Endwalker hates mid-core players

[Chasingstars]

I don't know what the devs are smoking if they consider relics mid-core.

ARR core relics are insanely grindy and casuals simply don't bother. Arguably the same with HW relics.

Eureka is especially gatekeepy with its compounding subsystems, so also definitely not something casuals pursue.

And Bozja is only modestly less demanding than Eureka, and like Eureka most casuals didn't even bother participating in it.

The only relics that have even marginally been "casual" have been Endwalker relics, and not only have they been criticized for lacking any real content, but I think it was a poor decision to designate *any* prestige weapon grind as "casual".

Roulettes are casual. Gold Saucer is casual. Retainers and housing and glams are casual. If relics are supposed to be "casual", then the devs are losing their touch, and I suppose nothing in the game is intended to mean anything anymore under this guise of "listening to fans" and "accessibility".

They are considered "midcore" because the only thing holding a player back is typically time-investment, gil, and accumulating whatever resources the relic wants.

The only difference between a casual player, a midcore, and a hardcore is how quickly they complete their given relic and how many get completed. A hardcore player can be expected to complete a relic for each and every class. Meanwhile a casual player will take far longer because they are not as deeply attached as to doing it. So midcore are the mix of the two where they may not care about collecting every relic, but they will care enough to collect what relics they actually want for the handful of jobs they actually play. A midcore may even only want one whole weapon and once they are done, they don't care about the rest of the stuff associated with this relic grind.

Midcore are even weirder because they can be really hardcore about specific aspects of a piece of content, but also simultaneously are casual about content within the same sphere. They might have completed P8S, but then for the next tier they can't be bothered to do it. They might do hardcore content, but its only because it has a title or mount or weapon that they actually want.

[SeverianLyonesse]

They are considered "midcore" because the only thing holding a player back is typically time-investment, gil, and accumulating whatever resources the relic wants.

The only difference between a casual player, a midcore, and a hardcore is how quickly they complete their given relic and how many get completed. A hardcore player can be expected to complete a relic for each and every class. Meanwhile a casual player will take far longer because they are not as deeply attached as to doing it. So midcore are the mix of the two where they may not care about collecting every relic, but they will care enough to collect what relics they actually want for the handful of jobs they actually play. A midcore may even only want one whole weapon and once they are done, they don't care about the rest of the stuff associated with this relic grind.

Midcore are even weirder because they can be really hardcore about specific aspects of a piece of content, but also simultaneously are casual about content within the same sphere. They might have completed P8S, but then for the next tier they can't be bothered to do it. They might do hardcore content, but its only because it has a title or mount or weapon that they actually want.

But that's the thing. *Most* things in FFXIV and MMOs are "time investment", and "time investment" is often a barrier separating mid-core/hardcore and casual players. And gil/resources, especially for relics, really just translates to time investment into related/auxiliary grinds.

The most defining feature of any game's casual playerbase is nonengagement with "content". Either deliberate avoidance of any challenge (skill-based) or demand (time-based), or quite literally not having the free time to play the game in that way.

Most casual players generally don't play these games for hours every night, and when they run into opportunities to "grind" for things they often will not participate unless the content itself can be broken into bite sized chunks. If a casual ever does achieve a "mid-core" goal, it will often have been almost a secondary effect of casually playing content they enjoy, and not their primary focal point.

So I just don't agree with the notion that heavily time-invested content is "casual", simply because it does not require skill. Casuals see time-investment as either intimidating or a waste, and will not engage no matter how easy the content is. Bozja and Eureka are not especially difficult content (though they do have some sort of learning curve), but that didn't stop me from quitting once I realized field notes and actions were just rote, long-term gambling that I didn't have the patience for. That seems a pretty crucial axis of distinction of casuals vs. mid-cores: mid-cores have the time and interest to grind content; casuals have a much lower threshold of peacing out to go dance in Limsa.

That list aint completely right. There is no mid core. There is only super easy and super hard. Until a few years ago i was doing savage raids and extremes but for me it was to much stress for to little reward.
My Wife started playing like a year ago and while shes dying of boredom in normal dungeons, she would never dream of killing a current extreme primal.

So no. There is no midcore. For me personally, midcore would be extremes or Criterions without timelimit. Its always the "we devs make it easy for us" Timelimit. That is also the Reason everybody has to slot full DPS materia on every Job that exists.

To me, mid-core is the design space of things which require some degree of time-investment/grind and learning mechanics/systems, without needing to invest into optimization or training schedules.

Anything that does not require "investment" or "planning" is casual. All of the social subsystems, retainers/trusts, Gold Saucer, roulettes, dungeons, most 24-man raids. A casual's rule of thumb is either (a) quick, or (b) hard to fail with no experience, or (c) not participating and going to some bar in the housing district.

Anything that requires substantial investment, particularly BiS, melding, strats, and statics, but also to an extent pots and food and add-ons, is hardcore. That definitely includes current tier savages and ultimates, but also current expansion savages and the current-tier extreme trial. There never is much hardcore content in FFXIV, with long droughts between patches, which is where we see a very vocal minority complain about "not enough content".

Mid-core is what exists in that space between the two, things that require too much skill or time to be of interest to casuals, but can be prepped/geared/trained for cheaply and quickly with reasonable odds of success. Anything that amounts to a boring "grind" is naturally going to gravitate to this middle zone: Eureka, Bozja, Diadem/crafting, older Extreme mounts and older Savage glams, alt job leveling and deep dungeons, Lord of Verminion. I would describe most self-contained and "parasitic" side content to fall into Mid-core, because it often is not consequential to the main story and casual enjoyment, is secluded away enough behind side quests and subsystems as to be easily neglected/missed, but also is absolutely not challenging to play once the player is oriented to the systems.