A weary player sees hope in the new update

[Fingerbox]

I wonder how many players had to start from scratch because they had no backup save....

If anyone is buying Final Fantasy for the challenge, they're doing it very wrong.

There were many tears that day.

[Gramul]

Nobody is getting ignored, Yoshida also said that they are adding hard mode content in 2.0 for core players, come on Gramul lets not be selective, I know you this stuff as well as I do.

Perhaps some are getting ignored at the moment but they are working with a dev team that is split in half right now, there is only so much they can do.

I'm well aware of the promises for 2.0.
I just want to re support the idea that we need lasting and worthwhile content to hook players with more time on their hands. Aside from the map redesigns, I feel this is the most important aspect to keeping this game alive and well.

And while we're on the subject, the mass of MMO content shouldn't just be endgame. We need good memorable mid-level quests and campaigns to make the rise to 50 more memorable. You know, like a real RPG.

One person says "man, that was pretty hard/tricky/challenging to get through, but damn was it satisfying!"

Another person says "Good fucking God that took forever to do I never want to do that again!"

One went through something challenging while another hit the same button for hours on end without any real thought, strategy, or interest.

Do you want to know why some people have over 200+ hours in a game like Street Fighter? Because short bursts of challenging/satisfying/addicting fun are accumulated over time. It isn't just one long string of boring. That'll burn anyone out after awhile. That's called a time sink, and there's nothing fun or challenging about that.

Oh, I'm sorry. I had no idea that the feeling of satisfaction and entertainment people recieve from long term tasks was invalid.
People have different tastes.

[Ruisu]

In fact, there's only one mandatory content in the series (excluding FFXI) I would call challenging: Ramza VS Wiegraf solo fight + Velius battle right after in Final Fantasy Tactics. I wonder how many players had to start from scratch because they had no backup save....

If anyone is buying Final Fantasy for the challenge, they're doing it very wrong.

Ugh, I still haven't beaten that fight. Every time I read DRAW YOUR SWORD, RAMZA, I feel terrible for procrastinating on beating Tactics. It's been nine years. I should get back to it.

[NefarioCall]

Now that the misunderstandings are covered, I'd like to reply to the argument of "skill versus time".

That would be content? xD

My stance on this whole issue is relatively brief.
Yoshi has indicated on many occasions that he believes in an ADVANCING level cap, rather than the long time hard cap of FFXI.
Should this game survive, he intends that the level cap increase every year or so until it reaches 99.

In relative terms to FFXI, and setting aside that whole now 99 cap, Level 50 in this game is half way to the top, which by FFXI standards was Level 37. I will repeat that... LEVEL 37. It should not take a ridiculous amount of time to reach Level 50 by that standard. And i will also point out that you see at Level 50, the exp needed for 51 is 110,000. Thus every level afterwards will likely require a minimum average of 10,000 more exp per level, meaning that the required exp for level 98 to 99 can be NO LESS THAN 480,000 exp.

Now... Consider the current rate of EXP and tell me how getting every job from level 90-99 for a total of around 4 MILLION exp per job just from 90-98 alone, let alone all the levels before it and that it is PER JOB is going to be too fast?

As for insanely difficult content, i think there is a mandate right now given the situation that super hard content is being left for after the establishment of 2.0 I'm not sure why this is the case exactly, but it seems to be the case. Yoshi has pointed out that he intends to cater to the 'hardcore players'. I suppose though, if the current cap is relative to Level 37 in FFXI, it might be a bit much to have anything too ridiculously difficult. No FFXI content at level 37 or below was all that hard, although i did get killed by the bunnies in Ronfaure.

[Jokerz]

Final Fantasy (XI Excluded) has never really been about difficulty. Hell, unless you were doing sidequests, FFVII is one of the easiest games out there. The older Famicom/Super titles were difficult but in a tedious manner. 5 and 6 alleviated that, and the series continued to grow easier. Not that I mind, they still have some punishing bosses, and difficult content in the easy games.

Rambling on, Crafting in this game is already a chore. Don't make it even more of one.

