Difficulty of normal content.

[Oku-1]

You and your ilk have spent over 100 pages and 1,000 posts obsessing over OP for posting an opinion. Not only that, but you lash out with ad hominems against anyone who defends OP. This doesn’t look good for Final Fantasy XIV. At this point, I don’t think the community can be saved. Let’s hope World of Warcraft’s new expansion is good and Blizzard can nurture a better community than this one. It’s sad that a multibillion-dollar corporation gets people to attack each other because it can’t fix the net code or the hitboxes in M2.

There you go just doing the tweet again:


I have done nothing in this thread besides politely disagree with the OP and express sympathy for people struggling with more difficult content and encourage them to not give up. The harshest I was with the OP was when they said they'd rather mechanics that expect you to know your left from your right not be in the game, and the only person I've actually been snarky with is you after you've done nothing that I can see here besides scream at people and call everybody a toxic hivemind while trying to pretend to be a moderator.

[Zecht_Rosenburg]

wait you're telling me, you got on a PUBLIC Forum gave your opinion and now upset others are commenting or giving their opinion as well. Take it up the chin like an adult, that's the reality on putting yourself out in public forums. Gotta be mature enough to know/agree others will say something you dont like.

[Frigidchick]

Wait a minute.

Who made you the Mayor of FFXIV Casuals? I thought casual meant we do other things besides playing FFXIV and/or other games. I didn't think it meant wanting the game in 'Cocomelon' mode.

I have fun learning FFXIV's fights/raids/savage/ex/and dungeons. Honestly, it was the only thing I enjoyed in Dawntrail. You do not speak for me. Don't assume all casuals are of some hive mind. We get enough of that in this community.

[Carin-Eri]

There you go just doing the tweet again:


I have done nothing in this thread besides politely disagree with the OP and express sympathy for people struggling with more difficult content and encourage them to not give up. The harshest I was with the OP was when they said they'd rather mechanics that expect you to know your left from your right not be in the game, and the only person I've actually been snarky with is you after you've done nothing that I can see here besides scream at people and call everybody a toxic hivemind while trying to pretend to be a moderator.

Although it has been said before, one thing that often surprises me is the disconnect between the Community on the forums/social media and the in-game community.

[SkaliX]

This is the first thread that actually made me voice my opinion on the FFXIV forum.

I started playing FFXIV in 2022 and I went through the MSQ and normal content just fine. I was enjoying the story and discovering new things around. Throughout the expansions there has been a gradual increase in difficulty, even if barely noticed. I've learned a lot of mechanics the game has to offer, and when I died I made a mental notice to revisit the fight at a later time and try again to resolve the mechanics so I don't get hit by AOE or whatever else is happening on the screen. I was learning new stuff and life was good.

I reached and finished Endwalker and was overjoyed. I dipped my toes in savage and extremes. Now, I'm not a regular raider. I only sometimes go in when my friends are around and we do it together. I was here when they reworked lower level dungeons and made them even easier to the point where it just became way too easy to run through the content.

Dawntrail's content is engaging, fun and what's more important - it's not a snooze fest (at least for me). I get hit by some mechanics, yeah, but however, there is NOTHING IMPOSSIBLE. Content from 1 to 90 (maybe even 100) is literally teaching you core game mechanics, and by the time you reach Dawntrail, you should know basics and general gist of things. Even if it takes a few pulls for you to kill the boss, you'll eventually learn (hopefully). Take for example dungeons. You can run them with Trusts. They literally show you safe spots for mechanics that the boss is going to do. Trials. You get a party of NPCs to do trials as well, at least in Dawntrail (excluding the last MSQ trial) and you just follow NPCs. They are in a way teaching you how to resolve mechanics (even if sometimes they can be janky). You maybe wipe but THAT'S OKAY. If you finish the trial and you don't understand the fight? Go to duty support and replay the fight with NPCd. You can do trials or dungeons with duty support without having your Trust leveled.

Raids.

