Fan Census: This is embarrassing

[TheFatHousecat]

But the premise of this thread is an idiotic one. "Oh no not enough people are doing coil". Who gives a crap? If you wanna do it, do it. If you don't, don't. Not like the population has any obligation to care about it.

The devs care, for one. They spend millions of dollars and thousands of man-hours working on this stuff. The less people do the content, the less they'll budget for it in the future. They less they budget for it, the less there is. The less there is, the more raiders (whether softcore, midcore or hardcore) will leave the game seeking greener pastures with more raider-focused content.

Raiders, demographically, are incidentally also the most likely to stay subscribed for long consecutive stretches of time, where non-raiders and more casual players are generally more likely to sub 1-3 months on then take some months off, resubbing for new major content patches. Considering raiders are the most likely to log on every day and stay subbed for many months consecutively, whether you like to admit it or not- they form the backbone of the game's community. They keep the community alive while so many others take their 3/6/9+ months off.

A thriving MMO needs this demographic, and it needs as many of them as it can get... without alienating the more casual/non-raiding audience. People want to know why WoW is so successful? This is why. Devs try to please both sides closer to 50/50, because in spite of casual/non-raiders comprising proportionally a much larger segment of their audience, mid-to-hardcores/raiders consume MUCH more content and consume it MUCH more quickly. So they need more to keep them interested, so they'll stick around. So far, FFXIV has been more like 80/20 in favor of the casual/non-raiding demographic, and they're losing a lot of raiders to other games over time.

It's a really fine line to walk, but the better you walk it, the more successful your game will be. But this is why adding easy story modes to raids for people who only care about story and aren't interested in the challenging grind is actually a really, really good thing. More people will see your content, so your development dollars get a better return. It's also more efficient from a development standpoint, because instead of having to design entirely separate content for the two sides of the coin, you now already have the basic structure to work with and you create an alternate version of it using the same tools. Kind of like the FFXIII series using the same graphics engine to make separate games- this is much more efficient than making a new and different engine for each game in the series.

This means everybody wins. Development costs less and is more time-efficient, giving them more time and money to spend developing more new content. As long as that content follows the same pattern of having something for both crowds, it's a benefit for everyone.

In the meantime, though- no, people don't have an obligation to care about the content. But the premise of the thread is still important, whether or not it's phrased imperfectly. If we want to continue getting interesting, high-quality content every few months... people need to care about it. Devs are doing their part to make it easier for everyone to care in 3.0, but in the meantime that "no care" attitude is why devs scrap savage coil plans in favor of more Hildebrand garbage.

Yes, more people care about Hildebrand than savage coil- but the people who care about Hildebrand are also less likely to stick around for as long and/or spend as much time and energy on the game as people who care about savage coil. Does it really make sense to cater only to what they care about and ignore the stuff your actual core audience (ie: the lifers, who play the game 4+ hours a day every day for years) cares about?

Not if you want your game to stick around. FFXI knew this, and look how long it has lasted. And FFXI suffered from the opposite problem- catering primarily to hardcores over casual players, and lost most of its casual demographic as a result. Imagine how much more successful FFXI could have been if it had done more to please the casual demographic sooner (assuming it wouldn't be at the expense of the midcore/hardcore demo). On the other hand, MMOs that cater 90-95% to the casual demographic and have little, if anything, for the midcore/hardcore demo... tend not to last very long at all, and aren't very financially successful. Do you imagine that's a coincidence?

It isn't. And that's why the topic matters, and why people care about it. Devs especially.

[Mercutial]

Yes, more people care about Hildebrand than savage coil- but the people who care about Hildebrand are also less likely to stick around for as long and/or spend as much time and energy on the game as people who care about savage coil. Does it really make sense to cater only to what they care about and ignore the stuff your actual core audience (ie: the lifers, who play the game 4+ hours a day every day for years) cares about?

This is absolutely the top o' the mountain gospel truth right here. And is something that so many have a hard time wrapping their minds around. Are top-tier raiders in the minority? Yes. But adjusted for actual play time and content consumption, I'd emphatically agree that the playing field is much more level.

[Kallera]

This is absolutely the top o' the mountain gospel truth right here. And is something that so many have a hard time wrapping their minds around. Are top-tier raiders in the minority? Yes. But adjusted for actual play time and content consumption, I'd emphatically agree that the playing field is much more level.

No one likes catering to the extremities only. That's why a lot of folk came to hate coil to begin with, and why there was a forum to do about the booing during fan fest at a story mode coil.

If nothing else, the stats and thread show that Alexander has an audience, and the common view of endgame/pf may be causing a chilling effect on folks participating in endgame. If not addressed, the bleeding edge of raiding may remain limited in scope.

[DoctorPepper]

No one likes catering to the extremities only. That's why a lot of folk came to hate coil to begin with, and why there was a forum to do about the booing during fan fest at a story mode coil.

If nothing else, the stats and thread show that Alexander has an audience, and the common view of endgame/pf may be causing a chilling effect on folks participating in endgame. If not addressed, the bleeding edge of raiding may remain limited in scope.

They were booing at coil nerfs (to already existing coil), not story mode coil. I don't think anybody has a problem with story mode coil to be honest, they just don't think it's necessary until 3.0. Personally I'm glad that both sides are getting attention in 3.0, maybe it will give some more people the confidence they need to actually try the hard versions.

Hmm, what is annoying, is how this will affect Alexander. I understand wanting more people to raid but, seriously? Reward those who don't care to learn to press buttons?

Odds are the rewards for the hard version will be superior so it doesn't really matter. I didn't read the other 38 pages so if you're replying to somebody I missed it.