NO MORE ALEXANDER(NM)!

[Jetstream_Fox]

It's really amazing how so many of you think the raid issue is the main reason HW is awful. It's like, let's forget crafting gear still sucks, housing is a mess, PvP is laughable, FCs have no real purpose, current content is lackluster and nothing is truly meaningful in this game. I don't see this whole "I have this gear piece if you want it go raid and be motivated" ideology, it doesn't make any difference what you wear in this game, a ilv 5 weapon will act exactly like a ilv 200 weapon except you'll do more damage. It's not like other games where finishing high end content give you gear that has special abilities that actually make a difference. I can't imagine any of you playing PSO with a sealed J Sword and having to kill 23,000 enemies to unseal the sword to utilize it's massive room wide attacks and bigger stat boosts. So why do some of you care about the gear, when in the end, it's utterly meaningless and has no real impact on the game?

[dejavutwo]

...

People don't raid for just one reason but a mix of reasons - gear, story, challenge, novelty, ect. Gear is only a small part of why a lot of people are unhappy, its just the easiest one to talk about when trying to explain the frustration with the interactions between Normal/Savage. Getting unique/powerful gear was part of the fun of raiding, and it takes a lot of time and effort to learn and clear the fights so wanting a reward that can be seen as valuable goes a long way. Even though the savage set is dye-able, when you upgrade from normal to savage gear, you still pretty much look the same.

While first learning the fights the novelty and the shiny newness helps a lot to keep people interested through the initial learning phases where you are wiping a lot. With that novelty, your still having fun despite the repeated wipes because the fight is like a puzzle to be solved. With normal in place, there is no novelty to the fights anymore, and although some of the mechanics have been tweaked a little, it largely feels like the same fight. The first time I went into A2S I groaned knowing what was in store, where as every single coil fight I was hyped the first time I saw the boss. Gearing up in Normal mode to help hit the strict dps checks made it so that I was sick of a lot of the savage fights before I even zoned into them for the first time. I'm not the only one who has been affected like this as people are burning out incredibly quickly.

I don't think Alex normal should be completely removed, but I do think it should either come out a few months after savage (Reverse 24-man and Normal releases) or not drop any gear. That way it is not part of the progression chain and you won't have to do it at all to gear up for savage.

[Jetstream_Fox]

People don't raid for just one reason but a mix of reasons - gear, story, challenge, novelty, ect.

The raids have no challenge, they're packed with nothing but artificial difficulty and follow the same format as the rest of the game, stand here, move there, kill that, move that here, heal through that, buff that, burn boss and then break you win! One little mess up and everyone is dead, this game is about as challenging as playing any modern day one hit kill fps online.

Story is the main reason for this game, it's how they developed it since day one and everyone is entitled to enjoy it.

Again gear is pointless as I stated no weapon, armor, ring or anything even impact this game except with a slight boost to stats, this game has no weapon strengths/weaknesses per enemy or elemental weapon properties to think of, so obtaining gear is pointless.

Getting items for glamour is as pointless as striving to the best geared player.

Out of those reasons the only one that makes sense is story. And story accessibility isn't something that should be locked behind anything. That's like me telling you that in order for you to know the story behind Halo you need to go play on LASO difficulty. Something probably not even 3/4th this games community wouldn't even try to attempt.

[hagare]

The raids have no challenge, they're packed with nothing but artificial difficulty and follow the same format as the rest of the game, stand here, move there, kill that, move that here, heal through that, buff that, burn boss and then break you win! One little mess up and everyone is dead, this game is about as challenging as playing any modern day one hit kill fps online.

1. no challenge = proven by everyone having the new mount
2. please explain real difficulty
3. So you want this game to turn into a different game?
4. you mean like T9?

Never said to take away normal mode, but thanks for playing assumptions.

the bolded part sure seems to imply that you don't want others to get story mode, because now you have no motivation to do savage due to "no exclusivity".
but sure whatever you say.

If it's a non-raid centric game, as you say, so it shouldn't matter if there is a story, because the game isn't centered around Coil/Alexander.

Or do you simply want to stroke your own ego because now you can have that 1% of content, that as you say the game isn't centered around, without doing anything for it?

