Almost everyone wants to "skip" having to raid!

[Kosmos992k]

Not sure about this wanting to skip having to raid, I think most people just want to have fun. Unfortunately, not very many people's idea of fun is repeatedly running the same crappy stressful content that potentially wipes you over and over and over for a possible drop. MMORPGs are intended to be social experiences are they not? I don't find static teams very social, fine if you are in a group you have those other 7 people, but if you have a group of 10 friends, 2 of the are frozen out.

That goes on on a larger scale, especially when you factor in verious stages of progression, available time and ability. In the end only a minority of the playerbase finds themselves in a riding static group that hand handle the raids in FFXIV, everyone else is basically screwed. Can't get into a static because your schedule won't allow, or you're not far enough along yet, or your gear isn;t good enough for the raid leader, or your other friends are alreadyu in statics and you can't get in. Either way, you're screwed because you have ZERO chance of getting the best gear or weapons simply because you cannot get into a static, which only puts you further behind.

Static groups combined with the loot lockouts are a horrible, horrible combination that have hurt many larger groups in this game.

Personally I play for fun, not stress. Call me casual and put me down if you like because I don't play the game to get BiS gear, look up my lodestone and make fun of it, all you do is belittle yourself by doing so. At the end of the day, participating in a static raid group has multiple potential ways of stressing players out, and causing drama. I've seen it in my own Free Company, and am tired of the drama and stress it brings to others.

I understand that raids are there for those that want them, but what about those that don't? If people don't want to raid any more, and want a more social and less stressful experience in the game, then to me it would seem that the Devs need to be adding more content like CT, less like Coil and paying less attention to the raiders.

Perhaps it does mean that the days of raiding being the be all and end all of an MMORPG, but honestly, is that really a bad thing?

Really it seems to me that the issue is that there are two kinds of player, the hardcore goal driven players who want the very best gear, the most challenging, bang your head off the wall style content, and shinies to show to their friends. And on the other hand players who want to have fun, socialize, run a few quests, dip into crafting/gathering, run a dungeon or two with friends, chat, and hang out. They want the shinies to show to their friends as well. Two completely different styles of play, in the same game. One is more likely to raid, the other is more likely not to. The population of the SE forum over represents the hardcore raiding population, and the risk of that is that the game is not as engaging for others as it might be.

Perhaps the point of the game needs to be something other than raiding, and have the raids as optional content...with obscure, and next to impossible to overcome mechanics for the masochistic players that want the punishment.

[Priya]

I've wondered this myself. In every other game I've played (WoW, Rift, Tera, SWTOR) people have always been clamoring to get into new raids. Here it seems the "meh, let's do the old content instead" attitude is prevalent, and the odd thing about that is that this game's raid takes less time commitment than something like WoW. Maybe it's a population issue? I don't think it's really raid size as 8 isn't much different than 10, and WoW's 10man is more popular than 25 with normalized loot and shared lock-out. Maybe 1.5 mil (or whatever this game is) vs. 7 mil can really make the "Woot, raid time!" people seem few and far between. My server, at least, seems like no one really wants to raid even though it's large (it's possible I'm not looking around hard enough).

[Titor]

In every other game I've played (WoW, Rift, Tera, SWTOR) people have always been clamoring to get into new raids.

I think that this is why I did not like those games, but do like this one. Personally I am a PvPer, I do not really like PvE, and in these other games the really cool looking new gear always felt out of reach, and I always felt kind of 'meh' that all I ever did was old content, becuase that was not the cool thing to do.

Here I feel like the cool new gear is within my reach if I put in the time and effort (which I do) without having to put in the annoying part of finding a static and trying to schedule around a game (my RL is so sporadic that sometimes I can be on for entire days, and othertimes I cannot get on at all, but I do not know when on what day) so it is near impossible for me to have a static right now in my life.

[Jonny_Tapas]

To me, there really isn't any other reason to play a MMO besides to socialize.

When did things change? Like ten years ago, I remember people would get really excited about the prospect of getting in a large group of people and doing something together when they reached max level. Now everyone seems to want to play alone or in small groups only.

This ^ +1! I used to love these games! Log in... gather up some buddies and go smash some content! Fun!

I guess people got tired of shouting and waiting so developers made finding a group easier. Queues were born. Duty Finder, Party Finder... things of the sort. Now you don't have to shout. You don't have to wait... You just push a button or 2 and go about your business and you'll soon get to participate with little to no hassle.

Unfortunately... It's absolutely destroying socialism.

[EmeraldAres]

I usually don't reply on the forums because most of the topics seem to attract flame wars, but this seems like a worthwhile topic where I should share my experiences with statics and raid groups.

I spent a lot of time raiding with the same core of people in WoW. The other members of our raid would change, but the same 10-15 people played with me for most of the original game and three expansions. We weren't hardcore, but we cleared all of the normal raid content by raiding 2-3 evenings a week. It felt highly rewarding to raid with them because it didn't just feel like business, it felt like I was sharing something with friends.

I originally stumbled on them because I ran a dungeon with a few of their members. This doesn't exactly happen in FF14 because all content up to level 50 is commonly queued for in the duty finder. It isn't until 50 where party finder starts to play a constant role, and it is most commonly used for the latest raid content. While it's possible to meet people that way, it isn't the best environment for establishing friendships and bonds.

