Why are everyone so phlegmatic?

[Maju]

I'm sure I'm not the only one who has noticed this. It's incredibly difficult to get people to do anything in FFXI.

No matter what I try to suggest (rank missions, ZM, CoP, quests, you name it), nobody wants to do it. I once managed to get together a group of three for ZM4 but it fell apart because nobody else wanted to join. It's incredibly frustrating when all you can do is exp because people aren't cooperating.

Perhaps it's just my EU time zone causing this. Do NAs have this problem? I'm pretty much stuck in all mission trees as well as BCNMs and some quests I'd like to do because it is impossible to find people to do it with.

[Murphie]

Re: Why are everyone so phlegmatic?

I also enjoy broad generalizations.

But yes, for the most part it is pretty tough to get random folks together to do missions and/or other events, because most people prefer to do them with people they know really well, and it's the rare individual who will do them again just to help others get through them (which sucks).

It may very well be your timezone though. But it also might have a lot to do with the fact that the more time passes, the more people there are that have already done this stuff, and so there are less and less folks who need to do it, or who are willing to do it again.

Which sucks, but there we are. Your best bet would be to treat this stuff like CoP and get a static or semi-static together and work your way through the stuff you (and they) need like that.

[Maju]

Re: Why are everyone so phlegmatic?

I know of only one other EU player who hasn't done CoP further than where I am and unfortunately he is also a PLD so it wouldn't work anyway. Statics just aren't possible for EU folks.

I can't really do much with my LS either since they are plagued by the same lazyness and the fact that they're almost entirely NA and there is barely anyone on when I play.

[Raydeus]

Re: Why are everyone so phlegmatic?

The only kind of missions I've had those troubles with are CoP ones. For everything else shouting in Jeuno (and now Whitegate) has always worked for me.

But then again I've been told it's much easier getting help once you are a higher rank, I dunno if that's the case, but it kinda makes sense in a way.

[Murphie]

Re: Why are everyone so phlegmatic?

Statics just aren't possible for EU folks.

This isn't really true. It might feel that way some/a lot of the time, but it's really not. I'm in an EU LS, and they all manage to progress through things pretty well. Then again, there is a stronger focus on making the team better by helping others to get through things so that everyone is on the same page, so that might have something to do with it.

I don't really have any suggestions re: your LS though. I've certainly been in your situation before, so I understand, but there isn't any easy solution beyond finding a new one. And that's not so easy.

[LadyKiKi]

Re: Why are everyone so phlegmatic?

In this concept, it depends what people are doing. Normally when people log on they got something in mind they want to do already. So to allocate time to go help someone else is really hard, I understand. Just yesterday I decided to finally move out of the way and help my linkshell friend do RDM AF1 and PLD AF1.

I look at that it's not that someone doesn't want to help, it's just that they don't have time to help with all the other things going around them.

[Sabaron]

Re: Why are everyone so phlegmatic?

A lot of people are afraid of pick-up parties for quests for several reasons.

1. They are unfamiliar with your play style and thus will have difficulty interacting with you in tight situations.
2. You might very well be a bad player just trying to leech a quest of of them and shouting in Jeuno because no one who knows you would go along.
3. You haven't picked up a white mage or [insert popular job here] yet.
4. The gear they need for the class they'll be taking on the quest is on a mule or floating in Delivery-space and they don't want to hold you up for 40 minutes while they get ready or are simply (as you said) to lazy to get ready.
5. They don't have adequate funds available for consumables/special case gear for the run.
6. They're mindless grind-bot drones that exist only to slay Mandragoras, Crabs, and various insects.
7. They have insufficient fame/rank to flag the quest or have not completed some other pre-requisite.

The best way to start a pick-up party is with either a duo or trio from your link shell consisting of at least a White mage and the preffered mission tank or a character who's over-levelled for the mission. People especially like it when someone is in the party who has already done the mission/quest before (even if they failed, but especially if they were successful).

[Maju]

Re: Why are everyone so phlegmatic?

This isn't really true. It might feel that way some/a lot of the time, but it's really not. I'm in an EU LS, and they all manage to progress through things pretty well. Then again, there is a stronger focus on making the team better by helping others to get through things so that everyone is on the same page, so that might have something to do with it.

I don't really have any suggestions re: your LS though. I've certainly been in your situation before, so I understand, but there isn't any easy solution beyond finding a new one. And that's not so easy.

I've been looking for an EU LS for some time now, but it seems like there is only one on the whole server and they're a HNMLS that requires sky and sea access as well as having the correct job at L75.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Why are everyone so phlegmatic?

