Difficulty of normal content.

I think the difficulty is fine. I cleared the new raid tier an hour after launch, in Duty Finder, with only a few issues on M4. This game has been getting way too simple and dumbed down lately. It's time people have to actually learn how to play their jobs and do mechanics.

I think a lot of these threads like this one could easily be solved if we had a poll system on the forums.

So if you disagree and think the difficulty of normal content is fine then hit a like on this post.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by caffe_macchiato

There are 487 posts in this thread, and only 18 of them (3.7%) belong to the OP. Nearly every other post (most from new accounts) is either criticizing the OP or saying that content should be even harder. There is a resounding new consensus for FFXIV.

You all need to be prepared for what happens next. Because the next people you argue with in the FFXIV community won't be OP, it'll be among the rest of you. And you will continue to push people out until the "inner circle" gets smaller and smaller. The raid mechanics are not nearly as difficult as you all claim they are, and yet you're using someone else's wipe to boost your own egos. This is a very troubling development for the FFXIV community.

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Losing those people is, genuinely, actually fine. If they won't learn for themselves, they dang well won't learn for others and very definitely won't respect the time being put in by other party members, and I'm more than happy to lose those players. I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks this way, and OP has already shown that they're willing to contemplate obstructing 7 other players' experience just so they don't have to learn for once in their life. There's a line between being casual and being a toxic casual. Casuals will step up to the challenge because it's fun to try and learn, toxic casuals are the ones whining perpetually about apparent difficulty and should by all means be weeded out. It's not like they don't retry in other games when they fail or get stuck, so why stop here?

EDIT: No. The raid mechanics aren't truly that hard, like you said. Which makes it all the more sad to see people whine about it and want SE to give us another expansion of uninspired content.

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Originally Posted by VanillaWafer

No.

/10characterlimit

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wat

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Originally Posted by Masekase_Hurricane

I think a lot of these threads like this one could easily be solved if we had a poll system on the forums.

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Oh, it would be absolutely and overwhelmingly stacked against me, someone up there did the math, almost 500 post, 18 are mine and must be another 10 tops agreeing with me. But as I said, I firmly believe these forums don't represent the views of the community as a whole, no forum populace ever does.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Deslyxic

wat



Oh, it would be absolutely and overwhelmingly stacked against me, someone up there did the math, almost 500 post, 18 are mine and must be another 10 tops agreeing with me. But as I said, I firmly believe these forums don't represent the views of the community as a whole, no forum populace ever does.

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Sure on it's own no, but this plus data they will have on players leaving/achievements on completing msq it gives them a broader picture.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by caffe_macchiato

There are 487 posts in this thread, and only 18 of them (3.7%) belong to the OP. Nearly every other post (most from new accounts) is either criticizing the OP or saying that content should be even harder. There is a resounding new consensus for FFXIV.

You all need to be prepared for what happens next. Because the next people you argue with in the FFXIV community won't be OP, it'll be among the rest of you. And you will continue to push people out until the "inner circle" gets smaller and smaller. The raid mechanics are not nearly as difficult as you all claim they are, and yet you're using someone else's wipe to boost your own egos. This is a very troubling development for the FFXIV community.

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Don't care. Why don't you adopt OP and rush them through the content? Since you seem so inclined to protect them. XIV is becoming a GOOD game now. This is not for you anymore. Leave the game and don't come back.

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Originally Posted by Deslyxic

And I already made the decision of not even trying M3 or M4, but the alternative, the malicious compliance way, would be to just to go to the raids and just stand there doing some semblance of a rotation, zero effort of doing mechanics, and when I die and get raised I do it again. "Sorry guys, I'm still learning the fight. Tee hee! ^_^" (might even turn off skip of watched cutscenes to sell the illusion). And when the healers get tired or expending MP on my sorry butt, I just gonna lie down in the floor, watching something on the other monitor. But I will sure fit and perky for the moment of rolling the loot. Or maybe I'll just finish whatever I was watching before I roll, that would be fun for M4 that I'm pretty sure must have a minion.

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This is intentional griefing and a reportable offense. It is literal baby rage that they won't tailor the game to you specifically. You are being self-centered and irrational and throwing a fit to try to get the way that best suits you without any regard for people that are finding the content engaging and fun and how large the actual number of those people might have been and how many may have been silently sucking it up for way too long. Please leave, this game is not a place for you, it never was. Regardless of whatever you enjoy about the game, if you are willing to sabotage the experience of other players in an MMORPG over the design decisions of the developers, then you have no place playing anything that has cooperative multiplayer elements at all.

