Why is FFXIV considered to be so hard/hardcore?

[Ampheni]

Sorry for double posting, but 1000 characters is not enough.

So I wanted to add that... Surprisingly, players in FFXIV lacks some kind of flexibility to react in certain unexpected scenarios, rendering them unable to react to most special situations which may save a wipe or two in this game. To be honest, I am against the fact that people are relying on videos, it's a bad influences, it's causing people to only know how to "read from the book" instead of reacting to the current situation. Videos are not a bad thing, but it should never be used as a strict guidelines and be followed 100% flawlessly.

[Priya]

To be honest, I am against the fact that people are relying on videos, it's a bad influences, it's causing people to only know how to "read from the book" instead of reacting to the current situation. Videos are not a bad thing, but it should never be used as a strict guidelines and be followed 100% flawlessly.

Your second sentence is exactly what videos are for. Knowing visually what to watch out for is often more helpful than reading a description of it (subjective). Videos are only there to show you what the boss is going to do. They may have tips on how to handle each mechanic, but anyone treating them as gospel is doing it wrong. The player still needs to know how to adapt. I do not understand why people in this game are so against researching mechanics (that's all a video is). /Rant

[Odett]

snip

I feel the same way. Getting informed of the fight really speeds up things, and I really don't understand the "I want to go in blind" people, because unless you're making a blind PF, you're only relegating responsibility to someone else in the group.

At the same time, people that treat videos like gospel are just as bad, because inflexibility will get you killed. A good adventurer is someone who not only know how to deal with a mechanic, but also know how a mechanic works and why they deal with it that way, because that grants flexibility and a chance to recover if things go wrong.

As much as I'm grateful for people like Mrhappy who post guides on youtube, we have to treat those guides with a grain of salt. They're there for information, and nothing more. Him saying "this is how my group handled it" and you doing it the same way expecting the same results will oftentimes not happen, because they are some of the best players in this game, and your group does not have that skill level. Videos are there to get informed, but as far as strategies, that's up to your group to discuss, and that's where the social aspect comes in. Being knowledge-blind to the "why" of mechanics and handling something a certain way because "mrhappy said so" will only get you so far.

[givemeraptors]

I feel the same way. Getting informed of the fight really speeds up things, and I really don't understand the "I want to go in blind" people, because unless you're making a blind PF, you're only relegating responsibility to someone else in the group.

From a personal, more subjective standpoint:
Have you ever run a new dungeon with an entire group of people who didn't know what to expect? It's an incredible amount of fun and for that first (and maybe only) run the game doesn't feel so heavily scripted. Flexibility, improvisation and skill are most important instead of being a slave to routine. The first run through Stone Vigil HM, the appearance of a second Giruveganaus while we were trying to figure out how the first one worked instantly killed two players in our party. We actually managed to win that battle (yay SMN battle rez!), but it was touch and go for a little bit and that was far more exciting than it is now where the only danger is falling asleep from boredom. People want to go in blind to experience that exhilaration and the surprise of the reveal.

From an objective standpoint:
The game tells players to sign themselves up in Duty Finder and defeat X. It doesn't say, "Look up a video or read a guide, then register for Duty Finder." When I started playing I never said I was new because... well, because why? I don't know if it's standard MMO practice or not because this is my first MMO, but I will say it's completely reasonable for players to stay quiet about doing something the first time, or not understand/wanting to watch a video of a dungeon before they do it because nothing in-game states otherwise and FFXIV is designed so that everything but Coil + EX primals (give or take a Levi) can be beaten totally blind. Now I will say if I'm new to content, just so nobody goes ballistic in the midst of an instance but I still won't look up a guide. The one time I did, for Twintania, it made things worse because the group I was in was doing it differently from the video and I was stuck with trying to reconcile what we were doing in-game with what I watched online. It made things much harder and the video only ended up hindering me.

Ultimately, it all comes down to player skill. I've seen first-timers do really well in endgame content with hardly any explanation, and I've seen first-timers with paragraphs of clarification or explanations via voice-chat fail utterly. A bad player that watches a video is still a bad player.

[Odett]

snip

I am not talking about dungeons because a 4 person fight takes no more than one minute to type. Anyone can go in blind and I will be more than glad to explain it, or not if they want to experience it blind because they're easy fights anyway. If someone refuses to explain a four person fight to you, then they suck as people

Explanation of Stone Vigil HM last boss: "The bosses don't have an agro table and no aoe markers, so try to dodge accordingly. I would also always try to stay away from their front, and they will also do a tail swipe." See? Easy to explain, digest, and even if people die, that thing can be 2 manned or even 1 manned by a BRD.

Explanation of T5: Kill ads, then on Twintania. If you get a fireball (red triangle), go on soak team (soak team will consist of bla bla bla), if you get conflag (blue triangle)go inside twintania. Kill conflag. If you have fireball while conflag is up, go inside conflag. Ok, now Divebombs. Stack on the bottom ditch. As soon as you see green circle on someone, run to top, then back down. Do this 2 more times. If you get hit by a divebomb, wait until after the next one to rejoin your team. Then get 3 snakes will spawn. Get the small ones (Hygegas) to ~60% (or whatever your group strategy is), then focus on Asclepius for the time being. Ok, now 3 more Divebombs. Now go near middle, kill all Hygegas before focusing fire Asclepius. When Twintania descends, get inside a neurolink to soak up the damage from the attack she's doing. Ok, now, Twisters and Dreadknights. Focus target her, if you see that she's casting twister, start running to a position that you and other players were originally not in, avoid crossing paths with other players. Ok, now dreadknights, stun/slow it, kill it fast while avoiding twisters. Ok now last phase, OT will soak up Hatches, but bait Liquid Hells to the edges of the arena. 'K, that's it."

See the difference in the length of the explanation? I do not expect anyone to take up all that info and execute it for the fight if they've never even seen it before. If you watch a video, you're saving someone the time of typing all that, as well as knowing what things will LOOK like, which will put you at a step higher in terms of survivability.

You mentioned that watching a T5 video made things worse because your group was using a different strategy than the video. That's not what watching videos is for. You watch a video so you can be informed about a fight. However your group handles a mechanic is up to the group, if you're watching videos to choreograph what the players are doing, then you're doing it wrong. You watch a video so you know what a divebomb is, what a conflag is, what a fireball is, what a twister is....and so on, as well as what they look like instead of going "wtf was that thing that killed me??"

Yes, a bad player that watches a video is still a bad player, but, not many bad players watch videos in the first place. You think that the guy that says "don't tell me how to play my job" when they're not DPSing, mitigating damage/holding agro, or healing correctly will watch a video? I highly doubt that.