Had a similar experience on Excalibur. Joined a late night PUG for Hydra. Total PUG group: none of us knew eachother in the slightest. We 1-shot hydra, which isn't saying much because its not that hard of a fight. Just lots of conal AoE and "red circles of GTFO".

We decided that we should just go ahead and take on ifrit. I knew the fight well, but I was in the minority. Most of us had no idea what to expect.

Through patience, cooperation and a good explanation of mechanics, we 2-shot ifrit.

In my experience playing MMO's, theres two kinds of people you find in pug groups: Patient people who give strangers the benefit of the doubt, and impatient people who project their own issues onto others. I hope we continue to run into the former and not the latter.

Thanks for sharing your experience, OP. It makes me feel my good feelings