Yoshi-P on changes in next expansion: “I don’t want to take a conservative approach”

[Alyko]

Designing jobs with focus on how they're played in high-end raids is completely stupid. For most players the content you run more regularly is not the raids. The majority of your time spent interacting with combat content shouldn't be tedious just because "it works for savage/ultimate raids".

PvE balance and the obsession with the "two minute meta" in the current balance is absolutely bonkers. I think the devs got spooked over the P8S drama and doubled down on DT job balance sure that every single role deals the exact same damage/healing/support with very minor variations.

It is a stark contrast to older raids like T4. Those of you who played T4 when it was current remember that it was an extremely tight DPS check, some jobs were optimal and some weren't, and it was perfectly fine, because those suboptimal jobs had their uses in other raids. Not everything has to play the exact same way.

Then I got Snowcloak on a roulette and was surprised they took out the snowballs on the 2nd boss fight. I later discovered they had also simplified a lot of the other older dungeons in the same way to eliminate/reduce party mechanics/coordination and remolded them to fit the current one-way corridors design paradigm. Players used to pause and explain mechanics or give directions on which way to go when they saw that first time bonus notification, but that doesn’t happen anymore now that even dungeons are down to just “follow the leader.”

Those dungeons got simplified because of Duty Support compatibility, it's a lot harder to code trusts to aim a snowball at a yeti or not let Aiatar stand in the green goop than it is to just tell them "don't stand in the bad spot".

[Valence]

Those dungeons got simplified because of Duty Support compatibility, it's a lot harder to code trusts to aim a snowball at a yeti or not let Aiatar stand in the green goop than it is to just tell them "don't stand in the bad spot".

And it does two birds with one stone since it also makes new players go through the same basic lego blocks they'll have to play all the way up to endgame anyway. No more quirky mechanics or unique stuff in msq dungeons. They're all reworked to teach players how a stack marker works, etc. Which isn't bad in itself and that's what people asked for ages, but when it's the only thing that's left... It's dreadfully dull. But very representative of what to expect of the endgame anyway. At least they're coherent with themselves there.

[kiotsukete]

Those dungeons got simplified because of Duty Support compatibility, it's a lot harder to code trusts to aim a snowball at a yeti or not let Aiatar stand in the green goop than it is to just tell them "don't stand in the bad spot".

I figured that coding for Duty Support is what led to the simplification/DDRfication of older dungeons. Probably easier to program Trust AI bots to handle predictable, scripted mechanics rather than variable or team-based mechanics that require situational decision-making or party coordination since you can’t plan battle strategy with bots. At least not yet.

I wonder if programming Trust AI actions is also factor in how linear and inflexible job rotations are now. No room in current job design for player creativity or variations in playstyle, just rote memorization or hit the glowing button at the right time like some Guitar Hero rhythm game.

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As far as making the MSQ content more solo-friendly. We already have that. Pretty much everything can be done with trusts. To be honest, I think that's a pretty bad experience too as its led to further encounter homogenization so the AI can handle mechanics. That's not to say it's all bad (I hated old Toto-Rak with a passion for example), but making the rest of the game suffer for the single player experience is partially to blame why the game is making so many people upset.

I agree that designing content so that AI bots can do it has led to bad experiences when run with an actual human party. I feel like players just treat each other like AI bots since there’s no real point or need to communicate anymore aside from a “hi” at the start and a “gg” at the end. If a sprout dies to a mechanic or causes a wipe, nobody explains anything because it’s all just pattern recognition/memorization/rhythm now. So just reset and repeat without a word until the sprout gets it, which is the exact same experience as running with a Trust, or other players carry them to the end. (I’m often that sprout ngl.)

There are already tons of great single-player RPGs out there, and if I wanted this much DDR/Guitar Hero gameplay then I’d go play those games. I want to play an MMORPG with unique multiplayer experiences designed to be played cooperatively with other humans, not AI bots. This more than anything is what I wish Yoshi-P would change about today’s FFXIV.