CBU3. Please respect your players.

[Nav_Fae]

Sharknado is giving me Hardcore Casual vibes

While this picture is true. The problem is that a lot of people think and believe they are this passionate player on the left when in reality they are actually just the "Hardcore" version of it on the right side of this picture. So you have the Hardcore Casual vs the Hardcore Passionate Player? Idk what you would call them.

[OM3GA-Z3RO]

The problem is that the game has been catered to the New, Casual and Social crowd way too much that the people that complain about the game are all categorized by the Hardcore crowd even if people make reasonable arguments.

There is no in between because people from both sides hyperbole their arguments all the time and never talk about the middle ground. The game doesn't have a middle ground either because it either has things too easy or too difficult. When I see people making arguments about whats wrong with XIV, they are mostly sound and true but if their arguments are a bit too much then they should be called out but most of the time they are called out regardless because apparently, there cannot be a middle ground and both sides cannot be catered.

Sadly this is the case because Papa Yoshi wants to rake in as much casuals as possible because it is easier to make content for them and to get them to throw out their money. I am all for easy content for players but man I am tired that midcore and hardcore content are just afterthoughts.

[R041]

This.

Whilst this is humiliating to admit, I was (am) sufficiently terrible at the gameplay that I probably wouldn't have finished the MSQ without this option.

Who cares, get that shit.

They just don't do a great job of providing a good pace for all player experience. Glad you enjoyed it though.

Or hope you enjoyed it. Guess you didn't specifically say.. lol

[sharknado]

Is that a typo or did you really just say that FF14 doesn't have problems?.

As in "not dead", "not dying". It isn't in a position where drastic measures are needed.

This does not exclude improvement and changes going forward.

[RitsukoSonoda]

The problem is that the game has been catered to the New, Casual and Social crowd way too much that the people that complain about the game are all categorized by the Hardcore crowd even if people make reasonable arguments.

There is no in between because people from both sides hyperbole their arguments all the time and never talk about the middle ground. The game doesn't have a middle ground either because it either has things too easy or too difficult. When I see people making arguments about whats wrong with XIV, they are mostly sound and true but if their arguments are a bit too much then they should be called out but most of the time they are called out regardless because apparently, there cannot be a middle ground and both sides cannot be catered.

Sadly this is the case because Papa Yoshi wants to rake in as much casuals as possible because it is easier to make content for them and to get them to throw out their money. I am all for easy content for players but man I am tired that midcore and hardcore content are just afterthoughts.

TBH I wouldn't say it's easier to make content for casuals. It's that he managed to hit a big jackpot on it and is now trying to milk it for everything possible before it collapses. That casual gamer pool he's been fishing from generally is the most fickle one in regards to it's occupants despite it's size. It really only takes 1 mistake to make that cash cow evolve into Moocifer and turn it's now demonic horns on you.

[Nav_Fae]

So in regards to the comments of complaints where you unlock Hard Mode in FF16, I'd like to drop this link. This link lists some examples of games with unlockable difficulty, and that's not even all of them.

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.p...fficultyLevels

The reason for dropping this link is because I think it's important to discuss that unlocking difficulty as an industry troupe instead of painting it solely as a CBU3 issue.

[Jojoya]

The reason for dropping this link is because I think it's important to discuss that unlocking difficulty as an industry troupe instead of painting it solely as a CBU3 issue.

I think that most will acknowledge that it is something common within the industry.

What players are probably more interested in discussing is what purpose it serves.

The cynical side of me says it's purely to increase content longevity and give the game an appearance of greater value through increased play time but that shouldn't be necessary. If the player finds it to be a good game, they're likely to repeat it regardless. If they didn't enjoy it the first time through, they're far less likely to play through it again on a hard mode.

