Alienation of Dedicated and Skilled players

[Bourne_Endeavor]

I was going to make a long post, but I got annoyed half way.

> XI's foundation is much more than XIV. That was my point.
> I get the market changes. But players can also adapt. They're not beyond that.
> Never said anything about gating. Only that things can be learned with challenged content. It doesn't need to be faceroll. See above point.



I see what you're doing. "What you find enjoyable is not the same as someone elses" argument. No. Please. Not even what I'm trying to get at.

How is X thing any different from X thing in XIV? The Journey was much more memorable. Why? Because it was a struggle. Hardship. Is there a struggle in this game? Actually yes, but ironically, it's not a rewarding struggle. It's just an annoying one if that makes sense.

Evidently, you don't, because your post literally demands people adapt to how you want the game to be played. If the market changes, why in the world would games stubbornly stick to old formulas that no longer garner interest? That's financial suicide. Wildstar attempted that and will likely shut down by the year's end because of it.

The journey was more memorable to you. I, on the other hand, find a year or two long "journey" for a weapon upgrade mind numbingly boring. No amount of flavor text will make grind quests appealing. FFXIV's closest example would be doing Beast Tribe dailies for the ilvl 210 Anima step. Those are not fun. Instead, I have increased desire to burn down the Sylph forest every time Boars Wars rolls up. Sure, the actual quests with the tribe leaders is cute, but all those little quests you do to build reputation? Boring. I'm not alone in this mindset either considering the majority of players don't even touch the harder content, let alone care about the Anima weapon or stuff like it. Hence why I reiterate this game simply may not be for you long term.

This doesn't even touch another significant issue with horizontal progression. If the best gear is gated behind this "struggle," then anyone wanting to get into raid content will now have to do it. Most won't nowadays, which is why you don't see games like FFXI or Vanilla WoW anymore.