I understand what you mean OP.

All, these points people are making are valid. Not only do you have to have decent gear, you have to understand the tactics/mechanics of a fight AND you gotta know how to play your class. That's how I define skill.

Every single dungeon in this game is a learning experience where you have to figure out how you can be better at fulfilling the requirements, whatever they are for that dungeon. In my opinion that's when people hit a wall: they failed at learning what they needed to learn. I failed at what I needed to learn. Titan is a big wall. And after 100+ tries (I can count the successes on my fingers) on monk, dragoon and warrior, learning the rotations so I could dodge and be right back in doing damage or tanking, gearing myself with DL along the way so I could support my own weight. I still couldn't get a win. I got to be full DL before I beat titan on my war. Because that's how long it took me. It doesn't mean I needed to have that gear, I means I was not only pulling my own weight, but pulling other's as well. Even with skill, tactics and gear, I only beat titan once I was with people who were pulling their own weight. One shot, no deaths. If someone made a mistake, there was someone to carry a bit more weight while we recouped.

I'm one to get my ifrit wep before doing Garuda. Getting my Garuda weapon before attempting Titan. Getting better gear when I'm getting thrashed. I wish people would do the same, but they either think they don't need to, they don't care or just don't understand that they HAVE to. Because when you're not pulling your own weight somebody else has to pick it up. That's what we call being "carried". And when you start getting carried, you'll probably keep needing to be. Dungeons and fights only get harder and more complex.

All this to say I understand why people would ask for a certain ilevel, and they have a right to. Certain people take it over the line because they want things to be easy, but others are reasonable and just want to have a fighting chance because they've been trying for a week or two to get through that wall and keep failing because others fail.

Party finder is a great tool for that. You can choose the makeup of your team. You can ask for a certain ilevel, and add other requirements as comments and reasonably expect to find people who have decent skill. Still doesn't mean, for me, that I'm not ready to allow people to make mistakes, or that I won't join in to help whoever needs it. When I do the latter, I do my est, but I don't expect a win. I expect practice and I share what I know and think can help people understand the fights better.

I keep re-hashing what others have been saying, I know. But it's just one more voice to add to the call for people to do their research and develop their skills so that they can succeed and not spend weeks in front of a wall trying to punch it down barefisted. Bring your own pick and sledgehammer.

To those who help: make sure you're being direct but unassuming with your comments.

To those who are receiving the comments: we're genuinely trying to help.