/anon while in XP party

[Fellina]

A minor irk, feuled by last night. There is NO REASON for you to be /anon while XPing. I've always been leery of this previously, with people in my party, because you never know what cracked-up subjob they could be bringing then.

As I got higher in level that ceased to be much of a problem, especially now that I'm in a static. However, now I've found a problem with people in OTHER PARTIES playing anon. Bear with me.

Our static was getting together, and we're in that prime range where we could start at Boyahda, but Onzozo is still viable, if there are few enough people to chain the mobs quickly. Since we had to get a level 62 pickup tank, we look at Onzozo. Only 5 people our level. Looks good.

So we pack up, get a Tele-Mea, run to the camp in Onzozo . . . there are TWO FULL parties there. We couldn't see this while runing there though, because fully half of these people were playing /anon. :evil:

We ended up going to Bibiki instead, which worked fine. But the fact that we wasted a good 30 minutes running around like headless chickens irritated me to no end. If those people weren't playing /anon (which they had no good reason to be) then we would have known Onzozo was full, and gone elsewhere at the start.

And all you BLM or WHM who are going to say you play /anon to avoid raise/D2 requests . . . I still don't buy it. Yes, I understand that being pestered while xping can be irksome. But odds are that it's a party near you who's going to ask you, and guess what? They can see your AF. Being /anon isn't going to hide that. Not like it's all that hard to set up a search comment that asks people not to bother you while xping either- and if they can't read your comment, they don't deserve a response.

 

[Blackchaoshero]

to say this the most straitforward way i can.... i get 2-3 exp pt invites while IN parties or as a party leader unless i go anon... pleas for help, invites to events, exp and other such things are annoyances that /anon prevents us from having to deal with a lot... It really bothers me to tell someone i'd rather level than go help them or escort them through rank 5 or join their exp pt because they're a friend and 1 blm off a wicked pt set-up... sure it can cause anooyances but... i <3 /anon....

 

[Neche]

More often then not while I'm in an XP party with RDM, I will get party invites from other people saying thier party is better or what not, so I like to go anon. Hell, I've had acouple times where I was invited to play RDM while leveling DRK!

You said for WHM or BLM the raise or D2 requests, they can see thier AF so /anon is useless. Two words "Search >> Whitemage" Doing that lets you see all WHM not /anon in the area, people will /tell you for raise or a D2 if your a blackmage.

Yes, it's annoying when people are /anon and you can't properly get your party to a camp, but that's the way it is. If you didn't know, you could /tell the party leaders cause I know their names turn up yellow in a search, and ask if thier XPing and if so how many parties are there. Simple as that.

 

[Rayebee]

I understand why you would get mad, i never understand why people would go on /anon in a PT either. but i do rember a WHM that would not raise people that were on anon, and i guess it makes sence. Lets say one of your member died and u need a R2 you do a /sea all whm but there on /anon, i know i would never raise a WHM on /anon

 

[Peregrine]

I agree with Fellina. If less people went anon, we could do a better job of telling how many REAL parties are in a zone before we show up. Ignoring beggar /tells costs you a fraction of a second. Showing up to a zone that was hiding its full capacity costs us an hour if we leave and you thousands of xp if we don't.

It's nice to have privacy, but the benefits do not seem to outweigh the costs here.

 

[Bajaratt]

I agree with the OP about people being anon. I always check the zones to see how many parties are there before I head out, because I hate to overcamp areas. Even if it's just the party leader, it's a tremendous help when deciding where to go to see their level.

I've had requests for raises before while I was exping, but I'd either tell them no if they were in a different zone, or really far away from camp or tell them I'd raise after the chain. I very rarely go anon, because I don't mind people asking me for something, even though i occasionally say no to people.

There have been only a couple times past the dunes that I've been invited to other parties while I was already in one. People who do that are greedy morons, they only care about their exp and themselves.

If you're going to have anon up, then at least put up <experience points> or something in your comment so we can know what you're there for when we check for exp parties.

 

[Firestreak]

I understand why you would get mad, i never understand why people would go on /anon in a PT either. but i do rember a WHM that would not raise people that were on anon, and i guess it makes sence. Lets say one of your member died and u need a R2 you do a /sea all whm but there on /anon, i know i would never raise a WHM on /anon

WHM should never require raise in the first place after level 33.

This is an unfortunate logical error. Why?

