What is it like to be unable to clear all of the content?

[gadenp]

Whatever, your intent was clearly questioning my logical aptitude as if it is flawed. Your reasoning: 1. You misread 2. You aren't in the right demographic. Pretty obvious you don't want me here. Well, sorry, ANYONE can post here because anyone in the playerbase can answer.

So basically you are saying, "Just because I can"? I understand now. Please carry on.

[Parodine]

I think trying to understand different perspectives is a good thing. I don't see the boast as bragging, more like trying to understand a different player-type other than oneself.

What content has gated you, and for how long?

I haven't technically completed any coil turns or made it past any Ex. Primals yet.

Why are you stuck here?

It's less about the difficulty, and more to do with me being ADD when it comes to what I want to do in this game. I leveled up PLD as my first job. It's ilvl 80 now. Not long after, I leveled SMN. It's ilvl 76. Well, WHM is also a passion...now it's ilvl 73. All have +1 relics. Just got BRD up to 50 last week. Got it's relic too. And now what do I want to level? DRG. It's lvl 28 already. T___T 4 Alts for a newbie is a lot, but I enjoy the concept of those jobs, so to me it's worth it. I also focused and got all 3 gathering classes to 50...now all crafting classes to 15+. I'll start working on them once my leve supply increases.

I've spread so many resources over so many jobs...my PLD got a good portion of myth, but I spent 1800 on my WHM and SMN for their weapons. Thank god for CT so that I can reasonably gear them. So much time trying to level other jobs that interested me and try to make a good crafting/gathering base so I can feasibly make money whenever person housing comes out. As you can see, I just haven't made it a priority. If I pooled all the myth I've earned, I probably would have close to an ilvl 90 PLD...but I just don't want it right now.

I've tried Turn 2 with my FC and done some pick-up training runs for Ex. Garuda, but it hasn't been a priority to learn them...yet.

Are you upset about this? (if so - why? and how can content be added for more hardcore players such as myself without upsetting you.)

If I am upset, I'm upset not at the content but at myself for my playstyle. I'll readily admit - looking at people with allagan and ex primal weapons make me jealous. I want them for sure...but I've been enjoying the game in my own way. I have no doubt that eventually I will get through the content, but it will take a while because I want to continue to spread my resources over my jobs. I've decided the next two week's myth will get saved for +1ing my future DRG relic...a job I don't even have yet. SE can keep adding content the way they can...I'd just like fights to be a bit more flexible as opposed to 'learn this strict pattern or you die'.

Should any changes be made to the content to accomodate you and players like yourself?

For myself? No. For people with connection/lag issues? I say try.

In an ideal world there wouldn't be a myth cap and I could farm as much as I want for the jobs I want, but I understand why it exists and why it shouldn't be removed right now.

What kind of content would you like to see added in future patches for you to enjoy?

Open world exploration content. Mini-games in the Golden saucer I'm looking forward to as well. Personal housing so I have something to spend money on...fun vanity gear. More jobs.

[juniglee]

What content has gated you, and for how long?

turn 5, 3 months

Why are you stuck here?

I am stuck here right now because currently I am not in a static raid group or a Free Company. I used to be in an FC with 1-4 and extremes on farm, and we were working on Twintania, however because of my schedule they found it more convenient to do it without me, and they eventually downed it without me proceeded to leave me out of it in future weeks as well, so I left them because I felt like they would never offer me a chance to participate simply because it was inconvenient for them.

I am not a bad player by any means. I am fully capable of killing Twintania, I just lack 7 other equally skilled players to do it with.

Are you upset about this? (if so - why? and how can content be added for more hardcore players such as myself without upsetting you.)

Yes, I am very upset about this. It is actually making me really depressed. Every time I see people running around with Allagan weapons I am incredibly sad about it.


Should any changes be made to the content to accomodate you and players like yourself?

Not really, I am just in a really unfortunate situation that I don't think any changes to the game could help.

What kind of content would you like to see added in future patches for you to enjoy?
Same sort of stuff we've been seeing. I've enjoyed most of it, although I think boss fights need to have more interesting mechanics than we've seen. Most of Coil is pretty boring, especially turn 3 and 4.

