The general player base needs to improve

[Vahlnir]

Never said the entire fight and yes if need be figure out on your own, but I realize that millennials won't do this because they want everything handed to them via guides or whatnot. Good try tho.

[SaitoHikari]

Never said the entire fight and yes if need be figure out on your own, but I realize that millennials won't do this because they want everything handed to them via guides or whatnot. Good try tho.

While I normally agree with your overall message, I don't see what millennials have to do with this at all.

On the other hand, someone could adopt a practical mentality, and realize that as long as parsing (and thus DPS accountability) remains an outlawed concept at all levels of gameplay, you really shouldn't give a damn about how someone else is performing unless it's directly tied to the party being unable to clear outright (and the only content where that actually happens is in Savage). At the end of the day, you still gotta rely only on yourself, so you just have to grin and bear it. Eventually (and if you actually cared enough), you could get so good at playing your job that you end up carrying entire parties. Even as a DPS. So what if you're encouraging bad behavior by letting 'unworthy' people clear? You won't realistically see the truly awful people ever again. It DOES however make you remember and treasure the ones that actually impress you, however.

It's not worth the time to chase after people that obviously should be performing better and get them to care. You just burn yourself out. I party daily with a tank that doesn't really understand this, and watching him get yelled at frequently for being blunt enough to call people out just destroys me a little inside for various reasons. Lead by example. If your performance inspires someone to get better, then good for them. If not, they never cared.

(To the ones that know how I pug pretty much -everything- even though I'm in a network of competent raider friends - the above mentality is why I can survive such a lifestyle without descending into 'Tales from the Duty Finder' madness. Better to not out yourself and push someone into doing something worthy to be posted in that thread in the first place.)

[Maighdlin]

I keep wanting to post some long rant, but I keep coming back to one statement: Lead by example.

[TaleraRistain]

I pug almost exclusively since I run a very small FC. Sometimes you get a great group that works like a well oiled machine and sometimes you get some who struggle. That's the cover charge for using DF. The game randomly matches players who have a variety of playstyles. I know when I go into DF that I'm rolling the dice, so I adjust where necessary. If I get into a situation where even adjusting isn't going to work, I remove myself. If groups struggle, I put myself out as a resource if I'm a vet, and remain supportive and optimistic if we wipe. If it gets to a point where it's just not going to work, I politely excuse myself. I'm usually the very last to give up. I stayed in an instance of Rabanastre at Hashmal before and watched a raid rebuild from just myself, as others had quickly left once we were under the max, and we went on to clear the rest of the bosses easily.

For me it's because I take ownership of the fact that I agreed to match myself up with random people, and I should be flexible towards what hand I'm dealt.

[Worldofwarcraft]

Do you honestly believe that a forum post is going to change the behavior of the player base?

[KDSilver]

Good luck. Half the time I dont even have my chat up in random groups.

The main reason communication is so hard on this game, that's the way to go
Congratz.

[Shurrikhan]

Sadly, I think nothing can be done about it.

I don't think that's remotely true.

Sure, we can't do anything about player's the minimal amount of (additional) effort so many NA players are willing to make to improve.

But, the game's design can do more to coax that effort out (such as through increased difficulty and an actual difficulty curve) or reduce the effort seemingly required to improve (not by decreasing the control available to a player or the manipulables in a fight that contribute to skill gap, but through the tools for learning that UI might provide (be it by forcing the tooltip at least once into the side of a player's screen, a revised combat manual in place of the Actions & Traits menu that does a more thorough and intuitive job of describing our skills' effects, rotation-making tools, guildhests or class/job-specific trials that take a closer look at uptime or ability use, or even -- dare I say it -- in-game parsers).

[TaleraRistain]

But, the game's design can do more to coax that effort out

They have to be careful with this, though. This isn't like EQ times where that was the only game on the block. There are a wide variety of MMOs that remain accessible to a wide range of playstyles. Make your gameplay too restrictive, and players will move to one of those competitors instead.

[Shurrikhan]

They have to be careful with this, though. This isn't like EQ times where that was the only game on the block. There are a wide variety of MMOs that remain accessible to a wide range of playstyles. Make your gameplay too restrictive, and players will move to one of those competitors instead.

...through the tools for learning that UI might provide (be it by forcing the tooltip at least once into the side of a player's screen, a revised combat manual in place of the Actions & Traits menu that does a more thorough and intuitive job of describing our skills' effects, rotation-making tools, guildhests or class/job-specific trials that take a closer look at uptime or ability use...

I don't believe I've suggested otherwise...

A proper difficulty curve hurts no one.

[CorbinDallas]

I still see people run away with stack markers or continue to be hit by gaze attacks, when the indicators have been in the game since 3.1 and used liberally in almost every encounter.