This Game's Community...

[Arkenaw]

I have a theory for why FFXIV's community is so positive, but I don't think you guys will enjoy it: It's because PvP is a minigame. Think about it. PvP brings out the absolute WORST in people (that and people not listening/following directions in raids). With PvP being a side-game, we don't have two types of players constantly fighting for their side to be heard more. In addition, we don't have the typical PvP trolls constantly harassing PvE players in their content.

Just a theory, of course, not 100% (as there's still tons of bad apples), but... yeah. That's all I got XD

That said, outside of CT, I've rarely encountered trolls.

I don't think it's the sole reason, but I think it's a big contributing factor, and I really hope they never make pvp appealing in this game because of it.

[Polarthief]

I don't think it's the sole reason, but I think it's a big contributing factor, and I really hope they never make pvp appealing in this game because of it.

Oh by no means will I ever claim it to be the sole reason (I mean where do the CT trolls come from?), but yeah, it's a pretty big chunk of it.

[Deleted]

I have a theory for why FFXIV's community is so positive, but I don't think you guys will enjoy it: It's because PvP is a minigame. Think about it. PvP brings out the absolute WORST in people (that and people not listening/following directions in raids). With PvP being a side-game, we don't have two types of players constantly fighting for their side to be heard more. In addition, we don't have the typical PvP trolls constantly harassing PvE players in their content.

Just a theory, of course, not 100% (as there's still tons of bad apples), but... yeah. That's all I got XD

That said, outside of CT, I've rarely encountered trolls.

Entirely possible :P

[RohanV]

I have a theory for why FFXIV's community is so positive, but I don't think you guys will enjoy it: It's because PvP is a minigame. Think about it. PvP brings out the absolute WORST in people (that and people not listening/following directions in raids). With PvP being a side-game, we don't have two types of players constantly fighting for their side to be heard more. In addition, we don't have the typical PvP trolls constantly harassing PvE players in their content.

I've advanced this theory before. Lord of the Rings Online (at least before F2P) also had a really pleasant community, and it had very minimal PvP as well.

[Deleted]

I've advanced this theory before. Lord of the Rings Online (at least before F2P) also had a really pleasant community, and it had very minimal PvP as well.

I think you're on to something. I would say it is because most of the younger gamers or toxic players (I don't mean to generalise I've seen plenty of older gamers nerd rage) are mostly attracted to cheap, fast paced, action packed, pvp games creating a toxic atmosphere. Examples being LOL, WOW, COD.

Since FF14 has a sub fee and also hits you hard early on with a slow paced story (not saying this is a bad thing) younger impatient players are weaned out at early stages. Same with LOTRO, these games require a lot more of a peaceful patient attitude to play and I think it does wonders for the game community.

[Malackai]

while I love the community as a whole.

I do have noticed lately that there is a little more inconsideration when running dungeons. I am not sure if this is simply because the endgame players (one that have been at max lv and pretty much max Ilv gear) are simply bored or something.

But it was quite frustrating as a new fresh geared healer coming in to a post lv 50 dungeon and stating I was new and still have the tank pull 3-4 packs of mobs running around corners and seeing health drop from 100 to 10-20 % in like 2 secs flat with absolutely now way getting it back up. and being told it where normal pulls (watched guides so I was fully aware it where not normal pulls at all)

And I see more brute force zerging of bosses which either goes okeish as in pretty much the whole raids dies the moment the boss dies or it actually causing wipes.

But besides these minor things (which I hope stay minor)the community as a whole is quite pleasant.

[Deleted]

while I love the community as a whole.

I do have noticed lately that there is a little more inconsideration when running dungeons. I am not sure if this is simply because the endgame players (one that have been at max lv and pretty much max Ilv gear) are simply bored or something.

But it was quite frustrating as a new fresh geared healer coming in to a post lv 50 dungeon and stating I was new and still have the tank pull 3-4 packs of mobs running around corners and seeing health drop from 100 to 10-20 % in like 2 secs flat with absolutely now way getting it back up. and being told it where normal pulls (watched guides so I was fully aware it where not normal pulls at all)

And I see more brute force zerging of bosses which either goes okeish as in pretty much the whole raids dies the moment the boss dies or it actually causing wipes.

But besides these minor things (which I hope stay minor)the community as a whole is quite pleasant.

I've noticed there is also A LOT of ninjaing in my 5 mans at least. Basically if someone can need on it they will. been gearing up my black mage and it's impossible in 5 mans with any other cloth user as every player in 130 gear will happily need on any loot I can use. Everyone needs on every item too.

[Thelxi]

GW2 also has a very friendly and lively community.

[Yelta]

I've noticed there is also A LOT of ninjaing in my 5 mans at least. Basically if someone can need on it they will. been gearing up my black mage and it's impossible in 5 mans with any other cloth user as every player in 130 gear will happily need on any loot I can use. Everyone needs on every item too.

Make sure you say something if you actually want an item for an upgrade. Pretty much everything that drops I "Need" for either GC seals or desynth. If I know you want upgrades I will gladly pass.

[Deleted]

Oh by no means will I ever claim it to be the sole reason (I mean where do the CT trolls come from?), but yeah, it's a pretty big chunk of it.

