Tales from Duty Finder: Some make you laugh, some make you cry. Let's vent.

[XemnasCorvus]

So I had the misfortune of getting what was a premade in Levelling Roulette, and in the basement section of Haukke I attacked a couple of targets the tank hadn't marked (wasn't quick enough on the draw to switch targets). He immediately began to criticize me (as RDM at the time) and I offered that maybe he needed to weave a couple more Flashes into his routine at this level to keep aggro. And keep in mind, I was using Diversion and Lucid Dreaming on cooldown because even when I was attacking the marked targets, he was losing aggro to me.

Oh, woe betide me. Constructive criticism makes me a "rude c**t", a "keyboard warrior" and so on and so forth. So he and his guildmates from Siren sit down and wait for the 15 minute timer to count down before kicking me, also telling me that I'm a "s**t RDM" in the process as a parting shot. Like a Job that's been out for 2 weeks has any real professionals at this point.

[tinythinker]

I don't claim to be a pro-healer, but I make a solid effort. All I want to see are groups that aren't impatient or ruined by ego-strokers. I've been leveling SCH from 60-70 even though I have WHM at 70 at and it works really well even though it isn't flashy. SCH has taken a nerf but it seems to usually do OK in dungeons. I could get more XP from other sources but I decide to run a few times in Bardam even though I've collected my daily bonus since queues for dps are so long. Had a couple of fun runs, then a tank and a dps are in a group and watch the full cutscene. I figure it will be a slower run but one where two players get their clear.

Nope, tank stopped at first group of mobs and set up camp so I throw on Shadowflare, then the tank moves them out and runs and collects more mobs while I try to catch up to the group. He melts pretty fast, then asks "Can't hand it?" I had a smartass reply ready ("No I guess you can't") but I refrain. I wished I had been able to get that Lustrate faster but it didn't happen.

So I respawn, and I need time to cast Aetheflow, summon Eos, reapply Prot--

Nope tank is at first pull again, so I stop and try to use Physick and to heal the tank but the group is already wiping. And the mobs get pulled back to the starting area killing a DPS who just respawned.

The run could be saved if the few mobs are grabbed and people can apply their buffs, but the tank says "#@$% this" and stands there letting people die. Finally he leaves, and the other two dps give up (don't blame them) and walk out of the exit.

If you aren't willing to work with people of different approaches, skill levels, game-play experience, and so on, then don't queue for Duty Finder. I try to accommodate other people as much as I can, and sometimes I fail at it because I make mistakes or get overwhelmed from time to time, but the one thing I don't accommodate is someone in the group being an a complete jerk.

(Oh and I forgot that after the first wipe one dps asked for a second because their kid was yelling. I feel bad I couldn't keep us up and that you came back to that debacle by the entrance. My apologies.)

EDIT: OK, well did another run of Bardam, tank wanted to pull big but he wasn't as hard to keep up. Had one trash wipe where the AoE was all over the place but otherwise the trash went fine for big pulls. For some reason I got penalized frequently on the second boss even though on my screen it looked like I was out of the AoE,and sadly at one point someone moved the mobile ring into me, but it was OK but we cleared on first try. Two BRD for dps so I tried to keep us up on last boss and rez the dead but eventually we wiped. Second try went really well, so yay for improvement and a clear, right? Nope, tank had to tell us that everyone but him was terrible before leaving.

So, despite having a big puller for my first Bardam (kept her up) and a small puller with new to dungeon on second run that went well (got three coms), I apparently am terrible. I think I am done with DF for the day. I already know I'm not great, so, thanks for back to back insults. (Interesting they were both WAR). Note: I'm not mad, just tired of the people who can't chill in a pug. I mean, it's a pug. Every group I've done a free run for today in Bardam has been amazing for a pug. So good job and forward to *every other* player I ran with today who covered for me when I goofed, took advice that was offered, and ran for fun and for clear. To the WARs, no worries. Blacklist means we won't be together again.

[tinythinker]

So he and his guildmates from Siren sit down and wait for the 15 minute timer to count down before kicking me, also telling me that I'm a "s**t RDM" in the process as a parting shot. Like a Job that's been out for 2 weeks has any real professionals at this point.

Sorry you had to deal with that. I understand why a tank would be mad at dps pulls. But to sit and pout as a group? Wow. And I won't lie. One of the reasons I sometimes take an extended break from this game is DF and the b.s. that goes on from all roles. I don't want to let down good players in DF and I get bored listening to the "pros" tell the rest of us we need to git gud, so running into people who want to generate drama is a definite turn-off.

[Aeonnayru]

Our whole group falls off the edge ASAP, except for myself (AST) and the other healer (WHM). The two of us cleared Titan Extreme while our party cheered us on lol no pony drop

[The_Shang]

So I've got a few new stories, one bad and one good. Both times running with a friend and an FC mate.

After having leveled AST, my friend fell in love with healing and wanted to try a different one (note, this is the same friend I mentioned in a previous story, she has bad anxiety issues at times). So, she tried SCH because she already had SMN at 60 too. Geared her up, got her skills and so we started leveling it. Today, for leveling roulette, we ended up in Sohm Al. Me and FC mate as RDM, my friend as SCH and a pug DRK.

