Easier for casual players =/= easy...

[Velcroy]

First post, so be gentle.

With all of the negativity (most of it warranted) that FFXIV is receiving, I thought I'd quickly point out a relative success when compared to FFXI.

They successfully made this game in a way where people could log on for an hour or two and always get things accomplished. As a one-time FFXI hardcore player that has gotten older and has more responsibility (as people tend to do), I've really enjoyed that I no longer have to dedicate 4-10 hours to playing if I want to gain any solid traction while leveling. So that is at least one thing that SE can hang their hat on.

It has been very clear from inception until now that SE isn't going to compromise that success entirely (and they shouldn't). But I feel like they often are equating "casual-friendly" with "easy". Those are two completely different things that someone with a limited amount of experience might think are the same.

Casual-friendly simply means that not everything depends on a massive time investment, and not everything has to be done within a party structure. That's it. But as individual battles go, everyone wants to be challenged, casual and hardcore alike.

With the NM nerfing and allowing R50's to steamroll through R25 dungeons, they are focusing on making an easy game easier. Why? FFXI wasn't easy, and people loved the challenge. Think about how much players loved trying to bring down AV? THAT challenge is what keeps people motivated. Knowing that they have a very difficult task in front of them that, when completed, proves that they are good at what they do.

So the short version of what I'm saying is... make this game harder. You won't be sacrificing the small wins with the casual fan base.

[Adol]

I agree.
I think many players are begging for proper difficult content (not time consuming) at this point, especially in the form of story quests. I can still remember those story quests in this game where I literally facepalmed after having such simple fights where enemies drop in about 3 hits and deal damage akin to tickling me with a feather, and even having the option to not fight at all.
I can only hope that the future Ifrit battle will bring the challenge we've all been waiting for.

[RedAffinity]

My guess is that mid-rank dungeons won't have any relevant drops for a rank 50 therefor won't matter if you "steamroll" through it or not. Certainly EXP won't be flowing in if you have a team of 25's with a 50 in there. Also, choosing to take with you a high rank friend, or running through it yourself is in fact a choice. You can choose to challenge yourself, or have someone hold your hand through a dungeon that likely won't be relevant to your needs 20 ranks later.

It's pretty simple.

I do agree with your general idea though, of making more difficult content. I think part of why we haven't really truly been challenged is because of the watered down battle system, and general lack of content.

[TheVedis]

I agree.
I think many players are begging for proper difficult content (not time consuming) at this point, especially in the form of story quests. I can still remember those story quests in this game where I literally facepalmed after having such simple fights where enemies drop in about 3 hits and deal damage akin to tickling me with a feather, and even having the option to not fight at all.
I can only hope that the future Ifrit battle will bring the challenge we've all been waiting for.

from what we are being told the r50 dungeon is gonna be pretty damn challenging

and thank you for bringing up the ifrit battle, ive been trying to point that out to people too

[tachikoma]

I am in favor of incredibly difficult challenging content. I want to fail the first time I take on a new hard core event/enemy etc. It should take lots of practice and teamwork to skillfully work through future content. Please implement this kind of challenge.

[Velcroy]

My guess is that mid-rank dungeons won't have any relevant drops for a rank 50 therefor won't matter if you "steamroll" through it or not. Certainly EXP won't be flowing in if you have a team of 25's with a 50 in there. Also, choosing to take with you a high rank friend, or running through it yourself is in fact a choice. You can choose to challenge yourself, or have someone hold your hand through a dungeon that likely won't be relevant to your needs 20 ranks later.

It's pretty simple.

I do agree with your general idea though, of making more difficult content. I think part of why we haven't really truly been challenged is because of the watered down battle system, and general lack of content.

I hear what you are saying, you're right that everyone is given a choice. But the problem is that people typically don't know what's good for them.

People will almost always take the easy road because they don't realize that... in the long-term... they would rather lose occasionally than win everything extremely easily. All they are thinking about is getting that drop, or checking off an accomplishment from a list. It isn't until you get away from the task at hand until you can see that you actually want a challenge.

I'm not sure how FFXI is now, but when I left, things like BCNM's and CoP missions were always capped. They never gave people the option of making it easier. And that was a hell of a lot of fun. I almost always lost the first fight for the tougher missions when I was entering with a group that hadn't done it before. Why? Because you needed strategy to win. Whether it was kiting two enemies while BLMs nuked the third or something else, you had to think and play well to win.

Now, granted, most of the content I'm talking about wasn't there when FFXI released. But what is upsetting me is that there seems to be an overall trend of making the game easier than FFXI. The new content they are developing also seems to be that way. I know they've stated that they want to make party dynamics more challenging, which is great. And it's possible they are actively making the game harder. I just haven't seen any of it yet.