To all of you complaining about content nerfs, I got an important question for you:

[MomoOG]

i took 2 random strangers i met in wineport into coil turn4 yesterday. they went in on their first run through and won. yes, we did wipe quite a few times before we got the clear first, but it felt good for those that went into it for the first time being able to help them. without the one week lockout i could see me doing much more of that.

They you guys explain the fight to them? I'm pretty sure you did and that is the exact same thing.

[-d-ky]

i got my relic, cleared primals ( hm and em), ct and coils without referring to youtube, but with a huge amount of repair fees

[Lux_Rayna]

You are confusing Cheating with Learning.

The two are not all that different. If I pick up the answers to a test, obviously I am learning them. Its still cheating. Things like wikis, strategy guides, forums, etc., give you the answers to the test. It removes 90% of the challenge from the content. The hard part of any encounter is figuring it out and developing a strategy. The rest is simply execution. Execution is relatively easy; its just blind repetition until you nail it. The OP is correct in his analysis.

I mean imagine if someone solved a rubiks cube by googling it. What was supposed to be a monumental test of critical thinking and logical reasoning is reduced to simply executing a set of instructions. Is there difficulty in execution? Sure. But most of the difficulty lies in figuring out the solution, recognizing the patterns, and formulating a strategy. If you skip all those steps, you nerf a majority of the challenge.

[darkstarpoet1]

They you guys explain the fight to them? I'm pretty sure you did and that is the exact same thing.

and that's been going on since the dawn of gaming. if you have experience in something and a friend gets a game and asks for help then you did the same. people have always helped out others when they had questions. i was responding to a post saying people never take people in if they have no experience. i never said i didn't help them, but i stated i took in 2 that had never been in before. i did not, however, walk them through the entire fight, but did give them pointers as we progressed to the following section.

that's no different than someone doing horrible dps and you helping them out by showing them a method you use that works better. being friendly and helpful to try and help others is part of the draw to mmo's. if you don't like it then that's just tough because i will continue to help people when they ask whether you like it or not.

I mean imagine if someone solved a rubiks cube by googling it. What was supposed to be a monumental test of critical thinking and logical reasoning is reduced to simply executing a set of instructions. Is there difficulty in execution? Sure. But most of the difficulty lies in figuring out the solution, recognizing the patterns, and formulating a strategy. If you skip all those steps, you nerf a majority of the challenge.

omg, you can google a rubix cube and figure out that to solve it you need to get all sides with only one color on it. omg i'll never have a challenge solving a rubix cube ever again. thank you google!!!!!

that's the same thing you are trying to say about a fight. yes, by watching a strategy video or listening to someone explain an aspect of a fight it does give general help, but you can only depend on yourself to follow direction. in a mmo you have to depend on others and other outside influences. i can know any fight i wish, but if i don't know how to play the job i am on the strat doesn't matter. if i can't do the needed dps and dodge the monsters moves i am still not going to beat the content. even if i can do all of that, but the other 7 in my party can't then i still won't beat it.

[Zaels]

The two are not all that different. If I pick up the answers to a test, obviously I am learning them. Its still cheating. Things like wikis, strategy guides, forums, etc., give you the answers to the test. It removes 90% of the challenge from the content. The hard part of any encounter is figuring it out and developing a strategy. The rest is simply execution. Execution is relatively easy; its just blind repetition until you nail it. The OP is correct in his analysis.

So you're telling me studying for a test is also cheating?

[ToraFomalhaut]

There is a difference between, reading and or watching someone play out a fight and that fight still being difficult and a fight that has been tuned down so that it is difficult to fail being and is more forgiving if you make an error in the mechanics. The latter (nerfing content) doesn't teach you to be mindful of the enemies attacks, if there is no threat in the fight, if you're not actively motivated to dodge the bosses special attacks then you're have no real need to actively improve your skills, get better at watching for tells, improve your reaction times and get better are picking when to heal or attack.

In the former (hard boss fights), knowing the strategies still gives you a fight where if your own player skill isn't up to snuff, or your just not geared enough you will stand the chance of wiping the party, the fight still remains reasonably challenging. It is one thing to watch someone show you the ropes to a fight, but an entirely different matter getting into the thick of it yourself for the first time. I will concede that all boss fights in FFXIV have been heavily scripted so far, so it's not so much a challenge of learning to look for a boss's tell and prepare for the incoming special attack as it is more a case of learn the move order step by step and not messing up. So it's not like FFXIV boss fights have been overly hard, just more a chore to memorize.

