Chaotic is midcore, in case you were wondering

[TemporalFruitsAndVeggies]

My personal definition of midcore content has always been as follows: Semi-difficult content for people who are competent at the game, can parse high, can understand and interpret mechanics easily, but simply do not have the time to prog for several hours a day severals days a week for weeks or even months on end.

FFXIV is missing fights where one experienced player can type out mechanics explanations in party chat in a few minutes and then within an hour you can clear the fight. Most of GW2's raid bosses are like this, and they're really fun to bring new players into, because the newbies start to contribute meaningfully basically right away, but experienced players can carry certain aspects.

Also, the GW2 devs are not afraid to say, "We don't care about your parse. Forget your uptime and go do these special mechanics." Hell, one boss called Deimos requires a role called a "hand-kiter," who does zero damage and just keeps themselves alive while, surprisingly, kiting hands along the edge of the arena all fight. FFXIV would never put something like that in a fight in a million years.

This seems to be one of the game's biggest challenges: getting out of a combat mode that relies exclusively on perfect choreography, and therefore on consulting a guide. Because this is what makes Ex / savage content so difficult for so many: not because of the difficulty of the mechanics as such, but rather because of the fact that everything has to be done right by everyone (or else, in too many cases, you'll end up with a general wipe). This inevitably entails a greater investment of time, a parameter that is perhaps overlooked a little too much in the definition of “HL”.

Some people don't like when I point this out, but, IMO, the core reason for this is that the game has terrible combat, which becomes immediately apparent when not masked by complex mechanics. This is why the new player experience is a slog, why getting level synced down is insufferable, why FATEs and Deep Dungeons are so boring, etc. If you're not doing advanced choreography, you're just stuck there pressing uninspiring buttons on a prescribed loop against no-mechanics trash enemies. It's why most end-game content is progression raiding.