Masamune11
02-03-2013, 12:06 PM
First off, I want to say that I am very excited about this new expansion. Like much of the FFXI population, I left the game a couple years ago when there was a lack of new expansions / content. I strongly believe that many people such as myself are waiting to return to the game upon the release of Seekers of Adoulin and that is obviously a good thing. I missed you guys!
I think we can admit that over the past few years there has been a lack of exciting content. There has been voidwatch grinds, legion grinds, revamps of old grind systems, magian weapon grinds, etc. Basically all of the content released over the past few years has been grind content to improve stats. The developer's solution for the lack of exciting content was to allow players to become more powerful than they ever could before (sometimes to a laughable extreme). Never before has there been a greater gap in stats between a casual player and a hardcore player. This greatly scares me.
My favorite memories from this game are working together to complete the COP and TOAU missions. Back when the level cap was 75 the difference between a hardcore player with the best gear and a casual player was minimal. This allowed the main storyline missions / battles of the game to be fun for everyone (difficulty was perfectly balanced). Now the hardcore players are immensely more powerful than the casual players. They have spent the better part of two years grinding away to obtain ridiculous stats and gear which the developers allowed to happen to keep a sense of appeal to the game.
My question to the developers is how are you going to balance the missions for the expansion? How will returning players be treated? If the difficulty caters to the hardcore, the casual players will have a substantial barrier to entry and likely won't purchase. If you cater to the casual, the expansion is no fun for the hardcore and likely won't be fun for the casuals either (hardcore players will inevitably join-up and wipe the floor with all of the bosses). Something needs to be done to resolve the stat gap.
Should grinding away for 3 months to obtain a relic be a prerequisite? As I mentioned before, the current FFXI subscribers have spent the better part of 2 years grinding away for improved stats. Such a "hardcore" investment can't be expected of every player. Additionally, most of these grinds that were implemented over the past couple of years have significant barriers of entry (require large groups). When they were initially released I'm sure they were casual friendly, but today almost nobody does them anymore. Imagine how few people will participate in these grind activities upon the release of the expansion?
One solution is for casuals to have the option to purchase cheap gear to "kind of" catch-up upon the release of the expansion. If you recall when Abyssea came out a level 75 melee could purchase a full set of Perle gear and be almost as powerful as a fully geared hardcore 75 melee. This solution obviously won't please hardcore players, but in terms of what is best for the game; I believe it's the best choice. I truly do feel for the hardcore players (probably most of the people reading this). But I ultimately feel that the expansion will benefit from having a sufficiently challenging storyline for all to experience.
I'll admit this is a plea from a casual player. Sadly, I feel like I'm personifying all of the negative stereotypes of a democrat (ha, redistribution of stats if you must). I am obviously biased. A valid answer to this problem is to simply leave the casuals in the dust and cater to the hardcore. That might be a valid and justified answer. Maybe the people who stuck with the game deserve to have content designed specifically for them. Bottom line, whether you're on board with my solution or not, the developer's answer to this question affects everybody. Will the difficulty of the missions be designed so that casuals can complete it? The answer to that question will have a huge impact.
I think we can admit that over the past few years there has been a lack of exciting content. There has been voidwatch grinds, legion grinds, revamps of old grind systems, magian weapon grinds, etc. Basically all of the content released over the past few years has been grind content to improve stats. The developer's solution for the lack of exciting content was to allow players to become more powerful than they ever could before (sometimes to a laughable extreme). Never before has there been a greater gap in stats between a casual player and a hardcore player. This greatly scares me.
My favorite memories from this game are working together to complete the COP and TOAU missions. Back when the level cap was 75 the difference between a hardcore player with the best gear and a casual player was minimal. This allowed the main storyline missions / battles of the game to be fun for everyone (difficulty was perfectly balanced). Now the hardcore players are immensely more powerful than the casual players. They have spent the better part of two years grinding away to obtain ridiculous stats and gear which the developers allowed to happen to keep a sense of appeal to the game.
My question to the developers is how are you going to balance the missions for the expansion? How will returning players be treated? If the difficulty caters to the hardcore, the casual players will have a substantial barrier to entry and likely won't purchase. If you cater to the casual, the expansion is no fun for the hardcore and likely won't be fun for the casuals either (hardcore players will inevitably join-up and wipe the floor with all of the bosses). Something needs to be done to resolve the stat gap.
Should grinding away for 3 months to obtain a relic be a prerequisite? As I mentioned before, the current FFXI subscribers have spent the better part of 2 years grinding away for improved stats. Such a "hardcore" investment can't be expected of every player. Additionally, most of these grinds that were implemented over the past couple of years have significant barriers of entry (require large groups). When they were initially released I'm sure they were casual friendly, but today almost nobody does them anymore. Imagine how few people will participate in these grind activities upon the release of the expansion?
One solution is for casuals to have the option to purchase cheap gear to "kind of" catch-up upon the release of the expansion. If you recall when Abyssea came out a level 75 melee could purchase a full set of Perle gear and be almost as powerful as a fully geared hardcore 75 melee. This solution obviously won't please hardcore players, but in terms of what is best for the game; I believe it's the best choice. I truly do feel for the hardcore players (probably most of the people reading this). But I ultimately feel that the expansion will benefit from having a sufficiently challenging storyline for all to experience.
I'll admit this is a plea from a casual player. Sadly, I feel like I'm personifying all of the negative stereotypes of a democrat (ha, redistribution of stats if you must). I am obviously biased. A valid answer to this problem is to simply leave the casuals in the dust and cater to the hardcore. That might be a valid and justified answer. Maybe the people who stuck with the game deserve to have content designed specifically for them. Bottom line, whether you're on board with my solution or not, the developer's answer to this question affects everybody. Will the difficulty of the missions be designed so that casuals can complete it? The answer to that question will have a huge impact.