There is no exclusive content, not anymore. I got to see the content doing the story mode people like yourself begged for. The 1% of the content you wanted so badly, always you you you you.

You're selfish and egotistical to think all content should be catered exactly for you, even the 1% you yourself said the game isn't even centered around.

PS: no 99%er is asking for the exclusives from savage to be handed to them. Just the 1%er trying to remove content from the 99%er

[Jetstream_Fox]

1. no challenge = proven by everyone having the new mount
2. please explain real difficulty
3. So you want this game to turn into a different game?
4. you mean like T9?

Artificial Difficulty is 90% of this game when you look at instant kill mechanics, add spawns, general enemy AI and even things as simple as camera angles obstructing the view of the target. Actual difficulty is when the player must learn a method to overcome each enemy in the respective game AND the game reacts to this with making the enemy more aware of the engagement.

For instance Halo, Elites have energy shielding, when the shield is depleted the Elite will at times get into cover to regenerate the shield, or charge the player. Brutes would become enraged once another Brute would die. The AI here is real and not artificial, in Dark Souls the entire game changes as you can't just run and gun or spray and pray if you will, you have to learn weaknesses within yourself and the enemies and look for openings. Nothing is guaranteed unless you use your actual skill to out play the AI.

Artificial Difficulty in this game isn't as clear cut but it's there once you step back and look at the way the game is designed. When a Tank grabs aggro the AI automatically locks on to the tank and thinks that the Tank is the sole enemy, despite a Healer and DPS doing much more then the Tank. Because this game is built with the trinity game design every encounter in this game is already designed to be tackled the same way, what makes it appear harder isn't the mob breaking off and fighting the Healer or DPS, but things like raid wide wipes, mass debuffs, more add spawn. Giving the initial encounter increased difficulty, while the AI is not actually adapting to the player and the situation.

Turning the game into something else? No, not at all. Variety is what this game needs, since the game can't add things like elemental properties, enemy strengths and weaknesses, and gear abilities, without redeveloping everything for a 3rd time, have more battles like Steps of Faith... Despite it proved this community can't handle anything outside the normal circular room boss fights. Making a raid where players need to defended areas points, complete puzzles, deal with traps and utilize key items. Might be to much.

[Colorful]

snip

FFXIV has never done, and never will do anything like that so I don't know why anyone expects it. It's always a set dance that you have to learn, but you also have to perform your rotation to the best of your ability while dealing with the mechanics which is where the challenge lies. Even games with enemies who perform based off of the player like Dark Souls boil down burning their move sets into your brain, the moment you see them lift their weapon a certain way you know what they'll do. What do you suggest exactly? Because as far as I'm aware, every game is like this one way or another.

[Verius_Nox]

the bolded part sure seems to imply that you don't want others to get story mode, because now you have no motivation to do savage due to "no exclusivity".
but sure whatever you say.
PS: no 99%er is asking for the exclusives from savage to be handed to them. Just the 1%er trying to remove content from the 99%er

99%'ers DID ask for the 'exclusives'. Why do you think they made a normal mode to begin with? Because people couldn't see the Coil story, even after several nerfs.

I do Savage because there really isn't anything else, but it does not stop it from being any less boring, because I've already seen the content. -That- is my complaint.

I take issue with people claiming because I'd like the content I'm doing to be considered fresh as "egotistical", when they sit there and say the content "doesn't actually matter" while being in the camp begging SE for easier versions so they can experience the content, the exact content, they just said doesn't matter. I believe begging all content to be catered down to your own personal level is egotistical and selfish, and that kind of mentality is what makes current raid content boring and stale before it's even matured.

Normal mode has it's place, and I think everyone should experience the content, but not implemented the way SE has, because it makes the raid content boring.

[Spellbinder]

Why do you think they made a normal mode to begin with?

Um, isn't that backwards? They didn't make normal mode. It's always been there for Binding Coil of Bahamut, Second Coil of Bahamut, and Final Coil of Bahamut. What they did make, was Savage, because players wanted more challenge. They just happened to make normal mode easier this time around so more players can experience the story. They also put item rewards in Savage this time, and now everyone is going crazy trying to shoehorn Savage into the "progression track" because of said item rewards.

