ARR Extreme Trials, Mentors, and Duty Finder

[Frizze]

Honestly the difficulty of finding groups via DF is the reason I’ve decided to let my sub run out after the current period. The whole point of DF is so I don’t have to scour groups or forums to find a party willing to run side quest events. But waiting 2+ hours for the same 2.x events multiple days a week without getting a match just makes it frustrating, especially when I’m given <5 min avg wait times. Then I get to the point where I have to choose to continue waiting for the current DF I’ve invested hours into or withdraw so I can enter an MSQ duty and keep continuing the story. It just ruins the game for me. Why even bother starting side quest lines at that rate if I won’t be able to enjoy them all the way through or have to put the main story on hold?

No, the point of the DF is to match people up with groups for content that is run often and doesnt require a special level of coordination to beat. If youve been waiting multiple hours for 2.x duties, then that almost certainly means either coils or extreme primals. If you read this thread, then you should already know how to get these instances run. Ask in NN, start/join a PF group(most likely unsynched, as most people dont bother to run them the hard way these days), or look for a LS/FS/FC dedicated to them.

[Noitems]

Honestly the difficulty of finding groups via DF is the reason I’ve decided to let my sub run out after the current period. The whole point of DF is so I don’t have to scour groups or forums to find a party willing to run side quest events. But waiting 2+ hours for the same 2.x events multiple days a week without getting a match just makes it frustrating, especially when I’m given <5 min avg wait times. Then I get to the point where I have to choose to continue waiting for the current DF I’ve invested hours into or withdraw so I can enter an MSQ duty and keep continuing the story. It just ruins the game for me. Why even bother starting side quest lines at that rate if I won’t be able to enjoy them all the way through or have to put the main story on hold?

What content are you trying to run?

If it's an EX trial like listed here it's best to run those in PF as opposed to DF as no one queues into those. If it's dungeons or normal trials that's much easier to do in DF. EX's and the Binding Coils are meant to be for the higher end playerbase, especially if you're running them synced. If you're focusing on the sidequests that matter it's best to just keep doing dungeons and the normal trials as they cover the story well.

[JowyAtreides]

Where do you get your information of "so many people give up the game around 2.x."? Old extremes are old and irrelevant, this isn't a problem that can really be solved nor is it anything new for MMOs. You best bet is going to pf and try getting a party, but if people don't wanna do it then what can you do. There isn't even any reason to really do them other than completion itself, I would advice that you simply skip them for now and go back to them at a later time if you are still interested.

There was a statistic page somewhere that shows whether people had progressed beyond a certain MSQ point and it was found that an alarmingly high number stop at post-ARR. Presumably due to the stupid number of pointless quests at level 50, of which they are addressing soon.

[Voidedge_Ragna]

After about 2100+ mentor roulette runs i can tell you a few problems here.

Yes mentors drop commonly out of ex trials but why do they do that?

When you play the game for a while you eventually come to terms with how ex fights are handled.

A: pf and "watch a guide"
B: pf and flag it as blind

In other words we know what we sign up for.these trials are difficult I've beaten all but ramuh and i never got close to it, did them all sync back in the day ... for what its worth.

ARR are endgame trials ... not as spicy as the ones we have now but do not underestimate them!

A lot of fresh 50s who NEVER had a difficult fight or needed communication sign up for these because they dont know what kind of jump it is.

When you zone into them theres a high chance its instantly pulled which more often then not wipes you, a lot of partys continue this till eventually someone breaks.

I've seen tons of tanks fighting for hate ... not knowing what a swap is ...and very rarely i see ppl who spam the finisher of their combos.

Healers who dont know what swiftcast is or how much their 2 bar lb is or melee that dont lb.

Often those ppl dont read the chat either making communication a nightmare. But why? You can be carried all the way to 50 and theres a good chance that a lot of ppl you run with in that content will simply be like "dont bully the newby" or simply got tired of explaining stuff to then be burned (does not always but is really upsetting)

If you have a tank who does not communicate you are pretty screwed ...dieing makes for poor swaps.

We looked up these fights and learned from guides because we were there when they were implemented. The new players now just stumble over them.

There is no good fix to this, even if you make a ex trial roulette 2 things would happen.

A: ppl fish for garuda
B: ppl go in full premade.

Neither helps new players.

