For those who struggle with group content

[Leifei]

You know, since you mention "toxicity", that's just another thing I want to mention about this community.

Having played many MMOs where it only takes one person saying "You suck!" to make the rest of the group dogpile on... here, I almost never run into those people.

But it's an MMO, and saying those types of people don't exist is ludicrous. I *do* see them here, but not nearly as often... and when I do, I invariably see multiple other members of the group immediately saying "Hey, back off and be kind, buddy; all they need is a little explanation and encouragement! *proceeds to helpfully and non-patronizingly explain the mechanic that the person just messed up*".

Not gonna lie, it's kinda making me never want to play another MMO besides this one ever again, heh.

My experience is similar to yours. Most of the time people are friendly. That speaks to how good our community is.

[Darnath]

My struggles with group content is pretty much almost everything you listed.
Issues with pattern recognition : Yup
Social Anxiety : Oh hecks ya
Practice : Since no PTR (thank goodness) yup

I thank the devs for implementing the trust system. Heck, it's how I level my offjobs now. It makes the MSQ dungeon(s) enjoyable until I properly memorize the patterns and can do them in DF. As for stuff not covered by trust system (Trials, Alliance, Normal)...

MSQ Trial : I'll grit my teeth and bear with it the first time, then try to study it until my old brain absorbs it
Alliance and Normal Raids and optional non savage old trials (looking at you Memoria Misera) : Again, I'll study it until my old brain absorbs it. Alliance takes much longer since there's 4 bosses to remember in one go.

As for my character, I actually baked it into her lore. She started as a Gladiator/Paladin to be a protector, but seeing her menders aether run low (aka me watching my DF healers going OOM way too often) she put down the sword and shield and picked up the pistol to try to help fights end faster and thus reduce the stress on the menders (aka I hated being a burden on healers). Over time, she felt bad again not actually contributing the necessary damage to speed up fights so she learned the art of astrology (the trust system helped me learn to become a healer instead albeit the trust tanks are neigh invincible).

As for looking forward to? First and foremost, the MSQ story. 9 out of 10 times it's always been enjoyable to play the game and enjoy being an influence through it all. Secondly is the soloable/small party grind content. One thing that bugs me is the tribal quests and grind content tends to be part of the .5 patches.

[Casti_EL]

I suppose for me it depends on the group content and who I'm doing it with.

I prefer to run group content with people I know as I do have social anxiety (especially with DF, even though I have had NO bad experiences in the 2+ years I've been playing - yep, tried telling my brain that but it just pops up like the Microsoft Paperclip saying "Ooooh, looks like you're about to heal a DF Dungeon with some randos, would you like some anxiety-inducing thoughts while you play?"). That said, I feel more relaxed in Alliance Raid/Normal Raid roulettes (usually because you have a backup healer to assist if things go pear-shaped) and will happily join them. I'll also do Frontlines because it's a bit of a laugh and if you die, well, you still get exp so it's not the end of the world. Dungeons and Experts Dungeons I'm a little more apprehensive with, and especially first time I prefer duty support/trust to get a feel for it so I don't waste people's time screwing up over and over again.

I do play on US servers whilst based in the UK so suffer some lag which has an impact in group content (usually see mechanic telegraphs about 1-2 seconds after more local players so get hit by them if I don't just follow the group the moment they start moving) and it does cause some clipping in stricter rotations (one reason why I love playing Healers - no strict rotation to follow). I also do struggle sometimes trying to remember rotations or keeping track of everything (dots and positional) so I'd never do Savage content but I'm alright with that as it doesn't really interest me.

[tinythinker]

Honestly? I struggle like hell with it. I'm an underperformer anyway, though not for lack of trying. Mechanic panic. General anxiety around poor performance. And I've always found it hard to bother remember, and react to, what is going on around me.

So I don't really enjoy queueing random or with friends. With Randoms I've been kicked/voted out of parties a few times, presumably for being crap (not like the people that do that give any feedback).
With friends.... well, I don't think for a moment they'd kick me off a party and they're actually pretty supportive - but on a personal level I find it really embarrassing to be useless alongside friends who aren't.

Happiest playing the MSQ to be honest - although even then I've had to do a fair few of the fights on Very Easy.

I can relate to under-performing and mechanic panic. Some days I surprise myself with how much easier something was than I remembered, and on others I seem to be set on auto-pilot toward all of the wrong things to do in a duty and wonder why I chose to enter the queue. But which is braver? A warrior of light who breezes through content or one who faces a true challenge? Whether one finds that challenge in normal mode or ultimate in a raid or normal or easy mode in MSQ, it's rising to the occasion despite the obstacle that counts.

I suppose for me it depends on the group content and who I'm doing it with.

