zoning out/center extreme focus

[TheInsomniac13]

A prime number is defined by only being divisible by two numbers, itself and 1, 1 is only divisible by 1, the fact 1 is also itself doesn't matter, it is divisible by a single number rather than two, it sounds confusing, but mathematical concepts focus a lot on absolute definitions, not technicalities.

The lowest prime number is 2, which is also the only even prime.

Problem for me the first time around was that my country do´s not use the term Prime Numbers... so when I saw it the first time I was like... wait? what was that again? I knew the concept but I had to eat a failed stack till I figured out what it meant.

[Valence]

That requires that the game allows for less than 110% for success though, and there's a wide amount of content that will not let you pass with anything less than scripted perfection.

And we can't just fallback on Normal content being the answer to that because there's people who constantly express how much they wish Normal content was equally demanding and regularly throw around the term "brain dead" to describe it otherwise, even going so far as to praise Dawntrail precisely because it upped the difficulty on Normal dungeons/trails/raids so they "wouldn't fall asleep".

While content difficulty is another beast from job difficulty, they're eternally entwined because it's been the upping of content difficulty that resulted in jobs being brought down. Low-skill players didn't demand the recent BLM changes, the newest Savage ballets did.

110% was meant on a rotational perspective and job understanding, because what has been discussed since the very OP has been job design and engagement. What you are speaking about is encounter design which is indeed becoming more and more about do the dance 100% or die. Currently anybody can clear anything casual with barely 5% executed on the job side because that's not what matters in casual content, what matters is the DDR. In Savage+ it's also the DDR, but also job mastery due to dps checks, mitigation checks mostly, which require players to at least be remotely competent at lining up a job rotation.

What Dawntrail has upped is not job difficulty, but encounter difficulty, and anybody pressing a couple of buttons can still clear that because again, it's the DDR difficulty that has specifically increased into body checks and binary check arena mechanics at the individual level. It hasn't increased anything in relation to the actual battle system.
It's a problem that gets in the way of job design unless we want a crazy high skill requirement because both the battle system (jobs) and the encounters will have a higher difficulty.

To be clear, I am NOT asking for jobs and battle system to be required mastery at 110% in any content. I am asking for high accessibility that should be far enough from that actual 110% skill ceiling. I want casual to be about what worked better in the past: a slider of engagement and options allowing for all skill levels without having different player types friction as much as they do today.

Problem for me the first time around was that my country do´s not use the term Prime Numbers... so when I saw it the first time I was like... wait? what was that again? I knew the concept but I had to eat a failed stack till I figured out what it meant.

This is why there is scraps of paper all along the way before the boss. I do agree it's a failure in design though because nobody will stop to read them else they'll miss the train.
But ultimately it doesn't change much to the general design of the game: you'll eat shit when first seeing mechanics, and learn by eating shit and potentially dying. Experience can help identifying the most common patterns but that's about it. It's literally about learning a dance or a music partition. You must stumble before going forth.

[TheInsomniac13]

I think years ago the devs stood on the crossroad were they had to decide were to take the game.
Fokus on the individualety of classes and design encounters around them.
Or make encounters more bussy and flashy to apear harder.

One is easy and cheap and the other time consuming and hard and in the opinions of many... They took the wrong road.

They see themself how disatesfied many are eith the job design or they would not have promised an entire rework in 8.0 but as I keep saying, anything 8.0 can da still has to fit into the DDR heavy encounter design which is at fault that jobs was dumbed down to begin with. So I do not belive the devs one bit.

[Daralii]

I think years ago the devs stood on the crossroad were they had to decide were to take the game.
Fokus on the individualety of classes and design encounters around them.
Or make encounters more bussy and flashy to apear harder.

One is easy and cheap and the other time consuming and hard and in the opinions of many... They took the wrong road.

They see themself how disatesfied many are eith the job design or they would not have promised an entire rework in 8.0 but as I keep saying, anything 8.0 can da still has to fit into the DDR heavy encounter design which is at fault that jobs was dumbed down to begin with. So I do not belive the devs one bit.

You don't even have to speculate about it because Nakagawa outright said it in an interview in EW about the changes that codified the 2 minute meta. The justification was just that it made designing savage/ultimate fights easier, and it isn't hard to see the same reasoning in subsequent job changes either.

[Valence]

You don't even have to speculate about it because Nakagawa outright said it in an interview in EW about the changes that codified the 2 minute meta. The justification was just that it made designing savage/ultimate fights easier, and it isn't hard to see the same reasoning in subsequent job changes either.

Adding to it:

Yoshida himself said dungeon formula wasn't going to change because it made it possible to churn more of them for minimal cost (even though they dramatically reduced the amount of dungeons to start with).
I also do recall them saying they were perfectly happy with their current battle system model and weren't ready to move to something else for now. I think this statement was made during Endwalker, but I don't remember when.

This is why I think they're targeting another audience (of which they may be part of) than what their older teams used to design for before Stormblood. They've never been interested with the RPG side of the MMO, only the guitar hero gameplay. It's easy to do, it's formulaic, and so far it works because it finds its audience, in spite of older players.

[Daralii]

Adding to it:

Yoshida himself said dungeon formula wasn't going to change because it made it possible to churn more of them for minimal cost (even though they dramatically reduced the amount of dungeons to start with).
I also do recall them saying they were perfectly happy with their current battle system model and weren't ready to move to something else for now. I think this statement was made during Endwalker, but I don't remember when.

