the normal content is too easy

[Asako]

Well keep in mind, they're not up to revamping that part of the MSQ yet. If they stick with current trends, it will go to a solo instance or 4-man duty. They gave the end of ARR back some of its teeth with recent changes.

I know and it's great what they have done for the old content. I still believe the Ilvl cap would be a nice stop gap though until they get around to reworks. Gives them more time to concentrate on other things.

[Supersnow845]

Well keep in mind, they're not up to revamping that part of the MSQ yet. If they stick with current trends, it will go to a solo instance or 4-man duty. They gave the end of ARR back some of its teeth with recent changes.

Why should every instance that’s not hard be revamped into a solo instance or a 4 man duty, thordran works well as a trial he is just too easy, much make him as difficult as he is supposed to be and it fixes everything, he doesn’t need to be fully redesigned

[TaleraRistain]

I know and it's great what they have done for the old content. I still believe the Ilvl cap would be a nice stop gap though until they get around to reworks. Gives them more time to concentrate on other things.

I don't know if it would be worth it at this point to mess with the formula. Next patch is already up to The Vault. They're almost there. So if the plan is to revamp Thordan, they're probably already working on that.

There's no guarantee they will. They didn't mention having redone Ravana. But we have seen the end of ARR and entry to HW revamped now, so it wouldn't be unreasonable to see Thordan completely redone.

[TaleraRistain]

Why should every instance that’s not hard be revamped into a solo instance or a 4 man duty, thordran works well as a trial he is just too easy, much make him as difficult as he is supposed to be and it fixes everything, he doesn’t need to be fully redesigned

Because they're making the MSQ soloable and so far that seems to be their pattern on many things? Not all, since Moggle Mog is still a trial and they didn't talk about changing Ravana. It could be they're getting dungeons and will circle back. We don't know for sure. But my point is that they may fix the new player experience with these changes the way they did with Ultima and especially Lahabrea. Those changes have received a lot of positive feedback, so it wouldn't be unreasonable if they continued that trend.

[LisSquid]

They just need to make stat templates for old content instead of using sync. Syncs will break over time, and the more we go on without tuning what these numbers look like from Satasha to the Nier Raids it will continue to reflect poorly on otherwise good encounter design.

Crystal Tower wouldn't be my abandoned daily duty if I could see at least *some* of the old mechanics again.

[Supersnow845]

Because they're making the MSQ soloable and so far that seems to be their pattern on many things? Not all, since Moggle Mog is still a trial and they didn't talk about changing Ravana. It could be they're getting dungeons and will circle back. We don't know for sure. But my point is that they may fix the new player experience with these changes the way they did with Ultima and especially Lahabrea. Those changes have received a lot of positive feedback, so it wouldn't be unreasonable if they continued that trend.

Which circles back to the original point, the casual content is too easy, why does everything need to be soloable in an MMO of all things, sure they want to conserve the storyline of a main line FF game but why do they need to take actual development time away from new content to deal with a problem that won’t be a problem for like 10 years at best

[TaleraRistain]

Which circles back to the original point, the casual content is too easy, why does everything need to be soloable in an MMO of all things, sure they want to conserve the storyline of a main line FF game but why do they need to take actual development time away from new content to deal with a problem that won’t be a problem for like 10 years at best

Because their new stated path forward is to modify the MSQ only to be able to be done by yourself or with friends. Some, but probably not all, reasoning they gave for that is to draw in fans of the single player games who haven't wanted to try XIV since it was an MMO. Some still won't because they don't want an online game at all, but some will because not being a single-player experience was the point they didn't enjoy and now that will be alleviated.

[LisSquid]

That's my main worry, really. We had a really good balance between the single player and group player focus since ARR. Neither totally satisfied (because obviously both camps would want the game to be 100% in their favor), but the fact both persist and continue to love the experience means it was successful in accomplishing what it set out to do.

Pushing more towards designing content with the solo experience in mind feels like trying to layer the wedding cake in the wrong order.

[TaleraRistain]

That's my main worry, really. We had a really good balance between the single player and group player focus since ARR. Neither totally satisfied (because obviously both camps would want the game to be 100% in their favor), but the fact both persist and continue to love the experience means it was successful in accomplishing what it set out to do.

Pushing more towards designing content with the solo experience in mind feels like trying to layer the wedding cake in the wrong order.

Was it really a good balance, though? I mentioned this in I think the live letter thread but with this change they're cementing the MSQ as the base JRPG experience and that will allow them to expand the optional content with the normal MMO standards. The lines here have been a bit blurred in the past and it feels like that's where some conflict comes from.

[LisSquid]

snip

With some exceptions, I think the balance where we have solo duties for story beats have been used with great effect. Especially lately. Dungeons and trials have been sporadic enough (giving the solo player the feeling of a satisfying narrative ride), with dungeons and trials (frequent enough to quench the thirst of the group player) punctuating appropriate moments.

Pushing it to be 100% solo is going to cause more conflict than not.