Well, for some missions/quests I think a lot of people are willing to help out on stuff, however ZMs and especially CoPs are different beasts. I honestly can't trust a pickup member because at least 9 times out of 10, that person doesn't bother to come prepared, they just come expecting you to carry them through the missions.

They don't get sneak oils or prism powders, they don't get key items and cutscenes and if there are any other special conditions, they typically fail to fufill them. This holds a group back and is quite frustrating.

I can't count the times I talked with people about doing CoPs on my former main, Foobar. I had a static set up, even had a search comment stating I was not accepting pickup members for our CoPs and, yet, I'd get /tells anyway from people wanting in.

These people, of course, were shouting for help in Jeuno rather than taking the initiative to form a static group. And so, I'd ask them if they had done X, Y and Z and if they were prepared to do the mission.

Typically, it was just X or none at all. They had formor hate out the ass, hadn't gotten various cutscenes done... but they still wanted in. CoP missions are time consuming and also entail a large amount of expenses to do, even moreso if you're tank or melee. If I have the choice to burn time and money to help someone on such sensitive missions, I'm not going to help them because they don't come prepared.

So will I help someone with Kazham Keys? Sure. Job quest? No Problem. Early Rank Mission? I'll do my best. ZMs or CoPs?

Sorry, not happening. People have proven time and again to be unprepared, when I go to do stuff like this now, I do it with friends and friends only.

[Murphie]

Re: Why are everyone so phlegmatic?

Well, I can't really expect everyone to fall into a situation like mine. I'm in an endgame EU LS, even though I'm neither EU, nor at endgame.

I hope you find some folks that have the same goals you do, or who are at least willing to help you achieve them.

[Kirsteena]

Re: Why are everyone so phlegmatic?

Your time zone shouldn't hold you back. I staticed through CoP with an all NA static, we had one time a week we all set aside for CoP, and noone else got in the way. We finished it, and we are now doing city ranks, because they are my closest friends ingame.

Flexibility has to work both ways though.

[Irisjir Callard]

Re: Why are everyone so phlegmatic?

I find statics tend to hold me back.

I am, after all, the independent type. I do everything that I possibly can on my own, alone, solo, and usually without even mentioning it to anyone. Right now I'm on ZM5. I've already gotten the...three...four, something like that, soloable shards. I tried to get the behm<tab>Damnit! dominion one as well. (Didn't work, bummer)

My method for missions is to lie low and keep my eyes peeled. I was stuck on zm4 for about...oh...five months? Eight? I don't even remember. One day someone I'm talking to mentions "Yeah I'm in an alliance, going to go do ZM4." I ask can I tag along. They say sure. I get to temple of uggalepth ahead of the crowd, next thing I know, there's about thirty people standing around for zm4. We spanked everything between ugly temple and sacrifical chamber.

I've been at windy rank 6 waiting for a group of windurstians to do 6-2 with forever, probably nearly a year now, one day I get a tell randomly asking if I can do 6-2. I say I'm ready to walk in the BCNM right now. They say meet us in giddeus. Off I go, now I'm rank 7.

Sure, other people may not have the patience to do this kind of thing. But for me, this game is all about patience. I've learned that if I wait long enough, a big break will come my way, and as long as I've had the foresight to prepare, I'll be able to take advantage.

Of course, right now I can't take any 'big breaks' because the people I'm 'staticing' with have decided they don't want to do anything, so I can't either.

Kinda makes me wish I wasn't in a static.

[zagex]

Re: Why are everyone so phlegmatic?

For missions of your nation, I've found it's really easy to get a group of people if you mainly send tells asking if they're on whatever mission, (also providing names because people don't always remember)
One time, I did a half hour of shouting and got 1 person, then I did about 15 minutes of sending tells via /sea all windurst rank 6 (or whatever rank I was at the time) and got about 4 more people from that.
Zilart and CoP I feel are harder to get groups of people for because it's not really /search-able to find people.

[Nazo]

Re: Why are everyone so phlegmatic?

Guess I lucked out with my ls, they love doing missions, quests, events etc. 99% of the non-soloable stuff I've done has been with them and we all pull together to get things done for each other as needed. In fact the main problem has been motivating some of them to xp enough to be able to get some of the more tricky quests done.

We're pretty low key though, there's only about 10 of us; I shouldn't think many people on the server are aware of us (as an EU ls that is, probably some of our members though), we don't actively recruit new people (though anyone friendly is always welcome to a pearl) and our website isn't googleable. My point is that there probably are EU linkshells you aren't aware of on your server but they might be tricky to find.

[Kirsteena]

Re: Why are everyone so phlegmatic?

Indeed. When we set up our endgame ls we discovered there were two social EU linkshells we never really knew about.