"Taking a stand" quest

[Mawlzy]

Still this is all based on your assumption that it actually is ping, it’s hard to know without someone who is directly struggling explaining exactly why they are struggling because if they can’t diagnose their issue clearly then they are lacking understanding of the game. Not directly insinuating anything but “bad ping” is often a substitute for “games fault not mine”

As I explained, my friend usually has an easier time with combat than I do, so in trying to figure out why she's struggling so much with this, our difference in ping is the only variable I can think of.

Like when they described how they're approaching the mechanics, everything sounded right, so it's a real puzzler.

[Supersnow845]

As I explained, my friend usually has an easier time with combat than I do, so in trying to figure out why she's struggling so much with this, our difference in ping is the only variable I can think of.

Like when they described how they're approaching the mechanics, everything sounded right, so it's a real puzzler.

I’m not saying that it isn’t ping but it is hard to know exactly especially since your friend is apparently struggling to diagnose their issue to you. If they are unable to tell you straight up in one or two sentences why they are struggling then this is likely a deeper problem than an isolated solo duty contingent on ping

Ask your friend to explain to you in 1 or 2 sentences “exactly what they are struggling with”. If they give you a clear concise answer like “I’m struggling with the lower healing because I’m still getting clipped by AOE’s” then it is very likely a ping issue or at least a reaction issue that may be caused by something outside of the person’s control like age. If they give you something like “the duty is just hard, things are just constantly going on, I don’t like playing as an NPC” then it’s more likely your friend simply doesn’t understand how the game works at a fundamental level (no shade just being direct) and this problem is going to continue to come up

This is a really easy way to try to teach people how to play the game, if you can’t even diagnose your own issue you have bigger problems than simply not being able to clear a solo duty

[Mawlzy]

I’m not saying that it isn’t ping but it is hard to know exactly especially since your friend is apparently struggling to diagnose their issue to you. If they are unable to tell you straight up in one or two sentences why they are struggling then this is likely a deeper problem than an isolated solo duty contingent on ping

Ask your friend to explain to you in 1 or 2 sentences “exactly what they are struggling with”. If they give you a clear concise answer like “I’m struggling with the lower healing because I’m still getting clipped by AOE’s” then it is very likely a ping issue or at least a reaction issue that may be caused by something outside of the person’s control like age. If they give you something like “the duty is just hard, things are just constantly going on, I don’t like playing as an NPC” then it’s more likely your friend simply doesn’t understand how the game works at a fundamental level (no shade just being direct) and this problem is going to continue to come up

This is a really easy way to try to teach people how to play the game, if you can’t even diagnose your own issue you have bigger problems than simply not being able to clear a solo duty

Apologies, apparently I'm not being clear enough.

My friend has never been stymied to anything like this degree before, and their description of the problem is getting clipped by AoEs and being too slow from one tower to the next.

FWIW they are mid-60s and suffer from arthritis, but this isn't usually an issue.

[Supersnow845]

Apologies, apparently I'm not being clear enough.

My friend has never been stymied to anything like this degree before, and their description of the problem is getting clipped by AoEs and being too slow from one tower to the next.

Okay next questions based on that

Does your friend really do duties in very easy thus being blocked simply because very easy appears to be bugged in this duty or are they clearing harder duties like in from the cold in normal but are having trouble with this one? If it’s the former then it’s likely that they have “struggled” with previous competency tests but have been shielded by normal very easy basically being unable to kill you. If it’s this this leads to the second question

Does your friend understand how ping affects their game? Are they waiting for the animation to go off before moving? Are they watching what the boss is doing? I ask this because as I said in a previous post you tend to gain a kinda “6th sense” for ping dependency and I’ve never met anyone playing with high ping who doesn’t know exactly what I mean when I say this. If your friend has always played with high ping they should know they can move earlier than the game leads you to believe. That should solve the tower problem. 14 is based on snapshots not visuals

If this is the only solo duty that they are resorting to very easy then can they explain why this duty is giving them more problems than other duties like say the one in azim steppe

[Mawlzy]

Okay next questions based on that

Does your friend really do duties in very easy thus being blocked simply because very easy appears to be bugged in this duty or are they clearing harder duties like in from the cold in normal but are having trouble with this one? If it’s the former then it’s likely that they have “struggled” with previous competency tests but have been shielded by normal very easy basically being unable to kill you. If it’s this this leads to the second question

