Dear Community what even holds you in this game

[Gwenkatsu]

People can say Hildebrand is hilarious all they want, I just won't see it.

Hildibrand is... special. Except when you like to hear the same lame joke 29478 times in a row, in which case it is peak comedy

[Thurmnmurmn]

Hildebrand was amusing the first time around. Then it got super old real fast.
But it was missed enough in shb that it was brought back by popular demand. Not for me but I guess others liked it.

[ZephyrMenodora]

Hildebrand was amusing the first time around. Then it got super old real fast.
But it was missed enough in shb that it was brought back by popular demand. Not for me but I guess others liked it.

I just hope they never get lazy with Relic weapons in the future and end up having to do another 6 years of those quests in a row. Oof!

[TheDustyOne]

I also suspect that in their systematic attempt to dramatically reduce or outright remove buffs and debuffs and other rpg elements from encounters, jobs and the game in general, they genuinely think that going for the "action/reaction" type of gameplay will reach more people and a bigger audience than things that actually require players to think actively. Ultimately I don't know whether it's true or not, but it's also betraying their core audience in the process and throwing the baby with the bathwater.

Those RPG elements were a decently big part of what I derived enjoyment from when I first started playing back in Stormblood. The fact that they're now gone is definitely a factor in why I feel combat isn't as fun as it used to be.

I remember Yoshi-P talking about debuffs that affect movement like heavy and bind sometime around EW launch, and how they were "unfun", especially when applied to the player (I could very well be misremembering such a conversation, it can be very hard to keep track of what he says sometimes). I get the sentiment when it comes to more annoying dungeon designs like old thousand maws, but sometimes those "unfun" elements are there BECAUSE they're something we want to avoid; don't want your casts getting interrupted? Don't stand in the AoE that would silence or paralyze you.

The "unfun" elements are there to make the fun elements more rewarding, stripping those away makes playing incorrectly only a minor inconvenience to playing correctly, and sometimes leads to better outcomes than playing correctly because the consequence is minimal and the gains may be more than worth it; why bother moving out of an AoE that'll only tickle you when you could get that Flare cast off instead? If that AoE was to silence the player however, now it's a threat, time to move.

[TaleraRistain]

Ohh, now that you say it... the guy that needs to have one last word with their lost love.
Somehow I seem to have forgotten all the good quests lines, and only remember the bad ones.
Maybe it's time to create another char and take a look at all the stuff I forgot. Hey, seems like I found another thing that will hold me in this game for a while

Not just Severian, either, but the one with F'lhaminn was good and also the mystery in Mor Dhona.

Comments like these made me expect too much from the Alch quests. I found it to be nowhere near the tearjerker so many people say it is. All the effusive praise has honestly soured me a bit on the community lol. Like, it was okay, but the idea of someone literally sobbing over it is beyond me. If I want to be cynical, then I'd even suggest that those people are being intentionally misleading about how emotionally potent the questline is. Kinda like how when my gf calls some girls pretty, when we both know they're not. Why she and other girls do that, I have no clue.

I also see a lot of people gushing over it saying "OMG Ishikawa lives off our tears!" But Ishikawa wasn't even the writer for the emotional part of the series — levels 60-70. Ishikawa only wrote levels 1-50.

Uh, never said I cried over anything, but go off, dude. If you've ever lost anyone then there some things that resonate in both Severian and F'lhaminn's questlines.

[Mawlzy]

I remember Yoshi-P talking about debuffs that affect movement like heavy and bind sometime around EW launch, and how they were "unfun", especially when applied to the player (I could very well be misremembering such a conversation, it can be very hard to keep track of what he says sometimes). I get the sentiment when it comes to more annoying dungeon designs like old thousand maws, but sometimes those "unfun" elements are there BECAUSE they're something we want to avoid; don't want your casts getting interrupted? Don't stand in the AoE that would silence or paralyze you.

Funny thing to me about that is such debuffs are very much at the heart of current PvP. In Frontline we argue whether there should be a cap on the number of targets getting debuffed, but overall such elements are one reason PvP combat is far more interesting than PvE.

