Yuweyawata Field Station is so wrong

[Yeonhee]

I'm fine with all your suggestions. I think all would help players better learn their jobs and game mechanics. But the assertion made by some in this thread is that struggling players willfully refuse to learn their jobs and the game mechanics. While I don't believe this, your suggestions would do nothing to address this hypothetical population. Further, many struggling players care deeply about their performance and are painfully aware that in higher level MSQ dungeons it falls short of the median.

Your assumption that all weak players are weak because they don't try hard enough is simply wrong.

As to "winning" the game, that is a concept that simply doesn't apply to MMOs. Combat constitutes a tiny fraction of the overall available content. For many, that combat is very far from "mindnumbingly easy." You might as well claim the only way to win the game is to follow Cider Spider and get all available achievements.

Not all weak players are weak because they don't try enough, that's for sure. But a good chunk of them are. You pretty much only singled out "lol Cure1 myth" to dismiss all my previous exemples. But for those, skill doesn't matter. So tell me, why a level 100 player wouldn't know to use AoEs on large pull ? All throught the leveling process, you have big messages poping on your screens saying "Hey, look at this cool new skill you just unlocked !" yet some people seems to never bothered reading what they do. Or still not knowing what stack markers ou buster markers are despite having seen them hundred of times up until then. How many times I was running like an idiot behind someone with a doritos marker yelling in my head "STACK WITH MEEEEE PLEAAAAAASE". Yes, some people play the game for the social aspect of it, for housing, for PvP or anything else and just doesn't give a damn about PvE combat and couldn't be bottered to improve.
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However, I do respect people that are struggling but still trying their best. When I see someone that seems to have issues, I usually try to offer advices (And no, that's not "Stop watching Netflix" kind of advices). You offer dual-track difficulty as a solution and I might agree with it(Tho rewards should be limited for the "easy mode") despite thinking that Trust is already quite easy. But a lot of people on this forum are asking for straight up nerf of DT normal content, which is pretty bad. As someone else said, if devs balance the normal content around the weakest link of the chain, you end up with a very boring game for the vast majority of players.

There's also the issue that dying or wiping on normal content seems to have become such an unacceptable thing that should never happen and is shameful. Wiping while learning is completely normal and there's no shame to have with it.

[Alice_Rivers]

Okay, so I'm curious, you keep going on about this "two track difficulty" thing that doesn't fix the content design problems in any way shape or form, but how do you see it working functionally in the first place? Are there two Duty Finders? Is it a skill based matchmaking system? Is there an option in the DF that says "I think I'm good at the game, make it harder"?

[Arohk]

Okay, so I'm curious, you keep going on about this "two track difficulty" thing that doesn't fix the content design problems in any way shape or form, but how do you see it working functionally in the first place? Are there two Duty Finders? Is it a skill based matchmaking system? Is there an option in the DF that says "I think I'm good at the game, make it harder"?

I Assume the bosses will do the exact same thing, but when you get hit it plays a rubber ducky sound instead of doing damage.

[Valence]

No Sir, you are an Ultra Casual that thinks he has a valid opinion about a part of a game he doesn't even participate in, you may have your reasons why and i hope the game is fulfilling the way you play it.
Please go and clear at least one Savage boss, then come back and tell me again how dungeons are too diffult and i will take you more seriously.
I will tell it to you one final time, the game is NOT TOO DIFFICULT, the game has accessibility problems that confuse new players.

What if I say that I support what they wrote wholeheartedly from my own experience, would that also qualify me as an Ultra Casual?

[Mawlzy]

Okay, so I'm curious, you keep going on about this "two track difficulty" thing that doesn't fix the content design problems in any way shape or form, but how do you see it working functionally in the first place? Are there two Duty Finders? Is it a skill based matchmaking system? Is there an option in the DF that says "I think I'm good at the game, make it harder"?

Sure content design and dual-track are completely separate issues. We seem largely in agreement on the former.

As to the practical implementation, it's two-thirds as complicated as the tri-track offered in solo duties, except it could be chosen from the start.

[Alice_Rivers]

except it could be chosen from the start.

At the start of the game? At character creation? When you queue? After you drop into the duty? Do we end up with damage/speed/AoE on-off on a per character basis? Wouldn't it also have an adverse effect on already struggling queue times? It sounds like a logistical and processing nightmare.

