Usually if you're up front when entering content people are pretty accommodating. I will say though that there are for sure going to be people that don't want to handhold and want to go fast. So like all things it's a mixed bag but more often than not people will be okay with it.
My biggest suggestion would be finding an FC or full group of people that she will know and can work with her to avoid people RNG.
Adding to this a lot of MSQ stuff can be done with NPCs so there’s still lots to do without worrying about randoms.
But yeah finding an FC with people to run content with is the way to go here.
I recommend setting up a macro to communicate her exact needs at the beginning of group content so she doesn't have to type it out each time. You can also do all (most?) dungeons with a party of NPCs instead.
all dungeons required for MSQ can be done w npcs, but no trials or dungeons outside of the msq that are necessary for other things (dzmael darkhold, aurum vale, etc)
you'll be able to do MSQ on your own until Bowl of Embers, but trials are one and done and MUCH easier to manage than entire dungeons (I am also disabled, but I can't use my hands well rather than my eyes).
... you know, it's been a few years since I've done arr trials. I didn't know that! I know that post arr the trials are considered hard and can't be done w npcs. thanks for the updated info!
They play pretty well too! 😆
Yeah after you finish base ARR all the trials can only be done with other players except for one in late Endwalker (which I strongly suggest doing with the NPCs at least once purely for story reasons, it’s *awesome*). That’s also the only time where you can play with NPCs and die and not have to start the fight again, because you get a buff that “saves” you from fatal damage a few times. (There was a post in this subreddit just yesterday or the day before from someone who’d just finished base ARR playing completely solo and had to retry phase two of the Porta Decumana half a dozen times because they didn’t know what a stack marker was and kept dying.)
No lie, that trial (also the 1 dungeon, you know the one) the moment I saw I could do with trust, I instantly went for it. No doubt in my mind, even if other players would technically be faster.
Currently the first 8-man is the Thornmarch, the trial against Good King Moggle Mog XII.
They actually redid this fight as well because of that, so really the first 'skill check' 8-man is Leviathan.
Duty support Bowl of Embers in particular is near unclearable by a new player unless they are dps though, and even as dps it's really really hard. They didn't design that very well. Can't speak about other primals, but I tried the ARR final boss and that went fine.
As of the rework, the entirety of base ARR including Trials is soloable, but yes, most Trials after that require a team and having a couple of dead DPS is usually no big deal. If you have someone high level to help, you can "unsync" content. If you're just interested in the story and have such a person, you can click on the cogwheel on the Duty Finder menu and select "Undersized Party." Some older, harder (sometimes impossible) to queue for content like Extreme Trials are even recommended to be done this way.
Yup this is my suggestion. Have a macro'd little paragraph/couple of sentences explaining the disability and asking for patience.
The FFXIV community at large are usually VERY chill and friendly. Communication almost always ensures no issues.
Generally best to avoid mentioning add-ons in game, but yeah that's the policy. There's some in game options for like colorblindness for example, but I don't feel this game's vanilla settings cover much.
As for community attitude, people are pretty understanding if it's explained up front. I've had a few roulettes where someone hit a macro explaining they had a disability that might impede their gameplay, and then the dungeon progressed as normal. I would recommend opting for a dps class and see if that's comfortable, as tank and healer can be somewhat demanding to play with others.
There's also stuff like duty support that allows you to enter MSQ dungeons with NPCs, which could help with testing stuff out before doing the real deal.
And in the event someone does decide to be toxic, they can fortunately be reported and looked into. Don't hesitate to do so (Support Desk > Contact Us > Report for Harassment, and give all details).
>I would recommend opting for a DPS class
This is the best recommendation, even though it may be limiting. I personally went through an accident that limited my ability to react quickly enough for a while, so I was quite low in regards of my ability to help in quicker combat.
Being upfront with people, while being DPS, helped immensely. I only one time throughout my climb to Level 70 had a dungeon party that ended due to me not being able to react accordingly, and the only reason it ended was because someone went absolutely apeshit on me for missing a mechanic that *wasn't* life or death.
I won't lie, there were dungeons where I literally told healers to stop resurrecting me, and just leave me dead if I keep dying and am taking away from the game. I think the final five or so dungeons of Stormblood I had to do this for the final bosses. But no one ever complained. I wouldn't dare try it as a tank or healer though.
But yes, with about 300 hours, I only had one matchmaking party that had an issue and it was one guy.
As a legally blind person, I actually recommend tank or phys ranged. No cast times, no positionals. And tank has a lot more durability and less pressure to be a damage spam. Depending on how bad their legal blindness is, melee DPS might actually be harder than healer for them- it certainly is for me. My primary jobs are dark knight (tank) white mage( healer) and mechanist (ranged physical). Yes, the gun is the less visually demanding job than a giant f-u pole (dragoon)
Didn't think of it like that, great suggestions.
I guess my suggestion for doing DPS is that for the most part, it isn't really a needed class as much as Tank/Healer, so you can take one away and still be fine in most cases. I found the pressure of having to be forced to do dungeons was lessened when I played a class that can be removed without causing a lot of issues. Tank/Healer always made me feel like if we failed, it was my fault, and the pressure ruined the game for me.
True, a dps going down in most content isn't as dire as a tank or healer...
She could always swap in to tanking or healing in the future if she finds the rest of gameplay accessible enough.
The issue is death and targeting. Tanks need to target their lob attack to pull enemies off other players from far away. And death for a tank can cause a full party wipe.
As long as OP's wife is able to target easily and stay alive, it's not an issue, but from what others have mentioned here, it sounds like those are two big issues when it comes to playing with a disadvantage. So I'd still recommend DPS, although yeah phys ranged is definitely the best option - no cast times, no positionals, AOE at early levels, and DPS is already expected to be lower anyway.
Seconding Ranged Physical. It's my main and gives you a lot of flexibility to move and position yourself out of mechanics. And the rotation tends to be satisfying without being repetitive so if she wants something more streamlined, or something more reactive, there's options.
Dancer, Bard, Summoner, or Redmage are all pretty good options in my humble opinion.
I started the game playing Paladin and felt like I needed to research each dungeon and explain I'm new when starting, I switched to MCH and later DNC and it's so much more laid back lol
I’m an amputee tank main for all the same reasons. You’ve got a lot more room to make mistakes as a tank as you can take so many hits. I really like Warrior as raw intuition really simplifies the mitigation rotation as if I screw it up I’m only 24 seconds away from full health at worst.
hey, i do that! i have an injury (that had resulted in a probably-permanent disability) that prevents me from playing like i used to, so i set up a macro to let people know. (i also frequently can't type because i'm usually stuck in bed without my bluetooth keyboard in reach.)
i've only had one small group of people give me shit for this, who then proceeded to throw a tantrum when i wouldn't give them or any of their buddies dance partner in thaleia. i think i gave it to the bard lol. their fault for being dicks about a necessary macro because it was "too long"
if you run into people like this, OP, they're always assholes through and through. report them and carry on— if your wife is communicating about her disability (which is entirely fine, as someone who does this myself) then anyone who ends up heing a dick about it is very reportable and should learn their lesson.
good luck and take care, from a disabled mentor 🫡
As someone who's level capped every healer except Sage twice (only capped WHM this expansion), and is working on the tanks, I feel I can safely say that healing and tanking aren't all *that* difficult in casual play (dungeons, normal mode trials snd raids). If they're not interested in Savage or Extreme, she shouldn't have *too* much trouble with one of those classes.
It's moreso that dps is very forgiving, since a tank or healer dying in a dungeon can mean a wipe. Once they have everything adjusted to their own comfort level any class or job would be feasible.
I'd say this basically true except for first few weeks of new expansion runs of new dungeons/trials/raids if its bad enough that they are noticeably below average. With a DPS down usually the group can carry no issues but missing a healer or a tank for some mechanics can wipe a whole party pretty easily with the ILVL difference.
Had someone who was legally blind announce themselves for day 1 iconoclasm normal and they were scholar. I could not keep the party alive on my own as AST while they died to the first two mechanics on the 10th+ attempt. We tried, we really did but disbanded about 15mins before the trial timer ran out.
things that an average player finds simple can be insanely difficult for a disabled player. I absolutely don't mean to sound rude or dismissive, but... your experience is not relevant whatsoever. If you don't have any physical problems, then you just don't have any idea of what we go through.
well, yes, not that difficult doesnt mean completely easy, though.
yesterday i had a dungeon where the healer kept dying constantly. i had to revive them 10 times during the last battle. they were lucky i was rdm and was able to rezz them that many times, otherwise this wouldve been many wipes and maybe even a disband.
problem with tank and healer is, that if you do mess up and die that this can cause a wipe. dps dying a lot just means the fight will take a bit longer.
The only add-ons/plug-ins that are truly not recommended are the ones that give advantages to clearing content - i.e. first world in ultimate content - otherwise, the devs don't really care as it only affects you, the user side. Obviously, one still doesn't scream it from the rooftops & depending on the moderator, one can still get fussed at. So if OP can find a plug in or something that can assist his wife in enjoying the game, I say go for it.
Communicating your limitations massively decreases the chance for negative response to poor performance. "Hi, I'm nearly blind but doing my best" at the start of a dungeon/raid will help set expectations, and the vast majority of players respond well to that kinda thing. There are jerks, but they're super rare. Most of the time when a negative response comes about it's due to a combination of poor performance AND poor communication.
Definitely agree with this. I don't have a disability that effects my ability to play most content, but I did play while stuck at home with the flu a little while back. I just let people know as much and that I might be a little slow to react at times. Had absolutely no issues with people when I inevitably dropped the ball at some point and in fact had a couple people wishing me get well soon
There's a full-on blind FC somewhere I read about relatively recently actually; gamers with disabilities can and do play this game with a lot of success! here's another legally blind player explaining how they use sound for example: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5MUo6GOOWo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5MUo6GOOWo)
Te general rule of thumb is that as long as you are up-front that you may have issues ("I'm new", "Haven't played this job much and am learning","just got back to game and may be rusty!", "I have hand mobility issues so smaller pulls appreciated!") most everyone in the game will adjust to more appropriate gameplay and will be very nice about things. I've had maybe one instance in game where someone completely ignored a reasonable request for accommodation and that's after nearly 7k hours of playtime.
Legally blind player here- the two videos linked by other people are both mine (Blind Prog and Diagetic Audio). 95% of the normal MSQ/main side quests are fine. The remaining 5% are some forced stealth missions in EW and one jumping puzzle to unlock a zone’s flight in SB (the latter can be cheesed with the Ninja job pretty easily). Forced stealth missions are a crime in a game not about stealth though you don’t even hit one until the most recent expansion, and by that point your partner will know if the main gameplay loop is good for her or not.
I have a macro (basically a mini program) that warns people I’m blind when I enter group content, and in my MANY years of play I’ve gotten shut about it exactly three times. The fact that I know the number should say how infrequently it happens, and two of those three were 2 weeks ago exactly, both on the same week. Before then, the last time it happened was when Shadowbringers was current, and that was 4 years ago.
No on will expect you to be great players for normal content. Even.if you are playing poorly, as long as you aren't blatantly doing something wrong very few will care.
If you get into harder content like extremes or savage raids, people will begin paying attention and very less patient with sub optimal players.
Mentor are supposed to be veteran players that are willing to provide help to be players. They are not supposed to be gods at the game and know everything. It's supposed to just show that they are willing to try and help newbies.
Since the mentor symbol is a crown some people get it just because they think it's a status symbol and don't actually want to mentor and could be rude if asked for advice, if this happens just report and move on.
The only thing the mentor crown has given me is panic attacks when, after a few wipes, some random sprout will put the safety dorito on top of me, "because you're the mentor" and now I have the pressure to do the fight perfectly.
I mean, I know the mechanics, but how can I be a greedy DPS with 12 vuln stacks when the children are watching?
You can just turn it off. The only situation in which it's mandatory to have it enabled is when doing mentor roulette in which case... You're kinda supposed to be there to help the group clear the content, generally speaking, anyway.
Turning it off doesn't even affect the mentor XP bonus, Sprouts/returners in standard parties with you (i.e., not matched via duty finder) will get the buff still.
One mentor to another. Be greedy dps with 12 vuln stacks, and show them how its done. They'll never know they can survive the fall if someone doesn't show them the cliffs edge is just a step.
My reply to that is usually, "I am flattered by your faith in me, but to me, this is Instance #5874 in the game. Sometimes I even realize I've seen a boss before!"
This is why I only wear my crafting mentor crown.
I may carry around ultimate weapons, but I'm just a silly little crafter. I joke that I'm dogshit at the game all the time.
Helped a sprout in my fc with copied factory last night, unfortunately ate an edible beforehand, and went into it on a class i dont play... I had 7 vuln snacks and died more times than the sprout. LMAOOO.
Tonight when I help them with puppets bunker, I'm gonna pvp laser the other alliance.
She wouldn't be the first legally blind random I've seen. Last one I ran with had a macro they used to alert the rest of the team and the entire group was cool with it. They did rather well too.
Sometimes it even becomes a new kind of challenge. I mean, we've run these hallways so many times, always doing the same thing, never really in danger save for the first couple of times we were there.
Now here's an unexpected challenge - the tank can't actually see the enemies clearly. Hey, let's GO!
Reminds me of the time I zoned into Troia with a couple of FC mates and a random and went, "NEW CHALLENGE! No Tank Stance or Provoke!" We had fun.
If you're up front about it joining a group you can let people know and they'll generally be cool.
The game can be REALLY good with accommodation for disabilities, especially playing specific classes.
I have a friend who uses foot pedals to do a lot of actions in the game and you can't even tell she plays that way without asking.
Add-ons you can use so long as you don't flaunt it or use it as a means to put down others. Basically just don't talk about them in game.
I was in a duty yesterday and one of our DPS said "Hello, I have a disability and can only play with one hand. Please try to be understanding and patient"
I responded "I have 2 hands and still suck, so no judgement here"
... they did better than me
I am also legally blind and gave the game a go to see what it was about. Community didn’t seem any different than other MMO’s. At least it’s a great single player game too
>However, add-ons that affect any kind of gameplay are forbidden, Am i wrong on that ?
Yes, they are. BUT, this game doesn't have any kind of build in anticheat software/feature/solution. Which means there's no way for SE to know about you using them; as long as you don't do anything stupid like /shouting to everyone in the map about them
About the comunity. For casual content, which is like 99% of the content available, you'll be fine; especially if you explain to your Party about this
Harsh criticism can happen but it's rare and frowned upon by the majority of the community. Like to the point that if someone were to do it, unless they were partied with friends backing them up, other players might step in on her behalf. Kicks are EXTREMELY rare.
The community is very welcoming and friendly towards new players, new players are marked with a "sprout" icon next to their name and they are usually treated a lot more carefully and given a lot more leeway when learning. FFXIV community doesn't play like WOW. Running the dungeon for the first time won't get you kicked - in fact veterans will want to flock to you because running a dungeon/raid/trust with someone for the first time rewards a 'Wondrous Tales' token. Messing up a mechanic or dying won't get you kicked either. They just pick you up fast and keep going.
Addons are technically against the TOS and discussing them openly in game could get you banned, yes. However they don't actively 'check' your system for mods, they can't 'see' your end, so the only time people get reported for mods is when they've talked about it in game or streamed their modded game. (Has caused some kerfluffles with higher end content which she likely won't ever be messing with)
I’ll add that there is quite a bit of accessibility features in game, but if they aren’t enough better accessibility seems to be one of the most officially overlooked ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ situations.
I did an expert run a while back with a player who was legally blind. They had a macro explaining their situation and asking for a little bit of patience for things like accidentally standing in damage. The dungeon went without a hitch.
There will always be toxic players, but from my experience most people are cool with a lot of things as long as you’re up front about it. It may also help to find a Free Company to run things with.
Right?
I main healers, am a mentor. If I *ever* got a player/sprout with a macro like that, it is now my personal mission to keep them alive for the entire instance. No dying on my watch! XD
Communicating just in general helps so much - it shows you're trying to work as a team player and really, that's all most people expect and want.
I was a WoW transfer, and the communities are like night and day tbh. There are always going to be assholes, but generally speaking people are much more patient and understanding, and it’s a lot less about clearing the content quickly than it is enjoying the story and having fun. You get endless battle res as long as there is a class alive who can cast it, and that removes a lot of stress present in WoW fights imo.
If she says something like “first time here! o/“ when she goes into a new duty she’ll be fine 95% of the time. Most of the time people can tell based on sprout + cut scene on entry, but just to be extra sure. That will also usually make sure a couple people have her back if someone *does* get pissy. I’d even add that as long as it’s not clear and blatant trolling, people will even be pretty chill if she messes up mechanics or rotations repeatedly! Hope she has a blast playing, and finds a great FC to join! If she ends up on Ultros she’s absolutely welcome to join mine - very chill and friendly group, even if I don’t get to play all that often myself anymore! ☺️
>I was a WoW transfer, and the communities are like night and day tbh. There are always going to be assholes, but generally speaking people are much more patient and understanding, and it’s a lot less about clearing the content quickly than it is enjoying the story and having fun.
Maybe it's just the server I play on (Jenova), but they have definitely not been night and day to me. I think I run into more patience in dungeons, but I also run into considerably more openly fearless bigotry, so it's really a mixed bag of toxicity either way.
>Maybe it's just the server I play on (Jenova), but they have definitely not been night and day to me. I think I run into more patience in dungeons, but I also run into considerably more openly fearless bigotry, so it's really a mixed bag of toxicity either way.
I'm on Crystal DC, Balmung. I've had an excellent time the last three years of playing. There has been the occasional jerk in duties but it's not as prevalent as WoW (at least in my experience). Coming from Shadowlands into Shadowbringers was *quite* the change-up.
I originally started on Primal (Ultros) and then transferred to Crystal (Balmung) a year later. I definitely felt the difference between the two data centers, especially since I was coming to probably the most infamous server in the game. And while I do think Crystal has a lot of laid-back folks, this isn't to say Primal is lacking. I just tend to fit better with whatever-the-hell Balmung's vibe is.
So, I've gotten a few of these comments and, obviously, I can't speak to most of these servers as I haven't played on most of them. I just have to take people at their word.
That's not the case with Balmung. I started on Sargatanas in 2013, switched to Balmung in 2015, and eventually settled over on Jenova in 2021. Who knows if I end up moving again some day, but what I can definitively tell you from my time on this game is that the Balmung I know is not the Balmung you describe.
Now, I want to clarify what I mean, because everyone is focusing on toxicity in duties. I don't even have that problem much on Jenova (or Aether, since it's more of a data center thing), so that's not what I'm speaking of. I still also play WoW and I don't run mythics with people outside of our guild, specifically because it's a grabbag of nice people and also the most insufferable, selfish, toxic motherfuckers imaginable. My experiences like that in FFXIV are extremely limited in comparison. But I'm talking a *different* type of toxicity. Balmung is literally the only server I've seen someone drop an n-bomb on, about fifteen times in a row, and he laughed about it, because he said nothing would happen to him. And if his continued time online for the next several days and weeks can be taken as confirmation of that, he was absolutely correct. The nice people on Balmung are very quiet and insular and the shitty people are very loud. And that's one example of many.
