Do other people depend on guides for trials?

[Renato]

A common thing I've been seeing nowadays are a lot of parties demanding that players know the mechanics the first week of a patch release. I've always been one to go in blind for things because I honestly like learning and experiencing things on my own. I like the idea of other people actually helping and giving pointers during the fight itself. I know that guides like MTQcapture and Mr. Happy have been around for years. They are nice resources to have for those who simply don't have the time to learn and just want to run through it. Guides have been available for games for who knows how long...But at the same time, I feel like it takes away from the point of an MMO and learning/helping people get through content.

I'm asking this because I'm thinking of doing Ruby EX for the first time when I get some time and I'm feeling like I'm going to run into the problem above at this point because it has been a few weeks since the release of the fight. But I don't want to watch a 15-minute guide on mechanics that I'll probably forget when I get into the fight. Is it bad that I'm like this?

One more thing...No, I don't have a static or friends that I actively play with. My FC is pretty much dead and all the friends I've tried to get into the game quit before they can even get to HW. The one who reached SB quit due to boredom.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

Depend on? No. Make a learning party that says blind prog. Take initiative.

[LolitaBansheeMeru]

I learn it physically and myself I'll put up a pf/join with fc but for the most part I learn on my own. I Don't use guides and honestly I refuse to use them for one it kills out any enjoyment of the game and for two thats not how I learn and honestly I'd screw up more with reading a guide/watching one.

[Chyro]

For normals, sure I like going in blind and learn just by experiencing it.

For extreme or savage I do prefer do watch a guide vid first before entering some practice party, so I have a vague idea of what to do.
Don't wanna hold others back just to save myself the time of watching a 5-10min video beforehand.

Though I guess if I did want to learn such a fight by going in blind, I'd make sure the entire party is on board with that first.

There's wanting a different experience, and there's being lazy and expecting others to pick up your slack.
I think its okay to depend on others so you can ask why you died at a specific point, or to figure out what mistake you did.
But where I'd draw the line is going into a fight and expecting others to explain it for me from beginning to end - I don't think that's okay when you have the option to just learn it by taking a look at a guide (which is often able to explain it better since it can show you visually what happens while it explains).

Just my opinion.

[Frosthaven]

I have more fun when I go in with a game plan. I learn fast on my feet and love progression on the bleeding edge, but I refuse to be the reason anyone else is held back otherwise.

The friend that convinced me to pick the game back up after 6 years kept wanting me to do fights blind to "get the experience", but it always reduced my enjoyment dying to a mechanic I didn't know to look out for. I hate not being informed, especially when being informed in current year is 2 clicks away. My joy is mostly in executing. I don't need any fancy paint by number stuff - just a list of mechanics and what they do.

If I had close friends all at the same point and we were all going in blind, id prefer that. But I try not to waste the time of strangers if I can help it since the parties are more than just me.

By the inverse, I am not even slightly bothered by others going in blind and needing assistance if they are trying.

[Reap00]

Yea your best bets would be your own PT finder group and probably finding a new FC.

[Spiroglyph]

Guides have the benefit of streamlining strats for most parties across PF, so everything's more or less the same no matter what party you join.

It's hardly something you need to depend on - most trials in this game are easy enough that you can prog and kill it within a few lockouts - they simply help making prog faster since at this point most people are less interested in progging it and more into being able to farm as soon as they can, and since guides are out anyway, I guess most people just don't wanna be bothered with blind progging a fight that's been picked apart enough times for guides of it to be out by now.

With that said, there's nothing wrong with wanting to experience and prog a fight entirely blind, you'll just need to find like minded people that have this goal in mind as well. PF is your friend, make your own party and specify that no guides are required and that you'd like to go blind.

[Penthea]

If I was pugging I would to make my life easier. Pugs aren't a great medium for discussing tactics.

I have my own static and we never look up guides. We prefer to work things out for ourselves. We find that to be more fun than just copying someone else's strat.

[Seraphor]

Unfortunately, running content blind, and running content solo, are mostly mutually exclusive concepts.
If you want to run it blind, you need everyone else willing to do the same.
You might get lucky on PF, but your chances are decreasing by the day.

[Brill_]

Some do. Thing is, not everyone learns the same way. Videos are a waste of time for me if I've never been in the fight. Luckily, the concept of blind runs has caught on a bit. I try to jump in those first, then watch video and things make sense.