7.0 MMO to a Single Player Game

[vetch]

If anything, its harder with NPCs than it is with players, because everything relies on you to take initiative and nobody can explain things to you, so you have to figure it out or fail. Also, reworked all dungeons of past have been not dumbed down, but actually turned into something that teaches players mechanics. They actually use markers that appear in later fights consistently now, making sure people have opportunity to learn what they do early on, which is a great change. It's the very fact that those older duties relied on 'unique' mechanics that made actual learning curve so steep, because all that early content did nothing to prepare players for mechanical aspect of later content. Its still not perfect and you still sometimes see players running away with stack marker in some lvl 50/60 duties, but generally, I've found all the early revamped story dungeons to be much better at demonstrating specific mechanics in non-overwhelming way by having one or two per major bossfight. Isn't that what people always asked for, early content that actually prepares people for later, more involved and difficult content? And now its terrible because its 'homogenized' in attempt to implement consistent mechanics?

Because the mechanics themselves are boring. 'Boring' is not a word you want applied to your videogame. And it quite literally has been dumbed down, because unique mechs that used to require a bit of thought were replaced with the boss running to center and casting 'dodge this' or 'stack this', which requires none.

It would have been a coup to update the markers to convey the common mechanics better while retaining the unique flavor mechanics that make the fights interesting in themselves. Instead, all of the interesting older work was gutted and the fights made repetitive, because the game was already running on a skeleton crew and then they were given FF16 to work on alongside so it's all they had time to do. And it's still so forgiving and power-crept that you can ignore tankbusters and soak AoEs. What do you learn as a new player if a tankbuster marker appears for the first time and then the boss attacks your tank for not much more HP than he was already autoing for? Nothing.

[Heroman3003]

Because the mechanics themselves are boring. 'Boring' is not a word you want applied to your videogame. And it quite literally has been dumbed down, because unique mechs that used to require a bit of thought were replaced with the boss running to center and casting 'dodge this' or 'stack this', which requires none.

It would have been a coup to update the markers to convey the common mechanics better while retaining the unique flavor mechanics that make the fights interesting in themselves. Instead, all of the interesting older work was gutted and the fights made repetitive, because the game was already running on a skeleton crew and then they were given FF16 to work on alongside so it's all they had time to do. And it's still so forgiving and power-crept that you can ignore tankbusters and soak AoEs. What do you learn as a new player if a tankbuster marker appears for the first time and then the boss attacks your tank for not much more HP than he was already autoing for? Nothing.

Such unique mechanics as Ichorous Ire's 'literally just sit and wait for the lever cooldown because the entire fight is waiting for lever'. Just because something is unique doesn't make it interesting. Several fights that were basically non-fights are now actually fights, both because of adjusted scaling (looking at you, Aetherochemical Research Facility) and because of changed mechanics. I disagree that any fight became more 'boring' because most fights that were changed had basically no mechanics or had even worse mechanics before. I honestly actively prefer the switch from 'unique' boring mechanics to the 'consistent' boring mechanics that at least do barest minimum of teaching for new players throughout the story.

[vetch]

Such unique mechanics as Ichorous Ire's 'literally just sit and wait for the lever cooldown because the entire fight is waiting for lever'.

You think the fight was sitting and waiting for the lever because the spriggan meant to attack the bomb was so undertuned that he died in two hits and the lever is all that was left. Solve that and the fight becomes interesting. Change it to 'blorp blorp there are now small AoE markers on the floor' and it never will be.

I disagree that any fight became more 'boring' because most fights that were changed had basically no mechanics or had even worse mechanics before. I honestly actively prefer the switch from 'unique' boring mechanics to the 'consistent' boring mechanics that at least do barest minimum of teaching for new players throughout the story.

Graffias's arena is now empty, sterile, and boring instead of dangerous and claustrophobic.

Isgebind went from teaching about lingering AoE puddles to not teaching.

Livia's mech went from teaching about protecting NPCs to not existing at all. Also the pulls in Meridianum suck now.

Updated spread markers and telegraphs would have solved all the problems with old Einhander without turning him into a striking dummy that teaches nothing.

Midgarsormr went from an exciting rush of chaotic AoEs and adds that I enjoyed every time to a tedious bloated sack of HP casting fixed-pattern AoEs even more slowly than Ichorous Ire's.

Gyascutus went from teaching about exercising restraint to not kill an important add prematurely to teaching nothing.

This is not even to go into all the tiny, fun optimizations which were deleted from fights that superficially seem the same, like saving your pot during Myath in Sohm Al to Echo Drops your healer so you can ignore the green slime's silence, or having a phys ranged collect Rangda's tether from a caster in the Aery and complete the mechanic for them so that neither needs to stop attacking.