this is most people who play games
You make a fair point, but when you see people NOW running around with something you want but you feel like you can't get, it's only natural to be bummed about it.
Btw, I'm not advocating for savage rewards to be handed over to people who don't do savage. I just have an issue with casual players being called "entitled" when it's far more likely that they are just sad that a pretty new cosmetic is locked behind something they feel is beyond their reach.
By all means, if you or anyone else finds someone demanding savage rewards without doing savage, point me in their direction and I'll laugh at them with you because that's just silly.
Agree with that, but there is also the elephant in the room of why a highly-desirable cosmetic item was locked behind savage-level content, particularly when it had absolutely no thematic link to that content.
It seems probable this was another failed attempt by SE to funnel non-raiders into content they do not like.
It's just simple like that:
U want something, U need to work for something.
If U can't get Ur things together to manage it, U won't get it.
U can't get 100% in a game if U Play like 50%..
Agreed. I don't really see a reason to lock a hairstyle of all things behind savage-level content. Without sliders in the character creator, we are already so ridiculously limited in how much we can customize our character's physical appearance. Hair is ONE thing we have a decent number of options for. If it were up to me, fancy glowy weapons and gear would be the only things locked behind savage, tbh. But I'm not in charge, so...
But I think the problem with Cloud of Darkness in particular is that it's so niche, it's essentially dead now. You can run older EX trials unsynced and even solo depending on how far you outlevel them. And since it's just 8-player fights it's generally easier to still find people to do older EX and savage content with. But CoD is savage-ish and requires 24 players for an item you need to farm over and over again. So it's not enough to get 24 people once in a blue moon.
They've designed CoD in a way that completely stands in the way of becoming more accessible with time.
All the barriers you listed seem perfectly reasonable tho. Idk, it makes sense to me that to be able to step into the top-tier content that you'd need to make top-tier preparations. I kinda like that. Its part of the journey. The friction is rewarding. I say this as someone who just started EW and hasn't done any savage or ultimates tho. All the barriers you listed sounds cool as hell though. It'll be like i'm a warrior kitting myself up for a battle instead of just being able to instantly enter.
I played many many years of FFXI and have been playing XIV since it's release and the main reason I don't do savage raids is because scripted fights bore me to death. I find they require very little skill expression aside from having good memory whilst "staying on task". I enjoy this game casually with my friends because I play much harder games more competitively.
I get both sides of the argument for this. Casuals want to have access to the ONE thing they play the game for, glam. And raiders want stuff to make them feel special and superior to those of us who hate the toxicity and/or boredom of raiding so they can stand out in Limsa and afk with their weapon drawn.
To be honest, this issue wouldn't be as bad if:
a) The selection of hairstyles and character features, etc., were more diverse. Like, it is a game that is already on a severe character customization deficit for the art style it uses, IMO. This is also why people take issue with releasing certain items like hairstyles on MogStation (Though this is a more normalized method).
b) If the content they were locking this hairstyle behind didn't have poor shelf life. The trend of pricing with the item(s) is pretty indicative that the content has poor shelf life. Eventually in due time the content will continue to fade into obscurity (carried almost exclusively by Discord), especially when the longer form relic content releases, and especially when a subsequent Chaotic is released... Like, you probably could've locked this hairstyle behind 1.5mln MGP, and you would unironically have less complaints than putting it behind content which evidently doesn't have much shelf life.
I don't think it's just a case of "They want it, and they want it now" -- Like we've had quite a few threads of people lambasting casuals for joining chaotic parties when they struggle with fundamental mechanics, whilst also subsequently lambasting those same casual players as entitled (Literally the OP)