All I can say is don't give up! You'll find a party some day. It seems people are content with waiting for people to start something, nobody bothers to take the initiative. I am going to start my own T5 static over the coming days, with weekly practices. Everybody has to start from somewhere, and someone has to take the first step. If you take the first step, it shows you want to make it happen.

[Jilse]

Some assumptions here that I want to address...

First I am not the FC leader. I don't think I would make a good FC leader. .

I do not know, you are asking the right questions actually to make a good FC leader to be honest. Do not sell yourself short.

But as for stuck on content for me personally, nothing comes to mind. I have not done coil, not because I do not want to or not skilled enough. I could have joined a raiding FC and beaten most of it at least by now easily. I use to be hardcore, spending days camping and running raids in various games, but its not in me anymore. Rather take the game slow with friends than rush to the end. The journey, for me, is where the fun is at, and without the fun, whats the point of playing.

Now this is just me, and by all means not a general consensus. Its like my friend asked me the other day why I did not play PLD, cause I have it leveled, even geared it now thanks to way too many CT runs. Simply put, I do not enjoy pld, or war as tanking jobs. Others do, and they can have it.

[TrystWildkey]

Hi! My name is Tryst, and I'm taking your post as an honest question that you really want answered. Also, I play as Paladin mainly, but just got Bard to 50. I have a Monk from 1.0, but that job changed so much I haven't played it all in 2.0.

I'm not casual as far as hours spent playing. I play almost every weeknight for 3-4 hours, and for at least one whole weekend day, some weekends all the way through. I'm casual in my view towards the game. I view it as a game, something entertaining, to have fun with. I don't think about how many dungeon runs I have to do to get the next set of gear, or think about capping my tomestones as soon as possible. In fact, I just got my first piece of darklight gear today, I got a belt for my paladin It didn't even occur to me that people would try to figure out the math behind game mechanics ><

So, I will try to give you useful information, and hopefully, even though this is going to be a long post, you'll read it.

What content has gated you, and for how long?

Dungeons gate me, right now Amdapor Keep is gating me on the way to my first relic. I have to admit, I've been too scared to try again, so I'm kinda gating myself, but I'm also gating myself on everything else. I'm purposefully taking my time with absolutely everything, hoping that by the time I get to the really hard content, they've got the Echo buff available to lessen my frustration.

Why are you stuck here?

Couple of reasons why I get stuck in ANY game really.

First, I'm not good at pattern recognition. I have to have someone point out the pattern to me, then I have to actually do the fight, over and over to get the pattern. Watching a video just won't cut it, I need to physically play the content over and over to get the pattern. The one thing on my side here, is that my husband is fantastic at patterns, excellent at explaining them to me, and is a whm.

Second, is reaction time and coordination. I'm great at remembering facts, figures and ideas. Motor memory, however, takes me a LONG time. I'm not stupid, dumb or slow, I just need way more practice to get the motor memory ingrained to where I can easily do things. Even with a FC, it's hard to get in enough practice time for dungeons because who really wants to run the same things over and over? No one, not even me, which is part of the reason I'm taking so much time with everything else.

Third, is that dungeons just aren't my favorite thing in rpg's of any kind. With 2.1 the treasure maps and daily beastmen quests have been fantastic content for me. I like exploring the world, finding random things to do, running across a Fate and level syncing just to do it for fun, crafting was what I really loved going in to 1.0. I was looking forward to housing so I could craft up a bunch of furniture, but they priced legacy servers out of that feature.

Fourth, is that I get easily overwhelmed when multiple mobs are involved. In an unfamiliar dungeon, 3 mobs is my limit. More than 3 and I start to lose track of everything; where are the mobs, do I have hate on all of them, is that my healer they're hitting, oh no, I lost one, crap, where did it go, oh, crap, I'm low on mp from trying to flash everything back to me, dammit, I forgot to mark that one... etc. If I run the dungeon multiple times, I can get better at handling multiples, but 6 mobs starts to get bad again. I go slowly and carefully around corners, making sure I have a clean pull, and sometimes dps's get impatient. I try to do my job well and thoroughly, but lots of people just want me to go faster. *shrug*

My husband insists that I'm not as bad at playing as I think I am, and that a lot of people were carried and/or rely on overpowered gear. I still think that while I'm not a really crappy player, I'm not an excellent one either, but could be a solid player with enough practice.