I'm not saying it isn't possible to get a good static in recent games like FF14, but the problem is more with me. I'm picky, and my circumstances have changed. I have an FC that has many static groups available, and my server has many opportunities. But many of the statics focus on maximum performance and clearing the content over getting to know people and playing with the same group for an extended period of time. There is nothing wrong with this if that is what the entire group is looking for, but I don't want to join a static purely for progression purposes. If there is nothing else holding the group together, the static could fragment for a variety of justified or stupid reasons. Being in a static or a raid group takes a large (or at least consistent) time investment, and I have commitments in my life now. If I am going to plan my evenings around a game again, I want to be with a group that I will be investing in for an extended period of time.

Since I have not found that group, I have made my own somewhat-solo endgame. FF14 is built well for that. I queue into roulettes to gather tomes, gil, and help strangers. I level my chocobo (Rank 8 or so as of this post), and I help people that want anything from Sastasha to Titan HM in my FC and LSes sometimes. But the other content? Random parties are impatient and hate getting people who are not experts on the fights, so I stay out of their way. I would consider tackling this content with a party, but it has to be the right kind of group as I outlined above. I don't want to cast my lot with a bunch of jerks, or a static likely to dissolve for petty reasons. So for the time being, I focus on solo progression and help new players with easier content. That way, I can play on my own terms on my own schedule.

TLDR: I do solo/low level content to help others and play on my own schedule because I have not found a static that works for my schedule and needs.

[skaterger]

Like it or not, the first game that revolutionized raiding as we know today was World of Warcraft. For many of us, me included obviously, that was our first true MMORPG. Raiding in MMOs at that time was not really a huge thing (EQ aside) and the concept of 40 man raids was still a very new thing. Keep in mind that was back in 2004. To be in a 40 man or subsequently 25 man raid requires a significant time commitment. The demographics of players that have that much time to commit to a game probably was those in college or high school. Now 10 years on, these college and high school students probably are married and have a job and just don't have that much time to invest in a game anymore. I have met many players who come from those games and they would love to be able to spend that much time but cannot due to real life commitments. Coupled with the fact that the younger generation of gamers are used to MOBA and FPS games that typically end in <30 minutes, this is why I feel we have the situation as we have today. I come from that generation of gamers like the OP so when I see people say they don't have time to commit to a static, I feel somewhat puzzled and confused because honestly like the OP mentioned, the amount of end game content in this game is pathetically little in mmo standards. Of course the problem is exacerbated by the lockout system tied to your character instead of your job but that is a discussion for another time.

To be honest, I was quite surprised of the term "static" when I started playing this game. Back in Wow, there was no such term, or rather no need for such a term because people just logged on almost every night and we would naturally have enough people for raiding, even if it was 25 or 40 man per raid. People understood that it took time and commitment to learn a boss and wiping to a boss when learning mechanics was a given, and implicitly assumed to be the case. Nowadays when I see parties disband after 2-3 wipes, I just smh. But even with the concept of "static" introduced in this game, and with statics being only 8 players, I've been in numerous statics that have broken up or implode because just 1-2 players are not able to log on for the night and over time it gets frustrating for others who want to do the content.

The LFR system, or duty finder also promotes this casual mindset. Why do you need to commit to a group or static when I can just put myself in a DF or PF and play the same content? Back before this system was introduced, the members of a raid were more close knit because you always raided with the same players and you had to prove yourself to be accepted into one. Nowadays, if you are bad, just leave and find another group in the PF.

I probably digressed and said too much but i was trying to share my opinion of the state of raiding in today's mmo. One thing is for certain though, the days of 40 man molten core and Zulgurub are long gone and anyone who thinks they can come back are clearly delusional. Maybe its just time to face reality that I'm too old and take a step back from mmo's for a while.

[Noblewar]

Only Raid I know of is CT that drops i80, stuff that I don't need. Myth farming gets me i90 gear that will help me progress in game and thats why I'm willing to do that. It's like in older games, you run what you want/need to progress in game. It wasn't until recently that "vanity" started to be added in games and its the only reason people run old content.

Does this mean I'm not here to socialize? Nope. I like chatting while I run anything, but sad fact is most people stay quiet and I end up talking to either a couple out of dozens of players in game. If this game wasn't so "Single" anti-social player friendly like earlier games use to be then I'm sure this problem wouldn't exist.

What SE needs to do is implement cross world partying. Sometimes you get great pugs who wish we could run more dungeons together but unfortunately its not possible.

[Scott]

I would love to do Coil. But its nearly impossible to find a Static for it

[Synestra]

I still dont get it why new Coil didnt had lootlock that locks your item drops even if you dont get anything on firstrun, this would allow groups to help leftovers while still disabling selling runs as it has RNG involved and you still get only one-shot for it every week.

[loldrg]

I still dont get it why new Coil didnt had lootlock that locks your item drops even if you dont get anything on firstrun, this would allow groups to help leftovers while still disabling selling runs as it has RNG involved and you still get only one-shot for it every week.

This if anything would enable selling runs since you are guaranteed a weapon upgrade item, 2 jewelry upgrade items and 2 weapon/armor upgrade items every week, it would be perfect for buyers who can't upgrade their soldiery gear otherwise.