This game has serious free-rider problems and it's getting worse. A suggestion.

[Nethereal]

I'm.. not sure what this means. You want to share the right way to do it but don't think you should have to "whisper" to make sure it's a 1 on 1 interaction?

Most mechanics can be explained easily, I however do not offer individual advice nor reference any particular individual when something goes awry unless blatantly apparently needing to be addressed pre pull.
For instance, I would rather kick a bad healer/tank than explain to them the basics of their job and how to keep the party from not dying despite it being a simple fix of pressing 1 additional button on their part.
I will however explain how things 'should' be done for us to clear.

The reality of the situation is there are a few very weird narratives people run that affect how people interact. I say toxic because that's exactly what they do: they poison the minds of people who hear them and believe it. They make people afraid to even talk to anyone because "if you talk to anyone you'll eventually get banned". They make people confrontational because "the community is actually really toxic underneath and just limited by rules" so people assume the worst intentions. They make people choose certain servers because "Everyone on that server is an ERP-er and will try to drag you into it".

I mean none of that isn't unnecessarily true.
Initially people associated one server with RP so they could easily group up with like minded people, why is that different when used in a negative connotation?
Not to mention that the GMs feed into this hysteria by not following a strict enough guideline.
And you will get banned eventually if you're not talking in a semi professional manner.
Crude words whether aimed or not aimed at a particular object or person will eventually get you in trouble in this game.

Sure you can avoid ever being in a car accident by never driving anywhere (well.. realistically you can't cause people might still crash into YOU.. but .. metaphor) but you will miss out on the fun and convenience of driving by doing so. This is the same mentality behind never ever giving advice or helping people.

The difference here is I have no guarantee of compensation and I also take on a permanent possible account risk.

When I learn how to drive and buy a car I know the guaranteed pros and possible consequences that it will bring to me, however the pros out weigh the cons by landslide.

Now for someone like me who puts myself before strangers, the above is not true at all when comparing it to 'helping people' in game.
I'm not missing out on anything either as I curate who I interact with in-game largely with third party programs that help me meet people with aligning interests.

A better analogy would be comparing duty finder to a bar and party finder to a friend group.
The bar is open to the public so you don't know who you'll meet, sometimes you meet the love of your life, other times you meet a crazy axe murderer. Both extremes on the opposite spectrum. Both highly unlikely but possible.
However you also know you're going to meet people just like you.
This leads to a friend group which is 'safe' territory already mapped out and you know most of the initial risk you took from meeting them (at the bar) has so far mostly been eliminated.
But if you keep going back to the bar(helping people) befriending people you keep exposing yourself to that risk of running into the axe murderer.
Going once, twice, thrice, a few times more. Not so bad. But after awhile?
After awhile there's really no reason to go back to the bar.

If it helps you understand where I'm coming from. I would rather countless murderers roam free than have a single innocent person be in-prisoned. E.G. I would rather not help anyone than have the possibility of getting a strike regardless of how low and improbable. The possibility to me. Is. Unacceptable.

*snip*

A fair take but the NFL analogy was in poor taste.
People who are in the NFL don't show up to the game(dungeon) wondering what the game plan is they know what the game plan is because they've studied and practiced it way before they had to participate in said game.
They understand that the time to practice, study, give advice, and answer questions is outside the time spent actually participating.

[TeraRamis]

You might not like what I said, but it's how the game is. I don't begrudge you trying to change it, but spreading misinformation like "any helping gets you reported" and "every single run has so many leeches" doesn't help anyone. Especially when it seems your perceptions of "help" and "leeching" are quite skewed from what demonstrably the majority of the population thinks.

I didn't say 'any helping gets you reported.' And I wasn't giving advice - advice was given both prior-to and during the fights. That advice was ignored. Only then did criticism follow. And I don't really care if people respond to that blanket criticism negatively.

My problem is the people who rush to the defense of inadequacy rather than being ashamed by it. It's always been an enormous problem in FFXIV, and it only seems to be getting worse with time. It's as if people want to make excuses for every shortcoming imaginable - oh, were you drunk? High? New? Checking on the baby? Rolling your face around on your dog's tummy? Answering the door for pizza? Blind? Half blind? Half asleep? Fully asleep? Don't worry - if the answer as to why you're bad isn't listed, we'll find it. Better that than acknowledging the truth.

[Lastelli]

Honestly, I'm just so tired of this game's community defending UTTER ineptitude...

Unfortunately, this is what you get when the game encourages ineptitude (easy mode for msq duties lol) and when more and more content is balanced so that a minority of competent people can carry the whole party/alliance.
MSQ was stripped of any kind of challenge and now we have tons of level cap players that don't know anything about the game.
We get more and more large-scale content so that individual players have less and less personal responsibility.
And maybe worst of all, unskilled and unprepared players don't realize the level of their incompetence (because the game doesn't tell them in any way) and therefore the think they're ready for hardcore content and ultimately disrupt the experience of actually prepared players.

