Variant/Criterion's direction is worrying

[Jeeqbit]

The puzzles are a joke aswell, and to call them puzzles is a insult to puzzles. Do you want to press the left or right buttom? so fun and exicting

Most of them are just left or right (or "try all the objects in sight once"). There are some genuine puzzles that take some figuring out in each one though, which are based on hints given in the diary. I figured them out myself and there were genuinely some diary entries that I knew were hinting something, but it took me lots of attempts of trying different ideas to figure it out.

But trying those different things is painful because it requires going through a bunch of boring bosses just for your theory not to work.

[Gullis]

Most of them are just left or right (or "try all the objects in sight once"). There are some genuine puzzles that take some figuring out in each one though, which are based on hints given in the diary. I figured them out myself and there were genuinely some diary entries that I knew were hinting something, but it took me lots of attempts of trying different ideas to figure it out.

But trying those different things is painful because it requires going through a bunch of boring bosses just for your theory not to work.

yes, it does have a few good ones, but usually it boils down to just either picking option A or B

[strawberrycake]

I think this speaks to a larger issue within the game itself, as theres no smooth transition to role agnostic gameplay within XIV as it stands. because I think having role agnostic content is fine, but with XIV it's either hard coded content where each role has a strict set of role based mechanics, or it's content where it's role agnostic, and this has never been more of an issue until now within EW.

[VentVanitas]

my personal issue with the role agnostic gameplay with Variant/Criterion is that it feels derivative and boring compared to Bozja. in Delubrum you can at least have more fun mixing and matching the different essences and lost actions, but in Variant? boring heal, boring mitigation, boring fixed potency DoT.

[Nadda]

I believe the fun of Variant is to adventure around and solve all the paths without using a guide to learn some neat lore. I'm sure any Lore Masters if any are present love Variants for this reason.

I believe the fun of Criterion is to be Savage-lite with core group of friends and offer a good challenge that is non-committal. (hopefully with rewards worth the effort along with your mount)


So my fundamental understanding of V/C is that it exists to be fun. I'm kind of okay with that.

[Maltothoris]

Well considering that you can just buy the mount and the ost roll off the marketboard for the criterion normal stuff, it really doesn't add incentive to do so. Plus there is no reason to do Criterion Savage over and over again outside of Aloalo.

Edit: And this is coming from someone who done all 3 of them and has the epic hero title.

[Infindox]

I believe the fun of Variant is to adventure around and solve all the paths without using a guide to learn some neat lore. I'm sure any Lore Masters if any are present love Variants for this reason.

I believe the fun of Criterion is to be Savage-lite with core group of friends and offer a good challenge that is non-committal. (hopefully with rewards worth the effort along with your mount)


So my fundamental understanding of V/C is that it exists to be fun. I'm kind of okay with that.

That's the issue with current Criterion though for me. It's not Savage-lite, it's quite punishing, and the rewards aren't quite worth it. It's created two problems:
1. People who wanted this as "somewhat challenging content with friends" get stuck with the normal Criterion and don't get the rewards that Savage gets. They do it maybe once then never touch again.
2. People who can do Savage also do it once and leave because the rewards aren't really worth it. They made all the cool stuff buyable on the MB and they tried on the weapon skins, but they honestly don't really look all that great, and you're certainly not getting them for ilevel.

I love the "easy" mode but I hope they work on the rest of it before we get another one in Dawntrail.

[Nadda]

That's the issue with current Criterion though for me. It's not Savage-lite, it's quite punishing, and the rewards aren't quite worth it. It's created two problems:
1. People who wanted this as "somewhat challenging content with friends" get stuck with the normal Criterion and don't get the rewards that Savage gets. They do it maybe once then never touch again.
2. People who can do Savage also do it once and leave because the rewards aren't really worth it. They made all the cool stuff buyable on the MB and they tried on the weapon skins, but they honestly don't really look all that great, and you're certainly not getting them for ilevel.

I love the "easy" mode but I hope they work on the rest of it before we get another one in Dawntrail.

Yeah it just needs something.
I honestly think it should be another way to get Savage content gear.
Savage difficulty? Then Savage Gear.

If you can get twice as much savage gear per week or faster than how we've been gearing now.
That's more than enough incentive. To do it.

If you're a serious raider you hyper speed getting your bis.
If you're a raider but maybe not all your members show up in a casual setting - you can at least do the criterion savage for gear.
If you're new to raiding but non-committal but want to dip your toes in or don't have a group it'll be easier to get at least 4 people instead of 8.


OR maybe it can have an Tome to upgrade your tomestone gear?
I'm not sure exactly what... but it should be gear related.

[Absurdity]

That's the issue with current Criterion though for me. It's not Savage-lite, it's quite punishing, and the rewards aren't quite worth it. It's created two problems:
1. People who wanted this as "somewhat challenging content with friends" get stuck with the normal Criterion and don't get the rewards that Savage gets. They do it maybe once then never touch again.
2. People who can do Savage also do it once and leave because the rewards aren't really worth it. They made all the cool stuff buyable on the MB and they tried on the weapon skins, but they honestly don't really look all that great, and you're certainly not getting them for ilevel.

I love the "easy" mode but I hope they work on the rest of it before we get another one in Dawntrail.

For me there's a 3rd problem, it doesn't actually fulfill the niche I personally wanted, harder 4-man dungeons.

Criterion is really just 3 extreme/savage bosses with a corridor in-between, a very similar formula to the 8-man high-end content we've had for years.
To me it doesn't even qualify as a dungeon.

[Nicola_Kunu]

But trying those different things is painful because it requires going through a bunch of boring bosses just for your theory not to work.

That's an issue with all difficult content in this game if you do it blind, unfortunately.
If you're trying to figure out a mechanic 10 minutes into a fight and you want to test your solution, you have to slog through the previous 10 minutes again. (cough cough P7S)