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

[Dashuto]

Call me a necromancer.

We have tons of people running around in i110 now whose stats don't really matter.

Because instant wipes!

[Colt47]

Call me a necromancer.

We have tons of people running around in i110 now whose stats don't really matter.

Because instant wipes!

Despite the complaints about hunts, at least they are making the game more enjoyable for a larger audience by closing gear gaps. As far as end game goes, this has been something that I've known was going to be a problem the second World of Warcraft introduced DPS checks back in the olden days. They aren't necessary and force the pattern memorization over intelligent dodging.

[Zumi]

Call me a necromancer.

We have tons of people running around in i110 now whose stats don't really matter.

Because instant wipes!

It is good that some skill is required to beat stuff and that you can't just overgear a boss.

[DenariusJay]

Yeah, I agree with alot with JP player post, especially the part about instant deaths being no fun. This is why primal fights are such a drag, way too many instant deaths for my liking - they seem unnecessary as well, its like the fight is already hard, why are you adding this ontop of it? It's not fun at all.

[Dashuto]

It is good that some skill is required to beat stuff and that you can't just overgear a boss.

It'd be nice to beat a boss with an 8 man team, except just 1 person making a tiny mistake has the other 7 of us trying from the very start again.

Also the point of my post was that no matter how much we progress, or gear, you cannot make up for even 1 person who makes a small mistake.

In this situation: Why does our gear matter? Because it almost doesn't. This isn't very good design aside from the main point.

[Zyrusticae]

Wow, haven't seen this post before, and the OP brings up some excellent points, pretty much articulating exactly what it is that I, personally, do not like about the current endgame setup.

The fact that so many players cannot get past the mechanical hurdles required to complete encounters like Titan EX, let alone the 5th Coil, is something that will stifle the game going forward, not to mention it is actually quite boring once you do memorize the dance as you simply repeat the same steps over and over again. Having the entire party suffer for the mistakes of only one or two other players is simply irritating, especially since, after you explain the mechanics to them, there is literally nothing you can do if they just keep failing at it.

And yeah - the gear is irrelevant. Once you have enough to clear the DPS checks it literally does not matter anymore, the only thing that matters is whether or not absolutely everyone in your party has memorized the dance - if they have, great, you're done! If not, get ready to practice for hours on end until they either figure it out or quit! What fun (hahahahahahaha)!

I REALLY like the suggestion of tuning the mechanics to cause gradual difficulty increases after repeated mistakes, with a smaller number of skilled players able to carry through a number of other players if they're good enough. This kind of tuning would also allow for smaller parties of skilled players who would be able to gear up faster since they have fewer other players to roll loot against, which would really benefit the elite players while not disenfranchising the newer ones. I understand the concern over players gearing up too quickly, but it's just like the OP said - if the content is engaging enough (which would definitely require some randomized elements in combat), people will play the content for months, if not years on end, even without a carrot on a stick at the end of it all.

I really hope these suggestions come through to the development team. I think the game could only benefit from implementing at least a few of his suggestions. Here's to hoping 3.0 proves itself a positive change in direction, and not merely more of the same!

[Volcano]

It'd be nice to beat a boss with an 8 man team, except just 1 person making a tiny mistake has the other 7 of us trying from the very start again.

Also the point of my post was that no matter how much we progress, or gear, you cannot make up for even 1 person who makes a small mistake.

In this situation: Why does our gear matter? Because it almost doesn't. This isn't very good design aside from the main point.

I agree to an extent, it's quite annoying having to pay for the mistakes of 1 person, like just getting out of a Ifirit EX mode fight i was that the other healer i was with not moving to the proper side, eating my seering winds and not healing tanks, causing us to wipe, several times, then rage quiting because she couldn't admit her mistakes, 1 person causing an entire group to fail, is not very motivating in design, and then when we replaced her with a none idiot healer we won the fight.

I'm am not really liking how 1 can mess up an entire fight.

[Dashuto]

I'm am not really liking how 1 can mess up an entire fight.

