Seriously devs - the balance

[Greatguardian]

Why so defensive? I never called you out. I don't actually like calling people out by name. I have seen the things said that I was talking about. I've seen them stated outright and implied. Do they reflect your views? That's great that they don't. I never said that they did.

If you call out elite players, then you call me out. You can Karbuncle out. You call Byrthnoth out. This is the quintessential problem with sweeping generalizations. Honestly, I've been on both sides of this fence, and all I can say is it needs to stop.

I really don't have a list of names. I don't keep a score sheet of who says what, but I assure you I have seen these ideas in game and in forums. I can't prove it, so I know you won't believe it until you see it. Next time I see something I'll be sure to PM you or something.

This is important. It doesn't matter whether or not someone is elite or casual or Wopadobop. Individuals hold individual views. If someone is being a flaming retard, then it is that person alone who is a flaming retard. It does everyone else around them a disservice to credit their flaming retardedness to their peers.

So you've never seen generalizations about "n00bs' and "casuals" and people who want "easymode" and "everything handed to them?" You've never seen anyone state that points systems are bad and only random is good? You've never seen people upset that things are too easy or too plentiful or what have you?

Now I don't really pay much attention to who says these things, and I don't do any background checks on them. They may or may not actually be elite players, but they tend to put forth the idea that they are. I really don't know whether you are or not, nor does it really matter to me. I will tell you I am not one, and you can certainly check up on my lack of eliteness if you want.

I've seen them. Most of the time, they come from people that I (and most of BG) would consider noobs/gimps/retards. The FFXI middle class is their own worst enemy. Those who have actually held power and prestige for a long period of time have grown accustomed to it. We don't particularly mind if other people share the limelight, since we already have plenty of claim to fame ourselves.

Personally, I was one of the originators of the now-famous Cataclysm cleave on BG (which got compiled and reposted by various others on nearly every website around). I lead and organized one of the server-first sub-12 man Odins many years ago, and I have an extremely solid reputation on my server. What do I care if other people get better at the game? Good for them, I say.

On the other hand, you have a lot of casual players who were suddenly thrust into the limelight with Abyssea. Suddenly, they were able to be "Elite" (think nouveau riche), and tried to lord it over others as much as possible like a kid with a new holographic Charizard. You have people who were solidly left out of serious Endgame content prior to Abyssea, suddenly wanting things to go back to being hard after they've come out on top so that they have a chance to flaunt their epeens the way that other people did to them in the past. While they may have everything they want now, they have it because it's not exclusive any more, and they desperately want to have their cake and eat it too.

These retards are not elite. They just wish they were, and are able to convince a decent amount of people who don't know better that they are. Please don't attribute their hubris to the rest of us. They're a disgrace to the term "Elitist".

I'll do my best in the future to not be so general and document things better.

Please do. Generalizations only perpetuate this senseless "Class warfare" that always seems to go on in more casual-heavy forums. You don't see BG bashing on new players all the time. We're actually extremely new-friendly, and have massive threads dedicated to helping new/returning players adjust to the game as it is now. On the other hand, whenever I walk into Alla or many social/casual shells, all I see is leet-bashing. Elitists this, Elitists that. If I'm to believe half of the things people say about Elitists, then I'd have to be a botting douchenozzle who will hack your account for fun and post pictures of myself tossing your Empyreans in BG: Media.