Underperfoming vs median vs overperforming?

[vanaii]

That's like hardcore or casual: every person is going to have their own definition.

I don't care to run Savage (though if I wanted to, I could put in the effort), so by absolute standards I "underperform." I generally see under/over performance as anchored by the tier and level of content you're attempting, since absolute standards would have anyone that hasn't cleared every Ultimate as an underperformer.

To me, "underperformance" is being badly under-geared for the content I'm queuing into, not bothering with job quests, not bothering to set up hotbars, and not pushing buttons. By "pushing buttons" I mean what's sensible, not necessarily what's optimal-- mashing 1 through an entire dungeon isn't sensible. An ice mage isn't sensible. Freecure fishing isn't sensible. A stanceless tank isn't sensible. A sticker collecting sam with a freestyle opener isn't optimal, but it's sensible in normal.

Doing all of those may not make it possible to pass an extreme or savage-- especially the more challenging ones.

If I cared to run Savage (or harder Extremes,) I'd need to pay more attention to my rotation-- but it feels like at the higher tiers of this game you zone into a fight with predetermined timeline of actions you must take, and any deviation at any point from that timeline is inferior and detrimental to your party. That isn't for me. Heck, I even promised a friend I'd give Savage a shot with 6.0 and bounced after I sandbagged my way through p1s. It's just not to my taste, and it's not fair to the people sandbagging me.

Even if it's not strictly true at higher tiers that "you push the right button or you're wrong," the feeling of being locked into a predetermined fate ends up making me ask myself why bother at all. Then I hit leveling roulette and watch a tank get sat on by a frog instead.