Uhh I’m new to FFXIV. Is it common for players to follow you around 24/7?? I’m playing and fighting some animals and this person has followed me nonstop. Like WILL NOT LEAVE MY SIDE… I literally thought it was an npc because they keep finding me even when I try to run away and they friend requested me 😭 Is this normal??
Edit: they left, finally… 😅
I had some people I ran in to regularly because we were at the same place in the story and apparently were playing at the same pace, but following?? No, that’s weird
I had that with a Haurchefant's cosplayer during Endwalker. Every cutscene ended with additional emotional damage :D
Don’t accept the friend request if you haven’t, it will show your location and even if you remove them from your friends list you will still be on theirs.
This and if they use mod, they can even pinpoint your location.
Im so pissed about this mod because back in 2.0 i would host "hide and seek" with my large FC within some cool hiding spots across eorzea.
A few expansions later, I wanted to do the same thing but within the newer areas. I was told about this mod existing during this time and it made me upset.
Was such a fun game because it allowed players to actually pay attention to the small details within an area.
My FC still does this, the owners a streamer and shows a snippet of where he is and you have to try and find him when he first starts streaming. You could cheat and we all know this, but it's just a bit of fun and the only person youd be cheating is yourself.
See if you can bring it back with this in mind!
I definitely miss it! I would love to bring it back but the FC is no longer as active. The active players went to other FCs and there's new leadership. Ive been FCless since then.
So because the mod exists your FC would use it to cheat in a fun friendly game? Mods aren't required, you have to choose to do it, it seems really easy to be able to play hide and seek and just not use the mod. So if you can't, that's more on your FC choosing mods and not on them existing.
That being said, being able to find players that way is not acceptable and should be changed, the mod could not work.
No, it was just brought to my attention when I wanted to do the event. When I discovered the mod, the event was inane and so I never scheduled another one. It would have been unfair for some players and completely ruin the fun out of it if I did make another event.
The rewards would usually be minions or gil so im glad one of my FC members told me about the mod before I continued the event.
No mod existed back in 2.0, at least to my knowledge, so it was fun.
But if they're in your FC can't you just make it an FC rule that nobody can use the mod? I don't understand just make that necessary for them to participate in the fun event?
Or do you just not trust them to say they won't use it and then you think they will use it anyway? if so that's kind of crappy on the FC.
But my FC is real life friends so if we decided to do something like this I could trust them to not cheat without it being an issue.
The FC no longer exists as no one has logged on since.
However, if I was to create the event and have the rule, "dont use mods" It would be safe to assume that would be a turn off to some players because someone will either use it to their advantage or players will just not participate.
Players would most likely become suspicious of the first player discovering the hiding player within minutes of a large area.
Edit: i do not have the luxury of having real life friends play the game sadly. An FC of 400, surely there's someone who would abuse it.
Like I said my FC is a different situation we're all friends for 20+ years, we're usually on voice chat running around with each other, there's only like eight of us, so no one would be getting suspicious or accusing each other of anything. We're adults in our 40s, we are just here to have fun and it sounds like what you were doing would have genuinely been fun.
I'm sorry you weren't able to continue doing it for whatever the reason was.
Man, that would be pure fun to have a group of friends to play with on XIV. I use to host the same game back in FFXI when I played that religiously. I may have continued the trend if my XI friends still played.
Most of the current group played XI together, it's been fun. We took some time off for a few years but got back into it during the pandemic and have just kept it up.
Okay but just one question about that: was there a prize or something?
Because if there isn't, I think people are more likely to play for fun rather than to win and you might avoid some idiots using mods.
Back in 2.0 there was gil and minions as rewards. When I was first told about the mod, I never created the event ever again. I suppose I could have still done the event with no reward, but I dont think nearly as many people would participate.
You could try. Especially in a big FC.
It might help some people become brave enough to actually chat and build community.
If I was a member, I'd tag along even if I got nothing because it would give me a chance to chat to others without feeling like I'm butting into any conversation or disturbing an established community. Does that make sense?
It might allow more shy members to actually chat and feel more like a part of it.
