Quote Originally Posted by AllenThyl View Post
PF has such a problem with this fight because they literally don't do what the guide says, and instead substitute the instructions for whatever the hell they "feel" is right. And since this community in general thinks very little of introspection or critical self evaluation, they will continue to be not get past that point and blame stuff like class balance ("must have a viper", "the secret is having 2 casters", "MCH is useless"), instead of facing the truth of their own failure to properly play the game. Even now, with all the gear, people are still stuck at the add phase, because people don't do what is necessary to clear, no amount of gear can fix that. It's like not soaking a tower, which then wipes the raid.
I sometimes wonder how much the reliance on PF itself is becoming a problem - in other words, we're reaching that point where it's becoming iffy if challenging content in FFXIV can continue to get more challenging within its constraints without just flat out requiring statics.

Which is its own problem because in most MMOs the solution to this is to simply acknowledge that pugging is not a great idea for the most part (except maybe for Mythic+ in WoW, but more on that in a moment). "Get a guild."

In XIV, though, the norm for years has been that you prove yourself in pugs before you get considered for a serious static, and FCs wield such weakened influence due to many factors like mega-Discords, housing (many would prefer to have a small personal FC for access to things like the workshop and because it is easier to get, ahem, "given" an FC than to get a house lately unless you're on a half-dead DC like Dynamis), and how SE chose to handle inter-server play (WoW eventually implemented near-seamless merges on everything, even guilds are cross realm in War Within, while SE requires active travel, making not only FCs weaker but that house on a half-dead DC a much harder sell), so guild groups aren't such a simple matter either.

But when the content starts becoming complicated enough that you need more coordination than you can reasonably expect of a pickup team, then what? It's no wonder people grasp at straws.

This is an issue throughout most MMOs (exhibit A: Lost Ark, which I love to dunk as "all the problems with grouping in WoW and FFXIV combined in a package with a nice little bow on top!")

The only real clear exception I've seen is Mythic+ and I'm guessing that cheats in several ways (outside of the affixes, no new mechanics, just steady numbers uptuning that is balanced out to a degree by steadier gearing; also the fact that rewards stop increasing long before you get near the actual limit of performance, neither of which is the case in XIV), much as its inspiration the Greater Rifts from Diablo 3 do.