[ffxiv-future] A request for "Player-Selectable Difficulty Scaling"

[Isaaru]

Yet you're going to be flamed to death for that comment now because you (and I) think that people with such disorders should either avoid endgame content in mmos (it's called ENDGAME for a reason) or just play something less stress inducing like Animal Crossing or Nintendogs.

That makes three of us.

[SilvertearRen]

Btw, to those worried about complaints about old gear from the instances:

They're already obsolete, numbnuts. The gear from the Garuda fight will also be obsolete right out the gate, too.

I have one word for you: Materia.

[Buddhsie]

Btw, to those worried about complaints about old gear from the instances:

They're already obsolete, numbnuts. The gear from the Garuda fight will also be obsolete right out the gate, too.

I have one word for you: Materia.

The Ifrit weapons are far from obsolete. As for dungeon gear, I assume that any gear created before the 'dated' gear period and implementation of materia will be vastly worse than gear with it. Some materia can only be equipped in some slots, which causes some slots (such as head for DD) to lack in beneficial stats. There is and will always be unique/untradable gear better than materia gear from here on out (Yoshi-P said that there will be a balance between unique/untradable gear and gear with 1 materia in it).

[Buddhsie]

Here's an alternative: Instead of having these instances have scaling difficulty the minute they're implemented in a patch, why not add it a few months down the road in a later patch after the dungeon/encounter/raid's debut? That way, hardcore players can run around swinging their e-peens for those few months.

If this is implemented then the masses will complain that old content is useless, and they will be forced to add new difficult content that has gear that replaces the old. It would also make people lazy, and people wouldn't even attempt events that they found difficult because 'it will be gimped later.'

Yet another alternative: Implement an in-game method to reduce dungeons/raids difficulties by obtaining a key item that can be used only once (and you can have only one at a time). For example, let's pretend we have a raid dungeon full of Tonberries. You want to have an easier time killing the tonberries and the bosses, so you go on a long quest arc with plenty of gradually-increasing difficulties, and finally obtain the "Sacred Tonberry Lantern"! You then use that Lantern in the dungeon to reduce the difficulty of the fights in that dungeon. There are mechanics like this in FFXI, such as the Generals you recruit for the Campaign battles.

This is just silly.

I really don't think there's a viable way to scale boss fights, I think it's silly to let people experience the feats of the game by turning a dial to easy mode, in my opinion those people who can't complete certain events just need to go do something else. But don't worry, V2.0 will have plenty of options for them.

[Isanien]

@ OP: I really liked your post . I sure hope the devs listen and allow all players to have access to and enjoy all the content in the game (which we pay for, in the end). I believe there was a comment by Yoshi-P in an interview or something about difficulty adjustment. I just wish there were at least finer gradations of difficulty selection so that's not just easy-no reward/hard-reward.

[Zuellni]

It's really surprising and rather disappointing to see so many people against the idea of being able to choose your difficulty for raids and primal fights. Games are a form of entertainment made for an audience of various lifestyles. This is especially true in an MMO like FFXIV where we literally collaborate with other players on an international scale. Why is it that there's a notion that MMO or "endgame" content must be for the "hardcore" players? We're not even talking about rewards here as Ren has stated in the original post that players choosing the easy modes would not be getting NM or raid gears.

What's so wrong about allowing players to experience content which they have worked to become eligible for? Would you tell someone they're not allowed to see a film because they don't understand the underlying themes of the movie despite the fact that they are able to enjoy the story on a surface level? Adding an easy mode with reduced reward to "endgame" content doesn't take away anything from the "hardcore" players. Players overcoming the regular and harder difficulties can still keep their inflated egos with their special gear while players choosing the easy route will get to experience the full battle with higher survivability rates while foregoing the superfluous rewards.

The point is, not every player is going to be a hardened video game veteran with over a decade of experience under their belts. Some players are just here to chat and experience the content because they love the world, or Final Fantasy or just enjoy doing things with friends. And if SE's goal is to reach out to as wide a player base as possible, this would be one idea that could be taken into consideration. For the time being, I hope your friends can overcome their challenges with the high level content currently available.

