Anyone else getting concerned with the skill floor getting lower?

[vGone]

I have noticed more and more that the skill floor keeps getting lower: max lvl tanks who don't know or use mitigation, max lvl healers who spam cure 1 and their equivalent and do nothing else or dps smash their face on their keyboard hopping it does something resembling a rotation. This slows down the gameplay to a crawl and in some cases make the gameplay really frustrating.

Now to be clear, I am NOT saying everyone should become a god tier speedrunner, but that the minimum amount of skill required in content like dungeons shouldn't be something that drags the rest of the party down.

The way things are right now, feel like you are being punished for being good or even average at the game, which is nonsensical. If I nicely offer advice or callout a behaviour that is intentionally dragging everyone down, I get hit with the ever so classic "you don't pay my sub", or straight up kicked out of the instance, If I go get the second pack faster than the rest of the party even when playing tank myself, I get reported for harassment and if I want to leave to not suffer this, I get hit with a queue penalty.

I would avoid the content where these behaviours occur, but unfortunately, you need to do duty roulette if you want tomestones and dungeons are a mandatory part of the MSQ for oblivious reasons.

I feel there are many things that could be done to help with this for example the tutorial which is notoriously bad as it barely teach anything and can easily be missed by new players.

I am also aware that there are players with disabilities for which it is harder for them to play and obliviously the point is not to make it harder on them, but to try to find a proper solution.

Any constructive input on this matter would be appreciated.

[LilimoLimomo]

I appreciate the positive outlook you're trying to take. I can only speak for my own subjective experience, but I hope that it might help in some way.

Personally, I try to find a balance. If we've wiped a few times on a boss or trash mobs, I'll probably make some delicately worded suggestions, because I think "not failing" is a fair place to draw the line of when it's reasonable to ask a person to make a change. In addition, if we're wiping, the less-skilled player is probably also feeling frustrated, and finding ways to help the group succeed has the potential to alleviate that and promote a healthy group dynamic.

However, if the worst that someone is doing is performing sub-optimally, and it's not leading to outright failure, I try to take a step back, take a deep breath, and force my brain to focus on how they're just a person trying to have fun playing a game. I remind myself that I don't know their situation and don't know what kind of day they're having. I ask myself why my getting out of this dungeon a few minutes earlier is more important than letting this fellow Warrior of Light play at their own pace without feeling criticized. And when I do that, I usually smile, and suddenly instead of being frustrated that we're not going at the pace I was hoping to, I actually end up enjoying playing alongside this different kind of player and getting to be a supportive part of their journey. I can only speak for myself, but sometimes it also helps me discover that I've ended up getting too involved in being goal-oriented, and I'm focused too much on the destination to the detriment of my ability to enjoy the journey.

I hope this in some way helps!

[DixieBellOCE]

I have noticed more and more that the skill floor keeps getting lower: max lvl tanks who don't know or use mitigation, max lvl healers who spam cure 1 and their equivalent and do nothing else or dps smash their face on their keyboard hopping it does something resembling a rotation. This slows down the gameplay to a crawl and in some cases make the gameplay really frustrating.

Now to be clear, I am NOT saying everyone should become a god tier speedrunner, but that the minimum amount of skill required in content like dungeons shouldn't be something that drags the rest of the party down.

The way things are right now, feel like you are being punished for being good or even average at the game, which is nonsensical. If I nicely offer advice or callout a behaviour that is intentionally dragging everyone down, I get hit with the ever so classic "you don't pay my sub", or straight up kicked out of the instance, If I go get the second pack faster than the rest of the party even when playing tank myself, I get reported for harassment and if I want to leave to not suffer this, I get hit with a queue penalty.

I would avoid the content where these behaviours occur, but unfortunately, you need to do duty roulette if you want tomestones and dungeons are a mandatory part of the MSQ for oblivious reasons.

I feel there are many things that could be done to help with this for example the tutorial which is notoriously bad as it barely teach anything and can easily be missed by new players.

I am also aware that there are players with disabilities for which it is harder for them to play and obliviously the point is not to make it harder on them, but to try to find a proper solution.

Any constructive input on this matter would be appreciated.

Playing on JP for a long time set my expectations pretty high for the average player, i then spent 7 months on NA and that reality was smashed into pieces.

Where JP have a good etiquette of learning your job and encounters, and not being the person to let everyone down, NA has the complete opposite attitude, its like people are happy being the anchor that slows groups down, they even take pride in it.

It's sad really, the amount of effort it takes to actually learn to play a job properly is like 20 minutes of Youtube guides and 20 minutes of practice on a dummy. But that is too much effort for a large majority of people.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

Playing on JP for a long time set my expectations pretty high for the average player, i then spent 7 months on NA and that reality was smashed into pieces.

Where JP have a good etiquette of learning your job and encounters, and not being the person to let everyone down, NA has the complete opposite attitude, its like people are happy being the anchor that slows groups down, they even take pride in it.

It's sad really, the amount of effort it takes to actually learn to play a job properly is like 20 minutes of Youtube guides and 20 minutes of practice on a dummy. But that is too much effort for a large majority of people.

I disagree on these time estimates lol. Maybe I'm just old. It takes repetition to be able to handle things. And a lot more experience to be able to adjust static rotations to mechanics, downtime, and death.

[vGone]

I disagree on these time estimates lol. Maybe I'm just old. It takes repetition to be able to handle things. And a lot more experience to be able to adjust static rotations to mechanics, downtime, and death.

For raiding maybe but this is about the more "casual" content like dungeons

[Jojoya]

For raiding maybe but this is about the more "casual" content like dungeons

Even dungeons are going to take many people time to learn.

Not everyone is coming into this game as someone with experience in combat-based games let alone as a MMO veteran with a good idea of what to expect. Those lacking any relevant former experience are going to need more time.

There tends to be peer pressure whether real or only perceived to reach level cap as quickly as possible because they'll get told that endgame is where the real game begins (true of some other MMORPGs but not true here). As a result inexperienced players may focus on rushing to level cap instead of learning how to play their chosen job.

As you said, there are also players with disabilities that make it more difficult for them to perform to expectations.

We can offer tips and help but we can't force them on someone who isn't interested in receiving them. We can point out that Duty Support exists so they have a place where they can practice dungeons and learn mechanics before joining random player parties. We can encourage them to read the Playguide that is linked on every new character's hotbar. But we can't force them to do these things. Some players also learn better from other players who can answer questions as they go than from guides that share information in only a single way.

What else can we do? Have patience. If you don't mind taking on the role of teacher, ask them if it's okay for you to share a few tips that should help them have a better game experience.

If patience is not something you can offer, then it may be best to avoid Duty Finder matchmaking and stick to playing with those you already know and trust. Even if most groups go well, there will always be the exceptions popping up on occasion.

[Ath192]

For casual stuff. I have learned to use jobs that can carry any casual situation and become good enough at them to do so. I therefore turn on my music and move along with my duty regardless of whether anyone is real or not. Other players may as well be bots and contribute or not. In doesn’t matter.

If it’s a war I just solo the whole thing if they end up in the floor. If it’s a healer I will raise them a million times to use them as a meat shield and use my one damage spell and dot to take the boss down even if it takes hours. Thankfully with the new mits and abilities even a healer can take a tank buster in a dungeon if the rest of the party refuses to do anything.

Players have become irrelevant. This is not what I wanted out of an MMO but this is what I’ve got. And I’ll use what I got to finish what I set out to do.

[TheNight]

Even dungeons are going to take many people time to learn.

If you have 50 IQ, maybe. For normal humans, not so much.