Please, don't dumb down the content even further for sake of newcomers. :-O

[DreadRabbit]

I have to say, even when freshly leveling, the only roadblocks I can think of are Brayflox NM, *maybe* Stone Vigil NM, Garuda NM, and Titan HM.

And that's fair. I don't think the game's very hard at all. But there is definitely a difference in difficulty if there's even 1 person overgeared and knows what they're doing (depending on role). The only problem is the tug-of-war mentality, unfortunately. We want the new people to play in the new areas ASAP, but at what cost? Something has to give in order for them to do it quickly. And unfortunately, lessening difficulty or adding a "beginner mode" usually does the trick.

[Viridiana]

And that's fair. I don't think the game's very hard at all. But there is definitely a difference in difficulty if there's even 1 person overgeared and knows what they're doing (depending on role). . . We want the new people to play in the new areas ASAP, but at what cost? Something has to give in order for them to do it quickly. And unfortunately, lessening difficulty or adding a "beginner mode" usually does the trick.

Granted. I think what the OP is saying (and if so, I agree) is that the game is already so easy until you get to, well, really Titan HM (and then Coil, because the following Primal HMs are also pretty easy), that players aren't being prepared for when the difficulty spikes. This causes problems, either with them losing hope or them trying to persevere in doing hard things they aren't prepared for instead of having a ramp to fall back on.

[StrejdaTom]

Granted. I think what the OP is saying (and if so, I agree) is that the game is already so easy until you get to, well, really Titan HM (and then Coil, because the following Primal HMs are also pretty easy), that players aren't being prepared for when the difficulty spikes. This causes problems, either with them losing hope or them trying to persevere in doing hard things they aren't prepared for instead of having a ramp to fall back on.

Yes, that is exactly what I meant.

[DreadRabbit]

Granted. I think what the OP is saying (and if so, I agree) is that the game is already so easy until you get to, well, really Titan HM (and then Coil, because the following Primal HMs are also pretty easy), that players aren't being prepared for when the difficulty spikes.

Now I can get behind that yet also not get behind that. Unless this is their first MMO ever, most people interested in MMOs know to prepare for difficulty spikes. Really I feel we won't know if their changes will be detrimental to player morale until after they're implemented, sadly

[Viridiana]

Now I can get behind that yet also not get behind that. Unless this is their first MMO ever, most people interested in MMOs know to prepare for difficulty spikes. Really I feel we won't know if their changes will be detrimental to player morale until after they're implemented, sadly

True, but every game is someone's first MMO. And then you'll have the people coming in because it's an FF game. And then the people who have played MMOs that are rather unlike FFXIV. For example, one of my friends started with ARR and had only DCUO as prior MMO experience. Not intending to disparage DCUO at all, but we had to teach him what it meant to tank, because he had no experience with it.

You're right about the morale thing. Any change is going to affect different people in opposite ways, so there's really no winning, only trying to make as many happy as possible.

[Gilthas]

People think the game is hard whaaa

Am I the only one that finds it funny that on the forums there's so many bad-asses that think the game is easy?

[KisaiTenshi]

True, but every game is someone's first MMO. And then you'll have the people coming in because it's an FF game. And then the people who have played MMOs that are rather unlike FFXIV. For example, one of my friends started with ARR and had only DCUO as prior MMO experience. Not intending to disparage DCUO at all, but we had to teach him what it meant to tank, because he had no experience with it.

You're right about the morale thing. Any change is going to affect different people in opposite ways, so there's really no winning, only trying to make as many happy as possible.

FFXIV is probably the first game that does Tanking and Healing "roles" right. Other games that I've played that had "healer" and "tank" type of roles, had no enforcement of the roles, thus everyone is just a DPS with a few role-specific skills that are shunned in favor of pot-spamming healing pots. The game mechanics actually rely on these roles being used, and trying to be a DPS who queued as a tank or a DPS who queued as a healer results in wipe after wipe.

The thing that would make the game more accessible for new players is appropriate incentives to play the old content with new players, rather than trying to nerf old content, thus making the learning curve that much steeper for new players to get into new content.

Like the easiest thing to do would be to change the number of (untradeable) drops in old dungeons so that it doesn't give gear that suits over-geared players who don't need it anyway. It may be a bit unreasonable for every drop to match the newbie, but it would lessen the amount of pointless running for gear that just gets passed over anyway.

[Felis]

If ANY content should get nerfed by the time 3.0 comes out, it's Steps of Faith. But that's just my opinion. Not because it's overly difficult with a premade party, but because most new players will probably DF it, get frustrated with the difficulty, and ragequit.

Just make it a part for the new relic weapon quest ^^

[lvlagmarink]

As we know every newcomer will have to go trough atleast 2.0 - 2.55 story to get to Heavensward. Even now many newcomers (for example in my FC) complain that the game is too easy and dumb untill 50, if level 50 content becomes even easier than it already is I can see many newcomers leaving before getting to Heavensward.

I have different approach coming from my circles in this situation, most of the players that i've known mostly only bother with the content until they can clear it.. Making it too "hard" for them will make them rage, while of course they wont know every nook or cranny of the fight, so the need of 4-7 players who already learnt the content the hard way has to carry the said player.. But the player will be happy as long as they get the clear, take a break from the game, then come back when more contents has been offered to the game.. And that's casual pace that one can't complain about..

It is a rare thing for me to hear someone say about a content being easy..