When I started I was a terrible player. These days I speak the game's language a bit better. I've seen enough optional bosses to guess how mechanics work on fights I'm seeing for the first time... But I'm probably still one of those lol bad casuals people snicker about. Probably. Whenever I hear people talking about how there are folks who probably shouldn't play FFXIV I get spooked out of tackling any endgame relevant activities.

So my mindset towards other players has evolved from being awe-struck by good players and feeling kinship with new ones to ...being nervous around good players and sympathetic towards people still learning.