I prefer to run group content with people I know as I do have social anxiety (especially with DF, even though I have had NO bad experiences in the 2+ years I've been playing - yep, tried telling my brain that but it just pops up like the Microsoft Paperclip saying "Ooooh, looks like you're about to heal a DF Dungeon with some randos, would you like some anxiety-inducing thoughts while you play?"). That said, I feel more relaxed in Alliance Raid/Normal Raid roulettes (usually because you have a backup healer to assist if things go pear-shaped) and will happily join them. I'll also do Frontlines because it's a bit of a laugh and if you die, well, you still get exp so it's not the end of the world. Dungeons and Experts Dungeons I'm a little more apprehensive with, and especially first time I prefer duty support/trust to get a feel for it so I don't waste people's time screwing up over and over again.

I do play on US servers whilst based in the UK so suffer some lag which has an impact in group content (usually see mechanic telegraphs about 1-2 seconds after more local players so get hit by them if I don't just follow the group the moment they start moving) and it does cause some clipping in stricter rotations (one reason why I love playing Healers - no strict rotation to follow). I also do struggle sometimes trying to remember rotations or keeping track of everything (dots and positional) so I'd never do Savage content but I'm alright with that as it doesn't really interest me.

I also like (un)ranked PvP as a relaxing activity. There is no pre-set way to win, and you have to adapt to your team and the opposing team on the fly. I know for some people there is comfort in group PvE because you can learn "the right way" eventually (or one of a few right ways in harder content), but I suppose I'm more comfortable with "reactive" response that memorizing pro-active patterns and responses that involves coordination with other people.

[Lunalepsy]

There are many reasons people may struggle with group content, from limited play time to practice to issues with pattern recognition and prediction to social anxiety or whatever it may be.

If this is sounds like you, it's good to have things like duty support and the trust system for things like MSQ dungeons, but that leaves out most group content. Do you avoid such content, grit your teeth and plow through, or something else?

And does it affect how you see your character, the story, etc.? Not necessarily in a negative way, just without such an emphasis on such content?

What do you look forward to doing most in the game? What really draws you in and keeps you playing? There are so many cool things you can do solo or mostly solo. Which are your favorites?

It's an MMO. If doing stuff with people is stressful, just play single-player games.

[tinythinker]

It's an MMO. If doing stuff with people is stressful, just play single-player games.

This thread is aimed at people who struggle for any reason with group content to discuss their perception of the game. Issues such as social anxiety, performance anxiety, or perfectionism are one suite of reasons, and a common one in MMOs, but they are not the only ones. Physical pain, difficulty learning and remembering fights, and many more abound. Some may avoid group content when they can, while others may do it anyway despite whatever their limitation or difficulty is. And I'm sure whatever their reasons for and responses to their difficulty, they are aware that there are single player games.

Yet they choose to subscribe to and log into FFXIV. They find value in doing so. They each have their own reasons why and what they find rewarding in their game play. Others have chimed in with what they don't like about or why they avoid only certain types of group content. I'm finding the different perspectives interesting and insightful.

[Eraden]

This thread is aimed at people who struggle for any reason with group content to discuss their perception of the game. Issues such as social anxiety, performance anxiety, or perfectionism are one suite of reasons, and a common one in MMOs, but they are not the only ones. Physical pain, difficulty learning and remembering fights, and many more abound. Some may avoid group content when they can, while others may do it anyway despite whatever their limitation or difficulty is. And I'm sure whatever their reasons for and responses to their difficulty, they are aware that there are single player games.

Yet they choose to subscribe to and log into FFXIV. They find value in doing so. They each have their own reasons why and what they find rewarding in their game play. Others have chimed in with what they don't like about or why they avoid only certain types of group content. I'm finding the different perspectives interesting and insightful.

I am old and afflicted with "Resting Tremor Syndrome" which is similar to "Parkinson's Disease". High end content often tends to overwhelm me which is why I usually avoid raids and some dungeons. That having been said, I enjoy the company of others and if a group, usually FC mates, is willing to help the crippled old person along, I will happily try to attempt these more difficult activities.

[Reinha]

My work schedule lands somewhere between 7 am - 11 pm any day of the week so its impossible for me to find a static. Nor would I really want to. I'd have to wait to raid on a day they are available and if it's a Monday I wouldn't get to prog outside of static runs at all.

I use the PF and DF but I have no chance to clear content like Eureka/Bozja savage raids that require large scale pre-made groups. I'm glad they were replaced criterion dungeons because that's small enough for PF.

[Rehayem]

Timezones aside, I find it very difficult to join groups in PF. The idea of being judged for under-performing on my job and getting kicked out is something I'm very familiar with from previous MMORPGs. It already happened back in 2019 when I did Eden raid for the first time as AST and had to switch to Diurnal stance because our WHM didn't heal, and I got scolded by some for doing that; somehow this encounter stuck with me the most and since then I simply avoid running stuff unless it's blind, with friends or I already know how to do it through DF.

This is why I've never done current tier savage or EX runs, because I know people want you to already know how to do it.

[raelgun]

So I don't really enjoy queueing random or with friends. With Randoms I've been kicked/voted out of parties a few times, presumably for being crap (not like the people that do that give any feedback).

Because according to the tos, the ones giving feedback of any kind can be reported.
That's why