I used to make people mad in my fc by hiding out of bounds…
Thanks for the memories! I use to do the same thing but only after I was legally hiding and found. There was a spot we use to do in Eastern La Noscea and Mor Dhona. There were a few others but I cant recall the location.
We used to do something similar, but we took screenshots of us in different locations doing different emotes. The people participating had to "copy" the screenshot as close as they could. They needed to say where (x: y: and what map) they were and which emote they used. That way they couldn't really cheat, and it meant our event could go on for a few days, so people could do it if and when they had time.
They can do that without adding you to friends list, now.
Wait, really? Holy mother crystal...
If theyre a similar level they may legitimately be doing the msq at the same pace as you and figured they could be friends.
If theyre a higher level sometimes veteran players go "sprout warching" and like to observe the new players progress
Can't say I've ever seen someone stalk a new player to "sprout watch". Sounds weird.
I do this occasionally, but only to people I know. I poke them when they are in cutscenes and then go hide and they get very confused.
I do not do this to strangers.
Stalking friends as they progress is the traditional hazing ritual. But agreed - not ok to do to strangers.
Yeah I do it completely unprompted too. I get them to spill context clues on where they are in the story and just show up.
I am the hide and seek guru in my FC. If I am given a lead I can probably find you.
Not ok to do to strangers...in a video game?
Doing it to strangers? Maybe a little odd, but its still okay to do. Their pixels aren't going to hurt you
I like to figure out where to stand so that I can pretend to be one of the Scions/NPCs after the cutscene is over. Or I'll dress up as a quest NPC and get there ahead of time and stand next to them like we're twins.
Very big differentiating factor, yes. Just goofing around with friends is alright, unless they tell you not to.
But with strangers it is creepy.
I sometimes sprout watch, but usually from the air, mainly if said sprout I had to revive, just to check that they aren’t running into problems again.
I know sometimes veterans would go try to give sprouts minions or things like that but I don't think you can trade with free accounts but there's no way to know who's a free account until you try to trade with them and can't.
I do this. But from a distance. I'll fly way above them or be somewhere they won't notice so I don't bother them.
I will regularly see sprouts, follow them for a min, blind trade them, and gift them 1-5mil Gil to get them started. If anyone is rude to me and standoffish like this , clearly they don’t get the Gil. I’ve given out about 34 million Gil on Excalibur since I’ve returned.
I remember how hard and daunting it was to get into this game. I just completed the “I made this look Good” achievement last night with 669 days, 11 hours, 11 minutes. I haven’t had one sprout I’ve been nice to in the last 2 months since I’ve come back ever say it was rude or weird.
Clearly, I leave it at that and if they wish to send a friend request, I usually oblige. I was cleaning up old achievements and happened upon someone about to die in South Shroud. I saved their life, traded, then kept moving zones. About 3 hours later I randomly saw the same person in the wild again.
Not everyone is weird. Some people do enjoy helping.
an ex friend of mine did this once, just for fun. she's the type to intentionally try to annoy other people though, so.
she definitely annoyed them and she did eventually leave, but it wasn't necessarily with the full intent of stalking. i guess it was just more like, "ooh, i wonder how this sprout will react if i help them kill mobs nearby? and just linger around while they sit in this cutscene? LOL they're calling me weird! i'm going to stay anyway LOL"
i am no longer friends with her, as a reminder. like i said, ex friend.
I mean this with all respect but this seems harmless. Not talking about the other behaviors she had just this specifically.
It’s an MMO, you’re going to have interactions with people. And it’s not like you’re ACTUALLY stalking the person or being creepy to them.
Just sounds like a non issue.
Yes exactly, this is an open world mmo, you have no reasonable expectation of privacy and if you get bullied it's because you've made it fun for people to bully you.
Used to do it to smaller streamers after being in their chats for a little. Sprouts doing msq talking to the few chatters they have and boom they see something in the corner of the screen in the distance. They get confused and investigate. And bam it's me. Then I run away and do it again later. They found it a fun game of where's Waldo so I kept doing it.
i've gone over to help sprouts kill a mob in the overworld once or twice, but never like... follow them around without permission. i only explicitly follow someone like that if they ask me to do so, i.e "can you help me get through this area because it's too high level for me?" or flying them around or something.
i remember back in the day there was that one area on the cliff (limsa i think, but there's one in thanalan too i think? or maybe the shroud... with criminal lalafell) in early msq that you could get absolutely nuked on because it was so easy to aggro every mob on it no matter how careful you were, so i'd help sprouts over there a lot. it's been reworked since, but that's the kind of thing i mean.
this? unless they're the same level and it's just a coincidence, it's just... weird.
