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

[Enthy]

Great read, totally agree with OP/Blogger
(And I have read every page of this thread so far)

As many have said before, Insta Death Mechanics are a lazy cop-out for the developers. I'm sick of watching Youtube videos before I'll even be allowed to join a PF group (I only have a few hours of free time each night... I sure as hell don't want to spend it watching YouTube FFXIV fights! I want to actually play the game I pay for!

Remember when dying would cause EXP loss and you could even down level? Imagine if that was still the situation! Everyone would be in Rage-Mode about our current "jump rope" battle mechanics. I know I've died quite a few times just because 1 party member messed up and we were no longer able to meet the DPS check on Titans heart ~_~

[Kallera]

Great read, totally agree with OP/Blogger
(And I have read every page of this thread so far)

As many have said before, Insta Death Mechanics are a lazy cop-out for the developers. I'm sick of watching Youtube videos before I'll even be allowed to join a PF group (I only have a few hours of free time each night... I sure as hell don't want to spend it watching YouTube FFXIV fights! I want to actually play the game I pay for!

Remember when dying would cause EXP loss and you could even down level? Imagine if that was still the situation! Everyone would be in Rage-Mode about our current "jump rope" battle mechanics. I know I've died quite a few times just because 1 party member messed up and we were no longer able to meet the DPS check on Titans heart ~_~

I couldn't agree more about the youtube videos being a prerequisite. It's become the new 3rd party program addon that you have to have or else you might as well not even play. It just seems that now people are enforcing their own penalties for failure. In the face of content that takes a sharp rise in difficulty and investment, the community, instead of coming together like in XI, comes apart. It becomes less a social experience and more a "You can't dodge this mechanic? You are dead to me, the game tells me so!"

For a Side note, let's take the logic of endgame and put it into the first few levels, in order to start your character, you need to watch a MrHappy video about creating your character, followed by a video on going through the tutorials as your selected class...and let not forget the harrowing first leve! that'll need a POV video so that way you speed run and aren't a liability when playing through with your class. Learn to DPS, Conjurers!

[Gormogon]

snip

The sad part is that difficulty enforces the attitude and it is the same player base that forced the end-game circle to only smaller and smaller and they don't want to realize it (FFXI and 1.0 paints a perfect picture of what this kind of attitude leads too.). Then again devs also help enforce it by caving in but they could have avoided it by finding ways to make it overall enjoyable experience and we see these walls everywhere and it never ends in sunshine but always in word flinging drama.

We can't break the cycle if we keep repeating it.

[silentwindfr]

it's possible to do both, by adding content that are not that much scripted or linear, some example already exist in old game. like Anarchy online with it system of random mission., you move 3 slider between 6 possibility. example one slider that are between money or item, one between big or small for the size of the place and finally one with strong and a lot for the monster. after all is generate randomly. like this people don't always have the feeling to repeat the same content over and over and over, since each mission will be different with different monster.

you can't tell me that people of SE can't do something that Funcom did more of 10 years ago, and adapt it to FF14 for give something to do. the trouble is not the something to do in terms of content, but in term of fun and replayability! that the mains flaws of FF14, no replayability nor fun passed a point.

they need to get idea from many different game, not only mmorpg or arpg, but game like FPS can bring new idea, new concept that can be used for increase the pleasure into the game.

finally i think they have fall back into the bad habit to make a game for the asian people, that my feeling with the 2.2 a loooooot of grind and a little to do actually.
if you don't do the relic or don't have a static for face the raid... you have nothing to do exept get some gils for later. and that the mains trouble, do i am the only one to see it?

Sadly.

Yet I know they can make these long grinds enjoyable goals.

yes they can and they must do it! if they want to give us long grind they must focus on the fun factor into it.... if they only go with the classical: "yeah but do it little by little everyday" it's not different of a work, everyday i must go to my new jobs in FF14: ARR repeat the same content that never change every day!

they can do better and they really need to do it now

[Yukiko]

My advice to Square Enix is:
The player should be in middle and not the content.

You are playing with 2 Friends, group of 3 players, what can you do? Try that example with any number!
You are fresh level 50 or new in game, what access do you have? Can you farm novus?
You are trying to farm coil gear, can you farm freely? What if you lose all rolls on your friends?
You are fighting a boss, can you really change the outcome? Can you be the hero, or do you have to rely on others not to make mistakes?
You are crafting or gathering or waiting for mirror to drop, is the RNG really helping to motivate you? Low drop is ok if you gain the feeling "finally, never again" but dont we get the feeling "finally, but... oh no! there is more to go, not again back to start."

[ApolloGenX]

I'm not sure what the issues with over gearing are... to over gear something, you have to be able to get better gear than it drops... which means it is obsolete content. So, who cares if you can over gear it?

People keep acting like players will jut over gear current end game content and face roll it... that's not possible...the best gear comes from those places... and it's not good enough to over gear where it drops.

[Fendred]

I've come back fresh after a two month Hiatus for patch 2.3, and my experience thus far agrees with the OPs observations. Also, I completely agree with OP on the mechanics of fights being the wrong focus for end game difficulty. The design philosophy embraced by the current developers created a fight (Twintania) with little to no proper indicators for special attacks (especially when the opponent in question flies completely off the grid for dive bombs). Even the most hated primal fight in the game (Titan) gives you indicators and enough time to react to attacks.

For a new player, Twintania's abilities range from obscure and misleading to simply too fast and powerful. It is impossible for anyone to one shot Twintania without reading up the rotation and all abilities in great detail. Even then, chances of victory on a first attempt are miniscule.

Just to clarify, I did beat Twintania back in 2.1 as a scholar. I'm in between being a hardcore and a mainstream player as I move into the later years of my life.

[Kiara]

I've come back fresh after a two month Hiatus for patch 2.3, and my experience thus far agrees with the OPs observations. Also, I completely agree with OP on the mechanics of fights being the wrong focus for end game difficulty. The design philosophy embraced by the current developers created a fight (Twintania) with little to no proper indicators for special attacks (especially when the opponent in question flies completely off the grid for dive bombs). Even the most hated primal fight in the game (Titan) gives you indicators and enough time to react to attacks.

For a new player, Twintania's abilities range from obscure and misleading to simply too fast and powerful. It is impossible for anyone to one shot Twintania without reading up the rotation and all abilities in great detail. Even then, chances of victory on a first attempt are miniscule.

Welcome back Orrin.

Definitely agree with your post; that's what happened to a few friends of mine (not on my server):

These instant-death gimmick mechanics are really debilitating and detrimental in many ways. Challenge is always a good thing; but when the gimmicks mean instant game over for the entire raid, it just leads to more ill-will, frustrated emotions from everyone and a really negative attitude.

I really hope Yoshi P and his team see this topic (at least the JP Blog and post about it, if not ours) and consider changes in the future.

[Ooshima]

For a new player, Twintania's abilities range from obscure and misleading to simply too fast and powerful. It is impossible for anyone to one shot Twintania without reading up the rotation and all abilities in great detail. Even then, chances of victory on a first attempt are miniscule.

Wait, you expect the superboss if a current patch (2.0-2.1) to be beatable on a first attempt, or even less than 50 wipes or so?

[Kuwagami]

Wait, you expect the superboss if a current patch (2.0-2.1) to be beatable on a first attempt, or even less than 50 wipes or so?

except that now (2.2-2.3) it's not "the superboss of a current patch", so yeah maybe it should require less than 50 wipes. (Maybe the same time as a brandly new Ex primal ?)