Quote Originally Posted by YouWereIndicted View Post
In all fairness, as I am someone who occasionally pads. It is much easier to pad and play for your numbers and yourself than it is to control 23 other people on your team. Some outcomes of the match are just out of your control but playing for numbers and performing well on a job is still something you can do plenty. I think the only issue with only playing to pad is if you end up hitting the wrong team because it is either weaker, squishier (more ranged = bigger numbers) or they're clumped up more. Besides from that I don't think there's any issue only playing to pad so long as you're stopping the winning/stronger team as well. I think doing both is just fine and it's how I play.

In terms of looking for damage, I'd be more impressed at a SAM or a WAR doing over 1.5m damage than I would some ranged/caster anyway. Some jobs just make it easier like right now RDM/AST/SMN are the top dogs from my experience. Gone are the days of SCH! (good riddance)
I understand working with 23 (or 20) randos can be frustrating, but I still think the priority should be helping the team win. I know many premades on Aether who don't communicate with the team (bit of a clue when the leader types "vc" in party chat and that's the last we hear from them), are clearly padding, or in some cases carrying out a vendetta against an opposing premade.

Since such players tend to be the most skillful, it's absolutely crushing if they focus first on K/A instead of team goals. It's incredibly selfish (although not as bad as AFKers before someone counters with that). Obviously sometimes padding coincides with team goals, simply because wiping out opponents is important. But I'd bet many of these instances of 2nd place going after 3rd arise from padders feeding on the weakest opponents.