Casual players leaving for frustration or hardcore players leaving from boredom.

[Lurkios]

You can't separate the player base into the extremes "casual" and "hard core", most of the player base falls somewhere between the two. While many of the things suggested do seem pretty interesting and certainly aren't something I'd argue against (like open world mobs, though I'm not sure how they differ from fate bosses) - I happen to love the game just as it is. It's enough to provide me a challenge, variety and a goal - but not so much that I'm left behind because I work a full-time job.

I know some folks would probably prefer you be able to play with a beer in one hand (switch to Bard, you can!) and others that the game provide you 16 hours a day of content with no hint of "end-game" in sight. For my purposes, it's perfect as is.

[ValorSekari]

Casual Fantasy

[Klarick]

Who said the player base is leaving? I have noticed just the opposite. I have been playing MMOs ever since EQ, and I was a bit surprised of the amount of content in this game.

Tons to do, and End Game is fun.

[Felis]

For that the game is a monday game I still see a lot players on the other days.

[Zell]

For that the game is a monday game I still see a lot players on the other days.

Good point. Our coil static is Tuesdays and Saturdays because none of us can make it on Mondays.
When I use party finder on other days, I see Coil groups every day of the week. I see Primal Extreme groups every day of the week.
Understandably, a lot of people finish it on mondays but the game is lively every day of the week.

[Nadrojj]

OP, what about people who just play the game for fun? Personally, I don't care how difficult the game is. I'm not playing an MMO for bragging rights. I only care if they've found a way to make it fun. FFXIV is about as easy as a major MMO can get, but its also a great amount of fun. So if you want pure difficulty, you could go play one of those awful Korean MMOs. You know, the ones where it takes 8 months to get to max level and you need the best gear in the game to do the easiest content in the game? Those aren't very fun though.

tldr: Quality > Difficulty

^ This opinion is the reason why we have the ff14 we have. Catering to people who play the game for fun, not bragging rights. While there's nothing wrong with that it seems that SE/Yoshi are scared to add content that hardcore players want because casuals will say it's too hard and leave. The are better off taking the casual easy route and making more money by retaining more casuals than adding hardcore content and losing casuals when they get fed up because they can't beat said content.

[Zell]

^ This opinion is the reason why we have the ff14 we have. Catering to people who play the game for fun, not bragging rights. While there's nothing wrong with that it seems that SE/Yoshi are scared to add content that hardcore players want because casuals will say it's too hard and leave. The are better off taking the casual easy route and making more money by retaining more casuals than adding hardcore content and losing casuals when they get fed up because they can't beat said content.

I think the content is hard but maybe i just suck. Took me 40 tries to beat Titan Extreme. Took me 20 tries to beat Garuda extreme. Took me 5 tries (as tank) to beat Ifrit Extreme. Took us 3 weeks on Turn 4. It's been 3 weeks on Twintania and furthest we've gotten is Snakes. This seems to be pretty challanging... but again, maybe we just arn't that good. Or maybe we're worse than the average player.

[Synapse]

Hardcore jump game to game because no content is hard enough for them and content doesn't come out quick enough.

The thing about hardcore is(im not hardcore anymore), they build the game's play style, things likes post Tips on youtube or a damage formula, or better dps strategy... who takes in these things? other players who are not hardcore.

The Hardcore are needed in the game to pave path for others(remember whn i say hardcore, i meant the good hardcore that put time to break down a game's physics, not the elitist e-peeners with "omg my dpz is roxrz cauz ma gheer"). The developers need to feed these hardcore for them to keep them playing the game.

The game will break apart after that small group of players leave... Imagine player quality you would find in the DF as the norm everywhere.

TDLR: Tho not the majority, SE need to feed the hardcore to keep the game alive.

[Vanguard319]

I'm agreeing with you; I feel SE fears that if content takes too much effort to complete that the casuals, who by nature will jump to a new MMO in 6 months regardlessly, that they will quit. The players with actual potential to keep the game alive and thriving, I.e. "Hardcore" players, get ignored and eventually leave because of boredom with the game, be it lack of depth/difficulty/content.

Realistically, has anyone ever created a game that is universally appealing to all demographics? There will always be people who leave for one reason or another.

[Nero]

I think the content is hard but maybe i just suck. Took me 40 tries to beat Titan Extreme. Took me 20 tries to beat Garuda extreme. Took me 5 tries (as tank) to beat Ifrit Extreme. Took us 3 weeks on Turn 4. It's been 3 weeks on Twintania and furthest we've gotten is Snakes. This seems to be pretty challanging... but again, maybe we just arn't that good. Or maybe we're worse than the average player.

No worries.. the majority has not beaten T5, a lot of people did not even enter Coil yet at all. There is no rating which would say "hey, you are an average player". As long as you enjoy playing with your mates and enjoy the content, that makes you a "better" player then the usual elitist prick. But that's just how i see it, other people probably have an different opinion.

TDLR: Tho not the majority, SE need to feed the hardcore to keep the game alive.

That is straight bullshit. Neither the Hardcore or the Casuals are the ones keeping the Game alive. Those who are pay the Game monthly are the ones who keep the Game alive and those can be from both groups, or none of them and just be an "average", which is probably the biggest part of the community. And also.. dps calculations are not exclusive made by "hardcore" players, they are made by people into those kind of Stuff. I know a couple of them and they are not really hardcore, they just like math lol.