Concerns about Content Finder, Drops, and Difficulty Settings for EG.

[Fadigre]

I hope not, but worst case scenario is this:
AV/CC
Easy mode (if there is one) = token win
Normal mode = explorers gear and what not
Hard Mode = Darklight..................

Noone like to feel like they are being punished for not being hardcore.

It should be more like this:

Easy mode = explorers gear and what not
Normal mode (which better be a tad easier than current) = Darklight
Hard Mode (which needs to be a good deal harder than Normal) = Darklight +1

Let's sit down and remove all knowledge that we currently have of this game.

What you are stating is that Players should be awarded gear that is relevant to the difficulty.
Easy mode should recieve simple gear
Normal mode should recieve decent gear
Hard mode should recieve good gear

Isn't that essentially what you've written?
Remove the stigma that surrounds Darklight and essentially this is what you have written in both examples, you've just knocked the second example up by one.

Considering we don't know how easy or difficult these new modes will be we can't possibly begin to speculate on the rewards


I do agree though. It would work this way.
If content finder were to be inplemented in the Eorzea we love and know right now it would just be an over-glorified Ul'Dah shout. Setting up parties doomed to fail unless they know what they are doing.

It's horribly difficult to break the ice in this game when it comes to learning end-game content.

We currently can only run in 8 man groups it's very difficult to just carry players through like in 32 man dungeons. Everybody needs to be performing their best and on the most beneficial job set up (being able to level up so fast also encourages job discrimination).

Until we recieve content for more players there's going to be a horribly defined line between the educated and the forgotten players in the game.

[Zyph]

GIVE ME CONVENIENCE OR GIVE ME DEATH!!!!

I see where this is going.

[drivendawn]

Whether or not you like OP's signature or not doesn't change the fact that he has a point.Even if you don't agree with him it would be nice for SE to tell us how they are implementing the difficulty modes and gear as well.

[Amsai]

Bitter-mode activated

I see where this is going.

See I can do it too, its amazing isnt it. Besides, the statements from my sig are from a while back and have special significance to a very specific post. But Ill go out of my way and say "GIVE ME CONVENIENCE OR GIVE ME DEATH!!!!" is specific to ease of access and streamlining things in a way that makes sense. It has nothing to do with making everything easy and handing out darklight gear, if thats what you think........(crazy people on this forum). For instance the teleport system, an AH, and the way Content Finder will automatically group up and tke players to a dungeon. However, once there, only the most hardcore players should get the best gear in the game, due too difficulty.

[Bharata_Senka]

My biggest problem with the OP is not his understanding of how the content finder would possibly work, but rather the fact that newbs or bad players should not be allowed to play with experienced players for an AV run, because they don't know how to run it correctly. How else are players supposed to get experienced in AV runs if they don't take the opportunity to run it with more experienced players, or at the very least - trial and error a new dungeon when it's released.

Everybody is a newb at some point in the process, some players are just slower at getting access to things.

[Rau]

Concerns for content finder...where have I seen this before...

Rokien, is that you? :O

Speaking of, where has he been?

[Amsai]

Let's sit down and remove all knowledge that we currently have of this game.

What you are stating is that Players should be awarded gear that is relevant to the difficulty.
Easy mode should recieve simple gear
Normal mode should recieve decent gear
Hard mode should recieve good gear

Isn't that essentially what you've written?
Remove the stigma that surrounds Darklight and essentially this is what you have written in both examples, you've just knocked the second example up by one.

Considering we don't know how easy or difficult these new modes will be we can't possibly begin to speculate on the rewards


I do agree though. It would work this way.
If content finder were to be inplemented in the Eorzea we love and know right now it would just be an over-glorified Ul'Dah shout. Setting up parties doomed to fail unless they know what they are doing.

It's horribly difficult to break the ice in this game when it comes to learning end-game content.

We currently can only run in 8 man groups it's very difficult to just carry players through like in 32 man dungeons. Everybody needs to be performing their best and on the most beneficial job set up (being able to level up so fast also encourages job discrimination).

Until we recieve content for more players there's going to be a horribly defined line between the educated and the forgotten players in the game.

