Been seeing a lot of doomsaying in forums/in-game lately

[Sebazy]

Savage hasn't changed in difficulty by the way

Name one Savage or Extreme in Shadowbringers > Endwalker that compares to Kefka, Living Liquid and Thordan. Savage absolutely has gotten easier. When was the last time we saw a third tier fight take world progression teams a week to clear?

Living Liquid was nearly 8 years ago, God Kefka was over 4 years ago, Cruise chaser was a joke if your group had any idea how to hold and push DPS to skip key phases, oh and it was over 5 years ago. E4S Titan? Nearly 3 years ago and no, it don't agree that it was a particularly challenging fight either. Fatebreaker? Sure that's more recent but ehh the hardest part was right at the end and again, large parts of it could be skipped with gear.

Unreals? They are recycled old content (Which is arguably why things like Titan Unreal were so good). Shadowbringers Minstrels Ballads? They were all a pushover granted not quite as lame as Endwalkers so far, but pitiful compared to what we've seen in the past.

Even the Bojza thing arguably goes with his point TBH. Eureka was legitimately challenging at times and simply traversing the areas was risky. Bozja? Who cares just hop on the mount and steamroll though, we're back to the point where nothing worries us again, there's no fear because there's no need for it. The bosses were certainly better and more complex in Bozja but the open world was no more risky or dangerous than Thanalan.

[AziraSyuren]

Name one Savage or Extreme in Shadowbringers > Endwalker that compares to Kefka, Living Liquid and Thordan. Savage absolutely has gotten easier. When was the last time we saw a third tier fight take world progression teams a week to clear?

I heard Shiva was pretty rough, but in saying that, I know that I'll get a chorus of people saying "it wasn't that difficult" because they're salty and insecure over all the Light Rampant wipes.

[Sebazy]

I heard Shiva was pretty rough, but in saying that, I know that I'll get a chorus of people saying "it wasn't that difficult" because they're salty and insecure over all the Light Rampant wipes.

IMHO Light Rampant was made worse than it needed to be by certain uptime strats. Granted the fight was a pretty legitimate DPS check so in some ways that was warranted.

As a healer main though? That fight was the most boring raiding experience I've ever had in my life. And that includes camping Ragefire back in Everquest. When the trash add phase is a far bigger heal check than any of the actual fight itself? Yuck. It was long and the DPS check was stern, that's about it really.

[Semirhage]

I heard Shiva was pretty rough, but in saying that, I know that I'll get a chorus of people saying "it wasn't that difficult" because they're salty and insecure over all the Light Rampant wipes.

Light Rampant was an obnoxious mechanic that was mostly exacerbated by the fact that the mechanic's visual and auditory information was all a blur of white and loud pinging. Mechanics are much easier to work a team through when someone dies, and you can immediately tell where the mistake was. Light Rampant was all PING! PINGPINGPINGPINGPING! *white light everywhere*....so who messed up?

how is spamming one button not boring

I keep asking this question because I have yet to receive a satisfying answer for it. Cookie Clicker exists too. I swapped to DPS because healers have been dumbed down to an unacceptable state. And then they were dumbed down EVEN MORE. If FFXIV is going to try to engage me with just the W and the 1 key, then I have TV shows I can watch that command more attention than that.

As a healer main though? That fight was the most boring raiding experience I've ever had in my life. And that includes camping Ragefire back in Everquest. When the trash add phase is a far bigger heal check than any of the actual fight itself? Yuck. It was long and the DPS check was stern, that's about it really.

Ah see I swapped to RDM for that tier, MUCH more engaging experience than the hideous mess that is healing in this game. FFXIV healing jobs have the most embarrassing design I've ever seen for healers in an MMO.