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  1. #1
    Player
    Carin-Eri's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2022
    Location
    Old Sharlayan
    Posts
    1,928
    Character
    Carin Eri
    World
    Phoenix
    Main Class
    Sage Lv 100

    When you Love the Story, but are Really Bad at the Gameplay

    Okay, to start at the beginning, I started playing FFXIV mid-December (last year), on a Free Trial account (I registered several months before but hadn't actually played the game) and was instantly hooked - the story the game is telling is amazing and really does leave you with a 'just one more quest/cutscene' feeling at almost every step. I've subscribed and played through to the post-Stormblood/pre Shadowbringers quests so far.

    As much as I love the game and it's story... I'm really, really bad at the gameplay element. My character is at level 73 now although I'm not sure how I scraped my way to said level. I feel like I should have enough experience to play my favored job (Bard) at least fairly competently by now but that isn't the case - I don't think a single MSQ duty finder goes by where I don't spend a great deal of time being resurrected by healers, or just completely failing at a mechanic (repeatedly). Anything involving waiting for visual cues ends poorly because I'm usually either too slow on the uptake or staring at my hotbar and trying to figure out what I should press. None of this is coming naturally to me and I feel like I'm a burden to the teams I join when teaming is necessary. I did try reading guides/watching videos and such but haven't been able to put what I learnt to good use.

    Point in fact - I hit a proverbial brick wall a few days ago. Try as I may (and I've tried repeatedly) I cannot complete the 'A Requiem for Heroes' duty - I can just about scrape past he first stage (playing as Hien) but when it swaps to my character Ascian Zenos just keeps wiping me out no matter what I do or try. To my utter humiliation I can't even defeat him when have tried setting the difficulty level to 'Very Easy'.

    I've seen threads/posts on this forum referering how many feel the the game is too easy and tried talking to a friend who dismissed my comments as me being defeatist - so I have to ask - since I don't feel as if I am really competent enough to play the game at this point, should I continue?
    (29)

  2. #2
    Player
    Ronduwil's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2019
    Location
    Texas
    Posts
    472
    Character
    Ronduwil Thaliakson
    World
    Goblin
    Main Class
    White Mage Lv 90
    It's a personal choice. If you're still having fun, then continue. If the repeated failures are too much to bear, it's OK to take a break. It's hard to say why you keep failing to beat Zenos without seen what you're doing, but I'm guessing that you're missing a mechanic somewhere. I know it's hard, but try to focus less on the fact that you failed and more on the reason that you failed. Once you know why you failed, you can more easily prevent further failures.
    (20)

  3. #3
    Player
    ZedxKayn's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2019
    Location
    Gridania
    Posts
    719
    Character
    Capybara Friend
    World
    Excalibur
    Main Class
    Blue Mage Lv 70
    The problem is probably not with you as much as it's with the game just not teaching players how to play. Maybe check this out and ask about terms you don't understand if they aren't explained, a bit of time spent reading guides will save a lot more in the long run.
    (9)
    im baby

  4. #4
    Player
    ApolloGenX's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Posts
    1,396
    Character
    Galen Amaranthe
    World
    Leviathan
    Main Class
    Gladiator Lv 90
    I have run into walls like that as well. I find that it helps if I do something else for a bit... like roulettes... or crafting. Sometimes I even try another job for a bit, so it feels like I am making some kind of progress. Then I just re-attempt it a couple times once in a while. Sometimes, when you come back to it- you can do it on the first try easily....sometimes it still takes a couple of tries. I will check out a video or two just to see if there is something I am missing or misinterpreting (like a debuff I couldn't see).

    It became worse when my eyesight got worse and I had to start wearing readers. I'm old. >.<
    (16)
    Last edited by ApolloGenX; 02-24-2022 at 02:30 AM.

  5. #5
    Player
    Jeeqbit's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2016
    Posts
    7,430
    Character
    Oscarlet Oirellain
    World
    Jenova
    Main Class
    Warrior Lv 100
    I've been playing Bard the last few days and I actually find it one of if not the hardest jobs to play. You have a lot of things to track now - dots, procs, Pitch Perfect stacks, songs, soul voice, coda and mechanics on top of that.

    So you have to constantly watch those dots at the expense of focus on mechanics, reserve some concentration for pitch perfect sounds, keep an eye on the song gauge for when the song expires, constantly watch soul voice and hit Apex Arrow when it reaches 100 and hit all procs and I haven't even unlocked coda yet, but that is going to make it worse.

    Other classes used to have this amount of difficulty, but they have been made much easier over the years and Bard has not. It's deceptive because you'd think it's just spamming 1 GCD yet it manages all of this.

    As for the duty, if you are stuck on the DPS check, you need to kill the things one at a time, instead of spreading out the damage otherwise the gauge seems to build faster and wipe you. If you are just dying while fighting you could try another class.
    (14)
    Last edited by Jeeqbit; 02-24-2022 at 02:43 AM.

  6. #6
    Player
    Alacran's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Posts
    964
    Character
    Maeror Montealvo
    World
    Sargatanas
    Main Class
    Dark Knight Lv 100
    As someone who struggles with some of the harder content, i can definitely understand the sentiment & i am sorry it's been so rough for you.

    I do feel that you should continue however.

    My only real suggestions would be getting stronger gear & attempting to optimize your damage dealing rotations. While i understand this may seem less than helpful, augmented tome gear from previous expansions (full set of Scaevan aiming gear) can carry some well in to their mid 70's based on stats alone.

