Chaotic Alliance Raid: More Content for Professional Gamers

[Eyrilona]

*cough* Mahjong might be pushing it a bit, but gave me a chuckle. But you're absolutely correct. There are many players in this game who regard the required combat content as an unfortunate and unwanted impediment to playing the game the way they choose.

And ironically, I imagine those who do see this as a combat-oriented game would argue MSQ combat barely rises to the level of combat at all, on the grounds it only requires "two braincells."

Unironically, Patch 7.1 added more voiced lines for Mahjong than for the entire Savage tier.

[Mawlzy]

Unironically, Patch 7.1 added more voiced lines for Mahjong than for the entire Savage tier.

Oh right, I saw that in the notes. Honestly if they added poker to the Gold Saucer I doubt I'd ever leave.

[AllenThyl]

The core of FFXIV upon release was to play through the narrative.

With a combat class. Having to do combat duties / dungeons / activities while on a combat class. Only able to progress the narrative while on a combat class. Yes, it's in the "R" of "MMORPG". There are RPGs that don't feature combat. They have a narrative, and you progress that narrative without combat. They are simply other games. How is that so hard to grasp? This is simply not one of those games. Also, regarding your "it was established as a title in the famous Storytelling JRPG game series Final Fantasy, but with MMO features": All the mainline games heavily feature and require combat throughout the whole narrative. Even when you spend 80% of the playtrough with Triple Triad, the narrative is only advanced by successfully navigating combat encounters. In fact, in many of the installments of "the famous Storytelling JRPG game series Final Fantasy", there are even less non-combat activities.

It didn't even have a Savage mode or an Ultimate yet, those were game modes tacked on later after some experimentation just as a thing to see how far they could push it, but in the entire Final Fantasy series such special optional battles have always been entirely optional side content, often located on isolated islands on the world that could only be visited in the very last chapters of the game. This game was not sold as a combat-first game. The goal of the game was to experience the adventure of getting to explore Eorzea and repel the threat of the Garlemald Empire. It was never about defeating the Ultima Weapon at its highest possible difficulty.

That lately we have only received some very underwhelming narrative, no exploration, and nothing really to do outside of raiding, is a sign that this high-end combat side content has hijacked the entire direction of the game, but it does NOT make it mean that we all opted in for that when we bought what you now want to call a primarily "combat oriented" game.

For your "Combat oriented", I will raise you a "Storytelling oriented", an "Exploration oriented", a "Community oriented", even a "Best online Mahjong simulator around", and a lot of other things that could make equal claim to being the soul of FFXIV.

People afk in Limsa, doesn't make this not a combat game, because that's the main activity. The story skip only allows access to all content of the previous expansion, not the current one. To get access to current endgame, it's combat all the way until the end. Combat is what gets the most development time, it's what's prioritized during announcements and in patch notes. And further, and this is the most important point, it's what this thread is about. A combat activity. It's especially grating when this thread is so derisive of people engaging in that combat content, when the combat content itself is one of the major game defining features. Racing games allow customization of the car, are they not racing games then? FPS games allow customization of player character and weapon, some feature storylines. Are they not FPS games then? In Farming Simulator you can just drive around not doing any farming, doesn't mean it's not a farming game.

[Eyrilona]

Combat is what gets the most development time, it's what's prioritized during announcements and in patch notes. And further, and this is the most important point, it's what this thread is about. A combat activity.

No, it is not. This thread is about the justified complaints of the other half of the player base that wants the game to provide them content and things to do too, and has seen only the raiders get served with more content. This thread is about the frustration of patch after patch with nothing to do in it unless you're a raider. But you make a cry to also be heard and catered to into some kind of attack on your identity as a raider. This is just that old adage about how if you're in a position of privilege, someone else's call for equality sounds like oppression.