That's so creepy though tf
Sprout watching is best done from a stationary location, instead of following people. Preferably a location with enemies who will 1-shot them unexpectedly. Then you can swoop in and rez them and have a good nostalgic chuckle at the same time.
There's actually this spot by Little Ala Mhigo where you need to go for the paladin quests where I found a guy struggling with the bandits roaming around because for some reason they're WAY stronger than anything else in the area and they never go away. Most people tend to walk around them but that guy was stuck so I helped him out and since then I sometimes go back and watch the bandits to see if they've caught anyone else lol
Outside Copperbell Mines is my favorite place to idle while waiting for a pf to fill or dps queue to pop. Every now and then a bomb will get someone.
They are/used to be part of a quest where you had to sneak up on them and use an item that would lower their health and damage, then kill them normally.
That happened to me when I was still a sprout! Mobs kept attacking me and my poor little white mage really struggled to stay alive. Suddenly two max level players appeared, one wrote in the shout chat "the cavalry is here!", they healed me and killed the mobs. Then they told me to have fun and disappeared again before I could really thank them.
Yeah, following people around is kinda weird, but if a sprout is on your screen, I think it's fine to keep an eye on them just in case they need a rez or something. Especially in certain areas (those massive morbols in the Shroud)
I think the only possibility to run into open world mobs that pose a serious threat are hunt mobs nowadays.
The Eastern Thanalan A Rank Likes to Spawn on top of lowbie MSQ locations.
Also the East La Noscea A rank sometimes spawns at opening of that one wooden bridge haha
The only time I have ever watched a sprout was if they were a friend/friend of a friend or if I noticed they were struggling against an enemy and were very likely to die lol. I will either heal them or stand by to rez them bc sprouts aren't as likely to go into /shout and slap down coordinates to ask for a rez.
Edit: a word
I've never heard of a random veteran player just stalking people like it was normal. It's one thing to go with a new friend, but a total stranger is really bizarre and not normal. The only time I've seen anyone do anything like this is for a streamer, but many of them actively like having the company.
Sometimes if I happen across low-level sprouts in dangerous areas, I'll watch for a little bit and jump in to help if they get overwhelmed, but I definitely don't stalk them.
I had this happen to me and I'm not a sprout. I was just doing fates in one of the DT areas and farming out gemstones, and this one person started following me, not even doing the fates, just watching me. They were moving out of AoEs but I found it super weird and creepy. Really didn't like it.
This community is so weird sometimes lol like just let people play in peace
Ive been playing since before HW came out, and this....is not a thing. The most Ive heard of is sticking around a sprout to heal or help if you notice them having issues but no, very few i any veterans stalk sprouts to watch them i they are not their friend they dragged into the game
I do sprout watching. But only with my friends, because I like to tease them. What OP went through is literally stalking.
I really don't understand what's so weird to everyone here about following sprouts. Why do their minds go somewhere else other than simply trying to help or kill time? Not everyone in 14 is a hopeless creep.
I like helping new players, helping them feel less alone in a game that forces you to do almost everything on your own for countless hours.
There's no god damn ulterior motive in why I try to help new players like why the actual fuck would I have any other reason than to just be nice?
This is one of my biggest concerns with MMOs nowadays. Everyone wants to play it like a single player game and if you try to be friendly you're seen as a creep. We're all strangers, we've always been and always will be, it's a videogame.
Do you actually tell them that's what you're doing, though? I think some might appreciate it, but being silent makes it a bit creepy. It does go both ways - if you wanna help someone, say hello and say so.
And as someone who HAS had people follow me around and stalk me in-game, for more nefarious reasons? I think it's not too unreasonable that some people are uncomfortable at the thought of it, not that they're being avoidant and don't want to play with people.
Of course not silent LOL. Who does that.
