I'm fed up, and I'm laying down the law. Fellow QCDNers would be wise to follow in my footsteps. To any future pickup party leaders that want me in your group, please take note of my new rules for partying:
1) If you invite me, make sure there will be a party when I get there. No less than 7 times in the last 5 levels, I've gotten an invite, grabbed Signet and a chocobo, only to hear as I'm starting to travel "Sorry, party disbanded." Number of times I've been reimbursed for chocobo fare: 0. Completely low-class. The money isn't an issue, it's the principle. Which leads me to...
2) When I arrive at the pt, I will buff, get the SC/MB down, and eat a +1 food. If, in that hour, 2 or less members of the party eat food along with me - I will not use any more of mine. If no members eat, I drop the party. It comes down to the fact that, by not eating ANYTHING, you're basically saying that your gil is more important than mine. I refuse to accept that.
3) If your gear is bad (i.e. 15+ levels below and/or completely inappropriate, i.e. Taru WHM in full level 27-33 RSE,) I will call you out on it. If you decide to give me shit for it, I will send the leader a /tell to either replace me, or the gimped player. If you are the leader, I will disband. Bad gear costs a party untold numbers of chains and XP/hour. On that topic...
4) I have four tiers of XP/hr:
a) 3k+xp/hr. I will happily stay in a party like this. The higher this goes, the happier I am.
b) 2.5-3k/hr. I will stay in the party. This, at level 50+, is the bare minimum for what I consider a decent party.
c) 2-2.5k/hr. I will express my concern for the XP, and give the party another hour. If it does not improve, I will disband.
d) Under 2k/hr. I will express extreme disgust with the party for not being able to produce even the poorest of xp, and disband. I may also /blist members that I feel 'contributed' to the mess.
50+ is where you need to get serious. You don't need 5000 to level. You need 10,000 - and it shoots up dramtically from there.
5) If the party does not have a designated skillchain, I will be more than happy to provide one (Ever since SMNs got the ability to SC/MB, I've gone over the Renkei charts religiously.) If 30 minutes of XPing go by and the melees cannot consistantly pull off the desired skillchains, I will disband. Again, at this level, you should have at least a basic knowledge of these things. If you don't, I wonder how in the hell you made it this far.
6) Regarding AFK: Everyone needs bathroom breaks, random RL problems, and so on. But if you are AFK for more than 15 minutes, and/or go AFK without notice in the middle of a pull/fight, expect to be added to my 'do not party with again' list.
7) Please, PLEASE get rid of the macros that are annoying "Hey <t>! I'm the squishy white mage you want!", not a necessary /p macro (Boost, Warcry, Sentinel, Sharpshot, and other JA's that only affect you), or both (YO IM FEELING FROGGY{Jump}). On the other hand, for things that NEED macros (pulling, Escape, etc.) PLEASE make a macro. Nothing pisses me off more than a puller that just brings things back without warning, or at most, an 'inc' as they come into camp.
8) I am, by nature, a fairly quiet person in a party (those that have ptd with me can attest to this.) Do not expect me to join in your conversations about Ashlee Simpson's tits, the local sports team, your gil making woes, or anything else. I understand this is a social game - but that's what your linkshell or your /shout wars in South San d'Oria are for.
9) If you have to leave, make it known at least 15 minutes ahead of time, and find a replacement for yourself if possible. You may not find one, but make the effort. Or lie to me and say you made the effort, whatever. Emergencies are obviously different - but I will /sea for you during the next hour - and if you're in another party/have your flag up/etc, you're likely getting blisted for lying OVER A VIDEO GAME.
10) If you do not like me, or my rules, or my Taru hairstyle, or whatever, feel free to not invite me, not party with me, it honestly makes no difference. But when you invite me, you can rest assured that, as long as the rest of the group keeps up their end of the bargain, I will work my ass off to ensure a fast XP session.
I write this because of what Ryme said a day or so back - we, the NAs, as a whole are not closing the gap the way we should. We've had this game for a year now, and yet I run into the same people I ran into in the Dunes making the same mistakes now that they did then. Only now, their mistakes cost them 1000 xp instead of 300. And worst of all, most of them really don't seem to care all that much about improving themselves, making the grind go by at all faster. I may not be able to change everyone I party with, but damn it, I can deny them my services and make sure they don't piggyback me to levels they don't deserve.