Practice,Rotations, and DPS

[Xatsh]

The biggest problem with pugs is finding a group that will stay more then 3-5 wipes and finding one that does your strategy. It can be done though, just expect it to take a whole lot longer to learn and progress in one. You will get some groups who are incapable of learning mechanics, some groups where you will have a person parsing who complains non-stop everyone is not top parse in a learning party, some people who lie about their progression in a fight who know nothing about the mechanics, and you will find the rare groups that will work on learning the fight and actually get stuff done.

A static is 1000xs better as people usually stick together while learning, stick to 1 strategy, usually a whole lot less toxic, and are in coms which makes learning so much more effective. I would recommend getting a static for anything above EX primal fights, but it is doable without it.

When you start learning a fight your dmg will probably be really bad because you are learning mechanics and not focusing on dps at all time. That is sorta expected. As you learn the fight you learn how to weave your combo in and out, when to pop what buffs, and how to maximize your rotation in the fight. The fights in FFXIV are 100% the same everytime with maby a slight variance in order. So once you master the fight and rotation you can really fine tune it.

When you get into harder fights just find a party finder where you are in terms of progression into the fight. Usually fights are broken up into blind learning, Adds, phase 1, phase 2, ect progression. Just remember if you can kill the dummy for the fight your dps is technically high enough, just need to learn the fight and your rotation in it and you are good.

[Absurdity]

A static is 1000xs better as people usually stick together while learning, stick to 1 strategy, usually a whole lot less toxic, and are in coms which makes learning so much more effective. I would recommend getting a static for anything above EX primal fights, but it is doable without it.

Not necessarily true. You need a static that fits exactly what you're looking for in raiding or either you aren't gonna have fun or the 7 others. Being a static doesn't automatically make everyone a stellar player and even in a static environment you can have the people that you meet in party finder, unable to learn mechanics, not wanting to invest enough time into their rotation/job, can't concentrate for very long, etc. If you're fine with a super casual raid environment and just want to have fun that's fine but if you're looking to progress at a reliable pace you need to find people with the same mindset and willingness to put in the effort. Of course this doesn't mean you can't have fun in a more hardcore environment but the approach is simply different.

[Xatsh]

Not necessarily true. You need a static that fits exactly what you're looking for in raiding or either you aren't gonna have fun or the 7 others. Being a static doesn't automatically make everyone a stellar player and even in a static environment you can have the people that you meet in party finder, unable to learn mechanics, not wanting to invest enough time into their rotation/job, can't concentrate for very long, etc. If you're fine with a super casual raid environment and just want to have fun that's fine but if you're looking to progress at a reliable pace you need to find people with the same mindset and willingness to put in the effort. Of course this doesn't mean you can't have fun in a more hardcore environment but the approach is simply different.

what you said is true, but that is where Statics shine.

You can make a group with people that fit your playstyle. In a pug it is always random.

Not all statics are hardcore, I have a static in my guild that runs 2 nights a week for 2 to 3 hrs a night tops. Just a bunch of friends, they just now are working on shiva. They do not care that they are months late to the party they just want to have fun tackling the content. I have a static in the guild that epeens... who went for quick clears and was much more hardcore when recruiting the people... aka need at least 5 nights a week free to raid until cleared. The key is to find a static that fits you. If you are casual do not join a static that expects yellow/gold parses and 12hr/7 day raid schedules at the launch of raid patches. Same thing if you are a no-lifer do not join a static that just wants to casually tackle it or you will get frustrated due to slow progress. Skill wise, just have to be smart. If someone is just not capable of doing the content you have to rep them. Just like in a real life job. If someone cannot fill the roll the manager/raid leader in this case need to find someone who does.