The Trust system will always remain a failure and garbage to me

[Luluna]

I love the trust system I would rather go at my own pace. They are not perfect with some mechanics but I wish they would expand on them more.

I have more fun now with the story and the dungeons as not to be rushed. I have levelled a few jobs that way also it can be quite relaxing

[Daniolaut]

Then do group speed runs if that makes you happy. Why are you here complaining that a feature in this game isn't to your liking? No one is forcing you to do it. Just keep doing group content and you'll be happy.

That is literally what the forums are for.

When something doesnt reach even a decent potential, players are meant to give feedback.

Absolutely he can "do a speed run with a group" but also absolutely Square-Enix can improve upon this system. Its a fact they can, because the FFXI trust system is where they took the idea from, but horribly watered it down. Not only do Trusts in XI do AoE, they also adjust based on a situation, as well as have unique traits such as EXP boosts, do skill chains/magic bursts, you name it.

I will never understand why the consensus of the forums is "everything is fine, dont change anything" except when it comes to "MALE VIERA" and "DELETE MONK" seriously.

[Peace-Division]

I think OP has missed a very big point the trust system was introduced for. It completely negates the often terrible queue times DPS jobs have to endure just to progress the MSQ.

It would be nice if they did a little bit more damage but its perfectly understandable why they are slower than doing it with a normal party of players.

Its a great system for first timer veteran players too whilst new to the current expansion . I used it as a WHM main to study what to expect come doing them again via roulette and of course to progress the MSQ.

Its much better than having your story progression halted by party requirements. Gone are the days where you wait and queue for an MSQ dungeon only to then get a cut scene then be expected to do a trial and wait again like at the end of HW in Azys Lla as one of many examples.

It isn't perfect but its far better than nothing and is entirely optional I expect this trend to continue and possibly be retro fitted into older expansions especially once we are in the 90+ realms of player levels.

[ReynTime]

Leveling trusts is a breeze and non-issue. Just go as DPS, let them do everything sans bosses, and watch movies/series/cartoons/play your PS4/5/Xbox/Switch.
Zero effort, pretty much.

But yeah it kinda sucks they rarely use any AoE. Then again I don't think they should be very efficient, to discourage socializing for PvE content even more in this game, and it's already rather anti-social/passive.

And I wish they had more voiced lines.

[kaynide]

Same! I like the story too! I also play the entire game solo with the exception of stuff I'm forced to group into. I don't have an FC, I barely chat in-game, and I haven't used party finder for the greater part of a year!

However, I recognize that since this game is an mmorpg, I expect to have to see and play with other players. Whether I like it or not, it comes with the territory.

I respect your opinion and don't mean to sound snarky or whatever- just we disagree on what "MMO" means (and that's fine). I'd even go as far to argue that FFXIV's definition doesn't match since they force solo-play in a large amount of the content (notably quests/MSQ).

To each their own.

[ReynTime]

I respect your opinion and don't mean to sound snarky or whatever- just we disagree on what "MMO" means (and that's fine). I'd even go as far to argue that FFXIV's definition doesn't match since they force solo-play in a large amount of the content (notably quests/MSQ).

To each their own.

You're not wrong. I mean, sure the game forces players to play together for instances trusts can't cover, but it's such a passive experience where 99% of the time people will only communicate to say "hello" and "tyfp", specially at later levels, that even most instances feel lonely. The only time it feels like a real multiplayer experience is when doing hardcore content, and that's something only like... 5% of the active playerbase does anyway?
The game practically shapes the players' mindset that they should expect minimal interaction with the way the overworld is designed and the whole "game for people with no time" philosophy it goes with. It might be too late to question the "MMO"-ness of it. It honestly doesn't feel that much more MMO-like than a game like Xenoblade X at this point.

[DynnDiablos]

I love the Trust system. It allowed me to treat the entire expansion as a single-player FF title. It was fantastic.

[Vinupra-Rosa]

The trust sytem works fine. They are supposed to be slower than good DF parties. And I believe they are balanced to acheieve a certain clear time; having played trusts extensively on multiple jobs and on all roles, they all clear in 28 to 30 minutes which is roughly about 10 to 12 minutes longer than the average run, and about 15 minutes longer than good runs on the faster dungeons. DPS queue times are about 7 to 8 minutes on a good hour, 15 minutes or more on a bad time.

Trusts fulfill the niche of being a sub-optimal stand-in for DF at odd hours when DF queues are bad.

They also fulfill the niche of 'immersive/rp gameplay'. The trusts are framed in the story as the people you actually run the trust dungeons with, and they make commentary during the run that is absolutely amazing for lore nuts. Also gposing with your favourite trust npcs.

They also fulfill the niche of being a training tool and their slowness is actually a boon for this purpose; you see the same mechanics more often, which makes them good for familiarisation. That you -cannot- die because dying is an immediate wipe also puts more pressure on actually doing mechanics right.

And they fulfill the niche of being an option for people with social anxiety OR, as in my case, a weak connection. DCing as tank in a DF run? It feels horrid, you're wasting the time of three other people. DCing as a tank in a trust run? The trusts aren't going to be bothered and will patiently wait lol. Also less (nonexistent) competition for gear pieces.

What trusts are NOT made for is a straight up replacement for DF. Trusts are already better than SOME DF runs I've done; if they were noticeably better (yay AoEs!) there would be less and less incentive to actually queue for DF (at least for these dungeons; roulettes still exist) because why wait for queues, why gamble on meeting potentially toxic people, why gamble on hoping for a decent party when NPCs are almost as good? Just do trusts! And people would then be complaining that trusts are TOO good.

I know some people who already no longer do DF because they prefer doing trusts. And that's with trusts being about 10-12 minutes slower than the average DF!

Edit:
Also, re-reading your original post, if you want the title then work for it. It's not even THAT bad. And plenty of people I know personally have gotten it done before the nerfs. I myself had them mostly done when the nerfs came and I was even sober all throughout. Don't rush. Try to hit off more than one objective at a time (like, say, levelling alt jobs / practicing jobs you don't often use while levelling trusts) to make it less 'painful'.

[Avatre]

I ended up using the trust system to level a couple of jobs I wasn't too keen on using, or that I didn't feel I was up-to-snuff with to be efficient in an actual group. Was it great? Not really, since the lack of AoEs made it a bit tedious, but it was still doable. Mind you, I also didn't touch it really until after the updated the EXP tables for it, since iirc it took 6+ runs of a single dungeon to get the NPCs 1 level originally. Rather than 6 runs of the same dungeon before you can move onto the next one(roughly 3 runs per level...for both NPC and you)

[NekoHina]

The only issue I have with Trusts are that they should LEVEL WITH YOU, not independently. I cannot stand to run some of those dungeons over and over and over and even then only those NPCs who were with you leveled. If you want everyone leveled up...here you go again. I just cannot take it.