The real issue in Mmos is not balance

[LolitaBansheeMeru]

Also, another factor to consider is how gamers have changed over time. These hardcore gamers of the past are now mostly working, have families, etc. So we don't have as much time. Do we really want to be bashing our head at a wall for like 10+ hours a day when we have kids and work etc, just to get the basics done. Yes, I think a bit of an increase in difficulty is a good idea, but not to this level for daily content. Save this for the Ultimates ONLY. Sure, Savage may want to be tuned up a bit too (I haven't done current Savage so I aren't sure how it holds up in difficulty, I could be completely off-base with it), but in general content, this level of difficulty is a major no-no. Most players are casual and don't want that level of difficulty in their day to day content. To use examples of other games (except Dark Souls), these crazy difficult levels were done at the END of the game, either as final or near final bosses, or heck potentially even as post-game bosses. Which is where Ultimate fits in. Ultimate is the ultimate final boss (of the patch cluster). Keep it there only if it's going to be put anywhere.

See, the problem with that is the "harder content" is locked behind social nonsense lol and this day where half the population gets offended so easily for a lot of people locking harder stuff behind socialism nonsense (aka social with people skills is slight you) we all know gamers are the most anti-social people in the world and locking things that are supposedly hard when they really aren't its just depending on how well you get along with others.. Basically Social skill is all that matters anymore.
Like I said during a few classes irl Groups are typically less skilled than individuals

[Penthea]

See, the problem with that is the "harder content" is locked behind social nonsense

we all know gamers are the most anti-social people in the world and locking things that are supposedly hard when they really aren't its just depending on how well you get along with others..

Basically Social skill is all that matters anymore.

So...you're annoyed that you have to be polite to other people?

Dig up.

[Eldevern]

Because you want extrem challenge, you suppose all people want or need this kind of challenges. But many people in a MMORPG are more here for the story than for the challenge. Deal with it.
Many players don't care about challenge or parse.

Talking for myself, if the game should become like that, I would just leave. I have no interest, I'm not seeking adrenaline but entertainment, it's only a leisure, I have no care for challenge. I'm not frightened or anything, I' don't care, that's not my dope.

Real challenges of real life are far more interesting and rewarding.

[Vidu]

See, the problem with that is the "harder content" is locked behind social nonsense lol and this day where half the population gets offended so easily for a lot of people locking harder stuff behind socialism nonsense (aka social with people skills is slight you) we all know gamers are the most anti-social people in the world and locking things that are supposedly hard when they really aren't its just depending on how well you get along with others.. Basically Social skill is all that matters anymore.
Like I said during a few classes irl Groups are typically less skilled than individuals

...I just want to point out that harder content is also locked behind appropriate equiment, so if someone would still be using an ilvl440 weapon for some reason, they might want to worry about that first...

And the needed social skills are low enough here - non at all are needed for EX-primals and you can get through Savage with PUGs (or join a static and never speak to them outside of agreeing to schedudles). I'm not sure about Ultimate, so my guess would be that you can beat it without having to make smalltalk.
I've played with enough people who werent super social - as long as they're not being jerks... and not being a jerk seems like a very, very low bar.
(Also I always thought that "socialism" was something completly different, but I guess its never to late to learn...)

[Eldevern]

I was thinking about IA. A real clever IA will understand she need to kill the heals, then the RDM and the INV and the job is done, all party will be dead.

You talk about balance, such IA would be far more a nightmare to balance.

[hynaku]

Just make it like blade and soul there no healer class and no main tank class. They should add sub jobs like could have in FFXI then they don't need to worry about balance anymore. If want play some hard games go play some of the first Nintendo games like Ghost and goblins those had real challenge to them.

[Mansion]

Since Gordias, encounter balance seems okay. Changing anything to how things work would have a direct impact on jobs themselves. I'm thinking about heal/tank cooldown planning for instance. Any random damage would negate the utility of abilities like earthly star, or make shields complicated to use efficiently. Random tank busters can't happen when tank cooldowns have such a rigid timer.

For me, what's holding FFXIV back mechanics-wise is the state of the servers. We can't have more precise-timing mechanics because of this small delay in pretty much everything. Savage is working around this problem to some degree, and for now it works.
I kind of like how for instance Voidwalker in Eden is more about a stricter DPS check (at least in the first weeks) rather than a heavy mechanic check. FFXIV's encounter design is still open to several ways of creating challenge.

[Selova]

You talk about how it's not a balance issue with MMO's while at the same time proposing absolutely absurd balance changes that would actually put the game in a unplayable, broken state. This isn't the first time this kind of thread has popped up either, people who don't understand the fundamentals of MMO game play always throw out these wild balance changes to how the game play functions trying to turn it into a action RPG. What your suggesting is nothing short of broken and imbalanced, FFXIV and most MMO's are not built to handle a constantly changing, unpredictable A.I. encounter. Once again, this a MMO not a action rpg.

[Vidu]

Just make it like blade and soul there no healer class and no main tank class. They should add sub jobs like could have in FFXI then they don't need to worry about balance anymore. If want play some hard games go play some of the first Nintendo games like Ghost and goblins those had real challenge to them.

Why do people always suggest changing this game fundamentally to be like another game they can already play?

If you enjoy the gameplay of Blade and Soul, you can go and play Blade and Soul. If you want to play FFXI, I think you can still do that aswell, right?
I'm not saying that FFXIV is perfect and I'm sure there are many improvements that can be made in specific areas, but changing the whole system on a fundamental level seems absurd to me.
Besides: I dont think that every game should function the same way, that would only lead to less variety in the whole gaming market - personally I enjoy the general gameplay of FFXIV and dont want it changed to a different game after 7 years and 3 sucessful expansions.
And isnt it great that you can pick between playing Blade and Sopul, FFXI and FFXIV? Instead of just having one game with different skins? Isnt it great that people can pick the gameplay they like (most) and (still) find a game they enjoy playing instead of having people who might enjoy playing an online game of some kind but not enjoying what some of them offer?

[Adeacia]

.. That sounds not fun for me and many people I know.

I don't want a boss pulling some "hidden" team wiping mechanic out of nowhere. AI's can nearly always "outplay" characters easily. Just Calculate exactly when something will do the most damage or cause the most havoc and do that. Random paralyzes that freeze you JUST when you don't want them to. The reason this isn't in the game is it would absolutely destroy the fun for likely thousands of players.

So you are saying its ok for players to try to optimize everything as much as possible, but when the AI does it, its bad?