Content geared towards FCs

[VerdeLuck]

"Why is there gear gated behind Savage/Treasure maps/Ex Trials/Crafting/Gathering/"insert story locked behind an job or rolequest??? I should not be forced to xyz!".....

None of that content has any requirement beyond "queue up for this" or "make a pf and wait for 5 minutes", it's not gated in any meaningful way

[MonteCristo]

"Why is there gear gated behind Savage/Treasure maps/Ex Trials/Crafting/Gathering/"insert story locked behind an job or rolequest??? I should not be forced to xyz!".....

My point exactly...alot of these excuses weren't even valid this is a MMORPG but it is what it is. Its giving cult like vibes

[caffe_macchiato]

I keep saying the whole "feeling obligation" is such a weak reason for optional content. Theres some things I dont do in this game because I just dont care. I dont ever feel forced to at anytime.

Are people just have this weak sense of self obligation when playing games rather than just doing this because they want to?

Sometimes, obligation is the only way to get people to come back to your game. It’s why we have roulettes and tomestone caps, so that people are obligated to stick around longer than a week after each patch. Otherwise the game would be a ghost town. It’s the lesser of two evils. And, if someone really doesn’t like obligation, they can simply choose not to play that particular content. Not everyone has the endurance to deal with savage timegates, and likewise for FC content. But a live-service game’s survival depends on player engagement.

[Vidu]

"Why is there gear gated behind Savage/Treasure maps/Ex Trials/Crafting/Gathering/"insert story locked behind an job or rolequest??? I should not be forced to xyz!".....

For me there is a big difference between playable content and the rewards that said content offers - all of those contents can be accessed by anyone who wants to do them and its only up the player to get there.
Different story for content that would be locked behind FCs - where you'd be way more dependant on other people. On the one hand having enough people online at any given time to do the content and on the other hand not having so many people online that you dont get to do the content because you get excluded.

I'd like to offer two scenarios here, assuming that when we're talking about "content" we mean something along the lines of a dungeon - in the broadest sense, mainly: battle-content that people play together in a cooperative fashion at the same time:
(A) We get new [content] for up to 4/8/24/72 people. You can invite anyone to join you for this content, including FC-members and friends from other FCs and worlds. If not enough of your FC-members (and friends) are online, you can use PF to recruit strangers or try your luck with DF. If you - and some FC-members/friends - want to play this content, you can do so at any given time (more or less).
(B) We get new [content] for up to $/8/24/72 people. You can only invite FC-members to join you for this content. Any friends from other FCs or worlds are out*. If not enough of your FC-members are online to attempt this content with any promise of sucess (e.g. you dont really need to attempt treasure maps with less than 3 people - while possible, its not fun. At least not in my humble opinion). If to many of your FC-members are online, some might be left out. If you want to play this content, you depend on your FC-members being active at the same time as you while not having other ingame plans.

Why would B be better than A? What would the benefit be? Certainly not making FCs more social - maybe I'm to negative but I can already picture dramas like this:
"Hey, I want to do [content] on monday, tuesday and friday! Let me join your FC!"
"Cool, we do [content] on monday, tuesday, thursday and saturday and we need more people!"
...
"You didnt do [content] for the last two mondays! I'm leaving!" or "I wasnt allowed to join for [content] for the last two weeks! I'm leaving!"
or, on the FC-side: "You didnt show up for [content] for the last two weeks, you're out!"

*funny enough: they werent even that bold - or brutal - for Diadem back then...

[Deveryn]

"Why is there gear gated behind Savage/Treasure maps/Ex Trials/Crafting/Gathering/"insert story locked behind an job or rolequest??? I should not be forced to xyz!".....

The only "gate" that exists for anything you just mentioned is savage having loot capped. That's the only gear that even matters to anyone looking to do that level of content or ultimate. Everything else is easy access for all and generally optional. FCs have their own "gated" content already. Why the greed?

The fact that we talk about an old version of Diadem in the past tense should be enough of a clue as to how the proposed addition would do, but some cling to the past a little too hard.

[Atelier-Bagur]

What if there was something that you cant do in this game but you really wanted it?

