Elle's Dungeoneering Etiquette

[SapphireSiren]

This guide is to help people get through dungeons in the most pain-free and efficient way possible.

Dungeoneer Party Roles:

Tank: The meat shield, Enemies are stuck to them like glue, usually.
Healer: A cloth support class, squishy and specialized in role.
DPS: Damage Per Second, a rate of measure for the output of damage. these are the majority of most parties.
CC/Utility: These are your Interrupt and stun/sleep classes. Required in later dungeons/raids.


Your Dungeon party debut:

You have just queued into your dungeon and are roaring and ready to go. Please take a moment to greet your fellow dungeoneers, it could brighten their day or at least let them know that you are able to communicate. Communication plays a super vital role in dungeons, raids, and trials. The most common and reliable method of communication is by party chat, provided in the game, though other pre-made groups or advanced groups may use a voice chat client such as, Ventrillo, Mumble, RaidCall, Skype, Dolby Axon, TeamSpeak, or any of a slough of other programs.
Gratz, you've just said "Hello world!" to your party and now people can feel a tiny bit better about whether or not you can communicate and possibly follow instructions. Now the fun can begin.

Before Your First Pull:

Anybody who is new to the dungeon should speak up now. There is no shame in being new and not knowing what to do.Some of the more experienced players should have no issues with explaining a bit when needed.
Buffs from your Healer or Utility classes should be cast now. Protect and Stoneskin should be in every healer's spell list if they are playing an advanced healing class. Tanks need to make sure they are in Shield Oath or Defiance, if they have it, before running out for the first pull.

Your First Pull:

Chaos! Death! Oops?
Everybody in your group has attacked, before the tank could get aggro. It was a mess. Everybody has just died because nobody did what they were supposed to, or stepped away for a ninja moment.
What should have happened.
"It's only <insert dungeon name here>, we can do it solo." This is a poor attitude to have, and harmful to the community. "I want this dungeon to be a speed run." This is a lazy attitude to have, and does not allow newer players, or new to their role, to learn the dungeon or game properly.

Play-by-play of how it should have gone:
Tank, the first person to come out of the entrance, should open their pull with their lvl 15 ranged attack(if you don't have a lvl 15 ranged attack as a tank you need to exit the dungeon now and do your class quests). All other classes should wait until the enemies are near the tank and that the tank has Flashed or Overpowered at least twice before even thinking of attacking. Tank should flash or overpower again every few heals received to keep up with the aggro that healers generate by healing.
Time to attack, you should at this moment "/assist <2>(or whatever party slot number your tank is in)" and begin the assault on the enemies in front of your party. Exception to this is the Healer, who should be mindful of their aggro via healing and try not to needlessly over heal the tank. DPS should never take any physical damage from enemies in a dungeon. Your first enemy just fell, time to "/assist <2>" again to ensure you are attacking the proper enemy now. Sometimes a Tank will mark enemies with numbers above their heads, this is a kill order. The enemies might have certain abilities or hit harder so the Tank wants those vanquished as early in the fight as possible. If there is a Kill order up, stick to it like you life depended on it. If, for any reason you happen to have pulled hate from your tank please run toward the tank with the enemy so the tank does not have to chase both you and the monster trying to get hate back.
Congratulations, you've survived your first pull of the dungeon. Now, to rinse and repeat all the way to the first Mini-Boss of your dungeon.

Your First Mini-Boss:

Take a moment to review any special abilities the boss might have with the more experienced players. Every boss is slightly different, and adds new, sometimes unexpected, mechanics to the fights from that point on. The most important thing to mind is there you are standing. Don't stand in the Telegraphed AoE zones or any pools of anything unless the tank tells you to stand in/near/behind something, then stand at that something the best you can. After the tank pulls, and has the boss into a position they are happy with(wait for the boss to stop moving before you start hitting) it is time to let loose. A few minutes of fighting later, your boss should be nearly dead. This is the time where a tank might call out for a LimitBreak, or a LB, which should be used by a Melee unless otherwise specified (i.e. "SMN/BLM LB!" or "BRD/HEAL LB!"). Though, some tanks/parties prefer to store up the Limit Gauge for the final bosses. Congratulations, you've defeated your boss and now have a chance to roll on a shiny new piece of armor or weapon.
Time to move on and repeat the pull process until you either reach the next Mini-Boss or the Dungeon Boss. Remember to ALWAYS stay behind your tank unless there is an active fight, then be mindful of patrolling encounters and nearby enemy groups that might aggro if you get too close to them causing extra stress and slight panic from the tank and healer.


Your Dungeon-Boss:

You've made it to the end, the exit is in sight... yet, there is something blocking the way. It is larger than anything you've seen in your previous fights.
Take a moment to re-buff if needed(which you probably will), ask questions, and make sure you don't have to pee because the fight might last a bit. Communicate what you are going to be doing during the fight, and see if there are specific places you need to be standing or not standing. Proceed to fight like you did earlier, being mindful of the Telegraphed AoEs and do what you are supposed to do. Sometimes there will be additional enemies that spawn during a fight. Do not hit them until your tank has picked them up and has aggro on them. Fights that you know enemies will be spawning in the middle of are bad fights to be using a regenerative healing spell during, as the enemies will instantly aggro to your healer and make it harder for the tank to pull off of them.
Congratulations you've completed the dungeon, possibly leveled up, and found equipment that was more powerful than what you came in wearing.

RECAP:
1) Know your role, and have your vital abilities ready for use
2) Be patient. Don't rush everything, sloppy dungeoneering makes it harder on everybody in the party.
3) /assist <2>(or<3>) : if you don't have a macro for it, make one. Dungeons will go much smoother for everybody involved if you aren't wasting resources such as MP for healing or adding stress to tanks because you aren't attacking the right thing.
4) Get to know your dungeons. if it is your first time in a dungeon ask questions or watch a video( I prefer MTQcapture's videos as they are all inclusive and show the most important things to know.
5) Communication! Talk! Say something! Acknowledge your party in any way, especially if you are a tank. Nothing is worse than somebody running around, not knowing what they are doing, making things worse for everybody. Nobody wants to party with that, nobody.

~Elle