FFXIV needs to stop accommodating Solo Players

[Suniva]

Ahh ty_taurus, thanks for soloing an 80 instance to prove it can be done. I have no idea why anyone would play the game like that other than for a challenge since it is not the optimal way to play. As I said in another post of mine, regardless if it can be done solo, there is no denying that cooperating with the 3 others in your party leads to you completing the dungeon faster, which the ultimate goal is completion of the dungeon for tomes. But like AmiableApkallu stated, it doesn't matter what the definition of the words are when people are left feeling the way that they do.

As for your idea, let's say it gets implemented. After years of doing content with those mechanics, what's to stop the community from coming right back around and starting this whole process again? It is a never ending cycle of trying to implement different things to keep the audience engaged, which is why we see fights using mechanics we are all familiar with, but in different sequences. Sure, more can be done, and sometimes something new gets added, but after a while even that something new will become stale and people will go right back to saying that the game needs something new. Hopefully with Dawntrail and with what Yoshi P stated, there may be some changes that get implemented that make the game feel less like what it does now, but we have to wait and see if those changes do in fact come, and how long the community will be satiated before we are right back here again.

Right now we have what we have in game and even the OP of this thread seems to have given up on it since it has sort of been derailed (Kind of OP's fault since they were so incredibly vague despite others attempting to get them to be more specific) into "Stop Accomdating solo players" to people expressing their "feelings" on why they feels like the game is soloable and wanting more, let's say, dynamic content. I do see this as an unending issue that can never be fully rectified however.

[ty_taurus]

Snip

The point isn't that people can just spend 80 minutes soloing a dungeon. It's that the mechanics are so relaxed that someone can solo the dungeon, even if it takes significantly longer to do so. Obviously any content that doesn't scale to the number of players will inherently go quicker with more people regardless of whether or not more people are required. I did that test in a response to what you had asked, if it was possible to effectively solo casual content like a dungeon as just a healer. Based on what you were responding to, the implication of your statement was that regardless of how easy the content is, you still depend on other players to clear it. But my challenge run as well as that video series I shared prove the opposite. And the thing is, I ran that dungeon synched. You can still clear content unsynched for quest progression, so you can absolutely just over level and solo dungeons in a far more reasonable amount of time anyway.

But Apkallu's point is where I think the most substantial point stands. The standard experience feels like you're going through the same hallway simulator adjacent to 3 other people, not necessarily that you're working with them to reach the end. And niether the mechanics nor the content's lack of need for the role system are have helped that in recent years.

I'm not sure if I understand what you're saying in your second paragraph, but it sounds like you're proposing nihilistic defeatism. "Even if the next expansion changes, the expansion after could just go back to this" So I guess we should just never do anything about the game ever, because even if changes are positive, those positive changes won't matter because they'll inevitably be subverted by worse changes later. Wasn't that literally what the Endwalker Story stood in opposition to?

As far as the topic is concerned, I want to stress that for the most part, there has not been agitation in the face of solo player content prior to Endwalker. Why? It goes back to a post I made a few pages earlier. There's nothing wrong with supporting solo play and fostering an environment that allows solo play to be an option. I would argue that it's a great thing, but it should not come at the cost of the multiplayer aspects of the game, because this is a "massively multiplayer" online RPG. The multiplayer is a part of the point. And Endwalker has felt like an expansion where mutliplayer elements were sacrificed for solo play.

[Suniva]

Snip

I believe you misunderstood my second paragraph. I was not saying, "Even if the next expansion changes, the expansion after could just go back to this". I was saying that even if your changes get implemented, what is to stop the community from coming back around again and complaining about the content being as it is now and by now? I mean them complaining that they feel like the content is, as you said, relaxed. I never imagined anyone would go out and do it just to prove a point, as you did, simply because in my frame of thinking, and I'm sorry if this wasn't clarified initially, but even IF you can solo it, it is more ideal to do it as a group because you complete the objective faster. Again, in your more recent post, you have clarified that that wasn't the point to begin with and I will admit that is what I was stuck on, so I thank you for your clarification.

As for for the changes AmiableApkallu has recently shared, and you (I had didn't see your post until I posted my own) I agree with his and yours perspective. More dynamic fights would make it feel more engaging and hopefully less relaxed, as you have put it. I do apologize if it has taken me a while to understand your perspectives, but I believe I can clearly see where you guys are coming from. If this is what the OP was initially trying to convey, then I do hope that the FF team, if they are even monitoring this thread, do take your ideas to heart.

[ty_taurus]

I believe you misunderstood my second paragraph. I was not saying, "Even if the next expansion changes, the expansion after could just go back to this". I was saying that even if your changes get implemented, what is to stop the community from coming back around again and complaining about the content being as it is now and by now? I mean them complaining that they feel like the content is, as you said, relaxed. I never imagined anyone would go out and do it just to prove a point, as you did, simply because in my frame of thinking, and I'm sorry if this wasn't clarified initially, but even IF you can solo it, it is more ideal to do it as a group because you complete the objective faster. Again, in your more recent post, you have clarified that that wasn't the point to begin with and I will admit that is what I was stuck on, so I thank you for your clarification.

As for for the changes AmiableApkallu has recently shared, and you (I had didn't see your post until I posted my own) I agree with his and yours perspective. More dynamic fights would make it feel more engaging and hopefully less relaxed, as you have put it. I do apologize if it has taken me a while to understand your perspectives, but I believe I can clearly see where you guys are coming from and do hope that the FF team, if they are even monitoring this thread, do take your ideas to heart.

Well, we have seen how over the years, this tension around the overall simplicity of the game has grown as the game became more simple. Naturally, one would expect that if the future of FFXIV undid some of that simplicity, criticism of said simplicity would also lessen over time. Let's say DT makes adjustments based on a lot of the repeated feedback we see here. How the community responses will of course depend on how that feedback is addressed and to what extent. There may be overall praise, or you might have a more bittersweet reception where the change is appreciated but isn't enough to address the issues being brought up.

What we can say is that regularly, there is a point in time of FFXIV's history where the balance between simplicity and complexity is concidered to be the best of both worlds, and that point is Stormblood. Time and time again do people reference Stormblood as a happy medium between not too tough and not too easy. There's enough depth to sink your teeth into if you're experienced, but not so much that it felt overwhelming if you're a newcomer or novice. That does not mean just redo Stormblood and stay there, but if the dev team saw that feedback and sought to make DT have that level of balance, you'd probably get the healthiest response from the largest amount of people. Of course, how exactly we reach that balance matters as well, as I'm sure there are ways we could go about it that wouldn't be well received.

[Suniva]

What we can say is that regularly, there is a point in time of FFXIV's history where the balance between simplicity and complexity is concidered to be the best of both worlds, and that point is Stormblood. .

No argument from me there. I've been a Bard since ARR and Bard felt so, so good during StB. But if I am to be frank, Bard was going to feel substantially better after the travesty that was bow mage during Heavensward. *shivers*