And then the following happens: most good players can't deal with pugs and df anymore, they seclude themselves in Discord servers where only a selected minority of players is accepted and they do content among themselves. Who isn't aware of these Discord servers or cannot keep up with how they work is stuck with df and pug and is doomed forever to deal with toxic casuals who think they're entitled to anything but don't have to put the effort. Most of the actually skilled players I know in the game avoid df and "open" pf like the plague. They do stuff with friends or small groups of familiar players or use the aforementioned Discord servers to form parties for Extreme trials or Delubrum. Speaking about Delubrum, yesterday I was in a preformed alliance for some quick runs that took around 13 minutes each. It took me 45-50 minutes per run while doing it in DF. Think about that for a while.

It's really depressing. I took a break for a few months and I returned recently just to be reminded of why I felt the need to take a break.

[Snorky]

I didn't say 'any helping gets you reported.' And I wasn't giving advice - advice was given both prior-to and during the fights. That advice was ignored. Only then did criticism follow. And I don't really care if people respond to that blanket criticism negatively.

My problem is the people who rush to the defense of inadequacy rather than being ashamed by it. It's always been an enormous problem in FFXIV, and it only seems to be getting worse with time. It's as if people want to make excuses for every shortcoming imaginable - oh, were you drunk? High? New? Checking on the baby? Rolling your face around on your dog's tummy? Answering the door for pizza? Blind? Half blind? Half asleep? Fully asleep? Don't worry - if those aren't an answer as to why you're bad, we'll find one. Better than than acknowledging the truth.

I have problems with people being judgemental. It's a game it's not a job. If you wipe who cares?! It's a people thing people need to blame others because if they have to blame themselves they would have to confront their own demons. Seriously, who is this all knowing person who labels other players bad. If a person is not actively sabotaging a group or verbally abusing people or not actively participating in a fight I can see labeling them as bad. But if you are wiping on a fight without ever giving input to the group on why you think the group failed your judgment is flawed. Talking to people instead of at them helps a lot.

[DPZ2]

Don't worry - if those aren't an answer as to why you're bad, we'll find one. Better than than acknowledging the truth.

Or you could do like the majority of players: worry about what you yourself are doing in the instance and work to complete the instance.

Being 'bad' isn't a medical condition, and you're not a doctor.

If you want acknowledgement of your skill, "Go You!!!".

If you want to complain about all of the people you run across that are less than satisfactory at playing this game in your eyes ... start a Discord or something.

If you want to penalize people who, in your opinion, are "bad" in this game, perhaps its time to find another game.

Good luck in your search. I don't know any MMOs with a strict policy of "no unsatisfactory players need apply".

[Wavaryen]

Getting in a bad group is not a big deal. Getting into a slow group also not that big of a deal. People make it out like it is the end of the world. Oh noes a group of people who wipe or bad at this content. Blah blah lazy or bad. Look, at the end of the day. Some people play and have fun even if they fail or cause a group to fail. It is a video game, and if your time matters that much that you must progress every time you randomly get a group. Well mmos might not be the thing to play.


Pug groups are fun because they are random.

[GeminiReed]

I was just in a group that managed to somehow wipe on Behemoth in Labyrinth of the Ancients. I've never seen a raid come even close to doing that - typically it's an encounter that takes all of 35-40 seconds to clear

.
With a 2014 join date on a world in Crystal and you've never seen wipes on Behemoth? Sounds sus. While it's uncommon it happens typically because people put the rocks inside B's hit box or the off-tanks don't keep the Iron Giants from cleaving the rest of the raid.

[Snorky]

.
With a 2014 join date on a world in Crystal and you've never seen wipes on Behemoth? Sounds sus. While it's uncommon it happens typically because people put the rocks inside B's hit box or the off-tanks don't keep the Iron Giants from cleaving the rest of the raid.

I know this wasn't directed at me but this is a perfect example of judgemental. See my join date? I played this game back then made it to 20 and moved over to ESO. Appearances can be decieveing. Just wanted to point that out. No offense meant.

[Rinhi]

I have problems with people being judgemental. It's a game it's not a job. If you wipe who cares?! It's a people thing people need to blame others because if they have to blame themselves they would have to confront their own demons. Seriously, who is this all knowing person who labels other players bad. If a person is not actively sabotaging a group or verbally abusing people or not actively participating in a fight I can see labeling them as bad. But if you are wiping on a fight without ever giving input to the group on why you think the group failed your judgment is flawed. Talking to people instead of at them helps a lot.

wiping in any of the CT raids is basically just that, though, and means that the majority of the raid is not pressing those big glowing buttons in it's intended or straight up not pressing ANY buttons throughout

[DPZ2]

wiping in any of the CT raids is basically just that, though, and means that the majority of the raid is not pressing those big glowing buttons in it's intended or straight up not pressing ANY buttons throughout

Nah, it's more like "the current CT raids were never required before ShadowBringers, and new level 50 players will be asked to complete it with gear suitable for level 50 players, while everyone else outgears the raid to the extent that they can ignore mechanics, except when they can't, or shouldn't"