Quote Originally Posted by Jeeqbit View Post
No, people were always as they are now. Even when the game was "harder". I mean, dungeons were never hard in the first place, even in Heavensward. The worst was like... The Vault? But once you got used to it and synced down, it was trivial.
Eh big disagree there.

If the vault was trivialised down the line, why was it still the subject of healer's struggling with it multiple years and expansions after it's release? (eg- https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/383897 )

Even with a decent group, original Vault would swiftly punish a napping healer. With a bad group that was sleeping on chains? It could be legitimately rough even for a experienced and capable healer.

Besides the Vault, dungeons *were* categorically harder than they are now and critically, they absolutely did put more pressure on players to perform to a base level than they do now. Remember when dungeon bosses would routinely have enrages? Remember when they had adds that would merrily wipe the group if they weren't swiftly controlled and taken out? Remember when dieing in certain ways would prevent you from being raised and effectively eject you from the boss room until the rest of the group cleared/wiped?