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

[Velhart]

I can say this much..the 1.xx battle system and fights did not feel scripted at ALL. Gear and skill meant quite a lot more then simple memorization in 1.23. Why they took what we had away for this..I'll never know.

1.xx was the same for at least since the new team came in. Gear was relevant not because of the content itself necessarily, but because you needed any small "oomph" you could get to push content underneath the 17 minute mark.

Also, skill in fights like Ifrit was more towards knowing dealing with the system than the content itself. Things such as animation lock, latency, and crashes were definitely more of an issue than actually dealing with the mechanics itself. Like the game wasn't built for that type of content, but they put it in anyways.

Not holding a candle to ARR, because I have my own complaints, but 1.xx was definitely not great to deal with.

[Asuras]

I have always disliked insta-death boss abilities in MMOs. It is simply a cop-out for lazy design. When it is difficult to design challenging fights with increasing gear level (meaning higher HP, DPS, etc) and player skill, lazy designers just throw in "death-touch" abilities.

If anyone remembers the old Everquest days, bosses would just randomly target players and "death-touch" them. The only difference in FFXIV is that the designers disguised the unpopular "death-touch" as avoidable Titan/Leviathan knockout abilities and Melusine petrification. Such abilities totally ignore gear level and character stats and eliminate players from the battle.

No matter how much you disguise the archaic "death-touch," you can't fool the player. Design innovative ways to challenge higher geared and skilled players without insta-killing them. Otherwise, people will catch on soon enough on just how lazy the boss fights are... as evidenced by this extremely long post from the OP.

[Lemon8or]

The only difference in FFXIV is that the designers disguised the unpopular "death-touch" as avoidable Titan/Leviathan knockout abilities and Melusine petrification.

I much prefer the ones you can dodge with player skill than random any day. I feel that it cheapens an encounter when you're just able to outgear it.

[Asuras]

I much prefer the ones you can dodge with player skill than random any day. I feel that it cheapens an encounter when you're just able to outgear it.

I disagree that player skill equates to memorizing boss fight mechanics. Part of the reward of getting advanced gear and levels is feeling powerful when going through older content. I certainly enjoy going back to starting zones and one-shotting level 2 and 3 mobs from time to time. I certainly see nothing wrong with that. When you outgear older content, you steam-roll through it. Of course, when designers make content with disguised "death-touch" abilities and phases that can be deadly when pushed (stronger DPS), it shows an element of laziness in the design. They did not want to account for gear level at all. It simply makes designing the fight more difficult. You have to do things the way it was scripted (albeit short-cuts or mechanic-cheats that players have developed).

[gti443]

When it took up to 10-25% of the group to carry the rest

While I think those numbers are completely distorted to start with, you're harkening back to 40 person content; 10-25% of an 8 person group is basically 1 or 2 people. While I guess I can see avoiding drama as a noble goal on some level, you're basically asking for an environment where you're looking for nothing more than warm bodies for most content. Or warm bodies who are on different loot tables. That just doesn't sound like a particularly healthy or fun MMO to me. While we're on the subject of WoW comparisons - one of the larger criticisms as it became more 'accessible' was that server communities just kind of died as content became focused more and more on single player activities.

I dunno, feel free to call me an elitist, but I prefer content that rewards teamwork; as I keep going through this thread it just seems like the 'rope jump' isn't so much the complaint as the 'team' element.

[Gormogon]

I prefer content that rewards teamwork

Take it as you will. All I see is teamwork at the cost of alienating and harassing others players for being part of a different demograph.

[Zarzak]

While I think those numbers are completely distorted to start with, you're harkening back to 40 person content; 10-25% of an 8 person group is basically 1 or 2 people. While I guess I can see avoiding drama as a noble goal on some level, you're basically asking for an environment where you're looking for nothing more than warm bodies for most content. Or warm bodies who are on different loot tables. That just doesn't sound like a particularly healthy or fun MMO to me. While we're on the subject of WoW comparisons - one of the larger criticisms as it became more 'accessible' was that server communities just kind of died as content became focused more and more on single player activities.

I dunno, feel free to call me an elitist, but I prefer content that rewards teamwork; as I keep going through this thread it just seems like the 'rope jump' isn't so much the complaint as the 'team' element.

THIS.

Take it as you will. All I see is teamwork at the cost of alienating and harassing others players for being part of a different demograph.

2 short reasons this is flawed logic.

1. MMO MULTIPLAYER. Playing a MMO and complaining about TEAMS is the most ridiculous thing I have heard. And sadly has been harped on since the new generation of MMO players got access to the internet.

2. I like football. Tony Romo likes football. Do you see me crying the NFL doesn't let me play? Different demographics exist EVERYWHERE. You are no more entitled to raid just because you want to than I am to play for the NFL. Put in the time, effort, and energy into getting good at the game and become a raider if you want to raid. If you want all the perks with none of the effort. Tell me how that works out for you in life.

[Gormogon]

snip

This isn't MLG so it's very contradicting treating it like if it was MLG.

[gti443]

Take it as you will. All I see is teamwork at the cost of alienating and harassing others players for being part of a different demograph.

I find this ironic considering how many times you've generalized "elitists" just over the past couple of pages I've read.

This isn't MLG so it's very contradicting treating it like if it was MLG.

I was actually going to make a similar comparison... but even if you're on a gym league basketball team or in a community theater production of Hair you're going to have to deal with notions of teamwork; and yeah, with teamwork sometimes comes drama. What you're effectively asking is for the community center to cancel the group productions in favor of your one man show. Bad analogies FTW. But the point remains; what your asking for just comes off as anti-social and rather selfish.

[Zarzak]

Take any example you want if you don't like the football one. It is a fact of LIFE. You work for the things you earn. No one anywhere including MMOs is entitled to something just because they want it.

If you get lucky and win the MMO lottery and some group is like "hey dude our dps isn't showing up tonight. Want to come and get carried through so the loot doesn't rot?" well congratz. You are still not entitled to these loots you did't work for.