    Lastly, i do understand the appreciation of enjoying a particular job above others, but i would suggest, for the sake of solo play, instanced trials, & the like that you try with another job. Understand i'm not trying to disregard your preferences, but for myself, i have found Tanks have the crucial vitality & sustainability in those fights to help clear the content.

    The same can can be said for Red Mage.

    The utility, sustainability, & ease of gameplay make RDM a very potent & fun play style that can help clear content for yourself & help others when need be.

    Hope this helps & you continue play through the game.
    (14)

    "Nemo me impune lacessit."

  7. #7
    Player
    Gemina's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2016
    Location
    Dravania
    Posts
    5,778
    Character
    Gemina Lunarian
    World
    Siren
    Main Class
    Scholar Lv 100
    Yeah, if you're continuing to fail the Zenos solo instance, it doesn't mean you're bad; it just means you're missing a mechanic you need to do. His ability 'Art of Sword' is a DPS check, and you are very likely dying to this one-shot. It is very similar to the mechanic of the same name when you fight him in the Ala Mhigo lv70 dungeon. Even with the difficulty at the lowest setting, that mechanic still exists.

    As someone who also has a lot of difficulty with some of the simplest things, I know that your gameplay isn't necessarily a lack of ability to perform. There are so many things that can help assist and improve your gameplay drastically. As an example, your UI and Hotbar set up can seriously make a night and day difference. Your UI might be set up in a way where there is too much information being output, and it distracts your attention from where it needs to be. That is what sounds like is going on more than anything. Especially if you are missing mechanics.

    It is players such as yourself why I get so upset when others trivialize the content. They seemingly have no idea players of lesser skill than them exist, or just dismiss them entirely. As difficult as it sounds, use every failure as a motivator to get better. If you can do so, when you overcome a challenge like you WILL with Zenos, the sense of accomplishment is huge, and it is how we are supposed to get our dopamine fixes. You have a great opportunity on your hands to acquire some delayed gratification, and I would not squander it.

    Forward!
    (32)

  8. #8
    Player
    Carin-Eri's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2022
    Location
    Old Sharlayan
    Posts
    1,928
    Character
    Carin Eri
    World
    Phoenix
    Main Class
    Sage Lv 100
    Quote Originally Posted by Gemina View Post
    Yeah, if you're continuing to fail the Zenos solo instance, it doesn't mean you're bad; it just means you're missing a mechanic you need to do. His ability 'Art of Sword' is a DPS check, and you are very likely dying to this one-shot. It is very similar to the mechanic of the same name when you fight him in the Ala Mhigo lv70 dungeon. Even with the difficulty at the lowest setting, that mechanic still exists.

    As someone who also has a lot of difficulty with some of the simplest things, I know that your gameplay isn't necessarily a lack of ability to perform. There are so many things that can help assist and improve your gameplay drastically. As an example, your UI and Hotbar set up can seriously make a night and day difference. Your UI might be set up in a way where there is too much information being output, and it distracts your attention from where it needs to be. That is what sounds like is going on more than anything. Especially if you are missing mechanics.

    It is players such as yourself why I get so upset when others trivialize the content. They seemingly have no idea players of lesser skill than them exist, or just dismiss them entirely. As difficult as it sounds, use every failure as a motivator to get better. If you can do so, when you overcome a challenge like you WILL with Zenos, the sense of accomplishment is huge, and it is how we are supposed to get our dopamine fixes. You have a great opportunity on your hands to acquire some delayed gratification, and I would not squander it.

    Forward!
    That OP one-shot IS my biggest problem. Nothing I've been able to do avoids it. And to be honest, being 'rewound' back to having to do the 'fight as Hien' part of the Duty each time is tiresome.
    (9)
    Last edited by Carin-Eri; 02-24-2022 at 03:39 AM. Reason: spelling

  9. #9
    Player
    Gemina's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2016
    Location
    Dravania
    Posts
    5,778
    Character
    Gemina Lunarian
    World
    Siren
    Main Class
    Scholar Lv 100
    Quote Originally Posted by Carin-Eri View Post
    That OP one-shot IS my biggest problem. Nothing I've been able to do avoids it. And to be honest, being 'rewound' back to having to do the 'fight as Hien' part of the Duty each time is tiresome.
    Even though solo duties are designed so any job can complete them, I feel like some jobs have advantages over others. The one-shot mechs are there to also make sure all jobs can fail the duty as well, otherwise the self-sustain some jobs have would make the duty too easy. What this tells me about the OP and those who struggle with this duty is that their gameplay is well enough, there's just a mechanic present that they are not getting. Once they figure out the mech, they tend to clear the duty, or at least progress it further.

    I don't just want to give it away, because I would like for those still trying to complete this duty to do it mostly on their own. The solo fights in this game remind me a bit of boss battles in console games, where you basically fail multiple times while figuring out how to beat the boss. Man, some of those fights were really frustrating too. But whenever I managed to figure it out on my own and beat the guy, the sense of accomplishment was always awesome and lasted a really long time. Days.
    (10)

  10. #10
    Player
    Renalt's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2022
    Location
    Uldah
    Posts
    3,886
    Character
    Renalt El'doran
    World
    Balmung
    Main Class
    Bard Lv 90
    If you want to get through the story you can always opt for the Easy Version of whatever said encounter you are doing. No shame in that if just trying to play the story.
    (1)
    When you deal with human beings, never count on logic or consistency.

    Fluid like water. Smooth like silk. Pepperoni like pizza.

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