Current State of End-Game Contents - A Blog Post from A Japanese Player

[OSUBuckeye4]

LOL Fights are 100% mechanics in any game ever created. It's the kind of mechanics they use that are different. Gear and stats helps you overcome the games mechanics. If you're overwhelmed by the mechanics, get better gear or get better. That's what I do even though I know it'll take me forever because I know I suck.

There is a huge difference between mechanics and scripts.


It's one thing to go into a battle knowing, "okay, there are 7 different skills that this boss can use that I have to watch out for".

It's an entirely different thing to go into a battle knowing, "allright, the boss is always going to use the same 7 moves in the same order... once it hits 70% it's going to add a mechanic, once it hits 30%, another mechanic will be added. All I have to do is move here when he uses this mechanic, move there when that mechanic is used, attack this when that mechanic happens... every time it's the same thing."


That's just not fun when it's the EXACT same thing EVERY single time. Especailly when a few of those scripted actions can one-shot kill people.

You're not testing a players skill at that point, you're just testing their ability to memorize patterns.

In the end, it ends up creating a ton of resentment within the playerbase because you have people who have run the content 50 times yelling at new players saying, "it's the same eff'ing pattern every time, what is so hard about that!"

---

People keep mentinoing the word skill. There is almost no skill involved in this game when you take into account that most "top" players just watch Youtube guides en route to clearing content. It's all about memorizing patterns and execuiting the same rotation over and over again while popping the occasional cool-down. What is the skill in that?

Skill is mastering material and being able to apply it in practical situations. When something unexpected happens, you are able to overcome it because you have a mastery of the contect.

Memorizing patterns is the opposite of skill... it's just memorization.

---

To everyone who doesn't watch videos and doesn't get help from people who have watched videos. I tip my hat to you, you have true skill. You are in a very small minority of the playerbase though.

I don't watch videos, but, inveriably any time I go into new content there is some "skilled" player who says, "hey... here is the pattern, just move here and do this and we will win"... or, they tell me, "watch the video and we can clear this".

Again, that's not skill. It's memorization and it's what is wrong with this game.

SE needs to stop catering to memorization when it comes to their "hard" content. Throw some curveballs in there and test true skill. Then again, that would be much harder to design than something that just runs on a loop over and over again.

[Bizniztyme]

Again, that's not skill. It's memorization and it's what is wrong with this game.

SE needs to stop catering to memorization when it comes to their "hard" content. Throw some curveballs in there and test true skill. Then again, that would be much harder to design than something that just runs on a loop over and over again.

LOL, memorization is not a skill? Too funny. It's not just memorizing, you still have to execute. If people had true skill, we wouldn't have this topic in the first place. We'll be talking about how ARR is a cakewalk.

[Teirshin]

This was a great explanation of so much of what I've been feeling. It took me months to overcome Titan HM - even after I learned the fight, there were still people in the group who would mess up and it'd go all wrong. Currently, I'm stuck at Titan EX. Even after learning the fight and performing it flawlessly, there are still others who do not. Then there comes a point where I can no longer perform it perfectly because of fatigue, latency, or some other issue.

Beating these bosses doesn't feel like an accomplishment, it feels like winning the lottery - I lucked into the right combination of players on a given day.

So at the moment I have these options:

1. Continue to beat my head bloody on the wall that is Titan EX
2. Farm a gazillion Fates for this ridiculous quest line
3. Do dailies and log out

I've been doing #3 for a long time. This is the first time in 6 months of playing FFXIV that I've seriously considered just cancelling my sub.

This nonsense isn't fun anymore.

I'm in the exact same boat, and doing #3 just like you most nights.

A lot of my friends feel the same and several have already moved on to WildStar so maybe that's where I'll peek next.

The whole thing is so depressing when you consider how much better it could be with just some minor changes.

[Bizniztyme]

I'm in the exact same boat, and doing #3 just like you most nights.

A lot of my friends feel the same and several have already moved on to WildStar so maybe that's where I'll peek next.

The whole thing is so depressing when you consider how much better it could be with just some minor changes.

You guys will get a wake up call because compare this game to Wildstar, ARR is a cakewalk.

[Teirshin]

You guys will get a wake up call because compare this game to Wildstar, ARR is a cakewalk.

I dont want a cakewalk, I'd like a game where its not... "Stand here, move there, stand here, wait 15 secs, run there..." over and over and over again without variation.

Base it more on gear and vary the GD actions. Rather have that then what it is now.

I've watched people playing WS and it looks like a lot of fun. Endgame may be a clustermoogle there too, but by the time I'd get there, at least I'd be enjoying the ride to 50 perhaps.

[Litre]

Great for difficulty sure, I love it too, I cleared T5 before echo and loved the challenge. The same does not apply for many players - we should not subject casual players to them. Definitely keep them in raids / coil etc

[Leelya]

For those that think the current system requires skill, I'd like to present another viewpoint. Youtube was out during FFXI, and there was still an extremely high number of linkshells (80% fair game?) who couldn't clear content. The HNM community still had to learn how to adapt to the random mechanics throughout the fight.

• In the case of FFXIV, your kill videos are the exact how to.
• The community has done a great job at simplifying these concepts in pictures (Titan picture guide comes to mind.)
• The community in general expects you to take off work for each new patch (Which isn't reasonable for many adults).
• If not you better stalk Reddit until you find a kill video, and memorize your role.
• Sit through 6-8hr sessions attempting to clear new content with a new party setup every 2 - 3 runs.
• You must player almost every day of the week the new patch comes out. Finding learning parties afterwards will be twice as hard.

Posting 1/2.

[Leelya]

This culture leads to an anxiety associated with new content that can't even be fully enjoyed with your friends. It also defeats the purpose of FC's and linkshells as you really have no content that more than 8 can play. (Yes, I know about CT and the German language queue up on 3). Many of us expect to be able to enjoy content with the community with an MMO and currently the upgrade path, and the mechanic driven gameplay doesn't lend itself well to a good gaming experience over time.

Posting 2/2.

[Raenryong]

For those that think the current system requires skill, I'd like to present another viewpoint. Youtube was out during FFXI, and there was still an extremely high number of linkshells (80% fair game?) who couldn't clear content. The HNM community still had to learn how to adapt to the random mechanics throughout the fight.

The vast majority of FFXI players were horrible and didn't gearswap. All HNM fights were extremely trivial as long as you didn't have 18309213 melee giving the monster infinite TP. Tank/spank the whole way (except KB and Ixion I guess)!

[Gormogon]

This is good now elitist can't go mouthing off.

Reminds me of what happened towards the end of the BC expansion in WoW.