Current State of End-Game Contents - A Blog Post from A Japanese Player

[Rosy]

The best part about all the complaints is that those people still play the game, and will continue to play the game.

The design of end-game PVE is fine. It is punishing as heck, as it's supposed to be. If you can't handle punishing as heck PVE, then FFXIV end-game PVE is not for you... It's really that simple. But I'm not getting why people are surprised - just about every MMORPG in existence that has end-game PVE raiding works this way... There are different tiers of end-game content, and the truly end-game stuff is only beaten by a small percentage of players at first. Down the road, things either get nerfed, or new content comes out with better equipment, making older content easier, thus a larger percentage of players will see/complete that content.

Provided there are enough players left "down the road" and they've not left for something more..."fun"

[GalkaBikini]

You know, I see so many people complaining that "I can do my part in the fight, dodge, etc, but I get in groups with other people that can't." Are there really that many people that aren't in FCs and are having to pug so much content? That aren't in FCs that will help their FC mates with content? When I formed my FC, I built it on the foundation that we WILL help each other. I don't want people in my FC that are just going to only do content that they themselves need or want. I use a google spreadsheet to track each members progress and so I have a list of players that need Titan X. Each week I try to get at least 1 or 2 people thru it by taking them in a group of 6 or 7 of us that have beaten the fight before.
Are there really so few FCs out there that do things this way? I mean, this is pretty much the whole point of the game for me personally...

[GalkaBikini]

Provided there are enough players left "down the road" and they've not left for something more..."fun"

People still play Ultima Online and Everquest 1. Those games are a decade and a half old. Besides, this game can thrive on Japanese population alone, just as FFXI is.

[Rosy]

People still play Ultima Online and Everquest 1. Those games are a decade and a half old. Besides, this game can thrive on Japanese population alone, just as FFXI is.

Yup I pop into UO usually once a year..just love that game, but looking forward to the new one (once I can decide how much I can afford to "donate")

Not sure this game can survive on Japanese population alone....FFXIV 1.0 couldn't

[LadyVal]

You know, I see so many people complaining that "I can do my part in the fight, dodge, etc, but I get in groups with other people that can't." Are there really that many people that aren't in FCs and are having to pug so much content? That aren't in FCs that will help their FC mates with content? When I formed my FC, I built it on the foundation that we WILL help each other. I don't want people in my FC that are just going to only do content that they themselves need or want. I use a google spreadsheet to track each members progress and so I have a list of players that need Titan X. Each week I try to get at least 1 or 2 people thru it by taking them in a group of 6 or 7 of us that have beaten the fight before.
Are there really so few FCs out there that do things this way? I mean, this is pretty much the whole point of the game for me personally...

I can't speak for every server, but on Siren, FCs =/= friends. Many FCs are focused on raiding. One of our larger FCs is actually just groups of 8 that meet to raid and solo when not raiding. Many people are focused on being the best and having the gear to show off, and have no interest at all in having friends. They also don't have a team attitude like you do. My first and only static group was very team-oriented, as was the FC we were based in, in that we all worked to keep each other strong and we thought of ourselves as a unit. Most statics now are just 8 people thinking they run perfectly and expect the other 7 to run perfectly so they can get the best loot to strut around town and hope to garner some attention from that.

Tl,dr; you're very unique in how you run your FC (imo) because on my server, most want to do their own thing and have no interest in helping, being helped, or having friends. They just want to solo to being the shining star of the server.

[Rosy]

You know, I see so many people complaining that "I can do my part in the fight, dodge, etc, but I get in groups with other people that can't." Are there really that many people that aren't in FCs and are having to pug so much content? That aren't in FCs that will help their FC mates with content? When I formed my FC, I built it on the foundation that we WILL help each other. I don't want people in my FC that are just going to only do content that they themselves need or want...... snip

Our FC is a group of people who have played together in other games for over 3 years...varying skills, varying ages, varying interests, and we are all friends and want to stay together, which, as I pointed out, is not really catered for in this game. So there is no "I don't want people that....." applicable

[GalkaBikini]

Not sure this game can survive on Japanese population alone....FFXIV 1.0 couldn't

You cannot seriously be comparing 2.0 to 1.0........?

[GalkaBikini]

Tl,dr; you're very unique in how you run your FC (imo) because on my server, most want to do their own thing and have no interest in helping, being helped, or having friends. They just want to solo to being the shining star of the server.

That makes me want to cry.

[Yukiko]

That makes me want to cry.

FFXIV does not support Group play with groups more than 8 players.
I do not say it is impossible, because as you said with effort you can keep track and manage to compensate downsides of game support but still it is life draining.
Questing often require you to leave group, with chocobo you cant be invited any more, not to mention DF where you cant do dailys in group...

Our FC is a group of people who have played together in other games for over 3 years...varying skills, varying ages, varying interests, and we are all friends and want to stay together, which, as I pointed out, is not really catered for in this game. So there is no "I don't want people that....." applicable

While time passes, friends coming and going...
I am glad there are some good groups out there, but what will be in 3 more years? life continues and the problem is you will not be able to login at same times each day, can you still form a static then?

[Xine]

That makes me want to cry.

I'd have to agree with her, I've been in at least 3 different FCs since the release of 2.0 and in every one of them, the group was more focused on doing things solo. The second FC I was in was great at the start but then the original left after raging at people for having problems with some of the other members and handled their problems extremely poorly. Shortly after he left the game the next person who took over the FC did an even more horrible job at being an FC leader and the FC is even more toxic then the rest of the server and Duty Finder.The FC USED to help people out and make sure everyone knew how to handle fights and would teach new people how to do the fights. However since the FC is under "new" leadership, they went in the complete opposite direction and its falling apart and the leadership is extremely selfish and only out for themselves. I've long since left the FC and this is just what I've heard about them. My FC I'm in now is practically empty and nobody ever logs in anymore save like 5 people. My old static fell apart because people couldn't gather for more than 30-60 minutes once a week to do any content, but the group was great while it lasted and at least managed to clear t5.

There's nothing wrong with group content at all, but I don't even bother touching EX Primals or SCoB because the random groups attempting to do the fights now fail so hard at it that its not worth my time and the migraines that ensue with it to even give them my time. Because I HAVE tried with randoms and honestly, I have better luck in Duty Finder with people on other servers than people from my own server.