Right now, we must acknowledge that high-end raiders are very much in a position of privilege, and it would look a lot better if from up there on high they showed some compassion for the content starved rest of the population instead of jumping to defend there being only hard raid content, and telling us how if we think we've nothing to do we should all just become better raiders too. Maybe instead of trying to lobby for Yoshi P to keep focusing on more hard raids, you should use the fact you seem to have his ear to tell him that how lopsided it is right now is tearing the community apart.

You say this game is all about high end combat as justification for why it's fine to keep everyone else content starved. Well, that tells me this: If you elevate a problem to its own justification, it is never going to be solved.

[Eyrilona]

People afk in Limsa, doesn't make this not a combat game, because that's the main activity. The story skip only allows access to all content of the previous expansion, not the current one. To get access to current endgame, it's combat all the way until the end. Combat is what gets the most development time, it's what's prioritized during announcements and in patch notes. And further, and this is the most important point, it's what this thread is about. A combat activity. It's especially grating when this thread is so derisive of people engaging in that combat content, when the combat content itself is one of the major game defining features. Racing games allow customization of the car, are they not racing games then? FPS games allow customization of player character and weapon, some feature storylines. Are they not FPS games then? In Farming Simulator you can just drive around not doing any farming, doesn't mean it's not a farming game.

Dear gods, THIS is literally the game's own official advertisement, put out by SE. It's a combat game? Are you sure?

[Mawlzy]

Apparently they ran out of room with higher-priority items before they could squeeze in "combat."

[CuteBucket]

Dear gods, THIS is literally the game's own official advertisement, put out by SE. It's a combat game? Are you sure?

(ad snipped for size)

This is extra wild to see considering that as far as games that offer them go, the crafting, gathering, and housing in this game are significantly less fun and engaging that just about any other game with those mechanics in them that I've played in the last decade or so.

Like if someone wants to play a game about crafting, gathering, fashion, and mini games, just go play Infinity Nikki...

[hydralus]

Funny, this always happens in MMOs these days. Raiders complain about no content, so the devs listen and give them more content. Naturally, this means that the casual players get less content, and then the casuals get upset they have nothing to do. Like maybe it'd work if SE wasn't poaching devs to work on other projects but that's a whole other problem all together.

[Asari5]

is there really less content for casuals?

we've got the chaos raid... but there is also a normal a-raid... which has more bosses than the chaos one has phases.

there are the savage raids, but there is also a normal story version.

then there is the ultimate sure there is no equivalent to that. but there is also the msq which is casual content. yellow quests which are casual content. dungeons which are casual content.

extremes are a bit odd because there are a lot of casual players who do extremes as their 'hardest' content. but even there is a normal version.

you could say it lies in the nature of casual content to be completed faster... but there isnt less of it. yeah we got only more difficult stuff recently. but thats because the easier stuff was already around.

if anything the game lacks content overall for too long. there is a solution for casuals though. try yourself in the next higher difficulty.

and also: splitting content into what i want to do and whst i dont want to do and then being jealous about that is kinda weird.

asking for more content? sure do it, but that bashing between two sides is so idiotic.

and what about me? im in the middle. casual is too boring and i dont do ultimates. shall i bash both sides?

hsving the content split into different aspects means there is little content in every aspect. not just in the one we mainly use ourselves

[Jeeqbit]

Regarding the "combat game" argument, it's an MMORPG. Which means it is lots of things. Story/quests, RP, social interaction, crafting, gathering, combat.

They do in fact develop lots of stuff for the RP/social interaction by their work on emotes, furniture, glamour, the improvements to Gposing, the recent dye changes, older features they added like bard music and so on.

They also tried to develop an endgame for crafters/gatherers with the regular crafted gear/food/pot crafting, other items that often need crafting like new glams, expert crafts, Ishgard Restoration, Island Sanctuary (despite that you don't require leveling crafters/gatherers), custom deliveries, crafter/gatherer society quests, leves.

And they develop a lot of easy casual content so people can just focus on the social interaction or RP if they want.

So, there is not only one type of player... but raiders are provably at least a third of the community on established data centers.