How do people calling themselves casual feel about the difficulty level?

[Jadi]

These are the problems that make the game unfun for hardcore and for casual's alike and SE would do well to attempt to fix these things in following expansions.. I consider FFXIV 1.21 to be a superior game to FFXIV 2.0 because the games mechanics allowing the creation of difficult content was better implemented there was a lot more diversity in the content itself (same for XI by design). I can understand why due to the uncertainty and trouble SE had rebuilding this game that they did what they did and I know why it is we got to this state but they need to go back now and repair some of this. We know they have the money from their successful launch. We have an impressive and wonderful game world.. lets fix these problems please SE?

Due to this it's not too hard or too easy its that the mechanics for creating difficult content that are poorly implemented.

(post 3 of 3)

[Naberrie]

I call myself casual, and I consider the difficulty level decent. What annoys me is the refusal of other players to let it be challenging. By that I mean you're expected to be perfect in a fight or you get kicked, or the PT abandons, or someone drops, etc. Other players don't actually want a challenge. They want to face-roll the content.

When I play a game I like it when a fight kicks my butt a couple times and I have to learn how to progress. (If I go into a boss fight and kill it on the first try, honestly, I'm disappointed.) But in this game that's not allowed by the other players. I understand that they simply want to get through the content as quickly as possible to get their tomes, or their gear, or their relic, etc., but personally I would like it if there was some allowance for learning and adaptation.

For instance, first time I did AK on BRD I had watched a video, but had no practical experience. On demon wall I needed to learn the footwork of where to stand when. First time I was doing good damage and well on the way to victory, but realized at a certain point that I lost track of where to stand next, so I followed the healer, who was a veteran of the fight. As it happened, they lost track, too, and we both got knocked off. Okay, no problem, I thought, next time I'll just pay more attention to my footwork and try to get that down. So the next time that was what I focused on, just trying to learn the pattern. I needed to learn where to stand so that it was second nature, like muscle memory, so I didn't have to think about it. Problem was, my rotation suffered because I was so concerned with my footwork, so I wasn't doing my best damage. Still, I felt I had my footwork down and could get it easy on the next try. But I wasn't given the chance. The healer and the tank left (this was before kick or abandon), and that was that.

I wish there was more patience from other players, a better sense of community. Everyone wants you to know the fight, but they don't want to help you learn. Let it be someone else's problem.

[Jadi]

@Naberrie

It's due to the scripted nature of things. The players that know it well find it extremely easy, since you don't know it they label you as bad. The problem isn't the players it's the fact that it's scripted. Poor design causing more unfunness. (hea new word. lol)

Player nature won't change.. but the game sets low expectations by veterans due to its scripted nature.

[Talynia]

This. All of this.

I couldn't have said it better. Memorizing patterns was one of the reasons I stopped working on Ex primals. I want to be able to go out into Eorzea and find some random puzzle or NPC to talk to and frolic in the wild. There isn't anything wrong with coil or the primals but we need something else to do outside of the lobby game and lolcrafting.

[Meshico]

As a casual gamer, I really enjoy it. The difficulty is just right where its tough, but not so tough its unbeatable.

There are some area's that are a tad too easy (Ifrit HM, Hydra, Chimera...the Relic quest in general) I was hoping for a bit more challenge there

BUT over all the game is well balanced

[L-D-Omlette]

It's due to the scripted nature of things. The players that know it well find it extremely easy, since you don't know it they label you as bad. The problem isn't the players it's the fact that it's scripted. Poor design causing more unfunness. (hea new word. lol)

Player nature won't change.. but the game sets low expectations by veterans due to its scripted nature.

It absolutely is the players. The fact that there are veterans, few and far between they may be, that are patient and willing to go at something multiple times to help others gain practice stands as evidence to this.

The ones that get mad and quit at the first sign of failure are making a choice, the game is not forcing them to do that. Do I blame them for that choice? No, they have every right to want to get their shinies asap. Having the expectation for everyone to have the same skillset and/or experience as you is just setting yourself up for a bad time. Players shouldn't take it out on others because they have unrealistic expectations.

