more common by volume of people met in-game compared to the old days.