When you Love the Story, but are Really Bad at the Gameplay

[Carin-Eri]

Okay, to start at the beginning, I started playing FFXIV mid-December (last year), on a Free Trial account (I registered several months before but hadn't actually played the game) and was instantly hooked - the story the game is telling is amazing and really does leave you with a 'just one more quest/cutscene' feeling at almost every step. I've subscribed and played through to the post-Stormblood/pre Shadowbringers quests so far.

As much as I love the game and it's story... I'm really, really bad at the gameplay element. My character is at level 73 now although I'm not sure how I scraped my way to said level. I feel like I should have enough experience to play my favored job (Bard) at least fairly competently by now but that isn't the case - I don't think a single MSQ duty finder goes by where I don't spend a great deal of time being resurrected by healers, or just completely failing at a mechanic (repeatedly). Anything involving waiting for visual cues ends poorly because I'm usually either too slow on the uptake or staring at my hotbar and trying to figure out what I should press. None of this is coming naturally to me and I feel like I'm a burden to the teams I join when teaming is necessary. I did try reading guides/watching videos and such but haven't been able to put what I learnt to good use.

Point in fact - I hit a proverbial brick wall a few days ago. Try as I may (and I've tried repeatedly) I cannot complete the 'A Requiem for Heroes' duty - I can just about scrape past he first stage (playing as Hien) but when it swaps to my character Ascian Zenos just keeps wiping me out no matter what I do or try. To my utter humiliation I can't even defeat him when have tried setting the difficulty level to 'Very Easy'.

I've seen threads/posts on this forum referering how many feel the the game is too easy and tried talking to a friend who dismissed my comments as me being defeatist - so I have to ask - since I don't feel as if I am really competent enough to play the game at this point, should I continue?

[Ronduwil]

It's a personal choice. If you're still having fun, then continue. If the repeated failures are too much to bear, it's OK to take a break. It's hard to say why you keep failing to beat Zenos without seen what you're doing, but I'm guessing that you're missing a mechanic somewhere. I know it's hard, but try to focus less on the fact that you failed and more on the reason that you failed. Once you know why you failed, you can more easily prevent further failures.

[ApolloGenX]

I have run into walls like that as well. I find that it helps if I do something else for a bit... like roulettes... or crafting. Sometimes I even try another job for a bit, so it feels like I am making some kind of progress. Then I just re-attempt it a couple times once in a while. Sometimes, when you come back to it- you can do it on the first try easily....sometimes it still takes a couple of tries. I will check out a video or two just to see if there is something I am missing or misinterpreting (like a debuff I couldn't see).

It became worse when my eyesight got worse and I had to start wearing readers. I'm old. >.<

[ZedxKayn]

The problem is probably not with you as much as it's with the game just not teaching players how to play. Maybe check this out and ask about terms you don't understand if they aren't explained, a bit of time spent reading guides will save a lot more in the long run.

[Jeeqbit]

I've been playing Bard the last few days and I actually find it one of if not the hardest jobs to play. You have a lot of things to track now - dots, procs, Pitch Perfect stacks, songs, soul voice, coda and mechanics on top of that.

So you have to constantly watch those dots at the expense of focus on mechanics, reserve some concentration for pitch perfect sounds, keep an eye on the song gauge for when the song expires, constantly watch soul voice and hit Apex Arrow when it reaches 100 and hit all procs and I haven't even unlocked coda yet, but that is going to make it worse.

Other classes used to have this amount of difficulty, but they have been made much easier over the years and Bard has not. It's deceptive because you'd think it's just spamming 1 GCD yet it manages all of this.

As for the duty, if you are stuck on the DPS check, you need to kill the things one at a time, instead of spreading out the damage otherwise the gauge seems to build faster and wipe you. If you are just dying while fighting you could try another class.

[Alacran]

As someone who struggles with some of the harder content, i can definitely understand the sentiment & i am sorry it's been so rough for you.

I do feel that you should continue however.

My only real suggestions would be getting stronger gear & attempting to optimize your damage dealing rotations. While i understand this may seem less than helpful, augmented tome gear from previous expansions (full set of Scaevan aiming gear) can carry some well in to their mid 70's based on stats alone.

Lastly, i do understand the appreciation of enjoying a particular job above others, but i would suggest, for the sake of solo play, instanced trials, & the like that you try with another job. Understand i'm not trying to disregard your preferences, but for myself, i have found Tanks have the crucial vitality & sustainability in those fights to help clear the content.

The same can can be said for Red Mage.

The utility, sustainability, & ease of gameplay make RDM a very potent & fun play style that can help clear content for yourself & help others when need be.

Hope this helps & you continue play through the game.

