Zepla learns She's Toxic watching Preach video 

When I was doing Totorak for the first time, my party had apparently gone ahead and pulled the boss, expecting me to follow even though they could see I was in the cutscene. When it finished, I saw that they had wiped and were complaining about me not being there. I skipped every instanced cutscene after that for a very long time before realizing that that was just a particularly impatient and rude group and expecting sprouts to skip isn’t the norm. Not like the totorak cutscenes were particularly thrilling or anything, and I get that anyone who got the pre-updated version in roulette would want to get through it as quickly as possible. But that kind of attitude of blaming or being exasperated leaves an impression on new players that negatively impacts their overall experience and it’s really hard to shake.

The only way I managed to get some people to play FFXIV was to tell them that GMs actually enforce the rules against harassment.

That permanent "you have been rejected" what made me quit wow in this expansion. All because i play a feral druid..... watching that for literal hours while trying to do a weekly mythic run is just soul crushing. Even worst when they finally invite you, the first question is "boomkin?" and then they kick you

Design that can reduce toxicity (in WoW): Remember when the optimal way to get the expansion's borrowed power mechanic (or artifact/legendary, I don't remember) progress was to get into a dungeon group and then drop after the first boss, because the progress thingy dropped from there? There was a Blizz dev that called players sociopaths for dropping dungeon groups at boss one, a design that Blizzard was LITERALLY responsible for. Of COURSE people will do the optimal thing when it comes to shitty, lengthy grinds, and if Blizzard isn't willing to address the grinds themselves then it behooves them to at least make it so the optimal path doesn't run right through other people's enjoyment. Which, in this case, it did. This is only /partly/ the player's fault, and the fact that a dev was willing to try to pin it ALL on them speaks volumes.

The only time I intentionally don't endorse is when a dungeon is 10x more stressful than it should be because people aren't doing any mechanics AND not talking. I love eager sprouts and even if they are making a lot of mistakes it's usually still fun for me - it's more of a challenge. It's not fun when this is happening and people are not talking or are generally unpleasant/unfriendly. I usually finish the dungeon and want to get out ASAP lol.

I always commend the DPS because a huge majority of ppl commend the tanks or healers only and I that's unfair. I remember one time I went into a trial, and almost at the end everyone except me died, I was a monk and ended up killing the boss alone, not one single commendation. Next day I went in as a healer and got 7/8 commendations for doing the bare minimum just cos I was the healer.

Maybe having more commendation options in FF would work, being able to complement someone on stuff like "Fashionable" or "Helpful" would be nice. The problem with endorsments in Overwatch is that you get extra XP and lootboxes by giving and getting random endorsments so they become rather meaningless as anyone that plays enough and isn't straight up throwing matches will have lvl4 commendations all the time.

Honestly, my commendations go out to people who I think deserve them. Which is subjective.

I usually commend other DPS players. Especially those I mark as my dance partner when playing DNC. The only exception was during Frontline, where the Tank in my party was roleplaying as Magnai and I did not hesitate to give him my commendation bc I love Magnai 😭

One of the biggest reasons I quit wow was due to not being able to get into M+ groups due to being a ret paladin. I switched to Unholy DK due to it and just started loosing interest. The content I wanted to play was dead due to the fact I could not play the class/spec I wanted. At one point I got into it with my raid leader because I could not do a +15 during the week. They had a strict rule that if you didn't do one you were sat until you did. Even guild mates refused to respond when I asked. Also I was parsing in the top 99% of ret paladins in Uldir. I was one of their top dps also. It is extremely annoying and frustrating.

As Yoda once said, probably: "Disrespecting people's time leads to frustration, frustration leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering. "

Only problems with commendations I have is pple leave too quickly after a dungeon. I have to just pick whomever as quickly as possible. It’s usually the person right under me so either tank or healer. Which means dps hardly get my commendations which I honestly feel bad about. Sometimes I can’t even give it to who I think did well or was helpful cause they bounce right after. In those instances I either give it to someone less deserving or no one gets one.

Popping a "commend me" macro gets the same reaction from me as thoe people who always ask to like their video. I just don´t or give the commendation to somebody else. The only exception is the "Don´t forget to commend" type of macro.

