Final Fantasy XIV Hot Takes

[Shurrikhan]

I've been playing MMOs for over 20 years. In that time I've gotten quite adept at spotting the double speak raiders use to try to get more epeen content at the expense of everyone else. I've also seen the same attempts they used in this very thread to try to turn it around and say it's the non-raiders trying to get everything. You can gather I don't particularly like raiders, if you want to know why just look at most MMOs who listened to them and in the end made only raiding rewards good, WoW is the most extreme example, but there are many others. So yeah, when I see them trying their old tricks in yet another MMO I will absolutely call a spade a spade.

Then, let's see an example of that which would benefit raiders by, as per what you quoted, removing guarantees as to raid content -- i.e., where "let's mix thing up by moving beyond the current content formulas (the backbone of which is raids and all else is merely a tack-on)" is double-speak for "give us more raids (and screw anyone who likes content that is not called a "raid" because we only care about raids, despite that term somehow including both 24-mans and ultimates, which could scarcely be more different from one another."

[Conundrum]

Then, let's see an example of that which would benefit raiders by, as per what you quoted, removing guarantees as to raid content -- i.e., where "let's mix thing up by moving beyond the current content formulas (the backbone of which is raids and all else is merely a tack-on)" is double-speak for "give us more raids (and screw anyone who likes content that is not called a "raid" because we only care about raids, despite that term somehow including both 24-mans and ultimates, which could scarcely be more different from one another."

First off, your demand isn't even coherent, but I'm reasonably sure you were trying to create an unanswerable "gotcha" question. Like I said, seen the tricks for 20+ years.

You and I both no, the second the current content formula is broken it would be open season from raiders demanding more "hard" content and endless whining when "casual" is added. Hell, they do it now when they know it won't work...do you think it they would do it less if there were a chance it might?

Anyway, I'm done with this subject, I have no interest in arguing in circles indefinately.

[Shurrikhan]

First off, your demand isn't even coherent, but I'm reasonably sure you were trying to create an unanswerable "gotcha" question.

You made a claim that moving away from a set content formula as per...

We don't need a content formula any more. It's boring.

...would only lead to raiders directing "content... to them at everyone else's expense."

Despite that person you quoted pointing out that their issue had nothing to do with raiding and was instead because...

the content is so formulaic you can predict what content is dropping in what patch. I can tell you how many bosses will be in each dungeon, how many pulls you will have in each dungeon. That's a problem.

...you insisted that a request --to no longer adhere perfectly to the typical content formula-- made also by casual players who want less fixation on raiding... would most likely be double-speak by those who actually just want a greater portion of developer resources to be spent on raid content.

I therefore asked you to give me an example of past language that has, despite seeming more likely to move attention away from raids, would be double-speak by those who wanted greater developer attention to be spent on raids.

:: In other words, I asked that you give at least a shred of evidence to support, or at least exemplify, your claim.



My own position, btw, can be summed up here:

A central side-content form the ties the rest together would actually be good for a given expansion; it just has to be done well.

For instance, imagine if instead of just another Diadem-rehash, an utterly disjointed alliance raid, and another 2 years of just the same old Expert Roulette spam and isolated tiers, we had actually gone off to revitalize the Light Waste, using the connections between Stasis (Light) magic and Echo/timespace travel to join those elements together. For instance, rather than the Light Waste being a small vista from which to access Eden cutscenes, we could actually go out to explore, using the evolving Eden to echo the pre-apocalyptic world as to rediscover and (through defeating monsters and absorbing their aether), resituate, and repopulate it. NieR, in that context, could actually make sense, and open-world and instanced content could actually share an interesting, synergetic connection.

It, too, would require we move away from just the current content formulas. That does not, however, make it double-speak for "give us more raid content." Quite the opposite.


tl;dr: I get it. Raiders bad. But maybe don't read agenda into suggestions that have nothing to do with that agenda?