Is there a way to design end game content that doesn't lead to a caustic community?

[Estellios]

terrible idea to carry people through HMs...even though its "nice" to do so. People who don't even -try- to carry themselves should be ignored....really , they should either quit or L2P. My problem in titan EX atm is that most of the people I meet should go back to HM and learn how to dodge plumes. And these people rage quit when they die....which frustrates me no end because I'd have no problem trying to explain to the group what/how/when to do things. I have been trying for days now and none of my groups live much longer then the 1st double Gaol followed by upheaval, when titan ex is arguable almost as easy as HM until heart phase? T_T

I think the problem with Weights is that it was a set pattern for Hard Mode that you could pre-move for without any problems, whereas in EX if you pre-move you get people killed. It's reaction time based rather than knowing what is coming up which is rougher for some people.

[jars]

anonymity is a myth, people are just as capable of being asshats on twitter/facebook

[Goodberry]

anonymity is a myth, people are just as capable of being asshats on twitter/facebook

Finally someone saying the truth. Anonymity has nothing to do with being a jerk. The Internet has nothing to do with being a jerk. "Real life" abounds with jerks.

A jerk is a jerk, anywhere and everywhere. That's all the truth to it.

No good person will become suddenly bad because of anonymity, but blaming the Internet for our faults is so easy and reassuring. :P

[XiaoliVorgan]

anonymity is a myth, people are just as capable of being asshats on twitter/facebook

True, except usually you're supposed to only friend up with people who are your friends. You get the sort of fcukery you're talking about when people start padding their friendlist to play app games or just for the sake of having over "9000" friends.

[Kes]

Also keep in mind, gaming as a whole is made up of a WIDE range of ages. The maturity level will also vary due to this. Tons of grown folk are immature and childish, add to the mix actual children and teenagers - half of which don't have the life experience to make them act like they have half a glass of sense/manners/consideration/foresight/humility. So the state of the community is not exactly surprising.

[Velo_Vandore]

Personally, I think the issue is trying encouraging different types of players to work together where they really need to be divided.

Example 1: the duty roulette is a great idea, but bring it's own issues. The benefit is that it keeps the story mode and early level dungeons alive for new players even when most of the community has passed that content, so at least you have someone to play with. The issue however is that new and inexperienced players are forced to rush story mode dungeons (especially lvl50) or get shouted at for making mistakes, because naturally many players wanna progress as quick as possible and want those daily fast tomes.

Now that's an issue but not sure of solution - If you offer no reward for re-running old content, new players will struggle to get a group. If you do offer any worthwhile reward then players will come, but will their goals will often be far different to the new player, causing frustration on one side and pressure on the other. I hope some players will learn to understand why the duty roulette exists in the first place and do the job they are being paid for (in bonus tomes) - to support new / inexperienced players who can't otherwise get a group (and don't presume people are happy to be carried through - some people don't just play for the completion / reward). That said, this understandably won't happen because it's arguable the new players are a minority and should get their own group, and many players care about their own goal and not other peoples (why should they).

Example 2: Correct me if I'm wrong (I haven't reached crystal tower yet but have read about and dread it). The Crystal Tower REQUIRES you to play with 16 random players (minimum). I really don't understand the reason for this requirement but it bothers me a great deal. Casual and hardcore players (and every variation) will inevitably be forced to work together. With conflicting experience levels and goals of course there will be friction and why should either group sacrifice their own objective (be it a quick run or slow and easy).

Perhaps some casual / hardcore check box on the duty finder would help like-minded players find each other? If you tick casual there's NO excuse to rush players or get angry about mistakes. If you tick hardcore there's no excuse for mistakes and inexperience, so expect annoyance or a kick if you're not up to par.

Personally, I've decided to quit duty finder, and use the party finder exclusively, setting criteria as slow and easy, newcomers welcome, no cutscene skipping, etc. I thought it was a good plan but to my surprise casual players don't seem to have an interest in slow runs. Perhaps they don't want to sacrifice the roulette bonus tomes and would rather face the inevitable abuse from PUGs? Perhaps they simply don't feel they should have to? Perhaps from experience they gave up on the party finder (I spent over three hours waiting for a casual group for Pharos Sirius on Saturday without luck)?

If you are sick of the stress in end game content and don't mind failing content repeatedly so long as the group is nice, please check out my thread and contact me - http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...-slow-and-easy

[L-D-Omlette]

Snip

I think you pretty much hit the nail on the head.

I think the solution for story roulette is to actually increase the rewards. Make it so you get like 500-1000 Philo Tomes, 100-200 Myth, and maybe with 2.2 some of the new Tomes, but cutscenes are unskippable by all. Throw Cape Westwind into this roulette too.

They have stated that CT will allow you to have a premade alliance in the future. I don't think there are that many issues with CT, just that the majority of what gets vocalized are the bad experiences.

[BlueMage]

No. There is no way to design a community with perfect peace and harmony where everyone gets along regardless of skill level and knowledge. Not in a video game, and not in real life.

[tymora]

Anonymity brings out the worst in people, but that is just a reflection of one's inner self.
Indulging that aspect without self-control will slowly but surely erode that same self-control in real life.

[SummonerSenah]

Caustic communities aren't specific to MMOs, though. Online FPS games suffer as well without even having "endgame" type content. If you've ever played Halo, Gears of War, or Call of Duty, you know what I'm talking about. People act like they are part of MLG and if you can't play at their level, GTFO as far as they're concerned. They constantly look down on new players and refuse to teach them or guide them, but then complain that they are carrying them. Well, yes, if you don't let them learn, that's what is going to happen. If the more experienced players weren't so hard on new players from the start, the new players would be more likely to stick around and become experienced.