I’ve only reported once. Was in a duty raid and wasn’t sure of a mechanic and messed something up. Another player started cussing me out and saying everyone could see how bad I was and they were taking videos. So yea, reported them. The GM followed up that they couldn’t tell me what was going to be happening with that player but that they agreed that this was not acceptable behavior

14:43 No. I wouldn't commend because of a macro. I have a priority list. Tank or healer, depending on if someone stood out. But most of the time they already left by the time in watched the boss dying, and then I simply give it to whoever is left. My suggestion is, if you want to get a lot of commendations, just stay until the last person of the group and you get a lot of commendations simply for being the last person there they can click on.

I hardly every get to commend anyone these days. That's mostly because everyone always speedruns leaving the dungeon and I'm a snail

I think story based content in group activity that requires people that have seen it/dont care to wait around is bad design. Its awesome the FF14 players are cool about it. But I think the best solution is either not have cutscenes/movies in group content or allow a solo/story version of the content for people's first try. So you can do it solo or in a group that's new to it first time, for minimal rewards. And then return in a 'challenge' mode that skips the story aspects and focuses on the gameplay.

It's nice to be able to commend new players that you see get better as they learn mechanics. With commendations you feel more invested since you get give them a pat on the back for a good job that goes towards achievements. Without it, I'd still take notice but I'd almost immediately forget. It kind of stays with you a minute or so when you give a commendation that you know the person deserved.

I’ll admit, I was nervous to join a FC because I had past bad experience with guilds in other mmo… like being kicked out of a guild I help find because I was under burn out and didn’t log in for over a month. It really hurt me. So when I began to play ff14 I wasn’t thinking of ever joining one, until I saw an FC recruitment shout in chat that caught my eye. It had a lot of similar elements as other FC shout of being causal and what they are open to and such; but the thing that caught my eye was they existed since 1.0, and still had members of who play in there as such. And learning how some people do take big breaks between patches around that time, knowing that this FC still had members from the 1.0 days I wouldn’t have to fear being kick out at any point in time…. And I was correct x3 This FC has dozens upon dozens of members who haven’t logged in months to a year and they haven’t booted out. They’re very chill about it, and I’ve grown to love my FC. Red Quills for life!

As a healer main, I always make a point of standing with the player who is watching the cutscene, if the tank etc want to just pull then they will be doing it without a healer and the other player as it usually happens the new player isn't within the arena when the cutscene is activated. Some may think that is toxic of me to the other players but I don't care lol, most of the time it makes them wait as I am not standing with them but back with the other player.

Speaking of "cultural clashes": the novice network on Behemoth (Primal) is full of Brazilian players complaining about gay people, among other things, in Portuguese at pretty much all hours of the day.

I think the two ways that toxicity in M+ could be reduced is A: improve class balance. if all classes are within about 5% performance of each other and its just down to player performance then we don't have the problem of people not being able to get groups due to the class they like to play. B: remove the downgrading of keys. Even if you fail to beat the timer the key shouldn't go down a level. You should even get the option to have it roll to a different dungeon or stay the one it is. If a player gets to a certain key level that week then thats where it should stay.

Volume on videos has been better lately, thank you!

I still remember when I was around lvl 50 and working through the 2.1-2.9 content and I got tired of being a Melee DPS (Ninja) and switched and was leveling up Summoner. We finished the Autumn Vale dungeon and I thought things had gone pretty well, there had been a scary moment in the last fight where the tank almost dropped, but I added what limited back up healing I could and we avoided disaster. As I exited I get the notification that all three members of my team gave me a commendation. As a DPS that had NEVER happened before and it really made me feel noticed and good about myself and my skill at this game. Never got that feeling from any MMO before. Love this game.

It's a good point about how people will try to match their environment. I was playing last night and the run was going rough, and it got to a point where both I, tanking, and the healer were playing like shit to spite each other. I was omega tilted, and I still wanted to work through the rest of my roulettes, but I took a minute to chill again, and I went back in and had a good chill time again. I compare that to when I played league, and it is a world of difference.

