Define a good player

[giwaman]

A great player/Skilled player is a top pvp'er and clears current savage ultimate content every patch.

[Aurebel]

Good player:

1) Understanding of fight Mechanics: A good player knows what the fight mechanics do, the agreed strategy for responding to them, plus the appropriate way to react when the agreed strategy fails.

2) Understanding of their own job: A good player knows how to play their own job properly and understands the intricacies of their own job, plus how to adapt their skill usage to the mechanics of the fight. I.e. Holding off using gap closers for damage when anticipating movement, pre-positioning to avoid having to interrupt casts, holding off on damage buffs before a boss jump, etc.

3) Basic knowledge of how other jobs interact with their own job: A good player knows how other jobs interact with the job they play, i.e. they can recognise the damage buffs that may be applied to them and the debuffs that may be applied to the boss, and knowing how to react optimally to them, e.g. aligning own buffs with raid buffs, refreshing dots near the end of the raid buff window, etc.


Great player:

1) Mechanics: A great player understands not only what they themselves have to do to respond to a mechanic, but also what others have to do, such that they could - where possible - fill in for others where others mess up. E.g. Sacrificing themselves on a tower to prevent a wipe in Sephi Ex, if a tank is not around to take it.

2) Own Job: A great player not only has a deep understanding of how their own job functions, but is also able, given the mechanics of a fight, map out an optimal order of skill usage to achieve optimal DPS/healing efficiciency or to minimise healer burden - for tanks.

3) Other Jobs: A great player understands how other jobs function and how best to support them or work with them to optimise raid DPS. I.e. How to align buffs/debuffs optimally with the group - e.g. holding off on own buffs for Trick Attack window, etc. The difference from a good player is - I would say - anticipation vs. reaction. A good player can react to raid buffs/debuffs on boss, but a great player knows the cooldowns of major buffs/debuffs and is able to hold off on their own buffs in anticipation of these buffs/debuffs (e.g. Trick Attack).


And lastly, but also very importantly - this can be grouped either under "good player" or "great player":

4) Raid awareness: A good or great player has the raid awareness to notice what is going on around them, is able to identify where others are struggling/mess up, so that they could adjust/fill in for others.



Well, that's my take on it. It's written in a bit of a hurry, so it might not be that insightful or well-structured. Might write another post on it, if I get around to thinking about this topic in more depth. This is a topic which has interested me for some time as well.

[Shurrikhan]

One who can keep the final win condition (e.g. clearing the encounter, by whatever means best achieves that as quickly as possible) in mind and remember to always process backwards from that, but can also readily identify all or the vast majority of nearer win conditions applicable to him (cost balances, sync, uptime, cleave, etc., etc.), and can maintain the focus necessary to execute appropriately upon most of them.

In other words, if it doesn't at least indirectly clear the encounter more assuredly or quickly, it's not relevant, but anything that does cannot be dismissed just due to preconceptions or nearer win conditions; the nearer win conditions should be reconsidered to ensure they're the best match for what's actually necessary.

If a player can understand and make use of that, they tend to be a good player, whatever the game.

[Darric]

A good player... - doesn't get an elitist attitude on every single player he meets just because someone doesn't use things 100% perfect. - adapts to the situation accordingly, with clear objective taking priority, depending on how his job-related kit allows it (like RDM being able to cast emergency heals/rezz). - isn't defined by how much skill he's got in terms of clearing difficult content while being sour and brash to other people but how positive he can interact with his teammates. I'd almost add that a good player sometimes needs to stay silent in cross-world parties so things don't go out of hand.

[RamothElggur]

Good Player:

Not beein a liability! that means: "He knows the job(s) he is playing with a fair amount, capable of adapting, good attitude, thinks more about the team effort and not just himself. Points out mistakes or other things like discussing mechanics etc. without breaking out in a rant of insults."

capable or critisizing people properly, aswell as reactiing properly when receiving some.

If it so happens that there is somebody who simply holds the group back, capable of pointing that out in a neutral way without an outburst of rage. (If the pointed out person feels offended, it is not the Players Concern)

You cannot always be Mr. Nice guy or whatever so soemtimes it is nessesary to rais up yout voice to make the point clear. (as above not inan outburst of rage)

[Pastahnak]

A good player is me! And if you don't think so you can talk to the person that pays my sub... Me!

[Claviusnex]

I don't define "good" as based on what level of an instance a player has completed. As an older person with the slower reflexes that come with age I am getting too slow for thing like Ultima but still consider myself a decent player for the content I play. I consider a good player someone who can generally hold their own in group content. When they make a mistake, as we all do, it is such that the other players can cover for it and the perpetrator is back to contributing quickly.

[Vurtney]

Are we defining a good player in the context of this game or overall? If latter then there's more to being a skilled player. It's being a skilled performer no matter what you do and this carries into your activities, including gaming.

You might think: "but there might be people only skilled in games" but that's not really true, is it.

A skilled performance in gaming, experience and time spent gaming excluded, is the following acts performed:

Controlled and co-ordinated performance
-Smooth, co-ordinated execution of actions that comes naturally.

Goal oriented and efficient performance
-Your actions, social included, have a purpose and goal in the context of the game. You know what to do, why, if and when, efficiently.

Consistent and accurate performance
-You can repeat the same actions in the context of the game repeatedly with the same or better results. You strife to learn patterns to gain better understanding of your task and role.

A skilled player is ambiguous. Much more than can be put into words. There are so many factors that come into play when talking about "skill".
What is skill? Is it a deep understanding of actions and performing said actions, resulting in an outcome, in a way that we interpret as skill?

We can go even deeper but i have a fever and cold. Was nice to ramble though. Typing this on a phone is a pain.

[silverlunarfox]

There was a post like this back in december....I will post the same thing here that I posted there...


The willingness to learn, to teach, and to aid others makes one a good player. We all start somewhere.

[KaivaC]

Good responses thus far. I was just curious. Also going through a lot of things in my personal life, so it's been kinda beaten into me to take a break and stop being over-critical of myself. So, I'm taking a break. As for the few questions about what qualifies as a good player...there is no single answer to this. It's your own personal opinion on what a good player is. You don't have to follow anybody else's definition on this: it's what you personally feel is a good player in FFXIV.