I always say hi and ask if they're new or if they need help with anything. Just staring at people sounds weird.
Is what I figured from how helpful you seemed, but you never know! Felt like OP was having someone who wasn't talking. :(
Yeah, I'm so bored sometimes I just go to the earlier maps and ask if someone's new and more often then not we end up speeding up the MSQ or I get them to the Gold Saucer.
Not talking would be strange.
I've met players who only communicate via emotes, actually, some can be really funny. I have a friend in game that simply does not speak at all, sometimes wonder how do they manage to get into groups without having the host right in front of them, lol.
Lol that's actually so funny. Sprout watching.
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That's probably their Free Company (Guild).
I have never had someone follow me, or really followed anyone, that I didn't already know. There have been occassions where someone is clearly doing the same quest as me and have ran into them multiple times, which I guess can feel like being followed but I don't send them friend requests unless we have interacted lol.
I have gone up to random people and emoted or sent a tell that I liked their outfit/minion/mount. I will back off immediately if they don't respond though since there are some people who don't like random interactions with strangers in the game the way I do lol. My friend is one of them. She will watch me fake propose with the /bouquet emote to someone in Limsa who /pet and /dote me but she will do it from behind the Aetheryte where nobody will know she is friends with the Elezen woman fake proposing to Bunny girls in the middle of Limsa.
No.
Maybe someone thinks they're being funny or helpful but no that is not normal behavior
You can right click their character and choose Blacklist.
Huh, in all my years in FFXIV I've only noticed people following me after I hooked my keyboard (MIDI keyboard, not PC keyboard) up and mapped it to the Bard music controls and spent some time jamming some tunes.
Usually Moonlight Sonata, as that is one of the few songs I can play pretty well, even while distracted.
I've never had anyone follow me after I've just been running around doing normal things. That does seem odd and a little creepy.
I’m super intrigued by this. I have a midi keyboard but on PS5. Still, how does this work exactly?
I play in Linux (gentoo) and use a mod and a utility that maps the midi keyboard to keyboard keys.
it's awkward and janky and i have to play a lot more mechanically (no chords) and sometimes slower if it lags a little, but it's still pretty nifty i get to do it at all
i meant to look for a better mod or way to make it work more smoothly but to be honest i havent played in months.
When I last did this I had issues with playing chords and had to basically do them all as arpeggios. Is that a resolvable problem now?
No :( i had the same issue. I meant to try and look for or maybe even make a workaround but i havent played in a while and never really got around to it.
do they have a sprout next to their name? or no symbol? or a crown?
if they have no symbol or a crown, then that means they're an endgame player and were definitely following you.
if they had a sprout symbol, there's a possibility they were doing MSQ and were at the same part you were at. that's not guaranteed, though, since you can keep your sprout all the way up until the end of the base MSQ of the current expansion if my memory serves correctly. if you don't lose it by the end of that, then you definitely lose it going into the current expansion.
either way, to answer your actual question:
no, it is not normal for people to actively follow other players around silently. the only reason someone would be doing this is if they were doing the same quests as you. if not, i suggest you try to recollect their player name and search them via player search in-game, and add them to their blacklist. stalking, even silently, is a form of harassment.
What the hell 😭 obviously the other commenters have this covered, but I wanted to get my bewilderment on record LOL
Uhhhhh no. That is absolutely not normal at all. Even the few people who helped me out during my sprout days didn’t pull that. Don’t respond to any of their messages and block them. If you want to, take notes and screenshots on how long the followed you, what times and where. You can report them to the GMs for harassment.
Definitely not normal. If you feel comfortable confronting them, that’s always an option. Be polite and ask them to leave you alone. As others have mentioned, you can blacklist them. That will make it so that you can’t see them and they can’t see you. You could also report them to a GM. They may not technically be doing anything wrong, but if they’re making you uncomfortable then a GM might get involved. They might also tell you to blacklist them and move on. My guess is that you’re not the first person this individual has harassed in this way, and you probably won’t be the last. Reporting the behavior can help the GMs establish a pattern of problematic behavior.
I'm pretty sure they can still see you even if you blacklist them?
