Anxiety

[Renathras]

Because casual. They don't know every little detail of the game like you. Their /playtime is on average under 300 days.

I mean if they're new to the genre, or relatively new to gaming itself, then I can somewhat get behind it, as being a remotely bordering rational thought to cross the mind.

A little more irrational if one is experienced, however.

Not really. Even very experienced people can get nervous doing something new. Some people even get performance anxiety with things they've done dozens or hundreds of times. Most people develop coping mechanisms, but that doesn't mean the fear or anxiety is gone, it just means they've managed to figure out ways of suppressing or controlling it. When I was in the military, I would always get nervous before drills/exams, even knowing I would pass them. Out of the military as a volunteer fireman, I can go into burning fields of grassfires or woodland fires and just deal with them, but I get nervous if we're going to a school where we'll be tested.

Every Human is unique in this regard, and what specific things set them off. I'm so much more natural with healing, it's the one role I can que up for and NOT be nervous. I get nervous quing up as DPS and don't see how people see it as the less stressful role, as I'm acutely aware every single time I make some kind of mistake in my rotation and mentally slapping myself over it or blaming myself if we don't beat the Enrage.

The most rare is the person who has no fear, and often, there's actually a mental issue there. On the far end are people with petrifying fears, where they legitimately cannot even leave their homes. The majority fall in the middle, where they have fear but have learned to control it over time and cope with it, but it still exists and still gets to them in certain situations.

Is it irrational?

Probably, just like people fearing the dark or fearing death are, strictly speaking, irrational. (Of the two, fearing the dark is more rational, oddly enough). But that makes it no less real. The phantoms of our minds are often times more powerful than what reality itself can throw at us.

[Jeeqbit]

Even very experienced people can get nervous doing something new.

How can you be very experienced at something you are new at?

Most people develop coping mechanisms, but that doesn't mean the fear or anxiety is gone, it just means they've managed to figure out ways of suppressing or controlling it.

True, but I had it when I started the game and now I have done well over 10,000 duties. At a certain point in that journey to 10,000, probably very early on, you just can't have anxiety healing an FFXIV dungeon anymore. They are ridiculously braindead to heal. Even doing DPS most of the time is not much risk, but if you are spamming heals there is no way you're going to let people die.

When I was in the military, I would always get nervous before drills/exams, even knowing I would pass them.

I still get it sometimes with PF, extreme or savage so I know what you mean. You can know that you are good at something and will normally 1 shot it but there is still a risk of messing up and then you have let them down.

But there is a big difference between healing Sastasha and doing extreme/savage...