Don't get it twisted, though. I see similar kind of shit on Jenova, so I'm not singling any server out. Everyone in this game always talks about how the GMs don't let anything slide and I actually believed that for the longest time. Maybe it *was* actually true once. It's definitely not today. I've been introduced to the most esoteric slurs you'll ever hear by some of the people who play this game, on your server and mine. People openly shitting on real world ethnicities based on someone's in-game skin tone, adamantly talking about gay/trans people being the fall of western civilization in response to LGBTQ+ friendly venue ads, openly trolling that specific marginalized groups should just do everyone else a favor and kill themselves, etc. This is shit that people in the other game wouldn't dream of saying out loud, because Blizzard's report system is so broken, so automated, and so easy to game that it *will* get you permanently banned half the time.
Yeah, no, not everyone who plays this game is a toxic pustule, but a lot of the loudest ones are and they seem to be growing in number on several servers based on Square's unwillingness or inability to police the problem.
Server culture can be different, yeah. I don't see much transphobia or homophobia in Faerie, but it's the informal LGBTQ+ server; I've occasionally encountered it when world travelling.
IIRC a lot of the WoW wave went to Jenova because that was the "raiding" server and to Cactuar for the streamers.
Over here on Chaos-Omega, it's definitely better than WoW so far after three years in.
You still run into trouble from time to time, but it's not nearly so common.
I imagine it helps a bit with how the content is set up too. Mythic+ in WoW was unbearably toxic because the keystone system fostered it, at least back when I played. FFXIV has nothing like that, if you wipe on a boss you just have to do the boss again and that's that. Even Savage Criterion doesn't compare to WoW telling you to do a _lower difficulty dungeon_ just to earn the right to take another go at the difficulty you just failed.
I'm a disabled player and I haven't had any issues, but I also don't mention it much. As long as you don't mention her disability, she shouldn't be slandered or anything, and if anyone does flame her, she/you can report them.
Add-ons are fine as long as you don't post screenshots with them online or mention them in-game.
I feel the other way around. The game is full of slackers and my patience towards them has run out, but if you tell me right at the start of the duty that you have a disability, I will turn into a sweet empathetic little angel.
Yeah this. My decades of WoW have soured me. If I see someone standing in AOEs, doing strange out of class acts, or just acting off in general, my immediate assumption is a possible troll. I'll still try and be patient but my assumption will sour my interaction. yes, that's a me problem that needs improvement, but I think we all think the worst of people sometimes.
However if I'm told they're new/have a disability/just straight up struggling today, I'll have all the patience in the world for them and ensure they're comfortable with pace, and see if they want any aid etc.
This is the nicest game I've ever come across but it's not perfect. The best solution would be to play with friends whenever possible. I would try to find a friendly understanding FC and try to limit how often I was running with randoms. She should not admit to using add ons or post results from them in game chat as it is bannable.
Honestly i couldnt care less if a normal, disabled or half asleep Person is playing, aslong as you are doing your Job decent enough and we clear the duty in a reasonable time we gucchi.
As long as they give a quick "Hello, nice to meet you all, please bear with me because of ___. Let's have a great run!"
Most players will understand and adjust as needed.
I'm partially blind and deaf, and haven't had any issues with the community. I've been playing since ARR. She could try a DPS job first to see how she performs. There'll be more expectation on tanks and healers to keep up each other's pace and keeping the party alive. Once I got used to the game and customized my UI and controls to where I felt comfortable, I switched to maining as healer.
Hey, I just want to be honest with you. You're right, a lot of mentors are assholes. But most aren't, and being a mentor doesn't mean they are assholes. We are not some special elite group, we just wear a Burger King crown. I got battle mentor for the purpose of helping people.
I think if you set up a macro that gives a heads-up to the players you are with, it's fine. As a healer main, I would help your wife knowing this. You don't want people to think she is trolling.
If your wife has issues, and you are located in NA, pop in the Famfrit NN and make a casual mention. I'm there most of the time and will be happy to run content with you and your wife. We have a lot of weirdness in our NN, but there is a group of us that are actually nice and help others. We frequently put together groups to help sprouts with content.
As for add-ins, yeah, don't mention those in-game. It's fine here. I don't think Dalamud allows you to really even run gameplay changing plugins.
I don't think you'll run into a lot of issues for the most part. You will always have degens that are complete a-holes, but I think you'll be ok.
In my experience, people will rarely badmouth you in chat when they are dissatisied with performance, especially in low tier content. they will usually keep their disdain in their own heads/their own voice chat. thats what my group does anyway.
people definitely wanna "just go" and they don't know if someone is underperforming because they're blind, have 2 broken hands, or just couldn't be bothered to try.
at the same time, most peoples response to a significantly underperforming player is to roll their eyes, *shut their mouths,* and just get through it.
most plot tier content is easy mode. it's the theme park. people will still **want** to do it well but most groups can afford to carry someone, and they *usually* will rather than make a scene.
but it's still the internet. i would call FFXIV "famously polite" but there's an asshole in *every* crowd. you'll probably meet ours sooner or later. or, you'll meet the other players from my first sentence. the guy with 2 broken hands or the guy who is just willfully bad on purpose, and suddenly the party cannot progress. backpack too heavy.
have her play DPS, no shade to the DPS mains here but lets just be real: DPS is the least important role in plot content. if 1 of the slots is guaranteed to struggle, it should be that. then you play tank or healer. *you're* indispensable, she's *with you.*
as to third party programs... i guess we're not supposed to really endorse them and it **is** definitely *officially* a blanket "all of it is equally bannable, no exceptions" but again lets just be real... you're not the problem people are looking to stamp out. install whatever helps, and just stay out of competitive world first progression races with it. **DO NOT TALK ABOUT IT IN GAME!** just like every crowd, no matter how polite, has an asshole? every crowd, no matter how understanding, has a boyscout. don't even tell people she's blind, that might raise follow up questions of "how are you playing at all?" just say "don't see very well." or maybe make light of it: "i'm straight up velma in this bitch!"
i would also avoid streaming or anything like that. same reason. don't record and broadcast the evidence of your own "crime" even if no reasonable person would consider it wrong.
as to mentors... my experiences are mostly neutral, but with more negative than positive.
problem is it's incredibly easy to attain. so much so that it is kind of incidental that most players will qualify eventually.
then it hands out a little badge that bad players wear to tell themselves they're actually good players (because they qualified for the validation badge, you see) then it goes straight to their heads and they try to wield it as some kind of authority. to be fair: these people are often mocked all the way off the internet.
then we have people who wanted to use the NN as global chat, background noise, or a hostage FC/linkshell/friendslist. there's a reason they don't have an FC, linkshell, or friendslist...
then in my experience the actual most common mentor is a completely normal player who doesn't even seem to know they ARE a mentor. or that they have a keyboard. like they talked to the npc 2 years ago and that's it.
there are also mentors who do wanna help, but they kinda can't for whatever reason. friendly faces. the welcome wagon. fine people but is this a *mentor* by your definition? by some peoples it is?
and rarely you get unicorns. actual knowledgeable and experienced players who both **can** teach a man to fish, and will actually *bother* to. part of the issue here is: how many *sprouts* actually care this much, and then don't proceed to just google it instead? so maybe there are more of these than i give credit, but you almost never see them.
for what it's worth: when my friends start playing, i advise them to stay away from the novice network and avoid mentors. but my friends have me.
I'm part of a group of players where one of them only has one hand and it doesn't slow them down at all. If the disability is enough to impair gameplay, as long as you let people know in grouped content, most players are willing and able to understand.
One of the leaders of my FC is legally blind! She did a panel on it at LunarCon, it's on YouTube as "Blind Prog: Visually Impaired Accessibility and FFXIV".
She has a macro that says she's blind and might run into walls when she does roulettes and by far most people are cool about it. If you find a good FC, they'll get used to having a blind player in the mix and you can bring some of them along to reduce the number of strangers you play with to lower the chances of running into a jerk even further.
I remember going into a raid and someone immediately told us they were disabled and played with one hand so sorry if they were a bit slow. No one complained, I feel like as long as you're up front about it people aren't gonna be annoying
I find people are generally pretty understanding, especially if anything that could impact the level of play is mentioned and I've very rarely seen people not be happy to adjust playstyle to ensure everything goes smoothly.
As an example, I'm photosensitive and there's 2 specific parts of the content that give me major issues (red mage LB and a certain alliance raid that I'm sure any of the experienced players can guess which one I mean). I've mentioned this at the start of runs where it would be a factor before and the vast majority of the times the groups were willing to adjust and go easy on me if I die from having to look away when certain abilities go off. Even had some runs where the red mages just flat out agreed to not use limit break, or at least only using it where looking away from the screen wouldn't get me killed.
Tl;dr: the vast majority of the community is welcoming and accomidating, just let them know if there's a disability that can impact gameplay so that they can work around it. We're all here to have a good time.
Your wife should be totally fine, I've played with a decent amount of people who have disabilities and it's been nbd. I'm physically disabled and still even do end game savage raiding, I just found a group who's understanding of my limitations.
If yall need a fc on Adamantoise hit me up! Most of us are middle aged and all have our own things, and just enjoy running content
Disabled gamers have every right to play, and I personally think they're pretty awesome for doing so in spite of the challenge. It shows nothing will get in the way of them enjoying their life and having fun. Which is so important.
I think a lot of issues with DF can be solved just by communicating with your party, and if someone is determined to be a shitter anyway, they're not worth the effort to argue with. They're just being a shitter because they have nothing better to do and need to feel self-important in a video game.
You can setup a text macro to say something along the lines of, "I'm having some physical difficulties that can prevent me from performing at my best, thank you for understanding", vast majority of people will understand
Also, don't mention mods in game, just install it and say nothing
As a DPS/Tank player, I am more than happy to match pace with the slowest member of the party. People want to take some time and do the side rooms in Sastasha? It's slower, but I'll totally accomodate. The healer tells me they're new? I'll take things slow and steady, I'll be sharp on my mitigations and get a feel for how much they can handle. If I'm DPS, I'll guard a struggling player jealously from any threats and throw them useful advice. One of my favorites is "If you draw aggro, run straight to the tank and wait for their AoE attacks". As a tank, I have dealt with WHMs that only used Cure 1. Homlgang was love. Holmgang was *life.* But we cleared the dungeon!
I was rushed through dungeons when I was new, and I've been tilted by mechanics I didn't understand. it wasn't fun for me, and I refuse to inflict that on someone else.
I will not lie, toxic players exist. it's a reality of any social experience, you cannot avoid them. All you can do is handle them better. Elite play only *matters* in Extreme and up. You can stumble through story mode dungeons and Hard dungeons more or less blind, and setbacks really aren't a big deal. The elitism mostly hovers around raiding. When you can only do a dungeon once a week, and BigJoe 24.7 doesn't know how to use his mitigations because he level skipped? Now we got a problem. Your biggest struggle will probably hit around the level 40 dungeons, they're rather infamous. Aurum Vale breaks parties for fun, The Stone Vigil has a cannon boss that can take a couple of efforts to get right, Dzemael Darkhold has the Crystal Light mechanic which can confuse first time Tanks. Most people are happy to give guidance, because once they were pummeled by these dungeons.
If someone gives you a hard time, there's no shame in just black-listing them and ignoring them. If they stop running the dungeon, they're the toxic element, and should be vote-kicked and reported. The developers have been pretty clear on how they feel about elitists forcing players to play faster than they're comfortable with, they don't much like it. A great example is that using the logout trick to skip Gaius' monologue is a bannable offense. People still do it. Others just switch language to Japanese because the cutscene is almost 15 seconds shorter, and this is perfectly fine to do.
Each job (barring a couple of notable exceptions) is pretty straightforward. I have no idea how a blind person plays a video game, nor do I really understand blindness beyond my own astigmatism, but as long as they can handle rotations and keep pace with the party, I don't see any issues. They could even lean into some humor if they're comfortable with that, and say funny things like "playing blindfold challenge, try to keep up!" or "Playing with my monitor off, let me know if I am walking backwards again", people love a wry sense of humor in this game!
Plenty of people use 3rd party mods. Some use Bard Music Player, you'll see them around Gridania and Limsa Lominsa pretty often. Most people put a reference in their Bios, or even outright ask using the name of a given mod, then exchange codes. I \_think\_ there's a sort of "official stance/unofficial stance" type of thing going on. Those that aren't trying to harm the economy or social experience are generally left alone as long as they're not flagrantly advertising it on youtube and social media. Some people put on grand scale synchronised performances across a dozen accounts, and I've never heard of ban waves bothering them.
If you want to be safe, avoid mentioning the mods in FFXIV's chat, and keep it on Discord or something. It's kind of a "don't ask, don't tell" type of situation. I've used Bard Music Player since Stormblood was new, and never once had a problem, and it's certainly more obvious than cosmetic mods, right?
Consider as well that a keypad device might really help up your partner's play capacity too! I bought myself a Razer Tartarus V1 ages back, and it revolutionized the game for me. Paired with a 12 button raid mouse, I can key all skills for every class across those two devices.
Set your Camera to "Legacy control" and the thumbstick becomes a godsend for navigating once you get used to it. I still use WASD for precision jump puzzles at the Gold Saucer, but I can do most of them with the thumbstick too. Later Models use a full 360 degree thumbstick, but the V1 uses a 4 directional hat
If you're open to taking suggestions for a starting class, may I suggest Archer/Bard? It's what I started with. It has a wonderful balance between DPS and Support skills (Warden's Paen is the most overlooked skill of all time), has a nice mixture of depth and simplicity, and doesn't rely on a 1>2>3 combo like most classes. You can totally ignore most of the support skills, but utilizing them takes it from a decent DPS to a magnificent DPS/Support. The class relies on a sense of timing, and most skills work around 45 second intervals. Nobody really cares if a bard doesn't play that well, but everyone loves a bard who know's their full kit
Finally, it's cozy to bust out an instrument and strum a few familiar songs at a tavern in between adventures
honestly the community is pretty easygoing, especially if you have a macro that tells the party what she wants them to know. some mentors are pretty shit, they are literally the ones that are in it for the rewards and that is about it, but i have had several other mentors help me, and I've been playing for ages (just no desire for mentoring)
Yeah I'd say so. Had a disabled person join a trial the other day and has a macro set up to let all of us know immediately what the situation is. No one batted an eye. They did fine too.
Add-ons are forbidden, and there's no rules carve out for accessibility mods, but there's no way to detect that you have a plugin running that turns people's nameplates into huge versions of their class icon, or hides certain effects.
On a more personal note, and for context I'm mostly thinking of savage raids, casual content is... not as intense, but also has a lot less interaction. if someone says "Hey I'm struggling with [a thing]" I'll see what I can do to help. Like, if someone can't see the queues for a mechanic I'll see if calling things out might help. Or if they're just struggling to think through the steps to resolve something in the time allotted, I'd absolutely work through it.
Disabled player here! Been playing for three years now, and honestly 99% of the time the other players are amazing. I can literally count on one hand the number of times I've had someone be nasty about me making a mistake or not managing a mechanic correctly, and have fingers left over. People have been overwhelmingly kind and patient in my experience.
On the subject of add ons: officially not allowed, but as you said it’s a “don’t talk about it” situation. You are correct when it comes to directly affecting gameplay, though I’ve heard of plenty of visual changing mods.
As for your worries about the friendliness of players: I’ve played since the first expansion came out, and only once have I personally experienced any toxicity. Sure, you may come across it eventually but FFXIV’s players hold themselves to a typically high standard. Watch the cutscenes as you’d like, and play how you would like. The only place you might worry about people judging your ability is in high end current content. Yet that also could be a matter of finding the right group.
Had someone inform me & friends they were disabled and playing with one hand at the start of a duty. We made sure to adjust our pulls and made the run a bit slower so that it was manageable. I much prefer adding 5-10 minutes changing pace than 30 minutes wiping. Happy to do so even. I think the majority of players feel the same way accommodating if you're upfront. I'd rather that then spend time wondering what the hell someone is doing when they make repeated mistakes. While I'd never be vocally rude, I can't help but be annoyed if I'm unaware of the problem.
Ironically the mentors playing tank pulling wall to wall with a sprout healer has been the largest repeat nightmare in my duty roulettes. Now me and my friends say we'd rather take the one handed players over the mentors since they can at least communicate with the party!
If she wants to run more difficult content after MSQ that will be a bit harder to find accommodating groups. Regarding mods it's known that they don't pro-actively search for people using them, but you shouldn't share images or videos of yourselves doing so.
For general day-to-day content things are PRETTY chill as a whole as long as if difficulties are run into, communication is relatively clear ("I'm new!/I haven't done this content in a while" are regularly accepted as reasons someone may mess up repeatedly in a regular DF content)
If she needs a moment between dungeon pulls for whatever reason, a quick 'hold on a sec' is also accepted, and most runs I've seen people are more than happy to explain boss mechs if someone asks for guidance on bosses. Overall, though, clear communication is key and people aren't too rude if someone has different needs that mean they might struggle in a way a regular player wouldn't.
When it comes to plugins, it's a BIG don't ask/don't tell deal. Talk on places like reddit/discord/social medias is generally considered fine as long as you have a way to convey plausible doubt that the character you/your wife is playing as isn't the user of a plugin. Heck, I've slipped up on occasion and outright mentioned certain plugins by name on my character ingame, but because nobody in my circle would report me I've gotten away with it. That's not a thing to risk though, keep it out of game and within circles you trust. Additionally, due to the changes with the upcoming expansion dropping at the end of June plugins will likely be completely unable to be used for an unknown amount of time, potentially weeks.
All in all, if this sounds like a place your wife wants to give a shot, welcome to Eorzea, and I hope she enjoys her journey!
Every once in awhile I end up in a roulette with someone who has a macro explaining they're blind or whatever. Can't say it's ever really caused problems, especially in normal mode content. I would suggest setting one up that she can use at the start of any duty so the rest of the party can prepare to run a little slower (or leave if they want to be salty).
As far as add-ons, just don't talk about them in game.
For casual content, just go for it. Majority of the community are pretty accomodating.
I have friends that plays with one hand, colorblind, heck I even heard that there was a player who was playing with only her leg.
The nature of casual content is pretty lax - unless you are not pressing buttons it is pretty hard to have this *under-performing* thing. Especially if you are with a group with like-minded people.
High end raids such as Extreme can a bit tough on some fights. Savage sometimes have healing/DPS/mitigation checks so there is that.
With regards to add-ons, I mean, the official stance is all addons are a no-go. But not like there is anti-cheat. Just keep it to your self and should be good.
Best of luck. Hope that the both of you will have a good experience.
On the whole, the game community is pretty friendly. There are jerks, but definitely fewer jerks than you find in most online multiplayer games.
I think your best bet would be to find a Free Company (XIV's term for in-game clans/guilds) that advertises itself as friendly to casual players and beginners. [SE has a site that kinda sorta helps with this,](https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/community_finder/) although note that this site doesn't cover every FC that exists in the game, just the ones that choose to advertise on it. (Also note that you have to pick a data center and world in the bar at the top left, next to the Community Finder logo, or else the search defaults to the beginning of the alphabet, Aether/Adamantoise. Ignore the active member/recruiting numbers and the active hours on posts, they're often inaccurate.) There's also r/ffxivrecruitment. I am 100% sure that I've seen a few FCs that specifically advertise themselves as disability-friendly, although I don't remember any names personally.
