Feedback: Dawntrail MSQ dungeon difficulty

[Magikazam]

After buying an entire expansion?

Where you think all those people who's are 24/7 AFK in Limsa come from?

[Volgia]

It's probably been said already, but after 90 levels it's not unreasonable for the devs to trust you know how to play a job, or to do the many repeatable mechanics in their high level content. If this isn't the case, you can ask friends to carry you, if you have no friends to carry you or are extremely socially anxious you can just do the dungeons via teh trust system, it'll take longer but you'll get through it.

Do any dungeon 5+ times and you will not have any trouble.

[Volfe]

There are games for kids harder than the story content on this game, i'm so baffled by some of the people on these threads. Literally just practice and get better.

[Masekase_Hurricane]

Accessible is exactly what I'm asking for. Just have an option to trivialize dungeons that are necessary for following the MSQ. Tick that box and bam, people who are casual at the game can clear this thing first try one time to advance the story and that's it, they're at least satisfied and have a game to play for another four months until the next patch. Easy. And then you can keep Alexandria how it is for the week or two that it'll stay interesting for anyone seriously looking at ultimates.

Hmmm are you serious or just trolling?

[JadeCurtiss]

If all it takes is an option in the Duty Support,

That's not how game development works. You can't just say "just do this" with having no knowledge of what goes into the game. Plus, if you want to trivialize a dungeon why even play it at all? Watch the cutscenes on Youtube and you don't need to play anything.

[CidHeiral]

By the time you see the telegraph on the ground in these fights, it's already too late to get to where you need to be.

You're not supposed to react to the ground telegraphs for the + and O mechanic. They SLOWLY appear one at a time to give you time to understand where you're supposed to stand beforehand, then you move there as they go off.

I have ZERO interest in playing Dark Souls or Elden Ring, but it feels like that's the direction the devs are pushing with these new dungeons.

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

By all means, give the hardcore action game folks their twitch reaction difficulty, but also make a normal level for the rest of us.

There is nothing hardcore about the Alexandria dungeon. There are no "twitch reactions" in that dungeon. If you're really having that hard of a time with simple mechanics try going in with a party of real people that can help you out.

[Lizbeth-Tinkleberry]

I have also found the fights in Dawntrail very difficult as a player with a migrain and vision disability. All these unkind comments and mean players in duties just make a lot of casual and less able players want to give up on the game they love

[HemlockEvergreen]

So I just wasted an hour in the Alexandria dungeon. I say wasted, because I spent most of that hour wiping with my NPC party on the first boss and then force closed the game mid-fight on the second one out of sheer frustration. Never before have I literally dreaded seeing a dungeon pop up in the MSQ the way I have in Dawntrail, but each one has gotten progressively more frustrating. I, like many others I imagine, play this game primarily to enjoy the story. And while DT's story hasn't exactly been my favorite, I have been enjoying the way it unfolded in the later half of the game yet having to struggle through increasingly difficult dungeons, I find myself questioning whether it's worth completing at this point.

I am admittedly an older gamer. My days of hardcore mythic/savage raiding are behind me, in part because I recognize that I just can't keep up with the increasing pace of fight mechanics. I'm completely capable of learning and reacting to mechanics, but there needs to be time to react. By the time you see the telegraph on the ground in these fights, it's already too late to get to where you need to be.

I have ZERO interest in playing Dark Souls or Elden Ring, but it feels like that's the direction the devs are pushing with these new dungeons. And while I recognize there is a portion of the playerbase that wants that, locking MSQ behind dungeons with that kind of difficulty punishes the rest of us.

I suggest that if these new fast-paced dungeons are indeed the direction Square Enix wishes to go with the game, that they add another difficulty setting to dungeons. By all means, give the hardcore action game folks their twitch reaction difficulty, but also make a normal level for the rest of us. You don't need to remove any mechanics, just increase the reaction time for them. Hell, I'd be happy if at least the NPC groups were altered to fit this, because right now, even the damn NPC's are struggling to keep up!

The game loop of FFXIV is based on memorization and repetition. Getting hit by a mechanic for the first time is expected. You then memorize what's gonna happen, and next time you do it right. Everything, from solo duties to ultimate raids, is based on the premise that you will retry the instance until you memorize how the mechanic works and what you have to do. It's predictable to the point where you can make spreadsheets with every GCD that will be used in the fight. You just need to do it again until you get it.

The most important characteristic you need to have to clear any kind of content in this game is patience. And then whatever memorization or recall strategy you want to use, there are many. The fact that you get frustrated and ragequit is the problem, not the difficulty of the content.

[HemlockEvergreen]

Yes, Buff Cactus is the King of Fake outs but I think if you keep falling for the same trick then it's a you problem.

I loved the Tricksy Cactus. Fell for it on the first time too. But that's the whole gimmick of the boss, he is tricksy. By the second time you run him you should know already that the AoEs are gonna increase in size and position accordingly.

[HemlockEvergreen]

Sorry to hear you're struggling, however, no mechanics that are mandatory to progress through the story require particularly fast reactions. (The average human reaction time is 250ms and I would be hard pressed to find a mechanic that doesn't give you multitudes of thats). May I suggest you look at the mechanics tell to solve it BEFORE it happens instead of trying to solely react to the resolution? Beyond that, trusts are more punishing since you cannot afford to die. Perhaps if you'd like to engage in multiplayer in this MMO and foster collaborative play and friendship you would do better!

This is key advice.

FFXIV is not a game that requires quick reactions. It wouldn't be playable with high latency otherwise. It's a game that asks you to to look for tells and understand what the mechanics are going to do. Once you understand the mechanic, you should be able to pre-position your character on a safe place for pretty much everything.