[Vennox]

Its fine to have a boss do something specific say at 50% hp, but other than that its better if they use their abilities freely. That is what makes a good fight.

How many more people would be lining titan em's floor if this happened (Lag? whutlagutalkinbout?)

EDIT: In all seriousness though, Im against making content easier. As an example of what I view the long term effects will be...

Teacher: Pay attention students, I will demonstrate how to climb this tree to get this apple, at the mid-way point up the tree these people will hold onto my legs to stop me, learning how to adjust to this will become most useful in our future tests. *Demonstrates method* (likened to watching a youtube vid)
You see? now you try.

Brad the Student:But sir I can't! its too difficult! Can't I just have an apple anyway?

Teacher:If you can't manage this one Brad, how will you ever get through our further tests? they will be much harder. Keep practising.

6 months later...

Teacher: Students! Great news! Our tree has been cut down! For those of you not yet able to complete the climbing exam you need only now climb the stump, it should be fine as it only comes up to your knee.
Dont worry, we placed an apple on the top of the stump anyway for all your effort.

Brad the Student: What about learning to adapt to the people holding onto your legs sir?

Teacher: Uh.... just don't worry about it at the moment, I'm sure it'll be fine.

Lets hope they take the skill gap into consideration for future content. Or the ones who only experienced the easier content wont have a hope in hell.

NOTE: I haven't touched EM modes yet as I have enough trouble with HM Titan (I have to compensate for lack of client-Server response as well as high ping, I'm getting there.) I find Ifrit and Garuda are easy though, I myself have picked up a few useful tricks while doing the HM primals (Getting all the relics) might help with EM modes later if I get in before they nerf it. I'm all for a challenge, I'm also for making things "accessable" but seriously, what effect is this gonna have on the players long-term? You can already see a big difference in players ability between those that levelled through hard work and those who just fate grinded to 50 when doing dungeons.

[HurtigeKarl]

So you're telling me studying for a test is also cheating?

A good test (in most subjects) do not rely on pure memorization. They require their students to actually think about how they are going to use the knowledge they've acquired in the specific tasks handed in the test.

I can't think of any good analogy to describe what's going on here with boss encounters, since it is a two-step challenge: 1. Figuring out the mechanics. 2. Execution

IQ tests for instance are all about figuring out the mechanics. Ice skating is all about execution.

Yes I did, outside of one exceptions with Twintania because I watched BGs kill video for Twisters. I can also tell you I have completed mostly everything this game has to offer, and I have never been more bored.

Sorry that you are bored XD. Otherwise it is great feat to have done what you've done.

[Zaels]

Idk about you but a ton of my college exams require me to memorize a lot of stuff.

Especially the Biology and History ones.

[Renvalt]

I would like to add my own input to this:

People seem to be concerned a lot more with the reward, rather than the journey. I can't even get into a Coil group to learn the whole of Turn 1 from start to finish, mostly because as soon as a select group of people have the shortcut, everyone rallies behind them for easy-peasy loot. This is the exact same argument I had with XI: the content is already losing its value not because of Square Enix's actions, but because the community is so quick to give into their greed, their desire for that shiny piece of endgame pixel, that they ignore the fact that other people are doing Coil for the first time and may not value said "ezmodez" that highly.

Heck, Coil isn't the ONLY offender of this crime.

-CM/Prae? Anyone else who's done it will kindly go "skip plz, I need mah tomes and I need em naos, go watch CS later in inn room". Some people LIKE the immersion; if I wanted to simply watch the story without playing the whole dungeon through, I'd go watch a Youtube video.
-Primals/Ultima? Some people like the challenge, some people have enough time to try the fight after more than one or two wipes. Yet the minute anyone wipes, you guys tend to start a tantrum, whining because "such and such player suxorz, get Allagan gearz and get on mah level", when DPS may or may not be the issue here.

The one thing I CAN agree on though, is that there's not really any clear path to progression. That's half SE's fault, half the community's fault. SE hasn't really done enough of a job locking certain people out of content they aren't ready for (in addition to not scaling it properly); meanwhile, the community's insistence that you rush your Relic/DL set/CT set/etc. makes for one hell of a shitty endgame. Sure, the gear you get at 50 for your Job is great, but has anyone actually tried to use the common greens for 50s?

Y'all cry about wanting a challenge and then take the path of least resistance to power - all for what? So you can "lord" over players and tell them how to play the game (or even play it for them)?

You hypocrites make me sick.