I think OP should just leave the game at this point. That is, of course, if the mechanics around uninstalling the game are easy enough for them to understand.

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Originally Posted by Shadow_Darkmoon

I don't run with players, I have Anxiety, and My heart races, and My hands shake so much so that It's sometimes hard to even keep them on the keys, I don't want to burden others so i run with trusts, and Put off Trials for months

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I did the whole Dawntrail msq with trust, even the 2 trials you can do with trust. Like even npc literally tells you where to go if you're still struggling, if that is still too hard I would advise you to just pick Warrior and face tank everything, you can be eating tons of aoe and it wouldn't matter as long as you press your mitigations cooldown, you can be playing an aggressive tank that disregard every mechanics and Alphinaud or Urianger will still carry you. xD

Why do people think the mmo that's been out for 10 years now should become easier over time?

I do not support the feedback from people asking for the difficulty of normal content to be decreased.
Many players rightfully complained that casual and normal content was far too easy and lacked any flavor throughout Endwalker.

Now, people want to revert to the old formula? The difficulty is fine as it is; there's nothing insurmountable or too difficult.
It's normal to experience wipes when discovering new content.
If you're exploring content and there are no risks of KOs, then that becomes entirely abnormal."

Nothing prevents you from improving your communication with other players in case of doubt,
or from looking up guides on the internet, but let us have a real normal difficulty and not the easy-peasy mode with our fingers in our noses.

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Originally Posted by Kiurt

I don't think Shinryu got nerfed. Back when SB released, a lot of people was trying to do Shinryu without getting their class gear, which helped a lot at the time of release.

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Ah, I see!

Then I at that time had wrong information of my FC leader. As a beginner I thoroughly believed him on that! Thanks for letting me know! That's actually epic information ^^7
Makes my point all the more valid. Fights do get easier overtime then! (With experience xD)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Deslyxic

And I already made the decision of not even trying M3 or M4, but the alternative, the malicious compliance way, would be to just to go to the raids and just stand there doing some semblance of a rotation, zero effort of doing mechanics, and when I die and get raised I do it again. "Sorry guys, I'm still learning the fight. Tee hee! ^_^" (might even turn off skip of watched cutscenes to sell the illusion). And when the healers get tired or expending MP on my sorry butt, I just gonna lie down in the floor, watching something on the other monitor. But I will sure fit and perky for the moment of rolling the loot. Or maybe I'll just finish whatever I was watching before I roll, that would be fun for M4 that I'm pretty sure must have a minion.

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So not only are you bad, but you're admittedly toxic as well.

If you somehow survived the Galool Ja Ja solo duty, you can handle the normal raid.

In all seriousness, this game is not impossible.

FFXIV is my first and my only MMO that I play and I had no idea what I was getting myself into. The person that taught me how to play the game was not the greatest. They were toxic towards me and belittled constantly. To the point it made me think I could never do any extreme content and be stuck as a casual forever. I was stuck in that mindset for a very very very long time.

But one day, my raider bestie convinced me and I took a chance and went “Y’know what? I’m gonna do this.” And so I did, and I cleared extremes and some savage in EW. Nothing current tier at the time but it was SOMETHING. After I took a chance I was able to take the next step into harder content. Now, I wanna actually do tougher things, read a guide, join a random PF, wipe a few times. It's what makes the game fun. Crazy part is I've had more toxic interactions with casual players than I've had with hardcore players.

Getting out that mentality was the best thing I ever did because the game was fun again.

Did I die? Yup. Did parties wipe. Yup. Was it tough? Yup. But it was so worth it.

If you actually put in the time and effort you and other people can enjoy this game instead of crying into the forums begging for this game to bend to your every need.

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Originally Posted by talloran

Don't care. Why don't you adopt OP and rush them through the content? Since you seem so inclined to protect them. XIV is becoming a GOOD game now. This is not for you anymore. Leave the game and don't come back.

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I have been playing this game for ten years (this is not my first character). Why should I be forced to leave the game because I agree with Yoshida that the netcode is poorly fit for the mechanics they designed? Should Yoshida leave too, since he and I agree on this issue? And I know that's a possibility because many people's previous MMO (WoW) also saw the directors leave. And the game failed because of that. So are you sure you want everyone who disagrees with you to be forced out?

You are using a minute increase in difficulty as an excuse to lash out at those who have differing opinions about the content. That is the most troubling aspect. Some people have been waiting for three years to do this and are now finally having the opportunity to express a highly negative and elitist attitude like they used to do in other games. It's not a good sign for the FFXIV community.