Oh bs I don't see you being toxic at all and I've watched quite a bit of your content so far one of the reasons I enjoy your content is that you put out knowledge about the game without coming off as a toxic know it all that's like obey me which I've literally heard ppl say in final fantasy 14 videos until I found your channel. Ik this comment may get buried but as someone whose watched many many of your videos so far and also just subscribed to your second channel (I also don't sub to ppl often let alone two channels by the same person so good on ya) I just love you n think your awesome so keep it up 💜

"I feel like people who are upset when a streamer reports someone are the people who are being toxic" 100% never a truer true was spoken

With commendations at the end of dungeons… I mean, you don’t need to leave one. It’s up to you if you want to or not. But it takes about 1 second and I always try to leave one unless the run was REALLY bad and took a long time due to people not knowing their class or whatever.

lol you looked genuinely aggravated with the sheep in the video at 3:00

They could easily solve the random dungeon groups with an additional option when creating groups, marking that group exclusively as a "Gearing Group", removing the ability to select people based on their item level, requiring only the minimum item level required for that dungeon. Yes, that's how random DGs work, but it can be easily extended into custom groups. So if you create a gearing group, you can't choose ppl based on ilvl, only on classes/roles you need.

The Idea of mandatory commendations seems so outlandish to me. I used to always commend based on my job, but Ive realised that just spamming commendations for the sake of giving them out is just reducing their worth. Nowadays I hand them out to people who are friendly, give and take advice, perform well or even those who did absolutely horrible but were willing to learn. When I started my healer grind, I had so many wipes when I wasnt feeling quite comfortable just yet. I do apologise, I feel like its the right thing to do and unlike other MMOs Ive played, people told me its aight. Gave me advice. Despite being the reason we wiped like 3 or 4 times they gave me comms and even a friendly encouraging tell afterwards. As someone who has insane performance anxiety that kind of stuff is the difference between a horrible and a great day.

"Why is there a sheep in his office?" The urge to make a welsh joke. Even if he's from Manchester.

I would always make it a point to give a commend to someone after every dungeon runs or raids... It's not something that is hard to do, and it makes myself and others happy. Besides, the reason we play game is to relief stress and have fun, so why not make it a better experience for everyone.

You question the sheep? YOU QUESTION THE SHEEP? me too actually.

One of the biggest reasons I left WoW is because so much of the game was centered around Mythic+ and raiding, and it was impossible to break into as an introvert and someone who doesn't use voicechat. Also the whole "rush rush rush" attitude really turns me off. I love that the duty support was added to ARR because I do not want to be rushed out of the story by other players who have already experienced it.

Anyone else freak out for a sec thinking that was a massive spider behind Zepla

Hey you welcoming and gentfull buns, can I have you opinion about one situation I was in ? Last time, I was just enjoying a new dungeon as tank, my healer said to me privately that they where retaking the game after a pause (and did not know the dungeon as well), so, not knowing if the dungeon had a gap in difficulty or not, I was doing it pack after pack. I do that from time to time, and usually, there are three ways the rest of the party deals with it : 1) they're totally fine with it, maybe they arent, but they go along and we may take a little more time to clear it, but we clear it 2) theyre not fine with it, they tell me and I'm absolutely okay to quicken my pace as long as the healer is okay with it too 3) they start to pull mobs in my stead, putting me in a difficult position to retrieve the aggro and sometimes the healer too because, many times, I do that for good reasons (stone vigil I'm looking at you) This time was a case 3) type, and I was not putting up with it. I was just so tired of this behaviour, so, I did something kind of rash ... I let the dps who was constantly pulling aggro die, after checking with the healer that it was also annoying them. Then I retrieved the aggro so that nobody else has to die and get on my way. Of course the dps started yelling at me. They where SO angry. I explained to them calmly that it was difficult to me to run behind them trying to get back the aggro for the 4th pack they had pulled (and was still running ahead), they blamed me for not going fast enough and so on. They tried to kick me out of the party while the healer and the dps where trying to calm them down. Then they refused to join us for a while because if I wanted to play at my own pace, they could do the same, no ? Finally, because they refused to show up at all for the rest of the dungeon, we kicked them before the last boss. Maybe i shouldnt have let them die, that was an angry move on my part but see, i could not pause ONE SECOND to tell them that they where going too fast and needed to slow down because if i did it, they would have died anyway for pulling many pack at once without ensuring I was here at all ... Am I the toxic player here xD ?

