This live letter was a massive disappointment

[SargeTheSeagull]

The criterion and variants dont meet that need? Or is this a loot issue?

It’s a loot and difficulty issue. Variant is effortless and mainly for lore/story which I don’t mind. Criterion is as hard/harder than extreme which doesn’t fill the gulf between normal and extreme as eureka and bozja did. A massive issue with 14 is how “normal” content is so easy you basically can’t fail and the next step up, extreme/criterion, is so difficult it takes literally hours of prog for the average person to clear. Also yeah, there’s no reason criterion shouldn’t reward gear. Eureka/bozja, which criterion replaced, rewarded gear. I enjoy hard content, but criterion doesn’t fit between normal and extreme. If I do criterion, I’ve got to 100% focus. Whereas bosses in eureka/bozja (CE’s, instance raids, and certain NM’s) were hard enough you have to pay attention and try but not so hard as to command your focus for hours as you progress through.

[Amenara]

The criterion and variants dont meet that need? Or is this a loot issue?

SE puts a lot of effort into them but adds no reason to do them after you get your glam/mount/achievement whatever. If they added some sort of leaderboard for the time it takes to complete, add in a catch up mechanic for gear, random drop rewards, some sort of reason to play beyond the first week of release then it could be good midcore content. It's a shame because the new dungeon visually looks gorgeous and I hate to see it get abandoned like the previous criterion did.

[Kes13a]

FFXIV is all about balance but even the devs can't get it right and we have to suffer with this homogenized carbon copy of jobs, it just not fun

most developers for most games could not balance classes/jobs with two hands and a directions manual. players scream about this mythical "balance" and then complain as things all become the same.. which is actually "balanced"

it is a prime example of, "be careful what you wish for"

[VelKallor]

Hmm....the difference in the two is that the criterion instances have a longer shelf life, exploratory zones tend to be short term. Sarge, thank you for a detailed analysis..Ill have to think on this. Your raise some valid points. Im not sure I agree with job design...problem there is everyone has their own ideas on what they want the jobs to do, regardless, no one will ever be happy.

Also yeah, there’s no reason criterion shouldn’t reward gear

What ilevels would you think make sense, given the gradient between the base crafted and savage / extreme / unreal tiers?

Where would the gear fit in?

SE puts a lot of effort into them but adds no reason to do them after you get your glam/mount/achievement whatever. If they added some sort of leaderboard for the time it takes to complete, add in a catch up mechanic for gear, random drop rewards, some sort of reason to play beyond the first week of release then it could be good midcore content. It's a shame because the new dungeon visually looks gorgeous and I hate to see it get abandoned like the previous criterion did.

Agree 100%. Longevity is the key element.

[Rufalus]

It's a normal patch so I'm not more disappointed than usual. We've been taught to not expect anything out of the ordinary. The next battleground is pushing for bigger changes in 7.X series. There's still time to yell for changes before it's all set in stone. I thought 5.X is when it became overdue to break the stale formula but we blew right by that. Yoshida!

[VelKallor]

One point I do want to raise: and it goes back to "too easy" : there MUST be a distinction between things like Criterion and story content, story content by SPECIFIC design MUST be able to be completed with a view to varying levels of skills / ability. Story content should not be a brick wall.

Later content can, and should be, harder on a curve, BUT with the understanding that story content is MEANT to be completeable. Not everyone goes on to the harder content, many play for the story content alone and go on to other activities that suit them.

That should be kept very much in mind when discussing this. A while back I discussed "Feast of Lies"..what I DIDNT know back then was that the boss has his OWN enrage separate from the timer you see onscreen..which, I agree, is what threw me off and why I failed so often. it wasnt till someone TOLD ME that I realised what I had missed.

Once I knew that, I knew what to do.

There must be a balance with content difficulty levels.

[Zanarkand-Ronso]

most developers for most games could not balance classes/jobs with two hands and a directions manual. players scream about this mythical "balance" and then complain as things all become the same.. which is actually "balanced"

it is a prime example of, "be careful what you wish for"

Everyone always has this Perfect View, and then Pickachu Face Hardcore when Reality sets in and tells them "Thats not realistic"

[lalin]

What you call "mediocrity" is not what others see in the game, Sarge. Each to their own. Im enjoying the hell out of myself..as far as 'mediocre" goes, I tend to disagree and find the game and its content very enjoyable.

Im curious: what is it you would see changed / included?

i think you won't start seeing the issue unless you've played 3+ years or even more - you start to notice some things you haven't when you were new and of coure it's different from one person to another - to me i wish we had more content that requires you to do alot of grinding in the world , something like fates or hunts but with actual rewards and takes a long time to finish so the content does't die in few weeks from it's release date ,
i really love the areas in this game and adding content like that would make them more alive i think .
i understand people don't like to grind for things but isn't that how mmo work?

[Amenara]

What ilevels would you think make sense, given the gradient between the base crafted and savage / extreme / unreal tiers?

Where would the gear fit in?

Honestly I would love to see Savage criterion to be horizontal progression for savage gearing, ie it gives the same ilvl as savage with different stats/materia/something as there is no actual horizontal gearing in the game. That being said if the normal criterion gave ilvl in between normal and savage gear it could also be used as an alternative gearing method, or give more casual players content to get slightly better gear and do harder content without going into savage. This is all with the caveat that you are already ~8 weeks into the savage tier and alot of raiders are probably going to be fully geared or nearly there and this can provide another avenue to flesh out their gear, help them get the last little push of gear to get them through the final savage fights, or even start gearing an alternate role. Variant difficulty is honestly there for the story and you have a reason to do it 12 times if that's your thing and doesn't necessarily need gear drops or anything for longevity if the criterion difficulties exist and have it covered.

[VelKallor]

i understand people don't like to grind for things but isn't that how mmo work

It WAS. Ten years ago. Times change..demographics change, people change. Lalin: Ill drop this in and Id like you to go off and think on it.

The average MMO gamer these days is in their mid thirties, job, kids, commitments. A growing percentage are older..a LOT older, with the 50+ bracket slowly climbing. They are called "grey gamers", also in that bracket are a growing playerbase of women, which I am absolutely DELIGHTED to see.

The playerbase is maturing across a lot of platforms. The old MMO "grindfest" was attuned..shall we say..for a younger audience..time being for older people what it is...a premium.

Ive actually said this before: demographics drive game design.

Something to consider, no?