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Originally Posted by TakeshiNakazato

Why do people think the mmo that's been out for 10 years now should become easier over time?

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because it HAS. since 2.0 the adding of normal made it so much easier. I wish they just kept the savage or regular difficulty to be able to see the story etc, and gate people from doing it. Then add a savage which would be ultimate now. For so called normal just make normal modes of other bosses or make casual world bosses that give mats etc. Instead they made it so much easier in 4.0 and have went easier every patch since, other then ultimate and some savages were really fun. I just mean regular normal modes dungeons casual content. This Finally made a tiny jump up in difficulty and people are complaining they cant just press one button anymore and play other games while you play. I can tell these people never played 2.0 when titan story was harder then these normal modes. Honestly If these people hate any challenge and just want the story etc and want to feel like they are playing GRAB a controller that is NOT PLUGGED IN watch a streamer play from the start and there you go. Just pretend its you , you can experience everything !!!!! problem solved.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by caffe_macchiato

There are 487 posts in this thread, and only 18 of them (3.7%) belong to the OP. Nearly every other post (most from new accounts) is either criticizing the OP or saying that content should be even harder. There is a resounding new consensus for FFXIV.

You all need to be prepared for what happens next. Because the next people you argue with in the FFXIV community won't be OP, it'll be among the rest of you. And you will continue to push people out until the "inner circle" gets smaller and smaller. The raid mechanics are not nearly as difficult as you all claim they are, and yet you're using someone else's wipe to boost your own egos. This is a very troubling development for the FFXIV community.

---

10/10 on the mental gymnastics required to arrive to this conclusion.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by caffe_macchiato

I have been playing this game for ten years (this is not my first character). Why should I be forced to leave the game because I agree with Yoshida that the netcode is poorly fit for the mechanics they designed? Should Yoshida leave too, since he and I agree on this issue? And I know that's a possibility because many people's previous MMO (WoW) also saw the directors leave. And the game failed because of that. So are you sure you want everyone who disagrees with you to be forced out?

You are using a minute increase in difficulty as an excuse to lash out at those who have differing opinions about the content. That is the most troubling aspect.

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bro, how long u play doesnt matter. if u suck at the game, then u suck
my office friend only play for 2 months at endwalker with 100ms, he can clear latest content savage already (it was tier1)
if u dont want to learn or adapt then be quiet

I personally think this is some of the best content we've had in a while. I'm very excited for this savage tier.

Also of course the normal raids are gonna hit hard day 1. It's day 1???? If you don't have max iLvl right now either suck it up or get better gear by griding tomes like the rest of us?

I don't know were this whole "Woe is me the game is too hard! Change it too my skill level even though everyone else if having a good time! DIDNT YOU HEAR ME!!?!?!? IM NOT HAVING A GOOD TIME!!! ME!!!" mentality came from. Anyone whos taken the time to play this game from ARR to DT should have the mechanical skill to do DT content. Read your buttons. Drop a GCD so you dont hit, and If you die who cares? It's optinal content at the end of the day.

Your Level 100 now. Act like it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by caffe_macchiato

I have been playing this game for ten years (this is not my first character). Why should I be forced to leave the game because I agree with Yoshida that the netcode is poorly fit for the mechanics they designed? Should Yoshida leave too, since he and I agree on this issue? And I know that's a possibility because many people's previous MMO (WoW) also saw the directors leave. And the game failed because of that. So are you sure you want everyone who disagrees with you to be forced out?

You are using a minute increase in difficulty as an excuse to lash out at those who have differing opinions about the content. That is the most troubling aspect. Some people have been waiting for three years to do this and are now finally having the opportunity to express a highly negative and elitist attitude like they used to do in other games. It's not a good sign for the FFXIV community.

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Whoever said that was wrong to say that but like I said in the quote before if you want to experience the end game stuff without trying just grab a controller not plugged in follow a play along with a steamer and enjoy you get the same experience if you do not want to learn or better yourself. You can also pause mid content ect. No one should have to ever leave the game this game is for everyone. People need to stop saying that there is maps, fates glam, housing, fishing these are true casual fun. Please do not ask the devs to make the only content we have gotten with a little bit of a challenge in years to be geared to you. I keep hearing people saying stop making content to cater to a small minority , yet its exactly what this group of super bad players are doing. Just do the content available to you guys because the bad thing about complaining like this is yoshi p listens and he has changed the game for the casual bad players before and it made us so upset. We just recovered from that please dont make him do it again.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by zeenie

bro, how long u play doesnt matter. if u suck at the game, then u suck
my office friend only play for 2 months at endwalker with 100ms, he can clear latest content savage already (it was tier1)
if u dont want to learn or adapt then be quiet

