We Really Need To Talk About The State And Path Of FFXIV

[OurMom]

It wasn't other MMOs, but other games.

Other games do not operate the same as mmorpgs. So how they do things do don't always work in the mmo world.

[Zojha]

So how they do things do don't always work in the mmo world.

Well, if nobody in the MMO world ever really deviated from that norm (as per your experiences), can we really tell if changing it would not work?

There's little theoretical reason why it shouldn't. The reason why difficulty options arose in gaming is because the skill level of the playerbase varies. If you tune the difficulty to easy, more skilled players get bored. By adding a harder difficulty, you do nothing for less skilled players, but your higher skilled players no longer get (as) bored and thus derive more enjoyment from your game.

If that is the case, it begs the question why higher rewards are needed to compensate for higher enjoyment. And if that is not the case, it begs the question why you add a higher difficulty in the first place.

Conclusion: People are weird.

[Seddrinth]

Well, if nobody in the MMO world ever really deviated from that norm (as per your experiences), can we really tell if changing it would not work?

There's little theoretical reason why it shouldn't. The reason why difficulty options arose in gaming is because the skill level of the playerbase varies. If you tune the difficulty to easy, more skilled players get bored. By adding a harder difficulty, you do nothing for less skilled players, but your higher skilled players no longer get (as) bored and thus derive more enjoyment from your game.

If that is the case, it begs the question why higher rewards are needed to compensate for higher enjoyment. And if that is not the case, it begs the question why you add a higher difficulty in the first place.

Conclusion: People are weird.

The reason you have higher difficulty content with higher rewards because enough players enjoy the competition, whether it be gear, dps percentile, progression, etc. Certain players enjoy being challenged and enjoy competing against other players. You are not hurting the less skilled players because they have plenty of content and plenty of paths to gear up- normal raids, 24 man raids, daily roulette for tokens, Eureka, etc.

[OurMom]

Well, if nobody in the MMO world ever really deviated from that norm (as per your experiences), can we really tell if changing it would not work?

There's a difference between shaking things up in mmos and then standard of how games work. Things that work in FPS will not work in mmos. They tried the forced story like in single player RPGs and a lot of people aren't too happy with that either.


There are some things we can experiment with, I agree. But the core foundation of a mmo isn't one of them.

[Edax]

There's a difference between shaking things up in mmos and then standard of how games work. Things that work in FPS will not work in mmos. They tried the forced story like in single player RPGs and a lot of people aren't too happy with that either.


There are some things we can experiment with, I agree. But the core foundation of a mmo isn't one of them.

As I recall, this raids-having-the-best-gear system was not in Old School Runescape. In fact, the problems I have in this game were problems I did not have in Runescape. There weren't such content dry patches and there was almost always room for self improvement in the game in so many different ways. If you wanted some of the best armor in the game, you could just buy it. Yes, there were some quest requirements and some combat requirements to wear them, but it was hardly a system where the players that did the most difficult content only got to have the special best stuff in the game. There were many ways you could acquire Dragon armor in that game, it all required a grind but you could choose to grind in the best way you saw fit. You could have fought the monster that dropped them for yourself, you could have mined, blacksmithed, lumberjacked or whatever to get the capital needed to buy that armor.
This spiritbonding armor system from loot drops is not a core foundation of a MMO. Neither is raiding.

[OurMom]

As I recall, this raids-having-the-best-gear system was not in Old School Runescape.

You got best gear from bossing and crafting in runescape. I would be all for having actual world bosses that are hard with mechanics that drop gear. But the rest of the player base and people like you would cry and fuss up a storm. Saying how they dont have time to do world bosses (even though they dont have to if this is another option to get gear) and it would be the same situation all over again.

I personally am for crafting gear being right under raid gear as well. But then this playerbase would cry and complain that it's not fair that people that worked hard to get gil can afford to buy good gear.


So to keep these whiny people from whining, it's either raid or get tomes (which the token system is worse than rng imo).