[Megathread] Final Fantasy XIV

[Kyriani]

I really appreciate the Trust system, primarily because I can use it for my first time in a dungeon, get the lay of the land, and see the boss mechanics at my own pace. And if I mess up, no one else has to suffer for my mistakes. I also get some RP flavor from the NPC dialogues.

Then when I end up in that dungeon with a real group, I already know what to do and am less likely to miss something and slow everyone down.

[StrawberryZebra]

Same experience with FFXIV, but my experience with WoW is VERY different. I'm in cities a lot, and therefore see Trade and General chat, and every time I've played it's filled with some stupid political chat and people being general trolls and asshats for no other reason than to stir the pot and cause drama.

I'm on a small WoW server and chat is completely dead other than one bot posting boost runs every 5 minutes. Sometimes there aren't even any pots on the AH its that small.

I don't agree with the risk part, not for offering feedback. It's HOW you offer feedback that causes the risk. Don't be an abrasive asshole or act like their boss about it and you should be fine.

I don't ever really say enough to come off as either of these. It always something like "Stack on the bullseye.", or "Take the debuff to A.". There's not enough words in there to be confrontational or offensive. Its certainly direct and to the point, and I acknowledge that.

While I can understand and empathize with people just being themselves, this kind of "it's just who I am, deal with it" mentality really rubs me the wrong way

You misunderstand. I'm not using that as a deflection.

In spoken conversations I normally listen more than I talk. When I do speak its because I have something to say, not just because I want to say something. I keep answers short and exact, and a response will be thought out before I say it outloud. People know that I'm listening and paying attention to them from my body language, and the tone of voice carries the meaning of what I'm saying with little room for misunderstanding.

I still behave like that when I'm typing online. Without the visual and audio parts, the words themselves are open to being interpreted by the reader. It's not a problem for the people who know me IRL, but for a pug group I'm aware how it can come off sometimes.

I habitually start sentences with a capital letter and end with a full stop, and that can make it seem like I'm being blunt or formal. I tend to use precise terms and language, and that may come across as being impersonal. The two can make it seem like I'm being an aloof, passive-aggressive, arsehole at times - Especially when you're trying to offer people advice. It can feel like you're being pulled up for doing something wrong.

I'm not making excuses for how I behave and talk to other people, I'm owning it. I know it's not perfect and I know it needs work and I'm owning that too. I'm never going to be the kind of person who'll say something like "Don't stand there or you get yeeted bro!" with any degree of seriousness. But if my group has an issue with my bros being yeeted, then I'm going to step in and address it. And yes, I own that one as well.

[Katchii]

I'm on a small WoW server and chat is completely dead other than one bot posting boost runs every 5 minutes. Sometimes there aren't even any pots on the AH its that small.

I play on two of the more populace servers (one server for Alliance one for Horde) so my experiences are obviously colored a bit differently.

I don't ever really say enough to come off as either of these. It always something like "Stack on the bullseye.", or "Take the debuff to A.". There's not enough words in there to be confrontational or offensive. Its certainly direct and to the point, and I acknowledge that.

Fair enough. I'm generally the same. I don't use more sentences than I have to, but I will add something like "for this mechanic do X" rather than just the "do X" part. I'll usually also add a "just making sure everyone knows the mechanics..." caveat either before or after to kind of insinuate that I'm not calling anyone out specifically. As you've hinted at before, singling someone out is what tends to cause the drama so making it a point that you're not goes a long way in most situations.

There will always be super sensitive special snowflakes who don't like any form of criticism or advice whatsoever, and in those cases if I know I'm just being cordial and providing guidance on mechanics with no emotional or directed aggression of any kind towards them, I'll vote kick them for harassment because they generally turn out to be super emotional and offensive in their responses to what should otherwise be an innocuous situation.

You misunderstand. I'm not using that as a deflection.

[SNIP]

Thanks for the clarification. I'm also the same way in this regard as well.

Being cordially succinct is a skill I wish more people could cultivate.

[MrPaladinGuy]

Don't do it!

Currently the only FFX character you can do a good job approximating in FFXIV is Jecht (Highlander with Bozja hair) and Yuna (Midlander female with cash shop outfit). For Tidus, none of the ingame male faces look anything like his. Same with Auron, but he wears sunglasses all the time so you can theoretically get away with having a face that looks just good enough (either go with Highlander for broad shoulders, or Elezen for the old man face). However, right now there is nothing in the game that looks like Auron's outfit. The upcoming level 90 Samurai gear in Endwalker somewhat like Auron's getup. Hopefully the lower black skirt is a leg item you can swap out for loose pants, and is not counted as part of the chestpiece. This being a Samurai exclusive glamour, you obviously won't be able to lug a huge Dark Knight sword around.

I've had the same appearance for so long that if I changed it now I'd be confused about who the new guy is in the cutscenes.

Still have the original two Fantasia you get for free.

