Savage Raids are poorly designed and Enrage is fake difficulty.

[Skiros]

First off, it’s actually very normal for RPGs to have bosses or fights with enrages. It’s far more common in JRPGs. I’d list a bunch of JRPG games with enrages I’ve played through but the list would be very long.

I played every single numbered FF and I actually struggle to come up with more than a handful of fights with enrages. There's one or two challenges on Gran Pulse that had enrages and that's all I can think of.

[Semirhage]

I played every single numbered FF and I actually struggle to come up with more than a handful of fights with enrages. There's one or two challenges on Gran Pulse that had enrages and that's all I can think of.

Yeah FFXIV has enrages for important mechanical reasons, but the FF series really doesn't have enrages. I'm more used to RPGs letting you and a boss trade whacks until you're both totally dry of resources, giving thieves time to try stealing for over an hour of attempts, etc.

[Packetdancer]

Also funny Angienessyo thinks that a single death wont kill a savage run.

I took that post to mean that a death -- lacking any other elements -- is not enough to end a savage pull.

Which, honestly, is true. The Weakness (or Brink of Death) ain't great, nor is the loss of DPS while someone's on the floor; if you aren't well-geared as a group, a couple of DPS deaths can spell trouble. But it doesn't necessarily mean a wipe.

Having someone down during mechanics that require the whole party up? Or where if someone specific is down, someone else will randomly get the mechanic? (Darkened Fire, any stack-with-healer light party mechanic, etc.) Yeah, deaths in those specific scenarios most likely spell a quick end to that pull.

[Atelier-Bagur]

Um....welcome to video games? Like your whole argument can literally be applied to every single game ever made.

[Yeastyloins]

I never said I was the best at this game, but I didn't sign on to play Starcraft either and that's what a lot of these savage raids feel like. It requires some kind of mythical skill that can only be obtained through being born with it or an intravenous drip of Rockstar and Mountain Dew.

Didn't realize "don't stand in bad and hit buttons" required an adderall prescription.

[Ivtrix]

Didn't realize "don't stand in bad and hit buttons" required an adderall prescription.

Too many people put higher end raiding on a pedestal.

It’s much easier to get into than you think.

[Sebazy]

If I knew, I'd address it.

It's time for Seb's quick and dirty guide to getting better at raiding yay! =(

Step one: Take responsibility for your mistakes, you aren't going to learn from them if you can't accept that they happen. If someone else's error is snowballing into you, don't fly off the handle at them but rather take a moment to see if you can adjust something to prevent it being an issue in the future.

Step two: Record yourself with Shadowplay or whatever, upload it to YouTube as private video clips if needed. Your perception of time and space in the middle of complex mechanic may be drastically different to reality. It's all too easy to feel like you kept your GCD slammed the entire fight when the reality is that you repeatedly dropped the ball once things start happening. Spotting and correcting this will give you the biggest improvements to your overall throughput and consistency by far, so try to make a habit of watching your own PoVs back from time to time.

Step three: Embrace the logs, don't hate them. But importantly, stop going straight to the DPS metric. Start with your Active % rate in the casts tab, that's the true metric that highlights better players irrespective of how things lined up. Focus on pushing your Active % as close to 100% as the fight will allow, that will give you the baseline to start focusing more of your GCDs into DPS as required.

[Omegakiyohime]

I don't mean for this to be snarky, but there are entire statics that are unable to clear savage tiers until they are at the ilvl cap and have the echo. If Enrage/DPS is a problem for you/your group at this point, your time would probably be better spent reading/watching some job/gearing guides. A proper rotation/opener pays off substantially even if you're dropping gcds to react to mechanics.

[histoireancienne]

I never said I was the best at this game, but I didn't sign on to play Starcraft either and that's what a lot of these savage raids feel like. It requires some kind of mythical skill that can only be obtained through being born with it or an intravenous drip of Rockstar and Mountain Dew.

This is absurd. I know you're just trolling to rile people up on the forum, but as someone who had basically never played an MMO before XIV, has a full-time job that takes up lots of time & mental energy, and was/is not the best at videogames (I love turn-based JRPGs because reaction time can be sooooo slow - which is very different than XIV) - nothing is mythical. I'm not saying I'm going to be clearing DSR or TEA any time soon - I won't be - or that I'm some aMaZiNg player, I'm not. But wow, I've gotten so much better over time! And I've gotten better because I've sought out help, and had people look at my logs, and offer advice, and so on & so forth. I didn't just throw a fit that I wasn't doing well. And I just set foot in the content on a regular basis once I got over the horror of embarrassing myself. Would a hardcore static want me? NO! Would I want to be in one? NO! Did I clear the past tier in good time? YES, and not because my body was just dragged past the finish line.

Like I said, tippy-top raiders (IME) love helping & teaching for the most part, when they know what they're getting into. If you're joining clear parties & aren't capable of clearing, are they going to be happy? No. Will they be happy to help you improve in a learning party? Yes, yes they will be. Raiders WANT more people in the raid scene, esp. on Crystal. I never thought I'd be raiding, ever, but now I really look forward to Savage patches dropping because it means I get a couple of months of fun with people I enjoy spending time with & overcoming challenges together as a group.

[UkcsAlias]

I don't mean for this to be snarky, but there are entire statics that are unable to clear savage tiers until they are at the ilvl cap and have the echo.

Which is fine!

A static doesnt directly mean a pro team. Its just a team that has learned very well to synergize and optimize through that. They can still contain weaker players, its just that those players are good at the teamwork part. But skill can still be lower than required. But for a static those players can still be welcome as even though they are weaker, they are reliable.