Practice,Rotations, and DPS

[Seraphor]

Joining a decent FC or just a linkshell goes a long way to tackling the headache of party finder.
Doesn't need to be a static as such, just a pool of likeminded players, who may end up as friends, and who are happy to run content with others with a little patience.

[Tracewood]

Joining a decent FC or just a linkshell goes a long way to tackling the headache of party finder.
Doesn't need to be a static as such, just a pool of likeminded players, who may end up as friends, and who are happy to run content with others with a little patience.

Seconded, for people like me who don't have the means to join a static (thanks on-call) just being able to join a FC run helps, too bad mine doesn't do it often.

[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.

[Anya_Synia]

Everyone has already given a lot of good advice so I won't repeat that.

What I will say though is have a look at your UI, can it be jiggled around to make things easier? Can you put bars in your line of sight so you can keep up your dps as well as see mechanics? An enemy's cast bar is a good one to start with. It is one of the first things I focused on when I wanted to get into high end content. I do the high end content with my FC and then we fill the rest of the places with PF.