MMO's and offline RPG's are completely different games. A developer can design content that will take the average person x amount of hours to play through, but once you throw in the multiplayer aspect of mmo's it becomes significantly harder to create content. MMOs are different in that while your playing a game, your playing as one of many in an alternate world. You are not the super hero of the story, your a nameless face fighting for your niche. So comparing previous FF games to the mmo counter parts is not really a good comparison at all.

[Hoshikogi]

I'd like to start first by saying, Final Fantasy XIV is still in it's beta stage (or gamma, however one wishes to look at it). Secondly, Yoshida-San has already mentioned that difficulty will increase with the addition of 2.0.

Based on SE's currently situation, I believe that they are now maintaining the ease of leveling for the sole purpose of quickly getting more people to 50. By doing so, the game content can be more thoroughly played and examined for bugs glitchs and inconsistancies. I'm sure the same applies to crafting. As of right now, various players are crafting away more than ever; more people performing a newly altered system quickens the "beta test" of that content.

[Atoli]

This topic has been beaten to death, but I'm still going to answer one question the OP posed:
I always bought and played FF games for storyline, obviously not for the "challenge" (because no FF game has ever really been a challenge) and even less for the timesinks.
Timesinks never even once felt satisfying to me, that's why I never trained my characters to a lvl high enough to beat the extra bosses thrown in after the end of the story in some of the very old FF games.
FF games are not where gamers turn to if they want challenging games - challenging in terms of "difficulty", not in terms of "tedious timeskink" - because there are enough other games for this.
If FFXIV is supposed to cater more to the hardcore player base, it should be by implementing new content which requires a lot of SKILL (which might be aquired by playing a lot), not by making them sit in front of the screen for 48 hours straight to only press the same 3 buttons over and over again..like the oh-so-great FFXI did.

[Jinko]

I'm well aware of the promices for 2.0.
I just want to re support the idea that we need lasting and worthwhile content to hook players with more time on their hands. Asside from the map redesigns, I feel this is the most important aspect to keeping this game alive and well.

And while we're on the subject, the mass of MMO content shouldn't just be endgame. We need good memorable midlevel quests and campaigns to make the rise to 50 more memorable. You know, like a real RPG.

Yea and it will no doubt come in 2.0 as I said.

I dont see the point complaining about something we have no way of knowing about, if in 2.0 there is still no mid level content or hard mode stuff then sure whine as much as you like but as I say they have much more important things like finishing off 2.0.

[Jokerz]

This topic has been beaten to death, but I'm still going to answer one question the OP posed:
I always bought and played FF games for storyline, obviously not for the "challenge" (because no FF game has ever really been a challenge) and even less for the timesinks.
Timesinks never even once felt satisfying to me, that's why I never trained my characters to a lvl high enough to beat the extra bosses thrown in after the end of the story in some of the very old FF games.
FF games are not where gamers turn to if they want challenging games - challenging in terms of "difficulty", not in terms of "tedious timeskink" - because there are enough other games for this.
If FFXIV is supposed to cater more to the hardcore player base, it should be by implementing new content which requires a lot of SKILL (which might be aquired by playing a lot), not by making them sit in front of the screen for 48 hours straight to only press the same 3 buttons over and over again..like the oh-so-great FFXI did.

Is that why SE put a skip cutscene button in the game? Story is indeed necessary but in a mmo it can only go so far

[Suneater]

To go from 32 to 38 in a DoH class in a day would require non-stop exp books and leves. Just because you spent 2m on exp books doesn't mean crafting is too "casual" or easy. Crafting (and all things in this game) should reward skill and team effort and not be a timesink (like the majority of XI was [mindless grinding =/= skill]). As it is right now, I find crafting to be even more tedious than gathering classes because of the lack of variety and tedium of doing the synthing minigame every craft.

Three things SE needs to:

- Make the crafting process faster (instant synth for mats & parts, minigame for equip only)

- Add more diversity to the leves (new leves were added last patch, but how about unique, guild house-only leves dispensed at the guild counter?)

- Add more ridiculously hard synths and more cross-class synths.

I really want more variety for DoH & DoL equip too but judging by GC rewards this patch it seems they haven't forgotten about them yet. SE has completely remade this game and will be relaunching in the fall; if 2.0 is still too "casual" for you, XI is still up and running for you.