Does your friend understand how ping affects their game? Are they waiting for the animation to go off before moving? Are they watching what the boss is doing? I ask this because as I said in a previous post you tend to gain a kinda “6th sense” for ping dependency and I’ve never met anyone playing with high ping who doesn’t know exactly what I mean when I say this. If your friend has always played with high ping they should know they can move earlier than the game leads you to believe. That should solve the tower problem. 14 is based on snapshots not visuals

If this is the only solo duty that they are resorting to very easy then can they explain why this duty is giving them more problems than other duties like say the one in azim steppe

Sure, they understand snapshotting and how it's intertwined with ping. Isn't it the Ascian Prime fight that has the orbs and a pretty tight in-out check? They explained to me how to do that by pre-empting it.

Like me, they dislike "play as X" and tend to do them on Very Easy. So I can see how this might be a factor. And maybe this is why so many people struggle with this one because Very Easy is bugged. So... you know, please fix it SE.

The Azim Steppe one where we play as ourselves and have to grab the ovoo? That's a pretty trivial (and enjoyable) solo duty, no? They had no issues with it AFAIK.

[Supersnow845]

Sure, they understand snapshotting and how it's intertwined with ping. Isn't it the Ascian Prime fight that has the orbs and a pretty tight in-out check? They explained to me how to do that by pre-empting it.

Like me, they dislike "play as X" and tend to do them on Very Easy. So I can see how this might be a factor. And maybe this is why so many people struggle with this one because Very Easy is bugged. So... you know, please fix it SE.

The Azim Steppe one where we play as ourselves and have to grab the ovoo? That's a pretty trivial (and enjoyable) solo duty, no? They had no issues with it AFAIK.

If they can pre-empt the ascian prime check based on ping that returns to my original issue of I physically can’t understand what they are struggling with. Ascian prime is a thousand times tighter than anything in this solo duty. If they can preempt ascian prime based on ping but can’t do the towers in this then there is physically no logical explanation because the towers are slower (again in the nicest way possible unless they mean “I preempt ascian prime as I get hit and the healer heals me and I call it a success”)

Are they getting caught up on playing another job, this duty doesn’t have an enrage, what is it about playing an NPC that people find so hard, wuk has like 3 buttons, if you get so confused by those 3 buttons just don’t press them when doing a mechanic. You should not need to rely on very easy to do this, especially if they understand the game enough to preempt movement based on ping

As for the solo duty I mean the other azim steppe one, the one where we have to defend y’shtola doing her big LB3 where she does the yuna sending dance. I could also point to the one where we help zero with the voidsent in garlemald or the multiple character fight against Zenos

[Mawlzy]

If they can pre-empt the ascian prime check based on ping that returns to my original issue of I physically can’t understand what they are struggling with. Ascian prime is a thousand times tighter than anything in this solo duty. If they can preempt ascian prime based on ping but can’t do the towers in this then there is physically no logical explanation because the towers are slower (again in the nicest way possible unless they mean “I preempt ascian prime as I get hit and the healer heals me and I call it a success”)

Are they getting caught up on playing another job, this duty doesn’t have an enrage, what is it about playing an NPC that people find so hard, wuk has like 3 buttons, if you get so confused by those 3 buttons just don’t press them when doing a mechanic. You should not need to rely on very easy to do this, especially if they understand the game enough to preempt movement based on ping

As for the solo duty I mean the other azim steppe one, the one where we have to defend y’shtola doing her big LB3 where she does the yuna sending dance. I could also point to the one where we help zero with the voidsent in garlemald or the multiple character fight against Zenos

This is interesting. It typically isn't hard, it's just that many of us are extremely annoyed that our immersion is shattered. (Like at least In From The Cold explains why we're someone else, even if the rest of the narrative is incomprehensible. But how do I suddenly turn into Alisae?) It's conceivable that entering a duty being pissed off compromises performance.

I don't remember the other Azim Steppe one which likely means I didn't find it difficult.

Additional: when we're playing as ourselves we can overgear a bit, mebbe? Like it's synched, but you can max it. Maybe that helps.