FilthMcNasty wrote:
Coaching? I think that's asking a bit much. There are guides and explanations for every encounter for every instance in FFXIV. It's a simple google search and it saves the rest of your group the time you should be taking to better understand your class(if you're the struggling DPS).
It's much easier for me to tell a group, "OK, you're going to dodge the puddles of fire and ice by not standing in the middle, kill the add when it spawns, and run to the center if he runs to the center." on hydra than it is for me to say, "Go look up a strategy guide for him."
I'm a big fan of going to look up crap before you actually attempt it but that's just not realistic from what I've seen.
Princess tanks...I've run into a few. I've run into quite a few @#%^s of every job/role, though.
I am generally patient and will help by giving advice on any role: tank or DPS. But, you also need to know when to call it quits.
Two instances come to mind: one where I was a healer and the other where I was a tank.
The fist instance as a healer... I was doing Manor the other day on my WHM. Our tank was new and so was one of the DPS. I had clicked join party in progress so I ended up down in the basement with them. I tanked the skeleton while my tank and DPS killed the imp on the 2nd boss. So I thought, "OK so the tank didn't try to get the skeleton off me the entire fight...maybe I was just spamming heals too much." and I decided to stay longer. We end up on the last boss and I continually keep on dying when the three adds spawn because 1) the SMN wouldn't LB or 2) the tank didn't pick them up. There was nothing I could do to prevent my deaths, unfortunately, since the tank or one of the DPS would end up with 1/4th health after an add cast a spell on them (or the boss cast void thunder on the MT). I'd have to use at least cure if not cure 2.
We did this 7 times with very little improvement on each successive try despite me 'coaching' them with the help of the other DPS who seemed to be experienced. Finally, the DPS picked up both adds relatively quickly and I didn't get two shot by the mini-succubi.
I am OK with repeated failure as long as I see improvement on each attempt. There wasn't any. I probably should have left on the 5th attempt. As cruel as that sounds, you're not really helping anyone by allowing players like this to pass on to the next dungeon or group activity. This is what 11 did right: heavy emphasis on group play. You had to group to level unless you decided to play BST. You learned your job in the leveling group or you gained a reputation for not knowing what to do and never getting invited back.
If you hold someone's hand too much, they're not going to know what to do when sh*t hits the fan later on.
The second instance as a tank... I was tanking Garuda HM. I had decided to try to do this in DF to test the atmosphere since the free trial had ended. This was back when I had a smattering of DL, Hoplite, and Ifrit's weapon on my tank.
I was met with some pretty nice players. So I inspected them only to find some things that weren't too appealing: level 28 accessories, full AF, etc.
That's OK: we'll attempt it anyways. I've seen amazing players in 'meh' gear do just fine on Garuda. My gear actually was kind of 'meh' so I let the other tank MT it who was in full DL.
Many of the DPS were actually BLMs so this helped out a ton. I advised them on the best use of flare and how to take care of plumes during phase 1, told people where to stand/when to stand there/when to dodge, informed them about manaward and aerial blast, told them about lethargy's use on Garuda, etc. I also had my macros to warn people when to move behind pillars and had my satin plume/rotation/move to center macro ready for phase 2.
We didn't make it to phase 2. Our rocks were continually blown away because the plumes weren't dying fast enough nor was Garuda. The 2nd time we wiped, I loaded up my parser and decided to take a look at what we were dealing with. The results were pretty bad and told me that the DPS check was not being met.
So I told them honestly what I thought after attempt #5: that I didn't think we had the DPS to do this and I didn't know if my gear would be good enough for the adds in phase 2. I told them I was going to go work on gearing up, wished everyone well, and politely excused myself. To my surprise, I wasn't cussed at or called a noob: people said thank you for the patience, it was fun, and that they had learned a lot. Very refreshing.
Would you consider this being a princess tank? What would you have done differently? I don't know what words I could have used to increase the DPS so substantially that we could get to phase 2 unless I sat down with every single DPS and looked at their rotation.
In one case I stuck it out and felt bad. In the other case, I excused myself after a reasonable number of attempts and felt better because it looked like people had not only learned but realized their own limitations as well.
What do you find to be a reasonable number of attempts before you decide to call it quits without being labeled a princess?
Edited, Oct 18th 2013 6:30am by HitomeOfBismarck