Quote Originally Posted by Velhart View Post
It is pretty much common sense no matter what country you are developing from that there needs to be that over the top difficulty to keep your hardcore players engaged.
I hope is that one day someone will provide some actual evidence of this kind of statement, instead of just throwing it out there as though its truth is self-evident. The only thing that's ever provided to corroborate it is anecdotal comments from people saying things like "Yeah, I remember being inspired to raid by some guy wearing <insert raid loot here>!"

While on the other side of things you have a game like Wildstar, designed specifically to have "over the top difficulty to keep your hardcore players engaged" falling flat it on its face shortly after release.

Quote Originally Posted by Velhart View Post
Starting at 3.2, at best FFXIV is going to be a midcore game. Which compared to other MMO's is going to be considered a joke in the raid scene.
Given that it's only ever provided, at most, four challenging fights per six months, it's always been a "midcore" game. If you're a serious hardcore raider, looking for something to play, FFXIV has probably never been very high on your list.