Quote Originally Posted by Bonoki View Post
So, I asked a lot of my raider friends and most of them said that they felt that Savage is Midcore and only current Ultimate (DSR and TOP, not the other three) are Hardcore.
Lately I've been getting the impression that Hardcore content is reduced to Midcore content with age and experience. Or alternatively, when something harder releases, then the previous Hardcore thing is bumped down a tier.
In the context of Savage, it's hardcore content until the world races are completed. Then it becomes Midcore content when the guides and braindead strats are made up. As people finish their 8 weeks and experience across the player base is gained, then it falls to midcore tier. After my general interactions with several people on the subject, this seems to be the case. Things aren't created with being midcore in mind, they are reduced to becoming midcore with time.
I would guess that this is the result of having so much of the combat being scripted without deviation. It feels to me that combat in XIV is more about memorizing a pattern and executing it and not about knowing how your abilities work and when it's appropriate to use them. Jobs have very static rotations to follow without deviation and once an encounter has been learned it is simply repeating it.