WHM A doesn't anon, and ignores people's requests for helps and turns them down because he doesn't feel sympathy.

WHM B does anon and avoids requests for help because s/he hates to say no to people but has obligation to the party.

Which is more deserving of being helped? I am the WHM who goes anon because I don't like to tell people that I can't raise them. And I can't raise people who are on the other side of the zone. It isn't fair to my party who invited/joined a WHM so that they could have the benefits of raise 2/3. If you want a BRD and RDM combo, you're going to get faster exp in most cases. WHM in party is a more safe and defensive position. To expect for other parties to R2/3 your members, slowing down their exp to compensate for your weakness, so you can continue to get faster exp than them... I'd say screw it.
But I'm not going to say all that to some stranger who is asking me for r2. And I don't particulary care to have people think I'm an ogre, so I anon.

And all you BLM or WHM who are going to say you play /anon to avoid raise/D2 requests . . . I still don't buy it. Yes, I understand that being pestered while xping can be irksome. But odds are that it's a party near you who's going to ask you, and guess what? They can see your AF. Being /anon isn't going to hide that. Not like it's all that hard to set up a search comment that asks people not to bother you while xping either- and if they can't read your comment, they don't deserve a response. Wink

If they can seem my AF, I don't particulary mind raising... but if they have no WHM, and expect me to stop exping so I can raise every one of their members... bleh to them.

And there's an easy way to get around anon mages. It's called deduction. You can deduce with 2 paladins and 1 ninja your level, there are 3 parties.

 

[Panda]

wow, thats the first thing i ever agreed with you on, firestreak.

he pretty much said it there, though take out the raise 2 and 3 thing..

i hate getting "got any room" messages or "pt" messages when im in an exp zone and in a pt. gr.

 

[Fellina]

I the case of last night, it was more than just the mages that were anon. I mean sure, if I saw 6-8 people there, with 2 leaders, and no BLM, WHM, or RDM, then I would have made the assumption that there were 2 parties. BUT . . .

When we searched while heading out to camp, we saw:
ONE leader
FOUR others in party, 2 melee and 2 mages

When we got there we found two full parties. That's just asinine.


We didn't bother to ask the leader we did see how many parties were there, because logically, why would we? You see one leader, you assume on party, no? Especially when there aren't even enough other people not /anon to round out a full group.

And again, I can't stress the search comment for non /anon mages enough. I've had people pester me all the time, as a RDM. If I was in party, they'd ask me to leave to join theirs. If I was leader, they'd ask if I have room. But since I started making appropriate search comments asking not to be bothered, 9 times out of 10 guess what? I don't get bothered! And that 10th time is always some jackass I can safely blist (Leibfrid in my case, haha).

 

[Bajaratt]

Well, in that case, there might have been a party in buburimu that was on the way to onzozo at the time you checked, and they just beat you there.

 

[Ryme]

30 mins to run to bibiki bay from onzozo?

people anon all the time not really gonna change, Im guilty of it myself on brd or whm as i just really dont like getting the requests.

 

[Valandil]

my all time fav is being asked if I am going to leave soon so someone can replace me....

Random>> Are you going to need a replacement soon? I really need to EXP
>>Random Umm I don't speak any English

 

[GhostinmyShell]

I had to go /anon a lot too... :[

We can't get HNM times, where is Gims, Mistaya, Phazen or Nasya at today...

I also got a lot of...

Hey could you come help get me my genkei items or some other rare drop, you have TH2, oh and I hear you're really rich, can i have sum gil!

Which sucks is cause I hate /anon because I like helping people out and having nagging /tells from players who don't understand you are busy or in an XP party are annoying >>

My help policy was real simple, unless I am involved with others and in the same zone, I don't mind helping you out... I helped many WHMs get their AF item in Castle Oz

 

[Yoshindor]

I'm not going to deal with 3 tells every fight for AF help or D2's or tractors or whatever because you don't ask party leaders and do a /sea all besides even just counting the nuber of leaders and people in partys in the zone can give you a rough estimate of how full the zone is. Sorry not going to do your job for you.

 

[Bajaratt]

I'm not going to deal with 3 tells every fight for AF help or D2's or tractors or whatever because you don't ask party leaders and do a /sea all besides even just counting the nuber of leaders and people in partys in the zone can give you a rough estimate of how full the zone is. Sorry not going to do your job for you.