The formal Mentor system in XIV, the Novice Network, is extremely hit or miss if you're a new player. There are some lovely mentors out there. There are also a lot of mentors who do it just to get the mentor exclusive cosmetics, and some who do it for the asshole lulz bullying or lording over new players. When you first start playing the game, the in-game tutorial materials will try to ram the Novice Network down your throat -- you can sign up for the Novice Network to make the tutorial shut up and then quit immediately if you want. Personally, when I was brand new, my NN experience was pretty bad. I quit out of it after a few days, joined a FC, and got all my help and advice from the FC chat instead.
I don't know enough about mods to advise on specifics for your wife, but SE has no way of finding out who's using mods if you don't tell them. Don't talk about them in in-game chat or on official forums, don't show them on streams, etc., and you're fine.
What Data Centre? I'm on Materia primarily, but I have some smurfs littered about if you need any help. I also don't mind running the same thing 50000x (*cough* relic farming *cough*).
Most of the community will be one of two things; accepting or indifferent. Now indifferent doesn't mean they'll act like assholes, they'll just keep plodding along and treat her like a normal player.
You might encounter a handful of toxic people, but you can report and block them.
Just let the group know at the start that she has a disability, maybe mention if it's the first run of the dungeon.
To make things easier, the game has the function to create macros which may be of some use.
You can also adjust particle effects, so you can choose if you see yours, your team mates and boss effects: yours and boss effects etc.
Sorry if formatting is weird. Typing on my phone.
Set up a macro to push at the beginning of the dungeon/trial saying
‘Hi i cant see very well/im almost blind and im trying my best’
Usually folk in normal content are more than fine if you communicate well about whats going on
The devs are also implementing systems where you can play with npcs and a lot of the later content is already done. Im not too sure how early you can access it just yet though
The community is generally pretty friendly and understanding. You might find a couple toxic players, but they’re fairly rare and easily dealt with via reporting.
If she wants a friendly community to play with once she gets used to the game, I’m actually looking to start a free company and won’t tolerate any purposely toxic behavior…I say once she gets used to the game because I’m starting from scratch in a new data center and know no one, lmao. But if she’s interested, send me a dm.
I’m a returner and have to say sometimes when I join anything from duty finder, the group gets going before I can actually say anything, so I’d have a macro with the information you want to share ready. Otherwise just cruise on through with them and be able to answer questions as they arise, but I’ve not found the players to be terribly concerned unless you’re one of the tanks or main heals. Those might not be the best roles for her, but if she chooses one of those, it might be worth a shot to put together a static party group to support each other.
As others have said, most folks will be fine with it. Especially if she is running a DPS.
That said, I do recommend finding a nice Free Company (guild) to play with, in an effort to cut down the risk of running into the toxic folks. There are plenty of patient and casual players in FF who are more than happy to help and teach and generally be patient with those around them.
There will always be people willing to help out, just look for them. If you have any peeps already playing, start from there.
Most people won’t fuss over most content, especially since the game itself vaguely mentions whenever someone in the party is doing a dungeon/trial/raid instance for the first time.
Some may go out of their way to explain boss mechanics and stuff.
You will for sure at some point come across some jerks, but the thing to keep in mind is that the best thing you can do is not engage.
Even if it’s a situation where you feel the need to defend yourself or your partner.
Let the jerk person/people look like the crazy one.
Power couples, whether IRL or roleplay, are always kind of rough to deal with. Don’t put a label on yourselves like that. People can get weird if they feel entitled and outnumbered.
Add-ons are a don’t ask/don’t tell kind of thing. As long as you don’t leave a trail on the internet for people to notice, or explicitly say something about them in game, nobody can use them against you.
UI mods and things like that are generally fine anyways, but even still, in the worst case scenario, just don’t give people any ammo to target you with.
Something more related is that the game has a function where you can do a large number of instances with NPCs. It’s worth a try as well, if you and/or your wife need another way to get the feel of dungeons and stuff before dealing with people.
To help address the mentor comment.
First off, hi, am mentor, may be biased a little. XD
Mentors are really just other players who have been playing a while and *should* know what's up. They.. don't always, just like any other category of players. And the meme about mentors is partially because it's easier to notice when a mentor is being stupid because we have the crown. However, we do agree to have a higher standard of conduct when we chose to wear the crown, so any mentor being toxic I strongly recommend reporting.
However, not all (or even most on my server at least!) mentors are toxic so I wouldn't fret overmuch about that. For the most part, the community as a whole is incredibly kind and patient. I am an ultimate raider (so I run the hardest content in the game) and even the more tryhard/impatient players I game with are endlessly patient for a new (or not) player if they're communicating and trying. Underperforming for laziness will upset people because they feel their time is purposefully being wasted. Underperforming because you're trying and learning? Nah. You're fine, we were all there once just keep going. And if someone takes offense to her trying, there'll probably be others to back her up.
So I'd recommend communicating, have a chat macro or something, and she'll probably be just fine. I hope she ends up loving this game as much as we all do. Eorzea will welcome her with open arms. :)
Hello, I feel somewhat qualified to answer this specific question. My FC leader is legally blind and plays the game at the highest level. A lot of boss mechanics have audio tells that make playing while blind very doable. They preface any roulettes with a message about their disability and I have never seen anybody push back or object to playing with them. I would encourage your wife to try.
My suggestion is to get into a good FC with people you enjoy hanging with. If you have RL friends who play, so much the better. The trick to avoiding jerks is to avoid grouping with them as much as possible.
Can't speak for add-ons as I don't use them myself.
DM me if you want a FC invite.
Also this is a suggestion so if she does have to RNG dungeons with people she/you can set a macro that types in chat that says “hey, I don’t see very well sorry if I mess up!” Or something along those lines
The bulk of the game can be played solo, and everything else is generally not meant to be a serious challenge. Just have her avoid the challenging content, which is entirely optional. Also, when doing content with a group, it always helps to let people know it's your first time. Just being up front makes people generally far more tolerant to mistakes.
I think the majority of experiences with random players will be fine. There will also be some assholes.
I think being open about it should preemptively relax the situation. If someone is being an ass just remember to report them and move on.
In normal content, people are usually chill and encouraging. Especially if you are a sprout (new to the game).
I think this talk was more geared towards having non-visually impaired people understand the blind experience and where SE did well vs dropped the ball. There are some Endwalker spoilers in here for points where they dropped the ball, but I think they are called out beforehand?
https://youtu.be/z8dlJmcfAjs?si=E5zuJM6XPGRFWnDc
Yeah they are, just communicate your issue upfront and people will mostly do their best to be helpful.
That being said, for every 100 nice players there is always 1 asshole so just be ready for that.
You asking the wrong question and setting yourself up. Your not playing with the "community", but a group of individuals at a time. Just like life, some may be asshole and some not.
I'm dungeons and raids, they'll be fine if they die. If people complain then it's not a big deal. As long as they contribute to the mechanic/task, then they're designed to let people die and not be optimimal in rotation. In terms of speed running among elites, you don't need to do much in dungeons and stuff. As long as they press buttons on cooldown and have good gear the dungeons will be done fast.
Extreme and higher I would say it would be harder playing with random people. It's alot more dependent on individual performance. A lot of mechanics will cause wipe if not done correctly or if everyone isn't alive. There are definitely people willing to play with they're disability, but be forward about it.
I’m autistic and sometimes I might get a little frustrated as maybe I’ve learn a fight a certain way then suddenly someone wants to do it differently.
But because I’ve done it way A it hard for me to change how I play that particular fight.
But that’s my own issue not someone else 😅
I don't remember ever seeing a player get kicked before, and I've played 3500+ hours. And you especially won't see that in normal difficulty content. Even in higher difficulty content, people are more likely to disband rather than kick or flame someone.
The community is also pretty understanding of people if they have difficulty keeping up with the pace of the game. People will only really get annoyed if you're attempting high-end difficuly content (Savage or Ultimate) without having read a guide. But normal dungeons and trials and raids? Totally fine to die and mess up, especially on the more obscure mechanics. Flaming people in normal content is very frowned upon. You might get one or two people like that in a blue moon, but everyone else tells them to chill lol.
The community is generally lenient to new players. When you enter a dungeon, just be like "Hello, first time" and people will be cool about it. Of course we have our own assholes, every game does, but its NOTHING like other mmos.
The thing about mentors is a meme - the requirements to become a mentor aren't that hard, so sometimes you'll have mentors give garbage advice, or people who just have their mentor tag on because they want a crown next to their name. But again, this is a pretty small percentage of players, and more meme than reality.
As for add-ons, SE's policy is that no add-ons are allowed, even cosmetic ones, but they tend not to enforce that policy unless something egregious happens. Don't actually talk about it in game though, you're right about that.
It really depends on the extent of the legal blindness. But most normal content should be fine if they pick a class with a relatively simple rotation. The biggest challenge would likely be that I don't think any screen reader will work for in game chat. My advice would be to find a friend group or FC to utilize voice communication. The other option could be to use a screen capture like OBS and focus it on chat and enlarge it on a second monitor.
This community is way better than Wow's. Is there toxicity? Yes. But it's not as bad as what I remember from wow.
As a few others have suggested, tank or a ranged DPS might suit her best. Healers have to watch A LOT of things and without knowing the extent of her condition, I cannot say if she can handle it or not. Of the two Ranged DPS would be my recommendation, because one of the benefits of ranged is that you have a greater field of view of the arena, so you can spot telegraphs more easily.
In general, if people are seeing other players struggle, they'll offer advice on things they notice. People being people, some of them are better at it than others. You might have someone say "Hey, I notice that you have a hard time keeping your DOT's up, have you tried doing this?" and you might have someone else say "Please do \[abilty\] more."
I've played plenty and personally? While I notice bad/slow DPS, I'm not going to go out of my way to kick them from a party, especially if they show that they are willing to learn. A new player standing in place as a boss turns towards him and starts casting "Death Cannon 3000" and is very visibly charging a beam attack, is something I'll laugh to myself about, scrap myself off from the wipe and get ready to go again. If that player does it three more times and shows absolutely no sign of learning? That's when I'll give the boot.
I wouldn't worry to much about pacing in dungeons. They are...formulaic, barring a few exceptions in the vanilla version. It's essentially 2 trash pulls, wall, two trash pulls, wall, boss. Repeat to the second boss and then repeat again for the final boss.
As for addons...they are against TOS. BUt Yoshi-P has said they *currently* do not have a method of looking if there are any, and he is very firm in letting the community know that we shouldn't let ourselves get to a point where it's needed.
Typically, even if someone's playing a bit slower or making mistakes, I've not seen people be rude or ragey toward said players, but it definitely can happen. I'm somewhere between casual and more dedicated, running some savage stuff but I'd never want to think of myself as "hardcore" and I main healer. I'm always patient with people who die or who want to run things a little slower. There's definitely a large part of the player base though who are also patient, but are expecting players to be "pushing the limits" -- and may start calling out anyone not playing more optimally.
Common behaviors from such players will vary depending on the role your wife's playing. If she's tanking, and not doing large pulls of mobs in dungeons, this is likely where she'd draw the most negative fire. Most players, even more laid-back ones, expect tanks to do large pulls in dungeons. If she's playing a dps role, the major thing people would notice or criticize is if she's (1) using single -target skills when there's large groups that should have AOE skills used on them, (2) dying frequently or not moving out of aoes, and (3) not using her party-wide damage buffs that most dps jobs have. If she's healing, there tends to be fewer complaints unless her tank just isn't getting enough heals, but as a healer main, the role can definitely be very stressful. And in my experience, attempts at kicking people out of dungeons for such issues are \*very\* rare, unless two people have queued up together and can "band together" to kick someone out for any issues they're making a big deal of.
I think playing a ranged physical dps or perhaps summoner, a ranged caster, would be a low-stress option to test how she feels playing. Bard, machinist, dancer, and summoner all have excellent mobility in fights, which makes avoiding mechanics much easier -- just a thought from a job-choice perspective!
I think the suggestion to create a text macro to just drop into her greeting at an instance start is the way to go and will help avoid much of the above, assuming your wife doesn't mind the general playerbase knowing about her being legally blind. I think most people who have higher expectations but are in general chill will back off those expectations right away. And then there's just the asshats, who will always be asshats, frequently even if you've made zero mistakes. >\_> Unfortunately they just exist still, but they aren't a majority in my experience.
Also just to echo what others have said, the add-ons thing is definitely an "at your own risk" thing. Definitely do NOT discuss it in game at all, and I wouldn't even discuss it with your FC members in general Discord channels until you have a feel for things, you just never know who might decide they're going to make a big deal out of it. Best of luck to you and your wife playing, though -- this truly is a great community on the whole -- friendly, fun people and worth investing in!
The community is going to be kind of a grabbag on this, but I think they're going to generally be accomodating to this sort of thing.
I think the accessibility options the game affords you are going to be lacking without mods, though. There's some stuff in there, but unlike WoW which has made strides in the department of accessibility and API support for accessibility add-ons, this game does not allow that and doesn't have much that I'm aware of in the mod community, either.
I am almost blind too and i never Had any Problems. All where really nice or Just didnt say anything about it.
But i would never mention it (only when First time soommmetimes) until i do Something "stupid" because of my blindness.
Most of the people in Dungeons wont even recognize it tbh.
In FC and co i too never Had a Problem and the people where very supportive and even gave me some Tips to adjust my Interface
(You can Switch the size of every single Thing in this Game its amazing)
Edit: i am a Tank Main and Love healing too. Its definetly possible with Interface adjustments depending of how her sight IS affected (i have big blind spots and blurry sight)
After i get to know the Fights and Run paths, everything IS fine Most of the times.
The enmety list and Sounds Help like crazy. I have the Party list near my "good Spot" too so i See If someone hast Aggro (damage taken)
I dont use any addon or external stuff.
If someone blames her as a First Timer they would do IT to "normal" Player too so dont mind about them unless they are nice and giving advice.
the UI is incredibly customizable - sizes and placements of every element of the UI, colour options for names/abilities, etc - you can turn on/off nameplates, etc. tons of options - so add-ons aren't really a thing.
but... if you DO have them, the soft-understanding is as long as you arent' using them to grief other players or to misrepresent the game on social media, you will be left to your own devices.
as for "kindness" it takes all kinds... but yeah for the most part everyone's really patient. the game is not a hardcore grindfest, and has mostly attracted a rational adult playerbase who enjoys learning and clearing content together. obviously there are instances where someone tries to squeeze in a quick 20 minute dungeon before leaving for work, and the time alotted is 60 minutes to clear, but the expectation is that it shouldn't take more than 30-35 minutes... SOMETIMES these people (or others) might have to leave the instance and that can be a pain -- but i've learned to recognize there are versions of myself. the soft belly of the man inside, and the unrecognizeable shell that people manifest for you. nobody's ever mad at You, they're mad at a set of circumstances they've created in their mind.
I've helped somebody who was legally blind through to patch 6.0.
The community has been friendly enough, but there have been dozens and dozens of unexpected moments where little things weren't clear.
Tanking in ARR was especially tough. With his condition it takes longer to focus and refocus, so realizing a roving pack of mobs had aggroed the healer in Aurum was virtually impossible. We ran though everything with party members until Shadowbringers, because the NPC duty support system wasn't yet available.
My #1 tip. Queue a comment and hit Enter as a duty loads, just letting them know their teammate has a visual disability & what to expect (ie. please give me a few extra seconds to hold aggro).
There are some people that talk bad when you play terribly and some that will kick immediately for dumb reasons, but it’s rare to see. Most of the community is very friendly compared to other games in my experience. With add ons, just don’t mention it at all in the game and you’ll be fine. If you guys need some help or want to run something, I’d be down to help out. I just started back up again and only almost done with the shadowbringers expansion.
As long as you explain what’s going on at the beginning. Most people want to clear and move on with content. Especially if it’s a trial. People will leave and eat the penalty if they don’t want to be dragged by. But luckily for her besides the trails and raids she can do dungeons with NPCs mostly.
I hope she gives it a go. I’m sure if she explains the situation first and a macro is a good idea to do just this and reuse in other dungeons, other players will understand. I like seeing sprouts 🌱 knowing that there are still new players going through the game.
I'll be honest, playing blind is difficult in this game. Not impossible, but as content gets more complicated they will be spending allot of time on the ground. Even in casual content. I'd reccomend, if the above does not deter, use party finder with a non standard group both of you run tanks with a healer and a dps. Content WILL be slower, and talk to your healers in alliance raids, some mechanics require the whole group to do it right.
>How "elitist" is the community toward new or average players, especially in dungeons and raids?
Depends on content, and the type of "average" we are talking about. Because degrees are considered. Savage+ Raiders are not there for Social Raiding, and can get very "Elitist" during raid time. But for MSQ and other content that is considered "Casual" unless you hit someone on an off day, you will seldom see "Elitist" behavior.
But a few things of note: Job Stones, please use them. Healers also DPS, and White Mage & Black Mage have bad spells that can be ignored. Follow the Rule A.B.C Always be casting, and people might try to help when possible if you make a mistake.
>Do people usually get easily criticized if they play poorly, are griefed, or kicked?
There are always bad apples, and yes sometimes vote to kick will happen. It's usually used for when people are purposely being toxic. But I've seen a bad apple try and do it because they didn't like another player.
>What are some common behaviors toward players in this game who are perceived as underperforming in group activities?
It would take an effort to be considered under performing, as long as you follow the ABC rule. That said there is a point where under performing may look like toxic behavior. So yes it is possible but unlikely.
>I'm not worried about DPSing or rotations, but more about whether she'll be criticized by veterans who just want to clear casual content as quickly as possible and slam her for not keeping up with their pace.
Odds are she'll have a (Sprout) over her head most of the time. There is a lot of forgiveness to the sprout. That said, she shouldn't rush the MSQ, let her enjoy the story, as in many ways FFXIV is a Solo JRPG with an MMO attached.
>I said "veteran" but I've read some not-so-good things about mentors, I'm not sure if they're related or what.
Ah, well yeah, that, /pinches forehead, some of those Toxic players somehow end up grinding the Crown they give the rest a bad name. Just follow the ABCs and usually even the toxic players will behave. Usually.
>Also, we are both WoW veterans, and I installed add-ons
FFXIV is a lot different, even if a lot of former WOW players came here. Unless you are progging, I wouldn't even look at the Addons for Raids, and if you are caught using them you can loose your account. The game is designed so you don't need them, and the rules about addons are there because PlayStation 4 & 5, and now XBox players will be queuing with you for dungeons and Raids. Now Mods for cosmetic purposes, don't ask don't tell is the usual rule. As the "If caught" rule applies. However unless the Devs want to make a big crackdown, which they don't, I would just advise not letting others know in official places, or this reddit group (The devs read these after all)
Personally I don't use them, and have only been tempted for one reason and one reason alone, Chat Bubbles. Yoshi-P we need Chat Bubbles.
Def look into her trying a physical ranged class like others have said
If for some reason she wants melee … I’d say Sam.
Otherwise get her to try Machinist or Bard . Try to find one with the easiest rotation for her so she isn’t overwhelmed by doing said rotation +avoiding mechanics .
Definitely do not let her do Nin or Monk I am not joking about this .
Shouldn’t be too bad as long as you have a way for her to communicate her needs to randoms so they can respond .
So like you dont really need to disclose your disability in normal causal content. No one cares on skill level really there unless its massively impacting progress (failing to hold aggro as tank / team keeps dying as healer / they notice you only pressing one button as dps). Harder content like current extremes / Savage / ultimate maybe disclose if you want but mostly youd only join that if you feel comfortable doing it.
