New Variant Dungeon: Reward structure is a downgrade from previous ones.

[TengaBlack]

Huh FRU only? Better be all ult totems tradable with 20x books/totem(UwU and DSR) from the relevant original version zoomed through unsynced !!!!!

[Ankhira]

The problem with previous variant/criterion dungeons was that the few rewards they had were all tied to the easier modes while the harder difficulties had nothing. Reversing that would be an upgrade, not a downgrade. It's still not great mind you, since AFAIK the rewards are once again single use, niche in their appeal and tradeable - but still. If you want the rewards, you can earn them. If you don't want to engage with the content, that's your choice.

Mounts and similar rewards in normal-level dungeons would just be participation trophies, and IMO a waste of assets that could otherwise be used to offer meaningful rewards that players can chase by overcoming challenges. Normal/variant mode is just there for the story/for fun. Replayability isn't really a problem either considering you can solo it. Incentivizing players to re-run content is more a concern for stuff that requires multiple players to clear.

You’re treating rewards for content you enjoy as meaningful, but rewards for content others enjoy as a waste. That’s just personal bias. Everyone pays the same subscription, so everyone deserves content and rewards that fit the type of game play they enjoy.

Variant has always rewarded players for completing all 13 paths. That wasn’t a participation trophy it was an established reward for doing the content. And if rewards don’t matter for normal/variant because it’s just for fun, then the same logic should apply to high‑end content too. Yet whenever a high‑end mode lacks rewards, people immediately say it’s not worth running. That’s just pure hypocrisy.

Again, it's not about taking anything away from raiders. It’s about making sure casual players aren’t left with nothing to work toward for an entire expansion. You're not the only group of players in this game.

[Infindox]

You must have missed the insane meltdowns that happened here and in other places because "waahhhhhhhhh i want the hair but i dont want to do harder content or spend gil i just want the rewards NOW no i dont want to earn them just GIVE THEM to me" over Chaotic.
They basically can't win - give higher-end content actually decent rewards, you get tantrums from people who want the rewards but abjectly refuse to even consider stepping foot in the content. Don't give it good rewards, you basically kneecap it at the starting line because now there's no motivation to run it for 90% of people. Of course, this could be solved if they stopped listening to the first group but eh, there's a reason babies scream and cry - it gets results.

Difference is Chaotic is not something for "casuals" or "midcore" players. I'll save you a lengthy rant about how I think it was a mistake in the form it's in, just know a lot of those complaints were from people expecting something harder but doable in a group, not how it is.

[Kaurhz]

The problem with previous variant/criterion dungeons was that the few rewards they had were all tied to the easier modes while the harder difficulties had nothing. Reversing that would be an upgrade, not a downgrade. It's still not great mind you, since AFAIK the rewards are once again single use, niche in their appeal and tradeable - but still. If you want the rewards, you can earn them. If you don't want to engage with the content, that's your choice.

Mounts and similar rewards in normal-level dungeons would just be participation trophies, and IMO a waste of assets that could otherwise be used to offer meaningful rewards that players can chase by overcoming challenges. Normal/variant mode is just there for the story/for fun. Replayability isn't really a problem either considering you can solo it. Incentivizing players to re-run content is more a concern for stuff that requires multiple players to clear.



You've got it backwards. Normal/story mode is about the experience, and harder difficulties are about challenge and reward.

If you try and solve one problem by creating another (Not even solving -- Just mitigating at this point), then you aren't really upgrading anything, you're just shifting the issue from one place to another.

I don't really think it's a waste of assets, especially seeing as the reward was attached to the completion of all survey records rather than just base completion, so you actually gave a pretty solid reason for people to go in and complete more than once (Which is a good use of assets).

[JadeCurtiss]

Difference is Chaotic is not something for "casuals" or "midcore" players. I'll save you a lengthy rant about how I think it was a mistake in the form it's in, just know a lot of those complaints were from people expecting something harder but doable in a group, not how it is.

The only prohibitive thing about Chaotic is that it has a gigantic body check in the second phase. Otherwise it's on par with Extreme.

[KillaKilala]

Huh FRU only? Better be all ult totems tradable with 20x books/totem(UwU and DSR) from the relevant original version zoomed through unsynced !!!!!

The ultimate weapons should be an MSQ reward. You will get UCOB and UWU totems for completing SB, TEA totem for completing ShB, DSR and TOP totems for completing EW, and FRU totem for completing DT. Any additional ultimate weapons can be purschased with the tomestones of poetics. Ultimates are so fun. Surely people will do them just for fun and materia.

[Infindox]

The only prohibitive thing about Chaotic is that it has a gigantic body check in the second phase. Otherwise it's on par with Extreme.

I've been in it, it's harder then Extreme. It's definitely easier then some Savages, though.

It's still not what people wanted. I'm glad some people enjoy it.

[justausername]

yeah no. i'm not grinding all 13 for a flippin face mask. wtf SE?

[Pricia]

But at least people still do chaotic every single day, a year after its release. Because there's bis gear that is still needed for FRU, lots of glams, hair, sellable mount and the mount that you can only get by clearing the duty. But quantum and criterion are dead on arrival, because you can just buy every reward from the market board for a very low price.

Unless nobody runs them. Then it won't be a low price.

[tank2fish]

The problem with previous variant/criterion dungeons was that the few rewards they had were all tied to the easier modes while the harder difficulties had nothing. Reversing that would be an upgrade, not a downgrade. It's still not great mind you, since AFAIK the rewards are once again single use, niche in their appeal and tradeable - but still. If you want the rewards, you can earn them. If you don't want to engage with the content, that's your choice.

Mounts and similar rewards in normal-level dungeons would just be participation trophies, and IMO a waste of assets that could otherwise be used to offer meaningful rewards that players can chase by overcoming challenges. Normal/variant mode is just there for the story/for fun. Replayability isn't really a problem either considering you can solo it. Incentivizing players to re-run content is more a concern for stuff that requires multiple players to clear.
....
You've got it backwards. Normal/story mode is about the experience, and harder difficulties are about challenge and reward.

You're conflating things that don't have anything to do with each other. Rewards for casual content do not take away from hardcore content. The devs made a decision the first time around to fail, completely, in providing adequate rewards and incentives for players do more difficult content. The solution is not and should not be to take away rewards from other difficulties, like they did here. The solution is to add more and better rewards at every difficulty level. By saying that this decision is good bc these rewards shouldn't be easily accessible, you are giving the devs an out to continue to put out terrible reward structures and continue to completely disregard player feedback.

I understand where you're coming from, but I really hope that you're able to see that this dichotomy does not need to exist. The devs made a decision to disregard player feedback, remove rewards from one level of content to lock behind a difficulty wall at a different level, and provided nothing to replace it. They did not give a better reward structure nor did they give better incentives for the higher difficulties, which is what players were actually asking for.