2.2 has sucked all the fun out of the game...

[Tiggy]

You're on Diabolos. If you don't like people complaining about being gated, Hows about you and the rest of your static help me get a Titan X win?

Seriously... I know the whole fight, don't have lag and I normally never get hit and even with echo I can't get a win. I'm not really sure what else I can do here.... I'm not going to pay 500K plus just to be able to move on to newer content.

Don't you have an FC of friends you can scrounge up to do this? I mean..2 weekends ago we spent a few hours unclogging the Titan Ex drain and got 6 of our members through it. Can't your FC do that too?

[Versiroth]

I mean..2 weekends ago we spent a few hours unclogging the Titan Ex drain and got 6 of our members through it. Can't your FC do that too?

I've asked a few times, but only one person spoke up (saying they'd help later on). I don't like to be a pest, so I've just been trying to PF it. I've never been that guy to ask for FC help every time I need anything.. I normally only ask in desperation. I have a feeling the people capable of downing it can't stomach doing it over and over in order to help out all of the FC members that need it (who can blame them?). Plus, with the new patch, they're all busy doing things they actually want to do or need to progress their own characters. I'd feel bad trying to guilt people into stopping what they're doing to help me.

I'll keep PFing it, but after doing it every day for the last few weeks, it's getting to a point where I don't really look forward to logging in anymore.

[Gerolan]

I must be on of the few that love 2.2 then
I took a break during 2.1 and came back recently and I absolutely love the new 2.2 main scenario, Hildibrand and the addition to tribe quests
And I've been crying out for leviathan for ages, even with no drops I will happily help those that need it

[Tanama]

I bought Dark Souls II when Patch 2.2 was released so I probably will return for 2.3 if it contains either a new class/job or the that other form of PvP(Homeland? Homefront?) I forgot the name but I am highly anticipating information on those upcoming features.

[Kuroyasha]

Eh I like it. The fate part isnt the most fun but you dont have to do it anyway. there are 3 different i100 weapons. I like the new dungeons. I like the new gear i can use for glamour from them(bard chest is nice).

The Zodia was designed for the grind. I dont like it per se, but i can deal with it since i want to ultimately see where it ends up. It won't be the best weap in the game(that's only for coil), but it could be an alternative to the i110 tome weap later on.

And i got my belt and head from t6 so I''m peachy

[Legionius]

well for the new dungeon, i do have a paladin i87 and a monk i92... the ilevel recquire normally is far below, then yeah it's easy. they really need to add ilevel sync.. it become ridiculous.

I've downed them both easily at a hair under 60 on Blm and War with strangers. That's how easy they are. They really need to spread the difficultly out a bit more so I don't have to deal with raging speed runners in ridiculously easy content.

[Tiggy]

I'll keep PFing it, but after doing it every day for the last few weeks, it's getting to a point where I don't really look forward to logging in anymore.

Honestly, if it's between quitting or asking for help then just ask. Go "Hey guys, I'm not trying to be a bother, but I'm having a hell of a time getting a win in PF. Can you guys help me out real fast so I can progress?" If they say no then you might need a new FC. :/ FC's should exist so that members help one another. The hope being that one day you'll be able to help the next group that gets stuck.

[Sadana]

Honestly, if it's between quitting or asking for help then just ask. Go "Hey guys, I'm not trying to be a bother, but I'm having a hell of a time getting a win in PF. Can you guys help me out real fast so I can progress?" If they say no then you might need a new FC. :/ FC's should exist so that members help one another. The hope being that one day you'll be able to help the next group that gets stuck.

wish I could 'like' this multiple times. Pay it forward.

[i2agnarok]

snip!

I'd like to point out that I like Araeya's perspective the most out of the posts I've been reading.

I agree that there are avenues for the "hardcore" that wants to do the endgame content full of challenges, as well as those that want to get similar gear, yet without the more "hardcore" (term used loosely) aspect. Personally, I feel like the two roads just don't mesh very well; the people that love grinding will love the Relic, while the people that want to do Coil will do Coil, and Echo buff will make content easier and more accessible.

It all sounds good on paper. In practice, there are a few issues that I have, but no system is perfect.

-Atma is extremely time consuming (as intended, you may say, but I think the rates are kind of asinine). The 2nd half of the quest seems well enough alone, but the first being extremely luck based is going to cause frustration for people who are just plain unlucky. No one wants to grind for the sake of grinding; if Fates inherently had some sort of reward other than experience (and Seals had more applications), they wouldn't be so dead, in my opinion. Add in the fact that you're doing low-level ones with 90% of your skills locked and it becomes very mind-numbing with no real sense that you're actually doing anything.

-Extreme mode Primals: I seriously do not get with the big deal is on this one. Since when have any Primals not required you to beat the other ones first? Titan's a roadblock, fine, but I don't know how anyone could have figure an Extreme fight would not require you to do the other Extremes first. O_o

-Echo buffs will make things easier and will help groups immensely, but I think that they won't help a lot of instances where the actual cause of the problem is something else; you still won't be able to strong-arm a lot of the content. I think that's the problem with a lot of the "hard" content; you can just brute-force a lot of it with the high ilvl gear, and a lot of people are going to want to wait for Echo buffs. I was trying to help a friend do Titan HM and a lot of players don't even want to attempt it until Echo kicks in. You are still going to have people that don't want to learn the content, only now they'll be more likely to do it because they have more "I can haz win?" buttons in the form of high gear that's obtained fairly easily, is effective, and Echo. It kind of kills the experience for a lot of people.

I think we already covered that not all FCs have enough members ready for Coil or are available for your playing hours (or some have members that just can't be bothered, but that probably means you are better off moving on), so I won't keep beating a dead horse there.

It really just feels like there are more ways to get "stuck" between the two routes and that's what can really lead to the frustrations...but there's really nothing one can do about the dungeons except keep trying. I am totally for Atma drop rates being increased, though. Its already a long grind to the finish line as it is.

[Lamentations]

Dude.. people don't remember what playing FFXI was actually like.

People who claim this game has hardcore "grind" never played xi, played it and quit, or simply lie about playing it.

Se is trying to balance content to please both hardcore and casuals, players pissing off about 2.2 grind don't get it, or simply don't care, id bet on don't care.

The next patch will most likely introduce a ton of casual content, at which point hardcore players will scream bloody murder.

"Something" has to block access to endgame content, be it titan ex or whatever, again they don't care.

CoP in old pre-nerf days had "artificial difficulty" to it, a much worse mechanic than RNG, you did everything right and still lost, titan ex isn't any more trouble than old school CoP, again they never played, quit , or lied.

What was left out of the comment describing titan ex being so much more trouble than old-school CoP, was that getting people to carry you through it after they had already done it was nigh impossible, most of the gear sets they had for it were sold off so they had to re-aquire them, or better yet they expected "you" to farm it all up for them. Most simply didn't want to ever see CoP again, until they nerfed it at least.

I suppose it's a fair observation to say grind is defined differently by different players, as far as I am concerned, there is "no" grind in 14.

The only things I really don't like about 14 is being forced by DF/PF into playing with asshats outside of my FC, all content should be FC accessible, but that's my opinion, the targeting system, and the way voke works on paladin.

As always someone will probably point out this toon doesn't have any of this content I have mentioned done, don't bother, I play a different hyur female now.