MSQ Difficulty and Exclusion

[ADarklore]

Let me say that OP made it sound like all players want to play EX or Savage, but I believe the reality is, the majority of casual players DO NOT. FFXIV has grown in leaps and bounds, not because of difficulty, but because of it's increasing soloability of the MSQ. MMO no longer means "group" and hasn't for years, but some players cling to that outdated definition... currently MMO simply means a massive number of players playing the same game online at the same time. This is why most MMOs are switching to make the game more solo friendly and easier for casual players- because those are the majority of players. I know I play MMOs not for the 'group' aspect, but because I want to be able to play the same game for YEARS with the game receiving constant updates and additions... something you never get from a single-player game. In the past, an assumption by MMO devs was that single-player gamers were all game hoppers who only wanted to play a game for 30 hours and move on... but the reality is quite the opposite. Many casual and solo players want to play the same game for years, especially if there are constant changes and updates, while also offering the option of socializing if they want to. What always irritated me about FFXIV in the past was the forced grouping for the MSQ dungeons/trials... while the rest of it (questing) was all solo... and I returned solely because they've made great changes to help players like me continue the MSQ without being forced to group. I never had a problem in the group content that I did previously, but, it was also annoying having to sit forever in a queue sometimes just wanting to continue the MSQ, but the current population at the time I was playing low. That's the huge problem with many MMOs that force group content, you cannot always 'play when you want' because you have to be on when the population allows you to group. Right now over in DCUO, the population is so low people spend hours upon hours in queue for older content... something that FFXIV is proactively addressing by making MSQ content soloable.

Perhaps YoshiP is testing the waters for difficulty by stating that the next MSQ trial will be harder, even in normal. We'll see how many players fail and complain, internally they will be able to see how many deaths occur, how many times it takes to pass, and how many players abruptly unsub and leave due to being unable to progress. If they end up nerfing the trial in the future, then you'll have your answer about how well players enjoy harder difficulty. Personally, I prefer easy just because I play for the STORY, not for 'difficulty' or 'challenge'.

[Supersnow845]

Let me say that OP made it sound like all players want to play EX or Savage, but I believe the reality is, the majority of casual players DO NOT. FFXIV has grown in leaps and bounds, not because of difficulty, but because of it's increasing soloability of the MSQ. MMO no longer means "group" and hasn't for years, but some players cling to that outdated definition... currently MMO simply means a massive number of players playing the same game online at the same time. This is why most MMOs are switching to make the game more solo friendly and easier for casual players- because those are the majority of players. I know I play MMOs not for the 'group' aspect, but because I want to be able to play the same game for YEARS with the game receiving constant updates and additions... something you never get from a single-player game. In the past, an assumption by MMO devs was that single-player gamers were all game hoppers who only wanted to play a game for 30 hours and move on... but the reality is quite the opposite. Many casual and solo players want to play the same game for years, especially if there are constant changes and updates, while also offering the option of socializing if they want to. What always irritated me about FFXIV in the past was the forced grouping for the MSQ dungeons/trials... while the rest of it (questing) was all solo... and I returned solely because they've made great changes to help players like me continue the MSQ without being forced to group. I never had a problem in the group content that I did previously, but, it was also annoying having to sit forever in a queue sometimes just wanting to continue the MSQ, but the current population at the time I was playing low. That's the huge problem with many MMOs that force group content, you cannot always 'play when you want' because you have to be on when the population allows you to group. Right now over in DCUO, the population is so low people spend hours upon hours in queue for older content... something that FFXIV is proactively addressing by making MSQ content soloable.

Perhaps YoshiP is testing the waters for difficulty by stating that the next MSQ trial will be harder, even in normal. We'll see how many players fail and complain, internally they will be able to see how many deaths occur, how many times it takes to pass, and how many players abruptly unsub and leave due to being unable to progress. If they end up nerfing the trial in the future, then you'll have your answer about how well players enjoy harder difficulty. Personally, I prefer easy just because I play for the STORY, not for 'difficulty' or 'challenge'.

Yoshi also said that RPR was so hard they were considering changing it because it was approaching being too hard for normal people
And what we got was literally the easiest melee class we have ever gotten

I truly don’t know if he buys his own hype or there has actually been some sort of disconnect but as much as you can like or dislike the high end playerbase they are all in agreement that yoshi’s statements about increasing difficulty never amount to anything

[Axxion]

Yoshi also said that RPR was so hard they were considering changing it because it was approaching being too hard for normal people
And what we got was literally the easiest melee class we have ever gotten

I truly don’t know if he buys his own hype or there has actually been some sort of disconnect but as much as you can like or dislike the high end playerbase they are all in agreement that yoshi’s statements about increasing difficulty never amount to anything

wait, are you being serious that reaper is "to hard" to play?

[Xaruko_Nexume]

wait, are you being serious that reaper is "to hard" to play?

I don't think reaper is "hard" but anything can be hard if you don't understand it. Some of the higher level buttons can be confusing about when the best time to use them are.

Then again, throughout my gaming life I have been notorious for finding extremely easy things quite hard to understand, and while at the same time, I breeze through certain things that others find quite difficult.

TLDR Different people find different things easy/hard.

[Axxion]

I don't think reaper is "hard" but anything can be hard if you don't understand it. Some of the higher level buttons can be confusing about when the best time to use them are.

Then again, throughout my gaming life I have been notorious for finding extremely easy things quite hard to understand, and while at the same time, I breeze through certain things that others find quite difficult.

TLDR Different people find different things easy/hard.

and that is understandable.

[VelKallor]

You wont believe this...but you have JUST paraphrased what Ghostcrawler said back in Cataclysm , more or less word for word. He actually said that they put in harder content thinking that people would like it and they DIDNT...well that again is why Blizzard is in the damned gurgler right now, they misread their audience so bloody often I swear to God they have their heads up their...yeah i wont finish that sentence.

Back in Cata they had two dungeons, Zul Aman and Zul Gurub..and ( Im not making this up ) it got to the point where people LITERALLY ( and I saw this with my own eyes ), queue for a random heroic, get one of those two, and IMMEDIATELY zone out again...we even saw them say it "NO...just NO" and vanish. They preferred to eat a 30 min lockout rather than run that instance.

They HATED it...there was a boss called Jindo, his nickname was jindo the pug breaker. A name he earned over and over again.

Heres the funny part

When Legion came along it was HEAVY in story content and lore , people loved it, the content was tuned to be a lot easier and as an overall experience it was wonderful..they mixed in hard and easy and it worked...but the focus was on the STORY content and it was a fantastic experience.

Whats needed is the mid core experience and maybe thats were these new Criterions will help. We will see.