You mostly get what I am saying. However I just want a clear distinction that there actually WILL be an easy mode for are casual/terrible FFXIV players and hopeful furture players once 2.0 goes live. I also want to specify that the difference between normal mode gear and hardmode gear should be a bit better, not night and day. In my example I say Darklight and Darklight +1. Here is a very very simplified example:
Normal mode gear = +10 str
Hard mode gear = +13 str

The Hardcore players get bragging rights, a challenge, and better stats. But not grossly differnent from Normal mode gear. As I said before, people dont like to feel like they are being punished for not being hardcore enough. And honestly i think this is quite fair, and would be inviting to casual players. I myself would be happy to go after the Hardmode gear, but I have friends and family that would say "screw that". And rightfully so, hardcore isnt for everyone, in fact it isnt for most players.

Oh and I do agree that larger-scale content could help this issue a bit. The less players their are the less room for error, but with 24 man raids it should be able to accomodate a couple of casual/avg players. I just dont agree that it has to mean that everything is exclusive to just the better players. Its about choice and options, its not about taking away anything from the hardcore players that really want to persue that type of content.

[Amsai]

My biggest problem with the OP is not his understanding of how the content finder would possibly work, but rather the fact that newbs or bad players should not be allowed to play with experienced players for an AV run, because they don't know how to run it correctly. How else are players supposed to get experienced in AV runs if they don't take the opportunity to run it with more experienced players, or at the very least - trial and error a new dungeon when it's released.

Everybody is a newb at some point in the process, some players are just slower at getting access to things.

I agree but you are sort of missing my point. Its not that new or bad players cant group with good/experienced players to get a win in dungeons. Its that the current difficulty level is imo way too high, and should not require this. My thinking is this, if a average group of players that have decent gear and have a decent grasp of their class/job's mechanics que up for a dungeon they have never done before on NORMAL mode, it should offer an average challenge and fair rewards. And this group of players should be able to get a win within 5-6 tries of their first time entering the dungeon. I my opinion the current difficulty of AV/CC is already hard mode, so if they need to add a easy and normal mode at least, and an extreme mode for players that need more of a challenge. (My reasons are I can get wins with my LS, and anytime I go with any P/U group no matter how skilled some of the players are, it only takes a couple of bad players to doom the run). The most important thing to me is that this game succedes, I dont want it to fail due to catering to the hardcore players too much. Believe me I am happy they want to offer us more challenge and more content, but I hope they are keeping in mind the casual and average players that want to experience this content too. Its not enough just too say, oh well they can just buy/make materia'd gear, or they can do GC and leve quests. I have a brother that likes to do EG type content, but doesnt have the time to commit the kind of effort it takes to beat AV/CC. So firstly, his sub is not worth less than anyone elses so there should be difficulty settings to accomodate his needs. Secondly, this should not mean that he can only get "trash" gear, because he doesnt have the time to commit to hardcore EG. No one will be happy grinding Normal mode dungeons to get crap gear. If thats the case then they might as well buy materia'd gear, and if thats the case, they wont want to play. Everyone should be able to experience all EG content with appropriate rewards that are in line with the challenge.

[Nox]

I don't see why SE wouldnt inplemenet difficulty and rewards the way the OP is advising on. It's a method that would work very well. the difficulty settings would not only help in "training" so to speak, in terms of learning the dungeon, but it would also allow casuals to beat the dungeon and get something out of it quite easily while holding off the best loot for the harder settings. I thought this was the standard anyway 0.0 perhaps I'm wrong.

[Alhanelem]

Yoshi-P mentioned difficulty settings, but only in the context of "increasing the challenge" to players. Does this mean there wont be an easy-mode, or that the current Normal mode wont be decreased in difficulty?

Why do people always have to assume the worst about every little hint drop with no actual information given?

Is the game really that hard to begin with? Even if current content difficulty is used as a baseline, I don't really forsee any problems with noobs. There's only a few things in this game that are particularly challenging.

Besides, when you play easy mode in any game, the game usually laughs at and mocks you for playing on it.