Required to read Guides?

[Tuvarlson]

Hello there, i just wanted to tell you a recent story and ask your opinion about it.

I am a new player in FFXIV and wanted to play a Marauder, because i like beefy guys with big weapons. Thats means i have to tank in dungeons, which is quite the responsibility. And so it happens that i got caught off guard by some unknown boss mechanic and died. One of the dps instantly mocked me for it... i wrote down our conversation and would like to hear your thoughts on it:



DPS: wtf how can you die to this?

Me: Sorry, i never did this dungeon before... i didnt know that ability

DPS: Dont you read guides???

Me: Why would i? Im a casual player and just want to play the game... am i required to know every boss mechanic beforehand?

DPS: You waste everyones time by not reading guides and dying to shit like this

Me: Arguments like this waste peoples time... i died to that and now i try to avoid it in the future

DPS: Just read the damn guides and stop crying

Me: I think people should be allowed to make mistakes and learn from them. If you expect everyone to play perfectly, maybe you should not do dungeons with random people



He then responded with some nasty insults and then left the group

What do you think? Am i required to read guides for every dungeon to avoid unessessary deaths? Or am i allowed to learn by making mistakes? Personally i think people like him are the reason why there are so few tanks, because they are afraid of making mistakes...

[Tint]

No you don't need to read guides.

It is expected for endgame content like extreme trials and savage raids, but there are also parties for blind progress. Nothing you have to worry about now.

A half decent healer can pick you up and keep the party alive for a moment when you die as a tank. In harder content there is a second tank who can take over the boss when you die. There is room for mistakes.

[NekoMataMata]

Think the majority of the community is fine with you going into casual duties blind. Obviously if you plan on doing roulettes or repeating the content later please look up a guide for that, but for the most part there is a little message that tells people when someone is new to a duty and people tend to respect that.

Oh, and make sure you do your class/job quests. You should be getting your job stone soon.

[Reinhardt_Azureheim]

No you don't need to read guides.

It is expected for endgame content like extreme trials and savage raids, but there are also parties for blind progress. Nothing you have to worry about now.

A half decent healer can pick you up and keep the party alive for a moment when you die as a tank. In harder content there is a second tank who can take over the boss when you die. There is room for mistakes.

Pretty much this. I recommend blind practice to improve your general perception of the game and mainly guides when you absolutely dont understand how something works, especially while levelling and learning before high difficulty content.

[Boblawblah]

[Reinhardt_Azureheim]

Think the majority of the community is fine with you going into casual duties blind. Obviously if you plan on doing roulettes or repeating the content later please look up a guide for that, but for the most part there is a little message that tells people when someone is new to a duty and people tend to respect that.

Oh, and make sure you do your class/job quests. You should be getting your job stone soon.

To be fair I went into Mentor roulette getting Sephi EX, I didnt know how it worked in detail so we figured things on the fly. Was genuinely a fun experience.

[Connor]

The thing about most content is that, particularly the later ones, they use consistent icons / mechanics / telegraphs. So rather than having to read a guide about the content, it’s about learning to recognise these icons, what they telegraph and how to react. Like the big yellow arrow above your character that tells you to stack with the party. Or a tether between players usually meaning ‘run away from them to snap it’. As long as you get used to recognising the mechanics, you won’t generally need to worry about the guide, which I think is the idea behind having so many consistencies with the mechanics

Edit: as with any rule there are of course exceptions to this one, but still they do generally use consistent telephraphs for specific mechanics

[ronibosch]

Honestly, I think it depends on the person.

Guides can help if you'd like to get a summary of what to expect, but they're not absolutely necessary.

I'm a nervous wreck, so I usually read guides more than once before doing a new dungeon/trial/raid. However, one time I felt more daring than usual, and went into Paradigm's Breach blind. It was a whole lot of fun (although I somewhat "cheated" by going in as a DPS instead of my usual Tank role. ).

If you have any questions about what to expect during an instance, don't be afraid to ask. I know people (usually mentors) are wary of offering advice (because some players don't take criticism well), so I'm sure they'd absolutely love it if someone asked them for help instead!

[Carin-Eri]

Hello there, i just wanted to tell you a recent story and ask your opinion about it.

I am a new player in FFXIV and wanted to play a Marauder, because i like beefy guys with big weapons. Thats means i have to tank in dungeons, which is quite the responsibility. And so it happens that i got caught off guard by some unknown boss mechanic and died. One of the dps instantly mocked me for it... i wrote down our conversation and would like to hear your thoughts on it:



DPS: wtf how can you die to this?

Me: Sorry, i never did this dungeon before... i didnt know that ability

DPS: Dont you read guides???

Me: Why would i? Im a casual player and just want to play the game... am i required to know every boss mechanic beforehand?

DPS: You waste everyones time by not reading guides and dying to shit like this

Me: Arguments like this waste peoples time... i died to that and now i try to avoid it in the future

DPS: Just read the damn guides and stop crying

Me: I think people should be allowed to make mistakes and learn from them. If you expect everyone to play perfectly, maybe you should not do dungeons with random people



He then responded with some nasty insults and then left the group

What do you think? Am i required to read guides for every dungeon to avoid unessessary deaths? Or am i allowed to learn by making mistakes? Personally i think people like him are the reason why there are so few tanks, because they are afraid of making mistakes...

I've tried reading/watching guides. Numerous times. I don't seem to be able to retain the information and, even if I did, I don't think I'd be able to mimic what the player in the guide did as I lack their skill.

And, if I'm honest, as a polar opposite the majority of forumites, I don't find the game easy. And I'm still pretty rubbish at it overall (though not for lack of trying to improve) - but, thankfully, the in-game community are pretty forgiving of it.

[SannaR]

I feel this. As I'm not sure what low level boss mechanic or even trash pack aoe they could have died to. This almost feels the same as someone else's recent complaint about a different player knowing how a Nier Boss works.

Anyway no people shouldn't need to read guides for MSQ stuff Extremes and 8 man raids sure. Course there is duty support if you don't want to look up guides as the npcs will move to safe spots for avoiding aoes. There is also very little to go on in this incident as we don't know if you're under geared for the dungeon or have been using mitigation. I know you didn't ask about advice on how to improve. I wonder if there are any updated guides for the lower dungeons post QoL changes or not. As most AoEs should be fairly easy to see and to avoid in the early levels. Unless you have lag then only luck or a quick thinking healer is going to save you. Maybe... probably.