Why do casual players seem entitled to cosmetic items added in game?

[Colt47]

Honestly, this thread is sort of delving into a core weakness of "MMOs" that people don't like to talk about and that is giving basically all control of the game experience to the company owning the servers running the game. Great example is comparing this to something like Pal World that is a survival monster collecting game with a lot of grind. If someone hits end-game in pal world and they don't have the time to dedicate to breeding 50+ combat pals for a raid boss, they can change the settings for how long it takes to hatch eggs, increase the amount of items dropped or found, and basically give themselves echo if the need it. In FFXIV everything is set in stone and if someone wants to even have a chance at getting something from a piece of content, they have to stick to the exact level of difficulty the game developers set for it.

And hard content does deserve to exist in the game, but accessibility is also key to the content and that isn't just talking about having the ability to physically sign up for the content. The truth is that the entire direction of hiding mechanics to make things hard, or making the tells shorter to make things harder, while also having things instantly kill an entire group if they mess up, is a cheap and dirty trick to hide the limitations of the game system and encounter design. Either the mechanics are hidden but survivable, or the mechanics are visible but lethal. Path of Exile 2 has a lot of fights that are freaking hard to beat with certain characters, but I can tell what is going on instantly and it is fair because the player knows all the information within clear view thanks to the isometric view point. Go into Cloud of Darkness or even m4s for the first time and when there is clear information that is visible to the player, they can do nothing to adjust unless they already adjusted or knew where to look. The "death hand" mechanic being a very good example of hidden information that isn't clear to the viewer.

Also, FYI it is the lack of clarity on the attacks that has forced people to want simpler rotations, not just dps requirements or lack of organic ways to deal with encounters. People have to spend time looking around the arena just to figure out what is going to happen and because they dropped the visual aids it completely nullifies the point of having a simpler rotation. The developers literally gave people something they wanted so that they could play the game better and the game designers were so terrified of the amazing power to see the arena, they made everything harder to see.

[Lilapop]

Nah, you're wrong. But being wrong is fine. Everyone is wrong sometimes, some people more than others.

I'm wrong about the term I used? No, no I'm not. The term is in my original reply. Objectively, that isn't wrong. You tried, I guess.

[NamiRocket]

I'm wrong about the term I used? No, no I'm not. The term is in my original reply. Objectively, that isn't wrong. You tried, I guess.

My face? In my hands.

[Exmo]

Always a joy to see someone corncobbing in realtime.

Which is why you see groups wiping on the Ark Angels in Jeuno because all 3 tanks and X amount of phys ranged forgot they even had the skill.

Maybe this was a throwaway example that doesn't actually happen (in which case please disregard this comment) but I've yet to see any wipes in Jeuno at all on Light. Is this just hyperbole or does Jeuno have this as its reputation?

[NamiRocket]

Eureka is basically wandering trash mobs and FATEs. Mechanically, it's the same as ye olde overworld map, except elemental affinities matter and different kinds of trash aggro on different kinds of mechanics -- which, if anything, makes Eureka more Final Fantasy-like than MSQ combat.

That's as casual as casual can be short of removing combat entirely. The one bit that isn't is an optional raid that unlocks after the main story concludes, and the process has you click through like three or four, "So, you do understand that this raid is challenging, yes?" dialogs.

What did you actually see in your "peek" that you think is beyond you?

Years ago, I used to know this dude in his 60s. He'd hop on World of Warcraft and go out into, like, Redridge Mountains or something like that and just kill bears. He wouldn't quest, he'd just kill bears for hours and hours. I couldn't understand it, I would never do it myself, it would be mind numbing. But he found comfort in it. He liked to get on, kill bears on his warrior, then log off when he had his fill. Extremely casual for him. He didn't talk to other players, he didn't upgrade abilities, it was just him and the bears.

I always think back to him and that time whenever someone talks about content that's grindy or maybe a little tedious and they equate it to being hardcore or difficult. It's not. It's time consuming and not for everyone, sure, but it's also probably the most casual way you can play a game like this outside of literally just standing in town and dancing every day.

[Rueby]

FFXIV in particular because of the story and really nice cosmetic items / glams (plus really enjoyable pvp)

I started playing MMOs as a kid, but there comes a point in life where finding the money to buy x item becomes much easier than finding the time to grind for it, and I’ll be honest with how hardcore raiders react to all complaints from more casual players about some stuff being locked behind hardcore riding, it’s nice to see them complaining for a change when stuff like shadow wolf or cruise chaser end up in the online store instead of being locked behind endgame raiding.

So, you enjoy throwing money at a blatant reused asset and act happy for it because raiders didn't get it? I'm not sure whether to laugh at or feel sorry for you.

[Immut]

Years ago, I used to know this dude in his 60s. He'd hop on World of Warcraft and go out into, like, Redridge Mountains or something like that and just kill bears. He wouldn't quest, he'd just kill bears for hours and hours. I couldn't understand it, I would never do it myself, it would be mind numbing. But he found comfort in it. He liked to get on, kill bears on his warrior, then log off when he had his fill. Extremely casual for him. He didn't talk to other players, he didn't upgrade abilities, it was just him and the bears.

I always think back to him and that time whenever someone talks about content that's grindy or maybe a little tedious and they equate it to being hardcore or difficult. It's not. It's time consuming and not for everyone, sure, but it's also probably the most casual way you can play a game like this outside of literally just standing in town and dancing every day.

Man that dude would love eureka. As late as endwalker I'd see people going in and solo farming stuff for skill drops to sell. Also bunny fates.

[NamiRocket]

Man that dude would love eureka. As late as endwalker I'd see people going in and solo farming stuff for skill drops to sell. Also bunny fates.

I couldn't do quite what he did, but I do love Eureka. Though, there's also a little more going on in Eureka than what he was doing.

One of the main reasons I got so heavily into Eureka myself when I did is because it was just nice to go in there, kind of turn my brain off, and run around killing things. I feel like this game generally doesn't have enough of that and sometimes that's just what I crave. Killing mobs and watching the numbers go up. Generally meaningless progress, but it still gives that nice serotonin hit. Maybe it's the old school FFXI and WoW player in me, but it still scratches that itch as long as there are just enough other hooks that a game has alongside it.

[Immut]

I've been kind of harping on it for a while but I think there's a problem with the community of this game and how they see their relationship with other players as adversarial by default, when MMOs should be about cooperation. Players look at this hairstyle and think "I have to buy it because it's locked behind hard content" and simultaneously "Casuals don't have to earn it", when they should both be glad that they can continue doing content they enjoy. CAR enjoyers can sell multiple hairstyles. CAR unenjoyers can buy the hairstyle and go back to diadem or whatever it is they do (you can afford the hairstyle pretty quick doing diadem).

I really hope CODCAR (not the raidplan) lasts a while, because it's a step in the right direction. It has saleable rewards that are in high demand and it reward players helping other players clear content. It encourages a helpful approach to farming, since all the SERIOUS raiders should be fairly uninterested in the clouddark gear beyond a few key pieces and it's (theoretically) a better use of their time to join clear parties for the new player bonuses.

[IceEyes]

People like you who don't want to earn anything are ruining gaming.

This is not like that working. Person just better in managing his time in IRL, not in game. This is normal in an adult environment.

The gameplay is ruined by the companies themselves, when they starting abusing shop for everything (hello, korean MMOs and P2W).