Accessibility Matters - Content Needs To Be Playable For Disabled Players

[MaikoRaines]

So you're not technically wrong - it's not humanly possible to account for everyone.

The issue that's going on, however, is that XIV has a swathe of people who previously had little to no issue playing that have suddenly and unceremoniously been told 'actually no this game ISN'T for you anymore' (and no, it's not just the people who started in the ShB-EW era either). I really can't blame people for being just a little bit PO'd at a game attempting to make them feel unwelcome after having paid for it for so long - especially anyone who's been subscribing since ARR's launch.

Okay - I’ve never told anyone this game ‘isn’t for them,’ so let’s set that strawman aside. My point is that a full ‘every fight for every possible need’ overhaul just isn’t realistic. I do agree it’s a problem when accessibility is lost, but the solution has to be targeted and sustainable — otherwise we risk breaking the game for everyone while still not fixing the core issue.

[Taranok]

So you're not technically wrong - it's not humanly possible to account for everyone.

The issue that's going on, however, is that XIV has a swathe of people who previously had little to no issue playing that have suddenly and unceremoniously been told 'actually no this game ISN'T for you anymore' (and no, it's not just the people who started in the ShB-EW era either). I really can't blame people for being just a little bit PO'd at a game attempting to make them feel unwelcome after having paid for it for so long - especially anyone who's been subscribing since ARR's launch.

This is the huge thing. Dawntrail is the first time since Heavensward that I've wanted to quit the game. I look at EW and DT, and I see the exact same mistakes. HW made classes too hard for the average player (and mind I was 90th+ percentile then, and still am 80-90 despite the network issue) DT makes fights that are too hard for the average person. I shouldn't need to be 90th percentile to enjoy a dungeon. And I also know how bad the average player is since I did and do a lot of mentor roulettes. I see the devs adding in combat phoenix down as 'We messed up dungeons badly so here's a way to fix single point of failure problems, whoopsies!'

There's major technical issues. In heavensward, they did fights in godmode, so things like 90% health hit into DoT tick for 11%+ damage insta-deleting a random dps happened all the time. Where, in DT, it's people at relatively minor ping levels getting told 'screw you' because their connection isn't a direct connection to the server. The end result of both HW and EW/DT's design philosophy? The game declines in playerbase. Period. And people complain, a lot, about how godawful the stuff is.

That’s a lot of words to basically say, ‘Your fun isn’t as important as my fun.’ Don’t worry, though — I’m sure the devs will keep Eorzea perfectly balanced around whatever makes your personal friend group happy. After all, the health of a multi-million-player game clearly hinges on whether Greg from Limsa logs in. You’ve also managed to frame my request for more variety as some kind of apocalyptic threat to the casual population.

So yes, my fun is more important than yours, since I have a slightly better feel for the game and what the playerbase is doing than you do. Yes, it's arrogant to say that, and I feel somewhat bad to do that. But it is a serious problem of the game when longterm vets are saying the game is going to hell and get the response 'you think you're more important than me.' (Paraphrased.) I've seen way, way too many friends quit the game because it's just not fun.

They don't need to design the game to fit everyone. But if I enjoyed betting, I'd be willing to say more people would like Stormblood with Stormblood class design more than the current fight design. Giving people easy fights and classes of all difficulty levels is much, much healthier for the game overall than the awful gameplay of Endwalker and DT.

[MaikoRaines]

So yes, my fun is more important than yours, since I have a slightly better feel for the game and what the playerbase is doing than you do. Yes, it's arrogant to say that, and I feel somewhat bad to do that. But it is a serious problem of the game when longterm vets are saying the game is going to hell and get the response 'you think you're more important than me.' (Paraphrased.) I've seen way, way too many friends quit the game because it's just not fun.

They don't need to design the game to fit everyone. But if I enjoyed betting, I'd be willing to say more people would like Stormblood with Stormblood class design more than the current fight design. Giving people easy fights and classes of all difficulty levels is much, much healthier for the game overall than the awful gameplay of Endwalker and DT.

Quite the egotist we are. Just going full mask off eh?

First off, if we’re going to keep debating, can we stick to what I wrote instead of the imaginary ‘bored hardcore raider’ you invented a few posts ago? I never said the game should get harder, and I never said it should be for fewer people — that’s a strawman you’ve been shadowboxing from the start.

Now, if we’re making this a pissing match over whose fun matters more, I’ve been here since the alpha before 1.0 launched, so I can play that card too. And if you know the playerbase better than me, and have the secret formula for saving XIV, why not learn Japanese and go work for Square-Enix yourself? Seems like a waste to keep all that world-saving wisdom confined to the forums.

The Stormblood vs. Dawntrail thing — ‘worst expansion’ threads are opinion polls, not development roadmaps. Using them to declare that Stormblood’s design is the second/third/fourth worst expansion is just nostalgia in a lab coat pretending to be hard data.

