FFXVI has now officially proven to have taken over Yoshi's time

[Eorzean_username]

From this it's rather straightforward to conclude that job changes are very unlikely to have changed a potential player's decision on whether or not to try this game out and purchase it.

I think that these arguments on both sides of the general polarities regarding SE's design changes focus too much on the "acquisition" stage and fail to take into account the additional goal of "retention".

——————————————————————————

Though, regarding the hypothetical "new player" — this may also be oversimplified, and assuming too many similarities between diverse individuals.

For example, I think it's very reasonable to argue that very few players try out FFXIV specifically because "SE made BRD dots last for 45 seconds" — since that sort of thing would be gibberish to many prospective players.

However, it's not unreasonable to conceive of someone being more willing to try out FFXIV because their friends can assure them, "It's easy to play", or "Don't worry, it's not like other MMOs, it doesn't take forever to figure out how to play your class / learn your rotation / be able to participate / (etc)".

Those are all genuine turn-offs / pain-points for a lot of "genre-external" players that typically avoid or bail from MMORPGs, especially coming from other, more "jump in and figure it out", genres.

At the same time, it's also not unreasonable to imagine someone being drawn-in to XIV specifically because they are "genre-internal" already, and have read posts on Reddit/Discord/etc, seen streamers, heard word-of-mouth, been informed by friends, etc, etc, that FFXIV has challenging encounters, or complex rotational optimisations, or is difficult to learn, or etc.

...In other words, I think that the effect can cut both ways.

However, I'm also guessing that SE is banking on the general prospective population trending more heavily in one direction than the other, possibly because they feel that they've already "mined-out" most of the plumbable depths of the latter group, and are now targeting the former group more aggressively in order to continue achieving fabled Growth™.

——————————————————————————

But getting back to the "retention" point.

First, it's true that a brand-new player who's just bumbling through the MSQ, while constantly being given an overinflated sense of their own power and capability, is unlikely to be seriously-critical of their Job's rotation or performance in either direction.

However, that works to SE's advantage here: there is no need to present long-term depth or complexity for the first X-hundred-hours where someone isn't paying much attention anyway, because they are too distracted by too much other content where there is no real opportunity to actually mine down to said depth, and especially not to ever have time to actually execute it.

As such, primarily, the only risk to retention that simplifying Job gameplay actually presents is in the segment of well-established veterans who are also aware of, capable of, and interested in, capitalising fully on those depthier and more punishing systems.

I mean no dismissal nor derogation when I state that I think those players very likely make up a relative minority of the overall playerbase, and have been since time immemorial.

Therefore, I'd guess that this design shift is a gamble that SE likely believes works in their favor statistically, since they've shifted from producing a boutique MMO passion-product (Heavensward) to "the MMO for everybody" (iterative trend since Stormblood).

——————————————————————————

Then to the second "retention" point.

Sooner or later, a new player stops being "new" — in the sense of just wandering around like a tourist at a theme park, gazing in awe at every random gimmicky shack and spectacle, no matter how thin or shallow... and eventually their mind begins seeking justification to remain present in-world.

There's a lot of ways to try to "capture" that, and because people are, in general, fairly diverse in their preferences, I think capturing "correctly" probably involves an aggregate approach akin to grains-of-sand in an hourglass, rather than any one major, specific, tactical nuclear masterstroke piece of content.

ie: For some players, just having housing to maintain is good enough to capture them. For others, the game's natural social environment (such as it is...) will perform the capture. For others, it might be the infinite pursuit of glamour options... others, using Third Party Tools™ to endlessly modify and "improve" their character... and on, and on.

——————————————————————————

In that sense, end-game content, raiding, rotational optimisation, etc, also provide a potential capture path.

However, this is where I think a portion of high-functioning players derail their understanding — treating this end-game, performance-oriented content as a binary.

ie: "Only very skilled players, my brethren, like me, who take pride in challenge and iterative improvement, will ever enter here. So therefore, its design only makes sense to target and support said players like us".

In actuality, I'm venturing (with the usual impossibility of certainty, due to unavailable data) that a good slice of players who enter into end-game content actually do so simply because it adds more to their overall palette of "things to do", and/or provides another social outlet with which they can participate in the game with friends (or in some cases, just, "friend-like strangers").

