Quote Originally Posted by Bourne_Endeavor View Post
The raid population is small in every MMO. Completing content this difficult is overwhelming a niche activity. As I've said earlier, this won't change no matter what SE does. Coil clears were only higher because it's significantly easier than Alexander. What does it matter if other people have equal gear in 3-4 months? Most hardcore raiders will have the fight killed or be close by that point while other groups simply want to clear it once or twice and aren't necessarily concerned with the gear at all.
every recent mmo i'd say yes, the older ones not so much. the percentage of the player base that participated in endgame in xi or everquest for example was much much higher in part because the rewards were that much more valuable and appealing...

as for difficulty it's not as niche as you might believe. things as simple as psn and xbox / steam achievements show this where there are literally millions of gamers out there that go after as many platinum trophies as they can get or take pride in getting that achievement for beating games on there hardest difficulties. these things are so popular globally that now literally every game must have them. and players will do harder things in games just for an achievement.

the real difference between those games and mmos is that in those games the milestones or challenges don't change. in mmos especially the more vertical ones they do. coil a year ago quite challenging content. coil today. face rollable by 3 people.

I likened it to passing your driving test today. only for them to abolish the driving test next week... suddenly makes the fact you past completely worthless.. and that is a huge motivation killer