Something I personally encountered was the fact, that saying "hello, first time in this dungeon, if anything important happens let me know" didn't forced a kick, but mostly "it's ok, we will tell you". FFXIV rewards you for having a first timer through the hole dungeon - with a noticeable amount of more points. Try that in Wildstar or WoW. The possibility of a positive reaction seems siginificant lower, if it's just "ugh now we have to carry and get nothing but trouble". There are friendly people, but most - sometimes including me - expect more bad than good stuff :/ Not in FFXIV, though.
I couldn't stop thinking how that little thing would change the community, if introduced somewhere else. I tried a bit of PvP in FFXIV and not seeing names, but only classes as your enemies seems also like a good solution - can't log somewhere else to flame any "enemy" Maybe that lowers the "rage level" per se?

[Sohrae]

But it was quite frustrating as a new fresh geared healer coming in to a post lv 50 dungeon and stating I was new and still have the tank pull 3-4 packs of mobs running around corners and seeing health drop from 100 to 10-20 % in like 2 secs flat with absolutely now way getting it back up. and being told it where normal pulls (watched guides so I was fully aware it where not normal pulls at all)
.

I've been noticing this a lot more too, it wasn't too bad when I hit 50 and was doing dungeons as DD/DPS but as soon as I wanted to try healing I started having some bad experiences in regards to peoples attitudes. To be fair, I had seen cases of other healers saying to tanks "I'm new to this dungeon so please take it slow" and getting the response "too bad, keep up or leave and uninstall" ...wtf? I guess it is just because a lot of people are maxed out, done the dungeon a million times and therefore expect everyone to keep up and just rush through it.

I also noticed the 'ninja looters' too, I mainly started to see it when I started doing World of Darkness and you would get someone in your group who had amazing gear and would need on the stuff you actually genuinely needed.. even when I did see other people saying they needed gear people would often reply with something like "I need it too, for gill" or something equally as trollish -.-

One thing I would warn people about which I really didn't understand as I came from MMO games where you raided within your guild/FC/clan whatever, is that people can apparently get super salty if you leave their FC to join the one you want to raid with.. apparently it is incredibly rare for people to see it as a necessary thing to be in the FC they raid with, rather you be in a static with a bunch of people who are potentially from lots of FCs. This actually basically ruined my endgame experience because of the hostility that came from not really seeing wanting to join the FC I was raiding with as "weird". I hope this is just the server I am playing on because I really wanted to give Heavensward a try, but the endgame community was a huge letdown.

[Lathais]

I've been noticing this a lot more too, it wasn't too bad when I hit 50 and was doing dungeons as DD/DPS but as soon as I wanted to try healing I started having some bad experiences in regards to peoples attitudes. To be fair, I had seen cases of other healers saying to tanks "I'm new to this dungeon so please take it slow" and getting the response "too bad, keep up or leave and uninstall" ...wtf? I guess it is just because a lot of people are maxed out, done the dungeon a million times and therefore expect everyone to keep up and just rush through it.

I also noticed the 'ninja looters' too, I mainly started to see it when I started doing World of Darkness and you would get someone in your group who had amazing gear and would need on the stuff you actually genuinely needed.. even when I did see other people saying they needed gear people would often reply with something like "I need it too, for gill" or something equally as trollish -.-

One thing I would warn people about which I really didn't understand as I came from MMO games where you raided within your guild/FC/clan whatever, is that people can apparently get super salty if you leave their FC to join the one you want to raid with.. apparently it is incredibly rare for people to see it as a necessary thing to be in the FC they raid with, rather you be in a static with a bunch of people who are potentially from lots of FCs. This actually basically ruined my endgame experience because of the hostility that came from not really seeing wanting to join the FC I was raiding with as "weird". I hope this is just the server I am playing on because I really wanted to give Heavensward a try, but the endgame community was a huge letdown.

I can't speak to the healer thing as even though I am SCH I just hit 50 and have not run a lot of post-50 stuff and when I do it will be with my FC, who also decked me out in i70 gear.

On the issue of people being salty about leaving FC, it's because FC are not the same thing as guilds in other games. You can be in a FC and I think up to 8 different Linkshells. I think people look at FC as your kind of social place for chat and doing open world stuff like hunts and whatnot. They help you out with crafting and things too. Then you join a LS for your static raiding group.

Maybe different people see it differently and join a LS for the social aspect and raid with their FC though. I am still to new to know what most other people do as I just do everything with my FC as the guy who got me to play typically does everything with me and forms the groups.

[Grym]

Maybe different people see it differently and join a LS for the social aspect and raid with their FC though. I am still to new to know what most other people do as I just do everything with my FC as the guy who got me to play typically does everything with me and forms the groups.

It is an upgraded system from FFXI.

In FFXI, you don't have FC, but you have LS, unlimited of them (but you can only equip one at a time). So people will have multiple social LS, and different LS for different contents, so you never really have a set "home". FFXIV probably want to let people have a "home", some people raid with their FC and use LS for social, some use FC to social and get LS for contents, both are really common really.