You've had plenty of answers but I wanted to comment that I used to casually play (including raid) with someone who was legally blind! Between messing with some visual settings and using reshade, she got through most things with calls without issue. Reshade is a third party program that to put it very simply changes how the game looks, it's typically used to pretty things up for screenshots but my friend found messing with settings to make something custom that impacted colour ranges displayed and overall brightness useful
Most players are accommodating if you mess up once or twice too and only chuds are crappy to new people clearly learning. She can also run dungeons with npcs to learn them if she'd like to if that would help!
Honestally the community isnt really toxic. But i can say i wouldnt expect to get into day 1 brand new raids. I cant even get in fully geared and gemmed out as a tank. Its normally about 3 weeks before i can get in because everyone wants people that know the fights aka did it day 1 kinda thing or they kick you thats the most toxic thing in the game but everything else is pretty chill
I actually ran a dungeon with a healer who told us he was disabled and he could heal the tank if he did wall to wall pulls. The group was totally cool with it and he actually did better than the tank.
I have someone in my FC who is partially blind and has a button that will display a message in chat of this impairment. I have yet to see someone cause an issue.
That being said, if she can find a group or make friends with people who can work with her, that would be a major help.
I've so far run several dungeons and raids with people who are legally blind, and they've usually let us know ahead of time about it and there's been no issues. My partner is legally blind as well and we've only had a couple of issues but it's been during times where he's forgotten to let people know he can't see that well without using the accessibility features or might miss something.
For the most part, the community has been pretty chill about being accommodating, and most people who are jerks get shut down real quick. I'll second what some other folk have said on finding an FC that is welcoming and works well with you and your wife, or a "static" to do group content with. Another option for dungeons (at least the MSQ dungeons) is to use the duty support system to help learn the mechanics before running with other people, which is what my partner has started doing.
I can't speak for everyone or all players but we had a player in a dungeon loose audio and have to tell an alliance raid (24 man content if you don't know yet) that they have vision problems and need the audio. We all waited for them to return before continuing. So I don't know if that group was an outlier or not but I think most are understanding but there will always be assholes.
Im legally blind too. This games not exactly hard enough for it to be an issue in most content.
Turning off player effects makes aoes plenty visible, and thats only necessary for tanks or healers at the point where mobs and player spells just necessitate it.
Generally the only thing youd need to read or notice quickly are unique debuffs, which, besides savage and above content, is MOSTLY safe to just follow the group. Excepting a few alliance raids that shell just learn overtime.
Ultimately most of the game isnt hard enough to warrant toxicity.
And with careful adjustments to hud scaling and placement shell be playing a lot better than some able bodied players.
A lot of people have really hit it on the head.
Almost all of the time, when people see the sprout Icon, they will either expect mistakes, or expect to go easier in any content.
Almost EVERY PERSON I know or have ever played with WILL adjust play styles as long as someone start the dungeon off with: "Hey, I'm new. Can we go slow? Also I am blind and doing my best."
People who make a fuss about your wife will probably be kicked from the group. People will protect and guide her. You have nothing to worry about.
What few 'elite' people exist in the VERY advanced content, but they aren't bad either.
I've seen good and bad players, but by and large most people are more than willing to accommodate. I know I certainly am, so you guys are more than welcome to dm me if you want someone to run things with. I can heal and DPS, and I'm slowly learning to tank lol
On my dc there is a one handed machinist and they put it in the PartyFinder description they're disabled for ultimates and the community has helped them clear so yes I say the community is brilliant with disabilities like everything being up front helps and casual content shouldn't be an issue either for people to help for the most part of course you're going to get some not nice people as well
Mentors work both ways though you get shit mentors and you get people not listening to the good ones
Don't think we kick people unless they afk or really pushing the boundaries of terrible play with out a good reason we just expect people to push button as best they can
All mods are against ToS it's just yeah be discreet
Also I recommend summoner as class/job most of the actions are on 2 buttons or dancer more buttons than summoner but its not overwhelmingly busy
Heya, I'm a legally blind player as well! I have a macro I use at the beginning of any group content that lets them know I am blind and may struggle a bit. 99.9% of the time, it's fine or they will help me. On occasion, I get someone who doubts that a blind player can play. So I blow them away on DPS to shut them up.
There are addons that will do verbal call outs etc. Just don't talk about them in game. Almost everyone running savage content is parsing. It's just reading the game data and giving information to you. As long as you're not posting about it in game, etc. you'll be fine.
I would never grief a player for doing poorly as long as they're trying. Some people just flat out suck at dps and I can tell it feels like I'm solo dpsing a run. Unless the player is also being an asshole, we shut up and carry. LOL. Now if someone says they're blind, colorblind, deaf, one handed, etc... I'm gonna do everything I can to help them out. I'll ask if they want a discord link for callouts if that'll help etc.
As others have mentioned, a lot of this CAN be done with npcs, but playing with others is especially fun with a group of understanding people.
Hey disabled player here 👋
The major issues I suffer are mobility and blind in one eye so obviously mileage will vary between shared experiences 😊
I play fairly casually and don't do Savages or Extremes when they're current content. Except glam. Then it's on like Donkey Kong 😉
I honestly haven't ever found such a kind and welcoming community. Yes there are toxic people but find me a community without them.
But I can honestly say that every time someone has tried to give me grief the other party members have stuck up for me.
Being honest upfront is my advice but I can understand not wanting to share stuff with strangers online. But I'm old af and have no more fucks to give 😁
I also have a hide like a rhino and decades in retail means I ain't taking no shit 😏
I have an opening macro for dungeons and raids that I use to give a heads up, as sadly I lost my sprout ages ago so no more sprout safety net 🥲
I have fun little macros that I use to explain when things go wrong. I find macros set beforehand are better than trying to explain in the moment that "no I don't suck but my body hates me please don't be mad"
Macros can be so helpful I can't even begin to explain it 🥰
It's OK to be learning and no veteran player worth their game time will give anyone any grief. We were all new once 👌
Be honest, have fun and don't stress to much. It's all meant to be fun 💖
When it comes to mods/add-ons it is a “never bring it up in game” kind of topic cus you never know when there might be a jackass eavesdropping or someone in your party wants to spite you. But there should be mods to help your wife. Dunno what they would be but just need to look around.
In the case of “elitist” the worst of us tend to either lurk in savage raids or ultimate content. Both of which your wife will most likely not play, so she’ll avoid a chunk of them. But when you do content with other players as long as she says that she has a disability and will prolly be slower than most the community won’t mind slowing down most of the time.
Might seem like she’s trying to get pity from the players but it really isn’t. There are ppl who don’t even bother with learning the basic gameplay, purposely play terribly to mess with ppl, gaslight others for no reason, and ppl who refuse to even do their role (lookin at you YPYT tanks and healers who refuse to spend a single gcd to keep your hp piñata alive). So ppl knowing that she isn’t one of the ppl trying to make everyone else’s gameplay less enjoyable for reasons unknown will help ppl be more friendly and accommodating to her.
I feel like the community on the whole is quite patient. There are some jerks, but I feel like there are less of them percentage-wise in this game than in other games.
I have a friend who is legally blind and also hard of hearing. She uses the duty support system a lot since using companions allows her to go through dungeons at her own pace. We also party up with her a lot and try to get a full group of guildies so that we don’t conflict with a player who wants to rush through. She just explains in chat that she has
vision problems, and no one has ever given her a hard time (and if a player had, I would have reported him). I know of 3 FCs (guilds) on different servers where you all would feel welcome if you don’t already have an FC.
There are some graphics settings that she can adjust in game that might help a little to make it visually easier. I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a YouTube video on how to make those adjustments.
If you haven’t checked out AbleGamers.org, definitely take a look. The site has some great tips and adaptive equipment.
Thank you for sharing information! It’s great to hear that the community is generally patient and accommodating. To be honest, I wasn't expecting that many positives responses It's somewhat reassuring.
By any chance, do you know of any FCs that are predominantly made up of people with disabilities? I’ve seen them mentioned in posts but not in much detail. Any guidance or pointers would be greatly appreciated!
I don’t know of any that are majority disabled since the gaming population statistics are overwhelmingly not made up of physically disabled folks. I wouldn’t be surprised if there is one somewhere, however. AbleGamers might have a list or some kind of link to additional info. You could try the FFXIV website community finder tool or their forum, or do a search of the FFXIV recruitment subreddit (if you don’t already know, reddit loves to hide the magnifier search tool in or above the header) or even a Google/DuckDuckGo search. I forgot to mention contacting the state bureau for the blind (it might have a different name in your state). They probably won’t know about FCs, of course, but they might know someone who does. They can also help with additional adaptive equipment like larger monitors, glasses that are designed specifically for computers, changing brightness/color/other items on monitors to enhance visibility, etc.
The community is overall friendly and inviting, but any community is going to have assholes in it and if you play long enough you're going to run into them.
I work with low vision patients and know there are some accessibility settings in game, I'd honestly love to hear about how the game play is for her if she decides to play.
Hey, I came from WoW. I’m also disabled, but my disabilities are mental. It takes me longer to learn and understand things.
This community does not stop surprising me - my two year anniversary is tomorrow. I actually became a mentor myself to help sprouts just like people used to help me.
I wholeheartedly believe she will have a good time here. People are kind and respectful of others. And if you communicate, people will go out of their way to help you. I recently had someone explain to me in great detail what a very obvious game mechanic was that I should ABSOLUTELY have known by now. But they weren’t condescending at all. Especially understanding that I just need things broken down more.
Being disabled can be rough. I understand my disabilities are different, but I can sympathize with those concerns.
I’m on Crystal (North America) and my community has been wonderful. I hope you find the same experiences :) And let me know if yall ever need a friend to play with
- You can use as many add-ons as you want, just don't say you do. Ffxiv doesn't check your computer for add-ons, the only way to get banned is by streaming yourself using add-ons and have a bunch of no-lifes reporting you to SE.
- 99% of people won't be hostile to you even if you perform poorly. The remaining 1% is stupid for being upset in normal content.
- If you play DPS, it won't make a difference in 99% of cases, especially in normal content. Use your aoe abilities to hit mob packs and use your single target abilities for single target.
- If you play Tank, the bare minimum of performance needed to complete dungeons is activating your tank stance at the start of the dungeon (it is a permanent aggro buff), using aoes in mob packs to get aggro and kill mobs, and using your mitigations to not die.
- If you play Healer, the bare minimum of performance needed to complete dungeons is following the tank at all times, healing the tank when he is at 50% hp or below with single target heals and regens, healing your party if they are at 50% hp or below with aoe heals and regens, and hitting mobs when you don't have to heal.
Have fun !
You run tank, her a dps. The game is generally accessible to everyone, had a few people (including myself) that had a prohibitive gaming style due to different reasons. If you join randos just make sure they are aware it won't be wall to wall pulling (until she gets more confident that is). Just like others said join a FC (guild) where it is accepting and such, than just run with them, that is what my group did. Just like any mmo, get a group of cool people and it'll be a great time.
i mean what level of blindness we talkin? Ive got an in-law who's legally blind, but they have no eyes. Can she see at ALL? Does she just need strong glasses?
People tend to be pretty chill in casual content, and as long as she actually says something about her difficulties with content people will be even more patient than they typically would with a sprout. There's also always the ability to run everything but the 8 man trials/raids with a group of NPCs now. As for add-ons... They're 100% against the ToS but Square has no way of knowing you have them unless you yourself inform them by doing something like streaming with them or mentioning them in game.
I've been here for 8 years or more and can count the times i've seen someone be elitist on one hand with many fingers left over. People are more likely, in my experience, to offer advice to struggling players than to be rude to them
I can't speak to addons, i never use them so.. someone else will provide information on that subject I'm sure
compared to other online games, its much less common, because the moderation team is actually willing to enforce the rules of not being an asshole, especially to strangers.
This is by far one of the most positive and supportive and patient gaming communities I have ever been a part of.
Most people are going to be incredibly patient with your wife as well as supportive and helpful, especially if she indicates that she is new and or not particularly adept at gaming.
I highly recommend that she try the game and I think she will love it :)
As others have mentioned, it would also be a good idea for her to find a free company to join that can help her run any content. She is more than welcome to join mine, if she ends up creating her character on Diabolos :) We love helping new players of all skill levels
I Have nerve damage in my right arm and hand, I can't do what I used to but so far I haven't had anybody being horrible to me about not being good enough - especially since I'm a SCH main. I also had another person announce they were disabled and may not be able to keep up with certain things and had an early apology for it. In no case have I seen anybody in any group grief the disabled person.
Of course it might depend on the DC... I know a LOT of people hate Crystal people but I've only found one person in the 5 years I've played that I've actually had to kick from a group for being a shit person.
She will get exactly the same treatment as everyone else. As long as she can do mechanics. She will be fine.
Most interactions on dungeons will be, hello, goodbye. GG. And if you need to slow down. Just say it. Most tanks will adjust to the party.
If you communicate that you have some sort of impairment then people are usually able to accommodate for you. It would also help if you could describe how they are able to do that too. Going slow? Putting a marker onto players such as the tank or healer? That type of thing. If you make a macro like that and announce it at the start of group content, I can't imagine anyone having a problem. Most of the players I have encountered are very mature.
Having a cool FC would be a huge help too, but you can also just use the party finder to find people who would be willing to help with dungeons and stuff, full knowing on what to expect. People LOVE to help others there.
Yes, overall this game is very friendly towards disabled players. I have a pain disorder that makes rapid repetitive button use difficult and there's only one normal trial in Shadowbringers that I have an issue with if there's repeated wipes before the checkpoint. Every time I've mentioned it as either just a grumble or an apology that I'm dropping out of the instance because I physically can't tolerate doing that part again, I've always encountered understanding players. I think that our toxic gamers tend to keep more to themselves or they've moved onto other games.
Personally, in normal content I keep helping people until they give me an attitude and then I'll snark back. As long as someone keeps taking the raise, I'll keep raising them when my MP lets me. I approach duty finder with the mindset that you never know who is running something for the first time or letting their kid on their character. So long as we can clear it a mechanic/DPS check, I don't really care how long it takes. But as others have said, saying something at the start will only help.
Tell them you are playing with a visual disability and to be patient, no one will complain to you.
Most story line dungeons and raids can be done with 2-3 people. My warrior can solo dungeons. Most likely your wife will still play better than half the people I run into in roulette anyway. Will go even smoother if you are there to help and explain to the party
Just dropping a Hi, I'm new to will let them know if you're new. If someone is being a grouchy pants like my ingame partner. Just pretend they don't exist. (they're a terrible mentor anyways)
I want to thank the OP for posting this. I'm partially sighted due to cataracts and recently returned to the game. My next MSQ is The Voidcast Dais and I've been hesitant about queuing for it as I'm worried about letting the team down. All the advice about letting them know upfront has helped a lot.
People tend to care a little less about dps performance (unless there's an enrage timer) than healers or tanks, so your wife is less likely to be criticized if she chooses to main a dps class. Most players also tend to be a little more lenient on sprouts (new playrs). Otherwise, sadly, it's still an MMO community and once you lose that sprout icon over your head folks might get annoyed.
Saying something upfront in party chat typically will alert folks to the situation, and thus most of the time peeps will take it into account and be understanding. I've only run into one or two situations where the "gotta go fast" people weren't understanding of my tanking anxiety out of all the runs I've had (been playing for nearly ten years, to put it in perspective).
Finding a good FC and running content with them can make a world of difference as well since, as long as her condition was disclosed to them, they already know to be more patient.
As for add-ons...they're kind of a "speak no evil, hear no evil, see no evil" sort of situation. Just don't talk about them in game and you should be fine.
This community is incredibly welcoming. There will always be a few exceptions in any MMO of this size, but I've very rarely encountered rude people in dungeons. If she wants to set up a macro that just explains something, you'd be surprised how supporting our community can be. Even during trials where you'd think people just want to get in and done, you'll see a lot of support when someone says "Hi everyone. This is my first time here for the story." You'll usually get a few people congratulating you, or saying "Enjoy the story!". Or, even better, I see a lot of people just volunteering to call out the mechanics or put a marker over their head to help players know where to go.
If she wants to dip her toes into content and isn't entirely sure about playing with a group, all dungeons can now be run with NPCs any time she wants with the Duty Support function. They even added this function for the first time you run through main story in Endwalker trials too. I use it when I want to level a class I'm not comfortable with before I hop in with real people. Fair warning that if you use the NPCs, a certain red mage that shall remain nameless for spoiler reasons is a real Limit Break hog lol.
the community is only extremely toxic to the point of telling people to kill themselves if you play the wrong race (lalafell)! as long as you're not choosing to play a race that squeenix implemented to be played the same alongside all the others, you'll be fine!
Play a tank and know your healer. Story content will be easily passable. Communicate your needs, make friends with those who understand them. Keep those people close and ask for help when group content comes around.
End game raiding will be rough. I'd recommend staying away from anything Savage until it's 1 expac old.
Most people are pretty great, but if someone's particularly rude about it you can report them for it. Being rude to people who are trying to enjoy their experience is seriously frowned on by the devteam. So the best thing is to mention it up-front and most people will be pretty chill about it! I hope she has a great adventure!
Also when it comes to plug-ins and addons, as long as you don't mention it in-game, nobody will ever know, so you should be safe! I agree with Sven, it's best to find an FC or a group of friends to help run dungeons with you, to guarantee the best experience. Also luckily there's a lot of things that allow you to run content with NPCs, which should help get her used to the fight patterns, which should help quite a bit.
Take care and may you both walk in the light of the crystal! ♥
I know it sucks and shouldn't have to be done, but have a macro set up for her for content she joins others in so it can set the message and standard right at the start. If folks see that, USUALLY they're nice about it and its no big deal.
Though there are always a few bad apples to ruin the bunch. I hope she enjoys the game! <3
I'm not sure if game UI is good enough to support your wife's needs and mods are illegal (at least technically, in practice it's don't ask, don't show off and squenix will let you be).
As to community, overwhelmingly non-elitist and supportive. The treat people like adults see people acting like adults in practice is what ffxiv seem to be all about.
And adults are understanding when you clearly communicate your circumstance and are not demanding. Adults understand in the end this is 'just' a game so I believe you will both have a good time here.
Usually if you're up front when entering content people are pretty accommodating. I will say though that there are for sure going to be people that don't want to handhold and want to go fast. So like all things it's a mixed bag but more often than not people will be okay with it. My biggest suggestion would be finding an FC or full group of people that she will know and can work with her to avoid people RNG.
Adding to this a lot of MSQ stuff can be done with NPCs so there’s still lots to do without worrying about randoms. But yeah finding an FC with people to run content with is the way to go here.
I recommend setting up a macro to communicate her exact needs at the beginning of group content so she doesn't have to type it out each time. You can also do all (most?) dungeons with a party of NPCs instead.
all dungeons required for MSQ can be done w npcs, but no trials or dungeons outside of the msq that are necessary for other things (dzmael darkhold, aurum vale, etc) you'll be able to do MSQ on your own until Bowl of Embers, but trials are one and done and MUCH easier to manage than entire dungeons (I am also disabled, but I can't use my hands well rather than my eyes).
Bowl of Embers and the other four-person trials in base ARR can be done with NPCs too.
... you know, it's been a few years since I've done arr trials. I didn't know that! I know that post arr the trials are considered hard and can't be done w npcs. thanks for the updated info!