So there is the very real possibility that:

• More simple and approachable Job rotations
• The ability to more confidently reach what feels like the "expected outcome" for a given Job's performance and rotation
• A feeling of being able to focus more clearly on just the encounter mechanics
• ...etc...

...Keeps more players approaching and interacting with that content, and thus serves to make it "stickier" in terms of retention rates.

eg: If someone tries Savage and feels completely-overwhelmed and also inadequate because their rotation is constantly being hopelessly-derailed, or they're pulling numbers too low to remain in the party, or they're being blamed for Enrage timers, or etc... then they are likely to become discouraged quickly and bail from that content, which in turn amputates a slice of potential capture-area from the game.

On the other hand, if someone tries Savage and experiences relatively-accessible success (in the sense that the primary failure-point is just the mechanics themselves, rather than also fighting their own rotation the entire time), then you may have just lured another player into the "weekly grind" content psychology, and might even potentially lure them further into bashing their head against Ultimates (which could extend their subscription by months)... and, etc.

In this sense, making "content more about the content itself", so to speak, potentially adds more "sand grains" to the retention pile.

——————————————————————————

Yes, there is always the cynical possibility that SE simply has no idea what they're doing, and makes all of their decisions by just flailing-around blindly — and I know it's very tempting for players frustrated by said decisions to characterise the studio that way. (I've been guilty of this many times myself)

However, I am more and more reluctantly-inclined to assume that SE's designers keep stubbornly following similar patterns for what they see as concrete reasons, rather than just being literally Alice-in-Wonderland insane / Katy t3h PeNgU1N oF d00m "rAnDoM".

As such, I'm speculating that things which make my head want to melt like the finale of Raiders of the Lost Ark — like the current design of Healer Jobs — are probably, from SE's more informed perspective, actually increasing... or at least "prolonging"... per-player retention more than decreasing it.

Any veterans, or players looking for more serious or depthy challenge, that fall by the wayside... are probably, mercenarily-speaking, deemed acceptable attrition against the greater gains.

——————————————————————————

But I think that (hypothetical) strategy also has a risk: while very dedicated players tend to form an overall minority in a game, they also tend to serve as potent proselytisers, ambassadors, and inspiration, even to players who don't aspire to that level of play.

Therefore, I think that there's a potential long-term risk of damaging the "prestige" of the game, which might in turn lead to both less acquisition and less retention.

SE, however, may be twigging that gaming is in a different era than it was in, say, 10 years ago, and decided that their primary tool for amplifying game interest is no longer to target the internal MMO gamer community (where "skilled ambassadors" would have the most influence), but instead intentionally trying to both draw-in and retain a much broader selection of players than would typically be expected in an (ostensible) "MMORPG".

This sort of tactic was, after all, one of the contributing factors of what made WOW so potent in its early days, as well — first around Vanilla (when it was fresh and new), and then especially around WOTLK, where they began to abandon one "player-hostile" system after another, en-masse.

[Nav_Fae]

Please stop making bad-faith posts like these.

According to your join date, you haven't been using these forums for even a full month. (With this specific character if we are to believe you don't visit with others). And all you have done in that entire month is call half the forums bad faith forum users for expressing their feelings and opinion. Yet you're the "new" person around here. How are we supposed to believe that you aren't the bad faith forum poster when a fraction of your post throws that trigger buzz word around and you even have it mentioned in your signature. Like for someone who supposedly just started using the forums this month, you seemed to have quickly taken a vendetta against anyone who disagrees with you as a bad faith forum poster. Like your signature says "Ask for hard evidence when they provide none of their own" which you fail to do quite often and only express your opinions that everything CBU3 does is bad and awful. My point is, you are welcomed on these forums as much as anyone else is. But you keep calling people out as bad faith forum posters when that's the only you have done since you have joined is down talk the game and anyone within it. There was a positive thread made asking for crossover items from FF16 and you are in there telling people they shouldn't want a crossover until SE fixes both games. So, is it bad faith to want crossover items because you aren't having fun?

[TheDecay]

I think that these arguments on both sides of the general polarities regarding SE's design changes focus too much on the "acquisition" stage and fail to take into account the additional goal of "retention".

——————————————————————————

Though, regarding the hypothetical "new player" — this may also be oversimplified, and assuming too many similarities between diverse individuals.

For example, I think it's very reasonable to argue that very few players try out FFXIV specifically because "SE made BRD dots last for 45 seconds" — since that sort of thing would be gibberish to many prospective players.