Yep, that's correct! They can still stalk and stand on top of you, etc. But at least you won't see or hear from them ever again. I really wish it worked both ways though.
Unless you get put in the same duty finder as them, then you have to see them. (:
Stalking is a thing in this game, yes, but it is usually rare. Well, on most servers.
there was a guy following me and my bf around just like that for a long while, and it turned out it was because my boyfriend was playing a male elezen, just like the other guy. he said it was like "finding a shiny pokemon" so he just... kept stalking us. my bf found it kinda funny and so did I at first but eventually it just felt weird to constantly have someone watching us do our MSQ. thankfully eventually he went offline and since then my bf also uses a different character because he wanted to try out a different race/job
Edit: I’ve been standing here afk for 5+ mins and they have just been standing next to me…
I wonder if they are a bot that somehow started following you.
Yeahhh that is definitely not normal. Like everyone else has said, blacklist them cause that’s just stalking at this point 😕
Another person already mentioned blacklisting them. You can make it so you and this rando can't see each other anymore even if you're standing in the same area.
Clarification: Rando in question can still see OP unfortunately but they cant do anything to them anymore. nor can OP see them. All contact is blocked with a blacklist.
Yeah no thats weird, the playerbase is generally friendlier than other mmos what with giving gifts or complimenting outfits but thaaaaats just bad. Only conceivable reasonable explanation I can think of is you have a funny name, but even then that doesn't justify basically stalking you
Game was a lot friendlier pre shadowbringers:(
That is not normal behaviour, no. I'd ask them why if you're comfortable engaging with that person, but if not you can Blacklist them and they will no longer appear for your game client.
Doubt this is that and I certainly don’t stay with them long but I sometimes if I see a sprout just killing monsters I may go heal or give support for a while so they can hit higher level ones.
I still a sprout but Im almost not a sprout now and if I see what looks like a new sprout fighting stuff or struggling in a fight, I will about half the time go and help.
Especially if they seem to have getting themselves into a FATE or are getting mobbed.
I’ll always let them get the first hit though so they get the credit for killing it. Especially in starting zones. I’ve ran through ul’dah a bunch and seen new sprouts struggling with the first few monsters you have to kill and have helped them out.
If they tell me to stop or seemingly run off though I leave them be and I certainly don’t follow them around.
Sounds like this person maybe was looking for a friend.
Try chatting to them in /say and see if ya all get along.
Mate, it’s only normal if the follower is your buddy you’re playing with. Otherwise, that’s sus.
If I see a sprout in the wild, fighting something, I’ll hover for a moment to see if they need help. And I’ll toss a heal or tank for them.
If they are doing a gather or crafting quest and I have the mats they will need next, I’ll offer.
But I won’t following them around. No.
If you feel comfortable, tell them to leave you alone.
Regardless, blacklist and report to a GM through the Support Desk about Harassment.
It CAN happen, probably someone who wants to afk and let you pull them around to story missions or monsters to fight. I've had it happen in the early days, but when mounts became more prevalent and flying, I haven't had anyone follow me in a while.
The community here is great, helpful and the like. People will stop and heal you or help with random mobs in the open world. But... Theres also a lot of creeps, especially if your character is female, and god forbid if by any means they find out you are a girl irl. I had FC friends tell me horror stories about their experiences...
Rule of thumb is... Never accept random friend requests from people you haven't interacted with, and if some rando is following you around for no reason, block them and report them.
Stay safe out there!
If you’re new it’s possible they are new too. It’s easier to fight things with multiple people so they’re probably just taking advantage of someone in the same zone.
You could always ask them what they are doing, maybe that would scare them away.
The reality is this game is filled with some of the weirdest people you'll ever meet
There’s a ‘follow’ action. I bet they did it to annoy you or helicopter you
It is possible, if they were a newbie messing with their targetting settings that they are accidentaly stuck following you, and didn't know how to unset it....*cough* Not that I've ever done anything like that, once upon a time. *cough*
Did you try talking to them? People in this game tend to be quite friendly, sounds like they just want to help out. Some of the comments here sound like paranoid nextdoor users.
I feel like a lot of these commenters are people who have had personal bad experiences—and that is fair.
