Disappointed by Alexander (story) difficulty, fear Savage difficulty

[stupiddog]

Hi,

before I start, please let me say that I am most probably not the "elitist" player you might think after reading the thread title. Nevertheless, I think the difficulty in the current Alexander (story) raid is poorly designed.

When I started with 2.2 and progressed, it took me quite a look time to truly get the grip of my job (SMN) and to find a FC/static that would bother with my various shortcomings on the battlefield. We needed several weeks to beat Turn 6 (we did it shortly before the big nerf came), and I think we needed several weeks to get Turn 9 done (think we beat it with 15% echo or so). We gradually improved, and we were finally able to beat T13 the week before HW was released. However, every single one of these kills was deeply satisfying, I learned a lot, and it brought us closer together as a group/FC.

And now, we have Alexander. I understand that SE wishes to make it as accessible as possible, but in doing so, a terrible mess was created. I was able to beat the first three floors yesterday in a semi-random group with three wipes at most (IIRC, floor 2 was even cleared on the first attempt). Sure, it was nice to be able to see cutscenes and everything, but it left a very sour taste in my mouth.

When Alexander (Savage) will come out, it is likely be much more difficult than coil (pre-nerf) was. I am not sure if anybody except "progress" raiders will even bother with that kind of difficulty. Most probably, we will have to live with "ridiculously easy" and "extremely difficult" levels. Both do not satisfy me in any way.

Alexander (story):
- No preparation necessary (all fights can be quickly explained in-game)
- Hardly any communication required during the fight
- Most turns fall after the third attempt
- Does not really force players to learn and improve; severe tank errors, bad DPS rotations, and healing oversights often do not cause a wipe.

What coil was: <-- Please bring back THIS!
- Most turns (except the last one) take approx. two or three weeks (medium-skill raid group, two raid days per week)
- Attention to detail, reading guides, communication (most use TS) required
- One bad player would usually kill the whole raid (at least in T5, T9, and T13)
- Everyone has to learn and improve
- Although difficulty was high, everyone had what I call a "fair chance".
- Halfway decent gear (iLvl around 115) was enough to give FCoB a try (pre-DF)

What Alexander (savage) will probably be:
- Out of reach for most medium-skill groups until 20% nerf
- Hardly doable below 3 or 4 raid days/week
- BiS equipment (current Relic maximum etc.) required, maybe even crafted equipment with fully melds (hello GS!)


EDIT: Maybe I haven't made my point clear enough. For the audience it was made for, i.e. players to whom story is more important than fighting, Alex Story Mode is perfectly fine. I have no problem with its existence.

What I have a problem with is the difficulty planed for Savage. Yes, we do not know exactly how difficult it will be. My fears are that it will be so much more difficult than FCoB (which means: Second Coil Savage when it came out) that "medium-skilled players" like me won't be able to do it, even with the time I can afford to put in.

All the best,
Zazanima Mananima