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

[Seif]

FINAL FANTASY XI!

(I'm going to start a fire here by alerting all the trolls to the yard just by saying that game's name.)

In XI there were challenges of extreme difficulty.

However there were almost an endless way to overcome great challenges with horizontal progression.

Some would say that patience shouldn't be rewarded the same way twitch reaction skills are rewarded but I think a lot of the content that could be cleared with patience DID REQUIRE SKILL. It took a lot of time and dedication combined with long-term planning but you could gear yourself up to make the difference with full spell set and proper items and food.


XIV in it's current form doesn't offer options this way and I think it's most harmful when it comes to crafted gear and food. They made those completely useless to the point where I wonder why do they even exist?

[Litre]

[B]... you could gear yourself up to make the difference with full spell set and proper items and food.


XIV in it's current form doesn't offer options this way and I think it's most harmful when it comes to crafted gear and food. They made those completely useless to the point where I wonder why do they even exist?

Exactly, you hit the nail on the head, the fights need to be more balanced between dodging mechanics and gear.

Insta-death mechanics were also more balanced in other games, they were designed to pretty much kill you if you were fighting at the intended level.


But! There was a caveat, because they didn't just kill you outright, it was possible to grind in the forest a bit, gain an extra 5 levels, perhaps buy an item that would allow you to resist some of the damage and re-attempt it. Was it easier? Sure, but you also worked harder and it took you longer to beat. In that sense I think it's balanced, now in an MMO, obviously the hardcore need a headstart, so the items and gear that would allow you to beat the fight more easily obviously shouldn't be released until months after.

And that's totally fine, the casual players are happy with the "horizontal progression", it at least gives them a round-about way to do it. Plus they don't have that much time to play, but at least if they know they are getting closer, they'll be interested.

So we have Animus and now Novus, now if an iLvl 100 item really made all the difference so players can beat Titan (many months after its release) then great, but unless that novus weapon comes with +25% earth elemental knockback resist, I don't think so - and making it totally RNG also made it less interesting for casual players.