[Stepjam]

Honestly the difficulty of finding groups via DF is the reason I’ve decided to let my sub run out after the current period. The whole point of DF is so I don’t have to scour groups or forums to find a party willing to run side quest events. But waiting 2+ hours for the same 2.x events multiple days a week without getting a match just makes it frustrating, especially when I’m given <5 min avg wait times. Then I get to the point where I have to choose to continue waiting for the current DF I’ve invested hours into or withdraw so I can enter an MSQ duty and keep continuing the story. It just ruins the game for me. Why even bother starting side quest lines at that rate if I won’t be able to enjoy them all the way through or have to put the main story on hold?

Like 90% of combat content can be done through DF. Only extreme and savage content have people use PF. And PF really isn't as intimidating as it might seem.

Don't quit the game just because people aren't running EX through duty finder. That would be a sad mistake.

[yofiffy]

As a new player, I take offense at this. Ex Primals aren't irrelevant when they're the most challenging content you've unlocked so far. I run them synced, repeatedly, to master the fights and become a better player, and because they're fun.

I use DF to queue for them, and the wait times are usually just a few minutes. I get grouped with other new players who are stoked about the content, and we clear 75% of the time. Yes, it's annoying when people come in blind, but most are willing to learn and have a great attitude. The only friends I have in game, I've met through these trials.

Never tried PF. Why would I go through the trouble? Mentors who have lost patience with roulettes should either stop queuing for them, or, ask SE to change the system. Don't hate the players, hate the game. And stop telling my that the content I've proudly run and cleared is irrelevant and I should skip it.

[Dewslam]

Some of the strangest and absolute behaviour I've seen from other players in this game tends to come from people with the mentor crown. At this point it's more of a ward that whatever duty we're on is in for a bad time, than it is a sign that this person's going to be a cool, experienced player who knows what they're doing.

It's always seemed strange to me the way people will queue up for the roulette intended for them to help guide new players or fill in roles that are missing and finish runs in progress - and then get really mad when they're expected to do that. Way, way, too many mentors aim for the crown just to feel special for having it, basically. Personally, I think Square should be more heavy handed with taking away mentor crowns from people who drop out of the roulette or are generally unhelpful and poor sports about the whole thing. Without fail any time someone pulls early in an alliance raid - ignoring the requests of "wait a second while we explain mechanics for the newbies" or "wait for cutscenes please" it's almost always a mentor, in my experience at least. DPS sprinting ahead of the group to pull everything before the rest of the group is even there or ready? Mentor every time. It, like a lot of FFXIV's systems, is broken because Square designed it on the assumption of good faith engagement from the players and clearly that hasn't really panned out. The least they could do is not reward the worst sorts.

[ssunny2008]

Snip

Necromania!!!!

Seriously about the alliance Raids... they´re easy anyway and there is no point in having 22 or 23 ppl waiting for 1 / 2 players. You won´t miss anything but the first aoe anyway. It´s up to SE to stop the cutszene-nonsense. And being "the first or something" isn´t a mentor thing in that way. Ppl just have played the game too long and know everything, how everything hurts etc... and being the first as DPS doesn´t make a difference in this braindead content.

But yeah, the most Mentors suck. They´ve the crown to feel special or to grind the mount-achievement, that´s it. 90% are like "oh no ex content, bye bye" or wipe all day long because they´ve no clue how any fight works. It´s a shame and SE should do something against those perma-leavers who don´t even know what mentor means.

[Dewslam]

Necromania!!!!

Seriously about the alliance Raids... they´re easy anyway and there is no point in having 22 or 23 ppl waiting for 1 / 2 players. You won´t miss anything but the first aoe anyway. It´s up to SE to stop the cutszene-nonsense. And being "the first or something" isn´t a mentor thing in that way. Ppl just have played the game too long and know everything, how everything hurts etc... and being the first as DPS doesn´t make a difference in this braindead content.

But yeah, the most Mentors suck. They´ve the crown to feel special or to grind the mount-achievement, that´s it. 90% are like "oh no ex content, bye bye" or wipe all day long because they´ve no clue how any fight works. It´s a shame and SE should do something against those perma-leavers who don´t even know what mentor means.

If you're tired of the content then stop doing it and making it worse for everyone else.

[ssunny2008]

If you're tired of the content then stop doing it and making it worse for everyone else.

You can´t choose anything via roulette. And if ppl would stop to use it newcomers wouldn´t be able to finish anything or have to deal with 3h waiting times. And if ppl are really mad about someone who can´t wait for a cutszene, common... does he makes the experience worse for you or you for them?!

And you really should be careful with your second words in your claim. Of course insta-quit mentors or those who don´t know anything aren´t a real help and it´s more annoying than anything else. But there are more than enough other candidates which make the content worse for everyone else...