Maybe it's time for a casual "strike" if not complete departure.

[MrJPtheAssassin]

As a "hardcore" player (I guess? I enjoy and clear the harder stuff and I raid in a static at any rate), I really want some FUN casual and midcore content too. I have other friends who don't like the harder level stuff, whether because the don't have the time to dedicate to it or just find it too stressful, who I still want to play the game with. I want something more chill to play to unwind after raid where I still feel like I'm engaged and having fun but don't have to completely "lock in" to clear either. I want content I can bring an alt job into where it's no big deal if I mess up a few times, things like that. Variety is good for everyone. I don't feel like I'm eating all that well either.

Im in the same boat as you for the most part. I enjoy raiding and doing savage and ultimate but I don't want it all the time. I want more chill content to play and have fun with. That why SB and ShB was my favorite expacs bc they had a decent mix of hard content with relaxing content. On off days I would be in Bozja and Eurakeing farming for my relics. Doing EW and now DT, I all do when I log in is raid and I have no real reason to long in other than raid. It has made the game dull and boring. Sucks honestly....

[Genisay]

Im in the same boat as you for the most part. I enjoy raiding and doing savage and ultimate but I don't want it all the time. I want more chill content to play and have fun with. That why SB and ShB was my favorite expacs bc they had a decent mix of hard content with relaxing content. On off days I would be in Bozja and Eurakeing farming for my relics. Doing EW and now DT, I all do when I log in is raid and I have no real reason to long in other than raid. It has made the game dull and boring. Sucks honestly....

It actually sounds like we should be getting something of a similar scope to Bozja and Eureka with patch 7.2, which currently seems to be aiming for release some time in March.

[CidHeiral]

There's also the matter that most hardcore players don't WANT casuals "getting good" at the content at all, there isn't some major outreach and up-lifting program going on here, quite the opposite actually as we literally just saw with Chaotic.

But it's still really telling that these are exceptions and not the norm, or how in my case at least, it's not "WAHH I'M TOO LAZY, MAIL ME THE REWARDS" like someone like Volgia no doubt thinks of all casual players, but rather it's "I really don't think I'm good enough for this or can be, and there's not much to prove otherwise" when there's been hardcore players coming in here and similar topics who see someone struggling and their first response is "fuck off and leave then, more for me" as if Final Fantasy 14 was some kind of pie they're scared of not getting a slice of, despite already getting the lion's share this expansion.

Still get spat in the face for my consideration though, still get accused of being "entitled" too. In that regards, it creates this sentiment that I and others wouldn't want to play with most hardcore players either because frankly, most of them are complete assholes and proudly flaunt that fact.

Painting an entire group of people with the same brush based on a few forum trolls isn't any different than what you're accusing them of doing to casual players. Your last several posts in this thread have been extreme exaggerations or total fabrications and you've ignored posts pointing out where you haven't been truthful. You're creating an imaginary hardcore player boogeyman as an excuse to not venture outside of the tiny box you've put yourself in so you feel better about your self-admitted insecurities and fear of failure. If you worked on yourself instead of blaming everyone else for your woes you'd probably have a much more enjoyable time with the game.

[Lilapop]

Painting an entire group of people with the same brush based on a few forum trolls isn't any different than what you're accusing them of doing to casual players. Your last several posts in this thread have been extreme exaggerations or total fabrications and you've ignored posts pointing out where you haven't been truthful. You're creating an imaginary hardcore player boogeyman as an excuse to not venture outside of the tiny box you've put yourself in so you feel better about your self-admitted insecurities and fear of failure. If you worked on yourself instead of blaming everyone else for your woes you'd probably have a much more enjoyable time with the game.

It isn't just "a few forum trolls" telling people to get good or get lost, though.

