I enjoy the direction this game is going

[Edellis]

So what exactly is your definition of hardcore and casual. Open world content or non expiring content that offers my enjoyment to be had with friends (we do play multiplayer games to socialize still right (I ask because so many complain about dealing with others).

First off, I believe the difference between "casual" and "hardcore" is much less defined than most people would believe. There's only "experienced" and "non-experienced", and the amount of time one wants to put into getting better. Second, there is no such thing as non-expiring content. Open world farming may be non-expiring to you, but to me it's so nauseatingly boring that I wouldn't play a game that bothers to hide its content behind it.

I am not a progression player thats why I didnt care about 2.2 all that much for myself. I do care that content is being left to sit in the playerbase hands for long periods of time leaving groups from all camps to quit because only 1 group is being heavily favored.

I already told you. You're waiting for the game to change, but this is how it plays. FFXIV plays alot more like a regular Final Fantasy game (VII, VIII, IX, X). You play, you get stronger, you move on. For newer players, its like a rollercoaster of fun. For people who are used to more traditional MMO experiences, it just hits a brick wall until Square addresses them with more "content".

Why would open world content take away from your instanced content ?sounds like you want to be catered to rather than the playerbase as a whole being catered to.

Because they're about as close to opposites as you can get, at least in the way FFXIV uses them. When you choose to do something in FFXIV, the game has conditioned you to expect to get some sort of compensation out of it. Do you want something specific? then you run a specific mission. Open World MMOs are directly opposite of this. The draw is that you have a CHANCE of getting something out of it, maybe not even something specific, which draws you to keep playing the content in hopes you'll be rewarded.


You can have open world stuff, it just can't require grinding or drop rates because it would directly interfere with how FFXIV decides to progress itself. This is precisely why you can't craft gear higher than Dungeon drops -- because materials and failure rates becomes the paramount focus of endgame content. Square would rather you focus more on running the dungeons appropriate for your level than what drops when, where and how much for X amount of time played.



This is just how the game is designed, man.