If you continue to dumb down the game, you will lose half your player base

[Niyuka]

Old players are not wanted by SE. MMO design has been about chasing the "millions" of supercasual players that are now firmly lodged in Idle games in mobile. If you just simplify, streamline and shorten your MMO enough, suddenly a huge influx of players will arrive that have been waiting, and you wont even notice the old people disappearing.

The game is, according to the SE defenders here, still far far far too hard and punishing for a vast majority of players, who just wish to open their hearts and wallets if only they could complete every content one-handed with their DPS paladin build and their broken USB steering wheel as controller that they love since it brought them joy in Need for Speed 2.
Also, not everyone wants to press buttons all the time! Savage DPS requirements are still far too hard, why do we get all these emotes if we cannot use them in between watching out beautiful skill animations? And of course my 6 year old nephew wants to join in on the fun, so we need to create a class he can play and complete the content with.

[TiF]

Tbh as a MnK player, I like havinga ton of skills but I understand the struggles of a controller players. Maybe if SE would rework how hotbars worked rather than changing how the jobs work may be better for all of us. For example, add a feature that allows players to make a custom variant to the PvP job bar system but outside of pvp. for example, Allow players to stack up to a maximum of 3 skills on a single button on the hot bar. I think this will greatly improve the game for controller players and also allow us who like the busier job bars to be happy.

[Thorio]

The game is, according to the SE defenders here, still far far far too hard and punishing for a vast majority of players

I don't think anyone is saying that.

[DPZ2]

They should just give players the option to skip ARR and not spend so much time reworking it.

It's called a story skip + job skip. Works for skipping ARR/HW/STB/SHB story lines, job skip would be better set to that same thing, except it'd cost you a fortune.

[MiaShino]

I don't think anyone is saying that.

There was entire thread about Endwalker trials (mother crystal specifically) being far too punishing for newer players. What amused me most about that confusing newer players with her swapping weapons is Shiva teaches you about this at level 50. Shiva swaps Sword/Bow/Staff before doing mechanics and her mechanics depend on equipped weapon.

Plenty of players posting here that would have much much better experience with the game if they actually interacted with it instead of watching Netflix.

[Caurcas]

It's called a story skip + job skip. Works for skipping ARR/HW/STB/SHB story lines, job skip would be better set to that same thing, except it'd cost you a fortune.

Yeah, but those should be free. It would free up the team to focus of new stuff.

[MagicalChase]

I don't think anyone is saying that.

There's literally a guy in here who's saying that and then calls everyone who disagrees a "hardcore minority"

[Kolsykol]

I wonder how long it'll take them to nerf the second boss in the new dungeon lel.
Too big brain .

[Ronduwil]

The lack of content is a common enough complaint for FFXIV as well. Many of us have played WoW and have seen its decline in real time over the years and are now identifying similar trends where this game is concerned. Much like FFXIV, even to this very day WoW has long had some very vocal players seeking to downplay concerns and try and dismiss concerns as the voices of a 'minority'. In actuality, it isn't unreasonable to suggest that many of those deliberately seeking the game's official forum to post on are doing so because of passion and investment.

Like WoW, there is a minority of a minority here on the forums that believes it's their way or the highway. Unlike WoW, SE isn't caving into those ridiculous demands. Here's what was done at the behest of the forum goers in WoW that has completely tanked the game:

• Flying was removed from relevant endgame areas.
• Rewards for max-level Normal and Heroic Dungeons were nerfed to the point where they're not even as good as the MSQ-equivalent rewards.
• Leveling was reduced from a multi-month joyride for the average player to a 26-hour borefest.
• The currency vendors were removed for everyone except Mythic players.
• The endgame dungeons that drop relevant gear are no longer available via the dungeon finder (WoW's version of the Roulette)
• Crafting is completely worthless for anyone who is not willing to play the game 24/7 in the first few weeks of a given content drop.

Sorry, but revamping the talent system to make it easier to balance classes doesn't even make the list of my grievances against that game. FFXIV has always worked the same way in that regard, too. When you play a job, you play that job with the skills you're given. Am I sad that instead of worrying bout 18 buttons on my Samurai I now only have 17? Not really. I'm more bummed about the cool animation going away, but it doesn't completely destroy the class the way so many seem be suggesting.

[RobynDaBank]

So, how many of you did Endsinger Extreme so far? IMO it's definitely as difficult as Yoshi P warned. It is just one Trial so maybe not enough for some, but I really don't think it's a sign that they're dumbing things down.