Are you upset about this? (if so - why? and how can content be added for more hardcore players such as myself without upsetting you.)

I'm only really upset about Coil. The reason I'm upset about coil is NOT for the rewards, I couldn't care less about the rewards. I'm upset that I'm gated out of the STORY presented in coil. I played 1.0 and loved 1.23 and have been waiting ever so patiently to find out what happened to Bahamut and Louisoix. 2.0 comes out and the main storyline has NOTHING to do with Bahamut or Louisoix. No, I find out that the most hardcore of hardcore content is where they continue that storyline. So that's the only thing I'm upset about being gated out of.

Hardcore content and high level gear rewards don't bother me at all. By all means, have your extreme primals and the ilevel 90 whatever weapons, if that's what you enjoy that's great! (really, no sarcasm there, honestly) I'm here for the other stuff. I'm here for the odds and ends, the storyline, the lore and just seeking out hidden things in quest text, fate descriptions and locations.

So far, I think they're trying to balance out the content for each of us, and I like that. They give hard mode dungeons and extreme primals to the hardcore, treasure maps and beastmen dailies to the casuals. CT can be for both groups since it really was intended for launch, and hardcore may want to gear alts through it (or not, I don't really know).

Should any changes be made to the content to accommodate you and players like yourself?

For me, the only real mistake I think they made was not offering a story mode of Coil. Easier mechanics, no rewards, or lower tier and fewer rewards, but the same story. I know a lot of people don't like the plans to have the Echo buff put in Coil eventually, claiming that we filthy casuals just want everything handed to us; but it makes sense to me to ease up the difficulty of old content as enough new content is released. By that time, the hardcore crowd isn't interested in the old stuff anyway.

What kind of content would you like to see added in future patches for you to enjoy?

I just hope they continue to try to be balanced. Offer something in every update for both groups. I do wish they would make crafting more relevant though, I do miss being useful

As far as advice for how to manage the members in your FC that aren't hardcore, just offer to help them out. Set aside a night during the week (maybe rotate the day from week to week so you can catch everyone) and just offer to help them. Here's the key, you have to really set aside this time for them if you're serious about making them feel like part of your FC. The worst feeling in the world in an mmorpg is feeling like the person that offered to help is just wanting to hurry up and finish so they can go do something hardcore instead. It makes it easier to fade away into the background and not interact or communicate.

EDIT: I saw your comment about the disconnect being "I'm not sure why you play this game" For me, I started in 1.0, where you could progress through the whole storyline as a crafter. That is what drew me to ffxiv. With 2.0, there are things I like and things I don't like, but I'm sticking with it because I have friends here, and because I want to have the chance to eventually go through coil and see the storyline. (No, I will NOT watch it on youtube, it's NOT the same) But really, it's a video game, why would we not want to try it out? Just because we can't get to all of the content immediately doesn't mean we don't find things we enjoy along the way.

[Wulfyn]

1) At the moment it is Titan HM and perhaps Thornmarch.

2) Mainly stuck there because of yes lag issues on Titan HM ( see the animation run and still get hit) besides rude elitist jerks I sometimes find myself with via DF or PF. Actually have done way better on King Moogle.

3) The only thing that upsets me is the attitudes I encounter from some of the community. The world ends when you wipe raging is tiring, it is not like you lose xp or delevel. As for having to kill Primals for relic, I'd rather do Dynamis with a close knit group. SE can add all the hardcore content they want, it is just the bad attitudes that ruin it or make it difficult for others.

4)What kind of content would you like to see added in future patches for you to enjoy?
Golden Saucer! Chocobo breeding! I honestly don't know, I just enjoy doing stuff with other players who aren't so uptight and angry nor abusive.