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You need to re-read the post that you made. It doesn't sound like the same FFXIV that we had before Dawntrail. A very bad attitude has come out of the woodwork since the raid tier dropped. Unless all of this is just from the Arthars raid, it doesn't make FFXIV look too good, especially in a PvE game that's not even competitive. We have a difficult ten years ahead of us.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by caffe_macchiato

I have been playing this game for ten years (this is not my first character). Why should I be forced to leave the game because I agree with Yoshida that the netcode is poorly fit for the mechanics they designed? Should Yoshida leave too, since he and I agree on this issue? And I know that's a possibility because many people's previous MMO (WoW) also saw the directors leave. And the game failed because of that. So are you sure you want everyone who disagrees with you to be forced out?

You are using a minute increase in difficulty as an excuse to lash out at those who have differing opinions about the content. That is the most troubling aspect. Some people have been waiting for three years to do this and are now finally having the opportunity to express a highly negative and elitist attitude like they used to do in other games. It's not a good sign for the FFXIV community.

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I don't think the netcode or lag is a problem when my south american friends and I can easily clear all the content with our crap connection/ PCs. You just have to do some minimal extra planning at most.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Deslyxic

I wanted to wait to see the raid tier before I say anything. There are already post about dungeon and trial difficulty, and now normal raids should be thrown into the discussion too, and I might repeat points already said but I think we should really make a point of this, we (the people not ok with this difficulty) need for the devs to hear it to hopefully make a course correction.

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-the difficulty is perfect (could be tweaked a bit to be more difficult in some instances), the fact wipes happen is IMO a good thing, its not brain dead easy nor is is stupid hard. learning a fight is essential to understanding how to position yourself for the win. its simply comes down to a skill issue and peoples refusal to learn mechanics. im sorry but we are at level 100, we should expect a harder time rather than a level 50 tank and spank on a boss.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Deslyxic

The problem with the difficulty on normal fights as I see it is:
-Use and abuse of non standard telegraphs.
-Nasty mechanic overlaps, stuff you would see on extreme and harder fights.
-Mechs resolving too quickly for the mental capacity they demand to process.
-One too many "catch this!" mech (mechs that have you running around like headless chicken evading seemingly random patterns).

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-its not abuse, you need to watch the boss and learn the telegraphs. its a new fight don't expect it to hold your hand the whole time.
-nasty? you mean overlapping a few mechs like they have always done in normal 8 man, trials, EX trials, Savage, ally raids, dungeons. this is not new your just not wanting to learn new things. things get me off guard at times to and i love it, makes it more interesting.
-once again this is a you issue, look at the cast bar or the position of the boss. you can easily know what's about to happen and even preposition accordingly. if you got here to lvl 100 content then you should know the absolute basics of what's happening.
-I'll give you this one ONLY if your still trying to do your rotation while not executing the mech properly, take the time to do it right. use it to your advantage to reflect on the past mechs and what you'll need to do if/when it comes up again.

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Originally Posted by Deslyxic

All this has been making fights in this expansion frustrating and exhausting.

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and this is a good thing, for to long the games been getting easier and easier. People cried for it to be harder, Yoshi P himself said this aswell. He agreed the games been to stress free, so they team is essentially testing the waters seeing how we respond to this. i love it its great, challenging, makes me think, and pay attention. the normal mode 8 man (level 100) fight doesn't demand your full attention but it at least punishes you for not giving it the majority of your attention.

might come back with points on the last half if your post.

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Originally Posted by Supersnow845

Normal raids has always been the bridging content between true casual content and extremes, it’s why it’s optional

Normal raids are designed to be tuned to about as hard as the devs are willing to make content with a full pick me up group and no actual strat discussion

EW was the outlier here as besides P3 the rest of them are over glorified trials rather than actual normal raids

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P8S would beg to differ.....

And P10S....

Those fights were tuned to the max....

Damn near ultimates.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by caffe_macchiato

You need to re-read the post that you made. It doesn't sound like the same FFXIV that we had before Dawntrail. A very bad attitude has come out of the woodwork since the raid tier dropped. Unless all of this is just from the Arthars raid, it doesn't make FFXIV look too good, especially in a PvE game that's not even competitive. We have a difficult ten years ahead of us.

