NO MORE ALEXANDER(NM)!

[KaijinRhada]

There are extreme people on both sides, and trying to argue reasonably is going to get you shouted at no matter what you say. Can't remember if it on Reddit or here, but I suggested a 3 tier difficulty raid: Normal, Extreme and Savage. Extreme would be the first to come out, after a month both Normal and Savage would be released so the casuals (including myself) have a place to go, and the best of the best have Savage. This would satisfy all groups at the cost of a little bit more development time. Want to know what I got in response? The same things you see in this thread, "normal was a mistake", "you should have to work for story", and "Alexander normal should have never happened" so I don't even bother anymore. I don't know why people feel so threatened about the majority seeing content they funded.

^This pretty much sums up what I think about the whole situation. I don't even want to call Normal Alex Normal, more like basic. Three difficulties would be nice.

[hagare]

What does the fact that the new true raid offers no new lore, no new glamour and almost no new mechanics to do with e-peen?
Raiders were just used to raid for gear, glamour, story and new mechanics so expansion is a huge downgrade in this area for them/me.

the fact that Alex Savage is only released for the challenge.

[CosmicKirby]

I think a better solution is what happened in WoW with LFR.

Just introduce the normal mode shortly after the savage version, (say, a couple of weeks after, basically a reverse of the order it came out this time). For 2 reasons;
1.) Those who really want to experience the story first, will have extra motivation to do so.
2.) Gear in the Normal Mode won't be needed for early progression in the Savage version. As any possible/reasonably-possible ilevel increase you can get, is expected to be earned for any serious raiding static.

[StrejdaTom]

the fact that Alex Savage is only released for the challenge.

That isn't enough to keep 8 people going into it a few times a week, or it atleast seems so from all these 7/8 6/8 statics recruiting daily for A3 or A2.
And the fact that there will be same gear level available sooner than majority of raiding groups (not every FF player, just raiding groups) will even get to A4 doesn't help the popularity of Alex too.

They should have made one easy story mode raid connected to MSQ and one savage raid with its own story not connected to MSQ at all. That way raiders could still raid like in 2.X and people who don't raid wouldn't have story locked behind raiding (I mean savage raiding, NM Alex is on hard primal difficulty).

[Fynlar]

That isn't enough to keep 8 people going into it a few times a week, or it atleast seems so from all these 7/8 6/8 statics recruiting daily for A3 or A2.

Raid statics have often had people who leave, whether it's for RL reasons, they got what they want, or they just aren't happy there, or etc. since BCoB the dawn of MMOs; this is nothing new

[Belhi]

That isn't enough to keep 8 people going into it a few times a week, or it atleast seems so from all these 7/8 6/8 statics recruiting daily for A3 or A2.
And the fact that there will be same gear level available sooner than majority of raiding groups (not every FF player, just raiding groups) will even get to A4 doesn't help the popularity of Alex too.

They should have made one easy story mode raid connected to MSQ and one savage raid with its own story not connected to MSQ at all. That way raiders could still raid like in 2.X and people who don't raid wouldn't have story locked behind raiding (I mean savage raiding, NM Alex is on hard primal difficulty).

Your right that it would be easy. It would also be time consuming and mean less of something else.

The blunt reality is that the Hardcore playerbase is a small portion of the playerbase and it makes little sense to cut the large majority of the players out of storytelling from a development standpoint. One of the major complaints I saw about Coils back in 2.x was from players who didn't have the time or skill to commit to structured raiding and as such missed out on some of the best storytelling in the game. Lets be clear here. It's about denying players access to story, not making content they don't want to do. Even if a hardcore player doesn't really enjoy casual gameplay, there is nothing denying them access to any story behind it.

I think its perfectly viable to argue that glamour and such should be put behind savage. I don't think you can put story behind it though without pissing off more players than you would mollify.

[CosmicKirby]

Snip

What quality of the story makes it less reasonable to gate behind a difficult challenge, than gating gear behind the same challenge? Clearly there must be some difference between the two for you to be okay with the latter, but not the former being behind difficult content.

If I purchase a book, am I entitled to understand the intricacies of the plot, characters, story, and the like, simply by virtue of reading it? Am I entitled to also be able to read spin-offs without paying further, what if they were started in the original text?

I'm being rhetorical because I don't see the reason why the story isn't alright to gate, but the gear is, other than entirely personal preference. Which is fine, but you seem to imply otherwise. Do players enjoy story more than gear?

[Nestama]

the fact that Alex Savage is only released for the challenge.

Though most of that challenge appears to be on the healer, since the bosses hit like a falling building made of trucks with sharks with laser beams attached to their head (and some ill-tempered sea bass).

[Spellbinder]

If we get rid of normal Alexander, can we get rid of normal Coil as well?

[Zumi]

Though most of that challenge appears to be on the healer, since the bosses hit like a falling building made of trucks with sharks with laser beams attached to their head (and some ill-tempered sea bass).

Only if tanks are wearing str accessories, if using vit then it isn't even bad at all.