Why is this game such a chore...

[Seif]

The overall difficulty of the game is more like it was designed for Japanese audiences who never really do anything else but play this game. However there is virtually no real support in the game for more casual players.

Ok. That's it I'm literally speechless!
How on earth could this game even BE more streamlined to cater to casuals?
Forget that I asked I really don't even want to know. This is honestly the last game I expected someone to say something like the quote. You can faceroll through all of the story, autocraft to 50 while drinking coffee at home and not even close to the screen. The game actually plays itself at times and you want it to be dumbed down for you? Maybe you just don't like playing games at all?

[Sparky]

Yeah we don't want this to go the same way as WoW, where whatever challenges it once offered, now do not really exist. People whine about stuff being a chore, then low and behold they end up in a situation where they're now offering instant level 90s. All of a sudden, the game has completely lost the spirit of what it once was, to the point where it's not even an MMORPG and barely even a game any more because people can skip 90% of the content. That game is now an MMOEG (massively multiplayer online end game). In fact it wasn't even sudden. Whiners pn their forums have been chipping away at Blizzard for years, and they've cracked every time. Now any vision Blizzard may have had for the gameback in 2004 is intact no longer.

Perhaps naively, I'd like to think that Yoshi P and his team have a vision of what they want this game to be, and I want to believe that 10 or so years down the line that vision remains. It's their game, not ours. We just happen to play the game.

[Yukiko]

This game is a joke in difficulty compared to FFXI. This is super casual. Idk how seasoned you are as a gamer but if THIS game is too much work/difficult for you then there\\'s no hope lol.

Other question: if you like much work/difficult why you are playing this game and dont go back to FFXI?
I am just bringing up this question because when you argue like this you have to reconsider your own choise and think twice before talking.
Following your argument, YOU are "now" no longer hardcore, but become super casual yourself...

[Sparky]

It's ok to like new games/content by the way. It does not mean however, that we should have it handed to us on a plate. This game has the right balance between casual and hardcore already as it is IMO. Unfortunately many people seem to confuse "time consuming" with "hard". MMORPGs are not supposed to be the sort of thing where you can do everything in a few weeks. They are intended to be a long term investment in time and commitment, and anyone who can not see this is deluding themselves.

[ApolloGenX]

Unfortunately many people seem to confuse "time consuming" with "hard". MMORPGs are not supposed to be the sort of thing where you can do everything in a few weeks. They are intended to be a long term investment in time and commitment, and anyone who can not see this is deluding themselves.

Investment. I think there is a huge difference between a game like EQ where you play for a long time building your AAs for your character, and also raid for gear or do a very long quest for items that will last you a while versus this game- where the "investment" is a massive grind for rewards that make minimal difference and will be obsolete in a month or two.

There isn't much return on large "investment" in this game- everything is throwaway. You have to have a more complex and interesting game to justify investment.

[Sparky]

Well in the case of the continuing relic quest for example, it is not throwaway - the return is that it is an upgrade-able weapon. But Yoshi P even warned people that it is completely optional and requires long term commitment to keep on top of, so really there is no excuse for people complaining that they have to jump through hoops to get it.

[ApolloGenX]

Well in the case of the continuing relic quest for example, it is not throwaway - the return is that it is an upgrade-able weapon. But Yoshi P even warned people that it is completely optional and requires long term commitment to keep on top of, so really there is no excuse for people complaining that they have to jump through hoops to get it.

Yet, for the time investment you don't get the best current weapon and for any but the most aggressive players the task will extend into content that makes it obsolete.

At least with the EQ epics, they were wonderful during their time and still VERY good for some time after. Prayer shawl, too. You could replace them if you were in bleeding edge content, but most players (even some raiders) kept them a long time.

There is no AA system here to make general playing feel productive or to advance your character post 50.
There is no reason you can't simply unsub and then jump back in after the next release and skip the pointless grind.

[Sparky]

But for many people it isnt pointless though. I know people who are happy to continue with the relic quest because not only do they enjoy the grind, they also know that they are perhaps unable to obtain any better. The situation you described in EQ is still very much present in this game too for may people.

I for one am enjoying the grind to get all classes up to 50. But I am under no illusion. The relics are probably the best I am likely to get, save for 1 or two classes, simply because I can not physically put the time in to gear them all to the same level. So my option is to do the relics instead. My option, because as Yoshi P said, it is optional - for as long a I stay subbed I have as long as I need to do it, which could be 2 years for all I care. It does not matter to me because I am not racing anybody to the top of anywhere.

[Ehayte]

I will start my saying that I really like this game, and was a LONG TIME player of EQ1.

The biggest difference I notice between the two games is not that its "too easy" to get gear in FFXIV, its that there aren't enough gear-slots. In EQ, the raids and dungeons are SIGNIFICANTLY easier from a skill point-of-view. Even the raid content in the harder expansions was more dependent on your tank having enough AC and HP to take a max swing from Overlord Mata Muram than any sort of skill by the players. But in EQ you had, 2 earrings, 2 rings, 2 wrists, arms, hands, chest, legs, boots, shoulders, belt, neck, face, head, back, primary/secondary weapon, ranged, and later on you had charms and powersources. That's about 21/22 slots of armor, compared to FFXIV's 11/12.

Armor was just as hard if not a little harder to get in EQ, so you really did NOT have a homogenization of gear that you see in FFXIV - you kind of took the gear you could get. If you raided for 3 months, the chances that you would be fully raid geared would be pretty slim, and you would have had to quest or group for your other slots, depending on how much time you wanted to spend and what you wanted to pursue.

I'm currently digging FFXIV right now because I have much less time to play than I did when I was really into EQ, and it allows me to have competitive gear nonetheless. However, after doing nearly 170 FATEs without seeing a single Atma drop, I feel that my chance to get an Atma/Animus/Novus weapon is passed, and I will need to make do with other things in the interim. I'm a little bummed because I did all the Epic 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5 (was guild first for some of them!) in EQ, but I'm getting very unlucky and don't really have a good shot at obtaining any of the new relics while they are relevant.

[XiXiQ]

You propose that SE implement changes that affect the majority to satisfy the minority?

Everyone playing should be afforded the EXACT SAME reaction time, regardless of their location. At the moment, this isn't the case.

Frankly, I cannot see how such considerations would even affect the "majority" who happen to have decent ping times. If anything, it would enhance their experience - if one person in the party is at a disadvantage through no fault of their own, the entire party suffers in the end - and it's unnecessary.