Quote Originally Posted by Ayuhra View Post
Buttons need to be trimmed down in this game by at least a lot. A good place to start is consolidating buttons that have no business being separate because they're already mutually exclusive abilities (for example Blizzard IV/Fire IV on BLM or Summon/Enkindle on SMN)
Agreed only if they're not commonly used. For the typical 1-2-3 combo, I would hate to be on the same button because it's clearer for me if they're on separate buttons. Summon/Enkindle should be on the same button, B/F4 I don't remember as I haven't played BLM in a long time.

And I maintain that patterns are overused in FFXIV. If you know the fight well it feels easy but if you don't it's frustrating. It's probably not something I'm doing a good job explaining. I guess maybe it's that FFXIV pve is more proactive (know where to be) while, say, WoW is more reactive (respond to the unexpected and get yourself back into the fight). Obviously there are reactive mechanics in FFXIV and proactive ones in WoW but in general they each lean heavily on proactive pattern recognition and reactive chaos.

I personally prefer pve in WoW, it seems more accessible and definitely has a lower skill floor but a waaay higher ceiling with the people at the top being part of a world wide esport. That said, FFXIV's rotations in WoW would make WoW impossible. I'm imagining doing the summoner rotation on heroic Jaina and it's making my eyes cross.
See, this shows that difficulty is also subjective. I actively play both games, and I find WoW's "reactive" gameplay to be harder to get into than FFXIV. I don't play at the high end on either, so I can't say what would be harder for me as both are too hard. But at the low end, FFXIV is definitely way easier. The only reason why I could even get into WoW was because I could make do with using less buttons and I don't need to move as much in some fights.