Request for general advice for being good at playing

[KaivaC]

Hm, I think my biggest issue - a recurring issue, I'm realizing through this thread and past comments - is my difficulty in identifying whether I'm a good player or not. Truth be told, I'm actually quite worrisome about not being good. It might be a silly issue for some, but I do hyper-analyze each and every mistake that has been or could've been done by me. It reminds me of a run I had while tanking - I lost only a single mob in the entire dungeon run, and that irritated me to no end that I lost that one single mob, that in my head, I failed to tank period. Not really sure how to address that, to be quite honest with you. Oh yes, on a side note, given recent comments since I logged for a few hours - this is not my main. I use a different character, but I'm focused solely on NIN as my main job, and BLM on the side as a fallback.

I suppose I have quite a bit of work to do to not be so worrisome.

[van_arn]

Hm, I think my biggest issue - a recurring issue, I'm realizing through this thread and past comments - is my difficulty in identifying whether I'm a good player or not. Truth be told, I'm actually quite worrisome about not being good. It might be a silly issue for some, but I do hyper-analyze each and every mistake that has been or could've been done by me. It reminds me of a run I had while tanking - I lost only a single mob in the entire dungeon run, and that irritated me to no end that I lost that one single mob, that in my head, I failed to tank period. Not really sure how to address that, to be quite honest with you. Oh yes, on a side note, given recent comments since I logged for a few hours - this is not my main. I use a different character, but I'm focused solely on NIN as my main job, and BLM on the side as a fallback.

I suppose I have quite a bit of work to do to not be so worrisome.

Asking on the forums is the wrong place since we don't see what you're doing. You need to ask people you run content with, and you need to find someone you trust that you run content with.

If you're hypercritical of yourself, you're unqualified to judge whether you're good or bad.

[KaivaC]

Asking on the forums is the wrong place since we don't see what you're doing. You need to ask people you run content with, and you need to find someone you trust that you run content with.

If you're hypercritical of yourself, you're unqualified to judge whether you're good or bad.

Ahh...yeah, I don't run with anyone in particular, I just go and do things. I do ask questions on my own discord, but generally, I try not to bother anyone about things I experience in-game. Part of it is just that I feel like I bother people if I ask for help, so it's just easier not to. Just from my perspective - I'm aware that's probably not the case, but hard to get out of a comfort zone, you know?

[van_arn]

Ahh...yeah, I don't run with anyone in particular, I just go and do things. I do ask questions on my own discord, but generally, I try not to bother anyone about things I experience in-game. Part of it is just that I feel like I bother people if I ask for help, so it's just easier not to. Just from my perspective - I'm aware that's probably not the case, but hard to get out of a comfort zone, you know?

Break that habit, because you're wasting your time until you do.

[kamikrazy]

I don't agree with the idea that you need to know how good you are in order to get better. If you want to improve here's some steps that I think will help:
1) Find a definition of 'good' and make it your goal to achieve that, find parses of high level players of your class in high level content, or find a player in that category who's willing to share their performance numbers
2) Compare yourself to high level performance and see how you stack up
3) Study some guides on your class, watch youtube videos of high level players and study their key presses and their situation, you should study each fight very carefully and take notes about what they do and when
4) Do the same fight on the same class and repeat what you did in step 3. Record the fight and rewatch it, and compare what you're doing to the previous notes you took on what the high level player is doing
5) Use the comparison to make changes to what you're doing
6) Once you've put in this effort to self-improve, then seek help from a high-level mentor of your class and ask them to give you advice on how to improve even further
7) Take very detailed on on the changes you need to make, then master each of those changes one-at-a-time. Only focus on 1-2 things at once and simply do them over and over until they've become 2nd nature, then move onto the next change and master that.

It doesn't really matter if you're 'good' or not, if you do these things I believe you'll walk away happy that you did.

[KaivaC]

Break that habit, because you're wasting your time until you do.

? How so?

