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

[Clavaat]

This one is tough for me. I certainly agree with some aspects, but not with others. Firstly, some comparisons to FFXI are unwarranted, I believe. You see, in FFXI there were barely any mechanics to bosses. They were incredibly easy to learn, and required even less skill to accomplish. The challenge mostly came from the time dedication you had to make as far as waiting.

With FFXIV, is it a bit too mechanics-oriented? Yes, I can agree with that. However, I like feeling more like I'm playing a game and being able to move and dodge as opposed to standing still. It is tough, on the other hand, because it does mean I often have to rely on others to be able to do that as well, which the OP touched upon. So, I feel right in the middle about that point, tough to say what I think here.

Also, as far as the "random" factor is concerned, there is some of that, currently in fights, such as conflags in T5 (as far as who they target), landslide/plumes in Titan EX, and the tank swapping in Ifrit EX. I'm sure this can and will be expanded upon with future encounters, but just pointing out that we do have some of that already.

More openness with party structure, yes I would definitely agree with. I think (and hope) that this is in the works already, considering the expansions to CT and possibility of Support roles being an option. We do have some, such as queuing as a solo tank or 2 tank or 3 healer or whatever. I know it's not exactly what was meant by OP, and still not exactly what I want to see, but it is there.

I'm not a fan of his/her view on lockouts, unfortunately. That is a system I'm currently comfortable with and would not like to see changed to trigger items or some such thing. I don't mind trigger items being an option for new content or something, horizontally-speaking, but not for BC or anything.

So all in all, I agree with some but not all of the points. Still an interesting post.

EDIT: I'd like to add that, not to piss on anyone's parade or anything, but it is probably much harder to all of a sudden change some of these things at once. They have a development schedule, which they stick fairly close to. Overhauling a battle system is not likely. It's not exactly a "You know what? You're right! *flips switch*" kind of situation. What is likely, or possible, however, would be to do this in increments. Tweaks here and there. Which is already kind of happening, if you look for it.

[Roris]

Pretty much nailed it, especially the Second Coil feels like it tries to throw in a lot of mechanics just for the sake of overconvolution and some of them just happen because they do and sure they make sense and might be cake once you figure them out, but before that especially going in blind for the first time you just kind of have to guess why and when it happens by trail and error and doesn't really feel like it flows as naturally as other fights for lack of a better word to express it, you are indeed dancing way more around the mechanics than you're actually fighting the boss. There's a thin balance between what a boss does and what happens around it and I agree the dungeons and the first Coil get that balance right, while T5 onwards lean towards the weighted mechanics side, it's fine because they're all beatable and really not that hard when you know the dance, it just doesn't feel as fun as other fights in the game but hey some people like everything in the game regardless so props to them. He also nailed the part about statics and lockouts, shame it's another meanie mean post not praising the game, time to ignore it into the trash it goes, right.

[BoltNixter]

Again! Agree 100% with OP post!

[Yurihyuga]

well actually I just came up for an idea on the whole throw more people at it to make it easier. People want to know the story right with the whole coil and the allagans and its sure to lead to something eventually. Why don't we cater to all parties.

What do people think of this idea.

8 man coil - keep it simple have some mechanics but this is more catered to the casual crowd but does reward gear towards progressing to 16 man
16 man coil - gets heated up and will become a wall for a lot of people but does reward gear progressing to 24 man coil
24 man coil - more aimed at the hardcore and maybe some mainstream if they make it.

16/24 man coil would be completely optional and really just there to challenge people who are looking for the challenge and this would stop the wall as everyone progresses to 3rd coil for there tier.

To be honest they wouldn't need to do much to add to 16/24 coil. More boss HP, More damage and more rotations maybe add another couple mechanics for 16 man and then a couple more for 24 man.

This might be seen as a horrible idea but meh just thought of it on the spot sort of thing.

[Clavaat]

He also nailed the part about statics and lockouts, shame it's another meanie mean post not praising the game, time to ignore it into the trash it goes, right.

The OP made a lot of points, about several different things. I think it's only fair to look at parts of it, and not as a whole. Like I said in my post, I agree with some things, but not others. Not to mention the fact that you can't exactly just change these sorts of things at once, as it would require a lot of reprogramming.

The attitude isn't helping.

