Master trials are a waste of dev time

[Castanica]

Also since they don't seem to get the point of cosmetics, much of the reason people want cosmetics is to show them off to other people. They act like designer labels irl.

A cosmetic that can only be seen during battle is losing the majority of the reason people want to own them, the blade should be visible all the time if you really want them to be desired. I can't believe they don't get that.

As an example, if the old VW bodies with the glow only glowed during battle most of the people who got them would not of done so. I grinded for nearly a year to get the 3 jeuno VW bodies when this content was relevent, and it was mainly just for the glow.

[Elexia]

Also since they don't seem to get the point of cosmetics, much of the reason people want cosmetics is to show them off to other people. They act like designer labels irl.

A cosmetic that can only be seen during battle is losing the majority of the reason people want to own them, the blade should be visible all the time if you really want them to be desired. I can't believe they don't get that.

As an example, if the old VW bodies with the glow only glowed during battle most of the people who got them would not of done so. I grinded for nearly a year to get the 3 jeuno VW bodies when this content was relevent, and it was mainly just for the glow.

I'm fairly sure most people got the VW stuff because the gear was, well..useful for most players doing it at the time.

[OmnysValefor]

I'm fairly sure most people got the VW stuff because the gear was, well..useful for most players doing it at the time.

Indeed. Never cared about glowing like half the people on the server. I got Heka's Kalisiris, Mekira Mekogai and Toci's Harness because they were amazing pieces.

[Selindrile]

Same, VW, to me, was about the gear, also /jelly, I never got Toci's though I wanted it very bad, though I got most of the bodies I wanted, to be fair, but I never cared at all whether they glowed or not.

[Eaglestrike]

Yeah, they need to fix the reward system. They should drop things liked cat's eyes, or super dense bayld cluster, etc. to warrant their difficulty. If they're going to make new content, they need to make it useful in some way, no one cares about reward-less content. If anything this master trial system is proving this.

[Olor]

Same, VW, to me, was about the gear, also /jelly, I never got Toci's though I wanted it very bad, though I got most of the bodies I wanted, to be fair, but I never cared at all whether they glowed or not.

I got them all but Hekas... which was the one I wanted most, of course

[Fae]

Look how much effort went into them and how few people did them. More effort went into these master trials than ambuscade, lets see how many do each one and compare.

You say you like them, did you even attempt them?

Actually yes Three attemtps and much theorycrafting and researching JP blogs for how to win and fun conversations and memories were had, it engaged me a lot. I think the fights are also well designed and fun even to go into and die. Since only the party leader needs the entry item also, the cost is not near what people think it is and it was just halved. I recommend anyone with some time to kill to farm up merits for 10-15 mins and buy one, then keep doing that and trade who buys the pop to enter. It's a fun diversion and while as I said before, RME mats as drops would be nice, after having multiple aeonics, and multiple mythics, and beaten tumult curator these trials are the only content in the game I haven't beaten. Others in both my ls's are wanting to beat these fights, but it's always pushed back for other goals b/c the rewards are lacking. I just like the aspect of it being there and making the game not feel so flat. It's really fun to do and it has been the source of many conversations and excitement at least with those I play with. The only other way to have ways to test our limits as players now is to try different setups, or redo stuff with less people. The intense ambuscades on VD and master trials are beyond aeonic t4 and the highest level unity NMs, the challenging content left. Someone said it appeals to 1%, I disagree, it is open to anyone with a master job to attempt which is much higher than 1%. Also, 95% of the game is already not challenging. I don't see why people want to take away what little content is being added on to the most challenging aspects of the game. People like things to use all their gil and items on, speaking for myself and several I play with. I think SE has done a great job lately of developing content for both starting, and endgame players as well as intermediate and hope the trend will continue.

[Zeldar]

I think super-difficult and exclusive content probably doesn't have a place in this game at this point. If the reward is very good weapons and/or gear then people are going to complain that they can't do it. If the reward is cosmetic or a title, people will complain that it's not worth doing. And that's not even getting into the mechanics of the fight itself, the job exclusivity of a 6-man fights, or the entry fee.

I don't think the devs can win, so they're probably better off spending their time developing content that a far wider range of players can partake in.

I agree with about 90% of this post. You hit the nail right on the head when you said, in short, people will complain either way. Thats what 90% of my posts are about that get criticism: this game caters to those who don't want that real challenge. As for me, I love the challenging content. I wouldn't mind getting a lightsaber. If there weren't other challenges for me to focus on at the moment, I'd be all over master trials. I'd also laugh when we wiped, and see the bright side every time we did just a little better. The feeling I'd get when we finally won would be worth more than any piece of great gear you could throw in as a reward. I do realize, however, that I seem to be in the minority on this. I have 2 young adult sons that would feel the same way as most of the other people: " I want something I can be great at without the grind or I'm not interested!" and "give me something better than everyone else has since I beat content that they can't." I'm not trying to criticize this way of thinking, I'm just saying that its not my way.

[Zeldar]

And hey Fae: your group sounds like the type I'd LOVE to be in a linkshell with. If I wasn't already in one like that I would be hopping servers!

[Camate]

Greetings, everyone.

We realize that the implementation of Master Trials has been a largely discussed topic both here and on other forums, and we’ve been passing along your feedback to the development team.

In order to facilitate better discussion around this topic (and also to get more feedback for the team), I wanted to start by sharing the overall concept of this content.

Master Trials were created as difficult end-game content for those players who have just about completed all other aspects of the game and are looking for challenging content to tackle. However, this is not pointing to only right now, this goes for the future as well. While many are busy at the moment putting the finishing touches on their Aeonic weapons or completing other outstanding in-game goals, once those are done, the team would like Master Trials to exist as challenging content that you can take on when you are ready. The team is very aware that only a small population of players have been undertaking the challenge, and they feel that once more players have geared up and enhanced their characters further that this content will be challenged more frequently. Thus, with each version update lately, they have been gradually implementing new Master Trials so that they will exist in the future for players to take on when they are prepared to do so.

In regard to the rewards that Master Trials offers, to better fit the overall concept, the team decided to go the cosmetic route instead of including weapons (or other items) that can be put into use in battle so that they do not become the sole goal of completing this content.

Hopefully this serves to get a better grasp of how the development team views Master Trials, so with that said, we’re looking forward to further feedback and comments about this content.