The practical side of me says it's to introduce systems that a player might normally ignore but that are important in the hard mode. The trick with that is that you need to make it seem important in Normal mode as well, and FFXVI did not do a good job of it at least in the case of crafting. Now that more players are getting into NG+ they're seeing the benefit to it but that benefit would have been better off present all along. I'm sure others can come up with examples from other games that also require hard mode to be unlocked.

So what is the intent of the industry when it comes to forcing the hard modes to be unlocked by a Normal playthrough?

[SilversLyu]

This game is lacking mid core difficulty and content severly (1 ex trial every 4 months for example, if you even consider that midcore. Variant Dungeons could fill that place but need better incentive as well) and this is where both the casual fraction and hardcore fraction clash in truth, but instead of debatting for more balance and uniting they argue semantics and thus we run in circles. Then the only thing left worth debatting would be job balance, which is the real challenge at the end of the day.

[Shougun]

I think that most will acknowledge that it is something common within the industry.

What players are probably more interested in discussing is what purpose it serves.

The cynical side of me says it's purely to increase content longevity and give the game an appearance of greater value through increased play time but that shouldn't be necessary. If the player finds it to be a good game, they're likely to repeat it regardless. If they didn't enjoy it the first time through, they're far less likely to play through it again on a hard mode.

The practical side of me says it's to introduce systems that a player might normally ignore but that are important in the hard mode. The trick with that is that you need to make it seem important in Normal mode as well, and FFXVI did not do a good job of it at least in the case of crafting. Now that more players are getting into NG+ they're seeing the benefit to it but that benefit would have been better off present all along. I'm sure others can come up with examples from other games that also require hard mode to be unlocked.

So what is the intent of the industry when it comes to forcing the hard modes to be unlocked by a Normal playthrough?

Definitely, not shocked it exists but given that people were, seemingly, not served by initial options it seems to me that would be the priority before attempting to sneak out extra play time. I'd also say those new game plus systems should have been in the base game. Would have made accessories more interesting, and crafting materials mean something... as it is 90% of chests are like "don't care, didn't read".

Though my bias for only playing a game once unless it's reeeeeeallllllyyy* good and replayable factor into being mildly annoyed that some interesting mechanics were held off for replay bait. Perhaps someone who needs that extra value likes / wants it... but... I don't have that problem lol. *probably not even then to be honest, I can count the number of games I've replayed on one hand.

As a general post I am now past Bahamut unlock, and loving the story. Though if you're going to have an hour cutscene might warn me haha... I had an early morning flight and thought "just real quick" and the game was like Billy May's "but wait there is more!"

[caffe_macchiato]

The game has clear GTFO break moments and playerbase is rising rather than dropping.

Or take a break and pick other games. This isn't Kottick WoW where you have to be subscribed 24/7.

Oh! I know this one! ahem

FFXIV was never meant to be someone's "main game". It was never meant to replace WoW, GW2, FFXI, OSRS, Lost Ark, or any other online game. It's just a side game that you play for one or two hours on the weekends. We will never be as big as World of Warcraft, and that's a good thing. Because for just $13 a month, you can play all the other games you want as long as they're free. Now isn't that a great deal?

I think there's more to this, hold on...oh yeah!

FFXIV is the best MMO right now and one of the best games ever made. It has a 100% rating on OpenCritic and everyone generally likes it. If you like WoW so much, you're free to go back at any time. Oh, but remember Shadowlands? Remember fridge milk and the Cosby Suite? Ha! Yeah, have fun with that. We in the FFXIV community are on the right side of history. Have fun with Dragonflight, which also flopped. FFXIV is the best MMO right now because WoW sucks. I can go on and on about WoW. WoW is so toxic and sexist and they literally kick you for not being BiS. People will verbally and physically assault you just for not playing the meta. I would know, because I played WoW for 20 years before coming to FFXIV last week. And my one week in FFXIV taught me that FFXIV is the best game of all time, period. WoW sucks! WoW sucks! WoW sucks! WoW sucks! WoW sucks! WoW sucks! WoW sucks! WoW sucks!