Alright…. it’s not often that I would go to leveling roulette with strangers, because I find random party hard to deal with. So I usually don’t brave any DF unless I’m desperate, or in a really good and confident mood, or have a friend or two tagging along.
Yesterday I went to Leveling Roulette with Dew and Lulu. We were unlucky enough to get Qarn, the worst nightmare of 2.0 low level dungeons, pre-adjustment (Qarn used to be much harder before a patch where they made some dungeons easier.) And we were unfortunate enough to get this random ARC in our party.
He was new, but that wasn’t the problem.
He was slow in targeting the enemies, but that could be excused.
He had moderately sub-par gear:
Main hand – level 32 (NQ)
Head – level 15 (Pirate Bandana)
Body – level 30 (NQ)
Gloves – level 23 (aetherial)
Pants – level 23 (aetherial)
Boots – level 30 (NQ)
Right side he had a level 1 neck, a level 1 earring, and a level 1 ring.
Other 2 slots were empty.
(I didn’t check his gear until later, when we had TERRIBLE struggle in Golem boss room, and when we finished the dungeon, I didn’t remember exact levels of his equipment (except his bow, and the fact that he had a mix of lv 20ish gear and level 30 gear), until I compared the screenshot below to his Lodestone profile which hadn’t updated yet.)
When I first peeked at his gear and took mental note of roughly what he wore, I decided to not say anything, since I always feel guilty for secretly judging people by their equipment. Plus, I could understand that some people might come in the dungeon via roulette and get something higher/harder than they expected. So I can forgive unprepared people who’s slightly undergeared. To me 5-8 levels undergear is excusable. Also, Aetherial gear tend to be about as good as normal gear of 3-5 levels above it.
As we went on, a headgear (aetherial lv 35) and a pair of pants (aetherial lv 35) dropped, and the ARC immediately changed to those. So I decided once again that he deserves some credits and a forgiveness.
I also noted that in first boss room, when we all got Doom debuff, this ARC tried and ran to a lighted platform, but failed because the light was being a jerk and moved to the other platform instead. He didn’t follow to the new one. This is a common mistake among the newbies, so he died even though I tried to guide him there while telling him to come {This way.} I forgave that death, because at least he knew what to do and he tried. After raised, he didn’t miss a Doom cleanse again, either.
But in the last boss room, we did HORRIBLE. Adds stayed alive like forever even though Lulu was fast and switched target and/or jumped into the box very quickly. Dew swore up and down that the ARC’s max HP dropped from start. I said impossibruuuuuuuuu because he got 2 new pieces of equipment, his HP should go up, not down. But the fight was brutal. It was painful. It was even more painful than the Golem room where I ended up having 0 MP (after raising the ARC once and Lulu once) even after using an ether of some sort.
So when we won, I peeked at his gear again….
And….
What….
Do…
I…
See…?
He sneakily swapped out the level 32 bow and had been using a level 15 Aetherial bow since WHO KNOWS WHEN.
I got really mad and screamed into my Skype call with Dew. Dew cursed a few words and we both left without commending the douche. Lulu was pretty fed up with him at some point in the dungeon, too. Because he pulled a group of mobs before Dew could run in, so the mobs were scattered when Dew provoked and stuff, and Lulu slept them, but the ARC woke them up.
I was too baffled to say anything to the ARC. I was afraid I would come out extremely mean and rude if I were to say something to his face, so I just left without saying anything.
Guys, it is ok to come in unprepared and be slightly undergeared, if you put enough effort in contributing to the party, it’s forgivable. It is, however, a douche move, to come in with decent or forgivable gear but then swap to other equipment which is more than 10 levels below the dungeon. (And in this specific case, the weapon was level 15, the dungeon is level 35, so it was 20 levels below the dungeon!!!! Just WTF, man.) It is beyond rude. You’re leeching our labour and effort. I, as a healer, had to nuke the shit out of everything because you cannot make decent DPS. It is unfair to us. It is selfish.
I disapprove. :(