Tactful ways to inform people that they're playing badly?

[KageTokage]

Though here is a question if you claim you are good and they are bad wouldn't you be able to finish the fight since you know you're so good without them?
If not wouldn't that make you bad as well something to think about.

I know these people who mess up sometimes will eventually get better so why even talk about it.

That reasoning is really flawed, because while you can compensate for the mediocrity of another player to some degree there's obvious limits.

Being able to get orange parses is not going to save your group from wiping to an enrage if everyone else is performing well below the expected level of their gear.

[Gaethan_Tessula]

Though here is a question if you claim you are good and they are bad wouldn't you be able to finish the fight since you know you're so good without them?
If not wouldn't that make you bad as well something to think about.

I know these people who mess up sometimes will eventually get better so why even talk about it.

As the above poster has said, this is an deeply invalid conclusion. Let me give some examples.

No matter how good of a tank you are, you will not survive your co-tank choosing not to tank-swap on many fights, at least not multiple times (when your invul is gone; on fight where the buster applies a debuff, sometimes not even then). No matter how good of a Paladin you are, you're not going to be solo-tanking and solo-healing through any of the Savage fights.

No matter how good of a healer you are, you can't keep someone up through an avoidable 1-shot. No matter how good you are at rez'ing people, every time someone screws a mechanic and dies instantly, you lose DPS. No matter how good you are at green DPS, you will not make up for a DPS operating at half efficency or worse. Both of the preceding sentences mean the best healer in the world isn't getting through fights that have an enrage with the worst DPS in the world.

No matter how good of a DPS you are, you cannot take up healing or tanking the party through through EX+ and even some normal content. You be the best DPS on a given job in the world, and still wind up in a party that cannot make the enrage.

No matter what job or role you are, if someone else just can't perform Black Smokers in E3S, the entire party will wipe. There are many other fights with mechanics like this, either via death or debuffs which doom the party.

Furthermore, it isn't just about clearing the fight for some people, esp. those trying to just get their dailies done. It's about finishing the content in a reasonable amount of time and with minimal frustration.

For the second part, while time and experience usually produce improvement, it isn't a guarantee. One of the first players to get to Inheritor rank in Halo Reach, which required an absurd amount of time played to reach, was notably terrible at the game. People who don't realize they have room to improve will get better very slowly or not at all.

I get that you didn't start this and you're just firing back. But you used the term equity in a previous post. Nothing you say on this topic matters anymore. That term is an immediate trojan horse than will turn anyone off who knows its distinction from equality from listening to you further. In the future, dress up your activism better and at least TRY to hide your intention and use the term equality.

I've played enough semantics wars in my life to know that's a choice of damnations. Use equality, and you get people making disingenuous arguments about inherent differences in ability and "we can't all be equal" etc.

It's also not the right concept; equity, fairness, means providing, judging, and adjusting according to need. An approach based on equality would try to be blind to differences in current needs and past grievances.

I'm not going to use the wrong term in an attempt to obscure my opinion. Everyone has a worldview and goals, an "agenda" as some might say when trying to affix negative connotations, and I'm proud enough of my views to be honest about them.

[Krotoan]

I know these people who mess up sometimes will eventually get better so why even talk about it.

Imagine walking around over sharp and hot rocks. Your progress is slow and painful but you can still get to the same places you see other people going but they get there SO MUCH FASTER.
What in the world are they doing that you are not? You're walking the same as they are, you are going over the same paths.. but something is different. Someone who happened to walk near you for a while said "Hey... uh.. hurts a lot less if you wear shoes on your feet", sure you might figure out the shoes thing eventually yourself, but a tip along the way will get you on the right path a lot faster.

[Rasikko]

*Is the only one using AOES*
You better use some AOEs or I will teleport your character into a room with a bunch of cloaked lalas and a sacrificial alter.

[Yohneh]

Just stay friendly and send them a tell! I'm level 80 and just now got told that I completely messed up my rotation all the time, so I just had to get into the basics.. but I want to improve so I take my time to do that!
If people really want to improve they will accept the criticism, and if not.. then you should just go on because they are probably not going to change.

[Toystore]

I've played enough semantics wars in my life to know that's a choice of damnations. Use equality, and you get people making disingenuous arguments about inherent differences in ability and "we can't all be equal" etc.

It's also not the right concept; equity, fairness, means providing, judging, and adjusting according to need. An approach based on equality would try to be blind to differences in current needs and past grievances.

I'm not going to use the wrong term in an attempt to obscure my opinion. Everyone has a worldview and goals, an "agenda" as some might say when trying to affix negative connotations, and I'm proud enough of my views to be honest about them.

See and this is why nobody likes your cult. Equity has a specific meaning: equality of outcome. People who specifically choose it instead of equality know this. As you've most certainly made the conscious decision because it's a splatter/spatter word choice. One word is much more common than the other so someone choosing the rarer word chose it because they're knowledgeable about it and know very well why they choose it because it's not nearly as common. That's a non-starter because it's mutually exclusive with equality of opportunity. But you know these things, and you're in the cult already. I was on your side because the other guy really started it, but when you came in and started proselytizing your cult is when you lost me. Now despite the fact I thought you were in the right initially, I'm actually more on the. side of the other guy than you because the differences in tact I have with him I can work by choosing or not choosing to engage. With you it's a fundamental misunderstanding of reality and you're not even speaking the same language as the rest of us outside of the Waco compound. Which is fine if you stay on the compound, but you lose me when you start to preach off the compound.

[Camiie]

I'm just another player, not an authority figure, so I don't say too much unless someone is consistently ignoring a vital mechanic. To be honest, unless you're on one of the few jobs I play, I don't know what your rotation is or what abilities you're using. I'm too focused on not screwing things up myself, which I unfortunately still manage to do from time to time, and I wouldn't want to be beaten up over it.

[Keddera_StormMoon]

Depends on what it is.

If it's post 50 and I see it's a sprout, I'm mostly likely going to chime in. But it's usually phrased as a question not a demand. My most recent being "Are you aware you can cleanse Paralysis with Esuna?".

I find phrasing it as a question then taking it from there seems to work best. If they say yes but they don't care, then I just drop it and chalk it up to "You Don't Pay my Sub" disorder and move on. But if it leads to new questions, then I explain and we go from there.

There's plenty of people willing to learn out there along with the people with DPS Disorder. Problem is, you aren't going to know which you have unless you speak up. So you either need to be willing to take a few verbal barbs back from time to time, or just learn to carry harder. Take the path that suits you best.

[FedoraTheExplorer]

Why is there someone talking about cults in this thread lmao.

People tend to not like criticism. That's not on you, that's on them, and it's up to them to get over it. How you go about criticising them is entirely on you, though. Saying "you should look up a guide because your rotation is really bad" doesn't sound helpful. If you said that to me, I'd have chalked you up to being a prick and move on. If you had offered to give me some tips instead and suggested I read a guide afterwards to get a better know-how, I'd be more inclined to listen to you. Phrasing is key. You don't have to hold their hands, but being cruel won't help either.

That said, some people just simply don't care. There's nothing you can do about those people, but the good thing is you won't have to see them again.

[Khalithar]

Dissolve your static because of it.

...sorry I'm still bitter.