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

[Kacho_Nacho]

it's the runs where something goes bad and I'm holding the group together by the skin of my teeth and cursing my own slip-up that I get comms... because I guess people are like "Oh hey, look, the healer's managing to keep us all upright and get us through even though Stuff Has Happened!" Even if said Stuff is arguably my own fault.

Absolutely spot on. Healing is only noticed when things go wrong.

[LogicHatesMe]

As a DPS main, I soon learned that no matter how brightly you shine, chances are you won't be the one getting a comm. A conclusion further proven when I leveled a healer and then a tank. This was more or less my experience:

- Play healer -> do your job and nothing out of the ordinary -> get comms.
- Play tank -> do your job and nothing out of the ordinary -> get even more comms.
- Play DPS -> do your job and be brilliant at it -> get... nothing.

And so, I have come to not expect any comms when I play DPS. And when I actually get one, I'm surprised and think to myself: Huh! Someone actually noticed how great my performance was ? I also silently thank whoever commended me. And when I get more than 1 comm, my first reflex is to check the contacts list to see if some party members were from the same server (and thus most likely a premade), which would probably explain the comms. That's how sad a DPS's life is when it comes to comms (T_T). We're always the ones who go under the radar. This is why I pay attention to my fellow DPS partners to decide if any of them deserves a comm first before moving on to the healer and/or tank if there's no DPS to commend, unless a healer or tank saves a run or a boss fight.

As for the topic of saving a run (whether as a healer, a DPS, or a tank), I totally get the frustration when you don't get the proper acknowledgement for it. I personally not only give a comm to the person who saved the run, but I also comment in chat to let them know I noticed their effort and to congratulate them on the good job they had done. When a person does something praiseworthy, I feel it's natural to show them appreciation and give them the praise they deserve. That thing about not wanting to boost egos is such nonsense.

Yeah I figured this one out very early on lol, there was one time when the Tank hit the floor like 3 times, and still got the comm, and another when the Healer was doing no DPS at all, but managed to clutch heal the tank, and the Healer got the comms (yes for doing the minimum of their required job, and healing someone)

Not too long ago, we were on a boss (can't remember the dungeon actually.. late in Stormblood I believe) and the Healer hit the floor (and apologized, so yeah no biggie) then the Tank goes down, boss is on about 18%, Dragoon dies, boss is on 12%, my Black Mage finishes off the fight single handedly (I went full on turret rotation, screw avoiding AoE's let's burn this guy down) No one says anything, no comm either. *cries in DPS*

Absolutely spot on. Healing is only noticed when things go wrong.

I find this happens with DPS as well more often than not. DPS is only ever noticed when they suck, when they're on the ball, no one pays much attention. I haven't played Healer much, but I do notice that Healers get a pass more often than not for being sub-par.

[Packetdancer]

Not too long ago, we were on a boss (can't remember the dungeon actually.. late in Stormblood I believe) and the Healer hit the floor (and apologized, so yeah no biggie) then the Tank goes down, boss is on about 18%, Dragoon dies, boss is on 12%, my Black Mage finishes off the fight single handedly (I went full on turret rotation, screw avoiding AoE's let's burn this guy down) No one says anything, no comm either. *cries in DPS*

Sometimes, though, you're lucky and people *do* notice stuff like that. I had a run of the Vault... lord, ages ago while I was leveling SAM; I vaguely remember posting about it in this thread at the time so I could probably wander back like 700 pages and find the date if I was feeling masochistic.

Anyway. The tank, healer, and other DPS were all down, we were a SLIVER away from LB3, and the final boss was at like... I want to say 4% health? Somewhere I was fairly sure that an LB2 would not have quite killed him, and I would've died in the animation lock, so we'd *need* LB3. And the party was going "You can do this!" in chat, so I grit my teeth and I managed to stay up long enough to finish filling the LB bar and hit LB3... and we finished the run when I had like 8% of my health left.

I think that is the *only* time I have ever left a dungeon as DPS with 3 comms.

[Rein_eon_Osborne]

Fresh from leveling roulette: The Vault
Seeing that I’m matched with a PLD + SMN + BLM, I thought to myself “AoE happy party, yay! This will be quick!”

... or not
“Viewing Cutscene” tag on all three of them after I loaded into spawn point. I take my time while I view their search info to see all of their current class are their highest lv class (around 58-60s)—just to gauge how careful I should tread with them. The PLD being a returner and the other two being a sprout. Yep... gotta tread with caution indeed.

My worry was unneeded however The run went relatively smooth aside from occasionally ripping off mobs aggro from the tank because he seemed to be clueless of what he should do. One death in each first two bosses but they all learnt the fight pretty quickly to not screw up the 2nd time. It’s heartwarming to see them learning.

Special mention to that PLD: I like how you pop [Hallowed Ground] for early bigger pulls. This is something that I rarely see from DF groups as people tend to treat the invuln skills as an ‘emergency button’ and ended up not using it at all.

