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

[Enla]

Another problem with trying to 'fix' this issue is that many of the players who seem 'lazy' actually have disabilities that prevent them from optimal play. There was a large period from when I first started the game in ARR and all the way up through the middle of SB where I simply couldn't play optimally due to severe pain related issues in my hands and general mental fatigue from other conditions. I did my best to stay out of content like Extremes or higher because I knew that I would likely be carried if I queued for them. However when it came to dungeon and Alliance raids I did my utmost not to be a burden on the party. That still didn't stop my hands from sometimes shaking so hard I couldn't get a heal off in time, or having to phone some runs in because I couldn't handle anything strenuous but wanted to get to the next part of the story. I shudder to think of how I'd have felt if someone saw me struggling and decided to berate me for it. Especially in such inconsequential content as dungeons and normal raids.

As my health has gotten better so has my ability to push my capacity for harder content in this game. I'm still not at 100% but I found a group that doesn't mind the occasional mistake for Extremes and above and I've been enjoying harder content more as a result. But where would I have been placed in this 'fix' back when my health was at it's worst? When I actively kept myself out of harder content for fear of dragging others down, but still had to complete dungeons and trials for story purposes? Would I have been SOL because of my disability? What kind of message does that send?

[Kes13a]

this still going on?

wow... here is the title of a vid to watch by Josh Strife Hayes: Casual VS Hardcore MMO Players

I found it interesting, and does point out what kind of hardcore player some in here are wanting to be. enjoy ^^

[Marxam]

This could be easily solved via the Job Quests at max level. After, getting your max level skill, you get an additional job quest that "tests" you and your proficiency with your job in a solo instance with NPC's. This is optional and only required to unlock Savage and Ultimate. They could even make fun little lore/challenges. For example, the WAR quest, you are trying to stop mandragoras from reaching Summerford and they only die to beast gauge skills. Multiple spawn at a time and you need to hold aggro on them to change their trajectory, but don't aggro too much or you will get overwhelmed and die since you have no heals outside of your tool kit. Another example, on WHM, you have to heal a party as they try to carry their injured party member back to Gridania and deal with mobs along the way so you have to help dps them. Along the way to need to keep the party alive and move with them while also making sure that the injured party member is constantly topped off since their HP continuously drops.

These Job Quests are designed to give you an idea of how to perform in savage level content (under controlled conditions) and to exemplify what your specific job perks do in that role. Using the examples above, WAR is a tank and managing aggro and defensive cds is vital when dealing with enemies and also knowing when to stop because damage is getting too much. The mobs also die to beast gauge skills exclusively meaning that your job's unique perks needs to manage properly and will give you an idea of how to play WAR. The WHM excels in hots so having a party member constantly losing HP teaches the importance of keeping players topped off with regens and medica 2 but since these are MP expensive skill you dont' want to spam it. You are also constantly moving to get back to Gridania so you will encounter multiple threats that require you to use you other kits to prevent damage, and deal damage or you will get overwhelmed and your healing will not be enough to survive.

Of course these job "tests" will only be active during relevant expansions. Once a new expansion drops they can remove all the lvl sync and this will just be a fun little quest with some extra exp so you can face roll it while leveling and unlock old savage content on your way to the new level cap where there will be another job exclusive test waiting designed for new tool kit and a reminder of what your role does.

Extreme/Unreal content and anything below that will just have to deal with the "free-rider" problem since this a game geared towards casuals and they should not be barred from difficult content, to an extent. Imo they shouldn't do anything except making sure player reports are followed up on. However, Savage and Ultimate on the other hand require higher skill and execution with 90% of the player base may never touch, when it is relevant content. That's my only issue with the carry players, filling up a weekly clear Savage PF only to waste time wiping and the party disbanding after realizing someone got carried. In PF you don't have the luxury of a static and imo it requires more skill since there is mostly no comms, you have to know your role and adjust on the fly purely by observing the current game state and not being told by someone what to do. I draw the line at Savage since there is nothing more annoying than sitting in PF with 7/8 for over 30 mins, trying to get your weekly done, have someone join then after a few pulls realize that the dps is too low or someone isn't performing up to standard and the PF disbands. This also on reset day as well and the quality only gets worse for PF as it gets later in the week.

