Please implement something to teach players how to play

[Enjuden]

It amazes me all of the noise over how the game is being paired down or catering to the lowest common denominator and yet when the game hands them a trainwreck party where you really have to pull out the stops just to clear, that's too much work.

-I mean, I get it. It's annoying when you're just trying to get shit done but I'd rather deal with that kind of difficulty than the extremely convoluted mechanics that make Savage what it is. Give me duelling tanks who cleave the raid, ice mages, incidental healers, melee who don't know what those red circles mean. An Alliance-worth of new players that think mechanics are for cars.

You'll never see me touch Savage content while it's relevant. I don't need to. Duty Finder is my Savage. Long may it reign.

That's usually the thing. The only reason it does exist is because the party is genuinely that bad (or doesn't care). Nobody's asking normal content to suddenly turn to savage, that's just blatant hyperbolic nonsense that people cater to as an excuse when people ask for difficulty to be normal+1/+2 instead of having a ludicrous jump between story/normal/extreme/savage content

[Aluja89]

I don't mind it tbh, but I'd like to get rewarded for having put an arch on my back SE.

[Asari5]

would kinda be a good thing to teach people better how to handle their class and the mechanics. but tbh i dont think it would help much if they dont get something they want from it. people are lazy and they want something, the two things i know about people (most people not all)

i mean, for a long time i thought it would be obvious to look into new skills you learn. like... read EVERY word of it. and to use a few seconds to think about how you use your skills. the game cant really teach you that, can it?
just two days ago i joined a lvl 57 dungeon in progress, they were at the endboss.... the whm ONLY used Cure III didnt matter if the players were in range, didnt matter how many of them needed heal.

yeah the whm was new, so i was patient and gave him pointers (didnt really help much though) but come on, how can someone has the idea of using just one single skill when you have so many?
things like this shattered my mind xD

[Mixelplix]

New Player (about a month or so) still working on MSQ level 69 White Mage. A few thoughts I had when I read this thread:

-More than a couple of raids I have been on have come with vets throwing a tantrum when a lot of sprouts are in their 1st time run and cause a wipe

-I watch strat videos before I go in, but it does not prepare me fully for the actual timing of the fight

-As a healer, my main job is to heal. I have no confidence to predict when damage spikes are coming to balance my mana usage, so I cut back on dps until I can run things a few times

-There are a lot of new players (which I think is a very very good thing for an older game). Vets need to understand that it is all brand new to many of us.

-Some people will not watch strats ahead of time, fact of life

-Helpful encouragement from vets goes a long way to player retention

-Timed runs, like WoW mythic plus, are a terrible idea

[Aldora]

New Player (about a month or so) still working on MSQ level 69 White Mage. A few thoughts I have when I read this thread:

-More than a couple of raids I have been on have come with vets throwing a tantrum when a lot of sprouts are in their 1st time run and cause a wipe

-I watch strat videos before I go in, but it does not prepare me fully for the actual timing of the fight

-As a healer, my main job is to heal. I have no confidence to predict when damage spikes are coming to balance my mana usage, so I cut back on dps until I can run things a few times

-There are a lot of new players (which I think is a very very good thing for an older game). Vets need to understand that it is all brand new to many of us.

-Some people will not watch strats ahead of time, fact of life

-Helpful encouragement from vets goes a long way to player retention

-Timed runs, like WoW mythic plus, are a terrible idea

I just wanted to chime in and say that luckily not all of the veterans out there will "throw a tantrum" if a wipe occurs. It is true that when you look at the Final Fantasy XIV player base, you have a lot of people who have been playing the game for a long time. Based on their background and the experience they've collected over time, they will have a certain expectation when it comes to grouped content. Depending on their expectations, they can respond quite harshly when certain things happen during the run. But, there are plenty of players who are understanding, especially if you let them know beforehand if you are new to said run.

There is no shame in letting others know that you are new to a duty or the class/job you're playing. We're happy to help, but at the same time when we notice that players are doing something wrong / could something differently, we don't appreciate it if we're getting a "you don't pay my sub" kind of reply. Due to this, most veterans will remain quiet unless spoken to. Just don't let this bother you and don't feel bad if you make mistakes. We're all human. We've all been there and had to learn how to play the game ourselves.

If people ask me for tips, it would the following:

- Be sure to read the tooltips of your skills, so you know what each individual skill / spells does and how they work together with other skills in your toolkit.
- Keep practicing in order to gain muscle memory, so that it becomes something like a second nature and you will have to think less about what to use next.
- Get comfortable with your job. If that means that you need to stick to healing at the beginning, that's fine. But, keep challenging yourself by inserting offensive spells too. The general rule when playing, especially for casters, is "Always Be Casting" (also known as "Learning your ABC's")
- If you don't feel comfortable practicing with other (random) people in a duty, you can find training dummies at several locations (as well as the "Stone, Steel and Sky" timed content) where you can practice to your hearts content.
- Ask questions if you're confused about something. Some might even join you at a training dummy to walk you through a rotation.
- If possible, expand your horizon by trying out several different jobs. You'll eventual find one that feels the most natural to your playstyle.
- Outside of in-game means, there are loads of community websites and Discord servers where other players can help you.