It is also very relaxing to see that they’re talkative bunch. Commenting how beautiful the dungeon is, the intriguing BGM, the brilliant storyline, etc. When was the last time I got matched with these kind of chillax group... sometimes it’s just what I needed Enjoy the moment. Exiting the dungeon, I silently wish for them to enjoy the following stories to come.

Now it makes me wish for SE to implement explorer mode in all dungeons of first 3 expansions eventually. Just for vanity purpose.

[tdb]

Special mention to that PLD: I like how you pop [Hallowed Ground] for early bigger pulls. This is something that I rarely see from DF groups as people tend to treat the invuln skills as an ‘emergency button’ and ended up not using it at all.

To be fair, for all other tank classes it is an emergency button.
WAR: You can still take damage, just can't go under 1 HP. If you use it and then don't get reduced to 1 HP, it's a totally wasted CD.
DRK: You can still take damage, but can't go under 1 HP. If you do reach 1 HP, you need to be healed to full or you die. Using it too early is a wasted CD, and having it trigger is a risk in case the healer doesn't realize what's up.
GNB: You can't take damage, but the ability actually takes away all but 1 of your HP there and then. Not only is using it too early a wasted CD, it's a great way to give your healer a heart attack.

PLD's meanwhile is useful at almost any time. The only thing to really watch out for is if you have a WHM for a healer, since their holy spam will stunlock the enemies for 7 seconds anyway. No point in using an invuln if the enemies aren't hitting you.

[SturmChurro]

You know what really grinds my gears? People who won't SHUT UP, in a raid! AND NO, I'm not talking about banter. Like holy heck.. One person says they are new, and I guess that invites them to now "explain" mechanics. I'm sitting here for an hour seeing "advice", such as "run to her" on Ultima. Seriously.. CONSTANTLY the chat moving with "feedback". I literally mean CONSTANT too. Wow. Not even a short rundown in the beginning no, no, no. Just one liners throughout the fights, and constant feedback. Nobody even asked for it in the first place, sure, the party did need some help, I won't deny it, but Jesus Christ. To top it all off our PLD tank was using clemency whenever he took even a % of damage (one of the new players) - I didn't say anything about this, but god... I probably nearly rolled my eyes out of socket during this raid. My God..

Not even a mentor crown either. At least if they were a mentor, I could be like "they are trying, I guess?"..

Like, no wonder the new players were dying so much if one liners DURING the fight is how you are "explaining mechanics"..

[Mavrias]

You know what really grinds my gears? People who won't SHUT UP, in a raid! AND NO, I'm not talking about banter. Like holy heck.. One person says they are new, and I guess that invites them to now "explain" mechanics. I'm sitting here for an hour seeing "advice", such as "run to her" on Ultima. Seriously.. CONSTANTLY the chat moving with "feedback". I literally mean CONSTANT too. Wow. Not even a short rundown in the beginning no, no, no. Just one liners throughout the fights, and constant feedback. Nobody even asked for it in the first place, sure, the party did need some help, I won't deny it, but Jesus Christ. To top it all off our PLD tank was using clemency whenever he took even a % of damage (one of the new players) - I didn't say anything about this, but god... I probably nearly rolled my eyes out of socket during this raid. My God..

Not even a mentor crown either. At least if they were a mentor, I could be like "they are trying, I guess?"..

Like, no wonder the new players were dying so much if one liners DURING the fight is how you are "explaining mechanics"..

Mute the chat and pull if it bothers you so much. Be the change you want to see in the raid.

[SturmChurro]

Mute the chat and pull if it bothers you so much. Be the change you want to see in the raid.

I wonder if some of the quiet new players did that. It would make sense..

[Barwara]

At the end of the day this is a game and I don't think anyone should be coming out of it frustrated and angry against others players.

When playing in social situations, you have to be mindful of other people; just like you have to in the real world. Not everyone is going to act how you'd want them to. The good thing is that those social instances are short and you won't have to deal with these people after that.

I agree that everyone should try their best to be cooperative, try to understand what they're doing, listen and learn from others. Some people clearly refuse to be cooperative, but others are also just trying their best to manage the chaos of the fight, trying to learn their roles and get down the mechanics, experiencing tunnel vision, forgetting to check the chat, experience lags, or are just suffering from general anxiety, and it might not be obvious to you at all. You'll think they are just slacking.

We also aren't playing this game to further someone's else agenda. As much as I try my best, I don't appreciate being yelled at because I messed up and the dungeon has to go on for a little bit longer, or left behind for dead because people want to rush forward and get the instance done with. Or left behind because I'm watching a cutscene and the team decides I'll just catch up in the fight later. I don't get angry for it, but I won't deny that very negative experiences have deterred me from re-doing certain instances, or deterred me from going into certain instances as tank or healer. And I'm not someone who's prone to anxiety, so imagine someone who is.

[ItMe]

^That's like, the best post on this site :,)