[Cap75]

OP hits perfectly the point on what has been bugging me since i cleared twinty a few weeks ago and tried to get other fc members there as well. besides all the rummaging about being hardcore and skillzzz, i simply think that current endgame design is simply no fun.

currently my fc is working on t6 and every time they get back from dozens of wipes there's a cold, bitter and disappointed atmosphere in fc chat. that's not exactly what i would expect from a game feature whose reason of existence is to keep people tied to the game.

That's because the current mechanics being so rigid can make one mistake a wipe. The same person makes that same mistake multiple times and I don't care how friendly you are with them frustration creeps in. Or you get that sorted and then somebody else misses one thing and causes a wipe on something they've done a million times and, boom, wipe again. More frustration. And I think the fact that fights go almost exactly the same every single time just adds to the frustration because, well, repetition is usually frustrating on its own let alone in a group setting.

It would just be nice if there was more variance in mechanics overall. Meaningful resistances for both players and bosses. Functional CC that could add more support from a class and change strategies. Mechanics that punish mistakes by forcing a change of plan, the use of cooldowns or spells you weren't planning on for instance, and in turn make the fight harder and longer but don't necessarily illicit a "just wipe" from the group because you'll never recover before the next phase pops so just start over.

[Bizniztyme]

More frustration. And I think the fact that fights go almost exactly the same every single time just adds to the frustration because, well, repetition is usually frustrating on its own let alone in a group setting.

It would just be nice if there was more variance in mechanics overall. Meaningful resistances for both players and bosses. Functional CC that could add more support from a class and change strategies. Mechanics that punish mistakes by forcing a change of plan, the use of cooldowns or spells you weren't planning on for instance, and in turn make the fight harder and longer but don't necessarily illicit a "just wipe" from the group because you'll never recover before the next phase pops so just start over.

People dont even have the skill to simply memorize and dodge how the hell are they going to manage all that. There will be alot more frustrations. lol

[Mapleine]

Encounter design is one of the best things this game does. The very pattern based, very kinetic, very team driven feeling is what makes these types of game shine at cap. If anything we need more of it outside of the end game, that leveling to cap disconnect is a big problem in the genre right now.

When I started seeing examples of FFXI encounter design like it was something to be lauded my eyes just kind of glazed over. I liked that game, for what it was, back in 2005 but there is nothing to learn from it in terms of combat, mechanics, encounters, etc. It was and is a vague and awkward EQ-like with all of the nonsense that comes with that dark ages design methodology.

There are plenty of things this game could use like better itemization, more options and venues for gearing and customizing... Looking back at the dark age of the genre where difficulty was solely fueled by timesinks and vague, almost superstitious nonsense is about the last thing we need to be doing right now.

[Rose_Vilehart]

People dont even have the skill to simply memorize and dodge how the hell are they going to manage all that. There will be alot more frustrations. lol

Basically this.

this seems misguided, as tuning is fairly kind in XIV and there are no hard modes. It's one of the easier MMORPGs out there, it's certainly not on par with the kind of psychotic design you'd see on Heroic mode in Warcraft. Mechanics are tight but it's to make up for the simplicity in formation and customization and gearing. This game has no mechanics or leg-work outside of actual combat.

Encounter design is one of the best things this game does, if it was different I wouldn't be playing it nor would a lot of people. The very pattern based, very kinetic, very team driven feeling is what makes a traditional WoW-like MMO stand out lately.

When I started seeing examples of FFXI encounter design like it was something to be lauded my eyes just kind of glazed over. I like that game, for what it was, but there is nothing to learn from it in terms of combat, mechanics, encounters, etc. It was and is a vague and awkward EQ-clone with all of the terribleness that comes with that dark ages design methodology.

This game is actually way too easy but its fun so i forgive it, this thread just shows how far the gaming community has fallen if they are having a hard time here..........

[Foo01]

It seem that after all the long winded discussion and all the debate, the bottom line is people don't like to have everything riding on instant kill gimmicks.

Well consider titan. How about we throw on RNG into that instant kill move, maybe 30% of the time, in exchange for a player being knocked off, the player is feared/stunned/hysteria/whatever and titan gains back 1/8 of its health for every player hit. And if the health goes back over the 50% you go back to pre-heart phase.

Would a simple change like that be acceptable?

If so then you can extrapolate this into many of the other 1-hit kill mechanics in any other dungeons.