Can I progress in storyline without doing dungeons?

[Bixillarla]

Without those lvl 50s in the DF for the lower dungeons your que times would tremendously long. SE added bonuses to get the high level players to run the low level dungeons to get the new players through it for the story.

If you want to run at a slower pace then take your chance on the DF or put together a local group of players who want to run it slowly with you.

[Ooshima]

I'm fine with doing a few dungeons, but the fact that I am now forced to do them over and over and over again until I get enough mythology to get some gear to boost my stats bugs me.
That is not fun for me at all. That tedious 'grind' I believe to be one of the biggest problems with MMO's at the moment and this game forces you to do it, it's not even a choice.

Which RPG, be it MMO not, doesn't constitute grind for the best stuff? I don't think FF14's grind is that bad at all.

FYI Mythology gears are NOT vanilla gears. Prior to 2.2 which is just not long ago, it's the highest level gear one can obtain (other than weapons at i95).

Vanilla gears are already given to you via job quests and also, Grand Company gears which are all at i55. By level 50 you should have enough seals for GC gears and also some gil to buy off cheap i55/i70 gears from the market board. These are your vanilla gears.

Anything better, you have to grind/work for it. Like I said previously, Mythology was the gear together with Allagans in 2.1 which was just 2 months ago, and FYI many players are still using them until they could get a High Allagan drop or purchase a piece of Soldiery gear. They are not severely outdated pieces to be immediately relegated down as handouts.

[Gnova]

It's the bread and butter of this MMO, but not all of them. Some actually have enough content that you don't have to keep repeating the same dungeons over and over unless that's what you like to do.

LOTRO, for instance, has tons of content.

Yes lotro has lots of content, it's been out forever and had a fair number of expansions. In the early days there was next to nothing to do at level cap.
Lotro is a very grindy game. It has kill 90,000 mobs in the lore challenge book (can't remember it's name) and you will kill mobs for hours and hours in order to farm mats for crafting.
You say there isn't a end game grind but that is only because you have chosen to level a pile of alts and do the same content over and over again.
I've got a lifetime sub to lotro but never play it because it is too grindy even for me.

[Gnova]

What I read here is the same complaint in other mmo’s. It’s how the elitist players in the game ruin the enjoyment of the vast majority of other players that do not have the time or perhaps the skill to be the perfect player.

It is the top end, hardcore, playerbase that make or break a MMO. Without those people MMO's don't have the sub retention to survive.
If someone has 40 hours per week to spend playing the game they should progress at four times the speed of someone that spends ten hours a week. They need to provide content that satisfies the 40 hr per week playerbase or they will go to a MMO that will fill that need.
If you have less time to play you are progressing just as fast as everyone else based on time played.

This is why games lime Dark Souls are so popular with the hardcore crowd. There is no "easymode" difficulty slider to make it more accessible. Everyone works equally hard to advance through the content and reach the credits.

[KingOfAbyss]

It is the top end, hardcore, playerbase that make or break a MMO. Without those people MMO's don't have the sub retention to survive.
If someone has 40 hours per week to spend playing the game they should progress at four times the speed of someone that spends ten hours a week. They need to provide content that satisfies the 40 hr per week playerbase or they will go to a MMO that will fill that need.
If you have less time to play you are progressing just as fast as everyone else based on time played.

This is why games lime Dark Souls are so popular with the hardcore crowd. There is no "easymode" difficulty slider to make it more accessible. Everyone works equally hard to advance through the content and reach the credits.

True dat.

And some will play Dark Souls, rage/quit cause they are blocked at one point. Others will resort to cheat and try to find if anyone has made it and give strategies.. or vid about it.

But they paid for the game

40 hours - 10 hours spamming holy in Mor Dhona.. ^^

[HEC]

Not everyone enjoys doing dungeons, I definitely don't, especially when I have to take hours out of my day just to find a duty for one.

This is specifically issue for your calss / catgegorry (DD / DPS) with large wating times. I also don't particullary play dungeons as the main "activity" in this game - I prefer "solo" exploring, crafting, gathering, fishing etc but yes - you do need to do most of the dungeons to progress, some could be skipped though and gear / items obtained alternative ways. If you need some help or simply want to team up just give me a shout in game - we're on the same server and most likely playing in the similar times as well.

