"Play what you want!"

[Umbeliel]

...Is a completely useless, and even problematic response to someone, especially newbies, asking questions about what class they should play.

Op: "Hey I'm trying to decide on the one meaningful decision we're allowed to make in the game andI'd like some insight."

Some dude: "it doesnt matter! If you care about your contribution to your party and/or balance you're playing wrong! Play what you like!"

It's an awful attitude to have towards a game centered around group play and generally only serves to generate salt in the community over underskilled players at best. Discuss.

[LunaFaye]

Well, it depends the kind of achievement you're personally aiming for.

If you're just playing couple hours a week/month, and are not even trying to step into raid content, and you're more enjoying the variety of different jobs on the same character, then your statement is absolute correct.

But if you're one of these players, despite the fact that you might be new, are willing to learn and min/max one job on one character, with the goal of end game raiding (hardcore/world first etc) then this statement is wrong, but that player wouldn't be asking tho, he/she would knew already before starting, what race they are playing with, because min/maxing starts already there.

Then you have the player base, that in every game, runs to the forums right from the beginning, asking what class/job is OP. And will return the moment a new patch/expansion or job changes have been made, asking the very same question. These players mostly is what I call "wannabe's" no offense, and these players also will only play a job, that the community declares as OP that day/month/year. Running from one PF/RF to another, trying to get clears, but having no idea how to play their jobs. Then this statement is correct as well, however I wish, we could remove these kind of people from actual raid or party finder content, since it's a waste of time trying to explain to them, how the game works etc.

However, if you have players, that just want to play the way they want to play, sadly this isn't really possible in this game, and will show the moment they step into the duty finder, for their first dungeons etc. You can not, like other games, as example make your healer dex build etc.

Therefore at the end of the day, people should ask for the goals/achievements of the person, before suggestion a class/job to new comers, and give them some points to look up, so they can decide at the end what's best for them. Just saying play what you like to everybody asking, is not going to work 90% of the time. My 2 cents.

[Fluffernuff]

I don't see how this is "problematic". 9 times out of 10, that newbie doesnt even have a foundation to form a decision off of, and "play what is fun" is a perfectly valid, if not the most valid advice you can give. the other 1 time is an alt that never even asked in the first place.

Do you know each and every person that asks on a personal level so that you know their exact tastes and skill levels in order to recommend the ideal job for their specific needs? No? Neither does the rest of the population.

I honestly feel like you give any person that needs a genuine and specific answer to a question like this too much credit. If they need that guidance, you shouldn't then defend that they should then make "the one meaningful decision they're allowed to make" on their own. Seems a little backwards to me. I know I would love to have some advice from more experienced people before I jump blindly into tht important of a decision. I think it's called "an educated decision"? or was it "Research"? Oh, what do I know?


Compound onto this the fact that party finder, duty finder, heck, these forums themselves, all push this crazy agenda called "The Meta" and tend to assault any players that don't fall in line. Newbies sure love getting bullied for their decisions they made all on their own, right?

[Umbeliel]

snip snip is not going to work 90% of the time. My 2 cents.

More or less yeah. More details for helpful responses is great. Just telling them play what you like is almost always going to be useless.

I don't see how this is "problematic". Snip. I know I would love to have some advice from more experienced people before I jump blindly into tht important of a decision.


Compound onto this the fact that party finder, duty finder, heck, these forums themselves, all push this crazy agenda called "The Meta" and tend to assault any players that don't fall in line.

It's like you don't understand, but then do, and then don't again so you counter your point.

[Fluffernuff]

It's like you don't understand, but then do, and then don't again so you counter your point.

It's not a counter. It's a continuation to the topic.

If you genuinely need direction, would you rather have an, in your words, an open and unhelpful guidance? or someone shouting jargon you don't understand in your face waving a big stick?

"play what you want!" was, to my knowledge, formed in defiance to the whole meta pushing thing to begin with.

[Umbeliel]

It's not a counter. It's a continuation to the topic.

If you genuinely need direction, would you rather have an, in your words, an open and unhelpful guidance? or someone shouting jargon you don't understand in your face waving a big stick?

"play what you want!" was, to my knowledge, formed in defiance to the whole meta pushing thing to begin with.

Both is good. Play what you want is neither.

[Fluffernuff]

Both is good. Play what you want is neither.

All right then. I thought the inital post was enough, but let's think a little more personally about this.


I have found, in my personal experience working with these sprouts(actually going out into the zones and using say chat like a filthy animal), that spouting jargon is about as helpful as using a different language. Meta or otherwise. I have to wonder how often you go out to communicate with these guys. Or is this Novice Network anecdotes? Regardless.

If we assume the sprout's perspective, "Play what you want!" is rather unhelpful by itself. Yet, if a player is asking that it leads to more questions- which is actually a good thing. It's far better to have an inquisitive and open mind than literally slapping them in the face with a 14 page guide. Or mocking them for daring to consider MCH... or SMN. because how dare they, right?

You see, I'll say again, you give them too much credit. Not because you should assume they are idiots, but because you assume they want knowledge. Knowledge you don't have the proper information to provide. Information that is, actually, much better provided if you answer a certain "problematic" response.

What do they enjoy? What are their end goals? What kind of roles do they enjoy? Any of these things are answered from breaking the ice with "Play what you want!" Or the player in question knows what that is already and... plays what they want. Either way help was provided.


You can't, and frankly shouldn't, tell someone what they like or should like because they asked. It can be overwhelming. Heck, the few times I've checked if NN has gotten any better, it's usually a fight because a mentor overstepped their bounds and started telling sprouts what they should play.

[SaitoHikari]

-snip-

Pretty much this.

I will admit that I am a raider that openly parses (though I won't mention this in-game unless asked), and even I will tell you to play what you want. The game is still finely balanced, outside of the outliers like SMN and MCH which have FAR more to do with overall design problems holding them back, rather than their potencies just being too low. The meta only really matters if you're a bleeding edge world first raider, and even then that's debatable. The damage gap between DPS isn't so wide that actual personal player skill cannot more than make up for it, because that has ALWAYS been the true determining factor as to how effective you are at playing a certain class.

Anyone trying to enforce the meta on lower difficulty content (and even on new players) is quite frankly a dumbass. I'd rather have new Machinists that know how to play their class than a new horde of Samurai that cannot AoE properly or balls to the wall strength-stacking Warriors stance dancing into Deliverance during a 5+ mob pull while most enemies are still alive.

There ARE games that exist where telling players to avoid specific classes and gravitate towards the meta is done as a measure to spare them from the pain of late game class discrimination locking them out of party content.

FFXIV is not one of them. DEAR LORD, FFXIV is NOT one of them. Especially not compared to the previous game I played...

[Sylvina]

If you don't play what you want and are not happy with your class, then why are you playing if you're not having fun? Any content can be cleared with all classes (so long as people learn how to play them) and only the most obtuse elitist scum will kick because of the class.

If you don't like a class you are never under any obligation to play it. someone who tells you otherwise has no idea what they speak of.

[White_Wolf_X]

No is not, cause ppl should play the class/job they like, is that simple.