Raiding is becoming less and less optional

[wereotter]

Most players already do the 24-man content anyway considering that in the odd-numbered patches, that's how players who aren't doing savage unlock the option to upgrade their gear as well as get gear for alternate jobs.

Early on there might be some bumps, but I've only ever seen a handful of times where a group was unable to clear the raid and get the rewards. Making them a part of the story adds to them since it makes them more relevant. It's not as though they're asking you to clear something like Titan savage to advance the story. They make easier versions for people who want the story and harder versions for those who want the challenge.

[Theodric]

You only need to do each raid once, on normal mode. That isn't a lot for the development team to ask of players in order to unlock content. If it were a case of asking people to complete savage raiding, then that'd be a completely different matter.

[MsMisato]

I think having normal raids being a part of the story is just fine. However, ff they were savage and were required to advance the story that's a different thing but it isn't. Normal raids right now are pretty straight forward. With the exception of thunder daddy which was nerfed recently, all the 24 and 8 person raids are fairly easy once you grasp the major mechanics that could wipe out the raid.

[Gemina]

Funny thing about "raids" in this game is that anything outside savage/ultimate is considered casual content when those encounters are basically trials, and for all intents and purposes could be called "savage/ultimate trials"; all the while, 24 man alliance raids is actually a true raid by definition. But "raiding" is typically the term used to refer to the most difficult content the game has to offer. Ahhhh, semantics.

Anywho, alliance raids is some of the most fun content to do in the game. It's a playground where both the devs and the players can step over some boundaries a bit - with restrictions of course. Construct 7's math mechanic is an example of that. Boiled down though, they are basically massive dungeons and are designed in a way that they will be cleared nearly every time. And just like dungeons, every once in a while they will toss a wall in there, forcing players to obey mechanics or gtfo.

[Cithaerias_pyropina]

Eh, I'm quitting after 5.3's Shadowbringers's story-arc conclusion anyway. I won't need to do forced content I don't like if I don't even play.

[Vivi_Bushido]

I'm really conflicted on this subject. I understand there should be a casual thing because some raids can be to hard and some people just want the story and lore, but other times, I miss the lore being locked behind super bosses. It made the moments felt a bit more rewarding.

[Ultimatecalibur]

Funny thing about "raids" in this game is that anything outside savage/ultimate is considered casual content when those encounters are basically trials, and for all intents and purposes could be called "savage/ultimate trials"; all the while, 24 man alliance raids is actually a true raid by definition. But "raiding" is typically the term used to refer to the most difficult content the game has to offer. Ahhhh, semantics.

Bahamut and Alexander (Normal) actual felt like raids as they made you feel like you where infiltrating and fighting through dangerous locations. Omega and Eden have felt more like a series of interconnected trials. It is funny how the existence or nonexistence of trash fights can seriously change how a raid feels.

[Barraind]

Victim of the term "raid" applying to too much content in this game.

Pretty much this.

The 24mans arent raids in any sense of having to be organized, and the actual raid-like content in the game is actually group content.

Yoshi and crew took some extreme liberties with how they named things (or kept the 1.0 version of names) in a completely arbitrary way that dont match any established precedent in the MMO genre, which is really bad when you're trying to explain things to people who know more than 0 about the MMO genre and everything ends up getting needlessly called a raid.

Funny thing about "raids" in this game is that anything outside savage/ultimate is considered casual content when those encounters are basically trials, and for all intents and purposes could be called "savage/ultimate trials"; all the while, 24 man alliance raids is actually a true raid by definition. But "raiding" is typically the term used to refer to the most difficult content the game has to offer. Ahhhh, semantics.

The thing people call "raids" are trials, all trials are "full party" content, and alliance raids are the closest thing we have to actual raids, but have almost no group-interdependency and no requirements for group fluidity, meaning they really arent raids, just content for 3 fixed-on-entry full parties.

Its all backwards!

[Saefinn]

Victim of the term "raid" applying to too much content in this game.

I'm almost 100% certain that what they meant by that comment was savage/ultimate stuff. There's way more people doing things like the 24-mans, despite still being officially classified as "alliance raids", largely on account of being nowhere near as hard.

I guess the easiest way to think of it is.
"Does it appear in the raid finder?"
"No"
"Then it's not strictly a raid"

Admittedly, doing Ivalice for relic was a PITA (I swapped characters for ShB and hadn't done it on the character used0, but that's not because it's a "raid", but it's because they end up dragging on and some mechanics can be annoying and I just overall don't enjoy them. And heck, they nerfed Ivalice where they realised where trouble might be had in preparation.
But doing Crystal Tower on the other hand, Crystal Tower is in a position where it can facerolled to the point where I miss the good old days when it felt like they had mechanics.

These "raids" are just longer dungeons with more people. So I don't think it's any different to a dungeon requirement. But I guess in their commitment to story, in tying certain storylines into the MSQ, it makes sense for people to have gone through the story. It's a story driven MMO, so we should be used to content being locked behind story and story locked behind content by now.

[Derio]

Alliance raids are casual content. Its not raiding content.