[Monolithic]

Okay - I’ve never told anyone this game ‘isn’t for them,’ so let’s set that strawman aside. My point is that a full ‘every fight for every possible need’ overhaul just isn’t realistic. I do agree it’s a problem when accessibility is lost, but the solution has to be targeted and sustainable — otherwise we risk breaking the game for everyone while still not fixing the core issue.

I wasn't implying that you personally were telling them that, just to clarify, so a bit of poor unspecified wording on my part - I mean the game itself is telling them that, by the direction of the new encounter design. Like I said - it's not actually possible to design any game to be playable by literally everyone - I'm in full agreement here. Even semi-recent titles that made great strides for accessibility still can't ensure everyone possible person that may want to try it can actually play it. But even if folks are wording it with some hyperbole, I'm pretty sure they do mean 'hey maybe we shouldn't alienate a whole boatload of folks who would be fine with some pretty standard toggles for VFX and maybe the Willful buff for dungeon bosses in duty support'.

For the benefit of a narrower scope example for you I'll use the visual clarity issues DT introduced that are quite literally driving people away: visual impairment is the single most common disability there is. Anyone you know who wears glasses, even if they're not prescription? That's vision impairment, baby! And there's a whole boatload of people that fall under that umbrella - all of whom had no issues before late EW patches, and those issues exploding to the point of making the game totally untenable for them after DT from a combo of the graphics update taking away setting options on top of even worse VFX vomit.

There's definitely the issue in faster mechs as well, both from accessibility and the god-awful ping issues in this game. I personally like faster mechs, but not only are they just not nearly as fun in a game like this (compare to, say, GW2), I also like my friends far more than some very slightly quicker AoE spam-a-thons. If adding an extra 1-1.5 seconds for someone to react allows them to keep playing a game they love (and again, may have been playing for years before DT told them 'no'), then so be it.

Folks who want some extra oomph to dungeon slog dailies absolutely need to be advocating for either some kind of instance modifiers, or just a whole second version of the same dungeon that's sitting between normal and extreme levels - something that gives out better rewards - like, enough extra where you only have to do that one single roulette and none of the others at all. Because lemmie tell you, advocating for normal modes to become that instead is gonna end with XIV Wildstar'ing itself.

[MaikoRaines]

For the benefit of a narrower scope example for you I'll use the visual clarity issues DT introduced that are quite literally driving people away: visual impairment is the single most common disability there is. Anyone you know who wears glasses, even if they're not prescription? That's vision impairment, baby! And there's a whole boatload of people that fall under that umbrella - all of whom had no issues before late EW patches, and those issues exploding to the point of making the game totally untenable for them after DT from a combo of the graphics update taking away setting options on top of even worse VFX vomit.

There's definitely the issue in faster mechs as well, both from accessibility and the god-awful ping issues in this game. I personally like faster mechs, but not only are they just not nearly as fun in a game like this (compare to, say, GW2), I also like my friends far more than some very slightly quicker AoE spam-a-thons. If adding an extra 1-1.5 seconds for someone to react allows them to keep playing a game they love (and again, may have been playing for years before DT told them 'no'), then so be it.

Folks who want some extra oomph to dungeon slog dailies absolutely need to be advocating for either some kind of instance modifiers, or just a whole second version of the same dungeon that's sitting between normal and extreme levels - something that gives out better rewards - like, enough extra where you only have to do that one single roulette and none of the others at all. Because lemmie tell you, advocating for normal modes to become that instead is gonna end with XIV Wildstar'ing itself.

Fair enough on the clarification. I agree that features like VFX toggles, visual clarity options, or even minor reaction time buffers are exactly the kind of targeted fixes that help people without requiring the devs to rebuild the entire game in parallel. DT’s graphics/VFX changes, creating new accessibility problems, are a perfect example of taking a step backward, and that’s the opposite direction we should be going.

My pushback is only when requests start creeping into ‘every fight should be fully playable for every possible need’ territory — that’s where it stops being feasible and starts becoming a promise the devs can’t keep. However, if we can zero in on specific pain points, as you mentioned, that’s a much better way to achieve meaningful accessibility changes that stick.

[Monolithic]

This is the huge thing. Dawntrail is the first time since Heavensward that I've wanted to quit the game. I look at EW and DT, and I see the exact same mistakes. HW made classes too hard for the average player (and mind I was 90th+ percentile then, and still am 80-90 despite the network issue) DT makes fights that are too hard for the average person. I shouldn't need to be 90th percentile to enjoy a dungeon. And I also know how bad the average player is since I did and do a lot of mentor roulettes. I see the devs adding in combat phoenix down as 'We messed up dungeons badly so here's a way to fix single point of failure problems, whoopsies!'