[AntoniusQuil]

It's hardly imaginary, given that this sort of divide has apparently been around long before I started playing, it was just very good about hiding because I waltzed into this game thinking it WASN'T going to be same song and dance as every other MMO I've played, especially when people openly spoke of its community like it was a FEATURE that it was "totally different" from the rest. And that tiny box wasn't entirely of my own making between being on a dead data center, and then being forced play with other people on other data centers where it was a coin flip if they could tolerate my presence (and would vocalize if they didn't, ToS be damned) which has helped to create this impression that even if I DID overcome said insecurities and fear of failure, the hardcore community at large doesn't seem worth engaging with because so much of it is hostile on the forums, on Reddit, on Twitter, in Discords, and even IN-GAME and the only thing Chaotic did was let them go off completely about "what they really think" now that they've gotten it into their heads that they're the company & developers favorites and can stop maintaining the previous illusion (assuming they were even the ones doing it, they don't really strike me as the kind of people that could even pretend to be nice).

It's only significant enough now to make me speak up because there's other people that were more actively speaking about the casual and hardcore divide as well, thanks to Chaotic, which says a bloody damn lot that I couldn't even be comfortable airing any grievances with this severity and verbosity until I thought I wasn't alone yet again. Same as when I spoke of PVP changes, of data center issues, and nearly every other thing I've ever criticized about the game on the forums. Speaking up by yourself is a good way to get shut down, especially by those who don't think you belong to begin with.

And no, before someone tries to go on that track, I'm not trying to equate any of this to "discrimination" or anything like that. It's a video game, it's not that serious, but as a paying customer I will bloody ask where the money is going if we're all collectively getting hosed over here, as even hardcore players were ultimately denied a true raid but STILL feel the need to act this way like that's somehow my fault for breathing the same in-game oxygen as them. (Who is making up boogeymen again?)

Personally I feel like in spite of what people say about FFXIV community, the Hardcore vs Casual players divide is actually the worst and most toxic in FFXIV out of all the current big mainstream mmos. While it usually stays silent in game due to quite good chat moderation, in other online spaces it’s really visible.

[Mawlzy]

Personally I feel like in spite of what people say about FFXIV community, the Hardcore vs Casual players divide is actually the worst and most toxic in FFXIV out of all the current big mainstream mmos. While it usually stays silent in game due to quite good chat moderation, in other online spaces it’s really visible.

Absolutely this. It's astounding on YouTube. Scroll through the comments on guides for dungeons/trials/raids/solo duties. Littered with comments about how the content is "brain-dead" easy and doesn't require a guide, flaming the content creator, along with insults towards anyone who needs such content. Like people are actually going out of their way to find videos they don't need so they can flex and insult others.

The only game where I've seen similar levels of hostility is EVE.

[CidHeiral]

It's hardly imaginary, given that this sort of divide has apparently been around long before I started playing, it was just very good about hiding because I waltzed into this game thinking it WASN'T going to be same song and dance as every other MMO I've played, especially when people openly spoke of its community like it was a FEATURE that it was "totally different" from the rest. And that tiny box wasn't entirely of my own making between being on a dead data center, and then being forced play with other people on other data centers where it was a coin flip if they could tolerate my presence (and would vocalize if they didn't, ToS be damned) which has helped to create this impression that even if I DID overcome said insecurities and fear of failure, the hardcore community at large doesn't seem worth engaging with because so much of it is hostile on the forums, on Reddit, on Twitter, in Discords, and even IN-GAME and the only thing Chaotic did was let them go off completely about "what they really think" now that they've gotten it into their heads that they're the company & developers favorites and can stop maintaining the previous illusion (assuming they were even the ones doing it, they don't really strike me as the kind of people that could even pretend to be nice).

This screams "all my exes are crazy." Clearly there's more to your bad experiences with every other MMO and half your groups that you're leaving out, but I digress.

I believe anyone can accomplish anything they want in this game if they honestly try and I believe that includes you as well, but if you'd rather self sabotage and blame all the evil raiders just to feel better about yourself then you only have yourself to blame for where you're at. If you don't want to step outside your box there's nothing wrong with that, you can play the game however you please, but the only person keeping you in that box is you.