Baldesion Arsenal Feedback

[Epidendrum]

Im glad i could give you insight, but ofc thats only what i experienced and other might know it differently....

But holy mother crystal that macro - i saw ppl post smg similar for the support fate and ppl were annoyed and called it spam or jsut were too lazy to read at all... xD

I wanna ask, do you encounter ppl with the statless Eureka weapon too? in dutys and BA? Lately ive run into many using a 385-405 without any substats with is... annyoing >_>

Written Guides kinda died off anyways, just as macros... i think last time i saw some on... omg Nidhogg? xD
Mostly its video, which i rly hate tbh.... i just cant learn from that.... *sigh*

I recall a friend being only able to clear suzaku and byakko by gettin callouts on voice, while he barely ever managed without it, as he learned the fight, but not as in why he does what but only to repeat from memory... that is smt i suppose makes stuff so hard, many just blindly repeat instead of knowing why, so when things went downhill everyone panics and dies...

And back then on Sophia ex (i feel old now XD) i watched an former fc members stream and could hear how he used ACT callouts + his own with is just... i dont feel its evil or wrong but jsut... meh i would not wanna play like that.

Well, the thing about that macro is that it's for the entire arsenal. The macro provider for that instance will trigger the appropriate section of the macro when coming up to a specific boss or part of the arsenal where there are things to note, e.g. traps, how to do the rooms, etc. The line breaks in the above macro demarcate the different sections. As for reading, if you ever have the chance to take a bus or train in Japan, just look around during the long rides. You'll see folks, young and old pull out books, not just manga but novels, non-fiction books on astronomy, marine life, etc., paperbacks mostly. Not ebooks or electronic readers, physical books are more common. There's a strong reading and writing culture, people love to read. Reading pages and pages of text is associated with enjoyment - leisure reading. Reading is not associated with something boring or a chore. Writing, I'll elaborate on later.

As for statless weapons on some people, yes we have them; not often but I see one or two occasionally. We have all sorts of folks just like other data centres, though the percentages of each kind will probably vary. However, those players I've seen on Gaia, I understand why they are doing it. These people that I encountered are using the 405 physeos variant, which means although statless it has the massive +348 elemental bonus. As for annoyance, that's up to you. The groups(FC/LS) I play with are a rather reserved bunch. Since this is a topic on the arsenal, I'll describe what I mean a bit more.

Let's say Ovni has just been brought down. People split up, going for the portals. Some are waiting by the portal, for it to stabilise. Someone comes along, uses a stabiliser and goes in. Now the first person needs to go look for another portal. Is that sniping? No, not by Gaia standards. No portal belongs to any one player, we recognise that. However, if two players don't have a stabiliser, they will try to find their own portals to wait beside. They will move on to find another if they see a player waiting beside one. It's a public instance with portals for a public dungeon that has consistently been cleared by PUGs. Players waiting by the portals are PUGs waiting to hopefully go in. That's why most Gaia parties only form inside the arsenal itself. Preformed parties may not be able to get every member in. Now for the person left outside, how do you think he/she feels? If that player is from Gaia, I would say mildly disappointed. Angry? No. Sad? No. Annoyed? No. Gaia folks are an inquisitive and rather emotionally detached bunch. Let's say this player left outside didn't manage to get another portal. Immediately, he/she shouts that a mutation mob party is forming, and will do two cycles (2 x 30 mobs). Some others will exit, check their retainers and go into anemos/pagos/pyros to spawn nm and chase after every nm that spawns. Look at this reaction, their thought process is this: (1) that's a bit disappointing, I didn't get a portal. (2) hey that's actually clever, that player put in effort to craft the stabiliser, if I had done so, I would have gone into the arsenal already. (3) I'll go use the time to try to craft a stabiliser or two. With luck I might make it back to this instance when they need to support fate done. That's another chance to get in.

That's the thought process of a typical Gaia player, more or less. There is an initial emotional reaction, followed by the quick realisation that crying over spilt milk does not help. It has already happened, take actions to mitigate your current situation. Now, back to your point, statless weapon. Look closer, is the player executing mechanics correctly and using appropriate logos actions? If so, then it isn't a cause for concern. The latter things are probably what matters more.

Your next point about videos, yes here in Gaia we watch guide videos too. They are seen as a tool that complements the macro. Let's say you've seen the video or the macro, then seen the other one. The order doesn't matter so much. Macro helps with quick memory recall, video helps visualisation. Both reinforce each other. Then there's writing. I mentioned they have a strong reading or writing culture. What do Gaia FFXIV players generally write about? Preparation for difficult content, sometimes involves taking that notebook beside their computer table and writing things down with a pen or pencil. They have seen the macro, watched the video on youtube or nico nico video. They write about their own understanding of the macro and video. They watch the video, some one talks to them about it, they remember a little. They see the macro, they have read it with their own eyes. They remember slightly more. Now, they put in the effort to physically write it, in their own words, what they understood. They remember even more of the strategy. So, not having gone into the fight yet, they have taken steps to reinforce their memory. A macro on it's own is a short few lines of text. A video is someone else's voice and gameplay. Both become so much more when you write your own feeling and understanding about it.

That's not where it ends though. I'll use my LS mate as an example. After writing, she notices that there's some similarities with other things she has written before. She flips back and recalls she is bad at handling sudden puddles, memories of moving too late for Susano Ex's raisen kaikyo and a few other things in that fight. She flips forward to her notes on the bosses in the arsenal. Analysing this, she notes that she will have more difficulty on Art and Ozma because she isn't so good at double dodging (move in to dodge one mechanic, then immediately have to move out far enough to dodge the second mechanic). Now, she highlights those mechanics as things she needs to pay special attention to during the fights. She doesn't do savage raids, extreme primals is the most difficult content that she normally does, and now she wants to do arsenal. Then she posts pictures of her notebook on her lodestone or twitter and comments about how hard she thinks it is going to be. Her thoughts and actions represent about half the PUGs I've met on Gaia.

The other half? They have read the macro beforehand, watched a video and will go into the fight and do their best. Hope something sticks in their brain from the macro and video. Things that the macro poster highlighted a bit more, will stick better in their brain. The rest? Depends on the individual player. They are the kind that learn by doing. They try, first two or three attempts turn out to be a disaster, but now they have seen the mechanics and tried to handle them. They grab a small scrap of paper, and scribble down where they messed up and use sticky tape to paste it next to their screen. Writing helps them too, though not in such a detailed manner. They take pictures of some delicious food on their computer table and all the scraps of paper pasted on the side of their monitor, all these goes on lodestone or twitter with comments on how delicious the food is and how it's going to fuel their next attempt at the content.

After a run, both groups ask themselves 3 things: (1) what went well? (2) what didn't go well? (3) what could I have done better? (Notice: "could I have done better", no mention of other players, it's all PUGs, you probably won't meet them again.)

That's how the reading and writing culture of Japan affects some of their gamers, and above descriptions? That's the average PUG player (yes even the non-JP too. When in Rome, do as the Romans do) from Gaia. Not some hardcore raider, and we make mistakes here and there, but we sure love to read and write (For non-JP, if you grew up in the 1970s or early 1980s I guess you might like it more than television)

So Kuroka, since people are kind of similar apart from cultural differences - are the PUGs similar in your data centre?

I heard that in the west, reading is associated more with studying and some see it as a forced thing. So especially for the younger generation, reading isn't particularly enjoyed. Never could confirm that point though.