That exists already with current savage gears. I love some of the weapons for glams and I would reeeeeeaally like to get them but I lack the patience and skill to do savage raiding anymore. Does that mean the team have to cater to us casuals that want the weapons by making savage raiding easier? Hell no.

[Jojoya]

"Why is there gear gated behind Savage/Treasure maps/Ex Trials/Crafting/Gathering/"insert story locked behind an job or rolequest??? I should not be forced to xyz!".....

Try answering my actual questions instead of dodging them by talking about rewards gated by content that anyone can access without having membership in a specific type of social group.

Why is more FC specific content needed? Why can't FC make use of content already in the game for their social activities?

I can tell you right now that if a FC is not making use of existing content for their social activities, they won't be making use of FC specific content for their social activities either. All you end up doing is creating new exclusives for FC Masters and their pet officers, much like the workshop already is.

That exists already with current savage gears. I love some of the weapons for glams and I would reeeeeeaally like to get them but I lack the patience and skill to do savage raiding anymore. Does that mean the team have to cater to us casuals that want the weapons by making savage raiding easier? Hell no.

It means you wait until a future expansion and get the items then when you can do the content unsynced. You don't have to join a FC to get them on top of other requirements.

[Vidu]

That exists already with current savage gears. I love some of the weapons for glams and I would reeeeeeaally like to get them but I lack the patience and skill to do savage raiding anymore. Does that mean the team have to cater to us casuals that want the weapons by making savage raiding easier? Hell no.

Thats not the same, though - dont confuse "getting to play the content" with "getting the rewards of said content". You can do savage right now - access to it has never been easier! Since ARR more and more options were added to make access to this content easier - putting it in DF, allowing to queue for it without a full party, adding PF, adding options to DF/PF to allow to "filter" for groups...
Adding FC-exclusive content would do the opposite - it would make content more difficult to acces in the first place, before even considering how easy it would be to get the rewards.

[Atelier-Bagur]

Thats not the same, though - dont confuse "getting to play the content" with "getting the rewards of said content". You can do savage right now - access to it has never been easier! Since ARR more and more options were added to make access to this content easier - putting it in DF, allowing to queue for it without a full party, adding PF, adding options to DF/PF to allow to "filter" for groups...
Adding FC-exclusive content would do the opposite - it would make content more difficult to acces in the first place, before even considering how easy it would be to get the rewards.

and my counter argument is exactly what you just stated in this post. You can easily join any FC in this game. The whole point of FC content is to appeal to those already in one. There's already stuff locked behind FC anyway and let me already tell you as someone who plays alts, I dont care for my alts to be in any FC, because the point for it is engaging with that community circle which I dont normally care for. I dont ever feel pressured or obligated having to join one for doing extra content whastover. My whole point for adding more FC based activities is for the benefit of those communities, not for the individual player. The solo player isnt going to necessarily care for that kind of content if thats not in their MO with this game. So why are we suddenly going "But think of the non-FC players!" Like seriously who cares. Let those people have their own fun. You dont have to care if you dont want to. I certainly dont. I just think its neat for this game to have extra stuff for people to do for dedicating their time in certain parts of this game. How is this so wrong?

[MonteCristo]

and my counter argument is exactly what you just stated in this post. You can easily join any FC in this game. The whole point of FC content is to appeal to those already in one. There's already stuff locked behind FC anyway and let me already tell you as someone who plays alts, I dont care for my alts to be in any FC, because the point for it is engaging with that community circle which I dont normally care for. I dont ever feel pressured or obligated having to join one for doing extra content whastover. My whole point for adding more FC based activities is for the benefit of those communities, not for the individual player. The solo player isnt going to necessarily care for that kind of content if thats not in their MO with this game. So why are we suddenly going "But think of the non-FC players!" Like seriously who cares. Let those people have their own fun. You dont have to care if you dont want to. I certainly dont. I just think its neat for this game to have extra stuff for people to do for dedicating their time in certain parts of this game. How is this so wrong?

This a million times. Blows my mind that were rly arguing about adding group based content in an MMORPG!