When I was in high school I was a band kid. Our symphony band was fairly well respected in our district (Always getting top marks in evaluated performances), which left marching band as a little side gig we pulled out during football season. I participated in both, and really enjoyed my time.
Since I didn't go to college, my ability to continue participating in marching band activities became zero. So like most high school band kids, I turned to watching Drum Corps International competitions online.
Now I don't really keep up with DCI, but you don't really need to to enjoy the performances. There's something enchanting watching 50-100 people move across a field in sync while also playing instruments. If there's ever a DCI show in your area, I highly recommend going.
In addition to having no college prospects, after high school I also fell hard into MMO playing. Final Fantasy XI was my main poison, but I also dabbled into Everquest II, World of Warcraft, City of Heroes etc etc. In 2013, the Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn beta went live, and I found myself playing with the same fervency. 2013 was also the year I came out as trans, so I put FFXIV back in the closet for a few years while I figured myself out. I didn't end up coming back until the Stormblood expansion.
One of my favorite things about FFXIV is how it brings the raiding experience down to the levels where your average player can participate casually and walk away having a good time with its Normal Mode raids. They give you a taste of Extreme/Savage difficulty while not needing to be as strict on execution and optimization.
Choose Your Instrument O' Warrior of Light
One of the difficult parts about getting new players in MMOs is convincing them that things aren't as complicated or as strict if you're just playing casually. But if you're a new player looking to learn the ropes, there are a bunch of scary concepts like your class Rotation, Specific Fight Mechanics, and Positioning that older players will expect you to be familiar with to a degree. I've come up with an analogy about how the fights work in FFXIV that I'd like to share here:
Final Fantasy XIV Fights Are Marching Band Routines. Your Class Rotation is You Playing Your Instrument.
I'll break it down:
1. Your Rotation Is Playing Your Instrument
In FFXIV, each class has a set of unique abilities that define their job. Learning how those abilities interact and combo with each other and other player's abilities, and learning the "correct" order to execute them in is called Doing Your Rotation. At higher levels of play (Extreme, Savage, Unreal and Ultimate difficulties), you begin executing your rotation in specific manners at specific times with other players in order to line up DPS buffs with your highest DPS skills (In FFXIV every player is expected to do dps, even healers).
This is no different than learning to play an instrument with other people in a band. The only difference being is that you only memorize one song. When you play in bands casually, it's okay if you're a little off time, or accidentally play a wrong note or mess up execution on a specific passage. When you start performing to larger audiences or even in competitions, execution and competence is expected to be much tighter.
It's the same in FFXIV. At normal content difficulties, you don't have to worry too much about performing in lock step with your party. As long as you're pressing buttons, learning from your mistakes and having a good time, all is good. Normal mode can usually survive a player trying to play their horn backwards so long as the other members are a bit more in sync with each other. However in higher difficulties, you are expected to be extremely familiar with your class mechanics and how they interact with other classes, and the timing of said abilities.
2. FFXIV raids and Dungeons are Marching Band Routines.
A core mechanic of FFXIV is responding to enemy attacks in specific ways. The game has a fairly unified system of communicating what you should do to any given situation. Orange markers on the floor mean "Get out of this area." A throbbing cross icon means "Gather together to soak damage" etc. New bosses introduce new mechanics but the general thesis is to move into specific positions when X happens.
A marching band routine is much the same. Throughout the performance, members are expected to move to specific positions on the field in order to form shapes. Skilled bands and routine authors can make these shapes move and flow into spectacular sights. In high school marching band, the shapes are generally pretty basic, and while your movement and play is being judged by the audience some flubs are expected. DCI Drum Corps however are competing for their very lives, and execution must remain perfect and exact in every performance.
In other words, normal mode raid fights are high school marching band, Extreme/Savage/Unreal/Ultimate is the DCI.
Putting it Together
I went ahead and recorded one of the new normal raids in this post (P7n spoilers if you haven't done it yet). I also set up a keyboard cam to show you what "playing your instrument" is like (I play keyboard only in fights, something I encourage you to try if you have any competence at 10key).
Overall I rate my performance in this fight a C+. I specifically screw up my rotation in several spots, and I get nailed by a couple mechanics. But I also didn't die once and finished the fight the first try. If this were a Savage fight, I would have wiped the party several times with my performance, but in normals I can relax and have a good time.
And so can you! If you've been on the fence about joining in for some FFXIV raiding, I hope you do so. If you skip them, you're missing some great stories, some cool fights, and overall a fun experience that might bring back some memories of your only time on a football field, moving in formation with the rest of your band.