However, it's not unreasonable to conceive of someone being more willing to try out FFXIV because their friends can assure them, "It's easy to play", or "Don't worry, it's not like other MMOs, it doesn't take forever to figure out how to play your class / learn your rotation / be able to participate / (etc)".

Those are all genuine turn-offs / pain-points for a lot of "genre-external" players that typically avoid or bail from MMORPGs, especially coming from other, more "jump in and figure it out", genres.

At the same time, it's also not unreasonable to imagine someone being drawn-in to XIV specifically because they are "genre-internal" already, and have read posts on Reddit/Discord/etc, seen streamers, heard word-of-mouth, been informed by friends, etc, etc, that FFXIV has challenging encounters, or complex rotational optimisations, or is difficult to learn, or etc.

...In other words, I think that the effect can cut both ways.

However, I'm also guessing that SE is banking on the general prospective population trending more heavily in one direction than the other, possibly because they feel that they've already "mined-out" most of the plumbable depths of the latter group, and are now targeting the former group more aggressively in order to continue achieving fabled Growth™.

——————————————————————————

But getting back to the "retention" point.

First, it's true that a brand-new player who's just bumbling through the MSQ, while constantly being given an overinflated sense of their own power and capability, is unlikely to be seriously-critical of their Job's rotation or performance in either direction.

However, that works to SE's advantage here: there is no need to present long-term depth or complexity for the first X-hundred-hours where someone isn't paying much attention anyway, because they are too distracted by too much other content where there is no real opportunity to actually mine down to said depth, and especially not to ever have time to actually execute it.

As such, primarily, the only risk to retention that simplifying Job gameplay actually presents is in the segment of well-established veterans who are also aware of, capable of, and interested in, capitalising fully on those depthier and more punishing systems.

I mean no dismissal nor derogation when I state that I think those players very likely make up a relative minority of the overall playerbase, and have been since time immemorial.

Therefore, I'd guess that this design shift is a gamble that SE likely believes works in their favor statistically, since they've shifted from producing a boutique MMO passion-product (Heavensward) to "the MMO for everybody" (iterative trend since Stormblood).

——————————————————————————

Then to the second "retention" point.

Sooner or later, a new player stops being "new" — in the sense of just wandering around like a tourist at a theme park, gazing in awe at every random gimmicky shack and spectacle, no matter how thin or shallow... and eventually their mind begins seeking justification to remain present in-world.

There's a lot of ways to try to "capture" that, and because people are, in general, fairly diverse in their preferences, I think capturing "correctly" probably involves an aggregate approach akin to grains-of-sand in an hourglass, rather than any one major, specific, tactical nuclear masterstroke piece of content.

ie: For some players, just having housing to maintain is good enough to capture them. For others, the game's natural social environment (such as it is...) will perform the capture. For others, it might be the infinite pursuit of glamour options... others, using Third Party Tools™ to endlessly modify and "improve" their character... and on, and on.

——————————————————————————

In that sense, end-game content, raiding, rotational optimisation, etc, also provide a potential capture path.

However, this is where I think a portion of high-functioning players derail their understanding — treating this end-game, performance-oriented content as a binary.

ie: "Only very skilled players, my brethren, like me, who take pride in challenge and iterative improvement, will ever enter here. So therefore, its design only makes sense to target and support said players like us".

In actuality, I'm venturing (with the usual impossibility of certainty, due to unavailable data) that a good slice of players who enter into end-game content actually do so simply because it adds more to their overall palette of "things to do", and/or provides another social outlet with which they can participate in the game with friends (or in some cases, just, "friend-like strangers").

So there is the very real possibility that:

• More simple and approachable Job rotations
• The ability to more confidently reach what feels like the "expected outcome" for a given Job's performance and rotation
• A feeling of being able to focus more clearly on just the encounter mechanics
• ...etc...

...Keeps more players approaching and interacting with that content, and thus serves to make it "stickier" in terms of retention rates.

eg: If someone tries Savage and feels completely-overwhelmed and also inadequate because their rotation is constantly being hopelessly-derailed, or they're pulling numbers too low to remain in the party, or they're being blamed for Enrage timers, or etc... then they are likely to become discouraged quickly and bail from that content, which in turn amputates a slice of potential capture-area from the game.