I actively avoid commending people who use macros to remind everyone to commend 👍

Passive aggression is also toxic. So even if you think someone is saying something nicely, they could be saying it with a passive aggressive tone. Communication, even through text, can be difficult due to how others might perceive it. Best to be open minded and do your best to be helpful in a positive way, and not in a demeaning way. Use a person's name rather than their job, because it really speaks volumes how you address others.

For me, and for anyone that has actually thought about this issue, what Preach is saying here is really obvious. Systemic issues stem from badly designed systems. Duh. Still, most people don't realize that because they focus on individual cases. So, I'm really glad Preach that used his platform to tal about all of this. He's a real chad.

think the reason he said that about commending is because twitch chat often tells (at least new people) to commend at the end of dungeons, saw it a lot on asmons stream so I assume it was the same for preach, but generally nobody cares if you commend or not, I mean there's not even any way to tell who commended and who didn't unless you're 3 manning a 4 man dungeon and ask your mates if they got one

I commend if someone played well enough that they stood out, otherwise i commend whoever has the coolest glam. I never commend folks that run deep dungeon in a bikini, or wear those horrible frog and chocobo, and ghost costumes.

My rule of thumb for content in FF is I let them smash their face against it, and if there's a wipe or they consistently mess up a mechanic and are confused, then I give them simple, short advice. A lot of folks with simple mechanics figure it out pretty quick! When there's a raid wipe, it's easy for me to summarize the main mechanic or two that really needs attention in a /shout and it seems to work out great. I love some trial by fire, because new players these days don't get the experience of the first week blind run -madness- but letting them figure it out is part of the fun to me.

I think the biggest thing that keeps me from pushing M+ is the key system. Unless I have a friend-group who I play with I don't want to risk someone else's key or mine in WoW's community. I'd like a system where you can change difficulty at a whim. Almost like Borderlands 3's Mayhem system. Basically don't want to go in for the risk, just the challenge/reward.

the systems do create that toxicity for sure like when your class is weakest on the chart you look at flavor of the month like they are the enemy or mythic plus can be very punishing as it is and causing you to need to sift through all the people with low io item level and what server they are from. raids have a lot of bosses and can go for hours so having new players in pug situations ends up eating up time if the boss have mechanics that are not super obvious in how you deal with them and this causes a wipe then people leave in one or two wipes because the time commitment required to beat that content is increasing by the second. that said toxicity needs to be interpreted by the context around it, in the other vid zep made awhile back about the player who was just shouting its practice on a raid boss because they were being asked to use consumables and said the people suggesting the idea was being toxic when if they didnt start the party and consumables were a standard that would have made them the toxic one in the first place because they were intentionally making it harder for their team mates, vise versa if it was their raid and they stated consumables and materia were not required then they would have a leg to stand on. at the end of the day players in wow dont want the game to be a huge cesspool of insults and spammed with you have been declined from lfg queues for hours on end but we dont want to have to play the game like its that episode of the simpsons where if you dont pretend you are happy bart punishes you for anything and everything. thats not to say the contract is a bad thing though its just meaningless if the systems propagate the issues themselves.

i came from final fantasy 11 and we were all lumped in together, NA,EU,JP all of it, and there were only a couple instances where I was shocked by how the different continents interacted, minor things, like JP players wouldn't look for a replacement for their spot in the lvling pt. if someone left then the party just ended, its just crazy how people could interact just fine back then but now we have to even worry that this could be a thing. shame on the human race

I’ve been a solo player in ff14 for 8 years now. I’ve PFd all of alphascape until the current content. I’ve been removed from groups, had groups disband, put together my own groups and joined established groups. I am now a top 1% parser/prog boy. My point is this: if you’re afraid to try out new groups, don’t be. Raid leaders are nervous of having bad groups but if you’re not at the point you need to be to get accepted to a group, hit a practice dummy for 10 minutes a day. Practice your openers, reopeners, and party comps. If you’re not at the level that you can raid at the highest level, and you want to be, get ready to work hard. It’s not easy, but truely it’s not insanely hard either. Practice intelligently and ask questions. You can do it. Work hard and practice hard. And if you ever find yourself on Primal DC say hi to Nuka in Lamia

I have so many commendations as a healer main. I always keep my eye out for well performing dps players(interrupts, buffs+dots always up, using their tools) and opt to give it to them instead.