[Gemina]

Yeah, if you're continuing to fail the Zenos solo instance, it doesn't mean you're bad; it just means you're missing a mechanic you need to do. His ability 'Art of Sword' is a DPS check, and you are very likely dying to this one-shot. It is very similar to the mechanic of the same name when you fight him in the Ala Mhigo lv70 dungeon. Even with the difficulty at the lowest setting, that mechanic still exists.

As someone who also has a lot of difficulty with some of the simplest things, I know that your gameplay isn't necessarily a lack of ability to perform. There are so many things that can help assist and improve your gameplay drastically. As an example, your UI and Hotbar set up can seriously make a night and day difference. Your UI might be set up in a way where there is too much information being output, and it distracts your attention from where it needs to be. That is what sounds like is going on more than anything. Especially if you are missing mechanics.

It is players such as yourself why I get so upset when others trivialize the content. They seemingly have no idea players of lesser skill than them exist, or just dismiss them entirely. As difficult as it sounds, use every failure as a motivator to get better. If you can do so, when you overcome a challenge like you WILL with Zenos, the sense of accomplishment is huge, and it is how we are supposed to get our dopamine fixes. You have a great opportunity on your hands to acquire some delayed gratification, and I would not squander it.

Forward!

[Jeeqbit]

I think gear is a good point. Farm some allagan tomestones of poetics, then go to Kugane and get item level 400 gear from the blue icon on the map.

You currently have a 400 weapon, some crafted 380+ gear, a 315 ring and the rest of the right side is 370. The benefit of 400 gear is you will have more health. You can increase your health further if you go to the market board and click the knife and fork, then buy any food with 8% Vitality (get the high quality version so this becomes 10% Vitality).

[Illmaeran]

I've run into "brick walls" and am just about the same as you when it comes to general game play. I quit the game for a while because no matter what I did, I couldn't get past one of the solo duties in the Azim Steppe (Nadaam, possibly?). The one you're having difficulty with was another nut buster for me.

After almost a year away, I was finally able to get past it and continue with the MSQ. I regret hanging up my hat and wish I'd tried doing other things for a while, but such is life. I hate to say it this way, but sometimes we have to bash our head against a wall enough times that either through improvement or sheer luck, we get past it.

As far as general gameplay ability; we're all different and have our own individual levels. Please don't let people who talk about how the game's too easy or other such things get to you. For some, it's stupidly easy, for others like me, it can be very difficult and frustrating at times. My reflexes and brain processing power aren't what they used to be so I'm constantly staring at my skill bar and routinely miss visual clues until it's too late, even when I'm looking at the boss. I can't tell you how many times I've died to mechanics I've encountered a dozen or more times; sometimes it just doesn't click and stick in my brain.

It can be incredibly frustrating and stressful; especially when we put a lot of pressure to perform on ourselves. I'm sure I'm projecting levels of performance expectation on myself that the people in my party aren't, I just think they do [because I read the forums too much]. All we can do is our best, whatever that may be.

I don't know if this will be helpful or hurtful, but I've learned what my limits are, and after accepting them have avoided content that would surpass them. It keeps me from doing certain raids and avoiding certain dungeons, but I'm able to find enough stuff that I *can* do, that I'm able to enjoy the game without worrying that I'm going to piss off my entire party every time I hop into a roulette. I still have bad runs at times and feel bad, but as long as we're able to get through it, that's sometimes good enough.

Something I've found helpful is to use the auto-translate "I'm inexperienced" (I'm on a JP server) when going into something I know I'll have difficulty with. That at least lets people know I might have issues somewhere during the run.

[Carin-Eri]

Yeah, if you're continuing to fail the Zenos solo instance, it doesn't mean you're bad; it just means you're missing a mechanic you need to do. His ability 'Art of Sword' is a DPS check, and you are very likely dying to this one-shot. It is very similar to the mechanic of the same name when you fight him in the Ala Mhigo lv70 dungeon. Even with the difficulty at the lowest setting, that mechanic still exists.

As someone who also has a lot of difficulty with some of the simplest things, I know that your gameplay isn't necessarily a lack of ability to perform. There are so many things that can help assist and improve your gameplay drastically. As an example, your UI and Hotbar set up can seriously make a night and day difference. Your UI might be set up in a way where there is too much information being output, and it distracts your attention from where it needs to be. That is what sounds like is going on more than anything. Especially if you are missing mechanics.

It is players such as yourself why I get so upset when others trivialize the content. They seemingly have no idea players of lesser skill than them exist, or just dismiss them entirely. As difficult as it sounds, use every failure as a motivator to get better. If you can do so, when you overcome a challenge like you WILL with Zenos, the sense of accomplishment is huge, and it is how we are supposed to get our dopamine fixes. You have a great opportunity on your hands to acquire some delayed gratification, and I would not squander it.

Forward!

That OP one-shot IS my biggest problem. Nothing I've been able to do avoids it. And to be honest, being 'rewound' back to having to do the 'fight as Hien' part of the Duty each time is tiresome.