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

[Iriadysa]

I'll assume you're in a static, am I right? Coil is fun for those who are in a static party.
My static fell apart 2 weeks ago after 3 members quit the game but I was lucky enough to get some nice loot (just fail RNG on the sand).
Now I have to PUG SCoB, last week was just horrible dealing with ragers (people pointing fingers and playing the blame game, but when they themselves died they were quick to type "lol" and "lag").
I am officially boycotting SCoB until I'm in a static again, not that anyone cares. Days pass and I now ignore PUG groups looking for pro Renaud kiting SMN's because I'm just over it.
SE please make SCoB more accessible so that people can get it done on their own time, not forced to rush it on Tuesday or Wednesday when all the competent PUG groups go through, please get rid of the stupid lockout.

It's the same static parties who have T6-9 on farm for their subclasses and alts so I'm not sure what the point of the lockout is. It just ostricises the majority of your playerbase from participating in this content.

The flipside to not doing SCoB is T5 and Levi (and that carebear Novus grind) and that's just not cool.

I really believe the major problem with SCoB is, indeed, the lock outs. This alone is what causes the "static only" mentality, which makes the SCoB such exclusive content.

Obviously the intention is to make content last longer by stretching the amount of loot you can get in a single week and while I hate this idea, I suppose it's understandable that it's either this or really low drop rates. Seems unrealistic to expect them to be able to pump enough content for player consumption. The alternative would be to follow CT's model and give one drop per week instead of one clear per week, but I'm not even sure if this would actually help move people away from the "static only" mentality.

I'm honestly not sure what the solution to this is. Not the OP though, that's for sure.

[ToffeeCoffee]

I really believe the major problem with SCoB is, indeed, the lock outs. This alone is what causes the "static only" mentality, which makes the SCoB such exclusive content.

Obviously the intention is to make content last longer by stretching the amount of loot you can get in a single week and while I hate this idea, I suppose it's understandable that it's either this or really low drop rates. Seems unrealistic to expect them to be able to pump enough content for player consumption. The alternative would be to follow CT's model and give one drop per week instead of one clear per week, but I'm not even sure if this would actually help move people away from the "static only" mentality.

I'm honestly not sure what the solution to this is. Not the OP though, that's for sure.

I think lower drop rates (chance for nothing to drop) with dungeon cool-down is a much better option than the weekly single clear lockout. Players get to learn, experience and enjoy the content and aren't able to gear out so quickly. Addresses two issues there and then. Only people who might not like that are the easy clear hardcore farmers.

[Gormogon]

I think lower drop rates (chance for nothing to drop) with dungeon cool-down is a much better option than the weekly single clear lockout. Players get to learn, experience and enjoy the content and aren't able to gear out so quickly. Addresses two issues there and then. Only people who might not like that are the easy clear hardcore farmers.

Also add that you only get 1 hr to do all of it if not you're locked out for the week.

To bad there's no hardcore option of, if you die you character dies forever.

[Yukiko]

I think lower drop rates (chance for nothing to drop) with dungeon cool-down is a much better option than the weekly single clear lockout. Players get to learn, experience and enjoy the content and aren't able to gear out so quickly. Addresses two issues there and then. Only people who might not like that are the easy clear hardcore farmers.

Welcome back to FFXIV 1.x, no thanks!
No Drop is bad Gamedesign.

To bad there's no hardcore option of, if you die you character dies forever.

Lets add this and we will see all those so called Hardcores whine about "Content is too hard"

[Gormogon]

Lets add this and we will see all those so called Hardcores whine about "Content is too hard"

They could already start doing it. Every time they die they have to delete their character and start fresh. Guess it is too hardcore that they wont do it.

[Iriadysa]

I think lower drop rates (chance for nothing to drop) with dungeon cool-down is a much better option than the weekly single clear lockout. Players get to learn, experience and enjoy the content and aren't able to gear out so quickly. Addresses two issues there and then. Only people who might not like that are the easy clear hardcore farmers.

If cooldowns were to be implemented, you'd have to add them upon completion of the encounter, otherwise a number of undesirable problems arise which are heavily documented on any other MMO that uses them.

While lower drop rates would help with participation rates as well as keeping the content "current" for a certain amount of time, my experience tells me that it leads to frustration and it's not really going to create a happier player base than what we have now.

I wish I could propose a solution, but I don' t have one. I feel CT's model is less frustrating, but I don't really have any evidence that it would break with the "static only" requirements of SCoB.