I have been playin ret paladin since tbc classic when they introduced gear score i was there when they introduced group finder with gear score i was there. Play a middle of the pack class, with no desirable stand out talents, sometimes considered mediocre at best for the class, not counting any discussion with my ability to play my role or class, you would constantly get declined. It was not unusual to set aside 1-2 hours to wait to join ONE single mythic plus key.

whats the video at 13:19 ?

I remember years ago, I was playing ESO and while out questing I noticed a player trying to kill one of the harder npc's in a group area. I stopped and helped kill the npc and immediately the person said in say chat, that I was an fkg moron and I should mind my business and they didn't need help. I don't think Ive ever helped anyone again lol I didn't say anything TO them but I sure was calling them every name in the book, at my desk and now I feel like I may be letter others down because of that one experience. Glad to be playing FF

I enjoy XIV's community but sometimes too much "positivity" is also toxic/can become annoying. Not being able to communicate or say anything negative without fear of bans or blacklisting when people are being intentionally bad or stupid at the game etc.

On the commend thing, I sometimes dont get a chance to commend if in a cutscene and everyone leaves before hand. So there is that too.

I had a group while I was a sprout tank, the DPS and Healer pulled the boss and killed it while I was in the CS. So I sat there for a good 10 minutes of nothing but cutscenes and come back to a dead boss and a loot chest. I just started skipping CS so that I can know the fight the next time. I STILL have NO IDEA what the OG story in vanilla is and why we were in those dungeons other than why they sent me there.

Idk I think it's rude to not commend. I've come out of a cutscene and everyone else has already left. Or just straight up forget. I think it's okay to forget sometimes but it should be an active effort to commend your fellow player.

"Why there is sheep in his office?" We are....not supose to ask....

Mythic+ just needs to get rid of the downside to losing a key and introduce systems that reward people for helping each other. You failed, you get to try that same key again. You do a lower key with a person who hasn't cleared yet that key, you get some sort of bonus. Instead a lot of the WOW systems are built in a way that pits players against each other unnecessarily, where a mistake cost someone else their key and of course they'd be upset or protective to the point of toxicity. The social contract is good for a host of other issues present in WOW, namely the troll-galore that is trade chat, but fixing these systems is equally important in getting people to see each other as advantages as opposed to obstacles.

The part about players saying 'so-and-so could use this gear that dropped; let's let them have it'. Way back in wow wrath when I started doing pugs, I ran with folks who would do that. By the time of MoP, the pug playerbase had changed its toon to a more selfish approach. Was this change due to the way the game was designed at that point. I'm not sure. It's my perception that Wow has morphed into a game that caters to individuals more than cooperative groups, so maybe it did.

I commend based on how I perceive the performance of the other players with a default to a dps since dps don't get as many comms.

17:00 I was never a WoW raider, but did plenty of five-man dungeons. In the first two seconds, I knew how the run was going to go. Good times.

I've been surprised how little toxicity I have seen in FFXIV. There have been few times though. My first real was in my static in its first composition. It was my first time in P3S, and half of the static were new there. After one hour of tries, our caster broke his silence, and openly said that there were three guys in the static who shouldn't even play savage. He left along with the half who had completed P3S before. I was outraged. If you have newcomers in Savage, can you really expect to complete it in your fashion? My static now is great, no toxicity. Second happened not too long ago. I was doing Qarn temple through leveling roulette as a tank. We wiped in the first boss, not because of what I did, I did everything right. On the second attempt we cleared it, although I still could see the others making mistakes. But right after the clear, I was kicked out and nobody said anything. Well, those guys ended up in my blacklist. And none of them were sprouts.