I think having a physique nearly exactly the same combined with the exact same costume gives more of the same feel than having the same face as the original character. I mean you can literally buy the outfits of a few famous FF characters. Squall's is a veteran reward though.



I've had these same 2 glamours for 4-6 years now, it's time for something else. BLM on the left, WAR on the right.

Anyways, seems I still have my fantasia from when I originally started the game, I don't remember having 2 though. So this basically seals the deal since all I have to do is buy the $12 outfit.

[Wrecktangle]

I still don't understand how this is supposed to work. Letting tanks get to 50% before healing, fine, but I see healers wait until tanks are at 20% and I would be freaking out if I were tanking. I had one conjurer so enthralled with spamming Stone that our tank died - in Sastasha, I didn't even think that was possible.

I've been talking with my SO about pairing as a tank and healer so we know we can communicate and rely on each other, but I wonder if that will lead to us learning the jobs 'wrong'.

PLD main here. Always trust your healer at first. If you're not dead they're doing their job, regardless of whether I'm at 1% HP or 100% HP. I love seeing a healer push the envelope and put out really respectable damage and keep me on the edge. If the healer messes up, as long as they own it and fix it we're all good. More often than not if I do die, it's usually an error they made or the DPS were just downright cabbage (i.e. tank/healer #1 and #2).

I'd rather have a healer who tries and fails then an AFK cure/fairy bot ANY day of the week. Dying in Sastasha is an accomplishment though. You don't actually even need a healer if everyone else is pushing buttons...

[Granyala]

I still don't understand how this is supposed to work. Letting tanks get to 50% before healing, fine, but I see healers wait until tanks are at 20% and I would be freaking out if I were tanking. I had one conjurer so enthralled with spamming Stone that our tank died - in Sastasha, I didn't even think that was possible.

I've been talking with my SO about pairing as a tank and healer so we know we can communicate and rely on each other, but I wonder if that will lead to us learning the jobs 'wrong'.

*chuckles* Yes, tunneling can happen to healers in this game.
It's a lot less of a problem ever since they removed Cleric Stance though.
In general, incoming tank DPS is far more reliable in XIV compared to WoW.
So it's easy for us healers to assess when the tank needs healing and when he does not.

20% is a wee bit close for my taste too but if I have benediction up it can happen.
Usually I prefer to heal before the tank starts to panic and throwing cooldowns left and right though.

[Tenjen]

Rightclick the dummy's health bar. You'll have an option to drop combat (clears DoTs, etc on it).

Ive been playing for so long and now I feel like a fool for not knowing this.

[Pannonian]

Ive been playing for so long and now I feel like a fool for not knowing this.

was only introduced 2 or 3 patches ago.

[Tenjen]

less a fool then

[Pannonian]

*chuckles* Yes, tunneling can happen to healers in this game.
It's a lot less of a problem ever since they removed Cleric Stance though.
In general, incoming tank DPS is far more reliable in XIV compared to WoW.
So it's easy for us healers to assess when the tank needs healing and when he does not.

20% is a wee bit close for my taste too but if I have benediction up it can happen.
Usually I prefer to heal before the tank starts to panic and throwing cooldowns left and right though.

Actually it depends: In leveling dungeons, especially when it's a sprout tank i try not to let them drop below 50% - while not overhealing. I can sympathize with tanks that get a bit nervous when they're at 10% constantly (like i felt when i started as tank) - in raids... that's a different story.


Just to add to the discussion from before. While i know it's anecdotal, and the FF14 comm has its bad apples on its own, the last weeks low level content not only got filled with more sprouts, but it seems to me that they're getting more aggressive.

Just yesterday i had a group of 3 sprouts. They're all eating vul stacks at the boss (each of them at 3) and are ignoring all mechanics. 2nd boss in doma. No one is moving into the pillars - i have extreme problems keeping the group alive (bonus group damage on vul stacks). Next time i grab one of the dps into one of the zones while heading into the other - he runs out, and i barely manage to keep the group alive.

I mention after the boss "Next time please move into the pillars, i cannot heal all this damage" and i get as an answer:

"Don't whine. I'm carrying this fkn group, so shut up and do your job." (now i'm leaving aside the irony of a 67 blm with crap gear carrying anything)


Honestly, i haven't encountered such hostility in 3 years in FF14, but i played another MMO where i saw something like this a lot. I'm not one of these good community fanatics, because lets face it, people are asshats everywhere, they're just more friendly in ff14 because the repercussions are more direct, but at least in my subjective view i encounter a lot more of these people in recent weeks.

Well, the good thing is: I now know at first hand that SE are really very fast in answering their tickets

[Xyonai]

Honestly the only time I've seen the hardcore Defensiveness directly related to FF14 is when the opinions being presented were... less than polite? More or less griping about plot points and framing it as people who enjoyed those things being idiots, then getting defensive when it turned out people don't like being called idiots lmao.