On the other hand, if someone tries Savage and experiences relatively-accessible success (in the sense that the primary failure-point is just the mechanics themselves, rather than also fighting their own rotation the entire time), then you may have just lured another player into the "weekly grind" content psychology, and might even potentially lure them further into bashing their head against Ultimates (which could extend their subscription by months)... and, etc.

In this sense, making "content more about the content itself", so to speak, potentially adds more "sand grains" to the retention pile.

——————————————————————————

Yes, there is always the cynical possibility that SE simply has no idea what they're doing, and makes all of their decisions by just flailing-around blindly — and I know it's very tempting for players frustrated by said decisions to characterise the studio that way. (I've been guilty of this many times myself)

However, I am more and more reluctantly-inclined to assume that SE's designers keep stubbornly following similar patterns for what they see as concrete reasons, rather than just being literally Alice-in-Wonderland insane / Katy t3h PeNgU1N oF d00m "rAnDoM".

As such, I'm speculating that things which make my head want to melt like the finale of Raiders of the Lost Ark — like the current design of Healer Jobs — are probably, from SE's more informed perspective, actually increasing... or at least "prolonging"... per-player retention more than decreasing it.

Any veterans, or players looking for more serious or depthy challenge, that fall by the wayside... are probably, mercenarily-speaking, deemed acceptable attrition against the greater gains.

——————————————————————————

But I think that (hypothetical) strategy also has a risk: while very dedicated players tend to form an overall minority in a game, they also tend to serve as potent proselytisers, ambassadors, and inspiration, even to players who don't aspire to that level of play.

Therefore, I think that there's a potential long-term risk of damaging the "prestige" of the game, which might in turn lead to both less acquisition and less retention.

SE, however, may be twigging that gaming is in a different era than it was in, say, 10 years ago, and decided that their primary tool for amplifying game interest is no longer to target the internal MMO gamer community (where "skilled ambassadors" would have the most influence), but instead intentionally trying to both draw-in and retain a much broader selection of players than would typically be expected in an (ostensible) "MMORPG".

This sort of tactic was, after all, one of the contributing factors of what made WOW so potent in its early days, as well — first around Vanilla (when it was fresh and new), and then especially around WOTLK, where they began to abandon one "player-hostile" system after another, en-masse.

Thank you for your well thought-out comment. With minor caveats, I agree with your overall assessment of the situation. However I would contend that

(1): The "genre-external" does not only consist of players willing to try out FF14 because it's "easy". Players from shooters, action games, tactical games have, in my anecdotal experience, found FF14's early game gameplay too unchallenging and slow to want to continue playing the game. What usually pushes the "genre-external" away from the game is not the job design, but rather gameplay systems like gearing, the ludicrous amount of sidequests, knowing whether FATEs or guildleves are worth it, crafting systems, PvP, etc. As Josh Strife Hayes repeatedly emphasized, (a) the early game should hook the player in and the fun part of combat shouldn't be left all the way until endgame, and (b) the game needs to slowly ease players into its systems and not infodump everything on the player all at once. Complexity in systems AND simplicity in combat is what drive genre-external players away. FF14's early game combat is too simple, and many of the friends I know (who are casual video game players) who tried this game quit because of that precise reason. At the same time, we know that one of the most daunting things as a new MMO player to experience is the number of systems that you are introduced to, often in rapid succession.

To alleviate this problem, early game job complexity actually needs to go higher, while system complexity needs to go down. FF14 does well in limiting system complexity because the MSQ largely railroads you to the endgame, but it does not do well in early game combat complexity, at all. For 20 levels you are pressing 1-2, which is around 5 to 6 hours of gameplay. In most single player games, which genre-external players likely hail from, you get access to the meaty part of combat by the time you are 6 hours in. Although endgame job complexity need no go higher than what we currently have, it is my belief that early game job complexity must if SE intends to capture more new players, especially the genre-external who are likely seeking fun gameplay over reading quest dialogue.