My commendations usually go to the tank or healer unless a dps pulls off some crazy stuff in dungeons

"Why is there a sheep in his office..." Well, you see Zepla, somewhere in his ancestry there's a Scotsman and...well...

great vid great vid love it

I just wanted a game with leisure content. When it comes to online games, competitive content is dime a dozen. It's actually fairly rare to find an online game that people just play to relax. Really makes you think...

As commendations are required for mentorship, I typically refuse to give comms to people who openly ask for them, even if I otherwise might have given it to them. I think that viewing Mentorship as a status symbol or wanting it solely for the benefits cheapens it and, frankly, people who actively pursue mentor status should never be allowed to have it.

I always make it a point to commend whomever is doing the run for the first time. I think I might map that suggestion on a button.

Preach finally sees how other people, that don't have a social circle in the game have to play. he was always "if everyone is so toxic or bad, make your own group" asnd I always thought "easy for you to say with your 400K large community. he did try a solo experiment, where he bought a brand new account, skipped all the levelling, because he couldn't be arsed (making the point half pointless), and went on to solo gear up to the best ilvl possible. Sure it is doable bu he finally sees how shitty the advice was. Participation rewards are dumb too. just because you pay a sub, doesn't make you entitled to the best loot. there has to be a middle ground somewhere between, ultra casual participation reward and mega super hard, "you die, you fail the key", reward, there has to be.

Good job!

Is saying "at least heal ffs" to a dps prohibited? Because that happened to me, after using my only heal and regen ability when I got a vuln stack.

I remember doing M+ in Bfa and I took like a month break and could never get into a group. After that I only did m+ with guildies and even then the vibe was toxic

Back when I was playing WoW and RDF had just come out, I felt that I had to make a Macro in order to have them follow me (I played a tank) and to not pull for me. (I was the number 4 paladin tank on my server (Cenarian Circle) at that point in time)

I played WOW since Vanilla. Never had a problem. I started playing FFIXV last year to try something new. I have enjoyed it so far but have noticed in FFXIV hardly anyone talks. I have joined a Free Company, many Fellowship(s), link shells, discord etc. Even in duty finder groups hardly anyone says a peep. Mainly Hi. Good Run. I guess that is one way to make sure you adhere to terms of service. Never talk. I have to say I find it weird but I don't mind playing by myself. I keep joining groups thinking I will finally find a talking group. It's become another game goal.

I was playing WoW as my main game and started FF14 on the side with a friend. I quit WoW about a month or two ago because the game didn't respect my time or my interests. For those that will understand, I got a great item in my weekly vault. At the start of heroic SotFO progression, during the period when nobody had their 4-piece tier set, I got my best in slot tier piece at heroic level and with avoidance. The holy grail. I rejoiced. And then I despaired. The piece was for the slot my BiS legndary was in. so, now, I had to move my legendary to another slot, paying a huge sum of gold to do so. The problem is, the only other slot that legendary could go in was the belt slot... Where the shiny new 2nd legendary sits. In addition to the cost of moving that legendary around too, there is a reputation grid in the new Zereth Mortis zone that you have to do to earn the right to be CAPABLE of moving that specific legendary. I hate the content associated with that rep grind. The game told me that, to use an item that I earned from the raid content, I had to farm unrelated content I hated and then spend the equivalent of £17 in WoW gold to move things around... Blizzard made me liable for the costs of their ongoing design mistakes over the course of the expansion. They also insist that if you want to play one part of the game at any sort of high level, you MUST spend hours farming other parts too, even if you hate them. Within 15 minutes of getting what should have been literally the best possible item I could have got, I logged out and cancelled my subscription. I am now playing FF14 as my main game, where everyone is lovely. My time is valued. I'm spoiled by 10 years of relevant content. Nothing is mandatory. There is a story that has made me cry more times than I care to admit. Content is designed to be fun rather than to be an obstacle. The player expression and freedom is insane. The devs do things just because they think it's fun. The content before max level is just as compelling as the conent at max level. All jobs on the same character, so no repeat grinds. Bad luck protection is built in to the rewards structure. The list is endless. I feel like a better and substantially happier person for playing FF14 instead. I am super grateful to the players and developers for being so welcoming!