Dawntrail raids difficulty is just fine. You are not expected to clear it first pull. They are fun and engaging, and besides, it's optional content. Keyword, optional. If you aren't willing to learn or try a bit more - don't do it. The more you do them, the more you'll understand the mechanics. It's supposed to be fun and engaging by this point and not just rush through till the end goal, I'm sorry.

The game should advance bit by bit when it comes to difficulty, and I find Dawntrail content very enjoyable and engaging so far. I hope future patches and expansions continue down this path. It's time for all of us to get a bit better at the game, if we are not already.

[Mihka]

In FF14, the casual content is stuff that in many cases needs to be regularly done by savage raiders, probably more than the casual players. Roulettes for tomes. ARs for upgrade tokens. Even normal raids are useful for midcore raiders who might not be able to get the tomestone very quickly and getting 7 weeks of clears for a quick weapon upgrade is very beneficial.

This is something that is a frequent issue for me when I decide to actively push a raid tier, yep. Needing to run your expert dungeons for tomestones can be really boring when the dungeons are really boring. And if you're not sure your static is gonna be clearing fight 3 within 4 weeks, it's absolutely worth pushing for your normal raid clears because it might be faster to get the tome weapon that way than getting it from your savage drops.

Raiders are the people who are gonna be running this content harder than anyone else for the first few months.

Whenever I was doing it with like 500+ people in the zone I swear I thought I got hit but the game let me live lmao. Then I think the tics caught up to me and I just died outta no where lmao. Got me rodent ez peezy tho. Will do again for insane exp and gems, super fun. I hear is up in 5 more min.

With regards to this, I recall that Hunts and Fates usually have a hit limit on their abilities, likely for optimization reasons. I don't recall the exact number, but just for an example, if 74 players all get hit by an attack, that attack might only check the first 64 valid targets and the other 10 players will just not get hit.

Not because of difficulty but because as you follow the trust team members the boss mechanic always manages to deal damage to you and that damage always 1 shots you.

So a couple things. I've split your quote into multiple parts to make it easier to respond to.

I do think it's a valid complaint if you're literally dying to attacks in one hit, but I'm curious what ilvl you were using as I never encountered this as a healer, and I did basically all of the content up to 99 just using tome/savage i660 gear from last expansion (dungeons weren't that kind to me, and I just sold my coffer gear on the marketboard).

With you getting hit while following trust members, that sounds like you might be getting snapshot by ping? I know trusts sometimes lag behind and get "hit" by AoEs while taking no damage. It is also worth noting that some trusts are programmed to fail mechanics the first one or two times, and they even have dialogue for this, like Alisaie saying she needs to pay more attention.

(comment split into two because character limit)

[Mihka]

So, after I reached 100 with Viper and finished the first week of Arcadion I decided to level up my Tank through dungeons doing trusts. Guess what happened?
I was having fun. This is when I knew there was something wrong. I was purposely getting hit with the attacks that 1 shotted me with my viper and it took a fraction of my health away. This is why people who play tanks are not complaining because it's not difficult for them because they can't die. Unless they fall off the edge or through a hole. The game shouldn't be designed this way.

This is classic tank privilege, yep lol. Unfortunately the game really DOES NOT have any mechanics that punish tanks in any normal content, which is one thing that contributes to a lot of healers feeling kind of superfluous in the way the game is currently designed outside of Ex+ content.

Without spoiling the game, the last trial boss killed everyone except the 2 tanks and those 2 tanks were able to kill this boss while it still had 1/4 of its health left while we were waiting for about 5 minutes for them to kill the boss. This shouldn't happen. Tanks should be able to die just like everyone else.

And this is a good example of the epitome of normal content failing to design around tanks. Even on the final trial of the story, there's no real mechanic that push tanks. For example, very heavy tank busters that require tanks to use heavy mitigation or have healers help them, which would make it harder for tanks to just solo/duo carry an entire dead party for multiple minutes at a time.

Some people think this is fine, I kinda disagree with them... but if that WAS the case, there'd probably be even more complaints in this thread lol.

Especially since most of the fight you are dodging mechanics instead of fighting the boss. You will see casters casting spells halfway and they have to stop to avoid a mechanic. Summoners die and they have to recast their carbuncle which I believe should be an instant cast.

