Don't Bitch If You're the Problem

Final Fantasy XIV is not the first MMO to try to balance groups and such. They are just the first ones who made it a condition of doing what you need to do and learn to work with other classes. It's one of the best ideas I've yet seen in the instancing system in any game. That's when everyone is level and gear synched, making all things equal. You can do them unsynched, but you don't get the kudos and goodies that you do when you play by Square Enix's rules.

Surprisingly, I have no problem with that on any level.

Typically, you're going to be in a four man "Light Party". You have a tank (damage dealer, damage taker), a healer (keeps the tank and everyone else alive), and two DPS (damager per second). They are the ones who keep up a steady input of damage on the MOB (mobile object) or MOBs without taking agro away from the tank and hopefully not requiring a ton of attention from the healer in a big fight. Tank and healer are always the top two on the MOB Hate list. Tank because they're hitting the monster and Healer because they're keeping the Tank alive. DPS are supposed to slip and slide in and out of that list to keep things equal.

Here's the thing and I noticed this right out of the bucket when I was of a level to do instances, or Duties. Being a healer, I never waited for a group. If my husband was on his ninja or whatever they are called at low levels, we got in almost before we hit the join button. DPS screams about waiting for duties, but here's something that tells me they don't play tanks or healers, most of the times we're held up because DPS don't check in and join the Duty and you have to cycle in and out until you can get a full group together. Without fail, it's DPS holding up the whole train.

They bitch about wait times. Then they don't bother to join up when we have enough DPS to get things going.

In a Full Party it's One Tank, Two Healers, and four DPS. In a Raid it's two Tanks, two Healers and four DPS. In an Alliance Raid it's three Full parties and you're designated by the letter of your group, A, B, or C.

You will spend more time waiting for picky DPS to join up than you will finding a Tank or Healer.

But they bitch and whine. They bitch and whine when it's their fault.

I have one high level DPS at this moment. I may level up another if I find a fun class. My Dancer is awesome and in a Full Party the other night, I out damaged the tank AND out healed the healers. Because I was dancing with the tank and it was beautiful. I've had to wait for duties with her, but not for very long. I have more fun with my dancer than I ever have with my two healers.

My husband plays a Ninja and he has fun with it. We both have Red Mages, but at this point in the game, we're just trying to get through the Main Scenario Quests so we can relax into the game and just worry about working up to Savage and Bat Shit Insane Dungeons.

I can't tell you how many times I've sat around just cycling through players as we try to get enough DPS to fucking check in. It's ALWAYS DPS. The slot that fills up fastest? Healers. Always.

So, if you're playing FFXIV, please just pay attention.