(2): I think you underestimate the number of players who quit FF14 because of (a) low job/gameplay complexity and (b) a perceived lack of content. I'll not get into (b) as that's a separate topic, but (a) is a major complaint among MMO players in general. I've met many players in other MMOs who talk about FF14 unprompted with me, and I have quite literally never heard praise of its job design. Instead, what largely seems to drive former FF14 players into other MMOs is its perceived lack of challenge. Most players will not actually tackle Savage and Ultimate, and the MSQ and normal endgame content is the source of their primary perception of the game. These players find the jobs boring and the content unchallenging, which is a large reason why they quit. When people do praise FF14 in other MMOs/MMO communities, and yes, that happens quite frequently, it's often not about its complexity or content, but about its story, its community, lore, and glamour aspects. As such, I believe that the lack of gameplay challenge and perceived lack of content (once again, another topic) are the two main factors for attrition in this game, and according to LuckyBancho's statistics, the total amount of attrition is quite severe, being at 20% each patch cycle. What keeps players in this game, on the other hand, despite the lack of challenge, is its other positive aspects such as a good community, good graphic and style, its robust third-party ecosystem and social aspects, et cetera, rather than its simplified jobs.

(3): With Savage's high participation rate now, I believe you are absolutely correct that simplified jobs and "formulaic" raid design is a major vehicle for retention. What I disagree with is the level of simplicity targeted to achieve this. Stormblood had a healthy high-end content participation rate too, as PF matured and became a legitimate way to participate in such content. While Heavensward design, which is my personal ideal, would be bad for the game's longevity, I don't believe that the developers needed to move beyond Stormblood levels of complexity and design. I think Stormblood struck a very good balance as most jobs had a low skill floor for players to adequately participate in high-end content, while having a rather high skill ceiling on many jobs to satisfy high-end raiders. Savage participation rates have plateaued since Stormblood so I believe that any additional simplification beyond Stormblood only boosted Savage participation rates minimally.

(4): I actually don't believe long-term prestige is a concern for FF14. It already has a good reputation due to its overall decent community (despite its propensity to be passive-aggressive more than other MMOs, IMO), better-than-average developers (since the MMO landscape is overall in a horrible state, standards for FF14 are rather low), decent story (for an MMO), and decent graphic style. Ultimate raids are still prestigious, and many players do aspire to that level of play (however it has been watered down too much lately). The reason I think low complexity is damaging to FF14 in the long run is because it will leave the gameplay-focused players extremely unsatisfied while keeping the "casual" or glam/RP/modding-focused players mildly more satisfied (I say "mildly" because I don't believe going from Stormblood gameplay to ShB gameplay really made many casual players much more satisfied with the game than going from HW to SB did because of the removal of a lot of HW jank). While many of the gameplay-focused players continue sticking with FF14 because, let's be real, the MMO landscape is pathetic, it creates real opportunity for a new entrant to capture its unsatisfied players very easily, and I think this is the real long-term danger for FF14.

According to your join date, you haven't been using these forums for even a full month. (With this specific character if we are to believe you don't visit with others). And all you have done in that entire month is call half the forums bad faith forum users for expressing their feelings and opinion. Yet you're the "new" person around here. How are we supposed to believe that you aren't the bad faith forum poster when a fraction of your post throws that trigger buzz word around and you even have it mentioned in your signature. Like for someone who supposedly just started using the forums this month, you seemed to have quickly taken a vendetta against anyone who disagrees with you as a bad faith forum poster. Like your signature says "Ask for hard evidence when they provide none of their own" which you fail to do quite often and only express your opinions that everything CBU3 does is bad and awful. My point is, you are welcomed on these forums as much as anyone else is. But you keep calling people out as bad faith forum posters when that's the only you have done since you have joined is down talk the game and anyone within it. There was a positive thread made asking for crossover items from FF16 and you are in there telling people they shouldn't want a crossover until SE fixes both games. So, is it bad faith to want crossover items because you aren't having fun?

Another bad-faith post. I have talked down the game a lot, yes, but I only accuse other individual posters for bad-faith posting when they utilize bad-faith argumentative tactics like strawmanning or derailment. As to why your post is probably written in bad-faith? Because it has little relevance to the discussion at hand and is a derailment strategy to turn a discussion about CBU3's resource/budget priority (and currently a discussion of job complexity) into an argument about individual posters.

As you would note in this very post, I do not accuse good faith posters and will engage with them with sincerity. I encourage you to unlearn the bad-faith tactics you have absorbed from the Internet and engage with different forum posters with good faith. My signature can be thought of as a self-defense mechanism: hopefully people who wish to engage with me on bad faith will see my signature and decide not to instead, and save us both the trouble.

[Nav_Fae]

Another bad-faith post. I have talked down the game a lot, yes, but I only accuse other individual posters for bad-faith posting when they utilize bad-faith argumentative tactics like strawmanning or derailment.

