Almost everyone wants to "skip" having to raid!

[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.

[Corfish]

snip

Oh, don't get me wrong. I understand why statics exist, and I know just how horribly wrong PUGs can go. And I would honestly LOVE to move on and tackle the hardest content possible, but I find it difficult because of the need for a static. I don't mind having 1 or 2 friends I run a lot with, but I don't like being forced to stop and say "Nope, can't run this because I have to run it with this group later." It's just really unappealing to me. I've never played an MMO where I've been told I can only run this dungeon once a week (as you may have guessed, I haven't played a large amount :P), and it's actually a hard concept for me to wrap my head around. I understand why they do it, I just think it's odd that SE has to police the new content to make sure people don't burn themselves out on it.

On alts, I would have an alt if I got some kind of benefit from it. If I were to make an alt now, I would honestly probably make one purely for roleplay purposes (not something I do, but it's the only reason I could see making one.) I have access to all the classes on one character, I find the level grind to be the most annoying part of MMOs, I don't want to do it with more than one character just to be able to run locked content more than once a week.

I would love to run the newest content as soon as it's out, but statics just don't fit me. Getting a couple of friends or FC members together to run content on the other hand does. But with weekly lockouts, that just isn't going to happen.

Have you looked into other servers? I'm sure some servers are more dedicated to raiding than others. I've heard rumors Siren is one that is, but honestly I wouldn't know since I'm not into that scene :P

[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.

[Cherie]

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.

I don't think it would be bad per-say but, if you did CT when it had a individual loot lockout you remember, it was rather frustrating. And, where-as I'm good running it just once, now I'd have to run it multiple times, even if I got my loot, cause I'd of course want to help my friends I run with that didn't get theirs. Not saying it's going to be a bad thing just, kind of the reverse of what I think would motivate people to run a raid. In the sense, they don't really want to run it even once, with a individual loot lockout, it would mean multiple runs of something they already don't want to do...dunno

[Alurwen]

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.
The big question is, what diminished the raiding in this game? Was it marginalizing the loot or just the state of MMOs these days? Why do people prefer to play a online multiplayer game mostly alone or with maybe just 2-3 other people? If you can get the best gear just by farming alone, it's quite a lonely game. It's not even really a time-constraint issue when the main raid can be done in one night over maybe two or three hours! Even that is "too much" for most people to consider doing, while 8hr atma farm fests are perfectly fine time wise.

Older MMO players like me don't understand... lol

I agree completely. And I blame SE and their choice of how to frame end game content. We don't have Dynamis anymore, that was THE BEST part of FF11 before I quit playing. We had no one be late or no show for over a year for Dynamis runs, now you can't even go a month w/out that happening. I can't even find enough people on Sargatanas to form a static raid group during weekday EST hours...and it's because people are already in a group and noobin around having shitty luck with no clears. If we could have larger groups this would encourage players to form up en masse and have a good time together! I'm so mad about this small group only policy SE seems to have adopted, it's ruining FC's, static groups and souring so many "old" players on the game in general. I JUST DON'T GET IT!

[Logistical]

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.

That gil smells mighty nice.

[KoujiMoreno]

The real question is, why is FF14 the only MMO with this issue?