Apparently I'm distracting (and not the good kind)

[Fernosaur]

Your response should have been "lol k." Seriously, wtf. Blaming other players for own mistakes is one the most stupid things DF people do...

[LegoTechnic]

More than likely his complaint was that he couldn't SEE the orange AoE effects underneath the Blizzard II graphic spam, not that you were causing more of them, and he was getting hit by some of them. It probably annoyed him because he wasn't used to having to spot around the massive ice cluster, and might not have been in the mood for new stuff in rank-and-file content.

Sure he could have turned off spell effects, but he shouldn't have had to. Regardless you did what you should have in this particular DF, and that's refrain while still keeping up to your best, and if nothing else at least he gave it a while before he decided he couldn't deal with it.

So no, the tank probably wasn't great, but this went down pretty decently by duty finder standards.

[Ninster]

More than likely his complaint was that he couldn't SEE the orange AoE effects underneath the Blizzard II graphic spam, not that you were causing more of them, and he was getting hit by some of them. It probably annoyed him because he wasn't used to having to spot around the massive ice cluster, and might not have been in the mood for new stuff in rank-and-file content.

Sure he could have turned off spell effects, but he shouldn't have had to. Regardless you did what you should have in this particular DF, and that's refrain while still keeping up to your best, and if nothing else at least he gave it a while before he decided he couldn't deal with it.

So no, the tank probably wasn't great, but this went down pretty decently by duty finder standards.

After giving myself the day to mull over this (I'm a fairly anxiety-and-depression prone guy, by the way), I came to the same conclusion as you did. That's part why I ditched most of my AoE abilities in favor of just finishing the run.

This leaves so many holes though:

1. As I said, regardless of Blizzard II's effect, if I had to dodge stuff, he had to as well. Not once did I see either of our HP bars dip drastically to the point where the healer had to rescue anyone.
2. You said it yourself, there's options to turn off spell effects in case there's doubts. This tank had every job leveled to 60, so to argue he shouldn't have had to is confusing. It's not like he had no idea Blizzard II existed.
3. He was tanking just fine, but assuming he went nuts with FATEs to get to where he did: did he seriously start shouting to everyone the area to stop spamming Circle of Scorn/Unleash/Flare/Holy/Ring of Thorns/etc. so he could dodge everything?
4. On a related note, how does he tank with melee DPS? Monks and Elixir Field, Dragoons, Ninjas and Ninjutsus... not to mention they have to be in his personal space constantly to do anything.
5. My biggest problem: he stalled at least 3 times prior to the complaint with no words. For a good 2-3 minutes each time. I highly doubt he was okay with it from the beginning. Each of those moments would've been PERFECT to say what he said (minus the omitted explicative; I'm not sure how well the forum mods deal with language), instead of blowing up and completely throwing me off my game for the rest of the instance. I was serious about little I was left using: I think I even idled several times in the middle of fights because I had no idea what to do.

None of this came up at the time, of course, and even if it had, I'm really shy not to mention I'm always for finishing the run rather than having little things turn into big things.

I appreciate the feedback, though my original concerns had to do with whether Miasma II and Blizzard II are "bad" or not. I'm going to admit most of my rotation comes from head-math and not guides or any expert advice.

[LegoTechnic]

I appreciate the feedback, though my original concerns had to do with whether Miasma II and Blizzard II are "bad" or not. I'm going to admit most of my rotation comes from head-math and not guides or any expert advice.

Blizzard II is stronger AoE DPS any time you would otherwise be using Ruin and are hitting at least two or more enemies. That said, it is also one of your least effective moves. It's better than Ruin but nothing else, so using it is indeed good in AoE situations. Miasma II is the same, as it has an effective potency of 70 on a target if the dot is allowed to fully tick down, but since trash dies too quickly most recommend to only use it if there are three or more mobs (as the dot doesn't always get to complete in most parties). You are indeed playing well if you're using these two abilities properly.

