An offering of help for the struggling players in casual content

[Shistar]

I've been lurking the forums for a little while now and noticed how many players (or at least how vocal they are) that are struggling to complete content that would very much be considered the easiest difficulty. I'm talking about the dungeons, trials and solo duties that the MSQ forces you to complete in order to progress through the story.


Most of these threads quickly devolve into the struggling players and the experienced players bickering over who is right and who should shut up. I think anyone who has read a single one of these threads knows the drill. So far, I've noticed one single player who considers themselves experienced actively reach out to a struggling player and give them advice after seeing their gameplay. In a sea of mean-spirited messages from both sides, it really stood out to me.


Looking at the threads as someone who has never really struggled in this game besides very specific cases (and mostly unrelated to the content itself...) I thought it would be nice if this happened more often, but obviously the forums are not the most friendly of places to share your struggles, and the format makes it a bit difficult to showcase your gameplay or details that we could look out for and help you fix.


Of course, everyone's time is precious; not many would volunteer to sit down with a stranger to figure out a new HUD to cure them from their clicking habits or teach them all the mechanics they don't understand from a dungeon, step by step, until they can get through it without deaths, for possibly hours or days. Many of these struggling players have also explained that they like to spend their time in other productive ways such as PvP, crafting, gathering, etc., instead of PvE battle content.



Now that I am finally done rambling, here comes the question: Would players be willing to pay (in gil, because RMT is forbidden, etc. etc. I guess trading items could also be an option...) others to teach them the game's form of communication so that they can clear their duties and enjoy MSQ again? Or at least to be carried if they are unwilling or unable to learn, so you can at least see the end of the story?


Many of us do volunteer to help these players when they are visibly struggling or they actively ask for help in a duty, but I've also seen that many of you straight up avoid other players because you don't want to burden them or are unable to articulate exactly what is choking you. This is an MMORPG, and it truly is in our best interest for you to learn how to play so we can all clear together. If having someone sit down with you and teach you step-by-step, helping you fix your HUD and keybinds and giving you pointers for things to look out, would that make you go back to the dungeons that made you struggle and give them another try?


I'm truly curious. I think many of you do want to learn, but you haven't found the right people to help you or are too scared to even search for them at this point. I'm looking forward to your thoughts.Apologies for the long rambling at the start and after the question lol I've been thinking about this for a while and it does make me sad that some people feel like the game is pushing you away from what you love doing. I truly think all of you can learn or at least make your situation a little better, and you might not realize what you are doing wrong.

[Arohk]

Three main reasons why people are sturuggling with combat:

Bad UI (can't see what is going on or what is happening)
Bad or No Keybinds (clickining most of their skills, distracting themself)
Unwillingness to change the two things above.

[Eastwall]

I do think a pretty sizeable amount of people do not want to learn. The process of improving can take effort and isn't necessarily easy

[Mesarthim]

Oh believe me I sucked major balls as a new player, but this was also like 8-10 years ago. It's something that comes with experience. I've had many UI changes, hotkey changes, learning ins and outs of jobs, understanding universal game mechanics, etc. It's not going to come to you overnight. Some people are wiling to learn and get better, some players seem to want things handed to them on a silver platter. Example: How many new players understand flank/rear attacks (from enemies too) or know to watch for boss animations and not just wait for the orange aoe? That's stuff that gets you killed in later content. Boss holds up left arm? Probably a halfroom cleave on his left side. That targeting circle under the boss has more importance than you think. And they've been powercrept but the 53 trial has an attack called "Slaughter." You dodge this by going to his rear, use his targeting circle to see. Just a few examples.

Either way there's no harm in asking for advice.

[CidHeiral]

There are unhinged people on both sides but I think most people in this community are willing to help if someone makes a post about their struggles in good faith and are receptive to feedback.

[AmiableApkallu]

People tend to respond in kind.

If you open with guns blazing, "This is all too hard, none of this garbage should be in the MSQ," then people will shoot back at you.

If instead you open by asking for help, maybe even mentioning specific examples, then you might actually get advice, even if its the well-loved Labyrinth of the Ancients.

[Shistar]

People tend to respond in kind.

If you open with guns blazing, "This is all too hard, none of this garbage should be in the MSQ," then people will shoot back at you.

If instead you open by asking for help, maybe even mentioning specific examples, then you might actually get advice, even if its the well-loved Labyrinth of the Ancients.

You are right in that it's really hard to help people who seemingly don't want to be helped. I think if someone sat down with them and taught them how to recognize what they're supposed to do and when, they wouldn't be wasting their time getting called names in the forums.


LOL the sprout tank, so precious, I'm glad he found the help he needed!



With that said, I was hoping to hear from the struggling players, but maybe I scared them off with my rambling ^^; unfortunate.

[Valence]

It's way easier to teach someone about job mechanics or battle mechanics than encounter reactionary based mechanics, which is one of the primary blockers these days to get through the most casual of content.
You can teach knowledge, and while you can also teach motor based reactions, it's something a lot less straightforward.

[Mawlzy]

It's way easier to teach someone about job mechanics or battle mechanics than encounter reactionary based mechanics, which is one of the primary blockers these days to get through the most casual of content.
You can teach knowledge, and while you can also teach motor based reactions, it's something a lot less straightforward.

This is precisely the problem. I have spoken to people who have been gaming for years and who have reached high degrees of competency in other games. They understand FFXIV fight mechanics, but cannot resolve them, invariably because of lack of speed. FFXIV has gone down a very specific, unfortunate path, which for a significant minority of players makes combat extremely difficult.

You can't teach things like spatial awareness, depth perception, short-term memory, and cognitive processing.

[Shistar]

You can't teach things like spatial awareness, depth perception, short-term memory, and cognitive processing.

I think you can teach players many things to make up for those they can't. Taking advantage of the game's scripted fights is one of them. There are many other things you can do besides relying entirely on your memory span.


Also, it's a multiplayer game, and my main point in the first post was that I was wondering if those struggling would be willing to search for/accept help if people went out of their way to make a specific space for them to learn or clear whatever they need. It's not exactly about them just figuring it out themselves or accepting defeat because the game is being nasty to you, it's actually the opposite :D