How do you like to experience group content the first time?

[BunniEclair]

I prefer going in blind to new content. For extreme content, if I didn’t get around to it in the first few days, I’ll look up a vid to see what pug strats are, since I don’t have a static.

I’ve been playing long enough that I no longer run into any real issues with normal content. It’s pretty easy to figure out, so it’s fun to experience it fresh without worrying too much.

[van_arn]

It’s only considerate to read a guide if one exists. If you’re attempting ex/savage content before a guide exists, you probably don’t need one.

That said, since ex/savage content is done through pf the party rules determine whether you have the option to go in blind. You should expect a kick/blacklist if you join a learning party requesting you watch a guide first if you don’t at least have an idea of what’s coming up.

Dungeon guides, though, are unnecessary and a waste of creation time.

[Kuroka]

Theres only one way to me and thats blind, after a clear or like, 15% enrage or smt i might look up a guide so i got a common strat but id never watch a guide first, it would kill all fun. Without fun its pointless to me^^

[DrWho2010]

well MPK, you've severely disappointed me. I thought better of you /s

[Aomine1992]

Blind of course, I usually prog on content drop days. Plus you can avoid headaches of just learning one way and being inflexible as we learned from the Shiva tier....it's more enjoyable learning Savage that way in my opinion.

[Vidact]

Always blind, it's way more fun to figure out fights as you go.

[StriderShinryu]

If I can Trust it, I'll do it that way. If I can't, I usually watch a guide. I'm not too bad at executing once I know what to do, but I'm pretty bad at figuring things out/reacting in the heat of the moment so I know if I'm doing something with a group blind I'll just drag the rest of the group down.

[Ralph2449]

Blind is always far more fun and the way an mmorpg is meant to be played, you have to figure things out and think how to deal with the mechanics because sometimes the solution might be different based on your composition or even player preferences.

Especially if you got your own group of friends so you get to experience the above instead of just "lol copy what X streamer did, thinking is hard"

Now if I am doing something solo on duty finder I ll probably check vids for extreme and above since they are so very different and from my Ramuh extreme groups you definitely need a few ppl that know what is going on to explain to others, that one took me like 5 groups to get xD

[Jeeqbit]

If it's a story dungeon or trial, you can do it completely blind. People who do it when it releases have no choice but to do it blind anyway and they are usually fine.

In fact, when you have done them on release day you start to realise that the guides over-analysed it - spending minutes explaining a mechanic that lasts a split second and can even be ignored in practice. I don't blame the guides for that, they are supposed to do this to give you a thorough understanding of that (non-threatening) mechanic, so the answer is it's up to you if you watch it, but it's not necessary.

For high-end versions like (Extreme) and (Savage), I recommend watching a guide when matching with random people. They are usually unprepared enough and struggle to get anywhere as it is, so not having watched a guide will hinder progress even further. If the party all agree it can be done blind in the description, then that's acceptable and you can find blind parties occasionally.

Personally, I do story content blind, and I watch a guide for high-end content if I feel that, based on the normal version, it will be necessary. After playing for long enough I can mostly predict what the high-end version will be like though, so sometimes I just jump in blind and figure it all out immediately from experience. I did this for a lot of Shadowbringers extremes.

Whether I watch a guide really depends on if I feel like not watching one will hold the party back much.

[Equitable_Remedy]

I hate going into content blind and avoid it whenever possible—if I can check out a guide before doing content for the first time, I will.

Not knowing what's going on just isn't particularly fun for me. Of course, there's always going to be a component of actually learning an encounter by doing it, but I at least like to have a sense of what's happening if I can.