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That's what I am thinking, I keep saying the difficulty is misplaced. We're not exactly looking like an appealing community right? I'm not even in agreement with some of the OPs statements but the outright bullying and abuse is disgusting.

The difficulty isn't the issue I see anymore. At this point....it's skill. The fights are NOT designed to be cheap or punishing. They are designed to teach you. I cleared them all within maybe 2 hours. Only one that gave me trouble was M3 as it took me a while to know max melee and snap shots.

Normal difficulty....yeah feels normal to me. Savage on the other hand....I'm honestly excited for savage this expac. Endwalker felt fair in savage difficulty. Not cheap....fair.

If you think something is cheap....consider this. Others probably learn from those mistakes and get better at the game.

This is your opportunity.

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Originally Posted by Sqwall

P8S would beg to differ.....

And P10S....

Those fights were tuned to the max....

Damn near ultimates.

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LMAO no...

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Originally Posted by Sol_Seppy

LMAO no...

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LMAO yes...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Alyx-Greywind

That's what I am thinking, I keep saying the difficulty is misplaced. We're not exactly looking like an appealing community right? I'm not even in agreement with some of the OPs statements but the outright bullying and abuse is disgusting.

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I have been a long advocate the game needs to be harder in it's casual content. Otherwise it gets boring and stale. A challenge would make things better for everyone...and give those that find normal a challenge a sense of accomplishment for the gear.

Having things handed to you isn't fun.....it's dull and simple. Normal RAID's should have a sense of difficulty that makes sense.

I feel they have hit the nail on the head this time around with difficulty of normal raids.

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Originally Posted by Volfe

I don't think the netcode or lag is a problem when my south american friends and I can easily clear all the content with our crap connection/ PCs. You just have to do some minimal extra planning at most.

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You could clear fine, but that extra planning increases the chances of being "clipped". These new raids have faster and more frequent mechanics with more ambiguous hitboxes. As a previous poster put it, the devs know the limitations of their own engine and tested it to make sure the "snapshotting" or "clipping" wasn't too bad. But, as previous interviews showed, they test with a 30 ping average. With a 60 ping, your chances for being "clipped" increase. And with that chance, there are more players (like OP) who will run into issues with the design without knowing why (after all, "snapshotting" isn't normal for video games). This makes the game look unfair to anyone who is used to the slow Endwalker style where medium ping is acceptable. Low-ping players will find their complaints baffling, which is what you see in this thread. High-ping gamers already have skills to mitigate this, so they might also not find any issue.

These new raids are likely going to be the ceiling for normal-mode content since it's clear the devs have reached the limit. I hope the other posters in this thread relish while they can in whatever glory can get from winning this argument online, because there's not much else the devs can add without more dissenters being made.

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Originally Posted by Sqwall

I feel they have hit the nail on the head this time around with difficulty of normal raids.

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70% of the new raids are great. I too have been asking for more difficult "mid-core" content and the raids are good. But the other 30% consists of being "clipped" by overlapping mechanics, which feels unfair to someone with medium (40-100) ping when you're doing exactly what others are doing and don't get hit. The only way not to get hit is to intentionally go into the mechanic so that you "clip-dodge". I have had to do this far more often than usual. I predict that "clip-dodging" will be a go-to strategy for content going forward if the mechanics are too fast.

For example: in M4, there is a classic "back-forth" mechanic. You move to one half of the area then move to the other half, repeated a couple of times. But if you wait in the safe zone until the cast bar for the unsafe zone is done, you're too late. You need to go into the zone while the cast/animation is telling you not to.

That's a crazy thing to say, considering P8S was the roadblock for progging TOP, which is unequivocally the hardest content in the game.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by caffe_macchiato

I have been playing this game for ten years (this is not my first character). Why should I be forced to leave the game because I agree with Yoshida that the netcode is poorly fit for the mechanics they designed? Should Yoshida leave too, since he and I agree on this issue? And I know that's a possibility because many people's previous MMO (WoW) also saw the directors leave. And the game failed because of that. So are you sure you want everyone who disagrees with you to be forced out?

You are using a minute increase in difficulty as an excuse to lash out at those who have differing opinions about the content. That is the most troubling aspect. Some people have been waiting for three years to do this and are now finally having the opportunity to express a highly negative and elitist attitude like they used to do in other games. It's not a good sign for the FFXIV community.