Finally, you don't have to watch guides for content like Dungeons, Normal / Hard Mode Trials, 24-man Raids or 8-man Normal Raids. These types of content are tuned in a way that they will show of mechanics in sequence before combining them in later phases. That way you'll get the change to learn what each mechanic does before you need to handle multiple at the same time / in quick succession. Extreme Trials are a good bridge towards the end-game Savage and Ultimate content. Once you feel comfortable with your job and have built up a good amount of experience within the game, give those a go. There are plenty of people who prefer to clear content blind, so they won't require you to watch a video first.

Also keep in mind, when grouping with others, runs can be a hit or a miss. If you happen to end up in one of the "miss" groups, don't worry. Learn from the experience and try it again (perhaps with another group).

You'll get there. (^_~ )-b

[kaynide]

-Timed runs, like WoW mythic plus, are a terrible idea

I was the one suggesting a time trial kinda mode for pre-formed parties. I never did WoW and don't really know what Mythic-Plus beyond scaling dungeons.

Can you elaborate?

As I see it, allowing players who want to do content at a harder level (pre-formed "raid teams", not with random players) seems like a fair way to allow them to have content that'd be easy to implement, but with most of us never touching it. That said, I don't know what kind of situation or reaction that makes in the community as a whole (as you experienced in WoW), so I'm curious what happens. Does it just go full toxic?

[Mixelplix]

I was the one suggesting a time trial kinda mode for pre-formed parties. I never did WoW and don't really know what Mythic-Plus beyond scaling dungeons.

Can you elaborate?

As I see it, allowing players who want to do content at a harder level (pre-formed "raid teams", not with random players) seems like a fair way to allow them to have content that'd be easy to implement, but with most of us never touching it. That said, I don't know what kind of situation or reaction that makes in the community as a whole (as you experienced in WoW), so I'm curious what happens. Does it just go full toxic?

sorry I just saw this since it got buried quickly. The timed runs in WoW create a sense of urgency that turns people into angry pixel warriors if someone dares screw up the run. They are also near required for gearing purposes. It's just rush rush rush, DONT DIE DONT DIE or you fucked over everyone. You also have to have a key to even enter them that is consumed whether the group is successful or not. Players get pissed if they fail it and burn their key. There is literally no enjoyment in it at all

[AnnRam]

The game its already so so easy ( outside of raiding/savage etc) that most people can finish normal content without even looking at the screen. I don't have issues like you even on Crystal, maybe 1 person per 100 dungeons/trails or raids that is new or maybe is having a bad day.

[dan_8989]

Hi

I'd just like to give my experience as a new/returning player that has never got past level 60 content. I'm currently around the Shiva encounter.

For the first 50 levels the dungeon experience is just overwhelming. I have played as a CNJ/WHM and the 4 man content at the start is just a rush to the finish and you can barely keep up with what is happening if you are doing it for the first time. An example is the Haukke manor where at one point all the members just disappeared. It was a good minute or so before I was told in chat to type /return at which point the tank had already started to pull and was low on health. My assumption is that /return would take you back to your home point/city. If i missed the point where it told you otherwise, my mistake.

Most of the time the fights end before you can understand any of the mechanics if there are any due to all other members being overpowered.

On the 8 man content at the end of ARR for the story quests, this is more of the same, if not more frantic.

On the 24 man raids (Crystal tower)which are now part of the MSQ, these have skippable cutscenes which I did as I feel guilty. These are not explained in any way at all, or at least in a way that's obvious and meaningful for someone new. These are blown threw in 15 minutes and again, i don't have a clue what happened in these dungeons and have had to go back and watch the cutscenes on youtube. Should i spend hours watching videos learning 4 mechanics that each boss has for 4 bosses that that will probably take 2-3 minutes to kill.

Another thing is the MSQ dungeons. The quests have a level against them and for the vast majority of the story quests, my level was way above that of the dungeons by only doing main story quests and class quests. I got the feeling that I shouldn't be doing these dungeons more than once or i will be over levelled for the story quests. Therefore blasting through it once and then never again, not to learn how to improve.

Ultimately up to the point where I am in the game, my participation feels like it hasn't mattered in the 8/24 man content and only slightly in the 4 man content due to how overpowered everyone is. If I just sat and following everyone around would the raid still be cleared, probably. There is no one telling me if I'm doing a good job or what to measure myself against unless the party wipes, then I'm still unclear if its my fault or not. I must be doing a good job though as I receive loads of recommendations, or is that just because I'm last out as I'm watching cutscenes and there's no one else to give it to?

I really dont think its new players not wanting to learn because I think the vast majority do want to. I have watched numerous youtube videos and read content to try to understand it better. But upto now i have yet to put anything into practice due to the speed runs and most being aimed at end game content. Ultimately I believe that there is just so much going on that its hard to know whats going on and what affect you are having on it. I cannot speak for higher level content but this is just my experience so far as a new player.