But I also feel like without seeing the context in game that the OP is having, the best way is just to chat to them in /say
Or say like “thanks for the help but I’d rather do these ones on my own”
They escalate if it doesn’t stop.
This could just be someone who is trying to make friends in game.
No. This isn’t normal
I sometimes do this to new players at zone pain points in mmos so they don’t die to mobs
But there’s zero places where anyone would need it in ff
Did you ask why they are following you?
No it creepy
sometimes if I see a new player I might try to trade them some money to help out, or ask if they want help with a quest/travel because I have flying mounts they can hop in the backseat of. But if they don't wanna talk I'll leave them be and let them play their game
No, this is definitely NOT normal. If I'm on a map doing something, and I see a Sprout struggling, I'll usually do a quick helping hand of some kind. IG: They're doing a FATE and need healing, I'll stand to the side and throw a Regen on them (and their Chocobo if they have it out) repeatedly until they complete it, or if they're being chased by a swarm of mobs I'll cast an Assize and nuke the whole group. I've never just randomly followed someone I didn't already know around the map, though. That's just creeper behavior.
If you blacklist them, you won't see them anymore.
I only really experienced it once and I wasn’t that new of a player but i was levelling a lower level class in Gridania somewhere and yeah the person kept trying to follow me to “help”, it was very odd for sure.
Maybe they wanted to be friends?
I’ve been playing FFXIV for 12 years. I’ve never seen anything like that. >_>
Sometimes another player may follow to help if they see you’re trying to do FATES or something that’d be easier with a partner on the overworld. Never seen a stalker though. Not normal.
They can search your player name to find the general zone you’re at (in which case adding them to your blacklist would help). If they’re getting to you instantly then yes it’s true that there are mods to help pinpoint your location easier but I’ve never seen that used for stalking because mods are highly against TOS in XIV. If they make it THAT obvious, they could be reported and banned.
First off, no that isnt normal sounding behavior. This sounds like some creep - and I gotta admit, why do I feel like I'm seeing more and more posts about these weirdos recently?
Also, in reading the comments, y'all got way too much free time if you're just watching sprouts. Let the newbies figure things out in their own way and if they want a companion, I'm sure they'll ask for it.
I had a similar experience while I was running ARR msq once, they kept following me around and giving me tips and reminding me to get better gear. But I was level 40something and not close to the next dungeon yet so was too lazy to bother with it. I left the area for a while to work on gathering quests and then they were gone.
Its definitely not uncommon but if its weird to you thats a pretty reasonable reaction, some people are just a tad too friendly at times but usually some folk /get the hint/ you want to be left to your own devices Nothing a quick ‘log out’ and log back in one minute later cant maybe resolve
For that long and if you tried to be on your own, it's kind of weird.
Like, sometimes if I'm bored I'd hang around sprouts and sort of cheer them up or help them for a bit but then just leave them do their thing unless they talk to me or ask me something.
Personally, when I started playing I was bummed that there's little to no interaction with others in the open areas. A greeting and bit of help is nice, though that looks like they were being a little creepy.
Unless you find someone to be genuinely nice, friendly or you really think you want them as friends, decline the invites. You can always just add them later if you change your mind, but with how the friend list works it's best to be reserved and not accept every random person that shows up.
I try to help new players when bored; at least in fate areas and stuff but that’s it
Woahh I dont think so. Never heard of this happening before. Super creepy
As a lalafell, I had this all the time when I first started. Even now in Stormblood I still have the occasional Hrothgar or Roegadyn following and watching me do msq stuff for apparently fun.
What do you mean by 24/7? I know you're being hyperbolic, so does that mean this happened over the course of a day or every time you logged back on they were there?
Why don’t you just talk to them and ask? There is endless speculation here for something the person could have answered.
Lucky I wish someone would stalk me
depends on the context. It's possible you're both doing the same quest or whatever you were fighting is their quest. If you were getting low and they were a healer, they were probably following you to make sure you didn't die (i've seen this happen before). It's impossible to make a solid assumption without further details.
Sometimes I’ll follow brand new low level sprouts and heal them if I’m in one of the starting areas waiting for a timer or duty finder or something.
don't let one person turn you away from the game the community is good. I'm in the Primal data center behemoth that's not normal
There are definitely players in this game who have some serious need to be "helpful", to the point where they completely lose any and all sight of this foreign concept called "being considerate of others".
