Veterans: How do you pass on years of FFXIV knowledge

[Canadane]

I generally try to stay hands off and let them do their own thing.
Though you mentioned they're an ex-WoW players. I'd probably reaffirm certain things, such as:

- Dying is okay and expected while learning content.
- Using the proper game terms and not just using WoW terminology expecting others to know what you mean.
- It's a story focused game.
- Plugins are not allowed/expected from the devs.

Things like that, which don't really align with how WoW operates.

Then just let them forge their own path in the game and answer questions as they come up.

[Nyastra]

I generally try to stay hands off and let them do their own thing.
Though you mentioned they're an ex-WoW players. I'd probably reaffirm certain things, such as:

- Dying is okay and expected while learning content.
- Using the proper game terms and not just using WoW terminology expecting others to know what you mean.
- It's a story focused game.
- Plugins are not allowed/expected from the devs.

Things like that, which don't really align with how WoW operates.

Then just let them forge their own path in the game and answer questions as they come up.

Thanks! I'm not a former WoW player so I'm purely going off of what he explains he understands to me, which I then try rephrase into FFXIV. But yeah, I think I'm going to tell him he's gotta explore and fiddle around a bit 1. for his sake and 2. for my sake cause I will go insane

[Valence]

I've been on the novice network among other things since it launched in HW, and on different servers. I've been extremely involved in the one of my server since its creation and I can mostly echo what's been said already. Too much info can make someone drown, but too little can also leave them think they'll just have to go look on their own. A lot of the replies I see also come from a lack of experience with presenting things in a concrete way.

A common mistake I see mentors do is whenever someone ask about materia, they're genuinely interested about it, and they get shut down with an immediate "don't worry about it until max level". First, that doesn't even explain why, and secondly, that doesn't even reply to the actual question which stemmed from a genuine interest to learn. The correct answer is always to first explain how materia works in accordance to their question, and then tell them to keep in mind that it may not be useful in pve instanced content due to the sync mechanic, and then explaining said mechanic if they ask about it further.

The same can be said of people that start talking about BiS substats and gear and what raid food to eat to sprouts asking about basic questions on stats as another example.

This will probably apply to your player less but in the context of something like a FC or the NN, people often forget that sprouts read it quietly and I've had many, many of them tell me that they do read even though they don't interact much or at all, and in fact the majority is silent most of the time, but the majority also reads and does consume the knowledge that's exposed there, whether it comes from the most common NN question of all times "where can I get my first mount / when do I get my chocobo" or from casual talk between more advanced players or mentors talking about more endgame things. New players actually tend to be pretty quick to pick on the culture of a game (and a server) by just watching, reading, and mimicking. If anything, the ones that ask a lot of questions are often the ones that are the least self sufficient in their own learning and need more active guidance than others.

Then there is also different profiles. Some are super curious and try literally everything they stumble onto. Some just stick to the msq quietly. And that's just two extremes. Everybody has their own profile and learns at their own speed, the things that they're actually interested into learning. Some players also do rely a lot on trial and error, that's how they learn. Maybe most do actually. Let them do their own mind about things. But the most important thing is never to shut down doors and always hint at more when answering to questions.

[Kohashi]

I've been playing for nearly 7 years and my fiancé is brand new. I have been trying really hard to help where I can without overwhelming him. I can't exactly dump 7 years of knowledge on him. I am also not the ultimate lore book and need him to do his own research and reading. We are just about 30 quests away from Heavensward.

He is learning slowly, but not really exploring on his own - instead relying on my guidance, which is ok in some cases but I am not the best guide there is. It made me realize just how much I had learned simply from doing or trial and error.

On another note, I've also noticed the new player experience when it comes to dungeon runs are something else. People are very quick to trash sprouts or say they're bots etc etc.

What do I even do? Have any of you needed to "guide" a friend or someone like this?

EDIT:
He is also an ex-WoW player, so while he has the general MMO thing going on, he's got a whole set of different things to learn coming from WoW to FFXIV. I've tried explaining things in WoW terms at times.

I let them figure out on their own and then slowly give hints. You can move at X time, or this mechanic does this (like light parties, for example). Encourage them to figure stuff out on their own, but also be open to asking when they don't understand.

[dotsforlife]

I tell them not to waste their time and money on this game.

(or go play a better game (XI))

[Kahnha]

I only pass on simple knowledge more likely to offer gear to new players or peps I see are under geared but this is more rare lately people don't want my useless experience they gotta learn for themselves 9/10.

that said you have to be patient not everyone knows things exactly as you do (it's less acceptable at end game content however by the time you are in the final raids you should know not to stack stack markers) but still nothing to be toxic over.

[Sunhwapark]

It depends on the person you are trying to impart the knowledge to - some prefer being able to roam around and others want their hands to be held tightly.
I tend to over explain things so to prevent info dumping on someone, I try to keep things short and direct.

At best you can only try to be adaptable by knowing some common issues they may run into depending on what they have expressed interest in.

[ACE135]

I tell them to take their time and explore everything and to try out the different things the game has to offer step by step instead of wanting everything at once. And they shouldn't feel like they have to rush through to the endgame. If they ask something I try to give them just some hints so they might find out the answer on their own instead of just plain telling them the answer.

[VeyaAkemi]

My take is, let him figure out himself, unless asked, or something extremely unintuitive, a good example of something unintuitive is Halicarnasus in Haukke Manor (Hard), she wipes the party if you DPS her down too fast, that is extremely unintuitive at a glance and may warrant an explanation, but even that should be allowed to fail once, I also try to differentiate explaining what needs to be done, and explaining why that needs to be done, the former tend to be shorter and more direct, while the latter, again using Haukke's Hali as an example:

What needs to be done: "Every 20% of her HP, stop attacking for a moment and watch if she summons adds, if she does, damage them until they are at 0.1% HP before continuing to damage her."

Why it needs to be done: "When she summons adds, which happens every 20% of her HP, she will 'eat' those adds after a set amount of time, gaining a buff and using a big raidwide, the raidwide damage is based on how much HP the add had when it got eaten, if you we damage her too fast, she will skip phases, and 'eat' the next add immediately instead of giving any time to damage it, which causes the raidwide damage to be too much and will kill everyone everyone, slowing down at those breakpoints and making sure the adds are properly damaged to 1 HP will ensure this never happens."

See how those two explanations are very different? the former will get them through immediately, but the latter will allow them to properly understand what is going on, but is much lengthier, knowing when to use either type of explanation based on what the person you are trying to help wants is important.

[Nyastra]

I tell them not to waste their time and money on this game.

(or go play a better game (XI))

I hear your complaint however, that's not the point of this thread and as someone who really does love this game despite all the flaws, it brings me great joy to share it with someone who actually shows interest.