FFXI Lessons #1: How to be a Good Leader
NOTE: I noticed people have run across my blog while searching for this topic so I went ahead and let them know what's up. Since I'm only level 53, I can really only speak for running an experience party.
Playing FFXI is all about partying. In fact, for your first 30 levels, you would be hard pressed to level without partying. The corner-stone of every party is a leader. Unfortunately, most people either don't know how to be a good leader or choose not to. In fact, I knew a guy who always made amazing parties yet never wanted to be the leader. I'm going to go over a few key things you can do so that my friend never has to step up and fix your horrible party.
- Make decisions and be consistent about it
No one is always right, but consistency helps build confidence. Don't let an annoying party member make decisions and undermine your authority. People who feel they know what's best regardless of whether or not the current plan is working or not. Not to say you need to rule with an iron fist, in fact that usually calls for a mutiny. It's best to make firm decisions about the group's direction but remain open to everyone's input. Everyone needs to be on the same page but you can't possibly know everything or sometimes you forget something. One way to make sure the decisions you're making for the group are right is to..
- Be informed!
Use the internet to know how to tackle your chosen campsite, what sites are good for your level range and what party setups work for what situations. Good decisions often make rational sense. It's irrational leadership that gives those annoying wannabes a chance to nitpick and undermine you. However, a good leader is a good player so...
- Know your job
This is general advice for anyone playing. Know the standards of what people expect of you. For example: if your a ninja, have Utsusemi and be ready to shadow-tank. Now one of the benefits of making your own PT is that you can play however you want but make sure you know how to do your job in the PT and create a PT so that everyone can do their job effectively.
- Prepare for a shitstorm
Parties wipe, it's part of the game. Try to be ready for it. If you're in a Fields of Valor zone, have everyone get Reraise. There's a good chance people will leave the PT before it's over. Make sure the members know they should give notice and agree on how replacements will be handled. Regardless if they agree to find a rep, you should probably be looking for replacements yourself just in case.
- Be ready to offer Skillchain + Magic Burst combinations
This one is extremely optional, skillchains have greatly fallen out of style in FFXI since leveling is a lot easier. Nevertheless, it doesn't hurt to find out if your melees wouldn't mind SCing for some extra damage. Again, it's not really necessary, and most people aren't macro'd properly for skillchains anyway. Remember, as the party leader you should be doing everything to attempt to maximize the party's efficiency.
- Know when it's time to close shop
A lot of PT leaders don't know when to call it a day. Eventually whole party will level a couple times and the experience take a hit. At that time, you need to get a count of the members that are ready to move to a new camp and see about possible reforming. I usually don't stay at a camp if I'm on the upper end of the level limit (being level 28 of a level 26-28 camp) and will start arranging a new plan around the time that level is hit.
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The most important things to take out of this are to: be informed, make decisions confidently, and maximize the party's efficiency. The biggest problem that most PTs have are leaders that don't know the camp so they form bad party job combinations. The best PTs have little downtime (adequate healing and timely replacements coupled with effective damage-over-time). Usually when everyone is involved, no one talks too much which means no one has a chance to be annoyed with someone else's personality.
What are you ideas for being a good party leader?
February 6th, 2010 - 15:58
I actually really like this analysis, I think it’s kind of ingenious that you look at video games in this fashion. It kind of reminds me as to why Human Computer Interaction programs exist in the first place. I think that these kinds of tactical devices can actually teach you more about yourself sometimes. It’s good to interact with other people, don’t get me wrong, but it’s equally interesting to interact with these little computer beings to see what kinds of lessons they’re supposed to be teaching you.
I think another thing about being a party leader that is essential is to know the other people you are working with and be aware of their weaknesses. So, in some ways, you need to know their weaknesses to capitalize upon their strengths. Does that make sense?
February 8th, 2010 - 12:07
I agree, knowing your party members can be a great boon. It gives you chance to know what people need to work on and where their strengths lie when assigning roles. It’s hard when most parties are formed with strangers but for what are considered “statics” or linkshell-based groups that extra knowledge really helps.
I find that MMOs can teach you a lot about yourself and socializing with others but I think the digital medium loses a lot of the subtle clues you’ll pick up on in “analog” situations. That sort of experience is really critical, which is reason not to spend too much time playing these games. Not that I’d ever listen to my own advice.
February 8th, 2010 - 20:18
yay HCI! I like this topic too, I think I might borrow your topic…
You should not only know other people’s weaknesses, but know their personalities as well. Different people respond to different kinds of behavior (some people like being given clear directions, other people like making their own choices, etc.). I really like this topic! Too bad I don’t actually have any MMOs to do some “research” on…
February 9th, 2010 - 11:07
If you do end up talking on this topic, let me know. I’ll throw up a copy or if it’s on your blog, make a post sending people your way.
As for MMO experience, free MMOs tend not to stack-up to a paid experience. Dungeons and Dragons Online is the best free-to-play experience I’ve had; you might want to start there. As for paid, World of Warcraft is huge and FFXI is my personal favorite. I hear Warhammer is also very good.
February 12th, 2010 - 04:19
Hah! I just noticed that I’m in this picture. Man that brings back memories.
February 12th, 2010 - 14:48
Visions of the future! If you don’t come back to FFXI now I demand you play FXIV when it drops.
I wish I took my screens of when we ran parties, they usually turned out pretty good. You need to show me how to level NIN without ever using Utsusemi; that’s the one thing keeping me from acquiring the greatest sub-job ever.
February 13th, 2010 - 01:41
I’ll probably wait for FFXIV. For one thing, I’m not sure Iujk still exists. I forgot my pol ID so I’d have to recover it to even check. For another, I did most of what I set out to do in FFXI: unlocking all the jobs, doing the solo fights for the summons, exploring most of the world, and learning to play at least one job really well.
That said, I always did enjoy our PTs. Pretty much any PT with at least you, me, and Bad did well. If not, we’d either help them get better, make fun of them for an hour, or find some reason to leave, haha. I still remember Bad’s “Sorry, wife aggro”. Best excuse ever – a completely irrefutable need to leave instantaneously. Yeah, our PTs were definitely good times.
My method for leveling NIN without Utsusemi: go NIN/DNC and duo with someone. If you get somebody good with you, you can crank out pages and kill chains with minimal downtime, giving you an XP rate as good as the average PT. It definitely depends on both players’ skill, but I enjoyed it a lot when Syn and I would do it. You could even solo as NIN/DNC and I did occasionally, but it’s slower and not as fun (NIN/DNC != SAM/DNC).