As for why the tank took offense, it could be something as simple as the sound of the move annoyed him. Maybe he had a headache. Maybe his mother was killed by spontaneous ice crystals exploding out of the freezer. It really doesn't matter, but he apparently couldn't deal with it (or just didn't want to), and you adjusted accordingly, which allowed you to complete the instance without further issue. But no, using those moves when appropriate is a sign that you are actually doing your job unless it's the rare instance where you need to focus something down quickly (like a final sting bee), but that shouldn't be the case that early in the instance. My personal guess is that he just wasn't used to seeing it, and it annoyed him amidst the massive bomb explosions that accompany Pharos Hard. Additionally if you're also using Shadowflare then it does get rather "colorful" for a tank in narrow areas if their camera decides to be lame. So it goes.

Sometimes a good player has to step back and baby a less-effective party member in duty finder or you'll never get anywhere. That doesn't make you less of a good player, and it doesn't make them a better one either, but it's not always conducive to get into a playstyle debate in roulette runs. Dungeons are unfortunately stupid-easy, so you don't often see people playing at their best in roulettes, and that's just something you have to be ready to deal with.

[ChaozK]

After giving myself the day to mull over this (I'm a fairly anxiety-and-depression prone guy, by the way), I came to the same conclusion as you did. That's part why I ditched most of my AoE abilities in favor of just finishing the run.

I appreciate the feedback, though my original concerns had to do with whether Miasma II and Blizzard II are "bad" or not. I'm going to admit most of my rotation comes from head-math and not guides or any expert advice.

You did everything right with using miasma II and bliz II. Its actually very common that most SMNs dont put in the effort to use these two skills for aoe as they have to be used in melee range and cost a bit of MP but they are nonetheless essential to having high AOE dps as a SMN and its a shame so few SMNs use them. Dont let that experience discourage you from using those skills. The tank was an idiot outright.

On the visual complaint, its true that a lot of skills block your view in melee range but thats on the tank or melee player to solve, not on you. I myself have party effects turned off so i can still comfortably see AOE indicators and the mobs flank or rear.

[cgbspender]

Snip

In fact, if the animations created by your AoEs were disturbing him that much (why not?), it should easily be fixed by simplifying party's skills animation under the personal setups. And assuming he doesn't know about that, he should have told you about this way sooner.

[Enkonda]

I main SMN and I can agree with everything said here; you did your job effectively and efficiently and that tank had absolutely no reason to have reprimanded you since your job is to do as much damage over time as possible. The tank probably took any and all frustrations from his/her day out on you over something as small as the difficulty of dodging aoes becoming a tad bit harder or was simply feeling particularly mean/elitist that day. He just isn't a very good tank is all, regardless of the reason.

[FeliAiko]

The Tank was an idiot. Bottom line.

Using Miasma II and Blizzard II on multiple targets is perfectly fine, as that's how they're meant to be used. I tend to see the latter being ignored a lot by SMNs I come across, but Blizzard II is really good for large pulls - especially when under DWT. MP cost aside, it's a nice filler while your DoTs are doing their work.

[Dotsusama]

This is why I turn off/minimize party effects. I get tired of the shiny flashy stuff going on and it makes it hard to keep up with what the trash packs or bosses are doing. Your tank had the option of turning THEIR settings down if it bothered them so much.

Also: was your WHM not using Holy? Because THAT is a much much MUCH more distracting spell than Blizz II or Miasma since it covers the entire screen in a brilliant flash, has a loud ringing sound, and lingers for seconds... usually long enough for the second cast to take its place.

[Kumori_Kumo]

Tank here. Blizzard II all you want. If I can dodge stuff while there's a venn-diagram-from-hell of Shadow Flares from the two Summoners and Scholar, then whoever you get can put up with an ice effect that shouldn't even apply to 95% of the splats they'd care about.

Seriously don't even understand why this was a complaint.