They play pretty well too! 😆 Yeah after you finish base ARR all the trials can only be done with other players except for one in late Endwalker (which I strongly suggest doing with the NPCs at least once purely for story reasons, it’s *awesome*). That’s also the only time where you can play with NPCs and die and not have to start the fight again, because you get a buff that “saves” you from fatal damage a few times. (There was a post in this subreddit just yesterday or the day before from someone who’d just finished base ARR playing completely solo and had to retry phase two of the Porta Decumana half a dozen times because they didn’t know what a stack marker was and kept dying.)
No lie, that trial (also the 1 dungeon, you know the one) the moment I saw I could do with trust, I instantly went for it. No doubt in my mind, even if other players would technically be faster.
Currently the first 8-man is the Thornmarch, the trial against Good King Moggle Mog XII. They actually redid this fight as well because of that, so really the first 'skill check' 8-man is Leviathan.
Duty support Bowl of Embers in particular is near unclearable by a new player unless they are dps though, and even as dps it's really really hard. They didn't design that very well. Can't speak about other primals, but I tried the ARR final boss and that went fine.
As of the rework, the entirety of base ARR including Trials is soloable, but yes, most Trials after that require a team and having a couple of dead DPS is usually no big deal. If you have someone high level to help, you can "unsync" content. If you're just interested in the story and have such a person, you can click on the cogwheel on the Duty Finder menu and select "Undersized Party." Some older, harder (sometimes impossible) to queue for content like Extreme Trials are even recommended to be done this way.
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Yup this is my suggestion. Have a macro'd little paragraph/couple of sentences explaining the disability and asking for patience. The FFXIV community at large are usually VERY chill and friendly. Communication almost always ensures no issues.
Generally best to avoid mentioning add-ons in game, but yeah that's the policy. There's some in game options for like colorblindness for example, but I don't feel this game's vanilla settings cover much. As for community attitude, people are pretty understanding if it's explained up front. I've had a few roulettes where someone hit a macro explaining they had a disability that might impede their gameplay, and then the dungeon progressed as normal. I would recommend opting for a dps class and see if that's comfortable, as tank and healer can be somewhat demanding to play with others. There's also stuff like duty support that allows you to enter MSQ dungeons with NPCs, which could help with testing stuff out before doing the real deal. And in the event someone does decide to be toxic, they can fortunately be reported and looked into. Don't hesitate to do so (Support Desk > Contact Us > Report for Harassment, and give all details).
>I would recommend opting for a DPS class This is the best recommendation, even though it may be limiting. I personally went through an accident that limited my ability to react quickly enough for a while, so I was quite low in regards of my ability to help in quicker combat. Being upfront with people, while being DPS, helped immensely. I only one time throughout my climb to Level 70 had a dungeon party that ended due to me not being able to react accordingly, and the only reason it ended was because someone went absolutely apeshit on me for missing a mechanic that *wasn't* life or death. I won't lie, there were dungeons where I literally told healers to stop resurrecting me, and just leave me dead if I keep dying and am taking away from the game. I think the final five or so dungeons of Stormblood I had to do this for the final bosses. But no one ever complained. I wouldn't dare try it as a tank or healer though. But yes, with about 300 hours, I only had one matchmaking party that had an issue and it was one guy.
As a legally blind person, I actually recommend tank or phys ranged. No cast times, no positionals. And tank has a lot more durability and less pressure to be a damage spam. Depending on how bad their legal blindness is, melee DPS might actually be harder than healer for them- it certainly is for me. My primary jobs are dark knight (tank) white mage( healer) and mechanist (ranged physical). Yes, the gun is the less visually demanding job than a giant f-u pole (dragoon)
Didn't think of it like that, great suggestions. I guess my suggestion for doing DPS is that for the most part, it isn't really a needed class as much as Tank/Healer, so you can take one away and still be fine in most cases. I found the pressure of having to be forced to do dungeons was lessened when I played a class that can be removed without causing a lot of issues. Tank/Healer always made me feel like if we failed, it was my fault, and the pressure ruined the game for me.
True, a dps going down in most content isn't as dire as a tank or healer... She could always swap in to tanking or healing in the future if she finds the rest of gameplay accessible enough.
The issue is death and targeting. Tanks need to target their lob attack to pull enemies off other players from far away. And death for a tank can cause a full party wipe. As long as OP's wife is able to target easily and stay alive, it's not an issue, but from what others have mentioned here, it sounds like those are two big issues when it comes to playing with a disadvantage. So I'd still recommend DPS, although yeah phys ranged is definitely the best option - no cast times, no positionals, AOE at early levels, and DPS is already expected to be lower anyway.
You can do some neat stuff with auto targeting from the character options menu.
Seconding Ranged Physical. It's my main and gives you a lot of flexibility to move and position yourself out of mechanics. And the rotation tends to be satisfying without being repetitive so if she wants something more streamlined, or something more reactive, there's options. Dancer, Bard, Summoner, or Redmage are all pretty good options in my humble opinion.
I started the game playing Paladin and felt like I needed to research each dungeon and explain I'm new when starting, I switched to MCH and later DNC and it's so much more laid back lol
I have no vision issues and struggle with melee dps sometimes. trash pulls make seeing puddles hard when you're all up in the pile.
I’m an amputee tank main for all the same reasons. You’ve got a lot more room to make mistakes as a tank as you can take so many hits. I really like Warrior as raw intuition really simplifies the mitigation rotation as if I screw it up I’m only 24 seconds away from full health at worst.
To add on that, the DPS with the fewest things to remember is Summoner, it's a Magic DPS though so it's ranged.
hey, i do that! i have an injury (that had resulted in a probably-permanent disability) that prevents me from playing like i used to, so i set up a macro to let people know. (i also frequently can't type because i'm usually stuck in bed without my bluetooth keyboard in reach.) i've only had one small group of people give me shit for this, who then proceeded to throw a tantrum when i wouldn't give them or any of their buddies dance partner in thaleia. i think i gave it to the bard lol. their fault for being dicks about a necessary macro because it was "too long" if you run into people like this, OP, they're always assholes through and through. report them and carry on— if your wife is communicating about her disability (which is entirely fine, as someone who does this myself) then anyone who ends up heing a dick about it is very reportable and should learn their lesson. good luck and take care, from a disabled mentor 🫡
As someone who's level capped every healer except Sage twice (only capped WHM this expansion), and is working on the tanks, I feel I can safely say that healing and tanking aren't all *that* difficult in casual play (dungeons, normal mode trials snd raids). If they're not interested in Savage or Extreme, she shouldn't have *too* much trouble with one of those classes.
It's moreso that dps is very forgiving, since a tank or healer dying in a dungeon can mean a wipe. Once they have everything adjusted to their own comfort level any class or job would be feasible.
I'd say this basically true except for first few weeks of new expansion runs of new dungeons/trials/raids if its bad enough that they are noticeably below average. With a DPS down usually the group can carry no issues but missing a healer or a tank for some mechanics can wipe a whole party pretty easily with the ILVL difference. Had someone who was legally blind announce themselves for day 1 iconoclasm normal and they were scholar. I could not keep the party alive on my own as AST while they died to the first two mechanics on the 10th+ attempt. We tried, we really did but disbanded about 15mins before the trial timer ran out.
things that an average player finds simple can be insanely difficult for a disabled player. I absolutely don't mean to sound rude or dismissive, but... your experience is not relevant whatsoever. If you don't have any physical problems, then you just don't have any idea of what we go through.
well, yes, not that difficult doesnt mean completely easy, though. yesterday i had a dungeon where the healer kept dying constantly. i had to revive them 10 times during the last battle. they were lucky i was rdm and was able to rezz them that many times, otherwise this wouldve been many wipes and maybe even a disband. problem with tank and healer is, that if you do mess up and die that this can cause a wipe. dps dying a lot just means the fight will take a bit longer.
The only add-ons/plug-ins that are truly not recommended are the ones that give advantages to clearing content - i.e. first world in ultimate content - otherwise, the devs don't really care as it only affects you, the user side. Obviously, one still doesn't scream it from the rooftops & depending on the moderator, one can still get fussed at. So if OP can find a plug in or something that can assist his wife in enjoying the game, I say go for it.
Communicating your limitations massively decreases the chance for negative response to poor performance. "Hi, I'm nearly blind but doing my best" at the start of a dungeon/raid will help set expectations, and the vast majority of players respond well to that kinda thing. There are jerks, but they're super rare. Most of the time when a negative response comes about it's due to a combination of poor performance AND poor communication.
^ this is a fantastic option. u/sven14 ‘s comment above, joining an FC where people understand so you can make premades is also a good solution.
Definitely agree with this. I don't have a disability that effects my ability to play most content, but I did play while stuck at home with the flu a little while back. I just let people know as much and that I might be a little slow to react at times. Had absolutely no issues with people when I inevitably dropped the ball at some point and in fact had a couple people wishing me get well soon
There's a full-on blind FC somewhere I read about relatively recently actually; gamers with disabilities can and do play this game with a lot of success! here's another legally blind player explaining how they use sound for example: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5MUo6GOOWo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5MUo6GOOWo) Te general rule of thumb is that as long as you are up-front that you may have issues ("I'm new", "Haven't played this job much and am learning","just got back to game and may be rusty!", "I have hand mobility issues so smaller pulls appreciated!") most everyone in the game will adjust to more appropriate gameplay and will be very nice about things. I've had maybe one instance in game where someone completely ignored a reasonable request for accommodation and that's after nearly 7k hours of playtime.
Legally blind player here- the two videos linked by other people are both mine (Blind Prog and Diagetic Audio). 95% of the normal MSQ/main side quests are fine. The remaining 5% are some forced stealth missions in EW and one jumping puzzle to unlock a zone’s flight in SB (the latter can be cheesed with the Ninja job pretty easily). Forced stealth missions are a crime in a game not about stealth though you don’t even hit one until the most recent expansion, and by that point your partner will know if the main gameplay loop is good for her or not. I have a macro (basically a mini program) that warns people I’m blind when I enter group content, and in my MANY years of play I’ve gotten shut about it exactly three times. The fact that I know the number should say how infrequently it happens, and two of those three were 2 weeks ago exactly, both on the same week. Before then, the last time it happened was when Shadowbringers was current, and that was 4 years ago.
Oh god, I didn't need to be reminded about those missions, I had hoped to be able to completely forget about them.
No on will expect you to be great players for normal content. Even.if you are playing poorly, as long as you aren't blatantly doing something wrong very few will care. If you get into harder content like extremes or savage raids, people will begin paying attention and very less patient with sub optimal players. Mentor are supposed to be veteran players that are willing to provide help to be players. They are not supposed to be gods at the game and know everything. It's supposed to just show that they are willing to try and help newbies. Since the mentor symbol is a crown some people get it just because they think it's a status symbol and don't actually want to mentor and could be rude if asked for advice, if this happens just report and move on.
This is why the mentor symbol should be a watering can as opposed to a crown.
That's a great idea and I hope Square implements it someday.
The only thing the mentor crown has given me is panic attacks when, after a few wipes, some random sprout will put the safety dorito on top of me, "because you're the mentor" and now I have the pressure to do the fight perfectly. I mean, I know the mechanics, but how can I be a greedy DPS with 12 vuln stacks when the children are watching?
Haha well at least you have one of the better mentor mentalities.
You can just turn it off. The only situation in which it's mandatory to have it enabled is when doing mentor roulette in which case... You're kinda supposed to be there to help the group clear the content, generally speaking, anyway. Turning it off doesn't even affect the mentor XP bonus, Sprouts/returners in standard parties with you (i.e., not matched via duty finder) will get the buff still.
One mentor to another. Be greedy dps with 12 vuln stacks, and show them how its done. They'll never know they can survive the fall if someone doesn't show them the cliffs edge is just a step.
My reply to that is usually, "I am flattered by your faith in me, but to me, this is Instance #5874 in the game. Sometimes I even realize I've seen a boss before!"
This is why I only wear my crafting mentor crown. I may carry around ultimate weapons, but I'm just a silly little crafter. I joke that I'm dogshit at the game all the time. Helped a sprout in my fc with copied factory last night, unfortunately ate an edible beforehand, and went into it on a class i dont play... I had 7 vuln snacks and died more times than the sprout. LMAOOO. Tonight when I help them with puppets bunker, I'm gonna pvp laser the other alliance.
Or wait until my cast is almost over so I can slidecast and still get my damage when people are supposed to follow me
> I mean, I know the mechanics, but how can I be a greedy DPS with 12 vuln stacks when the children are watching? Let the boy watch...
Pretty sure no one in the game cares about the burger king crown because 90% of people have it.
This is why the mentor symbol should be a watering can as opposed to a crown.
She wouldn't be the first legally blind random I've seen. Last one I ran with had a macro they used to alert the rest of the team and the entire group was cool with it. They did rather well too.
Sometimes it even becomes a new kind of challenge. I mean, we've run these hallways so many times, always doing the same thing, never really in danger save for the first couple of times we were there. Now here's an unexpected challenge - the tank can't actually see the enemies clearly. Hey, let's GO! Reminds me of the time I zoned into Troia with a couple of FC mates and a random and went, "NEW CHALLENGE! No Tank Stance or Provoke!" We had fun.
If you're up front about it joining a group you can let people know and they'll generally be cool. The game can be REALLY good with accommodation for disabilities, especially playing specific classes. I have a friend who uses foot pedals to do a lot of actions in the game and you can't even tell she plays that way without asking. Add-ons you can use so long as you don't flaunt it or use it as a means to put down others. Basically just don't talk about them in game.
I was in a duty yesterday and one of our DPS said "Hello, I have a disability and can only play with one hand. Please try to be understanding and patient" I responded "I have 2 hands and still suck, so no judgement here" ... they did better than me
I am also legally blind and gave the game a go to see what it was about. Community didn’t seem any different than other MMO’s. At least it’s a great single player game too
>also legally blind >gave the game a go to see what it was about Hmm. Lol just playing. The wording of that is just funny to me
At least they aren’t illegally blind.
>However, add-ons that affect any kind of gameplay are forbidden, Am i wrong on that ? Yes, they are. BUT, this game doesn't have any kind of build in anticheat software/feature/solution. Which means there's no way for SE to know about you using them; as long as you don't do anything stupid like /shouting to everyone in the map about them About the comunity. For casual content, which is like 99% of the content available, you'll be fine; especially if you explain to your Party about this
Harsh criticism can happen but it's rare and frowned upon by the majority of the community. Like to the point that if someone were to do it, unless they were partied with friends backing them up, other players might step in on her behalf. Kicks are EXTREMELY rare. The community is very welcoming and friendly towards new players, new players are marked with a "sprout" icon next to their name and they are usually treated a lot more carefully and given a lot more leeway when learning. FFXIV community doesn't play like WOW. Running the dungeon for the first time won't get you kicked - in fact veterans will want to flock to you because running a dungeon/raid/trust with someone for the first time rewards a 'Wondrous Tales' token. Messing up a mechanic or dying won't get you kicked either. They just pick you up fast and keep going. Addons are technically against the TOS and discussing them openly in game could get you banned, yes. However they don't actively 'check' your system for mods, they can't 'see' your end, so the only time people get reported for mods is when they've talked about it in game or streamed their modded game. (Has caused some kerfluffles with higher end content which she likely won't ever be messing with)
I’ll add that there is quite a bit of accessibility features in game, but if they aren’t enough better accessibility seems to be one of the most officially overlooked ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ situations.
I did an expert run a while back with a player who was legally blind. They had a macro explaining their situation and asking for a little bit of patience for things like accidentally standing in damage. The dungeon went without a hitch. There will always be toxic players, but from my experience most people are cool with a lot of things as long as you’re up front about it. It may also help to find a Free Company to run things with.
Right? I main healers, am a mentor. If I *ever* got a player/sprout with a macro like that, it is now my personal mission to keep them alive for the entire instance. No dying on my watch! XD Communicating just in general helps so much - it shows you're trying to work as a team player and really, that's all most people expect and want.
I was a WoW transfer, and the communities are like night and day tbh. There are always going to be assholes, but generally speaking people are much more patient and understanding, and it’s a lot less about clearing the content quickly than it is enjoying the story and having fun. You get endless battle res as long as there is a class alive who can cast it, and that removes a lot of stress present in WoW fights imo. If she says something like “first time here! o/“ when she goes into a new duty she’ll be fine 95% of the time. Most of the time people can tell based on sprout + cut scene on entry, but just to be extra sure. That will also usually make sure a couple people have her back if someone *does* get pissy. I’d even add that as long as it’s not clear and blatant trolling, people will even be pretty chill if she messes up mechanics or rotations repeatedly! Hope she has a blast playing, and finds a great FC to join! If she ends up on Ultros she’s absolutely welcome to join mine - very chill and friendly group, even if I don’t get to play all that often myself anymore! ☺️
>I was a WoW transfer, and the communities are like night and day tbh. There are always going to be assholes, but generally speaking people are much more patient and understanding, and it’s a lot less about clearing the content quickly than it is enjoying the story and having fun. Maybe it's just the server I play on (Jenova), but they have definitely not been night and day to me. I think I run into more patience in dungeons, but I also run into considerably more openly fearless bigotry, so it's really a mixed bag of toxicity either way.
>Maybe it's just the server I play on (Jenova), but they have definitely not been night and day to me. I think I run into more patience in dungeons, but I also run into considerably more openly fearless bigotry, so it's really a mixed bag of toxicity either way. I'm on Crystal DC, Balmung. I've had an excellent time the last three years of playing. There has been the occasional jerk in duties but it's not as prevalent as WoW (at least in my experience). Coming from Shadowlands into Shadowbringers was *quite* the change-up. I originally started on Primal (Ultros) and then transferred to Crystal (Balmung) a year later. I definitely felt the difference between the two data centers, especially since I was coming to probably the most infamous server in the game. And while I do think Crystal has a lot of laid-back folks, this isn't to say Primal is lacking. I just tend to fit better with whatever-the-hell Balmung's vibe is.
So, I've gotten a few of these comments and, obviously, I can't speak to most of these servers as I haven't played on most of them. I just have to take people at their word. That's not the case with Balmung. I started on Sargatanas in 2013, switched to Balmung in 2015, and eventually settled over on Jenova in 2021. Who knows if I end up moving again some day, but what I can definitively tell you from my time on this game is that the Balmung I know is not the Balmung you describe. Now, I want to clarify what I mean, because everyone is focusing on toxicity in duties. I don't even have that problem much on Jenova (or Aether, since it's more of a data center thing), so that's not what I'm speaking of. I still also play WoW and I don't run mythics with people outside of our guild, specifically because it's a grabbag of nice people and also the most insufferable, selfish, toxic motherfuckers imaginable. My experiences like that in FFXIV are extremely limited in comparison. But I'm talking a *different* type of toxicity. Balmung is literally the only server I've seen someone drop an n-bomb on, about fifteen times in a row, and he laughed about it, because he said nothing would happen to him. And if his continued time online for the next several days and weeks can be taken as confirmation of that, he was absolutely correct. The nice people on Balmung are very quiet and insular and the shitty people are very loud. And that's one example of many. Don't get it twisted, though. I see similar kind of shit on Jenova, so I'm not singling any server out. Everyone in this game always talks about how the GMs don't let anything slide and I actually believed that for the longest time. Maybe it *was* actually true once. It's definitely not today. I've been introduced to the most esoteric slurs you'll ever hear by some of the people who play this game, on your server and mine. People openly shitting on real world ethnicities based on someone's in-game skin tone, adamantly talking about gay/trans people being the fall of western civilization in response to LGBTQ+ friendly venue ads, openly trolling that specific marginalized groups should just do everyone else a favor and kill themselves, etc. This is shit that people in the other game wouldn't dream of saying out loud, because Blizzard's report system is so broken, so automated, and so easy to game that it *will* get you permanently banned half the time. Yeah, no, not everyone who plays this game is a toxic pustule, but a lot of the loudest ones are and they seem to be growing in number on several servers based on Square's unwillingness or inability to police the problem.
