I wish everything was harder and there was capped level content.

[Eyervan]

The game should have an exponential difficulty. Ramping up every dungeon. By level 40-45 I want to be failing dungeons because it requires skill. Not just breeze by them because I can dodge two easy mechanics etc. Implement Merit Points. Make my level 60 quests and dungeons have an actual point to them. Not just some thing to get bad gear, and some tomes... Please. Merit Points. Have 1 Merit Point cost 1million EXP. Give us just that please.

[Nektulos-Tuor]

I wish they removed levels from the game.

Who needs em? Just start everyone at max level and remove levels. This game has a story that already makes you do it to unlock dungeons and get gear, no need to have levels.

[Eyervan]

I think there's still value in leveling up out of principle, but there's no reason it should be as easy as it is. Starting out at max level would be bogus in my opinion. It would only introduce more problems with people not understanding how to play their jobs. But to go along with what you're saying. The whole game fees like a massive tutorial up until the final mission of Heavensward.

[MilesSaintboroguh]

Unless the rewards are worth it, no one is going to bother bashing their heads in the wall.

[Cilia]

Unless the rewards are worth it, no one is going to bother bashing their heads in the wall.

Or: Gordias Savage.

In all seriousness, the game does need to be just a bit more difficult, but the ease we see now is mostly because we're all grossly overgeared. I remember harrowing fights against that there dude in the Fractal Continuum, uhh... what's his name... Phantom Ray, because we weren't overgeared and so DPS wasn't high enough to down him at 1-2 damage up stacks. I've also utterly failed in some low-level dungeons, like Aurum Vale, because the healer wasn't in level-appropriate equipment and couldn't heal though the first freakin' boss. The only thing that was really disappointing, difficulty-wise, in 3.0 was the Knights of the Round fight (of all things!).

... XIV might not be balls-hard like old-school MMOs were, but difficulty is there for people who want it.

[Eyervan]

@Cilia

I wish endgame difficulty was more midgame. Making midgame harder from the get go would have giving more of a sense of accomplishment.

I just think back to my FFXI 75 cap lifestyle and the sense of accomplishment I had for doing literally everything I had to do. Even mid-level stuff was hard/took time to do. The sense of accomplishment was real. Getting AF (artifact gear) was a relatively epic accomplishment and quite a glamour, but it felt better. FFXIV is like having your parent hold your hand through every step making it easy for you. And don't get me wrong. I still love it and have fun doing it, I just don't feel the challenge, nor do I see the general audience of players have a higher skill level like they did in FFXI. Lv60 ppl who haven't a clue what they're doing is common. Which is totally messed up cause by then you should know what you're doing. Even I'm relatively new with 2 lvl 60's and shouldn't really judge much, but oh man. Game needs to be harder overall.

[AnaviAnael]

@Cilia

I just think back to my FFXI 75 cap lifestyle and the sense of accomplishment I had for doing literally everything I had to do. Even mid-level stuff was hard/took time to do. The sense of accomplishment was real. Getting AF (artifact gear) was a relatively epic accomplishment and quite a glamour, but it felt better. FFXIV is like having your parent hold your hand through every step making it easy for you. And don't get me wrong. I still love it and have fun doing it, I just don't feel the challenge, nor do I see the general audience of players have a higher skill level like they did in FFXI. Even I'm relatively new with 2 lvl 60's and shouldn't really judge much, but oh man. Game needs to be harder overall.

While I understand you and many have this sentiment, you have to understand what you see as difficult, many of us see as boring and tedious. Getting to 75 was not hard, in fact I feel the worst part of it was sitting in Jeuno looking for a party. lol xD Different people with different mentalities. I think you'll get more of that sense of accomplishment you seek once you get your first job over i200.

[Niwashi]

... the ease we see now is mostly because we're all grossly overgeared. ...

Agree with this. What it needs to fix the over-simplification isn't changes in the fights themselves (or most of them anyway), it's improving level sync and item level sync. There's enough challenge there already if your whole team is on-level and in on-level gear.

[Jim_Berry]

Or: Gordias Savage.

In all seriousness, the game does need to be just a bit more difficult, but the ease we see now is mostly because we're all grossly overgeared. I remember harrowing fights against that there dude in the Fractal Continuum, uhh... what's his name... Phantom Ray, because we weren't overgeared and so DPS wasn't high enough to down him at 1-2 damage up stacks. I've also utterly failed in some low-level dungeons, like Aurum Vale, because the healer wasn't in level-appropriate equipment and couldn't heal though the first freakin' boss. The only thing that was really disappointing, difficulty-wise, in 3.0 was the Knights of the Round fight (of all things!).

... XIV might not be balls-hard like old-school MMOs were, but difficulty is there for people who want it.

Nope. There are too many of us who only want to play Softcore. Making everything hard will cause unsubscribers.

Or maybe pull a FFVIII where enemies scale based on your Level, in this case, total group's average Item Level.

[Cilia]

@Cilia

And making the early game harder from the get-go while ramping up the difficulty throughout the story would provide more a sense of accomplishment as well. Why not just make it stupidly hard from the beginning, so you feel really accomplished for finishing? ... because that's not enjoyable to more people than it is, and the game needs to appeal to as broad an audience as possible to be profitable.

There is difficult and/or time-consuming content to do. For difficulty, find a static and do Gordias Savage. For time-consuming, get a Zodiac or Anima weapon. Also remember that a lot of the content you do from 1-50 has been nerfed into the ground. Both Titan and Garuda were serious challenges during 2.0's story, their respective Hard Modes (which everybody did for their Relic weapon) even more so. Steps of Faith? You were lucky to get a group where people didn't drop when it was first released, because it took serious effort and a few tries to succeed, and even then it was a close shave.

Ravana was difficult on 3.0 release because people were used to being able to just overpower the content through gear and ignore mechanics; he's the first fight where you can't do that in 3.0. Bismarck similarly throws a curveball, requiring attentiveness and having a DPS check that some groups can't clear; I still die to this day in Bismarck HM (normal) because people just can't hit the shield generator when he dips down and can't burn adds quick enough.

Content is usually more difficult when it's first released and later made easier so people who join (or people who suck) can catch up to the endgame raiding scene, which is what the game's built around. When content is easy people complain it's not hard enough, but when they're taken out of their comfort zone by new content they complain and quit (or: Halls of Reflection). The glory days of requiring tremendous effort to get anywhere in an MMO is gone, and I agree it should be a little harder (just a little), but...

WAIT! Wait...

I just think back to my FFXI 75 cap lifestyle and the sense of accomplishment I had for doing literally everything I had to do.

I just think back to my FFXI 75 cap lifestyle and the sense of accomplishment...

I just think back to my FFXI...

Dang, just another XI vet with rose-tinted nostalgia goggles on reminiscing about how great XI was.

Putting it as politely as I can: XIV was not, is not, and never will be XI-2 mechanically or in terms of the world. Wanting or expecting it to be or to become as such will only lead to disappointment. It's a very different game, made to compete with the contemporary market, not the MMO market of 15 years past.

To everyone else: there's nothing to see here. Move along. Keep moving.

Nope. There are too many of us who only want to play Softcore. Making everything hard will cause unsubscribers.

I'm not suggesting it be made too hard, but the current content is boring to casual players because it's so easy. Also my main gripe is with the Knights of the Round fight, since even on release it was absolutely pathetic for being derived from one of the most awe-inspiring summons from the franchise ever. I just hope they don't butcher Ark if they put it in...

Also, "softcore?" *snicker*