In PvP you can inflict these debuffs on the enemies you are trying to kill! In PvE, what actions do you perform on the boss? Inflict damage while avoiding damage. The poverty of thought that goes into current PvE is frankly shocking.

[TheDustyOne]

Funny thing to me about that is such debuffs are very much at the heart of current PvP. In Frontline we argue whether there should be a cap on the number of targets getting debuffed, but overall such elements are one reason PvP combat is far more interesting than PvE.

In PvP you can inflict these debuffs on the enemies you are trying to kill! In PvE, what actions do you perform on the boss? Inflict damage while avoiding damage. The poverty of thought that goes into current PvE is frankly shocking.

The more I look at PvP kits for jobs, the more I wonder why they don't show that kind of creativity in PvE. I know they can't just import them one-to-one, but the jobs each have a solid core theme and mechanic, and they're far less homogenous amongst the roles. SCH being able to use Deployment for either spreading their shields or their DoTs is something I'd take in PvE in a heartbeat, if only to relive the glory days of Bane existing.

It's rather interesting how back when I first started playing, no one took PvP in this game all that seriously; you play XIV for the PvE and just ignore PvP unless you wanted cosmetics. Nowadays I think the opposite is true. It just annoys me that in order to play the jobs I find interesting, I have to play them in a game mode I've never been fully fond of; I prefer fighting bosses rather than players.

[Mawlzy]

The more I look at PvP kits for jobs, the more I wonder why they don't show that kind of creativity in PvE. I know they can't just import them one-to-one, but the jobs each have a solid core theme and mechanic, and they're far less homogenous amongst the roles. SCH being able to use Deployment for either spreading their shields or their DoTs is something I'd take in PvE in a heartbeat, if only to relive the glory days of Bane existing.

It's rather interesting how back when I first started playing, no one took PvP in this game all that seriously; you play XIV for the PvE and just ignore PvP unless you wanted cosmetics. Nowadays I think the opposite is true. It just annoys me that in order to play the jobs I find interesting, I have to play them in a game mode I've never been fully fond of; I prefer fighting bosses rather than players.

Yeah, I'd love to know what is going on behind the scenes.

My guess is that, because PvP has been a niche mode as you say, PvP devs are under fewer constraints and oversight. And when they have made mistakes over the last year, they appear to have listened to player feedback and corrected them.

I'd love to see more players give it a go. And for PvE to incorporate some of the design philosophy.

[JohnLakeside]

Not just Severian, either, but the one with F'lhaminn was good and also the mystery in Mor Dhona.



Uh, never said I cried over anything, but go off, dude. If you've ever lost anyone then there some things that resonate in both Severian and F'lhaminn's questlines.

You called it "Emotional Damage the questline." I'm just saying those are some pretty emphatic words.

[CidHeiral]

Those RPG elements were a decently big part of what I derived enjoyment from when I first started playing back in Stormblood. The fact that they're now gone is definitely a factor in why I feel combat isn't as fun as it used to be.

I remember Yoshi-P talking about debuffs that affect movement like heavy and bind sometime around EW launch, and how they were "unfun", especially when applied to the player (I could very well be misremembering such a conversation, it can be very hard to keep track of what he says sometimes).

If you're not already aware you may be pleased to learn that gameplay like that has returned in the most recent raid tier. For example, during the M6S add phase a mob spawns and starts running at a healer. The melee have to rotate their stuns to slow it down long enough to kill it before it reaches the healer and one shots them.

The "unfun" elements are there to make the fun elements more rewarding, stripping those away makes playing incorrectly only a minor inconvenience to playing correctly, and sometimes leads to better outcomes than playing correctly because the consequence is minimal and the gains may be more than worth it; why bother moving out of an AoE that'll only tickle you when you could get that Flare cast off instead? If that AoE was to silence the player however, now it's a threat, time to move.

AOEs in harder content usually either kill you outright or hit you with a damage down which will make you fail the enrage check, so I'm assuming you're referring to normal difficulty. I don't disagree that they could slap a little harder but it's a fine line the devs have to walk. I think for the most part normal difficulty stuff is in a decent spot between requiring you to be awake to win and not brick walling casual players. The FFXI alliance raid was pleasantly spicy compared to the EW series.