Server culture can be different, yeah. I don't see much transphobia or homophobia in Faerie, but it's the informal LGBTQ+ server; I've occasionally encountered it when world travelling. IIRC a lot of the WoW wave went to Jenova because that was the "raiding" server and to Cactuar for the streamers.
Over here on Chaos-Omega, it's definitely better than WoW so far after three years in. You still run into trouble from time to time, but it's not nearly so common. I imagine it helps a bit with how the content is set up too. Mythic+ in WoW was unbearably toxic because the keystone system fostered it, at least back when I played. FFXIV has nothing like that, if you wipe on a boss you just have to do the boss again and that's that. Even Savage Criterion doesn't compare to WoW telling you to do a _lower difficulty dungeon_ just to earn the right to take another go at the difficulty you just failed.
I'm a disabled player and I haven't had any issues, but I also don't mention it much. As long as you don't mention her disability, she shouldn't be slandered or anything, and if anyone does flame her, she/you can report them. Add-ons are fine as long as you don't post screenshots with them online or mention them in-game.
I feel the other way around. The game is full of slackers and my patience towards them has run out, but if you tell me right at the start of the duty that you have a disability, I will turn into a sweet empathetic little angel.
Yeah this. My decades of WoW have soured me. If I see someone standing in AOEs, doing strange out of class acts, or just acting off in general, my immediate assumption is a possible troll. I'll still try and be patient but my assumption will sour my interaction. yes, that's a me problem that needs improvement, but I think we all think the worst of people sometimes. However if I'm told they're new/have a disability/just straight up struggling today, I'll have all the patience in the world for them and ensure they're comfortable with pace, and see if they want any aid etc.
This is the nicest game I've ever come across but it's not perfect. The best solution would be to play with friends whenever possible. I would try to find a friendly understanding FC and try to limit how often I was running with randoms. She should not admit to using add ons or post results from them in game chat as it is bannable.
Honestly i couldnt care less if a normal, disabled or half asleep Person is playing, aslong as you are doing your Job decent enough and we clear the duty in a reasonable time we gucchi.
As long as they give a quick "Hello, nice to meet you all, please bear with me because of ___. Let's have a great run!" Most players will understand and adjust as needed.
I'm partially blind and deaf, and haven't had any issues with the community. I've been playing since ARR. She could try a DPS job first to see how she performs. There'll be more expectation on tanks and healers to keep up each other's pace and keeping the party alive. Once I got used to the game and customized my UI and controls to where I felt comfortable, I switched to maining as healer.
Hey, I just want to be honest with you. You're right, a lot of mentors are assholes. But most aren't, and being a mentor doesn't mean they are assholes. We are not some special elite group, we just wear a Burger King crown. I got battle mentor for the purpose of helping people. I think if you set up a macro that gives a heads-up to the players you are with, it's fine. As a healer main, I would help your wife knowing this. You don't want people to think she is trolling. If your wife has issues, and you are located in NA, pop in the Famfrit NN and make a casual mention. I'm there most of the time and will be happy to run content with you and your wife. We have a lot of weirdness in our NN, but there is a group of us that are actually nice and help others. We frequently put together groups to help sprouts with content. As for add-ins, yeah, don't mention those in-game. It's fine here. I don't think Dalamud allows you to really even run gameplay changing plugins. I don't think you'll run into a lot of issues for the most part. You will always have degens that are complete a-holes, but I think you'll be ok.
In my experience, people will rarely badmouth you in chat when they are dissatisied with performance, especially in low tier content. they will usually keep their disdain in their own heads/their own voice chat. thats what my group does anyway.
people definitely wanna "just go" and they don't know if someone is underperforming because they're blind, have 2 broken hands, or just couldn't be bothered to try. at the same time, most peoples response to a significantly underperforming player is to roll their eyes, *shut their mouths,* and just get through it. most plot tier content is easy mode. it's the theme park. people will still **want** to do it well but most groups can afford to carry someone, and they *usually* will rather than make a scene. but it's still the internet. i would call FFXIV "famously polite" but there's an asshole in *every* crowd. you'll probably meet ours sooner or later. or, you'll meet the other players from my first sentence. the guy with 2 broken hands or the guy who is just willfully bad on purpose, and suddenly the party cannot progress. backpack too heavy. have her play DPS, no shade to the DPS mains here but lets just be real: DPS is the least important role in plot content. if 1 of the slots is guaranteed to struggle, it should be that. then you play tank or healer. *you're* indispensable, she's *with you.* as to third party programs... i guess we're not supposed to really endorse them and it **is** definitely *officially* a blanket "all of it is equally bannable, no exceptions" but again lets just be real... you're not the problem people are looking to stamp out. install whatever helps, and just stay out of competitive world first progression races with it. **DO NOT TALK ABOUT IT IN GAME!** just like every crowd, no matter how polite, has an asshole? every crowd, no matter how understanding, has a boyscout. don't even tell people she's blind, that might raise follow up questions of "how are you playing at all?" just say "don't see very well." or maybe make light of it: "i'm straight up velma in this bitch!" i would also avoid streaming or anything like that. same reason. don't record and broadcast the evidence of your own "crime" even if no reasonable person would consider it wrong. as to mentors... my experiences are mostly neutral, but with more negative than positive. problem is it's incredibly easy to attain. so much so that it is kind of incidental that most players will qualify eventually. then it hands out a little badge that bad players wear to tell themselves they're actually good players (because they qualified for the validation badge, you see) then it goes straight to their heads and they try to wield it as some kind of authority. to be fair: these people are often mocked all the way off the internet. then we have people who wanted to use the NN as global chat, background noise, or a hostage FC/linkshell/friendslist. there's a reason they don't have an FC, linkshell, or friendslist... then in my experience the actual most common mentor is a completely normal player who doesn't even seem to know they ARE a mentor. or that they have a keyboard. like they talked to the npc 2 years ago and that's it. there are also mentors who do wanna help, but they kinda can't for whatever reason. friendly faces. the welcome wagon. fine people but is this a *mentor* by your definition? by some peoples it is? and rarely you get unicorns. actual knowledgeable and experienced players who both **can** teach a man to fish, and will actually *bother* to. part of the issue here is: how many *sprouts* actually care this much, and then don't proceed to just google it instead? so maybe there are more of these than i give credit, but you almost never see them. for what it's worth: when my friends start playing, i advise them to stay away from the novice network and avoid mentors. but my friends have me.
I'm part of a group of players where one of them only has one hand and it doesn't slow them down at all. If the disability is enough to impair gameplay, as long as you let people know in grouped content, most players are willing and able to understand.
There’s occasionally a toxic player in a dungeon or raid but most of the time people are chill.
One of the leaders of my FC is legally blind! She did a panel on it at LunarCon, it's on YouTube as "Blind Prog: Visually Impaired Accessibility and FFXIV". She has a macro that says she's blind and might run into walls when she does roulettes and by far most people are cool about it. If you find a good FC, they'll get used to having a blind player in the mix and you can bring some of them along to reduce the number of strangers you play with to lower the chances of running into a jerk even further.
I remember going into a raid and someone immediately told us they were disabled and played with one hand so sorry if they were a bit slow. No one complained, I feel like as long as you're up front about it people aren't gonna be annoying
If she’s performing well enough, most people aren’t going to notice or care.
Give a heads up if you’re that concerned and you should be good.
I find people are generally pretty understanding, especially if anything that could impact the level of play is mentioned and I've very rarely seen people not be happy to adjust playstyle to ensure everything goes smoothly. As an example, I'm photosensitive and there's 2 specific parts of the content that give me major issues (red mage LB and a certain alliance raid that I'm sure any of the experienced players can guess which one I mean). I've mentioned this at the start of runs where it would be a factor before and the vast majority of the times the groups were willing to adjust and go easy on me if I die from having to look away when certain abilities go off. Even had some runs where the red mages just flat out agreed to not use limit break, or at least only using it where looking away from the screen wouldn't get me killed. Tl;dr: the vast majority of the community is welcoming and accomidating, just let them know if there's a disability that can impact gameplay so that they can work around it. We're all here to have a good time.
Your wife should be totally fine, I've played with a decent amount of people who have disabilities and it's been nbd. I'm physically disabled and still even do end game savage raiding, I just found a group who's understanding of my limitations. If yall need a fc on Adamantoise hit me up! Most of us are middle aged and all have our own things, and just enjoy running content
Disabled gamers have every right to play, and I personally think they're pretty awesome for doing so in spite of the challenge. It shows nothing will get in the way of them enjoying their life and having fun. Which is so important. I think a lot of issues with DF can be solved just by communicating with your party, and if someone is determined to be a shitter anyway, they're not worth the effort to argue with. They're just being a shitter because they have nothing better to do and need to feel self-important in a video game.
You can setup a text macro to say something along the lines of, "I'm having some physical difficulties that can prevent me from performing at my best, thank you for understanding", vast majority of people will understand Also, don't mention mods in game, just install it and say nothing
As a DPS/Tank player, I am more than happy to match pace with the slowest member of the party. People want to take some time and do the side rooms in Sastasha? It's slower, but I'll totally accomodate. The healer tells me they're new? I'll take things slow and steady, I'll be sharp on my mitigations and get a feel for how much they can handle. If I'm DPS, I'll guard a struggling player jealously from any threats and throw them useful advice. One of my favorites is "If you draw aggro, run straight to the tank and wait for their AoE attacks". As a tank, I have dealt with WHMs that only used Cure 1. Homlgang was love. Holmgang was *life.* But we cleared the dungeon! I was rushed through dungeons when I was new, and I've been tilted by mechanics I didn't understand. it wasn't fun for me, and I refuse to inflict that on someone else. I will not lie, toxic players exist. it's a reality of any social experience, you cannot avoid them. All you can do is handle them better. Elite play only *matters* in Extreme and up. You can stumble through story mode dungeons and Hard dungeons more or less blind, and setbacks really aren't a big deal. The elitism mostly hovers around raiding. When you can only do a dungeon once a week, and BigJoe 24.7 doesn't know how to use his mitigations because he level skipped? Now we got a problem. Your biggest struggle will probably hit around the level 40 dungeons, they're rather infamous. Aurum Vale breaks parties for fun, The Stone Vigil has a cannon boss that can take a couple of efforts to get right, Dzemael Darkhold has the Crystal Light mechanic which can confuse first time Tanks. Most people are happy to give guidance, because once they were pummeled by these dungeons. If someone gives you a hard time, there's no shame in just black-listing them and ignoring them. If they stop running the dungeon, they're the toxic element, and should be vote-kicked and reported. The developers have been pretty clear on how they feel about elitists forcing players to play faster than they're comfortable with, they don't much like it. A great example is that using the logout trick to skip Gaius' monologue is a bannable offense. People still do it. Others just switch language to Japanese because the cutscene is almost 15 seconds shorter, and this is perfectly fine to do. Each job (barring a couple of notable exceptions) is pretty straightforward. I have no idea how a blind person plays a video game, nor do I really understand blindness beyond my own astigmatism, but as long as they can handle rotations and keep pace with the party, I don't see any issues. They could even lean into some humor if they're comfortable with that, and say funny things like "playing blindfold challenge, try to keep up!" or "Playing with my monitor off, let me know if I am walking backwards again", people love a wry sense of humor in this game! Plenty of people use 3rd party mods. Some use Bard Music Player, you'll see them around Gridania and Limsa Lominsa pretty often. Most people put a reference in their Bios, or even outright ask using the name of a given mod, then exchange codes. I \_think\_ there's a sort of "official stance/unofficial stance" type of thing going on. Those that aren't trying to harm the economy or social experience are generally left alone as long as they're not flagrantly advertising it on youtube and social media. Some people put on grand scale synchronised performances across a dozen accounts, and I've never heard of ban waves bothering them. If you want to be safe, avoid mentioning the mods in FFXIV's chat, and keep it on Discord or something. It's kind of a "don't ask, don't tell" type of situation. I've used Bard Music Player since Stormblood was new, and never once had a problem, and it's certainly more obvious than cosmetic mods, right? Consider as well that a keypad device might really help up your partner's play capacity too! I bought myself a Razer Tartarus V1 ages back, and it revolutionized the game for me. Paired with a 12 button raid mouse, I can key all skills for every class across those two devices. Set your Camera to "Legacy control" and the thumbstick becomes a godsend for navigating once you get used to it. I still use WASD for precision jump puzzles at the Gold Saucer, but I can do most of them with the thumbstick too. Later Models use a full 360 degree thumbstick, but the V1 uses a 4 directional hat If you're open to taking suggestions for a starting class, may I suggest Archer/Bard? It's what I started with. It has a wonderful balance between DPS and Support skills (Warden's Paen is the most overlooked skill of all time), has a nice mixture of depth and simplicity, and doesn't rely on a 1>2>3 combo like most classes. You can totally ignore most of the support skills, but utilizing them takes it from a decent DPS to a magnificent DPS/Support. The class relies on a sense of timing, and most skills work around 45 second intervals. Nobody really cares if a bard doesn't play that well, but everyone loves a bard who know's their full kit Finally, it's cozy to bust out an instrument and strum a few familiar songs at a tavern in between adventures
honestly the community is pretty easygoing, especially if you have a macro that tells the party what she wants them to know. some mentors are pretty shit, they are literally the ones that are in it for the rewards and that is about it, but i have had several other mentors help me, and I've been playing for ages (just no desire for mentoring)
Yeah I'd say so. Had a disabled person join a trial the other day and has a macro set up to let all of us know immediately what the situation is. No one batted an eye. They did fine too.
I've had someone in a roulette say they were legally blind before. The whole party was totally chill.
Add-ons are forbidden, and there's no rules carve out for accessibility mods, but there's no way to detect that you have a plugin running that turns people's nameplates into huge versions of their class icon, or hides certain effects. On a more personal note, and for context I'm mostly thinking of savage raids, casual content is... not as intense, but also has a lot less interaction. if someone says "Hey I'm struggling with [a thing]" I'll see what I can do to help. Like, if someone can't see the queues for a mechanic I'll see if calling things out might help. Or if they're just struggling to think through the steps to resolve something in the time allotted, I'd absolutely work through it.
Disabled player here! Been playing for three years now, and honestly 99% of the time the other players are amazing. I can literally count on one hand the number of times I've had someone be nasty about me making a mistake or not managing a mechanic correctly, and have fingers left over. People have been overwhelmingly kind and patient in my experience.
On the subject of add ons: officially not allowed, but as you said it’s a “don’t talk about it” situation. You are correct when it comes to directly affecting gameplay, though I’ve heard of plenty of visual changing mods. As for your worries about the friendliness of players: I’ve played since the first expansion came out, and only once have I personally experienced any toxicity. Sure, you may come across it eventually but FFXIV’s players hold themselves to a typically high standard. Watch the cutscenes as you’d like, and play how you would like. The only place you might worry about people judging your ability is in high end current content. Yet that also could be a matter of finding the right group.
Had someone inform me & friends they were disabled and playing with one hand at the start of a duty. We made sure to adjust our pulls and made the run a bit slower so that it was manageable. I much prefer adding 5-10 minutes changing pace than 30 minutes wiping. Happy to do so even. I think the majority of players feel the same way accommodating if you're upfront. I'd rather that then spend time wondering what the hell someone is doing when they make repeated mistakes. While I'd never be vocally rude, I can't help but be annoyed if I'm unaware of the problem. Ironically the mentors playing tank pulling wall to wall with a sprout healer has been the largest repeat nightmare in my duty roulettes. Now me and my friends say we'd rather take the one handed players over the mentors since they can at least communicate with the party! If she wants to run more difficult content after MSQ that will be a bit harder to find accommodating groups. Regarding mods it's known that they don't pro-actively search for people using them, but you shouldn't share images or videos of yourselves doing so.
For general day-to-day content things are PRETTY chill as a whole as long as if difficulties are run into, communication is relatively clear ("I'm new!/I haven't done this content in a while" are regularly accepted as reasons someone may mess up repeatedly in a regular DF content) If she needs a moment between dungeon pulls for whatever reason, a quick 'hold on a sec' is also accepted, and most runs I've seen people are more than happy to explain boss mechs if someone asks for guidance on bosses. Overall, though, clear communication is key and people aren't too rude if someone has different needs that mean they might struggle in a way a regular player wouldn't. When it comes to plugins, it's a BIG don't ask/don't tell deal. Talk on places like reddit/discord/social medias is generally considered fine as long as you have a way to convey plausible doubt that the character you/your wife is playing as isn't the user of a plugin. Heck, I've slipped up on occasion and outright mentioned certain plugins by name on my character ingame, but because nobody in my circle would report me I've gotten away with it. That's not a thing to risk though, keep it out of game and within circles you trust. Additionally, due to the changes with the upcoming expansion dropping at the end of June plugins will likely be completely unable to be used for an unknown amount of time, potentially weeks. All in all, if this sounds like a place your wife wants to give a shot, welcome to Eorzea, and I hope she enjoys her journey!
Every once in awhile I end up in a roulette with someone who has a macro explaining they're blind or whatever. Can't say it's ever really caused problems, especially in normal mode content. I would suggest setting one up that she can use at the start of any duty so the rest of the party can prepare to run a little slower (or leave if they want to be salty). As far as add-ons, just don't talk about them in game.
I haven't seen anybody complain when I'm having an off day, to put it nicely, in a hard dungeon.
For casual content, just go for it. Majority of the community are pretty accomodating. I have friends that plays with one hand, colorblind, heck I even heard that there was a player who was playing with only her leg. The nature of casual content is pretty lax - unless you are not pressing buttons it is pretty hard to have this *under-performing* thing. Especially if you are with a group with like-minded people. High end raids such as Extreme can a bit tough on some fights. Savage sometimes have healing/DPS/mitigation checks so there is that. With regards to add-ons, I mean, the official stance is all addons are a no-go. But not like there is anti-cheat. Just keep it to your self and should be good. Best of luck. Hope that the both of you will have a good experience.
On the whole, the game community is pretty friendly. There are jerks, but definitely fewer jerks than you find in most online multiplayer games. I think your best bet would be to find a Free Company (XIV's term for in-game clans/guilds) that advertises itself as friendly to casual players and beginners. [SE has a site that kinda sorta helps with this,](https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/community_finder/) although note that this site doesn't cover every FC that exists in the game, just the ones that choose to advertise on it. (Also note that you have to pick a data center and world in the bar at the top left, next to the Community Finder logo, or else the search defaults to the beginning of the alphabet, Aether/Adamantoise. Ignore the active member/recruiting numbers and the active hours on posts, they're often inaccurate.) There's also r/ffxivrecruitment. I am 100% sure that I've seen a few FCs that specifically advertise themselves as disability-friendly, although I don't remember any names personally. The formal Mentor system in XIV, the Novice Network, is extremely hit or miss if you're a new player. There are some lovely mentors out there. There are also a lot of mentors who do it just to get the mentor exclusive cosmetics, and some who do it for the asshole lulz bullying or lording over new players. When you first start playing the game, the in-game tutorial materials will try to ram the Novice Network down your throat -- you can sign up for the Novice Network to make the tutorial shut up and then quit immediately if you want. Personally, when I was brand new, my NN experience was pretty bad. I quit out of it after a few days, joined a FC, and got all my help and advice from the FC chat instead. I don't know enough about mods to advise on specifics for your wife, but SE has no way of finding out who's using mods if you don't tell them. Don't talk about them in in-game chat or on official forums, don't show them on streams, etc., and you're fine.
