My suggestion for 4.0 raiding, coming from a seasoned raider.

[Matthew0320]

I see where your coming from where the reward of the story seems to be 'handed-out' but coming from another raider I don't think this is a fully fleshed-out idea, although I see your points.

First of, having the release of the Alexander raids being released at the next subsequent patch is way too time consuming and costly. For example, you stated '3.05: Release of Alex Savage Tier 1 (Gordias)' and '3.1: Release of Alex Normal Tier 1 (Gordias)'. That's 3.5 months of waiting just for a player to get involved on something they care about; the story.
Players should have to pay $42 over the span of 3 months and a half trying to get engage in the story because they are going to be a ostracized by players by 'not being good enough'. Its pretty hectic right now for most players who are doing their best to clear, even harder to be part of a party that's patient and is willing to commit.

Even though I don't agree with your idea, I'd say if they consider going that route to just make it the mid patch of the time an raid is released (i.e. 3.2: Release of Alex Savage Tier 2 (Midas) THEN 3.25: Release of Alex Normal Tier 2 (Midas) ). The majority (the casual players) needs will be served in a few, short weeks instead of having to wait and hard-core raid players would understand the mechanics well enough in getting into savage which also brings another point with one of your arguments.

"This won't "spoil" 70% of the mechanics for Savage". I would call Savage mode being a spoiler for Normal/Hard; it's a pace to which players who choose to go the route of Savage mode can know what they're prepared for and plan ahead of the game. Your statement would have more merit if normal was released first. Normal/Hard mode will be a joke and there will be no point in releasing it because the mechanics will be recycled with an element taken away from the fight.

Advantage #4 (gives the casual players who don't have time to dedicate multiple evenings per week to a static, a chance to see the story, just in a later patch) comes across shallow and callous to me. Having Normal/Hard being released the same as Savage would help said casual players gear up and prepare ahead if they choose to go that direction. Game design wise the FFXIV made a wiser choice in releasing the difficulty content the same time because it makes a better door for entry for those who may have never considered this. Take it away and it will drove off casual players (market wise is a majority of players) because they're being booting 3.5 months because they're 'not good enough' while a minority is being served.
We know this because there are some players still going through the story and trying different jobs; this being the perfect opportunity to hone and refine their understanding of the instance before they just jump into it (Alex Savage) without them knowing what they're in store for which I'm sure you wouldn't want too because you'll have a influx of inexperienced players in your group.

Not a smart move business-wise and mechanically for the game itself.

[Phoenicia]

Not a smart move business-wise and mechanically for the game itself.

You almost sound very valid here, except, in the entirety of ARR (2.0 to 2.55), casuals had no problem playing the game with Coil being out of reach for 98% of the player base without paying someone to get them the clears.

Now I'm not entirely for this specific idea of staggering release of savage and story modes. But I want something more than the token I get out of an encounter when clearing it in order to eventually get the same skin of gear, but dyable... Because let's face it, that's all we get from clearing savage.

As a raider, I want more reward than a dyed set of armor and a silly looking mount that makes more noise than my family's workshop every time I press W.

What I mean is, bring me that great feeling for clearing the last encounter and woo me with a few cutscenes like they did in T5, T9 and T13. And not just a cutscene of a mechanical ball going boom and some goblin telling me he'll be back.

For example, another, more "deep" story behind savage would serve great. Instead of just some bard over-glorifying a past tale like Ultima Weapon Ex, SCoB savage and current savage. But the casual doesn't get to see that? Well, they either wait until they can, or continue doing what they've done in the past, pay someone to get the clear for them to see the cutscene.. Or much easier: Watch the cutscene on youtube.com. They shouldn't be handed over what I worked hard to get. Not right away or at the same time anyways.

[Nephisto]

You almost sound very valid here, except, in the entirety of ARR (2.0 to 2.55), casuals had no problem playing the game with Coil being out of reach for 98% of the player base without paying someone to get them the clears.

I'm one of those 98%, so I'm really happy with the Alex Normal. If 98% of the players who pay are casuals, I understand SE to satisfy them, and not the 2% hardcore raiders. You can skip the cutscenes in Normal mode and wait in Savage to watch it...

[Phoenicia]

I'm one of those 98%, so I'm really happy with the Alex Normal. If 98% of the players who pay are casuals, I understand SE to satisfy them, and not the 2% hardcore raiders. You can skip the cutscenes in Normal mode and wait in Savage to watch it...

That's the thing.. Savage doesn't even have cutscenes. Also, how would you feel if I tell you this: "You can wait 3.5 months before you get to enter story mode. As a casual, you don't need the gear upgrades anyways since it doesn't matter outside of savage." That didn't sound nice, did it?

I'm not asking to "deny" you normal mode or its gear though. But you shouldn't be handed over the same thing that people spend a lot of effort and time getting. Effort vs reward is very important. And the reward of "same gear skin but dyable" is really, really, cheap.

[Delorean]

to be honest i was kind of surprised to see the wow lfr raid difficulty model here, where before we had things like crystal labirinth and world of darkness etc.

raiding is always going to take a hit when there is no reason to do it. to lfr players, being in lfr is an end to a means - but raiding, and I mean actual raiding, is just wasting their time doing something they maybe enjoy all 15 minutes of.

I mean personally I could care less about the story. I really don't appreciate a story scene at all in a multiplayer game unless it was made like the creators wanted us to watch it.

I'm one of those 98%, so I'm really happy with the Alex Normal. If 98% of the players who pay are casuals, I understand SE to satisfy them, and not the 2% hardcore raiders. You can skip the cutscenes in Normal mode and wait in Savage to watch it...

if the point was a dartboard and your post was a dart... well let's just say it didn't hit the board. at all. in fact, it probably hit a person, their cat, and the fine china.

All anyone is saying is more content is better content. World of Warcraft has like 5 levels of difficulty for every raid and now nobody gives a shit about raiding. If you beat alex on it's tuning intended for all players, are you even interested in engaging him on a higher difficulty level? More than likely, no. But if you have the Unearthed Chamber of Allag or whatever to do AND Alexander, you will probably TRY to check both of them out. Especially if it has a cool item in it that you want.