Does 14 Promote a Culture of Mediocrity?

[Ronduwil]

As the title ask, does 14 create and promote a culture of mediocrity within it?

It promotes fun. Why does everything have to be hypercompetitive? The idea of a "culture of mediocrity" is a complete myth because "mediocre" is a relative term. By definition, most people are always going to be mediocre. Suppose we all magically woke up with the skills of world first raiders. That skill level would then become the new mediocrity. Chasing this goal of "promoting excellence" in a video game is a ridiculous strategy that ultimately results in a game that no one wants to even play anymore.

This is how it plays out: Given enough practice, enough people will master any given mechanic. Once enough players have mastered it to the point that it's second nature, those players who were now considered masters become mediocre. In the meantime, the new players who have yet to master said mechanic are now considered "bad." Now that most existing players are easily clearing the bar, the devs have to introduce an even higher bar for them. As new players come on board and see ever higher bars, they eventually decide that clearing those bars is simply not worth the effort, and they choose to spend their relaxation time engaging in an activity that's actually relaxing.

Congratulations! You've mastered this game. Find another to master, if you're bored. Please don't ruin this one for the rest of us. You might have better luck petitioning Blizzard's dev team with suggestions like these. They seem to be all in on this notion that if it's fun, enjoyable, and/or easy, they should complicate it for reasons. All in the spirit of competition for what was originally touted as a cooperative game.

[Raoabolic]

You might have better luck petitioning Blizzard's dev team with suggestions like these.

So people are complaining that the game is becoming very simplified and your solution is for them to go to a game where that mentality has destroyed it? I think you missed the point m8, lol.

[Ronduwil]

So people are complaining that the game is becoming very simplified and your solution is for them to go to a game where that mentality has destroyed it? I think you missed the point m8, lol.

The opposite mentality has destroyed it. If you feel that Shadowlands is less competitive than any other expansion that came before it, then you clearly haven't played that game ever. WoW is now the poster child for overly complicated games. FFXIV is on a far better trajectory in that regard.

Compare and Contrast:

WoW - Gear progression below Mythic-level Dungeons is halted upon finishing the Covenant quests (the equivalent of MSQ)
FFXIV - You can get end game tokens for raid-quality gear by simply running the MSQ roulette

WoW - You can only equip two legendary items that are generated via crafting. Any other piece of gear that's crafted is effectively worthless.
FFXIV - You can craft and equip a raid-quality piece for every single slot

WoW - Mythic Dungeons are on a tight timer. Loot quality is dependent on the key that was used to initiate the run. Two or more wipes effectively means you only get half your loot, and the key belonging to the person who initiated the run degrades. A degraded key means lower loot quality on the next run. Loot is only awarded after the final boss.
FFXIV - Wipe as much as you want. The timer is generous. Loot is awarded after each boss, and the loot's quality is based entirely on the instance. There is no loot penalty for failure.

WoW - The tuning on Mythic dungeons is such that if one or two DPS wipe during a boss fight, you might as well wipe the entire party because the fight isn't getting done.
FFXIV - The entire party can wipe, but if just one healer can hold out for an LB3, you're back in the game.

That's why this idea that WoW has gotten less competitive over the years is so ridiculous to someone who actually knows how the game works now.

[Beytran70]

The opposite mentality has destroyed it. If you feel that Shadowlands is less competitive than any other expansion that came before it, then you clearly haven't played that game ever. WoW is now the poster child for overly complicated games. FFXIV is on a far better trajectory in that regard.

I would be curious to read the WoW forum thread where you posted this as a thread topic. I don't think WoW has the same type of complexity that is being discussed in this thread. The problem with WoW is that the core gameplay is simple but the devs keep adding complicated, busy systems on top to make it seem more advanced than it is and to keep players busy since the general content is so dull.

[Ronduwil]

I would be curious to read the WoW forum thread where you posted this as a thread topic.

I can't post on the WoW forums because I unsubbed from it. However, I feel this post sums up the situation pretty well:
https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wo...in-wow/1181215

Complexity is only one aspect of what I was talking about. The OP's premise was this idea of a "culture of mediocrity" in this game. IMO, that's a good thing for the game. Mediocre doesn't mean bad. It means average. I think too many players forget that. If you're running a company, you want to make lots of money, so you want to hire people who are better than average to be more productive for you. So in that environment, I can understand why hiring mediocre employees would be bad. But FFXIV is not a company. It's a video game. If you're trying to sell copies of a game, you want as many people to buy it as possible, so you want to make it accessible and enjoyable for the average person. Bringing more mediocre players into the game doesn't hurt it. It actually gives the better players an audience that they can flex to. People act like they're doing SE favors by "productively" and efficiently consuming their content. They're not. In fact, it's quite the opposite. Blizzard has forgotten that. Thankfully, SE hasn't.

[XmissionsX]

Well after experiencing the smn rework of my main to a brain death class I have to agree with op, I did miss the early part of ffxiv joined to late but out of curiosity I read all the changes to smn and how the class changed in the years and personally I would absolutely loved the earlier versions of smn.

I played mmorpg for 25 years but noticed immediately the missing mechanics which made mmorpg challenging, the extremely easy way tanks can hold agro, none of the quest in msq are remotely challenging, u can just walk by every mob and loose agro extremely easy. Seeing tanks solo killing group bosses, seeing people purple parse 1 btn macro savage content.

For me it’s ok as I wanted a more casual play style, but I do feel it’s bordering close to way to easy, if u can savage purple parse 1 btn macro a class it’s probably to easy.