This is why I think they're targeting another audience (of which they may be part of) than what their older teams used to design for before Stormblood. They've never been interested with the RPG side of the MMO, only the guitar hero gameplay. It's easy to do, it's formulaic, and so far it works because it finds its audience, in spite of older players.

It's frustrating how many interviews from 2021 to 2024 amount to "We're gonna rest on our laurels, now pay up".

[TheInsomniac13]

It's frustrating how many interviews from 2021 to 2024 amount to "We're gonna rest on our laurels, now pay up".

In another thread I asked about what even keeps people in this game, and most answered sunken cost, friends, they don´t want to loose the house they gambeld on even though they do not really play anymore or they enjoy the RP scene in this game aka. conection with the other players... only a fraction sayed they enjoyed the Highend Raiding scene or were early enough in the game to have still enjoyable side content to look forward to.

So as it stands gear is streamlined into meaninglessness the only reason to farm anything is for glams.
Gameplay is extreamly seamy with as it feels clear aim to funnel players into the endgame content which the devs seem to see as Raiding.
More and more Glamours and emoted (and mounts) get introduced into the game which are imersion breaking. Early on the highest tech we are introduced is magitec and all we ever get to use is created by Cid a Garlean deserte while Garleans are know for there Magitec... thats the lore that get´s established... meanwhile some one coming into the game for the first time now sees dozen players in effin space suits taking selfies on there smartphone and flying around in there NASA mechs.

I am sorry for drawing compersion but streamlined gear, game desinge changes meant to funnel players fast into the endgame, and immersion ignoring skins that can or cannot be bought in the cash shop.
FF 14 more and more resembels one of these nearly dead MMORPGs you can free to play which have the only Aim to milk there remaining Whales. I think Terra was basicly that bevore it was shut down.
And seeing that we are player number wise we move to pre Shadowbringer numbers I think the game starts to become exactly that typ of game. Don´t misunderstand me it will take years till we hit that state... but seeing the devs not seeing the need to improve anymore makes that point unavoidable.

[AllenThyl]

Oh yes, I know, I don't recall you ever advocating for the game being some kind of "hardcore-only" playground or anything like that, I was just pointing out that until encounter design is changed, we can't really expect any jobs to become more dynamic than they are as it's the encounter design that keeps forcing homogenization to occur, or how these changes have been completely at the discretion of Square-Enix based on some unknown metric or plan and not the fault of any specific part of the playerbase.

You are someone who by own admission already struggles with normal content, with the current "braindead" job design, what hope do you think you will have if future job design will actually require more decision making on the spot, more apm, more double weaving, more resource management? You are, again by own admission (and by the screenshot you posted when you purposefully threw a Frontline match because some other team had a "premade"), barely average in PvP, which already comes with a reduced ability set for classes and requires more strategic thinking. You, personally, are literally the target audience for the easy job design and barely engaging encounter design in normal content. If the game was any harder, you would be hard walled from story progression

In another thread I asked about what even keeps people in this game, and most answered sunken cost, friends, they don´t want to loose the house they gambeld on even though they do not really play anymore or they enjoy the RP scene in this game aka. conection with the other players... only a fraction sayed they enjoyed the Highend Raiding scene or were early enough in the game to have still enjoyable side content to look forward to.

Because people who generally like the game stay away from the forums, since this is pretty much a cesspool of negativity and posers. People who have done absolutely nothing in this game, but fill every single thread about every topic with their unfounded "opinions" and "hot takes". I mean, you yourself strut around here with your hot takes about job and encounter design, but the absolute lack of any specific examples in all your posts pretty much gives it away that you have no experience with playing any class at high level or having done any high-end duty.

So as it stands gear is streamlined into meaninglessness the only reason to farm anything is for glams.

Spoken like someone who never ever engaged in any high-end duties.

Gameplay is extreamly seamy with as it feels clear aim to funnel players into the endgame content which the devs seem to see as Raiding.

A) no one is "funneled" into anything, the game gives out catch up gear like candies, compared to other games in the genre where people have to grind through previous content to even stand a chance
B) Raiding is a staple activity of this kind of genre and has been for decades. People who don't do any of the content where gear makes a measurable difference have no need for gear that makes a measurable difference.

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Oh Valence, since you are here, what happened to your argument of "experience something to give a valid opinion", given that this thread is full of people who obviously never in their life have ever seen a high-end duty from the inside, but still give their endless takes on job and encounter design? What is that, doesn't matter, you aren't arguing in good faith anyway and are happy to piggyback meaningless statements so long as it fits your agenda? Yeah, thought so.

[TheInsomniac13]

You seem to consider the opinions of everyone who has not cleared all High tire raids as invalide guss what many players do not care for Raiding. I personaly stumbled through the ARR Extream Raids and Heavensward by using Partyfinder and I cleared first Coils of Bahamut synced.
And I found the entrie expirience misserable. Just because I critecize your sacred cow do´s not mean my critique is invalide.
I have leveld all jobs to 100 I can all jobes reliably and I do not care for a 2 Minuets groupe buff rotation which turns DDR into a coreographed and planned stage pervormance.

But you cannot denies that the player Numbers keep going down and no it is not just players playing different stuff till the next patch drops, Numbers are starting to dip below Pre Shadowbringer which should be a wakeup call how little players feel engaged by the game at this point.