Quote Originally Posted by YukikoKurosawa View Post
Power creep is not really a thing in this game though. Due to every instance having by-default level and itemlevel syncing (always syncing down your iLevel to a specific number which is generally the highest possible item level for that instances specific character level), it's impossible for it to get easier with subsequent expansions. A level 90 dragoon who ques for Tam Tara hard is just as powerful as a level 50 dragoon who ques for it. They're both synced to the same item level and have the skillset while in said instance. It's quite literally impossible for content to get easier with new level caps due to how this game is designed.

If you're noticing anything changed it's due to either the stat squish messing up the numbers somehow or the devs manually nerfing specific content (which they definitely have as I mentioned).
With each new expansion they adjust damage scaling at lower levels. They do this because the game is only designed to be balanced at max level when everyone has their full toolkit. The further you go back in levels, the less and less of your rotation you have. A level 60 job in Endwalker is vastly different to a level 60 job in Heavensward. Since different jobs gain new actions at different levels, a job's damage output and relative balance can change drastically from one level to the next based on what they have unlocked. To compensate for this and make sure that no jobs are too weak in old content after expansion adjustments, they just crank up your damage and defense at low levels so that everyone is overpowered.

The issue is that they went massively overboard and it only gets worse and worse with each new expansion. ARR and Heavensward content is pure faceroll now, bosses die long before you see all their mechanics and what mechanics you do see can be largely ignored because the damage they deal is so non-threatening.

It's not simply a matter of changes to the way jobs work, or new expansions granting players more DPS potential with things like removal of TP, tank stance, cleric stance, etc. Those things contribute sure, but it cannot explain the (in some cases) tripling or more of damage output in the same content at the same item level, or how a mechanic which would one-shot you back then only deals a tiny fraction of your HP now. This is even comparing the same ilvl and no echo.

In Syrcus Tower, even if you go in at min ilvl no echo, Glasya Labolas will still die before he does his platform mechanic, even with an average group. The only way to see it is if you have less than a full alliance or people are doing bad damage on purpose. In Brayflox's Longstop, until around Shadowbringers you HAD to pull the final boss out of the poison pools to beat him even with a group of max ilvl synced players. Now you can simply outdamage the regen. In Sohm Al, you can kill the second boss long before he summons the green slime, and even if the slime explodes it will not wipe the party like it would originally. Most dungeon bosses pre-Stormblood have entire mechanic patterns that you now never see because they just die so fast.\

This is not even mentioning how they for some reason do not implement ilvl sync in alliance raids, normal raids, or endgame trials, even though they DO use ilvl sync for dungeons, capping you to the max ilvl for the patch the dungeon was released in. When you get old raids in roulettes, the first tier raids are ridiculously easy while the third tier raids still have a little bite to them. Even within the same expansion, by the end of the expac the challenge of the initial raids and trials is all but gone. By 5.5 players were skipping mechanics in Copied Factory. There's just no need for it.

With the game now having so much content in this trivialized category it has become honestly dreadful to run roulettes, barely any better than sitting in cutscenes in Praetorium in terms of engagement.