I like the league of legends commendations, They do the same as overwatch: are you a calm player, are you good at calling objectives, are you a friendly player? I would love to see other players commendation amounts so I can adjust my gameplay :)

I as a player didn't realize the whole time(I was like, at 55ish) that I could just use my ultimate. It was in the skill page. I was expecting the story to like unlock it for me. I was in a Trial and I was DPS, and the Trial needed an Ultimate for final phase. And I literally said in chat "How do I Ultimate?" after getting asked to Ult. I didn't get kicked, and instead someone showed me how to use this and we finished the Trial ezpz. In WoW I feel like I would have been hanged from a tree.

questions his sheep while wearing bunny ears... lol

There was a period in WoW when GMs did actually exist in-game, and they did interact with people. The last time that I've personally gotten a GM to interact with me due to a bug, or a social issue was Legion. I haven't seen a single GM, or know anyone who has interacted with one since Legion. They just don't exist anymore. Everything is entirely automated.

Literally made a farm party for Endsinger's Aria (ex) at 590 the other day (10 above minimum item level required to complete it). Got messaged from some person I've never played with that not only was it "elitist" for me to have the minimum item level for the party that high, but also that I was blacklisted... You can have almost all 600 item level gear now without running savage content...

I find after playing FF14, i sitll dont remember all the bredth of the dungeons and raids. The mechanics arent clear and the GCD is sooo long. The combat system is not dynamic. I dont even wanna do the raids... what for?

I've never actually encountered any "please commend me" macros for as long as I've played (about a year after Heavensward was released) and yes, I tend to do daily roulettes and stuff, so I do play a lot of dungeons/raids with complete strangers. Not saying people don't do that, but it can't be THAT common. As far as toxic players, it's usually impatient people who start the fight before people get to finish their first time cutscene that I see the most often. The only direct stuff I've had aimed at me is the one time someone called my revive macro line "furry cringe" and that's why they were going to give a commendation to someone else instead, and that one time someone called me "the worst tank ever" while doing Aurum Vale... by someone who kept standing in aoe circles and making things more difficult for the poor sprout healer.

I went back to wow after 8 years to checkout shadowlands, the literal first dungeon I did as a low level priest I was verbally attacked by the tank for not being psychic and knowing 100 percent of the mechanics perfectly with the ability to run through and make 0 mistakes at max efficiency, I immediately removed my payment details from the website and uninstalled the game. It wasn't just light banter he went absolutely berserk at me.

This point about constant rejection not being personal is the breaking point for me in Lost Ark. I'm not going to claim to be the best player but I can beat all the content so far - But I still spend more time trying to make or join a party than actually doing the content. that's not only disheartening, but adds on to the layer of time I already spend in that game doing stuff I don't enjoy, but because I have to, to stay on the same level as the content release. I'll emphasize that - Not as other players, but as the content being released. The issue is that it isn't the player's fault for doing so - They'd obviously pick the better geared class, as especially in Lost Ark it usually means that player has put in more time, but the game is blatantly easier the more the content is overgeared. you have several significant reasons that encourage this. It's not even about toxicity - It's just about being worn down. Games that make it tedious to even get into the fun part are why you'll see players quitting games that are still positively received. Cut away all the bullshit that Lost Ark puts you through, and you legitimately have one of the best ARPGs made, but even a wagyu steak loses its appeal when you cover it in the most rancid of shit.

Wow M+ - As someone that's struggled through all the wow toxicity and come to ff14 twice for 2-3months each time, this second time around I've learnt to enjoy aspects of both. I now take my newfound noobie experience from FF14 back to wow and I haven't seen any toxicity in wow keys, because I do the level I've proved myself for and comfortable with. Now when I carry someone, I don't say anything... I'm starting to let the old wow jealousy go. Just thank everyone (for playing) and leave. I start off by being happy, when others are happy and reply to them. In fact Ive had more toxicity in FF14 than in wow the past few months - one especially where it was 3 vs 1 in a dungeon. I queued as Arcanist while getting my summoner stone, after 20min the queue popped, i joined and got flamed by the tank about it. He wouldn't let it go, even after I asked for them to focus on finishing the dungeon...My FC said they were pathetic after seeing the screenshot. I reported all 3 of them because i left after the wipe on the first boss. The dude wrote 2 more lines of insult, I just said "stfu dude" and left. I no longer tolerate something that's not my fault. This is poor game design if it really mattered queueing as Arcanist and not being able to change, then submit feedback to ff14 not take it out on the player!

