I feel like raiding is pointless in this game

[Niyuka]

Its a complex problem, but there are no raids anymore in FFXIV the way I think it must be looked at it.

I also never understood why anyone would need a "catch-up" 24-man faceroll 3 months after you got better gear for almost-free (tomestones) anyway, but I digress.


The basic problem is that raids in the past, more successful raid MMOs were more than just a boss arena. They were actual places, dungeons on a larger scale or otherwise unique-looking environments that you traveled through, they were often physically located in a spot where you had to journey to (even if its just 2 minutes), and they had trash pulls, sometimes puzzles or jumping challenges and similar stuff, which turned a simple boss in the end into a (short, but still) journey.

FFXIV are much like a cut-down version of an action movie that only has the fight scenes. Yes, some people generally fast-forward watch any movie anyway, but the journey gives things more depth. While each trash pull, each hallway and each room without a boss isnt interesting by itself (and thus was cut), it contributes to the experience of going on a journey with a lot of other people.
This is why Coil is considered better than Alex or Deltascape.

The rewards are another point entirely. FFXIV is so scared of the wrath of the bad players, it doesnt allow true casuals , let alone hardcore players, to shine or ever get anything truly worthwhile. Loot is quickly replaced (faster than in the superior WoW, in this regard) and pointless, because for fear of these exact bad ice mages and DPS DRKs, the melee RDMs and spear-throwing DRGs, you dont need good stats to beat bosses.

Which is my last point: There is no progress through a raid. You dont need the items from Boss 1 to beat the enrage of Boss 4. If you can enter it, you pretty much can beat it.

And this means that SE have, for fear of bad players probably, removed the feeling of progression from the entire raid content, in multiple regards. No gear progression, no geographical progression, no story progression, very little difficulty progression (right now, there are 2 difficult fights in the entire current content, and 10+ on the same low level).

Myself and my friends are true casuals. We play a few times per week, have one or two jobs at 70, and generally dont even always cap our tomestones or deltascape crystalloids. We are, supposedly, the largest base of players. None of us feel (we talk about it a lot) as if this game caters to us, it seems to caters to people much less interested and willing to do stuff. We seem to already be considered the elite - at age 35-40, with kids, jobs, other games and hobbies, we are too skilled, too hardcore, too invested to be allowed a difficulty or raid design that challenges us.

[Bourne_Endeavor]

Myself and my friends are true casuals. We play a few times per week, have one or two jobs at 70, and generally dont even always cap our tomestones or deltascape crystalloids. We are, supposedly, the largest base of players. None of us feel (we talk about it a lot) as if this game caters to us, it seems to caters to people much less interested and willing to do stuff. We seem to already be considered the elite - at age 35-40, with kids, jobs, other games and hobbies, we are too skilled, too hardcore, too invested to be allowed a difficulty or raid design that challenges us.

And this is why I always hesitant to use the term "casual" unironically when talking about the average playerbase. Playing only a handful of hours a week doesn't mean you can't perform well. Unfortunately, the devs aren't catering to casual players who simply lack time, not skill, but people who flat out don't care. I mean, even the recent potency changes on DRG are basically a hand out for people who frequently miss positionals. What irks me is the false dichotomy that challenging means another Gordias, where A3S and A4S decimated the raid scene. There can be a good curve without going towards either extreme. I do also think raids should offer more and move away from "catching up" per se. Granted, if the one super savage encounter works out. Perhaps that can be the gear progression a lot of raiders want; something to actually use those 345 weapons on.

[Remedi]

Which is my last point: There is no progress through a raid. You dont need the items from Boss 1 to beat the enrage of Boss 4. If you can enter it, you pretty much can beat it.

Thtat's because the g1ear you receive is the reward for doing the fights, it's a different intention than what you have from wow where you need to be at the boss ilvl drop to beat him. which according to method and exorsus is a very bad thing