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

[Yurihyuga]

snip

Actually you can don't forget that all MMO's have some mechanics to a degree that requires certain characters to have certain skills. I know doing this on the forums can have a negative effect take the diabolos fight in FFXI for example, RDM/DRK was a popular choice for stun as when he enrages a RDM would then use his 2hr and chainspell stun and certain attacks need to be dealt with or its a wipe. You can't escape having some mechanics but like you already said it should not be a script ESPECIALLY not an unforgiving one.

[Okashii]

One solution could be AI-driven fights instead of scripted. An enemy that wants to target healers/top dps more often, ignoring the tank. An enemy that when for example blm starts slow-casting long skill, he instantly puts a heavy hitting aoe under him. Or enemy that uses some standard pvp strategies against players like cc'ing healers.

It would be fun to have maybe a couple of fights like that where its really difficult to get moves done because the boss is "smart". No enrage. Just really tough because the boss is reactive and pushing melee away and interrupting casters. But having the whole game like that would be even more annoying than what it is currently I think.

[Jaykos]

So this is what he wants I guess

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7p_wjSMtAbw

[muwa]

So this is what he wants I guess

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7p_wjSMtAbw

Patchwerk is actually as scripted as FFXIV's bosses, you know exactly what will happen and when.
It was also an entry level boss for the instance (or wing) so having it as a gear check and less mechanics-based made sence.

You should look at more recent wow bosses if you want a more balanced view on randomness vs mechanics.

[Genz]

I totally agree with the premise : the end-game is so much focused on gimmicks that everything else become anecdotal. More like a HD Pong than a RPG.

~

During the Nagoya Producer Letter Live, Yoshi-P said “the fights are scripted because if we made the moves random and, say, Titan uses weight of the land 4 times in a row or something that'd be unfair, right?”

Huh... there is a world between 100% scripted and 100% random.
In v1, Ifrit's behaviour was globally random, but he couldn't use the same attack twice in a row. Here, problem solved. Can't he remember even that?

[ShinkuTachi]

The main problem I have with the "team rope jumping" mechanic or the scripted mechanic is that it really doesn't give much room to improvise or come up with varying strategies. It's like a couple of groups get the win, word (and videos) gets around about how they got it, then everyone expects you to follow that strategy to the letter.

Basically becoming: make it to a boss/major battle, have a possibly temporary period of awe, practice the script, get the clear, make it to the next boss/major battle, repeat.

There is no mystery, there is no unexpected, and there is no need to be on your toes. The only real variance comes from pushing a phase too slow or too fast; or maybe one or two other ways groups have found to deal with a phase.

While I personally still have fun, I can see why this would really get to many people.

~

During the Nagoya Producer Letter Live, Yoshi-P said “the fights are scripted because if we made the moves random and, say, Titan uses weight of the land 4 times in a row or something that'd be unfair, right?”

Huh... there is a world between 100% scripted and 100% random.
In v1, Ifrit's behaviour was globally random, but he couldn't use the same attack twice in a row. Here, problem solved. Can't he remember even that?

I like this point. Why hasn't this post been given more "Likes!"

[PotatoTree]

I do not agree with this guy, and I think he is everything wrong with the game's population.

He basically wants crystal tower. Where "oh you messed up? Well we'll just raise you and we're good as new. la de dah". Thats BORING. Challenging mechanics where if you mess it up you DIE are fun. Because when you win, it doesn't feel like you just spent time in a long ass grind, it feels like you deserved it.

And people are complaining that you can do coil in lower tier gear if you can deal with the mechanics? READ THAT AS YOU CAN DO CONTENT IF YOU ARE SKILLED, NOT IF YOU ARE BUFFED OUT ON GEAR. Jesus, imagine if you were playing Starcraft and you started with double the workers because you had more "gear" compared to another player. NO. Ideally the game should be 100% skill based. Do you know how boring T4 is now that you can just faceroll it with crazy gear? Or T1 even. And this guy prides T1 and T4 as being awesome and T5 as bad because you actually need to do something in the turn? Is this a joke? Is this what mainstream players really want?

And he wants tokens for dungeon entries? Have any of you guys actually played 1.0 ffxiv? Collecting tapers and stuff for iffy was BORING. SO GODDAM BORING. Practising in coil is FUN. Because if you are not winning, it means it is HARD, so when you do win, you'll feel a sense of ACCOMPLISHMENT.

Please take your easy mode content and shove it elsewhere. Do not ruin the game for the rest of us who actually enjoy a challenge.

[Richiealvian]

I do not agree with this guy, and I think he is everything wrong with the game's population.

He basically wants crystal tower. Where "oh you messed up? Well we'll just raise you and we're good as new. la de dah". Thats BORING. Challenging mechanics where if you mess it up you DIE are fun. Because when you win, it doesn't feel like you just spent time in a long ass grind, it feels like you deserved it.

