The difficulty of Normal Content in this game needs to increase.

[Hycinthus]

I remember how an average party couldn't get through Titania. Sometimes they still couldn't get through it even with several stacks of Echo because the tanks don't understand how to tank it and DPS is low even with Echo. The biggest thing that has probably helped since was forcing leveling dungeons to have a minimum item level so that people don't go into the trial with second tier Stormblood gear.

Remember how everyone used to abandon Steps of Faith? I do, because I waited 40 minutes when I queued into it in Heavensward and everyone abandoned immediately, which was soul crushing enough to make me consider quitting because I couldn't progress. Then I tried one more time and 40 minutes later, they all abandoned again and I had to have a message ready to ask them to stay. By the time I'd sent it only 3 people remained to see it and they admitted they were about to leave too, but would stay and wait for it to refill.

Then we have the first EW trial, which just like the extreme version, I've seen people flat out unable to do until I put a Dorito on myself.

This is what actually happens when you gate the MSQ behind hard content.

But after they failed, then they learned didn’t they? Eventually people learn and get past through it.

[Jeeqbit]

But after they failed, then they learned didn’t they? Eventually people learn and get past through it.

The veterans who had done Steps of Faith did not want to do it at all, therefore they refused to help new players clear it because it was too much effort for them and they kept abandoning it. So no. I had to actually beg people to help me with it and back then we did not have much of an item level increase over Steps of Faith, so unsyncing was pointless and just like most new players don't, I didn't really know much about that feature then (not that it was much of an item level increase at the time).

If you keep running into these difficulty gates over and over again after waiting 40 minutes in a queue when you want to get through ARR and 4 expansions then you're surely going to just give up.

What would be nice is if we had other ways to adjust difficulty, such as a setting to hide telegraphs on an individual basis, or a hard mode setting new players can tick to queue into harder versions of the same thing and a roulette to supply it that we could unlock that didn't make the dungeons and trials that much harder, but just did 1 or 2 simple things like removing the telegraphs and syncing to minimum so you have to think a little more, rather than going full blown criterion difficulty.