Difficulty format for Normal and Savage will remain in 4.0

[Synestra]

One of the main issues with savage in my opinion is that the content is both hard and basically static locked. Meaning that the progression is close to impossible outside of the static groups, and I am talking about loot restrictions not knowledge of fights, which is one of the main reasons behind the low percentage of players even trying it.

But i always tought raiding was teamwork content you do with friends or atleast it used to be, i mean wheres the fun doing that stuff with peoples you dont know at all?

[Archaell]

But i always tought raiding was teamwork content you do with friends or atleast it used to be, i mean wheres the fun doing that stuff with peoples you dont know at all?

Right now you need exactly 8 same people to do the content with at the same time. You get as much raiding time as these 8 people are able to meet up. If one person clears the content outside of the group the group gets rewarded with less loot - slowing down the group's progression and making the rest of the team hostile, so this person can't sub anywhere else decreasing the chance for the other people to clear the content.

Raiding outside of the static groups creates problems, replacing missing people even when the other 7 can raid creates also problems, and forming statics compoused of more than 8 people to get more raiding time is punishing the overall progression of the group.

The result is that players are locked inside of the statics and that is bad.

For example our FC has two statics right now. Due to the loot restrictions when someone is missing in the static 1 the raid has to be either cancalled or some random person with similar progression found somewhere else - even tho there would be xx other players from the static 2 able to sub for the missing person were they not loot locked to their own static group...

This is a huge problem which should be fixed to make raiding more accessible.

Without weekly restrictions, people will farm within a few weeks and have no reason to continue subbing.

That's why I suggested to add the floors through patches instead of at once - making sure that the players stay sub in a different way. Basically cutting that big hole at the end of the season and putting the pieces between the patches.

[Bourne_Endeavor]

That's why I suggested to add the floors through patches instead of at once - making sure that the players stay sub in a different way. Basically cutting that big hole at the end of the season and putting the pieces between the patches.

Aye. But like I said, there is still too much of a gap. Patch 3.5 would not release until at least two months following 3.45. And with Savage, itself, lasting a full six months. Raiders would be better off waiting a few months since they have no need to worry about missing gear for a week.

[Archaell]

Aye. But like I said, there is still too much of a gap. Patch 3.5 would not release until at least two months following 3.45. And with Savage, itself, lasting a full six months. Raiders would be better off waiting a few months since they have no need to worry about missing gear for a week.

What about adding achievements for each floor and nerfing the older floors slightly when the new ones are added? Raiders usually hate clearing nerfed content so it should motivate them to stay subbed.

1. Though they will need to remove all weekly loot restrictions for other dungeons also...

In my opinion removing the loot restrictions only in the savage content would be one of the biggest motivations for the players to do it - so removing the loot restrictions in the easy content would be counterproductive.

[B0YRaNmA]

In my opinion removing the loot restrictions only in the savage content would be one of the biggest motivations for the players to do it - so removing the loot restrictions in the easy content would be counterproductive.

You're gonna get people coming at you saying that it's unfair...from players of other content, which will use savage unlock as an example of why can't everything else be unlock.

[Archaell]

You're gonna get people coming at you saying that it's unfair...from players of other content, which will use savage unlock as an example of why can't everything else be unlock.

It's simple - the revenue lost from few raiders taking a break after being overgeared is much smaller than revenue lost from the casuals which make bigger portion of the community.

As I said , casuals need only the crafted gear to do everything they want to do till the next patch. The worst thing that can happen to them is being kicked out of the farm parties for Ex primals, but hey, they can make their own groups or start learning the savage.

In my opinion the savage requires so much effort that the players deserve to farm the gear without the lockouts for all the hours they spend learning the content and their own jobs. On the other hand I have met bots doing the expert roulette - and finished the runs even with them. Why should the content that bots can do be rewarded with uncapped best gear?

[B0YRaNmA]

It's simple - the revenue lost from few raiders taking a break after being overgeared is much smaller than revenue lost from the casuals which make bigger portion of the community.

As I said , casuals need only the crafted gear to do everything they want to do till the next patch. The worst thing that can happen to them is being kicked out of the farm parties for Ex primals, but hey, they can make their own groups or start learning the savage.

In my opinion the savage requires so much effort that the players deserve to farm the gear without the lockouts for all the hours they spend learning the content and their own jobs. On the other hand I have met bots doing the expert roulette - and finished the runs even with them. Why should the content that bots can do be rewarded with uncapped best gear?

I don't know why, but your suggestions seems to be giving off the self centered vibe...

While I agree that savage requires so much effort that they deserve to farm the gear, but since casual content is for casual shouldn't they also deserve to farm gears? Because of bots, you're taking it out on all players of other contents.

[Velhart]

In my opinion removing the loot restrictions only in the savage content would be one of the biggest motivations for the players to do it - so removing the loot restrictions in the easy content would be counterproductive.

How to gear all your jobs to ilvl240 in one week. Even people beating the first or second are getting a massive boost. Because once a group beats it, they will spam it till it is all dried up. Making the content completely irrelevant to a lot of raiders till the next tier. Restrictions are not there for the hell of it.

snip

In all fairness, people come and go in MMO's, it always happens, even in WoW. Especially during the end of a patch. FFXIV does not have issue reeling people back in. There is always a significant amount of people per patch, especially an expansion. The issue is how to hold people's interest enough. Right now we have casual content that people clear very fast and get bored of very quick, on the other end we have raids that due to it's poor structure that turn people off. Story mode just gives you your content with little effort and destroys the story aspect of motivation. Story was a heavy driving force in the Coils series and did motivate people to go in rather if they waited for echo buff or not.

SE doesn't get their own philosophies. Content should be challenging, but accessible at the same time. Casual content should be more challenging, but easy to understand. Midcore content should have EX trial fights and a Normal Mode raid with a FCoB level of difficulty. Hardcore should get a legit Savage that takes a good while to beat even at their skill level. This helps out on all levels of play ultimately. It helps the economy, keeps players in the game, and creates longevity on content two patches over. SE only knows how to look at numbers and that is why each patch lately has bit them in the ass. They listen to awful ideas on these forums and incorporate them poorly.

I am not a game developer, nor do I consider myself very knowledgeable or have talent, but even I can see the actions they take to balance things out are amateurish at best.

[Istaru]

How to gear all your jobs to ilvl240 in one week. Even people beating the first or second are getting a massive boost. Because once a group beats it, they will spam it till it is all dried up. Making the content completely irrelevant to a lot of raiders till the next tier. Restrictions are not there for the hell of it.

I think your point is valid.

I HATE lockouts as they are implemented. You cleared A5S, congratulations! Here are the drops but none are for your job. Sorry, have a consolation book and see you next week. I know someone in my current group who had to wait 6 weeks to go a i240 item for their job. 6 weeks. That is stupid.

I would love unlimited gear, but I think you are correct that people would blow through it in no time at all.

A compromise could be based on role or job and keep that at one item per week and do the same for Tomestones. Separate caps for tank, healers, ranged DPS and melee DPS.