A newbie's experience to 24 (How can you resolve the tank problem? ;))

[RVallant]

Hi all, thought I'd write a post on my experiences as a newbie so far on FF14. I roll gladiator, I'm a total newb tank, so learning all the mechanics and having fun while doing it. I try my best to let everyone know I'm a first timer, that I might ask which way to go if we come to a fork in the path of a dungeon and hey, I might make mistakes, but I'll do my best to be the best tank I can be.

My experience so far has been mixed, I've detailed it below;

Dungeon 1: Satshtasha!

I've ran this twice informing that I'm new. Both times I've had fantastic groups with very helpful people. Luck of the draw? It's the first dungeon I suppose, so maybe everyone expects newbies here. I got good advice the first time I ran this as a healer and equally good advice when I ran it as a tank, namely: positioning and what to do with adds in that dungeon.

Dungeon 2: Tam-Tara

I didn't have fun here, had a group that clearly didn't give a hoot about aggro management and didn't say much, if at all anything. Bad experience? No, if anything it taught me how to aggro-manage and how to recognise when it's going to be impossible to win aggro back, ever. Tanks need to learn to just let over-zealous DPS or medica-spamming conjurer's to run around crying sometimes.

Dungeon 3: Copperbell

See above, foreign group, no chat, not much fun, clearly a speed run group. I thought I did well with aggro, but wow, I miss the first dungeon, there was at least chatter there. =(

Trial: Ifrit

I almost felt like getting really annoyed here. Ifrit scenes as a fresh level 20 is pretty intense and amazing. I got told to skip the cutscenes, 'watch them later' is apparently the rule. I thought I'm here not just to be a good tank but to enjoy the story as well? Thanks for ruining the cinematic to end up wiping three times anyway cos the new DPS were facerolling content it seemed. Still, we won it, but I didn't like watching the scenes over at the inn, considering a big scene happens immediately at the end of the fight it would be pointless watching THAT if I skipped the intro to the scene... =/

Dungeon 4: Halatali

Nice group, I asked about boss mechanics, was told it was generic, dealt with it in a generic way, got my generic loot, but it wasn't a generic party!

Dungeon 5: Toto-Rak

Heard lots of horror stories about this one for tanking. Surprisingly I think I did ok, only lost aggro once or twice, mostly dealt with everything fine. Cool mechanics here, the web things, the exploding pus things, the goop on the floor, enemies flanking, battery collecting. I liked it, seems a good dungeon, was going very well too, or so I thought.

Get to the end, impatient healer is impatient, ran the final boss on his own with the other two. To be fair, the DPS'er protested, but healer apparently has 'pro heal skills', so I was locked out of the final boss and they dealt with it. Nice DPS player apologised for it, I couldn't fault them for it, nothing they could do about it really and they won in the end.

The downside though? I'm now a tank who has beaten Toto-rak without the experience of the boss fight! Sure, next run through I can skip scenes, learn the fight, tank stuff, big deal. But how many newbie tanks are going through their storylines having experiences like this and going 'eh, screw this game'?

Seems to me there's so many impatient players on this, sure I've only had TWO experiences of skipping/being locked out of content but there's what? Another 22 dungeons to go (according to the wiki), I sure hope they're not all story dungeons or I might just forgo Duty Finder and just run with Party Finder all the way to 50, maybe end up with friendly players and never, ever, end up in duty finder post-50 either. Isn't that counter-productive seeing how tanks are apparently the needed class right now? =/

Well anyway, no point moping over spilt milk. I just wanted to put out my experiences so far. Still enjoying the game, dungeons not so much I suppose.

To those who chill, chat and help out in dungeons, you're awesome! Especially for newbie tanks/healers.

To those of you bugging us to skip cutscenes, locking us out of boss fights for your 'leet' skills. Cheers for putting a damper on new player's experiences. You suck. =/

[kazmiller]

Man I know what you mean. I haven't run into many unforgiving party members yet thankfully, but it's really a mood killer when you do get them. It's always easier to feel at ease when the party talks a little bit.

I always try to be super nice to everyone so if they mess up, like a healer who was off beat and had the entire party die, i try to tell them it's okay! Because that kind of thing happens to everyone and there's no reason to get angry about a game we're all doing our best, you know.

For every unruly player i'm sure there's another kind player out there.

[Eye_Gore]

Welcome to the wonderful world of tanking. It's a tankless job, just so happens to be a title you can get, so true though. You get the good with the bad. I had a rough go at the start, didn't know anything about tanking. Got the hang of it and I love it, not much else I would rather do. Been running the DF as of late getting the adventurer in need bonus. You do run into all kinds, not much in the way of pleasantries. Keep at it though if you like it, don't let some pricks get the best of you, we tanks need thick skin. Take in the critique and not so nice critique, it will make you better in the end. After all it's all about having fun...right? Good luck

[Melondra]

To those of you bugging us to skip cutscenes, locking us out of boss fights for your 'leet' skills. Cheers for putting a damper on new player's experiences. You suck. =/[/QUOTE]

For the record the cut-scenes at the inn are the condensed versions of it with parts taken out, tell them they can either wait or leave and wait anther 30 min for the DF.

[ruskie]

I got told to skip the cutscenes, 'watch them later' is apparently the rule.