[subteraneanbird]

It is the top end, hardcore, playerbase that make or break a MMO. Without those people MMO's don't have the sub retention to survive.
If someone has 40 hours per week to spend playing the game they should progress at four times the speed of someone that spends ten hours a week. They need to provide content that satisfies the 40 hr per week playerbase or they will go to a MMO that will fill that need.
If you have less time to play you are progressing just as fast as everyone else based on time played.

This is why games lime Dark Souls are so popular with the hardcore crowd. There is no "easymode" difficulty slider to make it more accessible. Everyone works equally hard to advance through the content and reach the credits.

In what world are you living in? Because it's certainly not ours.

Not only do the top elite hardcore players always make up an incredibly tiny proportion of the playerbase, they are also often the most fickle purchasers. Likely to unsub for months at a time when they have cleared the content available to them. How is a small group that isn't even subbed 100% of the time the one that keeps a game alive?

No, the people who keep MMO's running are the casual base. The people who keep their subs up and take their time (more months to do the work means more months you have to pay for which equals $$$$$) to finish even the most menial of quests, but keep at it because they play for 5 hours a week and have fun are the best contributors.

Your point about Dark Souls is nonsensical. The business model and end goal of a single player game and an MMO are vastly different. From a profit standpoint, it doesn't matter if you melt your Dark Souls disc the moment after you buy it. The reason why Dark Souls is popular is that it offers a good mix of challenge, interesting and fun gameplay, aesthetics, lore, etc. If Dark Souls were the same difficulty but only because it was harder to control then people would hate it. Or if it looked like hot nasty garbage, or it was written so horribly it wasn't understandable. The game is an entire package, not just hardcore catering.

As an MMO, you want different things. You want people to keep coming back for their monthly tithe. The best way to do that is to be broad but shallow. Lots of content, plenty of it easy or even trivial to do. Lots of time to invest. Despite having almost nothing going for them, trashy Zynga games make TONS of cash because they get people to come back every week for a few hours. And maybe buy a lil powerup or do a sponsered offer to make it ahead.

[MirielleLavandre]

Is there an alternative for players like me? Thanks

Actually, if you prefer to do things like crafting/gathering and making gear, you can make a bit of gil. Plus, your retainers could potentially bring you really nice stuff from the quick ventures (one of mine brought me a pack of seeds that sold for 160k). Crafting and gathering, and just doing ventures, could get you enough gil to buy i90 gear, almost equal to or close to the mythology gear you don't want to grind for. The only real gear not available to buy on the market board (with enough gil) is i100 left side and some i90-i100 accessories that cap out at i70 buyable. Just saying, even for i90 gear you don't HAVE to grind dungeons. Grinding for gil, though, may be not as upsetting for you.

[Gnova]

Not only do the top elite hardcore players always make up an incredibly tiny proportion of the playerbase, they are also often the most fickle purchasers.

People always seem to equate hardcore gamer with progression raid guild player.
What keeps a MMO alive is providing content at endgame, whether it is challenging group or raid content.
That is why content upgrades and expansions almost always are endgame heavy.
The playerbase that flits around in mid levels without ever really spending time with max level content is NOT the target PTP MMO audience.

If there was no max level content I would have been done the game after my free month and moved onto the next game.
I've leveled a character to 50 on two separate servers, finished the main storyline twice, completed all the pre 50 dungeons, and done a lot of crafting. If there was no challenging endgame what would be the point of continuing to pay a sub?

[Gnova]

Your point about Dark Souls is nonsensical.

The Darksouls comment were because people in this thread are asking for features to make this game play like a single player RPG with a difficulty slider. Then it may as well be a BTP game since there is no reason to continue playing the game once you have hit level 50 if you don't want to play in groups.

If Demons Souls would have had a "easy" option then Darksouls would never had been made and it would have been forgotten about years ago. Players liked the combat and the lore yeah, but they really liked the feeling of completing a challenging game with no option to make it easy.