Naoki Yoshida interview @Gamescom

[Sandpark]

No, accessibility is a great thing. It is one of FFXIV's strengths. Accessibility does not mean easy. It means the content is more available to you. I like that I can log in and do instanced content with my group as opposed to dealing with those annoying, time wasting barriers MMO's of the past did.

What is an issue is lack of challenge in the content itself, not how you access it.

Accessibility is a great thing. But though I prefer depth which implies interesting systems with complexity. The farther you go into complexity, the harder it is to make content globally successful.

Which is why when I see people asking for raids to become more prominent than they already are, I get confounded. Raids are the most complex system in this game currently. That flies in the face of accessibility. Hence you see the low participation and completion rates.

This game needs something more midcore, something like Abyssea, Sky, or Sea. It can have some interesting gimmicks, but not so many or harsh that doing content with duty finder is not feasible. Perhaps make the open world sections of it with slightly less gimmicks being replaced with various other methods.

I would like to see raids become their own thing since they are designed to be hard and require high group skill. Maybe make normal mode more of a public dungeon area with eased mechanics. You can go in solo or duo and accomplish some things. But some things require parties and some things require alliances. The zone instance would cap out at 24 players to keep content fluid enough and allows interesting mechanics. Though the joining numbers vary on player preference or need.