[Mawlzy]

No Sir, you are an Ultra Casual that thinks he has a valid opinion about a part of a game he doesn't even participate in, you may have your reasons why and i hope the game is fulfilling the way you play it.
Please go and clear at least one Savage boss, then come back and tell me again how dungeons are too diffult and i will take you more seriously.
I will tell it to you one final time, the game is NOT TOO DIFFICULT, the game has accessibility problems that confuse new players.

I think it's clear were going in circles, but since this is insulting I feel a response is necessary.

1. You assume my gender. The fact you also assume the abilities of total strangers thus comes as no surprise.

2. I believe the currently preferred pejorative is "turbocasual" not "Ultra Casual." Please check recent memos from the Briganding Officer on your Discord server.

3. There is nothing casual about the way I approach PvP, which is where most of my game time is spent. I am fiercely competitive and quite good.

4. Using BLOCK CAPS does not magically turn an opinion into a fact.

5. Why would I wish to clear anything in Savage? Making dull content more difficult so it takes constant repetition to clear is one of the most puzzling aspects of the game.

6. I have an opinion on MSQ dungeons, all of which I have cleared. Of course I regard my opinion as valid. If I did not, I would change it.

7. I have forwarded your contributions in this thread to the secretary of the Committee For The Reform Of The Mentorship Program.

At the start of the game? At character creation? When you queue? After you drop into the duty? Do we end up with damage/speed/AoE on-off on a per character basis? Wouldn't it also have an adverse effect on already struggling queue times? It sounds like a logistical and processing nightmare.

The simplest way to do it, as well as providing a useful test case that would have no impact on queue times, would be to restrict it to Duty Support.

The alternative is the status quo, which compels all players spanning a massive spectrum of skill into identical duties. This annoys people at both ends of the skill spectrum, as evidenced by this and other threads.

The current situation also tends to lead to players arguing with each other, instead of coming together and lobbying for more interesting dungeon design.

My guess is if you did include an option in Duty Finder you might have each track healthier than the single one is now, simply because both groups would enjoy the experience more. People like me might even do MSQ dungeons more than once on cycle.

[ThurinTurambar]

I guess the 'dual-track' solution could be viable with trusts. It would be easy to make dungeon bosses do 20% of their normal damage when doing it with npcs. Casual players would get through dungeons without issues, while others who value speed would not choose trusts in first place.

[Mawlzy]

I guess the 'dual-track' solution could be viable with trusts. It would be easy to make dungeon bosses do 20% of their normal damage when doing it with npcs. Casual players would get through dungeons without issues, while others who value speed would not choose trusts in first place.

Right, and it's hardly a revolutionary idea. Other MMOs have incorporated difficulty sliders for years.

Just found this video that points out the advantages and drawbacks of such a system:

https://youtu.be/KlVANL0r3jM?si=Tn-h5-NeR8_-W7I-

[Eesh]

Snipped

Sorry for the super late reply on our conversation earlier. Life stuff. I was reading the post where you relate what you like about the game and I think what kind of irks me the most about it is that it feels less like you want to 'play' the game and more get the 'experience' of being good at the game.

A lot of your enjoyment of CT come from overlevelled gear and an easier job. You 'feel' safer because your gear gives you a safety net and, likewise, you feel stronger because your gear puts you higher in enmity. You also have the buffer of a larger party so your personal responsibility is less and there's more leeway to be picked up. You're on an ARR job so you have 50 levels of button bloat taken from you (this is a double edged sword, since more buttons =/= better). Plus you're citing the only mandatory AR in the roulette so everyone has extreme confidence after running it x amount of times for knowledge.

When I read it all it feels so very...idk. Like you want the game to take pity on you and give you a handicap everywhere; give you the feeling of running overlevelled content that everyone is experienced with? Rather than just in this low lvl synced content. And that's why I said it just comes off as a little condescending to receive this boost. You want the game to tell you "You're strong, you can take that hit. You're a competitive dps! Look at your numbers!" without actually doing the thing that gets you that. And like other people said, this doesn't address any design issues you have with current content. It just makes it feel better because the game has fluffed your numbers a bit to put you in line with the average player.

I have concerns regarding a dual track too. Since the idea of pushing worse players into solo modes or their own corner fragments the community more which is just all around bad for the game as an MMO.