In case you haven't noticed, that's what EVERYONE says they do, the problem is when people can't tell who's in the zone for what purpose. I always search the zone even if I'm not the party leader and I said so. Try reading before you post.

If there are any hnm's or if there's multiple areas to party for different level ranges, that's not an option. I guess I'll start just spamming /tells to you asking if you're exp or not.

 

[Jemanie]

To go anon or not, its a difficult choice.

I get /tells from ignorant scum who think im gonna leave a party just for your own personal gain, these people make me wanna be /anon all the time, but then again if a parties whm is wiped out they wont be able to find them a raise ; ; There is always shouting though, and what ever happened to ReRaise?

 

[alanon]

Actually /anon cuts down on R/D2 requests quite a bit. You can still tell who the party leaders are and ask them. most will appreciate the courtesy.

I have read where on other servers people put their camp in their search comment. I.E

<Sky> D-Wep Camp

 

[Bajaratt]

Actually /anon cuts down on R/D2 requests quite a bit. You can still tell who the party leaders are and ask them. most will appreciate the courtesy.

I have read where on other servers people put their camp in their search comment. I.E

<Sky> D-Wep Camp

Yeah, I've seen people do that for Valley of Sorrows and I've done it myself. If people had comments while they were anon, that would help too, but most don't.

 

[Prentice]

I usually leave myself visible while xp'ing, except when I start getting /tells when I'm already in a party asking me to ditch my current party. Then is when I know it must be one of those nights where there are very few RDMs and BRDs and people are getting deperate, so I will /anon while xp'ing in that case.

I tend to agree with most of what Firestreak said.

And here's a little tip. If you go RDM+BRD, you will get faster xp, but it is more dangerous in that you don't have R2. When I do that, or when the setup is RDM+SMN (basically, anytime I don't have a WHM around) I use a reraise gorget, which gives me Reraise 2. Expensive? Somewhat...if we have to escape more than once I quit using it because it's a waste. But I like it for 2 reasons:

1) I'm selfish and want to save the xp if I die.
2) In the case where I get killed before we can or know we need to escape, and the party is wiped, I can reraise and then raise the party. Sure, the rest of the party only gets raise 1, but such are the consequences of going with a more aggressive setup. At least if we can get up quickly and get going again, we can make the xp back fairly quickly.

It is no trouble for me to figure out how many parties are in a zone by looking at the members (especially tanks) that are not anon. So while I understand the original poster's point, I can also appreciate the points brought up in the thread.

 

[Osse]

I agree with Fellina's original post. There are three basic counter points that have been brought up, but all are flawed to some extent.

1. "Just check the zone first and piece it together."

Well that's great... except sometimes the party leader is /anon, as well as the rng/nin who gets invites quickly too, and the blm, whm, rdm and bard...and don't forget the pld or nin/war--both in high demand at times. So basically, to say that you can just do a search and have a real grasp of WTF is going in that zone is not realistic. And the /anon poeple may or may not be doing something other than xping, but it's hard to tell without seeing their levels. But sometimes the search does work, WHEN NOT MANY PEOPLE ARE /ANON.

2. "I go /anon because I don't want to get raise and D2 requests. I don't want to do it, but I don't want to seem callus. Plus it takes up my time just to turn it down."

My usual senerio:
random Player>> Can I get a D2
random Player>> D2 please, 500 gil, OK?
random Player>> {Hello!}
(random Player gives up)

Assuming I even see the request at the time (and I usualy don't with all the battle text going by), total time out of my xping = 0 seconds. If you don't want to seem callus, too bad. You are callus for not helping a fellow human being in need. First, their need isn't that great. Second, you shouldn't be ashamed for trying to enjoy yourself, I know I'm not. But I'm not afraid to tell someone that I'm not here for their convience.

3. "Just ask the party leader in that zone if there is room for you too."

LMAO. I can hear the response already:
{Other pt leader looks around and sees nothing but his own members and mobs waiting to die.} "Oh, no man. It's packed here. Losts of /anon ppl xping. You'd better go somewhere else."
Not everone is a jerk like that, but there are way too many of them out there for my taste.

Now, I admit that you'll sometimes see me /anon in a pt, but that's only an oversight on my part. Since I have a static xp party, I spend most of my game life /anon to avoid pt invites. But I turn it off when I' either in the mood to help ramdom strangers (which happens form time to time), and when I join up with the rest of the static.