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

[Exstal]

For the current Coil, I think they should do it this way

Second Coil (story version)

Turn 1) Remove Blighted Bouquet, remove adds
Turn 2) Remove petrification buff, makes renaults killable and their auto attack hit for ~1000
Turn 3) turn off towers
Turn 4) Remove everything except Heaven's Fall

It basically has to be children mode Coil so people can get the side quest completion or something. Obviously, it doesn't drop any loot.

[Kuwagami]

For the current Coil, I think they should do it this way

Second Coil (story version)

Turn 1) Remove Blighted Bouquet, remove adds
Turn 2) Remove petrification buff, makes renaults killable and their auto attack hit for ~1000
Turn 3) turn off towers
Turn 4) Remove everything except Heaven's Fall

It basically has to be children mode Coil so people can get the side quest completion or something. Obviously, it doesn't drop any loot.

From a logical point only, I wouldn't remove "everything" in T9 (it's supposed to be the last boss, by removing everything you'd make it simpler than T8), but I don't know how to create a "baby mode" out of it so I'd go with that as well for the moment.

There is no need for loot if you want to see the story anyway.

[Atreides]

For the current Coil, I think they should do it this way

Second Coil (story version)

Turn 3) turn off towers

Or maybe just make it so that there is always just one tower active and remove the stack mechanics.

[Litre]

Well 66 pages and still no response, I've been quite vocal in this thread and I'm glad to see so many understand where the OP is coming from.

Even though I have no problems with "team-rope" jumping, clearing T5 before echo, etc... It's just so disheartening to see my friends leave one by one and I'm unable to help them since you literally need 6-7 perfect players to carry them through. And what waits for them is just more difficult content.

For now I'm letting my sub run out, the new content is great and all but you're really only doing it for yourself/static. There is no sense of community with all the undeserved toxic comments being thrown out for players who just want to enjoy the game and lack of players willing to or able to help.

[IgnisFatuus]

a lot of the art assets are ripped right out of 1.0, including "recent" content. i expect a drop of "new content" once they run out of stuff to reimplement. but that might actually be when the expansion hits.

[Roris]

a lot of the art assets are ripped right out of 1.0, including "recent" content. i expect a drop of "new content" once they run out of stuff to reimplement. but that might actually be when the expansion hits.

Don't forget XI, XII and XIII too and I'm not talking about stuff that uses reference designs from XI and updates them with more detail like Goobbues or Adamantoises which is fine, they're straight off ripped from those games as is. Even stuff like Dullahans, Ziz or those Meracydia dragons were already in the 1.0 DATs, only a really small handful of enemies were created entirely from scratch for ARR. Going into Second Coil and seeing Rafflesia is just an oversized neon Ochu and The Avatar is an interesting take on Treants but it's still using their same base rig and some animations is kinda disappointing.

I'm sure I've said this before, recolors are practically a staple of Final Fantasy but at least they used to come up with unique designs for traditional monsters in each game and also unique bosses, using enemies as is without changing their designs is more of a DQ thing which is no surprise given the circumstances really.

[Zantetsuken]

People want challenge... they just want it to be less like this:









And more like this:




...or this:





...or even this:





For all the modern technology showcased in ARR, why there is virtually ZERO A.I. in endgame boss battles?


BTW Extra Credits "Easy Games" episode is far more accurate in describing this problem.

The takeaway part is:

People want challenges based on DEPTH, rather than challenge based on EXECUTION

ARR's endgame challenges are based almost entirely on EXECUTION. And not just your own EXECUTION, but everyone else's as well. This is mind-numbingly boring when done correctly, and insanely frustrating when you wipe for the XXth time with a PUG.

Combine it with a linear gear system that makes any reward for your work meaningless after a few months, and you will understand why ARR has alienated long-time MMO players.

[Iriadysa]

People want challenge... they just want it to be less like this:

For all the modern technology showcased in ARR, why there is virtually ZERO A.I. in endgame boss battles?

I don't think you are understanding this thread.

It's not that I don't agree with you. I would rather have a freakishly difficult game with really tough A.I.

This is not what the OP is asking for, however. What the OP is asking for is:


"I want this, but if I don't want to have to react so fast to dodge because I lag, so I want to be able to dodge with a 400ms connection"


"I want this, but my connection isn't good so it has to be lag independent!* And if I get hit, I want it to not be fatal so that I can recover!"
*Note: this is impossible.


"I want this, but I want gear to allow me to survive the hits if my gear is good enough!"

And so on and so forth.

Everything you showcased would require reflexes and latency way beyond what Titan Extreme or Twintania ask for.

So, again, it's not that I don't agree with you, it's that this isn't really what the OP and the horde of goons is asking for.

EDIT: The FFXI examples, however, is what they want. 100% gear carried encounters. Unless you count the whole "OMG RUN OUT OF THE ROOM" thing in Ultima. Then it's 90%.

ARR's endgame challenges are based almost entirely on EXECUTION. And not just your own EXECUTION, but everyone else's as well. This is mind-numbingly boring when done correctly, and insanely frustrating when you wipe for the XXth time with a PUG.

Combine it with a linear gear system that makes any reward for your work meaningless after a few months, and you will understand why ARR has alienated long-time MMO players.

Yes they are, and it's a problem.

But can you explain what depth is there in any of those two FFXI encounters you linked?

-----

Let me put it this way: anyone that looks at your first images (not the FFXI ones) and says "Yes I want this!" and then says "They should make Titan Extreme less lag dependent!" is a massive hypocrite. Or an idiot. Probably both.

[IgnisFatuus]

But can you explain what depth is there in any of those two FFXI encounters you linked?

i dont know that much about ffxi endgame design, but at least you should look up the various strategies that people came up with to deal with absolute virtue. that is something that you're never going to see in xiv. the most we had of this is t2 enrage and SE will triple check every future encounter to not let this happen again and make them 100% scripted. you don't need any theorycrafting for this game, that's basically the missing "depth" part (don't confuse this with me wanting encounters like AV in the game, hell no).

in theory fast reaction is a possibility too, but not as long as the servers dictate your place in the world and not the client. and they won't change that, because it would require a complete rewrite of their netcode and server structure.

[Zantetsuken]

Everything you showcased would require reflexes and latency way beyond what Titan Extreme or Twintania ask for. So, again, it's not that I don't agree with you, it's that this isn't really what the OP and the horde of goons is asking for.

EDIT: The FFXI examples, however, is what they want. 100% gear carried encounters. Unless you count the whole "OMG RUN OUT OF THE ROOM" thing in Ultima. Then it's 90%.

Those FFXI battles only became entirely gear-carried after the cap was raised past 75. Prior to that, the gear system was mostly horizontal, which didn't allow players to simply overpower instanced bosses


My point with the MH and DS clips is that the mobs actually react to the players, and the players are forced to react to the mobs.

There is simply no DEPTH to Job Skills, Gear or endgame Battles in ARR. The only challenge is based on memorization and EXECUTION -- with severe punishment for any deviation from it.

An Execution based challenge can not be mitigated with the 'echo' or gear buffs-- as such, it serves as a heavy barrier for advancement for non-static players. That was what the OP was bemoaning.


Also, the lag issue can be alleviated by simply removing either insti-kill or perma-death from select attacks.

to use Titan as an example:

• Landslide could cause a player to fall down to a platform and die, but they could still be targeted by Raise -> insti-kill without perma-death.
• Gaol could have a countdown where if a player isn't freed in time, they become permanently petrified. --> perma-death without insti-kill.

Simple changes like this will make lag spikes or even bad connections less of a critical issue.