I do have one strong disagreement with you here, though. Casters having to work around dodging mechanics is one of the things that makes casters still engaging. Learning how to slidecast, pre-positioning to not need to dodge mechanics that are coming up, knowing when to hold and use instant GCDs. These are all important parts of the game that keep jobs like Black Mage and Pictomancer actually fun, as well as one of the few bastions of design that make healers not literally fall asleep at the keyboard.



And on an entirely unrelated note, I find it hilarious that people still take the bait from a Balmung Catgirl. Stop giving her attention, she's proven over and over that she isn't interested in arguing in good faith and just wants to pull the whole thread down with them.

[Masekase_Hurricane]

Wait a minute.

Who made you the Mayor of FFXIV Casuals? I thought casual meant we do other things besides playing FFXIV and/or other games. I didn't think it meant wanting the game in 'Cocomelon' mode.

I have fun learning FFXIV's fights/raids/savage/ex/and dungeons. Honestly, it was the only thing I enjoyed in Dawntrail. You do not speak for me. Don't assume all casuals are of some hive mind. We get enough of that in this community.

Yes I think casual should stop being used, cant we go back to noobs and maybe even gimps :P

[Solsbeary]

So its now week four of the dungeons and week two of the raid.

Focusing on the raid, i can categorically say that week two is easier.

Week one deaths: M1 - 9, M2 - 4, M3 - 1, M4 - 6
Week two deaths so far: M1 - 1, M3 - 0 (yet to do M2/4)

This is because the fight is easier because I have now experienced it more.

Stop being an overdramatic reactionary and actually experience things. Or actually contextualise it better by stating its your initial thoughts, rather than a blanket view that things are too difficult.

Unfamiliar =/= more difficult!

[jdtuggey]

Although it has been said before, one thing that often surprises me is the disconnect between the Community on the forums/social media and the in-game community.

I mean, I don't see people demanding square enix make my own experience worst for their own sakes in game, so naturally, I'm not inclined to defend my interests concerning that topic in game.
However, I've been stalked and unfairly demonized by a person who told lies about me to my people in limsa and in my fc because she got too close to me and I put a stop to it. She did not handle rejection well. :P
At first, everyone turned on me, it worked so well, it genuinely like, affected my RL, I couldn't sleep anymore, I was constantly anxious about what was going on in game. I was working on an FC with a friend, we had something like 25 members, when this broke out in the FC, half of our members left overnight. I had to leave myself to stop the bleeding. I was getting disparaging IM's from people I didn't even know that I've never met that aren't even near me. Even friends that supported me at first stopped associating with me because they didn't want to make themselves a target.
And like, I'd say it's the effect she was looking for, so much that she got empowered to take it further and further, and at some point she crossed lines both for people and for staff.
She got reprimanded, and people started looking at her sideways, so she changed servers. Whole ordeal lasted about two months. I don't even see this kind of commitment to drama in things like VRChat and Second Life lol.
Since then, I haven't really participated socially beyond helping sprouts and chipping in on some off topic discussions in NN.

Rules are applied more severely in game, so people are a lot more subtle with their drama.
People gossip in IM's and in their CWLS', changing or omitting just liiittle details in events surrounding them to change the narrative in their favor, that sort of stuff. Very mean girls energy. :P
I prefer the forums if we're talking about "community", it's more honest and upfront, but whether it's in game or in the forums, community is not as good as we pretend.
The kind of drama I see on ffxiv, I don't really see elsewhere on the internet, and I think it's cultivated in part by SE being so strict on language and conflict, that it makes it hard to express our grievances in game.
I do want to say however that as humans, we're biased to assign more importance to the negative things we experience. (acknowledging this and factoring this bias in my life everyday made my life soooo much better, btw, highly recommend)
I meet great people that aren't as dramatic in game every day, and whole immense lot more than bad people.
When it does get dramatic though, it goes hard rofl. How that tweet describes ffxiv drama is very on-point, I feel, and not just accurate about social media/forums. It's exactly the experience I recounted up there.