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

[StriderShinryu]

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.

Yep. For me, the fun in an encounter/dungeon/etc. comes from mastering it through taking the knowledge I have and honing that over time. It's a great feeling when you get a dungeon or trial you haven't done for ages and that muscle memory kicks in. While I understand that the learning and figuring out phase is fun for some people, it's not for me, especially in group content where my mistakes punish everyone else and/or their mistakes punish me when I've done everything right.

[TaleraRistain]

It's no fun if you're just letting someone else hold your hand through it.

I do all the content I do on release day so there's not an option but to go blind. Is it frustrating to beat your head against something and keep failing? You betcha. But it's also fun to see the progress as you figure it out together.

I'm an old school 20 year+ MMO gamer, though. We didn't have guides when I started so I've never seen the point of relying on them now.

After the clear to find out some more details on what was holding you back, yeah. But before you even start it? Just feels like I'm cheated of the experience if I do that.

[ZedxKayn]

Everything blind aside Ex+ difficulty instances past the first 2~3 days of their release

Casual content is WAAAAAY too easy to justify ruining the surprise for me

[Roda]

Depends on how old the content is and who i'm running it with.
Brand new content or will a full group of friends? Blind is preferred.
Established content with randoms? Eh read a guide first. It's hard enough adjusting for the behavior of strangers.

[Mahoukenshi]

If Trusts, I go Trusts all the way without watching a guide. Otherwise, I've watched a quick guide due to my being perma-nervous in new dungeons. It doesn't always help with handling mechanics, though, to be fair . On my 3rd character which I started after my break during 5.2, I've been going mostly "blindly" from what little I remembered. Only for dungeon/trials I've had a "bad" memory of, I looked up the mechanics. I don't get any sort of enjoyment out of beating "hard(er)" content like fans of high-end content seemigly do, so that's that, but I also don't quit fights in the middle after (a) wipe(s).

[Vyrerus]

I go in blind if I'm there for it at release. If I'm not, then I don't. Had a load of fun in the first two stages of Gordias, and then later on, Deltascape this way.

As far as figuring things out goes, it's usually not that hard to figure out as an individual. Coming up with a cohesive plan for all members of the party is another thing, though, and that's why people make guides. It's a playerbase driven initiative to try and get people on the same page more quickly(not to mention a way to show off how good you are at the game).

These days though, I skipped an entire Savage tier, and I didn't feel like I missed much (thought part of me was dying for the gear upgrades). My raid leader since then in the one group I returned to, as I don't see myself having enough time for 3 statics, does the Savage tier week 1 with his Ultimate buddies. He still raids in three groups, and this kinda has made him just put out the same strategy for every group. It's usually pretty close to what Mizzteq guides do, but sometimes waymarks are a bit different or relative directions are flipped. I didn't watch any guides for E9s or E10s, but I did watch a couple for E11 and E12.

That all said, there's more guide makers than ever before, I think. I think the game's difficulty has changed in such a way that more and more players are picking up fights faster and faster. There's kind of a limit to what they can do mechanically, and that's why people always say stuff like, "Oh, these are just Shiva circles." or "This is just an older fight with new paint." For instance, in E12s we got the Twice Come Ruin debuff, which shows up directly in Delubunum Reginae normal. The mechanics of that debuff are identical to the chicken debuff from Rabanastre. Get hit = gain stack, gain enough stack = trigger effect of stacks. But even the concept for it first shows up in Second Coil Turn 9 with Frost and Flame debuffs from the dragons. Get the same debuff twice = die.

For some people, especially longer running raiders, this sort of leads to a feeling of, "I've seen it all, and just need to re-contextualize it for the fight it's showing up in that's current." So you could say after playing the game long enough, having done enough endgame content, no savage raiders truly go in blind. And that speaks nothing of the PC players that go in with 3rd party tools that let them see things they aren't supposed to be able to see, giving them additional tells.

[Infindox]

If the content is not Savage, I'm going in Blind. I learn better when I see the mechanics and if I die to it, well I know what to avoid the next time. I'm usually running new content with friends. For content where friends aren't on right away for (DR was one) I go in blind and then become the guide for them when we run later for them.