[saber_alter]

oooh, a questionnaire! *furiously scribbles in answers*

What content has gated you, and for how long?

turn 5 coil (recently) and titan EX for the passed few weeks.

Why are you stuck here?

titan EX: content is still difficult for the majority of players on my server, making it unclearable without a carry or otherwise.
turn 5: i just got there.

Are you upset about this?

no.

Should any changes be made to the content to accomodate you and players like yourself?

no, as i have the skill and experience to clear any content. provided that the majority of the group i'm playing with either has that skillset or is willing to learn, anything can be "downed."

What kind of content would you like to see added in future patches for you to enjoy?

i'm fine with anything that presents a worthwhile challenge. i look forward to the future turns of coil and future primals.

[Kelvani]

I am a classic casual player. I like to socialize. I am a crafting addict, and had all my crafts to 50 before I hit 50 on my main class, paladin. I enjoy a slow run through a zone, exploring the nooks and crannies to find the hidden stuff. So I guess I fit your demographic.

What stops me from having beaten all the content is not so much lack of ability to do it, as it is lack of focus on that content. I eventually will get there =D Why rush? After all there is only so much to do, and I don't have a lot of hours to play. Also, having a paladin as your main kind of makes it hard to do new content without catching flak over not knowing it by now =p That's cool, I have friends and Free Company buddies who have been awesome about explaining the bosses and content to me so I don't cause us to wipe. Also I have been lucky lately in getting great pugs in duty finder. I GOT my relic thanks to my FC and friends, but frankly didn't feel I earned it until the other day when I tanked Titan HM for someone else's relic.

I know that its hard to understand the casual players mindset. We want to stop and watch EVERY FLIPPING CUTSCENE (guilty as charged until I found out about watching them in the inn room). We laugh and joke and want to kill everything, and loot every chest (that's me yep yep!). Sometimes we make you want to pull your hair out when they don't get out of the stuff on the floor fast enough, or stun in time, or don't maximize our gear/material/rotations. However casual players are just that. Casual. We typically don't study our class. We don't watch every u-tube video. We don't parse our dps logs to see how we can squeeze out another 1%. We leave that to you guys and then read your posts =p

However.. a casual player, when taken under your wing, will usually listen to your advice and lap it up like a cat on catnip. If you tell them get X set of gear and use Y material.. they will without questioning your knowledge. Why? Cause they know you did your homework. If you tell them to tank a boss a certain way, they will. If you tell them to grab a certain cross class skill, and use a specific rotation, they will. WE DO APPRECIATE YOU GUYS and your theory crafting. Really we do. What we don't appreciate is being belittled for only being in ilvl69 gear for the 3rd week running. We also don't like to be called noob and vote kicked when we join you in the duty finder without you even trying a run with us. We are just trying to play a game, you know? Game's are supposed to be fun. =D

Bottom line.. we are just like you guys... only not so well equipped =D We do like to progress and get upgrades which is why we think we should get to roll on stuff when we attend a raid once a month vs every week (yes I know that's more of a wow thing). That's why we would like to join you in your coil groups, or other stuff you do, but not on a GOTTA DO IT EVERY WEEK AT THIS TIME level. We just don't have the time or desire to make that commitment! Heck, my Free Company is super small and we can barely field a map group of 8 people once a week right now. However, we are drama free and we kind of like it this way.

Anyways, I hope my sincere but somewhat tongue in cheek description can give you insight into the mind of the_casual_player_001. Please don't get too frustrated by us. =D

[Doo]

Being in a smaller FC has gated me but it doesn't bother me much because I like playing with them. I don't like big fcs that have like 10 coil teams because it makes me feel insignificant. I don't like playing with elitist jerks and ragers and end game there seems to be plenty of those. Finding dedicated fun players seems to be the hardest part of end game content.

I like end game content to get away from rotations/phases and more forgiving yet still challenging. Add more variety of end game content as well.

[TrystWildkey]

=D

Yes! You've said it very well, thank you!