I never commend people who beg for comms at the end of the dungeon.

I think I remember Asmongold talking extensively about how FF14 encourages positivity through it's game design especially compared to other mmos

I’m new to FF14. Just join a guild they tell me. I have no idea how to. I gave up and went back to classic WoW. Surprisingly there are a good amount of new players in classic WoW too. I answer tons of questions. Dealing with new players takes a little patience. Sometimes you think why don’t they just Google it? That applies to experienced players who forgot something and are just being lazy. For new players, googling helps a little but they really need a person to just tell them things sometimes. I wish I knew how to join a guild in FF14. I’m sure it would make the game a lot more fun. In WoW, you don’t even need to know how to find a guild. They will find you.

it is not toxic to reject people from your group, those people are more than welcome to make their own groups

I’m a classic WoW player. I play a “meme” class: feral Druid. I get rejected from groups and raids all the time for this reason and it makes me bitter for sure. I think this sort of thing is bad for self esteem even if you logically know that they’re not rejecting you personally, rather they’re stereotyping you based on your toon and rejecting for that reason.

people leave before i can commend them.

The only thing unfair about this conversation is not acknowledging that being a bad player is a form of toxicity. All content isn't for everyone. There is a skill floor on some content. Don't force someone else to be "toxic" by joining content you aren't ready for. Maybe failing in an FFXIV dungeon has no consequences but they do in WoW dungeons. There are dungeons you can fail in WoW with no consequence. That is what heroic and normal level dungeons are for. That is what the dungeon journal is for.

I feel like people are either nice, or they aren't nice. The social contract just reinforces things we should already be aware of. If people need a piece of paper to tell them what the difference between right and wrong is; it's clearly a person-problem.

To be honest, FF comunity is not what it was back in the days. I had normally one or two people with DPS meters in the group. They were asking if you are ok with being posted in FF logs and stuff like this. Now not only 1 of 10 is not using DPS meter, but they randomly post you in FF logs (when they can leave you anonimous) without asking. Some idiots super often automaticaly look after every single move I do during raid because I am playstation player and in their eyes that means "noob". There was even topic to split the pc servers from console servers before few weeks in the forum. People are pushing FF devs for more and harder DPS checks, that I feel like, the new battles are designed entirely around it and they are really a lot more boring from older raids. I already have friends that left FF because it became a lot more toxic from what it was used to be and who knows, if things go on in this direction even more, I may follow them.

For the macro that asks for commendations, I never leave one for those guys. On my crystal server though, it hardly ever comes up. I feel that you just show up to a duty that you know, and kick some ass... I have even gotten 4 commendations as a dancer and black mage before. In a raid, that's hard to do.

Honestly about commendations is that as a White Mage main I always get them all the time. I try to give my commendation to the Tank or to a DPS specially when the DPS is just on point (I do notice you guys and I do try to give you commendations when I can!) But more often than not everyone leaves before I have a chance to hand out the commendation so... haha...

3:00 because his surname is Lamb

Gonna be honest I keep hearing about how not letting people watch the cut scenes in ff14 I frowned upon but from my own anecdotal experience. You never get to just watch the story. It's one of the reasons I quit ff14; I couldnt get into the story as anytime you wanted to try and watch the story by the time your finished the dungeon already being cleared or worse your locked out of the boss fights. This was a constant non stop thing. Perhaps it changed as I quit before storm blood came out but not gonna lie I'm rather doubtful as it seems to happen in every single dungeon and random group constantly

"it is in the group leaders best intersts it isn't personal" but it is personal because there choosing someone based on this number and if that number really matters more then the players personal skill then why do you play the game your not better then any one else at the game. the simple fact the number exists causes problems. Information is a good and bad thing depending on how it is used

I love preach i can always trust the man with reviews of a game

its not hard to fix mythic+ just dont deplete the players key each week