Right at the start, my warning bells went off. Big pulls, or at least as big as you can possibly get them before hitting a barrier. Now it would be fine if the tank was using cooldowns, but he was melting like butter in a hot pan. We managed the first pull, but then we wiped on the second. My friend spoke up about it, tank says he never died in the dungeon in a way that made me read it like 'suck it up'. So, that was strike two. He did the same thing again and that when I noticed he wasn't using cooldowns *at all*. At this point my friend was stressing out from the crap going down and I reassured her that it wasn't her fault, it was the tank for being a jackass. I spoke up about his lack of cooldown usage, and he was like 'pulling big so I can have a smoke'. wtf? I replied with 'do your damn job', he replied with 'lolnope'. Initiated a kick, bye bye jerk. We took on the first boss with just the three of us before we were joined by a very kind Pally and the run continued on smoothly.

We did level 50/60 next because I needed a little more xp to hit lvl 62. We landed in the Antitower with a new, but talkative DRK, which I like to see (talkative players, I mean). With him being new, and his gear barely passing the min Ilvl, we all outgeared him by a massive amount. I really gave him points for trying, especially after we as a group apologized for all the bouncing of aggro that went on. He actually thought it was because he was doing poorly, while it was the complete opposite. It's just really hard for a ilvl200 DRK to keep aggro on ilvl255-270 RDM's, even when we were using Diversion and Lucid Dreaming. The run went smoothly regardless because RDM dps is just absolute nuts. We also figured out that Embolden, the party attack buff that RDM's get, stacks. That was fun to experiment with, I'll admit.

So shoutout to that tank for being willing to put up with us! If we didn't talk like we did it would've been a horrible first run of that dungeon.

[Mysterysword]

So for Royal Menagerie, I got together a PF party, clearly stating that it was a first-timer run.

A few wipes later, people start ditching without a word. Note that none of the people who left, bothered to even remotely explain the mechanics. I got together a second PF party and, now with first-hand knowledge of the mechanics, cleared it with no problems.

And now that I'm finally done with 4.0 MSQ, I just want to say: FF XIV would be great as a single-player, offline game. The worst thing about this game is just the other players in it, and the fact that you sometimes absolutely have to rely on them to get stuff done. I just had so much fun going through the MSQ on my own, even when the story and characters really frustrated me. Seriously, if SE chooses to remake FF XIV for single-player one day, I would be the first in line to buy it.

But since this is about DF, here's one: Trials roulette as PLD, I'm dropped into a Steps of Faith with newbie bonus. From the other PLD. I started typing out some mechanics + strategy explanations, but the newbie PLD decided to pull and completely ignore all of my instructions.

Despite missing two dragonkillers on a row, we cleared on the first try. I'm just... so sad now, that a trial that was actually interesting and unique, has had to be nerfed so much so that it no longer requires anything even remotely resembling strategy or teamwork.

[AphraelAmarantha]

And now that I'm finally done with 4.0 MSQ, I just want to say: FF XIV would be great as a single-player, offline game.

100 percent agreed mrreow! Trying to finish 2.0 ARR with so many cut scenes in the middle of the instances is terrible design decision; players just leave you behind because they are too much in a rush. Story quests should only be solo instances. It's that way in PSO2 and it works wonderfully there so that way you don't have to wait on other people or them getting mad at you for not skipping the cut scenes. And yes topic related because it was duty finder and its what happens when I use the duty finder. I'm not one to skip cut scenes sine I want to experience the story how it was intended, not by reading a silly thing in the inn. At least the waits weren't that long, lel. Praetorium I didn't even do technically because too many cut scenes lol.

[TankHunter678]

-snip-

For me as RDM healing is more of an emergency measure, mostly to make sure the healer stays alive. I've had some lazy healers who just... let themselves stay low on HP when I know the big room wide aoe is coming up on the boss's rotation. They usually eventually get fully active on their job. One of my recent ones (again in sirensong) was like that. Me and the Paladin tank were covering a fair bit of the early healing when our healer got greedy with his DPS. Afterwards he never gave us any cause to do anything other then our jobs and still kept up on his DPS.

[BlastHardcheese]

Despite missing two dragonkillers on a row, we cleared on the first try. I'm just... so sad now, that a trial that was actually interesting and unique, has had to be nerfed so much so that it no longer requires anything even remotely resembling strategy or teamwork.

Ive literally just left a run that went the same way, ran to cannons: Noone there, no first dragonkiller, ran to the second no stun so it wouldnt have hit if I fired it: Still won.

Feelsbadman

[tinythinker]

Woohoo, tried to finish the final new trial for 4.0 several days ago, had patience DF groups and yet still wiped. Two groups. Finally tried again tonight. First group ran out of time, then wow all of the "cut-scene" people in the second party...

... who made it to the second platform first try then cleared on second.

The bright side of the DF.

Congrats and thanks to everyone in that group