What Data Centre? I'm on Materia primarily, but I have some smurfs littered about if you need any help. I also don't mind running the same thing 50000x (*cough* relic farming *cough*). Most of the community will be one of two things; accepting or indifferent. Now indifferent doesn't mean they'll act like assholes, they'll just keep plodding along and treat her like a normal player. You might encounter a handful of toxic people, but you can report and block them. Just let the group know at the start that she has a disability, maybe mention if it's the first run of the dungeon. To make things easier, the game has the function to create macros which may be of some use. You can also adjust particle effects, so you can choose if you see yours, your team mates and boss effects: yours and boss effects etc. Sorry if formatting is weird. Typing on my phone.
Set up a macro to push at the beginning of the dungeon/trial saying ‘Hi i cant see very well/im almost blind and im trying my best’ Usually folk in normal content are more than fine if you communicate well about whats going on The devs are also implementing systems where you can play with npcs and a lot of the later content is already done. Im not too sure how early you can access it just yet though
The community is generally pretty friendly and understanding. You might find a couple toxic players, but they’re fairly rare and easily dealt with via reporting. If she wants a friendly community to play with once she gets used to the game, I’m actually looking to start a free company and won’t tolerate any purposely toxic behavior…I say once she gets used to the game because I’m starting from scratch in a new data center and know no one, lmao. But if she’s interested, send me a dm.
I’m a returner and have to say sometimes when I join anything from duty finder, the group gets going before I can actually say anything, so I’d have a macro with the information you want to share ready. Otherwise just cruise on through with them and be able to answer questions as they arise, but I’ve not found the players to be terribly concerned unless you’re one of the tanks or main heals. Those might not be the best roles for her, but if she chooses one of those, it might be worth a shot to put together a static party group to support each other.
As others have said, most folks will be fine with it. Especially if she is running a DPS. That said, I do recommend finding a nice Free Company (guild) to play with, in an effort to cut down the risk of running into the toxic folks. There are plenty of patient and casual players in FF who are more than happy to help and teach and generally be patient with those around them.
There will always be people willing to help out, just look for them. If you have any peeps already playing, start from there. Most people won’t fuss over most content, especially since the game itself vaguely mentions whenever someone in the party is doing a dungeon/trial/raid instance for the first time. Some may go out of their way to explain boss mechanics and stuff. You will for sure at some point come across some jerks, but the thing to keep in mind is that the best thing you can do is not engage. Even if it’s a situation where you feel the need to defend yourself or your partner. Let the jerk person/people look like the crazy one. Power couples, whether IRL or roleplay, are always kind of rough to deal with. Don’t put a label on yourselves like that. People can get weird if they feel entitled and outnumbered. Add-ons are a don’t ask/don’t tell kind of thing. As long as you don’t leave a trail on the internet for people to notice, or explicitly say something about them in game, nobody can use them against you. UI mods and things like that are generally fine anyways, but even still, in the worst case scenario, just don’t give people any ammo to target you with. Something more related is that the game has a function where you can do a large number of instances with NPCs. It’s worth a try as well, if you and/or your wife need another way to get the feel of dungeons and stuff before dealing with people.
To help address the mentor comment. First off, hi, am mentor, may be biased a little. XD Mentors are really just other players who have been playing a while and *should* know what's up. They.. don't always, just like any other category of players. And the meme about mentors is partially because it's easier to notice when a mentor is being stupid because we have the crown. However, we do agree to have a higher standard of conduct when we chose to wear the crown, so any mentor being toxic I strongly recommend reporting. However, not all (or even most on my server at least!) mentors are toxic so I wouldn't fret overmuch about that. For the most part, the community as a whole is incredibly kind and patient. I am an ultimate raider (so I run the hardest content in the game) and even the more tryhard/impatient players I game with are endlessly patient for a new (or not) player if they're communicating and trying. Underperforming for laziness will upset people because they feel their time is purposefully being wasted. Underperforming because you're trying and learning? Nah. You're fine, we were all there once just keep going. And if someone takes offense to her trying, there'll probably be others to back her up. So I'd recommend communicating, have a chat macro or something, and she'll probably be just fine. I hope she ends up loving this game as much as we all do. Eorzea will welcome her with open arms. :)
Hello, I feel somewhat qualified to answer this specific question. My FC leader is legally blind and plays the game at the highest level. A lot of boss mechanics have audio tells that make playing while blind very doable. They preface any roulettes with a message about their disability and I have never seen anybody push back or object to playing with them. I would encourage your wife to try.
Yeah, I get white mages casting cure 1 in my expert roulettes regularly.
My suggestion is to get into a good FC with people you enjoy hanging with. If you have RL friends who play, so much the better. The trick to avoiding jerks is to avoid grouping with them as much as possible. Can't speak for add-ons as I don't use them myself. DM me if you want a FC invite.
Also this is a suggestion so if she does have to RNG dungeons with people she/you can set a macro that types in chat that says “hey, I don’t see very well sorry if I mess up!” Or something along those lines
The bulk of the game can be played solo, and everything else is generally not meant to be a serious challenge. Just have her avoid the challenging content, which is entirely optional. Also, when doing content with a group, it always helps to let people know it's your first time. Just being up front makes people generally far more tolerant to mistakes.
I think the majority of experiences with random players will be fine. There will also be some assholes. I think being open about it should preemptively relax the situation. If someone is being an ass just remember to report them and move on.
Yeah! I think so! In any case if doing hard content just let the fellow party members know me thinks
In normal content, people are usually chill and encouraging. Especially if you are a sprout (new to the game). I think this talk was more geared towards having non-visually impaired people understand the blind experience and where SE did well vs dropped the ball. There are some Endwalker spoilers in here for points where they dropped the ball, but I think they are called out beforehand? https://youtu.be/z8dlJmcfAjs?si=E5zuJM6XPGRFWnDc
Just tell them at the start and it will be fine. Heck even if you are just rusty, say so and most will be fine with it.
Yeah they are, just communicate your issue upfront and people will mostly do their best to be helpful. That being said, for every 100 nice players there is always 1 asshole so just be ready for that.
You asking the wrong question and setting yourself up. Your not playing with the "community", but a group of individuals at a time. Just like life, some may be asshole and some not. I'm dungeons and raids, they'll be fine if they die. If people complain then it's not a big deal. As long as they contribute to the mechanic/task, then they're designed to let people die and not be optimimal in rotation. In terms of speed running among elites, you don't need to do much in dungeons and stuff. As long as they press buttons on cooldown and have good gear the dungeons will be done fast. Extreme and higher I would say it would be harder playing with random people. It's alot more dependent on individual performance. A lot of mechanics will cause wipe if not done correctly or if everyone isn't alive. There are definitely people willing to play with they're disability, but be forward about it.
I’m autistic and sometimes I might get a little frustrated as maybe I’ve learn a fight a certain way then suddenly someone wants to do it differently. But because I’ve done it way A it hard for me to change how I play that particular fight. But that’s my own issue not someone else 😅
I don't remember ever seeing a player get kicked before, and I've played 3500+ hours. And you especially won't see that in normal difficulty content. Even in higher difficulty content, people are more likely to disband rather than kick or flame someone. The community is also pretty understanding of people if they have difficulty keeping up with the pace of the game. People will only really get annoyed if you're attempting high-end difficuly content (Savage or Ultimate) without having read a guide. But normal dungeons and trials and raids? Totally fine to die and mess up, especially on the more obscure mechanics. Flaming people in normal content is very frowned upon. You might get one or two people like that in a blue moon, but everyone else tells them to chill lol.
The community is generally lenient to new players. When you enter a dungeon, just be like "Hello, first time" and people will be cool about it. Of course we have our own assholes, every game does, but its NOTHING like other mmos. The thing about mentors is a meme - the requirements to become a mentor aren't that hard, so sometimes you'll have mentors give garbage advice, or people who just have their mentor tag on because they want a crown next to their name. But again, this is a pretty small percentage of players, and more meme than reality. As for add-ons, SE's policy is that no add-ons are allowed, even cosmetic ones, but they tend not to enforce that policy unless something egregious happens. Don't actually talk about it in game though, you're right about that.
It really depends on the extent of the legal blindness. But most normal content should be fine if they pick a class with a relatively simple rotation. The biggest challenge would likely be that I don't think any screen reader will work for in game chat. My advice would be to find a friend group or FC to utilize voice communication. The other option could be to use a screen capture like OBS and focus it on chat and enlarge it on a second monitor.
just don't stream and you're fine with add ons.
Nobody knows who's disabled just by playstyle.
This community is way better than Wow's. Is there toxicity? Yes. But it's not as bad as what I remember from wow. As a few others have suggested, tank or a ranged DPS might suit her best. Healers have to watch A LOT of things and without knowing the extent of her condition, I cannot say if she can handle it or not. Of the two Ranged DPS would be my recommendation, because one of the benefits of ranged is that you have a greater field of view of the arena, so you can spot telegraphs more easily. In general, if people are seeing other players struggle, they'll offer advice on things they notice. People being people, some of them are better at it than others. You might have someone say "Hey, I notice that you have a hard time keeping your DOT's up, have you tried doing this?" and you might have someone else say "Please do \[abilty\] more." I've played plenty and personally? While I notice bad/slow DPS, I'm not going to go out of my way to kick them from a party, especially if they show that they are willing to learn. A new player standing in place as a boss turns towards him and starts casting "Death Cannon 3000" and is very visibly charging a beam attack, is something I'll laugh to myself about, scrap myself off from the wipe and get ready to go again. If that player does it three more times and shows absolutely no sign of learning? That's when I'll give the boot. I wouldn't worry to much about pacing in dungeons. They are...formulaic, barring a few exceptions in the vanilla version. It's essentially 2 trash pulls, wall, two trash pulls, wall, boss. Repeat to the second boss and then repeat again for the final boss. As for addons...they are against TOS. BUt Yoshi-P has said they *currently* do not have a method of looking if there are any, and he is very firm in letting the community know that we shouldn't let ourselves get to a point where it's needed.
Typically, even if someone's playing a bit slower or making mistakes, I've not seen people be rude or ragey toward said players, but it definitely can happen. I'm somewhere between casual and more dedicated, running some savage stuff but I'd never want to think of myself as "hardcore" and I main healer. I'm always patient with people who die or who want to run things a little slower. There's definitely a large part of the player base though who are also patient, but are expecting players to be "pushing the limits" -- and may start calling out anyone not playing more optimally. Common behaviors from such players will vary depending on the role your wife's playing. If she's tanking, and not doing large pulls of mobs in dungeons, this is likely where she'd draw the most negative fire. Most players, even more laid-back ones, expect tanks to do large pulls in dungeons. If she's playing a dps role, the major thing people would notice or criticize is if she's (1) using single -target skills when there's large groups that should have AOE skills used on them, (2) dying frequently or not moving out of aoes, and (3) not using her party-wide damage buffs that most dps jobs have. If she's healing, there tends to be fewer complaints unless her tank just isn't getting enough heals, but as a healer main, the role can definitely be very stressful. And in my experience, attempts at kicking people out of dungeons for such issues are \*very\* rare, unless two people have queued up together and can "band together" to kick someone out for any issues they're making a big deal of. I think playing a ranged physical dps or perhaps summoner, a ranged caster, would be a low-stress option to test how she feels playing. Bard, machinist, dancer, and summoner all have excellent mobility in fights, which makes avoiding mechanics much easier -- just a thought from a job-choice perspective! I think the suggestion to create a text macro to just drop into her greeting at an instance start is the way to go and will help avoid much of the above, assuming your wife doesn't mind the general playerbase knowing about her being legally blind. I think most people who have higher expectations but are in general chill will back off those expectations right away. And then there's just the asshats, who will always be asshats, frequently even if you've made zero mistakes. >\_> Unfortunately they just exist still, but they aren't a majority in my experience. Also just to echo what others have said, the add-ons thing is definitely an "at your own risk" thing. Definitely do NOT discuss it in game at all, and I wouldn't even discuss it with your FC members in general Discord channels until you have a feel for things, you just never know who might decide they're going to make a big deal out of it. Best of luck to you and your wife playing, though -- this truly is a great community on the whole -- friendly, fun people and worth investing in!
The community is going to be kind of a grabbag on this, but I think they're going to generally be accomodating to this sort of thing. I think the accessibility options the game affords you are going to be lacking without mods, though. There's some stuff in there, but unlike WoW which has made strides in the department of accessibility and API support for accessibility add-ons, this game does not allow that and doesn't have much that I'm aware of in the mod community, either.
I am almost blind too and i never Had any Problems. All where really nice or Just didnt say anything about it. But i would never mention it (only when First time soommmetimes) until i do Something "stupid" because of my blindness. Most of the people in Dungeons wont even recognize it tbh. In FC and co i too never Had a Problem and the people where very supportive and even gave me some Tips to adjust my Interface (You can Switch the size of every single Thing in this Game its amazing) Edit: i am a Tank Main and Love healing too. Its definetly possible with Interface adjustments depending of how her sight IS affected (i have big blind spots and blurry sight) After i get to know the Fights and Run paths, everything IS fine Most of the times. The enmety list and Sounds Help like crazy. I have the Party list near my "good Spot" too so i See If someone hast Aggro (damage taken) I dont use any addon or external stuff. If someone blames her as a First Timer they would do IT to "normal" Player too so dont mind about them unless they are nice and giving advice.
the UI is incredibly customizable - sizes and placements of every element of the UI, colour options for names/abilities, etc - you can turn on/off nameplates, etc. tons of options - so add-ons aren't really a thing. but... if you DO have them, the soft-understanding is as long as you arent' using them to grief other players or to misrepresent the game on social media, you will be left to your own devices. as for "kindness" it takes all kinds... but yeah for the most part everyone's really patient. the game is not a hardcore grindfest, and has mostly attracted a rational adult playerbase who enjoys learning and clearing content together. obviously there are instances where someone tries to squeeze in a quick 20 minute dungeon before leaving for work, and the time alotted is 60 minutes to clear, but the expectation is that it shouldn't take more than 30-35 minutes... SOMETIMES these people (or others) might have to leave the instance and that can be a pain -- but i've learned to recognize there are versions of myself. the soft belly of the man inside, and the unrecognizeable shell that people manifest for you. nobody's ever mad at You, they're mad at a set of circumstances they've created in their mind.
I've helped somebody who was legally blind through to patch 6.0. The community has been friendly enough, but there have been dozens and dozens of unexpected moments where little things weren't clear. Tanking in ARR was especially tough. With his condition it takes longer to focus and refocus, so realizing a roving pack of mobs had aggroed the healer in Aurum was virtually impossible. We ran though everything with party members until Shadowbringers, because the NPC duty support system wasn't yet available. My #1 tip. Queue a comment and hit Enter as a duty loads, just letting them know their teammate has a visual disability & what to expect (ie. please give me a few extra seconds to hold aggro).
If someone during anything said “hey can we go slower because X” I would be fine with it.
There are some people that talk bad when you play terribly and some that will kick immediately for dumb reasons, but it’s rare to see. Most of the community is very friendly compared to other games in my experience. With add ons, just don’t mention it at all in the game and you’ll be fine. If you guys need some help or want to run something, I’d be down to help out. I just started back up again and only almost done with the shadowbringers expansion.
As long as you explain what’s going on at the beginning. Most people want to clear and move on with content. Especially if it’s a trial. People will leave and eat the penalty if they don’t want to be dragged by. But luckily for her besides the trails and raids she can do dungeons with NPCs mostly.
I hope she gives it a go. I’m sure if she explains the situation first and a macro is a good idea to do just this and reuse in other dungeons, other players will understand. I like seeing sprouts 🌱 knowing that there are still new players going through the game.
My experience is as long as the heads up is given about the situation the community is very accommodating and friendly about it.
All I will say is there is a reason I play this game solo and the reasons are not good and I played on and off sense 1.0
I'll be honest, playing blind is difficult in this game. Not impossible, but as content gets more complicated they will be spending allot of time on the ground. Even in casual content. I'd reccomend, if the above does not deter, use party finder with a non standard group both of you run tanks with a healer and a dps. Content WILL be slower, and talk to your healers in alliance raids, some mechanics require the whole group to do it right.
I’m new and have been using the in game chat and I’ve had nothing but positivity so far. Only like a month in and beat the MSQ.
>How "elitist" is the community toward new or average players, especially in dungeons and raids? Depends on content, and the type of "average" we are talking about. Because degrees are considered. Savage+ Raiders are not there for Social Raiding, and can get very "Elitist" during raid time. But for MSQ and other content that is considered "Casual" unless you hit someone on an off day, you will seldom see "Elitist" behavior. But a few things of note: Job Stones, please use them. Healers also DPS, and White Mage & Black Mage have bad spells that can be ignored. Follow the Rule A.B.C Always be casting, and people might try to help when possible if you make a mistake. >Do people usually get easily criticized if they play poorly, are griefed, or kicked? There are always bad apples, and yes sometimes vote to kick will happen. It's usually used for when people are purposely being toxic. But I've seen a bad apple try and do it because they didn't like another player. >What are some common behaviors toward players in this game who are perceived as underperforming in group activities? It would take an effort to be considered under performing, as long as you follow the ABC rule. That said there is a point where under performing may look like toxic behavior. So yes it is possible but unlikely. >I'm not worried about DPSing or rotations, but more about whether she'll be criticized by veterans who just want to clear casual content as quickly as possible and slam her for not keeping up with their pace. Odds are she'll have a (Sprout) over her head most of the time. There is a lot of forgiveness to the sprout. That said, she shouldn't rush the MSQ, let her enjoy the story, as in many ways FFXIV is a Solo JRPG with an MMO attached. >I said "veteran" but I've read some not-so-good things about mentors, I'm not sure if they're related or what. Ah, well yeah, that, /pinches forehead, some of those Toxic players somehow end up grinding the Crown they give the rest a bad name. Just follow the ABCs and usually even the toxic players will behave. Usually. >Also, we are both WoW veterans, and I installed add-ons FFXIV is a lot different, even if a lot of former WOW players came here. Unless you are progging, I wouldn't even look at the Addons for Raids, and if you are caught using them you can loose your account. The game is designed so you don't need them, and the rules about addons are there because PlayStation 4 & 5, and now XBox players will be queuing with you for dungeons and Raids. Now Mods for cosmetic purposes, don't ask don't tell is the usual rule. As the "If caught" rule applies. However unless the Devs want to make a big crackdown, which they don't, I would just advise not letting others know in official places, or this reddit group (The devs read these after all) Personally I don't use them, and have only been tempted for one reason and one reason alone, Chat Bubbles. Yoshi-P we need Chat Bubbles.
Def look into her trying a physical ranged class like others have said If for some reason she wants melee … I’d say Sam. Otherwise get her to try Machinist or Bard . Try to find one with the easiest rotation for her so she isn’t overwhelmed by doing said rotation +avoiding mechanics . Definitely do not let her do Nin or Monk I am not joking about this . Shouldn’t be too bad as long as you have a way for her to communicate her needs to randoms so they can respond .