As you would note in this very post, I do not accuse good faith posters and will engage with them with sincerity. I encourage you to unlearn the bad-faith tactics you have absorbed from the Internet and engage with different forum posters with good faith.

Alright then, so we're in agreement then that we can accuse you of being a bad faith forum poster to then, yes? It does goes both ways after all does it not?

[TheDecay]

Alright then, so we're in agreement then that we can accuse you of being a bad faith forum poster to then, yes? It does goes both ways after all does it not?

I have reported you for harassment and trolling and shall no longer engage with you henceforth.

[Clover_Blake]

(Since you were replying to my previous post...)

A rather surefire sign of inhabiting an echo chamber, I imagine - as well as directly benefiting from the game's current trajectory and shift towards largely catering to those who spend the majority of their time taking screenshots of their characters using the gpose fuction even as the aspects of the game that players with different personal priorities see more and more of what they enjoy stripped away.

Talking about content you'd like to have or the kind of game you prefer is okay with me. Talking as if the game was doomed for not meeting your personal expectations and tastes, that's where I step in to kindly remind everyone that there are many people enjoying it. This seems to be looked down upon, however; speaking of echo chambers...

So they come to the forum to request that they'd like that trend to cease only for any and all feedback to be treated as 'trolling' or 'not valid'.

I treat trolls as trolls. We all know who they are and what they're trying, so nothing of what they write matters to me.

[Nav_Fae]

I have reported you for harassment and trolling and shall no longer engage with you henceforth.

Oh my, I do love the hypocrisy of this guy! He is allowed to go around labelling and accusing (in his own words) anyone he wants of being a bad faith forum poster without evidence, solely because they disagree with him. But when he gets called out as one himself, it's "Harassment and Trolling". That's rich. Guess it's only harassment when he isn't the one policing bad faith forum users.

[IkaraGreydancer]

Oh my, I do love the hypocrisy of this guy! He is allowed to go around labelling and accusing (in his own words) anyone he wants of being a bad faith forum poster without evidence, solely because they disagree with him. But when he gets called out as one himself, it's "Harassment and Trolling". That's rich. Guess it's only harassment when he isn't the one policing bad faith forum users.

Why I stopped engaging with him. It's going nowhere and it's the classic "I'm right you're wrong" with him. I've even agreed with a few of his points yet that's not enough so there's really no point. If he isn't a troll he's severely misguided for the most part. Reporting for harassment and trolling is beyond crazy yet I bet you the ones calling ffxiv fans soft won't address him on that because he parrots their criticisms.

Forums be weird.

[Nav_Fae]

Why I stopped engaging with him. It's going nowhere and it's the classic "I'm right you're wrong" with him. I've even agreed with a few of his points yet that's not enough so there's really no point. If he isn't a troll he's severely misguided for the most part. Reporting for harassment and trolling is beyond crazy yet I bet you the ones calling ffxiv fans soft won't address him on that because he parrots their criticisms.

Forums be weird.

I am pretty convinced that it is Titanman/Gaius. Just lately it has become weirdly frowned upon to call his alts out for some reason.

[TheDecay]

Why I stopped engaging with him. It's going nowhere and it's the classic "I'm right you're wrong" with him. I've even agreed with a few of his points yet that's not enough so there's really no point. If he isn't a troll he's severely misguided for the most part. Reporting for harassment and trolling is beyond crazy yet I bet you the ones calling ffxiv fans soft won't address him on that because he parrots their criticisms.

Forums be weird.

It's easy to argue as you do: to oversimplify what I have said and reduce it to "I'm right you're wrong." That is the precise opposite of what I've done. I have explained, in great detail, why your posts are bad faith and why I disagree with your arguments. However, instead of sticking to the current discussion on job complexity, among the main topic of this thread, what you have done is to strawman me, assuming that I criticize players or Twitter or agree with others calling FF fans soft. I have done neither, and it is most lamentable that instead of reflecting on how your actions contribute to a negative environment on the forums and in this very thread, you go deeper into personal insults and slander.

I would like to remind forum posters that such bad-faith posts, laced with aggressive language, along with unsubstantiated slander and libel, fall under prohibited behaviors under the Forum User Agreement. Furthermore, the actions of you and the other poster have derailed this thread so severely that it has now become a drama-filled, toxic environment. I would strongly encourage you to reflect on your actions and improve your conduct in the future.