Aside from that, the Drama's been a lot more general; Shitty/Creepy FC Mates, Obligatory RP Drama, etc. Though I think part of it is that my usual crew of people are more chillaxed overall and have enough of their own gripes about game systems that they're not generally super defensive when it comes to critique unless the person doing the critique is being an asshole about it.

[Wrecktangle]

Actually it depends: In leveling dungeons, especially when it's a sprout tank i try not to let them drop below 50% - while not overhealing. I can sympathize with tanks that get a bit nervous when they're at 10% constantly (like i felt when i started as tank) - in raids... that's a different story.


Just to add to the discussion from before. While i know it's anecdotal, and the FF14 comm has its bad apples on its own, the last weeks low level content not only got filled with more sprouts, but it seems to me that they're getting more aggressive.

Just yesterday i had a group of 3 sprouts. They're all eating vul stacks at the boss (each of them at 3) and are ignoring all mechanics. 2nd boss in doma. No one is moving into the pillars - i have extreme problems keeping the group alive (bonus group damage on vul stacks). Next time i grab one of the dps into one of the zones while heading into the other - he runs out, and i barely manage to keep the group alive.

I mention after the boss "Next time please move into the pillars, i cannot heal all this damage" and i get as an answer:

"Don't whine. I'm carrying this fkn group, so shut up and do your job." (now i'm leaving aside the irony of a 67 blm with crap gear carrying anything)


Honestly, i haven't encountered such hostility in 3 years in FF14, but i played another MMO where i saw something like this a lot. I'm not one of these good community fanatics, because lets face it, people are asshats everywhere, they're just more friendly in ff14 because the repercussions are more direct, but at least in my subjective view i encounter a lot more of these people in recent weeks.

Well, the good thing is: I now know at first hand that SE are really very fast in answering their tickets

Good grief what a clown. I wonder why they felt they were carrying. It's certainly possible it was true (assuming he had ACT and you didn't to validate), but his attitude reeks like some wannabe hardcore player who can't say that in WoW because he'll get laughed out of the building since performance info is public.

He won't stay long term with an attitude like that and I'm okay with that.

[BiggestNoob]

I still don't understand how this is supposed to work. Letting tanks get to 50% before healing, fine, but I see healers wait until tanks are at 20% and I would be freaking out if I were tanking. I had one conjurer so enthralled with spamming Stone that our tank died - in Sastasha, I didn't even think that was possible.

I've been talking with my SO about pairing as a tank and healer so we know we can communicate and rely on each other, but I wonder if that will lead to us learning the jobs 'wrong'.

The main reason this happens is because of meta knowledge. If you know what we know as a tank, it won't seem weird at all.

It's stuff you'll learn by playing those classes and seeing what other people do when playing optimally, or if you just play 1 job ever, you'll just get used to eventually.

[Granyala]

in raids... that's a different story.

I'd never let the tank drop that low in raids for extended periods of time. There are tons of things that can go wrong and result in a wipe.

[Graeham]

I'd never let the tank drop that low in raids for extended periods of time. There are tons of things that can go wrong and result in a wipe.

Yep.

I've had people gamble with my health and then complain when I die because they let me get to 20% or 10% health only for some other player to accidentally drop an AoE on me.

[Lane]

What I'm getting from this is that I need to get over my aversion to character deaths. :P I blame WoW and their stupid death counter for that.

Anyway, I watched through the DRK questline. The 30-50 arc was great. The rest of it was kind of meh except for the ending. Guess I should've tempered my expectations.

[Granyala]

What I'm getting from this is that I need to get over my aversion to character deaths. :P I blame WoW and their stupid death counter for that.

If you want to step into raids? Yes.
That is quite a weird aversion to have in an MMO.

Out in the world I'd say that it's quite a bit harder to die compared to WoW.
Mainly because mobs hit less hard, stick to you for a shorter amount of time and are easy to circumvent.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Anyway, I watched through the DRK questline. The 30-50 arc was great. The rest of it was kind of meh except for the ending. Guess I should've tempered my expectations.

Yeah the community overhypes the 30-50 DRK questline to high heaven. It's decent in comparison to most of the job questlines in the game. I think the only really good ones are the Samurai 50-60, the Gunbreaker 60-70, and the DRK 60-70, but don't expect anything amazing.

[Lane]

I'm surprised we aren't seeing an explosion of machinima for FFXIV yet.

DO NOT CLICK THESE LINKS UNLESS YOU'VE COMPLETED 5.3!

I stumbled across two animations recently of the short stories Through His Eyes and Ere Our Curtain Falls. I enjoyed them, you might too.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

DO NOT CLICK THESE LINKS UNLESS YOU'VE COMPLETED 5.3!

I stumbled across two animations recently of the short stories Through His Eyes and Ere Our Curtain Falls. I enjoyed them, you might too.

Ty for the link