Is progressive content or the community to blame for player skill gap?

[Lollie]

Problem. New players running dungeons with veterans are dragged through at speed by players who despite level/ilvl sync are still way more powerful than what the dungeon is balanced for. So, actually, new players may not see all the mechanics that they need to, and certainly have less experience of dodging them than they should.

Valid point, however at level 34 (Titan Normal) players have been exposed to out of sync cast bars and non-orange groups targets, Ifrit says hello. If players are running story content unsynced, which is not available to roulettes, they are handy capping themselves. That is not a community problem, that is a them problem the community is not going to be able to fix.

To add onto that while yes people should avoid aoes its no big deal in dungeons if you do get hit by them you don't die and you hardly take any damage so people get used to the idea that its no big deal. then they step in an ex primal or savage and stand in an aoe and die instantly or wipe the raid.

Which would go back to my direct statement, I draw the line at waiting for people to learn that getting smacked with something isn't the best idea, that is something they should be fully capable of figuring out on their own time without assistance, if they cared at all.

Pause.

I really need to point out something here: Titan was a massive wall for the longest time for a good majority of the community (or at least it was for my server). It was the first thing that made you dodge that was actually punishing - you get it wrong, you fall off with no chance of coming back. It's also one of the first mechanics the game gives you that the animation/skill effect lasts longer than the cast. Not moving in time for the cast is what gets most people killed because they go off the skill animation, especially people that do not know focus target is a thing and may not be looking at the boss the whole time. They will undoubtedly keep failing the mechanic, confused why they failed it; clearly they moved out of the way on their screen before the animation finished. Until someone would point out to them it's based on cast, not animation. This is absolutely one of the most important things to learn in the game that you encounter pretty late; most encounters are avoiding a giant orange area that vanishes when the cast is done.

Just to this extent, I'd have to say the blame lays on both; the game failing to show that it's also casts and cast bars that are important, not just getting out of the effected areas. It would then also fall to blame the community, or rather those present at such failings, that would rather leave than to not even try to help the person to understand. Yeah, it gets annoying typing out things several times, but not doing anything to help progress others is a contribution toward keeping the skill level and experience level of the overall community low.

There's still a lot of other factors to why the overall skill and experience gaps are the way they are, but this is just one aspect of it that I really wanted to speak up on.

First of no this is not the first introduction to off timed animations even basing the assessment off the lvl 34 titan normal fight, eruptions are the first exposure to that in Ifrit, and no realistically I would not expect someone in the Titan normal fight to dodge everything perfectly. Ifrit even exposes you to the concept that enemies can not only hit you but alter your location. The only new elements Titan normal introduced were the landslide attack itself which is arguable since a) other enemies use line attacks (wolves) b) the kiddie bars are up on the first one so if you get hit by it you know its going to push you. c) you are going to dodge it and never find out nor need to know it pushes you. Again if players are unsyncing this fight its a them problem not a community problem.

Using the example that Titan(Hard) was a gate when it came out is a red herring argument. The fight was designed and tested in a no lag environment and once the devs realized this lack of foresight made adjustments over time to make it much more lenient in that regard, clear rates sky rocketed afterwards. Using the players don't know its the cast bars that matter argument does not hold up in lvl 50EX content in my opinion either, (feel free to disagree). Hard mode primals where again you can't run them unsynced via roulette, where your party fill is going to come from if you are lacking people, is the appropriate place to have this pointed out and absorbed.

If you are running them unsynced that means that a) if you had decent friends they shouldn't mind running something a few times (even unsynced and just standing there to draw the fight out) so you can see what is going on, b) you are over leveled and unsynced it and if you have that mentality why should I expect you to want to run anything else at the intended release difficulty c) let someone use you for your tomes bonus and inversely you used them for an easy clear which you didn't care to learn to do properly.

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And now back to the heart of the matter, community. Please feel free to instruct anyone and EVERYONE you see driving in a manner other than lawfully designated how they should correct their habits in a constructive and friendly tone. Even if you are likely to never be on the same road as them again, as opposed to just adjusting to said non-lawful conformity so as to met your end goal of getting yourself from A to B, regardless of whether you have been properly trained on motor vehicle operation yourself (as is the case of most people explaining EX fights in a random party getting it wrong in some manner or another).

PS: Yes the raging and gitguds need to stop. Just leave if you are going to get that upset and be a prick when someone under performs to your standards, (not aimed at anyone in particular).