Catering to the Majority

[mr_wazzabi]

We understand that most people wants an instant win button. But there is a niche of hardcore MMO gamers that demand a hardcore MMO. Eve Online is the only thing out there to satisfy these players currently. FFXI started off great but devolved too far over time. We want a game that feel like a virtual reality, not a simple button spam game where you win faster than some single player RPGs. We want a game where getting to max level actually means something and where there are real satisfying rewards and accomplishments. Modern MMOs are a joke.

That's not to say I hate FFXIV. I love it for what it is otherwise I wouldn't be here. I just hate the community and I hate SE giving into every cry baby demand.

The masses sell dude. In the end, it's about the almighty dollar.

[Scratchs]

What message are we sending when we just dumb down anything that is to hard? Years ago we started to dumb things down for kids in schools to push up test scores to make ourselves (merica) look good to the world. My kids no longer are taught social studies, cursive writing, American history (for all its worth) or science. Should this keep up? NO! Is it doing us any good? Hell no. So should the game keep catering to the insta win people? Those that think spending a week on a raid is to hard, spending 4 months to gear up takes to much time, no! It sickens me how lazy the world has become. Please do not push this agenda any more. You dont have to be hard core to make progress. Dumbing down the game only adds to the problems, it wont fix them. Ever.

In the game hard working or lazy in the end were doing the same thing... Nothing.

[EvoTheGrim]

i'm new to mmorpgs since i sorted out a decent gaming rig. i only have limited time to play in the week so i may be one of the casuals you speak of, i have full time job so i cant play as much as i would like. im 50 and just starting to get dl gear. i dont want less difficult dungeons or anything i just want to learn the game and what to do at end game. it's just that a lot of people are assholes who lord it over me that i have crap gear and i will never down titan hm. thiis is my main problem with the game. it doesn't take a lot to bnice and civil. juststop being cubts with you superiority complex. just help, we all startee somewhere so chill. this was painful to type on a vita

[Sixmp]

In the game hard working or lazy in the end were doing the same thing... Nothing.

In a sense non of us are doing anything. be it in a game or in rl. The point i feel some people are making though is that having to make a decent effort to get something should be kept.

Just like in real life some things are not for everyone, take the guitar for instance. It is a fairly easy instrument to learn to play basic things on, but to become truly proficient requires years of dedicated work.
I teach people to play in real life and the amount of people that come to me expecting to be able to play like their favourite guitarist within a few months is amazing. When they realise how much work it actually does take they usually drop out of lessons.

Some people enjoy games that are easy and that is fine. Some people enjoy games that take more effort to acquire rewards. The problem is that practically every game that comes out these days is made to cater for the easy rewards.

If games were used to install a message to people in general. (which imo they already do) The message should be that all great things require true effort to require, instead of just mooch your way through life and everything you could ever want will be yours.

[busta]

The masses sell dude. In the end, it's about the almighty dollar.

There are these things called niche markets. Every person is a unique individual. Each person has their own values, preferences, tastes, etc. If you only focus on what the majority want, you are abandoning a MASSIVE number of people. But you do have to have a target audience. It can't literally be everyone. So some smart entrepreneurs out there attempt to fill that void in the marketplace and satisfy the demands of those people.

MMORPGs were born as alternate realities that you could live in. It could take years to have an incredibly well developed character in classic MMORPGs. MMORPGs have devolved into multiplayer versions of single player RPGs. They have become Call of Duty-fied. They are no longer massive worlds to get lost in. And I don't personally have a problem with that. I'm just waiting for some companies to come along to satisfy us hardcore players who enjoyed games like 2003 era FFXI and won't give into crybaby demands to make their game easier.

[Stryker]

SNIP

Nope not true. Only in the true theory of a niche market is every individual seen as unique, but the world has shown this not to be true. Niche markets are now groups of people. There is no such thing as a specialty store that caters to everyone because then that would become the masses. It's like true communism. It's completely different than the communism we have now comrade.

And by definition if you are catering the majority, you are not abandoning the MASSES unless you want to specify that the masses is actually a small group of people. Otherwise it just means you're not catering to the minority.

Many mmo's like this one will continue to offer a buffet style and continually tweak that until they can offer what WoW did. Before that many games were very niche based including FF11. Now that's not the case. Whether that's the best business decision for this game and for other games to come who knows. Maybe in 5 years the landscape will change and it will return back to more of a niche market. But this game needs a big win and that win being the almighty dollar.

Well in this economy it might be the BPS rather than the $.

[Feln]

could you please cite something in XI wich you thought was hard? all i seem recall was 5 minute fafs 30 second kirins and 10 minute tias, or maybe you mean getting goldsmithing or clothcraft to 100

Hmm. Just off the top of my head, and this is before everything was watered down -

Riverne sites. Both of them. Difficult to get through, even with a full party.
Promyvions. Did you do those?
Uncapped Avatar fights.
Red Mage head piece quest.
That big undead thing you fight in the woods outside of The Boyada Tree, for the Zilart Missions.
High-Tier BC/KSNMs. Even some of the low-tier ones were pretty easy to get destroyed by, with a single mistake.
Divine Might.
Sky/Sea gods.
Motherf*cking Ouryu in "The Savage".
The Three Mithra fight.
Omega/Ultima in "One to Be Feared.
Certain bosses with pieces of equipment that really shone for their level bracket - Simurgh(Trotter Boots), Kreutzet(Sirocco Kukri), Amikiri(Kamewari. Seriously, f*ck this guy.), That manta thing(Joyeuse. F*ck this guy too.).. Seriously, I could go on.
WSNMs.
Dynamis.

All of this, all of these things were things you needed team and coordination for. Advanced coordination, since everything wasn't so easily read. There weren't giant red circles or cast bars. You had to pay attention, know your distances, be fast on that stun with little to no tells for certain abilities that could potentially crush/cripple your efforts.

Seriously, if you didn't play back before the level cap increase and difficulty decrease, you don't know what a challenge the game -used- to be. Even with groups that knew everything a certain boss/mob could do, there was the element of randomness/surprise that kept you watching every corner of your screen. There were extremely punishing ends to small mistakes, which really separated the bad from the good, and then again separated the good from the great. It took a long time to accomplish grand goals, and it brought together long lasting communities within a communities. That challenge created heroes and leaders; ones that you would look forward to watching in action, or follow on youtube to see what amazing things they could pull off with their extreme amount of knowledge, luck, and personal dexterity.

I'm getting off topic here.

That all said, this game is it's own game, and I do like it for what it is. It's just not at that epic standard. Not yet, anyway. For all we know, it may turn around and surprise the hell out of us with some crazy content that gives me the rush that XI did in my earlier days of gaming. SE is wholly capable of it, and even though it's not that likely to occur, I'll keep my fingers crossed.

[Stryker]

For all we know, it may turn around and surprise the hell out of us with some crazy content that gives me the rush that XI did in my earlier days of gaming. SE is wholly capable of it, and even though it's not that likely to occur, I'll keep my fingers crossed.

True that, but I would suggest not to keep your fingers crossed. They might get sore from the wait.

[Sixmp]

I miss hard content. I don't miss grinds though. I would prefer 1000 quests with some kind of storyline to get a fantastic weapon instead of 1000 hours of grind.

I miss Limit Break quests. The being stuck until you prove your worth. One of the best things in a game i ever came across.

[busta]

Nope not true.

I'd advise you take some economics and marketing classes. They'll enlighten you.