Am I the only one that sort of kinda likes the nerf to SoF?

[Yumi_umi]

If only SE added a vote reset....
All of this QQ about difficulty nerf would be like only 1 or 2 threads.
It would keep the difficulty but would allow more attempts and make it more salvagable if an attempt messes up to a point of no return.

[CGMidlander]

Steps was not casual unfriendly. One of the chat/socializing linkshells I'm in is filled with casual players and none of the 100-someodd players there complained in chat about it being unbeatable. The complaints were mostly limited to people in df bailing after loading in. But to get around that, the casuals formed parties of their own on pf and cleared with other casuals no problem.

Steps was only a roadblock to people who can't read or people who throw fits when somebody tells them what to do.

Not all casual players are the same as the aforementioned morons. They might not be geared optimally, perform rotations optimally, or land all their positionals...etc. But most can read and can handle the one or two tasks required of them in Steps.

[TouchandFeel]

IMO, Steps was not hard in the least and did not need to be nerfed.

What it did need was basic stuff that it should have had from the start; these being a rest on a full wipe, more of a reward to get people to want to redo it (accessory, minion or card drops or more tomes) and potentially moving it from trial roulette to main scenario roulette due to the current much greater completion time necessary for Steps.

It is incredibly easy if you do the simple mechanics the fight was designed with. The real problem comes from many people that have completed it and know the fight don't want to go back and do it again, which hopefully the above suggestions would help with. Then there are the non-majority but ever present group of players that don't know the content and don't want to listen or learn and just expect everyone to "go go go" and carry them so they can clear and get the loot. Unfortunately I can't do much about these people since you can't help those that refuse to be helped (outside of carrying them and I personally do not support carrying dead weight). While fewer than those that want to learn and beat it, they create more of a burden on those that are already having a difficult time making it even harder.

Those are the main issue that I see with Steps, nobody wanting to do it again, which leaves those that want to try to clear it but are not quite able without the assistance that could get them the win and then the lazy and entitled subset of players, that while not the majority of the player base have a noticeable detracting influence on the game experience for many players.

Or at least that is how I feel about the problems with and subsequent nerfs to steps.

People should be able to clear this content and not be locked out from HW, but those that are too busy watching TV while poking at a single key on their keyboard to spam one ability, if they can't clear it well too bad. They shouldn't expect to beat or win at a game if they're not even really playing it.

[Twilite]

No you're not the only one.

[Mythrella]

i don't want the playerbase to go away, i want them to stop complaining about easy fights, and learn to cooperate, and clear it.
i know that everyone have different skill level, but as i stated, if you can get to SoF, you should be able to clear it. If you think it's a bit tough, then practice until you get it down.
the fight comprise of healers healing, tanks pulling mobs, DD doing cannons. how is that different from any other content? what exactly about the fight is so difficult that so many ppl can't clear it?

I care because they will keep making content easier, to cater to the masses, which means the game will be less exciting/fun to play and i'll probably quit.
I care because there's not gonna be any point in even having any fights at all, since you don't really have to "participate" to clear it. Where's it gonna stop? like the first solo fights in the story, where pap and yda fight the boss for you, and heal you while you deal with adds? they might as well stop making trial content, since ppl don't want/can't cooperate.
I think it's a valid reason to keep it that way, cause SE released it that way. And for ppl to make an effort to learn the fight, and clear it on their own merit, instead of getting carried. Maybe that way they could enjoy the game a little bit more. Personally i don't like getting carried, i want to clear it cause i can.
Also the fight IS easy, as i outlined above, there's really nothing new in the fight, except maybe timing spears, and how hard is that to figure out? If you're new, just heal/tank as usual, if you're DD, do cannons....i just don't see where the difficulty is. It's incomprehensible that ppl find it hard, and need nerf.

It's possible I missed something, but it's my understanding the complaints were primarily about players abandoning it, not the difficulty level of the fight which requires 8 people instead of the 3 left behind after the rest bailed upon zoning in. The fight took too long, "errybody else are stoopid", they were scared, had a first timer join, whatever excuse. This left the others stuck.

Either way, it was enough to make SE notice:
This left those going through the story stuck in content gating them from the expansion which is a month away. This could mean less Heavensward sales.

Why didn't Yoshi just add a pony or card or something to entice players to stay inside instead, who knows. I would guess those require more time and resources than just nerfing one single fight when the devs obviously have their hands full with Heavensward right now.

This isn't a slippery slope. The big picture is that this is a unique case with an encroaching deadline in June to funnel players through a gate.

If they wanted to cater everything to the super casual and/or bad players, then Coil would be under the nerfbat too, especially given the age of much of it.

Also, sidenote to clarify for some of you. "Casual" is not synonymous with "Bad". There's plenty of casuals who will research a fight, perform their job well and often clear all available content. Bad players won’t do these things, and throwing "hard" fights at them will not force them to "get good" because they simply don't care. It's 2015 I thought everyone knew this by now.

I hate nerfs (they can happen naturally). I love gates. But I’m not going to condemn the expansion, devs or Yoshi for opening the gate to Heavensward.

[Twilite]

Geez.. nerfs really make you people contradict yourselves several times over. It's almost sad.

[Velox]

almost no one wants to step up and give out orders and some people just refuse to cooperate even if it means a win for the team. Were humans. Were a**holes by default.

My first win in Steps of Faith was in a 100% DF group. When the instance started, I assigned every player a role and told them to focus all their attention on said role and trust everyone to do their own. The first run thru was to get everyone acquainted with their roles I assigned, as I wasn't expecting a one-shot anyway given 6 of the 8 were brand new. After we failed, I answered any questions players had and explained what they did wrong and what needed to be fixed. The 2nd run through we downed it. 8 complete strangers over the internet who followed orders.

Not everyone who plays the game is incompetent and not every human is an a**hole. Don't make assumptions like that.

[Morzy]

Hard to say, I haven't done SoF yet. If it makes it easier for new players to clear the trial and progress in the story, I do not mind at all.

[Fallenstarz]

Did any other region i.e.: non U.S. players Need the nerf as well or was it mainly done for our region. I'm noticing a trend with content makers nerfing or "Changing" classes, quests, dungeons, mechanics and other aspects in many games to suit western culture.

As frustrated as I was with how many times I had to do steps of Faith, the completion of it was super rewarding because of how difficult it was.

[Nektulos-Tuor]

Did any other region i.e.: non U.S. players Need the nerf as well or was it mainly done for our region. I'm noticing a trend with content makers nerfing or "Changing" classes, quests, dungeons, mechanics and other aspects in many games to suit western culture.

As frustrated as I was with how many times I had to do steps of Faith, the completion of it was super rewarding because of how difficult it was.

Its too bad you don't get anything for doing it.