Ultimately the OP makes this one of his strongest points. And Yoshida believe it to actually be the defining factor of endgame content (meaning we will likely continue to see instant wipe mechanics in 90% of endgame content).

There are many MMO that make things challenging without insta-wipes from a single person messing up. The mere fact this is all it takes to ruin a group, is part of why people are always on each others backs, or too afraid to try.

[Scootaloo]

I agree 100% with OP, as a "Mainstream" gamer myself I aspire to do endgame content one day but when I can't even get into a first coil group because "I have no experience" How am I supposed to learn the fight? Youtube videos? Pssh! The only thing that shows me is what's going to happen NOT HOW TO REACT. Sure you may say "Just mimic what they do noob!" but it's NEVER that simple. I've watched Titan EX videos countless times and I STILL get whacked by a landslide at some point.

I'm NOT getting hit because "I don't know the pattern" I'm getting hit because I HAVE NOT LEARNED HOW TO PROPERLY REACT IN REAL TIME. The only thing that will teach me how to react in time is experience in the battle. Yes this will mean getting one-shotted off the side alot, yes this will mean I will get killed alot but with EACH FAILURE it teaches me how to react in REAL TIME. For example: I ran Titan EX with a party about 2 weeks ago for the first time, strait off the bat I was one-shotted by a plume(weight of the land).

About 5 attempts later and guess what? I was dodging those plumes and landslides with ease. Then comes the heart phase, since the pattern COMPLETELY changes, I have to learn how to react to this now but NO ONE wants to stick around long enough for me to learn this new pattern. Either that, or they kick me.

My point? No matter what role I play, if no one is going to allow a new player to learn the battle in real time, how are they going to even hope to see newer and even more challenging content?

[Colt47]

I agree 100% with OP, as a "Mainstream" gamer myself I aspire to do endgame content one day but when I can't even get into a first coil group because "I have no experience" How am I supposed to learn the fight? Youtube videos? Pssh! The only thing that shows me is what's going to happen NOT HOW TO REACT. Sure you may say "Just mimic what they do noob!" but it's NEVER that simple. I've watched Titan EX videos countless times and I STILL get whacked by a landslide at some point.

I'm NOT getting hit because "I don't know the pattern" I'm getting hit because I HAVE NOT LEARNED HOW TO PROPERLY REACT IN REAL TIME. The only thing that will teach me how to react in time is experience in the battle. Yes this will mean getting one-shotted off the side alot, yes this will mean I will get killed alot but with EACH FAILURE it teaches me how to react in REAL TIME. For example: I ran Titan EX with a party about 2 weeks ago for the first time, strait off the bat I was one-shotted by a plume(weight of the land).

About 5 attempts later and guess what? I was dodging those plumes and landslides with ease. Then comes the heart phase, since the pattern COMPLETELY changes, I have to learn how to react to this now but NO ONE wants to stick around long enough for me to learn this new pattern. Either that, or they kick me.

My point? No matter what role I play, if no one is going to allow a new player to learn the battle in real time, how are they going to even hope to see newer and even more challenging content?

Part of the issue is the developers were used to the idea that building a static and running every night is the norm for people who want to tackle Bahamut's Coil, but right now that is clearly not the case as there are plenty of party finder groups that just appear out of the blue, do a few runs, and then disperse. Also, Final Fantasy XIV, in an effort to appeal to the raider at end game by making coil a timed exclusive for everyone else (i.e. mainstream and casual gamers), is falling into the pit trap that the WoW developers had to deal with moving forward past Burning Crusade. Beyond the fact echo doesn't work as intended, the design of coil treats the majority as second class citizens.

To elaborate: If anyone wants to see the story behind coil, they basically have to form a static, get carried, or expect to bend their schedule to fit PF learning groups and burn many extra hours redoing the learning process with a procession of new groups. That and the way it is set up there is no way to skip to the next turn once you have mastered a previous one. To top things off, the only way to clear coil turn 6 in it's current set up is to probably start the second the reset occurs on Tuesday, which is why PF groups for Coil turn 2 stage 1 (these naming conventions...) are so prolific on Tuesday, but near impossible to find at the end of the week.