Forced to Raid?

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Originally Posted by BelgarathMTH

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Dirty necromancer be gone

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Originally Posted by KitKatnip

I keep seeing posts and discussions about content you must complete before Endwalker. One of these being the raids. I'm not a raider. I didn't even want to do the Syrcus tower series and it annoyed me that I had to do it. I'm not particularly fond of the forced dungeons to get through the MSQ either but dungeons are short and fun so that's ok.

Do we actually have to complete the raids (that have thus far been optional) for Endwalker or is this just one of those recommended so you get the story (which I could get from watching Youtube vidoes) kind of thing?

The anxiety of having to complete all these raids is just mentally exhausting.

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I don't like dungeons
I don't like raids.
I have anxiety doing regular content.

What's wrong with these people

I think calling the Crystal Tower series "easy" is just because almost any random group of players will finish them with at most one or two wipes.

But even experienced, well-geared players who have done them a hundred times sometimes die, and sometimes it isn't their fault. There are some mechanics in some of the fights, mechanics that aren't your responsibility to do, that can sometimes bite you hard. For example, IIRC, in the Phlegethon fight, if another Alliance doesn't get enough people to their circle when the boss casts Ancient Flare, it's a wipe.

So don't sweat it. I die, you'll die, or everyone will die, but it's no big deal. Even if you die several times in one fight because you can't get the mechanic down (like in the Angry Menu giant-eyeball fight), it's fine. It's expected.
And you'll still almost certainly clear the raid in less than 30 minutes.

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Originally Posted by AnnRam

I don't like dungeons
I don't like raids.
I have anxiety doing regular content.

What's wrong with these people

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They're from the planet Hypercasual. Their species has a severe allergy to battle content.

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Originally Posted by Silverbane

So don't sweat it. I die, you'll die, or everyone will die, but it's no big deal. Even if you die several times in one fight because you can't get the mechanic down (like in the Angry Menu giant-eyeball fight), it's fine. It's expected.
And you'll still almost certainly clear the raid in less than 30 minutes.

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This is something I've noticed a lot of players aren't always ready to learn, that the game teaches via killing you and dying and full raid wipes aren't bad. They're learning moments.

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Originally Posted by Canadane

This is something I've noticed a lot of players aren't always ready to learn, that the game teaches via killing you and dying and full raid wipes aren't bad. They're learning moments.

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All it taught me by killing me is that people love screwing up the scales in Aglaia on purpose T_T

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Originally Posted by Midareyukki

All it taught me by killing me is that people love screwing up the scales in Aglaia on purpose T_T

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So what you mean to tell me is that because the scales are balanced, the boss is gonna get a buff, and thus I should cross sides to unbalance them?

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Originally Posted by AnnRam

I don't like dungeons
I don't like raids.
I have anxiety doing regular content.

What's wrong with these people

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Some people playing just don't jive with the multiplayer content. It's not their thing. But they're still interested in this game for the story or maybe other social interactions besides battle content. "These people" have always existed. It just used to be less socially acceptable to be the wallflower than it is today. Up to the point they made CT required, it was optional to do the 24 man raids. I can see how it could be jarring to someone who did not enjoy that content.

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Originally Posted by KitKatnip

I keep seeing posts and discussions about content you must complete before Endwalker. One of these being the raids. I'm not a raider. I didn't even want to do the Syrcus tower series and it annoyed me that I had to do it. I'm not particularly fond of the forced dungeons to get through the MSQ either but dungeons are short and fun so that's ok.

Do we actually have to complete the raids (that have thus far been optional) for Endwalker or is this just one of those recommended so you get the story (which I could get from watching Youtube vidoes) kind of thing?

The anxiety of having to complete all these raids is just mentally exhausting.

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Crystal tower is the only raid required for MSQ and isn't too difficult considering most players can probably do it in their sleep.

The first thing I can suggest though is not equate any of the story "raids" with progression raiding in other games like say, World of Warcraft. It's not really like that. The raids you do for story clears (and weekly loot if you want it), are side-story/optional queue-able experiences, that have little if any trash, are often separated by "wing" much like WoW's LFR, and require little in the way of experience or coordination. I go into every raid the first time blind. I don't watch vids or read up on it. The basics you learn in dungeons is usually enough to get you through most mechanics and unique mechanics being relatively easy to figure out after seeing them once or twice. If you're worried, just stay with the pack in general so you have a good shot of being where you need to be to avoid bad mechanics.

As someone who gave up raiding in WoW for the most part, I'd put the story based raids on par with WoW's LFR... and perhaps even a bit easier than that if only because the visual queues for mechanics are clear in nearly all cases, most are seen in 4 man dungeons, and any that aren't you'll pick up quickly after seeing them a time or two. Most importantly, wipes aren't common after the first week or two. By then people generally have it figured out, and from then on you tend to get through them with little if any pain. If you can do 4 man dungeons, you can do the 8 man raids and it's not much different. The 24 man raids are closer to a "normal" difficulty WoW raid, but after 2-3 weeks of it being out, most players have it down pat and it's generally not a bad time.

Now if you want a more normal/heroic WoW-like raid experience, then you're talking Savage difficulty raids. And if you want something in the neighborhood of Wow's Mythic raids, then you have Ultimate encounters.

TLDR, if you can handle doing 4 man dungeons and the story trials, you can handle the side-story 8 man raids. The optional 24 man raids may be slightly more challenging, but can still be done blind without ever seeing a vid or reading a guide and are still queue-able content that's not overly difficult to clear after the first few weeks once everyone gets a grasp on them. They can actually be a lot of fun, and this is coming from a bona fide "path of least resistance", "low-effort" player here. I have no time or patience to waste on multiple wipes on a regular basis and yet I have no issues with the regular "raids" in FFXIV.

OP, I don't know if you actually went for it so far, but the Crystal Tower raids are pretty much braindead at this point, if the difficulty is what concerns you. You barely need to do your rotation and the bosses are going to melt regardless.