why am i so gimped now?

[Umo]

Monsters' speed attack is the only thing that I feel unbalanced. Hell, they keep hitting like killing machines.
I know that's what they are supossed to do, but I guess they must have a delay (not a big one, though) just like us players. I'm not talking about pre-1.19 situation, but please, don't give 'em more caffeine... It seems they have taken all Yoshi-P's energy drinks...

[Payadopa]

Was in an exp party yesterday (mid-thirty, 8 ppl) and we were killing doblyns lvl 40+. Man, that was so much fun and rewarding. We got 2 to 4 links (if we weren't careful) and often died. But the exp made up for it. No standing around for hours as in XI too. That's what I want 'grinding' to be.

Fun, challenging and rewarding. Thanks, Yoshi and team!

[Firesoul]

Greetings! Mocchi gathered information from Matsui about why players are feeling as if battle is much more difficult now then prior to patch 1.19.

Here you go!

Originally Posted by Mocchi

Hello.

I would like to talk a little bit about battle balance.

In our most recent patch, we made some adjustments so that the improvements of leveling up or upgrading gear are more noticeable. (As a result, defeating an opponent with a much higher level or defeating an opponent who usually requires 8 players with only 2 players will be much more difficult to pull off. Despite these changes, please understand that it is not our intention to do away with the impact of player skills.) Overall, we believe that we have been able to achieve what we desired for battles, but more detailed individual adjustments may become necessary as play continues.

As mentioned in another post, players may feel that they are stronger or weaker based on how they have distributed their physical bonuses, and it will require some trial and error to get a good feel for the materia system and other new gear. I feel that it will take a few days to become accustomed to the changes.

In patch 1.19, monster stats have been altered, physical level and physical bonuses have been removed, damage calculations have been changed, and gear stats have been reviewed, so there will be situations where past knowledge and experience will not apply anymore. Furthermore, the patch has just been released, so I understand that players may feel uncomfortable with the changes. With that said, I would greatly appreciate it if you submit your opinions and feedback after you get a better feel for the changes by testing things out for a few days. (I am not saying that your feedback now is pointless! Rather, I would like to compare the reactions immediately after the patch with the feedback after some time has passed.)

The only problem I see with this is the time having passed when SE reevaluates might not adequately portray what is going on in game. The people who don't like the patch will drop, and thus stop posting the their feelings, and the people who stay will have won. One way or another, this game will head in one of the two camp's direction. The rest who don't post will just be along for the ride.