[TurboSol]

I personally wouldn't say the content itself is hard. I've gotten through I'm stuck on titan ex, and just beat turn 4 last night for the first time. my problem is being on a low population server and basically having trouble finding groups that can do it, because after all, if YOU yourself can, but the rest can't.. you're not getting it done, point blank. titan ex to me is easy enough, just can't get a solid group. turns 1, 2, & 4, are easy enough (although 4 did give me a run for my money for a while til we learned it), but if you're basically doing things solo, and not running things with the same people, you're SOL. there's plenty of people running around even my small server in full allagan (weapon included), and AT LEAST 1 primal weapon. The thing is, they run the content with their static groups to get it done, and ONLY their static groups. I just barely got into a static coil group, and got t4 done on MAYBE the 6th or 7th attempt over 2 weeks.


tl:dr - small server, DF & PF for the most part fail. only static groups clear things regularly

[Cherie]

Yoshida wants a casual game, not a game where no life rules. But I think its slightly pushed to the extremes...9 Haukke HMs per week to cap off myth.......

He said he wants these lockouts so that no lifers do not get benefits for no lifing, which is revolutionary and very positive imo. But I think 3-4 hrours being sufficient to cap myth tomes is just a step beyond casual....Hope new dungeon takes an hour to clear. 9 hours of dungeon running per week seems a lot better for hardcore players, but I think even most casuals would prefer this also.

As to difficulty, I think the game is hard enough....granted, much of the challenge lies in actually finding parties, especially when one hits that brick wall known as titanEX, but I'm playing a month and still not bored.

You made points i appreciated. Encouraging people to spend less time in one sitting is a good thing. Those of us that played ffxi often spent long hours once we actually found a group to play with, because that was so difficult to find! I love the things they have done with party finder. We didn't used to have that before, so it was harder to find people to play with.

But using that term I hear often, "no lifer". Do those really exist anymore? Even if someone plays a lot, they can take lots of breaks, which really wasn't as possible in older games. What if someone chooses to play a whole bunch? I surely don't. Actually I don't know anyone who does in ffxiv. But if there were, it's really up to them right? If they got some extra stuff done, that I didn't do, I don't really care at all.

For instance, the beastmen dailies, I don't do them at all. Mostly cause I just don't like dailies. But unlike what you said about the myth cap, I can't find myself asking the devs to reduce the amount of time that rep grind takes just so I can get it done on my schedule and attention span. Really the myth cap is fine. Capping out your Myth isn't a mandatory thing at all. I know many people that don't do it. If you want to take that away from me, what else is there to do? Just run dungeons for no reward? You might enjoy the beastmen dailies, let's just say for sake of discussion you do. Say they reduced my myth cap I like to cap, and cut the amount of beastmen rep needed for the mounts by half as well.

Wouldn't that make us both unhappy?

[Yurimi]

I am getting tired of people complaining about "no lifers" or "people rushing content" because while you have your pace I have mine and they have theirs you want a game you can play at your own pace why is it that my pace has to be dictated by yours ? Shouldnt I get to play the game I pay for just the same as you at the pace I feel comfortable with ? Why does that make me rushing content because I can sit down for a week at launch for 3-4hrs a day and cap my first 2 (and the only 2 I find interesting) jobs ? If me beating the game (main story) in 15hrs of gametime is rushing content then maybe I am rushing content... maybe I am used to games being fulfilling and interesting... maybe I believed in the promise of "the game STARTS at 50" too much and took it to seriously.. Should I spend the first 20hrs of my time in the tutorial for demons souls or is that still to fast and rushing it because I thought that tutorials were just that, an intro to the real game ? Maybe I have more time than some people to play this game (though I can promise you with what this game offers 90% of it isnt playing this game) should we limit books to only 1 chapter releasing a week ? should we release "The Last of Us" in season long DLC patches once every 3 months ? Should we make it so that your movies only come in 20min segments once a week ? I work 40-50hrs a week I like to think that means I am a step above "no lifer" I pay bills I have responsibilities and I meet them. I just play my games at a different pace why is that pace determined by someone who doesnt have the time or commitment to do what I do.

[Chasely]

== Dodging crap.

I absolutely hate this. Failing to dodge due to latency issues should not mean instant death and ridicule from my peers.