Could we get some "Mainstream" content?

[Ultimatecalibur]

I was reading this thread and this bit caught my attention:

The development team categorizes the players into three categories: the "Hardcore" players, the "Mainstream" players, and the "Casual" players.

From a population perspective, the causal players make up maybe about 60% of the population, the mainstream players perhaps another 30% or so (might not be exact). Now, the true hardcore players probably take up less than 10% of the population.

I know where the content is for the "Hardcore" players (Coil and EX Primals) and the "Casual" players (4 man dungeons, Crystal Tower and Hunts); so where is the content for the "Mainstream" player? You know the players who started 2.3 at i99?

[Alukah]

Based on the responses in this thread, seems like the <10% doesn't care much about the ~30% and want them to join either the ~60% or the <10%, and well considering the lack of 'mid core' content looks like SE doesn't care either, at least until 3.0.

I hope they change their content structure with the expansion.

[Xatsh]

I would call the primals midcore if you are basing it off difficulty.

[Ultimatecalibur]

I would call the primals midcore if you are basing it off difficulty.

Which Primals? The original 3 HM Primals, Ultima HM, Thornmarch HM could count when originally released, but Levi and Ramuh HM are pretty casual and calling them "Hard" is a bit of a misnomer. The EXs are most definitely Hardcore content.

[Xatsh]

Which Primals? The original 3 HM Primals, Ultima HM, Thornmarch HM could count when originally released, but Levi and Ramuh HM are pretty casual and calling them "Hard" is a bit of a misnomer. The EXs are most definitely Hardcore content.

I am referring to EXs, anything besides that are very casual in terms of difficulty.


But with exs

It takes people less then 1 day to kill them every time they are released.

You can spam them without cooldowns.

You get guaranteed drops.

What makes them hardcore now?

[Ultimatecalibur]

I am referring to EXs, anything besides that are very casual in terms of difficulty.

Which is the point I'm trying to make. Stuff is either Hardcore High difficulty or Casual "Everyone can do it." Their is no middle ground.

But with exs

It takes people less then 1 day to kill them every time they are released.

Hardcore players (i.e. the top 10% of the playerbase) are the ones getting those day one clears. Blue Garter cleared SCoB T1-T3 within the first 5 days of patch 2.2, but it is still considered hardcore content. Just because they were completed day one does not mean they are medium difficulty. Lev EX and Thornmarch EX were locked behind Ifrit EX which was locked behind Titan EX. The 10% of the player base that could clear Titan EX were the ones doing Levi EX and Thornmarch EX day one.

You can spam them without cooldowns.

You get guaranteed drops.

Neither of those things make the difficulty of the EX Primals any different than what it is. A single player messing up at the wrong time in any of them can and will cause a wipe.

What makes them hardcore now?

Difficulty and the percentage of players who are completing them or have completed them.

[Gardes]

I am referring to EXs, anything besides that are very casual in terms of difficulty.

I mostly agree with this but it's really really too bad the rewards really does not fit its level. Anymore, that is. I really don't understand why they're...what's the word, trivializing the ex primals? The first thing people compare when it comes to gear reward is item level before calculating their secondary stats and majority of the 2.2 primal rewards and beyond are generally inferior to 'casual' soldiery at first glance.

[Themis]

I mostly agree with this but it's really really too bad the rewards really does not fit its level. Anymore, that is. I really don't understand why they're...what's the word, trivializing the ex primals? The first thing people compare when it comes to gear reward is item level before calculating their secondary stats and majority of the 2.2 primal rewards and beyond are generally inferior to 'casual' soldiery at first glance.

This is one of the biggest cons of vertical progression: equipment of a certain level will, at some point, be rendered useless to the general player base (that being players who are moving forward and want to become stronger). In the case of XIV, this point comes every 6 months (or every 2 patches).

The other problem that XIV has is that new content that is added requires a higher item level for participation. Whilst content is generally added for all levels and play styles (i.e. story related content is of a lower level than the 3 new dungeons, which are in turn lower level than the current top tier content), in comparison to the previous content addition, the shift progressively increases. This wouldn't normally be an issue, I don't think, but the ease of access to the "baseline" equipment is too much that it renders even the recently added content practically obsolete to most players, especially those in the "I want to get stronger" camp. You don't find very many players who are gearing up using dungeons like the latest expert dungeons, or last patch's expert dungeons. It's just unnecessary to do that (outside of collecting gear for some alt classes).

That's really the main thing that needs to be "fixed". I'm all for trying to let players play catch up but it's a little ridiculous at how easy and fast that can be. For me, personally, I get more satisfaction out of earning my gear and my strength. But with the current ease of access to top tier gear, I don't feel that at all. I've kept away from the Hunts because I feel it cheapens the whole game, but as we're (the people I play with) are doing these and pushing ahead, I'm starting to feel like I'll have to in order to keep up.

tl;dr I'd rather see meaningful content, regardless of what level/tier of -core it sits at, than simply adding in more of the content that people won't want to do because there's an easier path somewhere else. (But trying to change human nature isn't something a game is going to do, without punishing the more casual players at the same time).

[Felis]

but Levi and Ramuh HM are pretty casual and calling them "Hard" is a bit of a misnomer.

Just call them "story mode", because they are inside of the mainstory.

[Zyrusticae]

I would call the primals midcore if you are basing it off difficulty.

Unfortunately, the primals are also completely irrelevant, especially in terms of gear now that the UAT weapons are so easy to upgrade with Sands of Time. The only reason to do primals at all is for vanity purposes and for the initial clear. That's basically it.

Coil is too difficult/requires too much commitment for "mainstream" players (and is obviously untouchable for casual players) and the Crystal Tower is incredibly, mind-numbingly easy. We need something in-between that actually gives gear like Coil and the Crystal Tower do. (It can fit pretty neatly in-between as well - if Coil is i110, the mid-core content can be i105, plus sands, oils, and UAT for Soldiery upgrades.)