Patch 3.1 and the Problems with a Two Tier Model of Content

The launch of FFXIV 2.0 came at a good time. People were tired of what WoW was becoming, which was for the most part, a single player game.

Yes there are still people who raid, or do things together, but they are the minority. Why?

Because they don't have to.

It's far easier to simply log on and do garrisons, or do a raid with a bunch of forgettable strangers. There is no need to ever meet people to see content, no need to organize, no need to work together outside of a few tightly scripted areas.

FFXIV 2.0 was different. Raids and trials were hard, they could not be joined through a duty finder, and the shining achievement, your relic weapon, required you to make friends and allies who could help you get it. I had to find someone who could craft my base weapon, someone to meld the materia, and others to go into the Hard Primals with me.


(part 2 and 3 incoming <_< Apparently there is a post limit. Need to get this off my chest though)

It continued through the patches, and is why the game swelled it's subscription count, and what kept people interested and playing. It can be described as the following:

1) Easy Content as a sort of Long term Tutorial (the MSQ and Story dungeons)

2) Content that is challenging but completable for the vast majority of players, though they might need some help. Most equipment can be found here (Relics, Hard Primals -Remember when they were actually hard? And gave gear relevant to progression?-)

3) Very challenging content, that most players will not complete before nerfs. However the story and gear that can only be found here makes people keep trying.

3.0 and 3.1 seem convinced to overturn that. The best gear, all the story, everything is moving towards the WoW model. Which is the following:

1) Faceroll easy content that gets you all the story, gear, etc.

2) Facemeltingly hard content that only a few can beat, which gives you inferior gear and bragging rights.

Which means most people are in the situation of completing all the easy content, realizing Alexander Savage is way too hard for them (and pointless since diadem gear is better), getting bored and logging off.

Without medium difficulty things like hard primals, people don't ever even have a chance to learn their roles better, or make connections for statics and progress.

It just sucks. I really hope they go back to the three tier model of difficulty, because if they don't I can't see this game surviving with a healthy subscriber base. Numbers are going to drop, and fast.

Sorry for the long rant, just wanted to get it off my chest. Little bummed out by 3.1 and the way the game is going.

Edit post to bypass the 1000 character limit. I wish they'd just add that message to the error text already. Or just get rid of the restriction.

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Originally Posted by Aethaeryn

Edit post to bypass the 1000 character limit. I wish they'd just add that message to the error text already. Or just get rid of the restriction.

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Oh, well poop. Thanks for letting me know. I don't post on here much, I usually post on a different forum. That's a wierd error to have had for so long!

As I've aged, my gaming habits have changed. I now have usually 3-4 hours max to spend each evening during the week, less if I want to visit friends. Some weekends I have all day to play, others I'm out of town and I can't play at all.

Despite what the community on the forums here says, a lot more people fall into the same pattern that I do - a few hours to play each day. I can't cap esoterics on Tuesday because if I did that, I would literally only be able to do that for the day. I want to craft a little, work on another job to 60, and do other activities with my FC. So I try to run an expert dungeon once a day, and I'll be lucky if I cap esoterics before the next reset.

Not saying that we don't need more mid-core content to fill the gaps, but SE is creating content that caters to the majority of its playerbase, who are content to do casual raids and roulettes once a day and call it good.

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Originally Posted by SerCypher

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You can avoid the post limit by using the edit feature when you make a post. So you can take your 2 previous posts, copy them, go to your first one and click edit post (not advanced) and just add the text. Good points btw.

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Originally Posted by Catwho

As I've aged, my gaming habits have changed. I now have usually 3-4 hours max to spend each evening during the week, less if I want to visit friends. Some weekends I have all day to play, others I'm out of town and I can't play at all.

Despite what the community on the forums here says, a lot more people fall into the same pattern that I do - a few hours to play each day. I can't cap esoterics on Tuesday because if I did that, I would literally only be able to do that for the day. I want to craft a little, work on another job to 60, and do other activities with my FC. So I try to run an expert dungeon once a day, and I'll be lucky if I cap esoterics before the next reset.

Not saying that we don't need more mid-core content to fill the gaps, but SE is creating content that caters to the majority of its playerbase, who are content to do casual raids and roulettes once a day and call it good.

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Ugh I made a giant post and it got deleted.

I don't want more savage content, I want more 'Hard' content. The problem Square is running into now is the problem other games have. There is a group of people who say 'WE WANT MORE RAIDS' and another group that goes "I like casual stuff". Then the game becomes segregated.

There needs to be middle content that is challenging for people, provides a sense of progression, and teaches people their class before they get into a raid and piss everyone off. Let's go back to 2.0, for example. Here is what the progression looked like.

-Hit 60

-Do Dungeons, learn class, get basic mechanics down

- Get the relic quest, do Hard Trials, learn new mechanics.

- Finish Relic, get pointed to Coil

- Do Coil and Ex Primals


The whole idea of -hard- content seems to have gone out the wayside in this expansion. There is only casual and extreme, and there is nothing to bridge the gap and provide a sense of progression for the average player. That's why you have anger about new players trying Savage, or Ex primals. These people really aren't skilled enough for those fights, but they want something more challenging then facerolling dungeons, and there is nowhere to learn now.

The problem is not that there isn't enough content, it's that they're making the wrong kinds of content.

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Originally Posted by Catwho

As I've aged, my gaming habits have changed. I now have usually 3-4 hours max to spend each evening during the week, less if I want to visit friends. Some weekends I have all day to play, others I'm out of town and I can't play at all.

Despite what the community on the forums here says, a lot more people fall into the same pattern that I do - a few hours to play each day. I can't cap esoterics on Tuesday because if I did that, I would literally only be able to do that for the day. I want to craft a little, work on another job to 60, and do other activities with my FC. So I try to run an expert dungeon once a day, and I'll be lucky if I cap esoterics before the next reset.


Not saying that we don't need more mid-core content to fill the gaps, but SE is creating content that caters to the majority of its playerbase, who are content to do casual raids and roulettes once a day and call it good.

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Not to question your definition of casual but I think I don't know what it means anymore. I thought being a casual player mean you play the game for fun regardless of schedules (Some more open or others) and don't take part in daily raid grinds and savage modes unless they suddenly feel like it. I consider myself a casual. I play for at least 6 - 9 hours a day (unemployed) and sometimes maybe 5 - 6 (when employed), usually giving me enough time to catch up to my friends who play the story and end game content. Extreme modes were only reached at a point where story content was finished and the only fun thing to do (That was not grinding orientated like crafting, or other relics) was to try to take them down. Learning was tough but fun, and the rewards were actually useful for upcoming content.

Basically my point is I still consider myself a casual player and I have more time on my hands. I'm not sure how much of the majority only have 4 hours to play because I'm sure they came from alot of other mmos like xi, wow, or even ffxiv 1.0 which were very grindy games that take alot of time and effort, and I'm sure they have something to say about all these changes in 3.1. Saying its the majority of the playerbase is a stretch imo