My friend with the significant vision impairment knew when they read the phoenix down changes that it was the devs going 'Lol nah we don't care about ya'll, git gud' and they just felt like absolute crap about it. They've gotten to where they don't even want to ask ME for help, even knowing full well I'm always willing to. Like, I always run DRK when I'm with them so that I can put TBN on them to get them through things they struggle with most so they can actually play the fights - they know that as long as schedule allows I'll run with them. And they're by no means a bad player - not top of any charts, but heck I'm not anywhere near that level either - but neither of us are just like...sitting here drooling on our keyboards like some folks love to assume we probably are.

I don't raid in XIV, but I have (and still do) in other games - my reaction times are pretty good, and I once spent 3 months progging a single dang boss. I'm not adverse to difficulty...optional difficulty, and NOT in the average joe daily queues. 100% agree about the average person should be allowed to enjoy dungeons too, but also, in terms of purely selfish motivations: girl it actually ISN'T fun dragging rando PUG corpses across the finish line just for the most basic of dailies/weeklies. I don't have the time or energy to carry half the people I run into in roulettes - or if I do have the energy, I want it to be OPT IN, not opt-out (which there ISN'T even an opt-out atm, besides 'just don't run roulettes' I suppose...which yeah actually I have been taking that option I guess rofl)

If I want things to use my brain on, I wanna be able to pick when/how I do it. Also: I wanna do those things with friend groups, not randos. Anyone with two brain cells know it's totally unrealistic to expect someone to wait for their friends to queue for their dang roulettes. So yeah, normal modes being "brain off" is good for me, and good for people who are struggling/have accessibility issues. It's such a confluence of 'this is a bad idea for so many reasons that I struggle to even cover all of them every time I have to argue with anyone about it'. I'M TIRED BOSS.

[Crafoutis]

From the responses it's clear that this is a personal issue rather than a game design issue, and I am not of the opinion that game designers should feel the need to reduce their vision--the vision that has led their target audience to want to play their games--just to help a few people out who are going through issues.

My bad, but if you're missing an arm I don't expect that all sports should change their rules to compensate.

This is not addressing VFX toggles. That's a no-brainer, sure add more toggles, they have nothing to do with the combat design, as they are not intentionally obstructive (smoke grenades in CS)

[Liyinabi]

Hi! I'm a raider who suffers from eye strain and nausea and ngl I just close my eyes (aka a strategic blink ) when the VFX decides to flashbang me, which is admittedly easier to prepare for when you've been to parts of fights a million times. I and others shouldn't have to do that though, so I think there should be an accessibility to reduce the intensity/amount of flashing lights because you simply can't turn some of them off at the moment. Reducing brightness and glare won't necessarily ruin mechanics/change them in any way or make them easier, but would spare my retinas from feeling like they're burning. I've already turned off the blurring that happens with certain attacks (idr what it's called, but I do remember it happening whenever fire IV is cast) and it's done wonders for my nausea and poor ability to focus my eyes.

For some mechanics that are just composed of fast moving parts like the teacups in Strayborough Deadwalk, though, I simply can't think of a way to make the fight and those similar to it more accessible without completely changing it and therefore ruining the experience for those who don't need these accommodations. As many others in this thread have said, the game shouldn't have to become easier/less interesting to accommodate to disabled players, especially considering how wide the disability spectrum is and how it'd be impossible to please and accommodate for everyone.

As an example on a smaller scale, I can make personalized suggestions for those with vision-based problems during that mechanic and dungeon like focusing on your character alone if you can and simply following your party members to be safe for the mechanic, or avoiding the dungeon if possible since it's not necessary for anything. However, for every temporary fix I suggest for one person's disability, 50 more issues that others may have with various encounters throughout the entire game could come out of the woodwork and I simply won't have the time or knowhow to come up and respond to these people with fixes for their own individualized issues.

In a perfect world, CBU3 has a billion staff who care and are paid well enough to create accessibility options and perhaps even alternate versions of duties for those who need it. Seeing as that's not the case, however, at some point it does fall on the consumer to do their best to ensure their own comfort or separate themselves from the game or specific encounter if it causes them that much distress.

[Monolithic]

Loving the dedication to very literal readings of the phrase ‘should be for everyone’ when a lot of this is tied to accessibility lost in DT. Which btw is super impressive XIV managed to become less accessible, because it didn’t have any dang accessibility to begin with (no, that sad joke of what they call ‘colorblind options’ doesn’t count).

For the people who just want to do their MSQ dungeon without having an existential crisis about it, giving them the Willful buff for duty support dungeons as well as trials won’t effect any encounter design. It already exists and pasting an existing functionality to duty support dungeons would be a simple & good first step.

There are bigger steps XIV could (and should) take beyond these that still wouldn’t touch this weirdly-revered encounter design in DT (ya’ll need higher standards, goodness), but like. We don’t even have bare minimum accessibility options right now. Starting there might...you know...solve some of these issues.

[Elephantality]

I feel like your post is too vague. What exactly is too difficult, and what is the suggestion to improve them for you? I don't want dungeons to be dull. If they become boring, I won't have a reason to play. I'm a new player, and I also don't care for raiding.