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oooh playing the veteran card now? still don't care. we will not shelter lazy players anymore. get out and take OP with you.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Alyx-Greywind

That's what I am thinking, I keep saying the difficulty is misplaced. We're not exactly looking like an appealing community right? I'm not even in agreement with some of the OPs statements but the outright bullying and abuse is disgusting.

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i dont think the difficulty misplaced tbh. both endgame dungeon are a bit more challenging but not that difficult. idk people still finding excuses and not learning and taking lazy route of complain.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by zeenie

i dont think the difficulty misplaced tbh. both endgame dungeon are a bit more challenging but not that difficult. idk people still finding excuses and not learning and taking lazy route of complain.

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Having run through experts a bunch to gear up I’ve found that the difficulty for endgame dungeons seems to have actually already disappeared. Outside of that abomination Leonogg I barely ever see vuln stacks, much less someone taking actual damage that requires healing and not just letting Eos do it lol

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Originally Posted by Sqwall

LMAO yes...

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for p8s before patch fix? maybe, almost definitely yes.
for p8s after and especially p10?! no lol

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sol_Seppy

for p8s before patch fix? maybe, almost definitely yes.

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so you admit he was right, he never stated what patch. it was still overturned at one point in time. regardless of how it is now.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by alfarini

so you admit he was right, he never stated what patch. it was still overturned at one point in time. regardless of how it is now.

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I concede to p8s if he was referring to before patch, yes. I'm not above being wrong. But p10s is a complete stretch and I stand by that.

I feel you, I see you. I understand that mechanics can be harder to learn for people! If you’re struggling, or anyone really, is struggling to go through msq with trusts, I recommend going as a tank! You can step in most aoes and so long as your spread your dmg mitigations, you will not die to your accumulating vuln stacks.

I’ve had a friend with crippling anxiety and was frustrated with how much this games expects you to be. I don’t think it’s hard at all, but there is a large population of first time mmo players and gamers enjoying this game. I don’t think it’s right asking for optional content, which is designed to weave people into the harder content to be made easier. Fundamentally I think that’ll leave a wider gap of knowledge/expectations to transition into harder stuff. There are casual friendly optional systems to engage with however, try crafting, gathering, housing (apartments because the lotto is suffering), gold saucer, exc! If it’s combat you’re craving, Fates are good, bozja/eureka can be fun as well. If you wait until 7.05-7.1, treasure maps will have their dungeons unlocked, but I am expecting the difficulty might be more reflective of current stuff.

Look 'ma, it's the thread that's on tv!

Just want to throw my opinion here, am a casual, have been since ARR, I don't want to commit and maintain a schedule, I don't want the game to be difficult to the point of being frustrating, I also don't want to feel like I have to commit like I used to on wow. Am mostly on the game because I enjoy leveling, running dungeons and making my friends smile, yet, since shadowbringers on a lesser level and then endwalker, I've felt I've been left behind. None of the content that I reasonably want to engage in challenges me anymore. Dawntrail feels like a step in the right direction to restore what was lost to me in that transition to accomodate more players.

Like, people that are struggling with dawntrail and expressing it in this thread feel like they're missing context, that the only FFXIV they've ever known is SHB and beyond, so they feel slighted, but to a player like me, they took the bar too low for low commitment content, and they are readjusting it. They aren't making a new move out of nowhere here from my perspective, they're fixing mistakes they made in the past. There's also another dimension to understand in this, they can't cater to everyone reasonably, there's a range of players that any given game will cater to, and when they made changes to difficulty in SHB, they did not widen that range, they dragged it to another place in the spectrum, and that left a wide gap between experts/normal raids and savage. Like, to think that they could cater to every player is kinda utopian ? Holding CBU3 to that standard is pretty unreasonable to me. Alternatively, you have the ultimate choice, you can choose not to engage in content that is too hard for you up to yeah, not engaging with the game anymore.

Unexpected difficulty is always jarring at first in a video game, but as you try and try, your standards readjust, you become better, and that's a reward in and of itself. Personally, am pleased by the slight increase in difficulty and how much more dynamic fights are, keeps me attentive and on my feet. And well, I'm a parent-aged gamer well past my prime.

One last thing, let's not forget to put the "dawntrail too hard" criticisms against "endwalker braindead" criticism, just to show the reality that no matter what CBU3 will do, people will complain. It's their game, not mine, so I prefer to defer to them and when the game goes south for me, I speak with my money. I'm willing to bet that this thread made it so many people who wouldn't throw their voice in the mix do so in the end, and from what I can tell, this ultimately worked against the opinion that dawntrail is too hard, which I would describe as "counter-productive". :P