And people are complaining that you can do coil in lower tier gear if you can deal with the mechanics? READ THAT AS YOU CAN DO CONTENT IF YOU ARE SKILLED, NOT IF YOU ARE BUFFED OUT ON GEAR. Jesus, imagine if you were playing Starcraft and you started with double the workers because you had more "gear" compared to another player. NO. Ideally the game should be 100% skill based. Do you know how boring T4 is now that you can just faceroll it with crazy gear? Or T1 even. And this guy prides T1 and T4 as being awesome and T5 as bad because you actually need to do something in the turn? Is this a joke? Is this what mainstream players really want?

And he wants tokens for dungeon entries? Have any of you guys actually played 1.0 ffxiv? Collecting tapers and stuff for iffy was BORING. SO GODDAM BORING. Practising in coil is FUN. Because if you are not winning, it means it is HARD, so when you do win, you'll feel a sense of ACCOMPLISHMENT.

Please take your easy mode content and shove it elsewhere. Do not ruin the game for the rest of us who actually enjoy a challenge.

As much as I'd love to say you are correct, however a game is entirely dependant on the people paying for it. It would be fun for you and me, but for most people, let's take for example if my dad were to play this game (he used to play a lot of games back then) he would get stuck in coils for months, maybe years because of the amount of time spent committed to other things. Not everyone can play 3+ hours everyday, and they are contributing just as much as you and me in terms of game subscription.

And also beating the highest content to see the story or simply wanting to win it one day is something that the masses want, too.

It is sad however, that if those players don't get what they want they will simply quit. You might say "good riddance", you don't want to put in the effort but want the rewards, now shoo! but for Square Enix it is unfortunately not so!

I personally think between hardcore and casual content they are doing very amazingly in terms that if you are stuck, you have the echo next patch to look forward to. You also have non-battle or easy battle content such as treasure hunt or grinds like animus. What I think is needed is simply more happy content, like mini games.

[ZReport]

I do not agree with this guy, and I think he is everything wrong with the game's population.

He basically wants crystal tower. Where "oh you messed up? Well we'll just raise you and we're good as new. la de dah". Thats BORING. Challenging mechanics where if you mess it up you DIE are fun. Because when you win, it doesn't feel like you just spent time in a long ass grind, it feels like you deserved it.

And people are complaining that you can do coil in lower tier gear if you can deal with the mechanics? READ THAT AS YOU CAN DO CONTENT IF YOU ARE SKILLED, NOT IF YOU ARE BUFFED OUT ON GEAR. Jesus, imagine if you were playing Starcraft and you started with double the workers because you had more "gear" compared to another player. NO. Ideally the game should be 100% skill based. Do you know how boring T4 is now that you can just faceroll it with crazy gear? Or T1 even. And this guy prides T1 and T4 as being awesome and T5 as bad because you actually need to do something in the turn? Is this a joke? Is this what mainstream players really want?

And he wants tokens for dungeon entries? Have any of you guys actually played 1.0 ffxiv? Collecting tapers and stuff for iffy was BORING. SO GODDAM BORING. Practising in coil is FUN. Because if you are not winning, it means it is HARD, so when you do win, you'll feel a sense of ACCOMPLISHMENT.

Please take your easy mode content and shove it elsewhere. Do not ruin the game for the rest of us who actually enjoy a challenge.

I did not interpret it in this way. I think he's looking for a middle ground and more of a diversified field of various types of fights, instead of just excessively hard or excessively easy (which is the current). He made it a note to constantly mention that it's fights against mechanics instead of just general "tough" fights that existed in FFXI. To that end it limits the playing field of who you want to go with. Do you want to go with your best friend, whos awesome as a person but really bad at the game? Or do you want to go with your LS/FC mate who you barely know, but know him or her to be amazing at dodging mechanics and good at their role? Of course you will want to go with the person who knows how to dodge things, because you want to win. In short, the further the game moves into higher and higher difficulty, the further away it moves from being social-friendly environment. Keep in mind he made mention of him having successes in Second Coil, so it's not like he's completely devoid of care when it comes to doing hardcore content.

Tell you what though, I completely agree with you on T4. That fight was fun as hell to tackle during 2.0~2.1, because of how well everyone had to be on point to ensure success. Essentially it became a fight where gear did not matter at all outside of a simple DPS check. Now you can simply faceroll it with gear and obtain easy reward.

[Garlyle]

Tell you what though, I completely agree with you on T4. That fight was fun as hell to tackle during 2.0~2.1, because of how well everyone had to be on point to ensure success. Essentially it became a fight where gear did not matter at all outside of a simple DPS check. Now you can simply faceroll it with gear and obtain easy reward.

That's kinda the trick though, isn't it? There's no mechanics you Absolutely Must deal with, so the mechanics that do exist can be increasingly ignored as gear and general power continue to increase, and slowly the fight will lose identity, and ultimately challenge.