I don't agree with the idea that you need to know how good you are in order to get better. If you want to improve here's some steps that I think will help:
1) Find a definition of 'good' and make it your goal to achieve that, find parses of high level players of your class in high level content, or find a player in that category who's willing to share their performance numbers
2) Compare yourself to high level performance and see how you stack up
3) Study some guides on your class, watch youtube videos of high level players and study their key presses and their situation, you should study each fight very carefully and take notes about what they do and when
4) Do the same fight on the same class and repeat what you did in step 3. Record the fight and rewatch it, and compare what you're doing to the previous notes you took on what the high level player is doing
5) Use the comparison to make changes to what you're doing
6) Once you've put in this effort to self-improve, then seek help from a high-level mentor of your class and ask them to give you advice on how to improve even further
7) Take very detailed on on the changes you need to make, then master each of those changes one-at-a-time. Only focus on 1-2 things at once and simply do them over and over until they've become 2nd nature, then move onto the next change and master that.

It doesn't really matter if you're 'good' or not, if you do these things I believe you'll walk away happy that you did.

I haven't done comparisons in a while. I've been more or less trying to get geared up enough before the maintenance finally hit. Think I'll have plenty of opportunity to learn from more players, though, with, hopefully, a lot of them coming back for the Alphascape and the new dungeon(s).

[TyrTry]

I'm late to the party, but I thought I could chime in just a little bit.

I know the saying goes that you shouldn't compare yourself to someone else, in which I wholeheartedly agree, however, that shouldn't overshadow your ability to learn from them.

No matter what player they are or may be, you can always learn something new.

Excellent player, knows all the rotations? Perfect! Pay attention to their movements without hindering yours, or ask questions if you can.

"Terrible" player (I use quotes because terrible, as well as excellent, can be subjective)? Watch what not to do and watch the results, see if you may be making the same mistakes.

In the end, just don't let it overwhelm your ability to have fun. Don't focus too much on being a "good" player when you could already be a "good" player without even realizing it.

[TyrTry]

Break that habit, because you're wasting your time until you do.

Blunt and to the point. I know it is tempting to learn on your own and stay where you are most comfortable, but there is nothing wrong from having friends or acquaintances show you a few ropes. Heck, at work, I barely have time to see my fellow co-workers, but when crap hits the fan and I find myself overwhelmed, I search for the aid around me to back me up and teach me a few things. All the lone wolf approach does (in my opinion) is hold you back from the best that you can possibly be.

[RokkuEkkusu]

Kaiva, don't be too hard on yourself. It's not like you're raiding seriously most of the time or going for world first.

Just calm down, do the best you can, have fun, and believe that you can win.

Once you win the battle and get your rewards, you can spend time looking at stuff at the Balance Discord or some other resourceful website to improve your rotations. From there, you can find areas where you and your comrades can work as a team in harder content, especially as a static.

[KaivaC]

Blunt and to the point. I know it is tempting to learn on your own and stay where you are most comfortable, but there is nothing wrong from having friends or acquaintances show you a few ropes. Heck, at work, I barely have time to see my fellow co-workers, but when crap hits the fan and I find myself overwhelmed, I search for the aid around me to back me up and teach me a few things. All the lone wolf approach does (in my opinion) is hold you back from the best that you can possibly be.

Part of it is by choice, part of it is not. I've run into some bad FCs on multiple servers with my profile character, I've pissed some people off, and generally, I am just trying not to be a pest. Hence why I post here on the forums and not burden the folks on my discord or in my current FC with my issues over play. But the things posted are sound advice - just need to somehow apply it and make it stick.

Kaiva, don't be too hard on yourself. It's not like you're raiding seriously most of the time or going for world first.

Just calm down, do the best you can, have fun, and believe that you can win.

Once you win the battle and get your rewards, you can spend time looking at stuff at the Balance Discord or some other resourceful website to improve your rotations. From there, you can find areas where you and your comrades can work as a team in harder content, especially as a static.

I'm not raiding at all, to be honest haha.

I kid, I kid. Gotta inject a little bit of humor, let folks know that I'm not on the dark path

Three bad DF runs just put me in a weird, funky mood, all of them within 2 weeks of each other. I'd never intended to main NIN on my main, but when I ran through MSQ as a NIN, it just kinda stuck with me. Then I used it for everything else. I'm not sure I'm ready for a static right now. It would be nice to actually defeat Rath Ex, Exdeath, and God Kefka - but a static is probably out of my league right now. I may give a shout out in the Balance. I dunno, I kinda still enjoy my anonymity...lemme see what happens after the patch is done.