The actual game difficulty is Perfect.

[remiff]

I know there are tons and tons of other threads asking to reduce the game's difficulty, so I want to create one to highlight the opposite.

The devs have finally listened to our feedback and have slightly increased the difficulty for Dawntrail.

All the instances in Endwalker were simply bland because they were way too easy, and there wasn't really a normal mode where there was any potential for wipes while discovering an instance,
this to me, is more problematic for balance than a dungeon where you have the possibility of being KO'd during discovery and feeling more comfortable once you've seen the mechanics.

This is how FF14 has always functioned.

Many players were quite bored with the instances in Endwalker, and the devs were simply aware of that.
Yoshi-P said he fell asleep during the Expert Roulette around patch 6.2.

They want a better communication between players, or for those who don't feel comfortable, to look up guides on the internet.

This is the essence of what makes a game an 'MMORPG'.
FF14 is not just an RPG but an 'MMORPG'.

[Mooserocka33]

I could not agree more. Thank god the dungeons were not brain rot easy where i fell asleep every time. I had to quit streaming because i passed out for hours and i lost everyone that does not want to watch you sleep and clip it to laugh at you. I am not kidding last expansion i passed out so much i had to take a break from the game and stop steaming for good. I do not think i will ever go back to it now i was not big or anything i had like 5 active watches and 10 on a great night. Now i can enjoy the game finally again. I cant wait for savage now sucks i dont have a static anymore but i just want to get in there. I really am hoping to god yoshi p and the devs do not bend the knee to the VERY SMALL minority that want brain dead easy stuff and want to clear it all with 0 problems day one without learning or anything with the game. NEVER EVER bend the knee to them , Just give them a jumping puzzle and they will stop. WE love the changes the only thing that would make it perfect is if we can fight wuk lamat and sent her to the abyss.

[yoshinoharu]

More threads like these please! Don't let the whiners win! Also, I feel like this is an important part:

A lot of us that are saying that the difficulty increase is perfect likely don't even find the content particularly challenging ourselves. We find it more engaging, as in we actually have to pay attention to the screen. Shadowbringers and Endwalker featured dungeons where we could literally stand in one spot the entire fight, eat and heal through all AOEs, and be perfectly fine. Now we are punished when we show we don't know what we are doing. Over time, the dungeons will get easier as we gain access to more and more gear, but as an introductory level it's perfect for having people actually have to pay attention to what they are doing.

We are saying it is perfect because even though it's not challenging for us, and we understand that after a certain point of gear it will be incredibly easy; it feels fair and an adequate measure of whether or not a person has actually learned to play or not. We want people to play the game who are actually here to play a game, not watch an interactive cutscene.

[remiff]

More threads like these please! Don't let the whiners win! Also, I feel like this is an important part:

A lot of us that are saying that the difficulty increase is perfect likely don't even find the content particularly challenging ourselves. We find it more engaging, as in we actually have to pay attention to the screen. Shadowbringers and Endwalker featured dungeons where we could literally stand in one spot the entire fight, eat and heal through all AOEs, and be perfectly fine. Now we are punished when we show we don't know what we are doing. Over time, the dungeons will get easier as we gain access to more and more gear, but as an introductory level it's perfect for having people actually have to pay attention to what they are doing.

We are saying it is perfect because even though it's not challenging for us, and we understand that after a certain point of gear it will be incredibly easy; it feels fair and an adequate measure of whether or not a person has actually learned to play or not. We want people to play the game who are actually here to play a game, not watch an interactive cutscene.

Yes, that's exactly it.
You can't really say that the difficulty has been drastically increased, they’ve just made some mechanics faster and, above all, more engaging.

There's not a huge difficulty gap, the content has simply shifted from being brain-dead to more engaging for most players.

There is absolutely nothing unachievable or difficult in these instances, and at worst, getting a wipe or a KO during the discovery should theoretically be something that happens in a high-level instance of an MMORPG, right?
Less comfortable players will simply adapt.

[Vahniel]

Frickin hell yea! So tired of all those whinny ass post about the difficulty. I kinda wish all the future normal dungeons have this difficulty.

And I think now the normal dungeons is kind of training ground for casuals, prepping them for normal raids, we see some almost similar looking mech in normal dungeons vs in normal raids right? The disneyland 1st boss vs honey bee, the snek boss vs the bomb king, etc.

[DiscoPug]

I've also been really enjoying how engaging all the content so far has been

[CatWeazle]

Well ... I found some bosses in the leveling dungeons a bit too hard, personally. I got through, but would have wished they were easier. For some people, what you perceive as "engaging", we perceive as "frustrating". But I'm not complaining, since most of the really hard content is optional, so I can simply choose not to do it.