Sadly some people think this is ok. I don't. I simply watch my CS without even activating the chat channel so they can be crying in there all they want I won't see it until I'm done with CS. And yes what happened to you with Toto happened to me there as well and I was with a FC group.

[Lucke]

Here are some tips:

-Be friendly with the healer(s). In most cases, they will back you up in any group drama (sorta a golden rule).
-If a DPS runs ahead (or that rare healer) and aggros things complaining you're pulling to soon, let them die. Most healers recognize this crap behavior from DPS and won't heal their stupid selves and will back you up in case of drama (Golden rule).
-You set the pace. If everyone wants to speed run and you aren't comfortable with it, screw 'em. Again, be friends with healers. If you feel good about speedrunning but the healer has reservations, err on the side of caution and take it slow. You won't run out of time, dungeon timers are very generous.
-Stand up for yourself. Lots of DPS and those rare healers will give you crap over the smallest things. Don't take that crap. Stand up for yourself. If all else fails, leave. The stress of dealing with that crap on top of tanking just isn't worth it.
- DPS are expendable. If someone is giving you grief, vote kick. If it's a DPS, you'll get a rep in seconds. Healers may take a minute or to. Tanks are super rare. If the tank leaves, generally the party's over.
- Grow a thick skin. Tanks get blamed for everything under the sun.

Overall, tanks have incredible power, just don't let it go to your head. If a group is pissing you off, leave. Don't hold them hostage going "neener neener". It's ok to be a nice tank, but just remember, people WILL take advantage of you and push you around if you're too nice. If all else fails, get a buncha friends to do the dungeons with. Going into the DF solo is scary.

[FrozenSoupZOMG]

Ima say this, don't skip cutscenes that early, if they have a problem they could tank themselves. Also try to ask FC members or friends to run the final two dungeon/raids with you, those are the ones you'll get the most heat for cutscenes since they're pretty long. You only get that first time playing through the story feeling once.

[Niwashi]

Never skip any cut-scenes on your first runthrough, no matter what anyone says. There are some dungeons (Toto-Rak for one) where those scenes are tied to the associated quest, so you'll only ever get that one chance to see the dungeon in its entirety (short of creating a new character and advancing them to that same point in the story, as that's the only way to re-do the quest).

(SE really shouldn't have even allowed the "skip cutscene" option on first runs. It should only be available when repeating content you've completed before. And other players should be blocked from advancing during those mid-dungeon cutscenes, just as they are during the opening cutscene. Those failures in SE's design are why I blame them as much as I blame the obnoxious jerks who take advantage of it to ruin other people's game.)

I'm glad you at least got some of your runs with nice helpful players to group with. It's even worse for those who get stuck with the obnoxious jerks on their very first dungeon. I've seen too many threads by people whose first Sastasha run was totally ruined, and they were ready to give up on the whole game as a result, for fear there would be little else.

At least you've seen that there are helpful friendly players out there. When you get stuck with an obnoxious player instead, try telling him/her to be nicer and give you a chance (occasionally that can work, if not often), and if they still act like a jerk, try to Vote Kick them. If that doesn't work, then Leave the dungeon yourself and try it later, in hopes of getting a better group to play it with next time.

Players who are simply quiet are pretty common. I'm like that myself on a lot of runs, largely because using the chat window requires putting the controller down to reach for the keyboard instead and then taking the time to type out something useful (slow typist) while my character is just standing there. It's sometimes worth it in order to offer some advice, and if another player asks for info I'll provide it if I can, but if the other players seem to be doing well enough, my chat is often limited to a simple greeting when entering and a "thanks everyone, good job" type of comment at the very end. (Actually, if it's the tank who's new, that can make it easier to offer advice, because by starting each encounter (as hopefully they are) they set the pace of the run. When it's a new DPS player or healer I'd like to mention something to, but meanwhile the tank runs ahead and starts the next fight, it's harder to take the time out to type something.)

[Kinseykinz]

First: Watch your CS's. ...Now understand, that this will occasionally mean that the group charges in w/o you. But really that's their stupidity not yours. Watch your CS's. If they fight w/o you /meh. (this will happen again)

Second: If you were another role (aside from tank), this stuff would still happen to you....only it'd likely be the tank doing it to you.
-Tanks charging into final bosses while new player watches CS instead of it being the healer
-Tanks skipping mobs/ pulling larger packs/ spinning the mobs onto dps etc.
-Healers that forget they need to heal...or spam medica heal...or afk fairy heal
-DPS that charge ahead/dont' pay attention to kill order/etc


Point is, people are people...good and bad in all roles...impatient ppl in all roles and helpful people in all roles.

PS: Especially on primal battles: DO NOT skip your CS's...or feel pressured to in any way. Those folk there to 'help' you...yeah they are getting a sexy exp bonus (or tomes) for doing it...and even if you watch your CS's...they are getting their 'bonus' faster via helping on that storymode primal than they could have gotten it in a dungeon (the low-level roulette spits people out into dungeons OR storymode primals as needed). So basically, in exchange for that hecka-easy/fast bonus tomes/exp, they need to give you 3-5 mins to watch a CS. They will still be outta there in under 10 mins (most dungeons take 20-30 mins for perspective). TL/DR: They can suck it.

[Yumi_umi]

Those cutscenes were made for watching
And thats just what you will do
But one of these days those nasty dps are gonna walk all over you.