[hagare]

99%'ers DID ask for the 'exclusives'. Why do you think they made a normal mode to begin with? Because people couldn't see the Coil story, even after several nerfs.

the did not ask for the exclusives, they just want to be able to enjoy the story in a story centric game. They did not ask for the gear, the title or the minion from coil. You still have those exclusives. They asked for a story mode, because most are not interested in hardcore raiding. SE gave them that in normal mode, and for those who like hardcore raiding SE gave them savage.

I take issue with people claiming because I'd like the content I'm doing to be considered fresh as "egotistical", when they sit there and say the content "doesn't actually matter" while being in the camp begging SE for easier versions so they can experience the content, the exact content, they just said doesn't matter.

I believe begging all content to be catered down to your own personal level is egotistical and selfish, and that kind of mentality is what makes current raid content boring and stale before it's even matured.

so asking for story to be exclusive in a story centric game isn't egotistical?
asking for a raid to be catered down to your own personal opinion is not egotistical and selfish?
you still have the challenge of savage, the exclusive dyable gear, the exclusive mount. Only the story is shared with others. Your hardcore raiding is still there, you're just sore because now other people can actually enjoy the story.

Normal mode has it's place, and I think everyone should experience the content, but not implemented the way SE has, because it makes the raid content boring.

I do Savage because there really isn't anything else, but it does not stop it from being any less boring, because I've already seen the content. -That- is my complaint.

then don't watch the story when you clear normal, you can skip cutscene.
watch them when you clear the savage version to keep it fresh. Don't ask others to suffer from your choices.

Artificial Difficulty is 90% of this game when you look at instant kill mechanics, add spawns, general enemy AI and even things as simple as camera angles obstructing the view of the target. Actual difficulty is when the player must learn a method to overcome each enemy in the respective game AND the game reacts to this with making the enemy more aware of the engagement.

For instance Halo, Elites have energy shielding, when the shield is depleted the Elite will at times get into cover to regenerate the shield, or charge the player. Brutes would become enraged once another Brute would die. The AI here is real and not artificial, in Dark Souls the entire game changes as you can't just run and gun or spray and pray if you will, you have to learn weaknesses within yourself and the enemies and look for openings. Nothing is guaranteed unless you use your actual skill to out play the AI.

Artificial Difficulty in this game isn't as clear cut but it's there once you step back and look at the way the game is designed. When a Tank grabs aggro the AI automatically locks on to the tank and thinks that the Tank is the sole enemy, despite a Healer and DPS doing much more then the Tank. Because this game is built with the trinity game design every encounter in this game is already designed to be tackled the same way, what makes it appear harder isn't the mob breaking off and fighting the Healer or DPS, but things like raid wide wipes, mass debuffs, more add spawn. Giving the initial encounter increased difficulty, while the AI is not actually adapting to the player and the situation.

Turning the game into something else? No, not at all. Variety is what this game needs, since the game can't add things like elemental properties, enemy strengths and weaknesses, and gear abilities, without redeveloping everything for a 3rd time, have more battles like Steps of Faith... Despite it proved this community can't handle anything outside the normal circular room boss fights. Making a raid where players need to defended areas points, complete puzzles, deal with traps and utilize key items. Might be to much.

yea I'm not sure there's any game that has the type of AI you want.
even your halo example is not AI, it's basically the same as when bosses change phases as in "if action A happens execute action B or C"
And even dark souls is not a game aware AI, it just follows a very strict and unforgiving pattern that you need to work around on.

what you're describing I think is true AI. which learns from every encounter and adapts to everything. I don't think that's possible yet.

Have you tried T13 yet? That fight is not like T9 with it's abundance of insta death mechanics. T13 actually has very simple mechanics but forces you to play your role to its maximum capabilities. Before unsynced at least xD

And about more fights like steps, I actually agree with you. Fights with interesting mechanics that I've seen so far are mostly in the CT raids, mostly in LoTA and WoD.
But as long as FF14 uses the trinity system then the fights will be designed revolving around that system

[Ayerinn]

*SNIP*

Normal mode has it's place, and I think everyone should experience the content, but not implemented the way SE has, because it makes the raid content boring.

what raid content? it's a series of 4 lobby bosses for a full party, not a RAID