I can deal with leechers in any content outside of savage since its not a big deal to me, though it does leave a bad taste in my mouth. Thankfully there are plenty of other ways to cap tomes, gain exp, etc. but leechers exist in any online game and the only true solution outside of investing your time to try to help them improve, assuming they even will or want to improve in the end, is to just ignore them or remove them from a party if they are a known leecher. If they implement my suggestion it would at least slow them down from entering savage to a degree since clearing those optional job quests does require a certain level of mastery of your job and role.

[Seera1024]

Question remains why should a person that tanked the floor be eligible for reward simply for existing? What positive "vibe" is worth rewarding someone doing nothing?

Unless you are under the assumption that a person who tanks the floor did aid the group with their meme existence because without said person they would not be able to have access to the LB or some weird thing so they did in fact contribute or if the encounter was cleared despite the floor tank so as such their contributions was irrelevant so what does it matter.

I mean generally I am not one for participation rewards.

Because if content is cleared then you contributed to that win.

If in an Olympic football match a player misses all of the shots they take and they take a lot, but their country still gets gold, they get a gold medal. They don't get told they don't get gold because they had a bad day or the other team's goalie was that good.

If you fail to complete the duty either because you personally left, your group voted to abandon, you got kicked, or the timer ran out, you don't anything. You don't get a participating reward for anything you hadn't already completed in that content.

EDIT: Yes, this makes it harder for leachers to be caught but I'd hope that most groups would kick players who are intentionally doing this. I don't consider players with disabilities playing to their best ability to be leaching, though. And they can be hard to distinguish from the ones just doing it to avoid putting in the work.

[Awha]

Because if content is cleared then you contributed to that win.

If in an Olympic football match a player misses all of the shots they take and they take a lot, but their country still gets gold, they get a gold medal. They don't get told they don't get gold because they had a bad day or the other team's goalie was that good.

If you fail to complete the duty either because you personally left, your group voted to abandon, you got kicked, or the timer ran out, you don't anything. You don't get a participating reward for anything you hadn't already completed in that content.

EDIT: Yes, this makes it harder for leachers to be caught but I'd hope that most groups would kick players who are intentionally doing this. I don't consider players with disabilities playing to their best ability to be leaching, though. And they can be hard to distinguish from the ones just doing it to avoid putting in the work.

Yeah, not exactly sure how someone who is tanking the floor contributed to a clear and I do get that me wiping a group just to remove the floor tank is in poor taste cause yes it would have been possible but personally I truly do not like when players get an equal chance at rewards for doing nothing.

Though I get my view is in the minority since as for your Olympics stance if I did next to nothing to expect breath I would not accept the medal being rewarded for being a hinderence to the team is funny take in my opinion.

[Nyarlha]

This thread : "But disabled players!"

Meanwhile, disabled players : https://twitter.com/MeowMeowingman/s...12856290086917

[TaleraRistain]

Though I get my view is in the minority since as for your Olympics stance if I did next to nothing to expect breath I would not accept the medal being rewarded for being a hinderence to the team is funny take in my opinion.

It goes back to the old adage, there is no "i" in team. You succeed or fail together.

[SturmChurro]

Someone who is dead for the majority of content, or is barely doing anything and failing mechanics constantly, frankly only "contributed" to the lessened queue time. However, with how much longer the instance can take, the time saved is lost (and then some) inside. The fact of the matter is, if a player like that were to leave or get kicked, the content could be cleared just fine without them - sometimes even easier, if we are talking about something like 'The Twinning' or 'The Grand Cosmos' with a player breaking all the glass, or destroying all the furniture. Really, any kind of content where they can drop mechanics on others. Just saying.

[Awha]

Someone who is dead for the majority of content, or is barely doing anything and failing mechanics constantly, frankly only "contributed" to the lessened queue time. However, with how much longer the instance can take, the time saved is lost (and then some) inside. The fact of the matter is, if a player like that were to leave or get kicked, the content could be cleared just fine without them - sometimes even easier, if we are talking about something like 'The Twinning' or 'The Grand Cosmos' with a player breaking all the glass, or destroying all the furniture. Really, any kind of content where they can drop mechanics on others. Just saying.

Aye and this puts people in a weird spot just bite the bullet and clear the fight with them or wipe to remove them. Fun choices! :P

[DPZ2]

Someone who is dead for the majority of content,

If someone is dead for the majority of content, that means the healer didn't rez them for the majority of content. Deliberate on your part? (Asked since your identity here is WHM).