[Buddhsie]

It's really surprising and rather disappointing to see so many people against the idea of being able to choose your difficulty for raids and primal fights. Games are a form of entertainment made for an audience of various lifestyles. This is especially true in an MMO like FFXIV where we literally collaborate with other players on an international scale. Why is it that there's a notion that MMO or "endgame" content must be for the "hardcore" players? We're not even talking about rewards here as Ren has stated in the original post that players choosing the easy modes would not be getting NM or raid gears.

What's so wrong about allowing players to experience content which they have worked to become eligible for? Would you tell someone they're not allowed to see a film because they don't understand the underlying themes of the movie despite the fact that they are able to enjoy the story on a surface level? Adding an easy mode with reduced reward to "endgame" content doesn't take away anything from the "hardcore" players. Players overcoming the regular and harder difficulties can still keep their inflated egos with their special gear while players choosing the easy route will get to experience the full battle with higher survivability rates while foregoing the superfluous rewards.

The point is, not every player is going to be a hardened video game veteran with over a decade of experience under their belts. Some players are just here to chat and experience the content because they love the world, or Final Fantasy or just enjoy doing things with friends. And if SE's goal is to reach out to as wide a player base as possible, this would be one idea that could be taken into consideration. For the time being, I hope your friends can overcome their challenges with the high level content currently available.

No, endgame is not just for the 'hardcore' players. The little endgame that FFXIV has now is challenging, as it has been designed to be. As I outlined in my previous post, the ideas behind the difficulty of events such as the Ifrit fight is that between each major patch the entire range of players ends up beating it. He said that the ideal progression is that the hardcore players beat it first and the casual players end up beating it later when the mechanics of the fight become well known and it becomes easier.

It doesn't take a hardcore gamer to be competent and complete difficult endgame content, a casual player can be just as good. FFXI is a very clear indicator of a system that worked, it had a large range of endgame events (that will be the case for FFXIV too later on) that catered to a range of players. When salvage came out it was hard as shit, a couple months later you had the right party setups down, the right strategies and paths to follow and it was easy, easy enough for pickup groups.

It devalues the victory of ALL players to allow a difficulty setting for endgame content. Where's the satisfaction of watching a cutscene for beating a mission fight when you do it on easy mode? When you watch a huge-ass monster die in front of you, how do you feel knowing that you made it easier for yourself? This isn't pre-school, you aren't having your hand held, either do it properly or don't even try.

I seriously think all of the people in this thread crying to have this implemented are a) jealous of more skilled players that have done things like beat ifrit, b) had their application to a good linkshell denied or c) are just plain lazy and want things handed to them like children. You aren't here to have things made easy for you, the point of the game is to have challenging events that you work towards, and the satisfaction of completing them AS THEY ARE is the feeling you strive to have.

Your analogy is garbage btw.

[ChiefCurrahee]

I wonder what it's like for these people at a super market when they buy milk.

non-fat? 1%, 2%....... WHOLE MILK!!!!! IT'S TOO DIFFICULT!!!!!

[Fensfield]

The most depressing thing, is half these spiteful comments probably wouldn't be coming up, and there might even be more positive reactions, had the original suggestion simply been:

Why not have difficulty scaling for people who want to see and experience content normally restricted to people willing to deal with the negative aspects of hardcore play, and are more than happy to get lessened rewards as a result?

It's kind of sad that someone giving more context to their suggestion and being open with the community, ended up with more misunderstanding, trolling, and spite.

[Buddhsie]

The most depressing thing, is half these spiteful comments probably wouldn't be coming up, and there might even be more positive reactions, had the original suggestion simply been:


It's kind of sad that someone giving more context to their suggestion and being open with the community, ended up with more misunderstanding, trolling, and spite.

It's got nothing to do with that, it's a ridiculous suggestion to begin with.