I myself use FC as my main raid group, well, founded there anyway, we do have 2 people not from FC that we have to create a LS for. Then also had LS for other things like Primal farm, Hunt and such.

[Ferrair]

while I love the community as a whole.

I do have noticed lately that there is a little more inconsideration when running dungeons. I am not sure if this is simply because the endgame players (one that have been at max lv and pretty much max Ilv gear) are simply bored or something.

But it was quite frustrating as a new fresh geared healer coming in to a post lv 50 dungeon and stating I was new and still have the tank pull 3-4 packs of mobs running around corners and seeing health drop from 100 to 10-20 % in like 2 secs flat with absolutely now way getting it back up. and being told it where normal pulls (watched guides so I was fully aware it where not normal pulls at all)

And I see more brute force zerging of bosses which either goes okeish as in pretty much the whole raids dies the moment the boss dies or it actually causing wipes.

But besides these minor things (which I hope stay minor)the community as a whole is quite pleasant.

I think this is because we're already near the HW release, everyone is familiar with the tactics and whatever so they're just ramming through it, levelling a tank/healer at the end of expac is generally a bad idea imo.

I had the same experience with my tank but in MOP just 2mths before WoD i think, man... the abuse i got was borderline demonic lol.

[Zenotetsuken]

I am really enjoying the game as well, and while I haven't had QUITE as positive experiences as others here, everyone so far that I have run into has been pretty cool. Still trying to get over being gunshy about doing dungeons after dealing with so many scumbags in dungeons in WoW for so long.

Honestly sometimes I feel like a stray dog that was brought into a nice home. I am still skittish around people and am still looking for where the next fight is going to come from.

[D3athsting]

I have a theory for why FFXIV's community is so positive, but I don't think you guys will enjoy it: It's because PvP is a minigame. Think about it. PvP brings out the absolute WORST in people (that and people not listening/following directions in raids). With PvP being a side-game, we don't have two types of players constantly fighting for their side to be heard more. In addition, we don't have the typical PvP trolls constantly harassing PvE players in their content.

Just a theory, of course, not 100% (as there's still tons of bad apples), but... yeah. That's all I got XD

That said, outside of CT, I've rarely encountered trolls.

Pvp attracts stupid kids jerks and all kind of toxic ppl like flowers do with honeybees, also pvp is the reason of constant whining from players who flood community boards with "omg nerf warriors, a warrior globaled me" or "can't kill a druid ffs" and these kind of threads always end in flaming if mods don't lock them... this leads devs to balance the classes around pvp and what you get is class homogeneization, reduced burst and nerf of many signature skills with classes that become utter crap in pve or incredibly boring to play in the best case, if some of you played rogue in wow and SS in wildstar will know what i mean...
Lastly i think arena is one of the worst thing ever happened to wow...

[Faroth]

I am really enjoying the game as well, and while I haven't had QUITE as positive experiences as others here, everyone so far that I have run into has been pretty cool. Still trying to get over being gunshy about doing dungeons after dealing with so many scumbags in dungeons in WoW for so long.

Honestly sometimes I feel like a stray dog that was brought into a nice home. I am still skittish around people and am still looking for where the next fight is going to come from.

"Hi all, first time" will go a long way as you get less gunshy. For a while when I'd run the MSQ trial for soldiery, "This is my first time" was what everyone was hoping to hear to get the bonus tomes.

[Veluren]

"Hi all, first time" will go a long way as you get less gunshy. For a while when I'd run the MSQ trial for soldiery, "This is my first time" was what everyone was hoping to hear to get the bonus tomes.

I think that's another thing that helps, instead of someone's response to newbies being "Great, another nublet holding us back" it's "Awesome, someone to help me get my objective of tomestones completed faster with a bonus, let's go new guy"

[Malackai]

I think this is because we're already near the HW release, everyone is familiar with the tactics and whatever so they're just ramming through it, levelling a tank/healer at the end of expac is generally a bad idea imo.

I had the same experience with my tank but in MOP just 2mths before WoD i think, man... the abuse i got was borderline demonic lol.

While that might be the case I was really hoping people would be smarter then that tho after all the more tanks and healers the faster the queue doesn't really help scaring them out of the dungeons XD.

Unfortunately the whm was my first character (stopped playing during 2.1 or so) and I really dint want to start from scratch again as a dps.
so I simply rode it out. It only happened once or twice I think(story dungeons still got commendations tho :P) but it is kinda stopping me to go in to the HM versions of the dungeon at this point.

[Forumchibi]

I have a theory for why FFXIV's community is so positive, but I don't think you guys will enjoy it: It's because PvP is a minigame. Think about it. PvP brings out the absolute WORST in people...

So I just turned 50 yesterday, I read on reddit in a post about things to do when you're 50 that someone suggested PvP was a good way to get high level gear... and I liked some of the pieces for their looks, so I thought I'd at least give it a try and see what it was like.

My goodness, the amount of grief I got for being in PvP for having low gear... which I can understand now because yes, I had a lot less health than everyone else (which I didn't know would be the case when I queued), but man, I've never seen the community get that angry so fast before. It was sad since I was really enjoying PvP, too...