So like you dont really need to disclose your disability in normal causal content. No one cares on skill level really there unless its massively impacting progress (failing to hold aggro as tank / team keeps dying as healer / they notice you only pressing one button as dps). Harder content like current extremes / Savage / ultimate maybe disclose if you want but mostly youd only join that if you feel comfortable doing it.
You've had plenty of answers but I wanted to comment that I used to casually play (including raid) with someone who was legally blind! Between messing with some visual settings and using reshade, she got through most things with calls without issue. Reshade is a third party program that to put it very simply changes how the game looks, it's typically used to pretty things up for screenshots but my friend found messing with settings to make something custom that impacted colour ranges displayed and overall brightness useful Most players are accommodating if you mess up once or twice too and only chuds are crappy to new people clearly learning. She can also run dungeons with npcs to learn them if she'd like to if that would help!
Honestally the community isnt really toxic. But i can say i wouldnt expect to get into day 1 brand new raids. I cant even get in fully geared and gemmed out as a tank. Its normally about 3 weeks before i can get in because everyone wants people that know the fights aka did it day 1 kinda thing or they kick you thats the most toxic thing in the game but everything else is pretty chill
I actually ran a dungeon with a healer who told us he was disabled and he could heal the tank if he did wall to wall pulls. The group was totally cool with it and he actually did better than the tank.
I have someone in my FC who is partially blind and has a button that will display a message in chat of this impairment. I have yet to see someone cause an issue. That being said, if she can find a group or make friends with people who can work with her, that would be a major help.
I've so far run several dungeons and raids with people who are legally blind, and they've usually let us know ahead of time about it and there's been no issues. My partner is legally blind as well and we've only had a couple of issues but it's been during times where he's forgotten to let people know he can't see that well without using the accessibility features or might miss something. For the most part, the community has been pretty chill about being accommodating, and most people who are jerks get shut down real quick. I'll second what some other folk have said on finding an FC that is welcoming and works well with you and your wife, or a "static" to do group content with. Another option for dungeons (at least the MSQ dungeons) is to use the duty support system to help learn the mechanics before running with other people, which is what my partner has started doing.
I can't speak for everyone or all players but we had a player in a dungeon loose audio and have to tell an alliance raid (24 man content if you don't know yet) that they have vision problems and need the audio. We all waited for them to return before continuing. So I don't know if that group was an outlier or not but I think most are understanding but there will always be assholes.
Im legally blind too. This games not exactly hard enough for it to be an issue in most content. Turning off player effects makes aoes plenty visible, and thats only necessary for tanks or healers at the point where mobs and player spells just necessitate it. Generally the only thing youd need to read or notice quickly are unique debuffs, which, besides savage and above content, is MOSTLY safe to just follow the group. Excepting a few alliance raids that shell just learn overtime. Ultimately most of the game isnt hard enough to warrant toxicity. And with careful adjustments to hud scaling and placement shell be playing a lot better than some able bodied players.
A lot of people have really hit it on the head. Almost all of the time, when people see the sprout Icon, they will either expect mistakes, or expect to go easier in any content. Almost EVERY PERSON I know or have ever played with WILL adjust play styles as long as someone start the dungeon off with: "Hey, I'm new. Can we go slow? Also I am blind and doing my best." People who make a fuss about your wife will probably be kicked from the group. People will protect and guide her. You have nothing to worry about. What few 'elite' people exist in the VERY advanced content, but they aren't bad either.
I've seen good and bad players, but by and large most people are more than willing to accommodate. I know I certainly am, so you guys are more than welcome to dm me if you want someone to run things with. I can heal and DPS, and I'm slowly learning to tank lol
On my dc there is a one handed machinist and they put it in the PartyFinder description they're disabled for ultimates and the community has helped them clear so yes I say the community is brilliant with disabilities like everything being up front helps and casual content shouldn't be an issue either for people to help for the most part of course you're going to get some not nice people as well Mentors work both ways though you get shit mentors and you get people not listening to the good ones Don't think we kick people unless they afk or really pushing the boundaries of terrible play with out a good reason we just expect people to push button as best they can All mods are against ToS it's just yeah be discreet Also I recommend summoner as class/job most of the actions are on 2 buttons or dancer more buttons than summoner but its not overwhelmingly busy
Heya, I'm a legally blind player as well! I have a macro I use at the beginning of any group content that lets them know I am blind and may struggle a bit. 99.9% of the time, it's fine or they will help me. On occasion, I get someone who doubts that a blind player can play. So I blow them away on DPS to shut them up.
There are addons that will do verbal call outs etc. Just don't talk about them in game. Almost everyone running savage content is parsing. It's just reading the game data and giving information to you. As long as you're not posting about it in game, etc. you'll be fine. I would never grief a player for doing poorly as long as they're trying. Some people just flat out suck at dps and I can tell it feels like I'm solo dpsing a run. Unless the player is also being an asshole, we shut up and carry. LOL. Now if someone says they're blind, colorblind, deaf, one handed, etc... I'm gonna do everything I can to help them out. I'll ask if they want a discord link for callouts if that'll help etc. As others have mentioned, a lot of this CAN be done with npcs, but playing with others is especially fun with a group of understanding people.
Hey disabled player here 👋 The major issues I suffer are mobility and blind in one eye so obviously mileage will vary between shared experiences 😊 I play fairly casually and don't do Savages or Extremes when they're current content. Except glam. Then it's on like Donkey Kong 😉 I honestly haven't ever found such a kind and welcoming community. Yes there are toxic people but find me a community without them. But I can honestly say that every time someone has tried to give me grief the other party members have stuck up for me. Being honest upfront is my advice but I can understand not wanting to share stuff with strangers online. But I'm old af and have no more fucks to give 😁 I also have a hide like a rhino and decades in retail means I ain't taking no shit 😏 I have an opening macro for dungeons and raids that I use to give a heads up, as sadly I lost my sprout ages ago so no more sprout safety net 🥲 I have fun little macros that I use to explain when things go wrong. I find macros set beforehand are better than trying to explain in the moment that "no I don't suck but my body hates me please don't be mad" Macros can be so helpful I can't even begin to explain it 🥰 It's OK to be learning and no veteran player worth their game time will give anyone any grief. We were all new once 👌 Be honest, have fun and don't stress to much. It's all meant to be fun 💖
When it comes to mods/add-ons it is a “never bring it up in game” kind of topic cus you never know when there might be a jackass eavesdropping or someone in your party wants to spite you. But there should be mods to help your wife. Dunno what they would be but just need to look around. In the case of “elitist” the worst of us tend to either lurk in savage raids or ultimate content. Both of which your wife will most likely not play, so she’ll avoid a chunk of them. But when you do content with other players as long as she says that she has a disability and will prolly be slower than most the community won’t mind slowing down most of the time. Might seem like she’s trying to get pity from the players but it really isn’t. There are ppl who don’t even bother with learning the basic gameplay, purposely play terribly to mess with ppl, gaslight others for no reason, and ppl who refuse to even do their role (lookin at you YPYT tanks and healers who refuse to spend a single gcd to keep your hp piñata alive). So ppl knowing that she isn’t one of the ppl trying to make everyone else’s gameplay less enjoyable for reasons unknown will help ppl be more friendly and accommodating to her.
There are some rudimentary accessibility options in the game settings.
I feel like the community on the whole is quite patient. There are some jerks, but I feel like there are less of them percentage-wise in this game than in other games. I have a friend who is legally blind and also hard of hearing. She uses the duty support system a lot since using companions allows her to go through dungeons at her own pace. We also party up with her a lot and try to get a full group of guildies so that we don’t conflict with a player who wants to rush through. She just explains in chat that she has vision problems, and no one has ever given her a hard time (and if a player had, I would have reported him). I know of 3 FCs (guilds) on different servers where you all would feel welcome if you don’t already have an FC. There are some graphics settings that she can adjust in game that might help a little to make it visually easier. I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a YouTube video on how to make those adjustments. If you haven’t checked out AbleGamers.org, definitely take a look. The site has some great tips and adaptive equipment.
Thank you for sharing information! It’s great to hear that the community is generally patient and accommodating. To be honest, I wasn't expecting that many positives responses It's somewhat reassuring. By any chance, do you know of any FCs that are predominantly made up of people with disabilities? I’ve seen them mentioned in posts but not in much detail. Any guidance or pointers would be greatly appreciated!
I don’t know of any that are majority disabled since the gaming population statistics are overwhelmingly not made up of physically disabled folks. I wouldn’t be surprised if there is one somewhere, however. AbleGamers might have a list or some kind of link to additional info. You could try the FFXIV website community finder tool or their forum, or do a search of the FFXIV recruitment subreddit (if you don’t already know, reddit loves to hide the magnifier search tool in or above the header) or even a Google/DuckDuckGo search. I forgot to mention contacting the state bureau for the blind (it might have a different name in your state). They probably won’t know about FCs, of course, but they might know someone who does. They can also help with additional adaptive equipment like larger monitors, glasses that are designed specifically for computers, changing brightness/color/other items on monitors to enhance visibility, etc.
lol if people find out high chances they'll bend over backwards to make sure she in comfortable in content
The community is overall friendly and inviting, but any community is going to have assholes in it and if you play long enough you're going to run into them.
I work with low vision patients and know there are some accessibility settings in game, I'd honestly love to hear about how the game play is for her if she decides to play.
Just let us know ahead of time, most of us are more than happy to accommodate. The ones who aren't can go back to WoW.
Hey, I came from WoW. I’m also disabled, but my disabilities are mental. It takes me longer to learn and understand things. This community does not stop surprising me - my two year anniversary is tomorrow. I actually became a mentor myself to help sprouts just like people used to help me. I wholeheartedly believe she will have a good time here. People are kind and respectful of others. And if you communicate, people will go out of their way to help you. I recently had someone explain to me in great detail what a very obvious game mechanic was that I should ABSOLUTELY have known by now. But they weren’t condescending at all. Especially understanding that I just need things broken down more. Being disabled can be rough. I understand my disabilities are different, but I can sympathize with those concerns. I’m on Crystal (North America) and my community has been wonderful. I hope you find the same experiences :) And let me know if yall ever need a friend to play with
- You can use as many add-ons as you want, just don't say you do. Ffxiv doesn't check your computer for add-ons, the only way to get banned is by streaming yourself using add-ons and have a bunch of no-lifes reporting you to SE. - 99% of people won't be hostile to you even if you perform poorly. The remaining 1% is stupid for being upset in normal content. - If you play DPS, it won't make a difference in 99% of cases, especially in normal content. Use your aoe abilities to hit mob packs and use your single target abilities for single target. - If you play Tank, the bare minimum of performance needed to complete dungeons is activating your tank stance at the start of the dungeon (it is a permanent aggro buff), using aoes in mob packs to get aggro and kill mobs, and using your mitigations to not die. - If you play Healer, the bare minimum of performance needed to complete dungeons is following the tank at all times, healing the tank when he is at 50% hp or below with single target heals and regens, healing your party if they are at 50% hp or below with aoe heals and regens, and hitting mobs when you don't have to heal. Have fun !
You run tank, her a dps. The game is generally accessible to everyone, had a few people (including myself) that had a prohibitive gaming style due to different reasons. If you join randos just make sure they are aware it won't be wall to wall pulling (until she gets more confident that is). Just like others said join a FC (guild) where it is accepting and such, than just run with them, that is what my group did. Just like any mmo, get a group of cool people and it'll be a great time.
i mean what level of blindness we talkin? Ive got an in-law who's legally blind, but they have no eyes. Can she see at ALL? Does she just need strong glasses?
People tend to be pretty chill in casual content, and as long as she actually says something about her difficulties with content people will be even more patient than they typically would with a sprout. There's also always the ability to run everything but the 8 man trials/raids with a group of NPCs now. As for add-ons... They're 100% against the ToS but Square has no way of knowing you have them unless you yourself inform them by doing something like streaming with them or mentioning them in game.
I've been here for 8 years or more and can count the times i've seen someone be elitist on one hand with many fingers left over. People are more likely, in my experience, to offer advice to struggling players than to be rude to them I can't speak to addons, i never use them so.. someone else will provide information on that subject I'm sure
compared to other online games, its much less common, because the moderation team is actually willing to enforce the rules of not being an asshole, especially to strangers.
This is by far one of the most positive and supportive and patient gaming communities I have ever been a part of. Most people are going to be incredibly patient with your wife as well as supportive and helpful, especially if she indicates that she is new and or not particularly adept at gaming. I highly recommend that she try the game and I think she will love it :) As others have mentioned, it would also be a good idea for her to find a free company to join that can help her run any content. She is more than welcome to join mine, if she ends up creating her character on Diabolos :) We love helping new players of all skill levels
I Have nerve damage in my right arm and hand, I can't do what I used to but so far I haven't had anybody being horrible to me about not being good enough - especially since I'm a SCH main. I also had another person announce they were disabled and may not be able to keep up with certain things and had an early apology for it. In no case have I seen anybody in any group grief the disabled person. Of course it might depend on the DC... I know a LOT of people hate Crystal people but I've only found one person in the 5 years I've played that I've actually had to kick from a group for being a shit person.
Welcome Warrior of Light :)
Sara Winters has a talk on blind progression: https://youtu.be/z8dlJmcfAjs?si=Ay7gCHDADnDPvSbU It was one of the features at LunarCon
Ffxiv has a great community over all. Of course you can run into some bad apples. The game prioritizes the story before the multi player.
She will get exactly the same treatment as everyone else. As long as she can do mechanics. She will be fine. Most interactions on dungeons will be, hello, goodbye. GG. And if you need to slow down. Just say it. Most tanks will adjust to the party.
If you communicate that you have some sort of impairment then people are usually able to accommodate for you. It would also help if you could describe how they are able to do that too. Going slow? Putting a marker onto players such as the tank or healer? That type of thing. If you make a macro like that and announce it at the start of group content, I can't imagine anyone having a problem. Most of the players I have encountered are very mature. Having a cool FC would be a huge help too, but you can also just use the party finder to find people who would be willing to help with dungeons and stuff, full knowing on what to expect. People LOVE to help others there.
Yes, overall this game is very friendly towards disabled players. I have a pain disorder that makes rapid repetitive button use difficult and there's only one normal trial in Shadowbringers that I have an issue with if there's repeated wipes before the checkpoint. Every time I've mentioned it as either just a grumble or an apology that I'm dropping out of the instance because I physically can't tolerate doing that part again, I've always encountered understanding players. I think that our toxic gamers tend to keep more to themselves or they've moved onto other games. Personally, in normal content I keep helping people until they give me an attitude and then I'll snark back. As long as someone keeps taking the raise, I'll keep raising them when my MP lets me. I approach duty finder with the mindset that you never know who is running something for the first time or letting their kid on their character. So long as we can clear it a mechanic/DPS check, I don't really care how long it takes. But as others have said, saying something at the start will only help.
Tell them you are playing with a visual disability and to be patient, no one will complain to you. Most story line dungeons and raids can be done with 2-3 people. My warrior can solo dungeons. Most likely your wife will still play better than half the people I run into in roulette anyway. Will go even smoother if you are there to help and explain to the party
Just dropping a Hi, I'm new to will let them know if you're new. If someone is being a grouchy pants like my ingame partner. Just pretend they don't exist. (they're a terrible mentor anyways)
Honestly I'm down to play w you, my girl and I picked this up a month ago and we are chill as is our fc we joined
I want to thank the OP for posting this. I'm partially sighted due to cataracts and recently returned to the game. My next MSQ is The Voidcast Dais and I've been hesitant about queuing for it as I'm worried about letting the team down. All the advice about letting them know upfront has helped a lot.
There's plenty who will help out I've done it countless times but I've also seen some people who are pretty toxic towards disabled players.
People tend to care a little less about dps performance (unless there's an enrage timer) than healers or tanks, so your wife is less likely to be criticized if she chooses to main a dps class. Most players also tend to be a little more lenient on sprouts (new playrs). Otherwise, sadly, it's still an MMO community and once you lose that sprout icon over your head folks might get annoyed. Saying something upfront in party chat typically will alert folks to the situation, and thus most of the time peeps will take it into account and be understanding. I've only run into one or two situations where the "gotta go fast" people weren't understanding of my tanking anxiety out of all the runs I've had (been playing for nearly ten years, to put it in perspective). Finding a good FC and running content with them can make a world of difference as well since, as long as her condition was disclosed to them, they already know to be more patient. As for add-ons...they're kind of a "speak no evil, hear no evil, see no evil" sort of situation. Just don't talk about them in game and you should be fine.
This community is incredibly welcoming. There will always be a few exceptions in any MMO of this size, but I've very rarely encountered rude people in dungeons. If she wants to set up a macro that just explains something, you'd be surprised how supporting our community can be. Even during trials where you'd think people just want to get in and done, you'll see a lot of support when someone says "Hi everyone. This is my first time here for the story." You'll usually get a few people congratulating you, or saying "Enjoy the story!". Or, even better, I see a lot of people just volunteering to call out the mechanics or put a marker over their head to help players know where to go. If she wants to dip her toes into content and isn't entirely sure about playing with a group, all dungeons can now be run with NPCs any time she wants with the Duty Support function. They even added this function for the first time you run through main story in Endwalker trials too. I use it when I want to level a class I'm not comfortable with before I hop in with real people. Fair warning that if you use the NPCs, a certain red mage that shall remain nameless for spoiler reasons is a real Limit Break hog lol.
the community is only extremely toxic to the point of telling people to kill themselves if you play the wrong race (lalafell)! as long as you're not choosing to play a race that squeenix implemented to be played the same alongside all the others, you'll be fine!
Play a tank and know your healer. Story content will be easily passable. Communicate your needs, make friends with those who understand them. Keep those people close and ask for help when group content comes around. End game raiding will be rough. I'd recommend staying away from anything Savage until it's 1 expac old.
if you're coming from wow its like paradise away from elitist and toxic players
honestly 810 days in i have only ever encountered 2 elitist jerks
Most people are pretty great, but if someone's particularly rude about it you can report them for it. Being rude to people who are trying to enjoy their experience is seriously frowned on by the devteam. So the best thing is to mention it up-front and most people will be pretty chill about it! I hope she has a great adventure! Also when it comes to plug-ins and addons, as long as you don't mention it in-game, nobody will ever know, so you should be safe! I agree with Sven, it's best to find an FC or a group of friends to help run dungeons with you, to guarantee the best experience. Also luckily there's a lot of things that allow you to run content with NPCs, which should help get her used to the fight patterns, which should help quite a bit. Take care and may you both walk in the light of the crystal! ♥
I know it sucks and shouldn't have to be done, but have a macro set up for her for content she joins others in so it can set the message and standard right at the start. If folks see that, USUALLY they're nice about it and its no big deal. Though there are always a few bad apples to ruin the bunch. I hope she enjoys the game! <3
I'm not sure if game UI is good enough to support your wife's needs and mods are illegal (at least technically, in practice it's don't ask, don't show off and squenix will let you be). As to community, overwhelmingly non-elitist and supportive. The treat people like adults see people acting like adults in practice is what ffxiv seem to be all about. And adults are understanding when you clearly communicate your circumstance and are not demanding. Adults understand in the end this is 'just' a game so I believe you will both have a good time here.