/Accuse @ the devs: have you set us up to fail...?

[SilverObi]

The game's major failing is that it doesn't ENFORCE a high standard of dps play outside of current endgame. It's up the player to take what they've been given and put it together correctly (tooltips help!). An already good player will do that and figure out how to make themselves perform better and better while those who don't want to improve or read or research never will no matter how much the game or community tries to help them. So again I'll say the game does fine teaching players the basics of what they need to do throughout the leveling process, but it's always up to the individual player to elevate themselves to a higher level of play.

Hell when I took up mnk again in ARR after the transition from 1.0, I was misunderstanding how Bootshine worked in a rotation. Know what I did? Asked a then max level mnk for tips and took their advice to improve myself. It wasn't the game's fault I was misinterpreting an ability, it was mine. The feedback for failure is there for those that want to see it and admit to it.

[Sebazy]

The game's major failing is that it doesn't ENFORCE a high standard of dps play outside of current endgame.

Frankly, I'd say it barely enforces any standard of play until you hit EX and Savage.

I've mentioned this before in another thread, but I had a 165DPS BLM in Rabanastre the other day (Not perma dead, not their first clear, no afk, no DC), the group actually attempted to kick them after Hashmal which failed. It wasn't until Rofocale where repeatedly running away with the chariot likely got them kicked. Ironically that kick was likely doing them some small mercy given how shocking their level of play was. They had already gotten their loot so it was no real loss to them.

I just find it sad that someone can get to level 70 and perform that badly in content they've previously experienced, yet still get 'rewarded' for it.

Please pardon the silly title (which was made only for silliness, I assure you :P )
but something occurred to me about how XIV's leveling experience does (or does not) prepare players for max level play.

The thing is, this game did have a very good DPS curve at ARR's launch. WP was perhaps a bit of a blip due to how easy it was to speed run, but otherwise, the last few levelling dungeons actually pressured players whilst Amdapor Keep was a fantastic introduction to the mechanics people would see in the three HM primals. These were in turn gatekeepers for Coil.

There is absolutely nothing of the sort now. Until you hit EX/Savage/Ultimate, the endgame is often easier than the road that leads there.

[SilverObi]

Actual good points

I can agree with how older dungeons basically forced you to get better, those AK speedruns were insane back in the day! I saw your posts of those parses and yes that blm was abysmal, but if someone can manage to get their way to 70 without learning how to do their job, no amount of step-by-step or babying will improve them. That shows willful ignorance at that level and that's something you can never solve. And they did get relatively punished by getting kicked (too bad they got their loot though but we all have stories of dead <job> winning loot rolls).

I will say that yes content outside of savage has gotten so simple that it allows people to be carried, but isn't it also up to the other people on the team to decide to not carry? It's harsh but that's another metric for failure when your team can point out glaring problems and it's up to the player to acknowledge and fix it. That's part of why I'm pro-parser since it'll allow people to see just how good/bad they are in honest numbers

[Sebazy]

And they did get relatively punished by getting kicked (too bad they got their loot though but we all have stories of dead <job> winning loot rolls).

Yeah, their partner was with them so they likely knew exactly what was going on. It's doubly frustrating as the partner didn't pipe up until after the kick but he was clearly rather angry about it.

In the end it wasn't a particularly pleasant experience for anyone, not least those two.