Lucky Bancho and NA raiding problems.

[Bonbori]

I can't really speak for the "NA community" and I know even less about the "JP community". All I do know is that I'm definitely not interested in high-end content myself.

Furthermore, I don't consider it a problem, I intend to take no steps to remedy it and I feel no sense of obligation to become a raider just because a census is saying that there's fewer raiders on my data centre than somewhere else.

It is not for lack of incentives. It is certainly not for lack of opportunities or due to any past experiences that might have turned me off of that kind of activity. In actuality, my reason is quite simple:

I consider it an optional and niche activity - a vanity thing - similar to achievement-hunting, or trying to reach all the vistas in Kugane, or house-decorating. And I'm totally fine with that, just as I'm fine with not owning a house and having blanks in my sight-seeing log.

Are all hardcore raiders also avid house decorators, platforming enthusiasts, big-fish-collectors and ranked PVP champions? Should they be? Should everyone be whether or not they enjoy those aspects? Obviously not.
NOBODY would like it if we suddenly got long-requested glamours or BIS gear locked behind a fish that required a very specific quintuple-mooching chain in a high-end fishing hole and the thing in question had a sub-1% chance to drop from desynth.

Big-fishing is its own reward for people who are passionate enough to engage in it. I believe that raiding should be the same. A few vanity items are fine but the bulk of rewards should be, as it is now, geared towards helping raiders raid better, not be a must-have thing for everyone.

Personally what keeps me playing the game (now on two characters, spending twice the amount of time and mog station money) is the story, RP and crafting. I'm an omnicrafter currently working towards crafting gear that makes me better at crafting... for no reason really. I know there's nothing to craft that's more challenging than the crafting gear itself, I know it will be obsolete within 3 levels of the next expansion and I don't care. I just enjoy optimising my materials and synthesis process and experiencing the satisfaction of being able to reliably churn out HQ versions of things that used to seem beyond my reach once upon a time.

And I'm quite sure it's the same feeling raiders get when they finally see all their planning, preparation and practice result in a flawless run n_n

But I've never been able to share that sense of accomplishment with people who simply don't enjoy crafting and I doubt the satisfaction of pulling off a perfect raid would mean anything to me if I don't like raiding in the first place.

[cont->]