Overtuned MSQ 4-mans and subpar story ends 12-year journey

[TemporalFruitsAndVeggies]

I'd love it if the dungeons weren't tied to the story and the gameplay part was just done with solo instances.

Agreed, and this simple change would go a long way towards letting players who don't really care about the story catch up to their friends much more quickly. But then they wouldn't be selling tons of $25 "skip most of the story" and $25 "level to 90 immediately" cash-shop items.

[Bryson]

But this is probably the end for me.

If dungeons are too hard for you, you're right lol

There is absolutely no reason they should be shoehorning progression raid and extreme mechanics into MSQ-REQUIRED NORMAL 4-MAN DUNGEONS.

I WISH dungeons had extreme and savage mechanics. Unfortunately, in reality, they don't.

I <3 your post though. It was hilarious.

[ZephyrMenodora]

That is the real problem with the "too difficult vs. too boring" debate on MSQ-required dungeons.

The problem isn't "too hard vs. too easy," it is that SE became too too greedy and/or too complacent to design SEPARATE content for each of these classes of players like they have throughout the game's decade+ history.

----
There is absolutely no reason they should be shoehorning progression raid and extreme mechanics into MSQ-REQUIRED NORMAL 4-MAN DUNGEONS.

Yuweyawata Field Station is a perfect example. It actually names abilities "Dark Souls" as an overt reference to the masochistic games by the same name, and throws in a literal finger mechanic as if to say clearly what they feel about the terrible server lag making this game no place for such latency-dependent mechanics.

You have a lot of different topics all bundled up into why you "might" be quitting - since you have not even committed to this - but the above is rather absurd to me. Literally everyone can complete the MSQ by going in with Trusts, which tell you where to stand at pretty much all times - and practicing until you understand the dungeon. I'd reckon 99% of players can complete this within the time limit the very first time entering.

Worst case scenario, you get carried by actual people.

Once you learn the dungeons and people get more gear, they very quickly become competitive/mundane to most people. If they tailored the game to remain at Satasha levels to appease the extreme end of unskilled and unmotivated players...well, they'd fare much worse in regards to retaining the casual playerbase.

[TaleraRistain]

I would say do that, but disable all drops on easy and have the DF treat it as an incomplete duty until it's cleared on normal. If people want to play it purely as a solo story game, I'd rather something like that than the "solo experience" changes they made during EW.

I don't think it really needs either of those. It isn't going to hurt things if someone can get some gear. Probably help more if they do venture into roulettes. And there's no reason for it to be set to incomplete because their being in roulette is no different than now when they get dragged around dead by other players.

The one thing I would do is limit exp so that mode can't be used to farm for exp. It doesn't really have to be a separate story mode, either. I mentioned in another thread they could just have difficulty settings like solo duties and set an Echo level based on those. Very Easy would just have a large Echo so the player could still get the interactive experience without having to worry if they get clipped by something.

[Rithy255]

Its simple when every job is the same copy of each other and super easy to learn people start to feel bored, so SE in a "brilliant" move thought instead of fix job design, they decided to make the encounters slightly more engaging now people are upset about that.

I wouldn't mind content being made easier again if they had actual job design, I personally find the current content more fun then endwalker but it's still shallow when my job feels bland, theirs also the case that not everyone wants content where you turn your brain off but also they don't want trial and error content where you have to watch a guide or something, so adding content that properly scales in difficulty would be nice.

Though I'm sure we will get more of the same, they will keep making the dance fights more and more intense until its breaking point while making jobs a cosmetic option. Instead of having some skill expression being in those jobs and how they interact with the content itself.

[MicahZerrshia]

There is absolutely no reason they should be shoehorning progression raid and extreme mechanics into MSQ-REQUIRED NORMAL 4-MAN DUNGEONS.

Yuweyawata Field Station is a perfect example. It actually names abilities "Dark Souls" as an overt reference to the masochistic games by the same name, and throws in a literal finger mechanic as if to say clearly what they feel about the terrible server lag making this game no place for such latency-dependent mechanics..

I think I just rolled my eyes so hard I saw the wall behind me.

This is truly why we cannot have nice things.

[Oizen]

me when the visual novel has gameplay

[JadeCurtiss]

No. Dark Souls is a simple tank buster. If you read more carefully you will see I was pointing out it is an overt name drop for the clear design philosophy shift Yoshida has been publicly talking about. He specifically said he wants to bring in more Dark Souls/Elden Ring style difficulty (which I would term "fake" difficulty as it is totally unintelligent and "easy" and relies on memorization of physics-defying 180 degree weapon swing shifts, 1-shots, and "heat seeking" enemy telepathy, among other things).

You honestly don't understand Dark Souls at all. "tHis iS a DaRk SoUls rEferEnCe" is a ridiculous sentiment and YoshiP doesn't localize the text in the game himself. I don't believe this is a genuine statement from someone who has played for 12 years. Extreme/Savage mechanics in the dungeon? Please.

[Xapapetsu]

Not everyone wants to be carried though, and I say that as someone who had to clear 90% of ARR/HW/STB while being over-geared, over-leveled, and doing it unsync solo out of necessity because Dynamis is dead and a lot of people on the other data centers aren't anywhere near as nice and helpful as people keep memeing about.

I literally am a walking "I win" button that people think casuals desperately want and I'm not having fun doing that either, and I'm pretty sure any lower level players I escort through MSQ content because they can't fill a queue are probably not having a riveting experience either. I wanted an MMO, but this game is deathly allergic to being one with its slew of gameplay problems and lackluster community.
+++



Having three friends being the hard part here, and having seven for mandatory Trials only making things harder.

Being on dynamis is rough enough, I couldn't imagine trying to run content on that DC, I had an alt and always traveled to primal or aether to do msq and dailies. I've only run into about 3 people who got upset about bad players in standard content and they were hardcore casuals, they were good at normal content but wouldn't touch high-end content. Everyone I raid with could care less how bad someone is in normal content.

[EchoingPulse]

I do not understand how some people are complaining about Dawntrail dungeons as if they were the hardest thing. The mechanics are in line with most previous dungeons.
Mind you, I'm curious of how folks go through Stormblood and Endwalker if Dawntrail is giving them too much.