If however the difficulty level of future mandatory dungeons and trials is like the current level 99/level 100 dungeons (and trials), I'll unfortunately have to accept that the game is not for me anymore. And yes, I want msq dungeons to be easy, I just want to have fun in the game, and dying/wiping more than once in a msq-dungeon would not be fun.

[Merrigan]

I agree too! At the moment, the difficulty is just right for casuals, while still allowing others to have fun. Perfect, then!

Well ... I found some bosses in the leveling dungeons a bit too hard, personally. I got through, but would have wished they were easier. For some people, what you perceive as "engaging", we perceive as "frustrating". But I'm not complaining, since most of the really hard content is optional, so I can simply choose not to do it.

If however the difficulty level of future mandatory dungeons and trials is like the current level 99/level 100 dungeons (and trials), I'll unfortunately have to accept that the game is not for me anymore. And yes, I want msq dungeons to be easy, I just want to have fun in the game, and dying/wiping more than once in a msq-dungeon would not be fun.

'Git gud !"

More seriously, wiping is not abnormal. It's something that a lot of players aren't used to any more, but it used to be the norm. ‘Frustrating' is more like it when there's no way of getting past the boss without knowing the mechanics inside out from the start, and even then your success depends entirely on the criticism the game has been kind enough to give you. It's a term that should be reserved for games where the player's ability doesn't even come into play, IMO

[KitiaraIornsight]

My only complaint is the aoes that as soon as its telegraphed and you are in the telegraph you are hit. They need to be better adjusted because players with any measure of latency can have major issues. A good example of this is the first boss of the MSQ 100 dungeon. No matter what I do, I have just enough latency that I'm hit by the aoes as soon as they are telegraphed and if it looks like i'm out of it, I'm still hit. That's an issue and something I think should be changed. It shouldn't be, if you see it and its orange you are insta hit, because that makes it not fun. there should be more than .01 seconds to move out of a telegraphed aoe. The majority of my experience in that boss fight with dungeon runs if we get a party of 4 with latency instead of just ONE person with latency, that boss becomes a literal road block. I had one run of it where we wiped repeatedly to it for 10 times before we all had a stable enough connection to not be hit even though we appeared out of the aoes

[EiraWoqiso]

I genuinely think it's a difference in mindset. I do enjoy higher end content, so wiping in content isn't frustrating since I'm so used to it elsewhere. People who feel like they can be a burden in party content and try to measure themselves and their performance against savage raiders are naturally going to feel like this content is too punishing and too difficult, out of a fear of holding the party back. I don't want to make it an "us vs them" thing, but I think that if the people worried about underperforming realized that most of us literally just don't care and think these wipes are funnier than they are frustrating. Unless we're wiping like, several times on each boss, but I feel like you almost have to go out of your way to cause that.

The other two main categories are people that genuinely just do not want a challenge and only want plot, and people with disabilities that restrict their play. I think the latter is (naturally) more valid in this feeling - these mechanics *are* harder, and those with these disabilities genuinely struggle with the features many of us might take for granted. As for the former... Well, I'd say the classic "git gud" line, but I know the feeling in some other games. I think having a "helper mode" like other games have may be beneficial for them - if you're doing a dungeon with trusts and wipe at the same mechanic a few times, you get the option to have like. I dunno. Super Extra Giga Echo that makes you basically invincible or oneshot enemies or something. That way they keep the story, but don't have to worry about the difficult content. But, more than that, I think they really should just queue in with people - dungeons are still easy enough that you can hard carry almost anyone but a dead tank.

My only complaint is the aoes that as soon as its telegraphed and you are in the telegraph you are hit. They need to be better adjusted because players with any measure of latency can have major issues. A good example of this is the first boss of the MSQ 100 dungeon. No matter what I do, I have just enough latency that I'm hit by the aoes as soon as they are telegraphed and if it looks like i'm out of it, I'm still hit. That's an issue and something I think should be changed. It shouldn't be, if you see it and its orange you are insta hit, because that makes it not fun. there should be more than .01 seconds to move out of a telegraphed aoe.

This isn't a ping issue. Most of these AOEs are telegraphed by the boss, typically an arm raised, a magic circle, a cast bar name, or something. The goal is to learn the tell so you can preposition yourself to a safe spot - you aren't supposed to move out of the AOEs when they appear, you're supposed to already be out of them when they appear.