I used to have it happen a lot on one specific world where players were constantly "helping" me with quest enemies. But at a certain point the quest enemies are just really weak and most only take a few seconds anyway, so when someone decides to "help" and attack it, it dies so fast that you basically don't do anything and its very not fun. Like, just let me play the game. And goodness forbid I ask people to leave me alone and let me play the game. I've gotten so much attitude about how they "just want to be nice". News flash: "Nice people" are considerate of others and don't get huffy in response to a reasonable request.
And before people start bringing this up, because people always bring this up. No. This is not a case of "accidentally" hitting my enemy with an aoe while also fighting their own enemy. I once had a player zoom past me on a mount, turn around, and come back just to hit my enemy. People do this on purpose. If it's new content and someone is doing the quest at the same time as me, I wait for others to finish their own enemies and leave before spawning my enemies, and They. Still. Come. Back. The MSQ stuff is designed to be single player and its really no fun at all to go all the way to a specific spot for a quest, spawn an enemy, and then bam its dead in 4 seconds because someone decided you needed their "help".
Yes, its a multilayer game, but you gotta respect other people. It sounds like the person you ran into didn't understand respect. Its not normal and its not ok. If it happens again, you can ask them to leave you alone, and report them if they don't.
And before anyone gets on my case about this too... yes, I help sprouts when I come across ones that are struggling. I don't "sprout watch" or follow anyone around, but if I happen to see a sprout and see that they've got more enemies on them than they can handle, I'll give them a hand.
It's possible (as others said) that they were simply on the same quests as you for a time. The friend request though, that's a bit odd, especially with no other contact/communication or anything. There's a lot of ways to express "I want to help" and "would you like some company" without even using chat.
For the folks mentioning "sprout watch" - USUALLY those folks stay in one area, or patrol between FATE spawn points in a zone, to give a hand to the lower level or inexperienced players. I remember doing it myself a couple times in a Heavensward zone - MSQ forces you into a fairly gnarly situation (the building with lots of blue-hand gobbies). So I hung out on the roof, and if someone was struggling I'd drop in and lend a hand - or give a rez if needed. Following a single sprout around without their consent isn't the same.
Sorry to break it to you, the stalkers and stalking in this game is one of the worst. Still a very great game so I hope you enjoy! They legitimately might’ve wanted to make a friend but they could’ve said something lol but good thing you didn’t add them if they weirded you out.
I've followed sprouts around for hours on sage just dripping shields on them while they run around killing lv 1-10 mobs for questlines
Is this a real post?
If it really makes you feel uncomfortable you can tell them to go away but they are probably just watching you for fun. Not normal but also not harmful. I’d only call it actually bad if they were killing everything you need to kill before you get the chance to fulfill an objective or harassing you
And if you die they will most likely res you.
Maybe not directly harmful but weird and creepy AF. Don't excuse this behaviour...
I can't think of anyone who wouldn't feel uncomfortable being silently followed and just... Watched.
OP, as suggested, ask them why if you're comfortable doing so, if not, blacklist and report.
Report for what?
Watching people for fun is creepy as hell and not normal. It's definitely harmful, I'd instantly blacklist.
Did you name yourself something specific or are wearing something specific?
Also mind you, sometimes people also follow players when they’re testing if it’s a bot.
Not defending the behavior at all and understand that feeling it’s happened to me, but I also use a name and transmog that fits the character, so I get it often no matter what level I am at the time.
Step 1: switch to DoL Step 2: run in to assist the sprouts ^
No that's creepy.
Report and blacklist.
I have followed sprouts Bec I wanted to give them swag. Did the person try to trade with you? What you describe doesn't sound normal. But I have followed a sprout for like, idk a quest or two because he wouldn't let me trade. I was trying to give him a minion!
If the trade is canceled right away, and not them just moving too far, then they are free trial and won't be able to accept a trade.
You get a notification right away that someone can't trade if they're in the free trial. In my case, the person did a accept the after a few minutes of trying.
Bro just play the game. Im so sick of seeing these posts