Player skill level classifications

[Squintina]

I don't know which one I'd fit into.

I rank pretty high, 80+ (without meta group buffs), that's above average isn't it? (though you didn't define what "low" and "average" count in fflog culture, but I'm usually purple).

But I've only beaten o7s once, and never even tried O8S. It's not that I can't, it's just my static isn't full of super hardcore players so we raid 3 hours a day, 3 days a week and don't really sweat over. I never feel like I'm being carried because I've spent the time practicing, watching vids, learning rotations, and analyzing top players' logs and feel very confident that as far as technical skill goes, I've reached peak. If I ever bothered to join a parse or meta group, I'd definitely get orange, but I'd rather play with people I know I like even if we go slower.

So, as an individual, based on my personal performance I'd put myself as hardcore or low hardcore.
But because I choose to play with a mix of hardcore/midcore/casual people, which a lot of this content is party play, content-wise I clear more like a midcore person.

Since your classification is both content and fflogs based, I don't know how I'd place myself because of the discrepancy.

Personally if asked I place myself as midcore because I choose to play with other people whose skill level and logs are grey/green/blue.

What do you think?

[Mikhaill]

I just play the game and do what I want lol.

[Okamimaru]

This is just trying to stir up unnecessary drama

[Penthea]

What are your thoughts on this classification list?

That it's incorrect. Players can't always be put into nice neat little boxes with labels. Often players can have aspects of themselves that are both casual or hardcore and the places inbetween. Each shade of grey has varying shades of grey.

Never mind how pve isn't the only progression route in the game that can require time, skill, dedication and hard work. Crafting is a whole progression route on its own. I doubt anyone who knows what it takes to be a consistently top tier omni crafter would call them casual even if they don't raid. Roleplaying can actually be super tough work if you're organising rp events. Pvp is another type of combat with its own challenges that has different demands to pve. You can be hardcore or casual in several facets of the game.

LOW CASUAL: Pure fun player.

You were incorrect very early in your post. How is being a pure fun player unique to this grade of casual? Contrary to what you might think "pure fun" is actually the goal of most players regardless of the effort and time they put into the game. It just so happens different players have different ideas as to what fun is.

Low is not meant to be a negative descriptor.

Maybe not your intention but looking at the list as a whole you have clearly created a hierarchy so low ends up looking...low.

why is such a thing necessary? Just play the game how you want to play the game, no need to shove everyone into a rigid class structure.

It's not necessary. It doesn't actually lend any useful knowledge. Reading OP's list doesn't make you better equipped to deal with anything.

[RiyahArp]

There's no drama intended. None of these are value judgements and no one kind of player is better than another. It's just a recent post kind of showed me how different people view what is casual and what is hardcore, and I thought about it some and put up a classification list. They have a history in MMOs: Richard Bartle did his famous Achiever, Explorer, Socializer and Killer typology a long time ago. I kind of notice no one has really done any formal classification of players, and, well, thought maybe people would like something different to read and talk on.

I made sure not to add any negative descriptors to this, but tried to link it to content levels that might help show what people like. Of course there are flaws, i was hoping people would talk about them.

[Squintina]

There's no drama intended. None of these are value judgements and no one kind of player is better than another. It's just a recent post kind of showed me how different people view what is casual and what is hardcore, and I thought about it some and put up a classification list. They have a history in MMOs: Richard Bartle did his famous Achiever, Explorer, Socializer and Killer typology a long time ago. I kind of notice no one has really done any formal classification of players, and, well, thought maybe people would like something different to read and talk on.

I made sure not to add any negative descriptors to this, but tried to link it to content levels that might help show what people like. Of course there are flaws, i was hoping people would talk about them.

I kind of mentioned a flaw in my reply where I was trying to figure out how to classify myself and had issues because of the classification tying parse level and content level- where people might be playing content at a pace/difficulty lower than their parse level in order to socialize - and with players who might be able to parse very well (80+), but may not care about getting that 95+ rank even if they are good enough to join such parties if they ever decided to.

[Gemina]

Let me throw out some metaphorical examples to help express my thoughts:

I love to go bowling, and actually kind of good at it. I have an average of 230, but I only like to bowl with friends despite the fact that I know I am good enough to roll with highly skilled bowlers. I simply choose not to. Meanwhile, my brother loves bowling even more than I do, and plays in a league. He WANTS to bowl with the big'uns, but is having trouble getting his average up.

Can you see where I am going with this?

The way this translates into FFXIV is that player skill cannot be defined by the amount of content they do, the content they participate in, or even the clears they have under their belt. In any content you do, you will indeed experience varying level of skill amongst all the players, and this is one of the reasons why I love and hate roulette. The game does have a basic difficulty tier in the content that is released, and I believe within those tiers you can start to divvy up the skill levels of the players that participate in it.

I am not one to find enjoyment in evaluating player skill. I much rather players strive to be better at their jobs than they were the previous day, regardless of their current skill level.

[RiyahArp]

I kind of mentioned a flaw in my reply where I was trying to figure out how to classify myself and had issues because of the classification tying parse level and content level- where people might be playing content at a pace/difficulty lower than their parse level in order to socialize - and with players who might be able to parse very well (80+), but may not care about getting that 95+ rank even if they are good enough to join such parties if they ever decided to.

Hmm. I think low hardcore fits though, its just the reverse of high midcore. I don't know how to treat overlap yet in this. But i think the mindset matters and the actions; worrying or being aware of a parse ranks you pretty hight o start with.

I love to go bowling, and actually kind of good at it. I have an average of 230, but I only like to bowl with friends despite the fact that I know I am good enough to roll with highly skilled bowlers. I simply choose not to. Meanwhile, my brother loves bowling even more than I do, and plays in a league. He WANTS to bowl with the big'uns, but is having trouble getting his average up.

Thinking about this, but I'm not sure it works as much in FFXIV. The latter part we do see. The former part though I don't. Usually the big problem is people don't play with their friends if anything, the FC divides into raid group and casual group. Usually skill sorts out, sadly. I think this does raise the idea of mindset as a strong descriptor, but then you get into issues. At some point that skill usually needs to get expressed in some way. If you know you are good enough, you do want to try. But interesting point.

[hynaku]

I guess I'd classify as a low casual player. I only play to have fun and pass the time. For me don't ever do any savage or ultimate runs. Don't like thing that to complicated. I'm ether playing this game or watching anime.

[LunaChild]

IMO

Casual - doing stuff at my own pace, not have to have less playtime because I may just AFk and come back to do stuffs slowly.

Hardcore - spending playtime dedicated to certain content no matter how much time they have and how hard the content is.

For example, I will call my friend who is in Chocobo racing everytime I see him online as "hardcore racer". (insert LoV to be meme)

I do savage but I didn't try to beat God Kefka until few months later after I'm on 360+ then I try hard to clear him, I'm considering myself casual raider.

just my opinion on casual/hardcore.