FF14 Becoming More "Solo Friendly" is bad, Maybe

[LittleChickenNugget]

I haven't read through the thread yet but I, for one, am happy with the changes. I'd rather just play with a Trust system in as much content as possible than to have to deal with a majority of the community I always seem partnered up with in group content.

[Thorio]

At least normal dungeons is fine, I for one would like a deeper npc system kind of like it is in ffxi. Raids, trials and of course pvp should be only with other players imo.

[IdowhatIwant]

And this is what the entire argument boils down to ... personal preference.

Tanks were not designed to move in and out of Tank Stance, players found a way to make it work and called it 'complexity'.

Healers were not designed to move in and out of Cleric Stance, players found a way to make it work and called it 'complexity'

Some people really enjoyed that unintended style of play. Others did not. The people who enjoyed it look nostalgically on the heydey of those classes, mostly those who played Heavensward when the expansion came out.

The problem is that only a small number of players can actually pull off that kind of 'complexity'. The rest reverted to DPS, since 'pew-pew' is relatively uncomplicated. The complicated playstyle many veterans on the forums fondly recall became less complicated because of changes to the tank and healer classes to encourage DPS players to work on those sorts of jobs.

What all of that has to do with Solo Friendly trusts is anyone's guess.

I will point out that SE has stats on how many people leveled alts through Trusts in Shadowbringers and came to some conclusions about its utility that inevitably led to its current direction. This includes many posts on these very forums about how it should be used to replace the MSQ roulette.

Underlined: This is completely incorrect as tanks are still designed to move in and out of tank stance. There was just more of a benefit to doing this correctly and optimally than now as it would improve DPS output. Now the only benefit to doing this optimally is not stealing threat off the other tank which is the primary reason you even stance danced to begin with.

Italic: Healers were designed to move in and out of cleric stance as fights used to have much tighter DPS checks. These were removed and healers gutted of DPS skills and given and overwhelming amount of healing skills that are not needed to actually heal the outgoing damage in most content thus making the classes less interesting. View healer forums for more information.

Bold: Where is the evidence of this? Unless SE comes out and makes a statement on this, this is nothing more than a hypothesis.

The problem was never that a small number of players can pull off that kind of complexity. It was normal to do these things back then. The real problem is to many players are lazy and entitled and do not feel they need to put forth any effort to learn to play the game and just want a carry through the content. Respect other peoples time learn to play the game and quit making BS excuses for your lazy entitlement.

But. on the bright side you all will have your solo mode so the majority of us that want to play this game, won't have to deal with you much longer.

[sagacious]

This is, first and foremost, in Yoshi-P's own words, "a numbered Final Fantasy". That makes it a game whose primary goal is to tell a story, and there are Final Fantasy fans both new and old who want to play it for that story. So do I begrudge a developer, whose lifelong dream has been to tell a story in one of Square's flagship RPGs, for taking steps to make sure more people can enjoy that story, even people who don't want to take what they might perceive as a gamble by subjecting themselves to unpredictable social experiences? Not at all.

I agree with you the story is the game and I loved every moment, but the crafting noises I cannot take and as soon as I hear them I leave. Yes I can turn off the special effects but I have to do that every time I see someone crafting. My ears simply cannot take the punishment and id rather be alone.

[Anemic]

I agree with you the story is the game and I loved every moment, but the crafting noises I cannot take and as soon as I hear them I leave. Yes I can turn off the special effects but I have to do that every time I see someone crafting. My ears simply cannot take the punishment and id rather be alone.

As a max crafter, lately I have been feeling this way about hearing those noises. I tend to just leave the area But this is a ME problem and I know that.

[MikkoAkure]

Italic: Healers were designed to move in and out of cleric stance as fights used to have much tighter DPS checks. These were removed and healers gutted of DPS skills and given and overwhelming amount of healing skills that are not needed to actually heal the outgoing damage in most content thus making the classes less interesting. View healer forums for more information.

While I agree with you on tanks, this part is not true. Yoshi-P has been saying for years that healers weren’t meant to go hard on DPS. He said as much in an interview 5 years back with Mr Happy and in a separate one the same year he talked about how he personally hated cleric stance. Then again, he said it wasn’t going away in the same interview, but it ended up going away anyway. The main problem with healers is that the combat team hasn’t found a way to make healing interesting.

Just because people used things in a certain way doesn’t mean it was intended that way. Ninja and Samurai were used completely differently by players in FFXI than how they were designed, for example.

[Minsue]

Ehh depends how far they take it msq sure let them solo it with some forced multi-player sprinked in or not but should stay there mist mmos you can solo the main story at least alot of it and we have it now in current msq so won't change anything but if they branch out beyond that much yeah be defeating the purpose of an mmo

[Minsue]

I agree with you the story is the game and I loved every moment, but the crafting noises I cannot take and as soon as I hear them I leave. Yes I can turn off the special effects but I have to do that every time I see someone crafting. My ears simply cannot take the punishment and id rather be alone.

They should add a crafting noise toggle by its self

[Evergrey]

I agree that in an MMO the people around plays a viable part in the gaming experience.
But it's also not uncommon that people might not want to be forced to group up with others in content.
And I'm ofc thinking of all the Tank/Healer anxiety at first.
That people feel pressure of performing more than what they might feel comfortable with.
However, I do think in general that without obstacles people won't learn to get over them.
Making games easier just makes people make less effort and from that people become more sentitive to pressure.
So to make it even easier the option in MMOs to be able to do more and more content alone becomes a norm.

just my own 5 cents.

[cactusbees]

This is a great example and I'm glad you've found your niche. If I may ask though, does the "hands on" aspect include doing literally anything other than trust dungeons or are you specifically logging in to complete your dailies and log off?

If so, I wonder if it would be worthwhile for the dev team to create a more "ASMR chill experience" that some players can hop in and out of, while the other side has their complexity, difficult content and general "more high energy" environments. The Dev team seem to enjoy wasting their time on things like Hrothgar Ear-less hair for example, why not create a new game++ where this is possible?

Not at all! I like to try various duties, because I know I suck pretty hard at this game. If I get annoyed enough at a class, I'll switch over to crafting and try to level one of those or try and work on the recipes for completion. If the mood hits, I'll take a peek at Party Finder and find someone who needs help with completing something and hop in, so they have a body to try and get through what they need. Obviously, this isn't something that appeals to everyone, but for someone with limited time, it's nice. There's also always new things to see in explorer mode. The maps are stunning when you have time to slow down and check them out and don't have someone pulling wall to wall.