Why does S-E make it so hard for new players to clear old content the intended way?

[Takfloyd]

I see so many people who want to beat Coil and the ARR EX Primals, but can't ever find a group that isn't an unsynced faceroll. This really bugs me - if I was a new player I'd be turned off the game entirely by being unable to do some of the best content properly.

I was hoping that the new dyeable gear from Coil would make finding groups viable again for those players, but then it turns out it can also be gotten via unsynced, and to top it off they are even adding MORE echo!

I think the unsync option was one of the worst features ever to be added to this game. Stuff like the new Relic that is intended to make older dungeons active again completely fail to do so because people just farm them unsynced via Party Finder, leaving the new players who want to run them for the first time sitting in the Duty Finder for half an hour.

It would have been fine if unsynced didn't give rewards, and especially stuff like ponies, but it does. And that really hurts the game.

Do you think there will ever be steps taken to make old hardcore content relevant again synced?

[Lambdafish]

I agree, but I do kinda see why it exists (old content that is outdated has grown tiring for those that have been farming them for ages). SE wants you to do new content, not old content, so unsync is how they get old players back, though I think they have made some things far too accessible, especially with the sheet music coming in 3.2. (for the love of God SE that should only be obtainable via normal or min ilvl, I don't want to play cheese the game to get rewards)

[DeeColon]

The casual player base is where SE's money comes from so no, sadly. New players will never be able to experience pre-nerf coils especially, even clicking off the echo buff will not make it the same because the fights themselves have been modified mechanically to be easier than they used to be. What you say is true that some people may be ultra turned off by the game seeing there's so much content they won't actually get to experience and just have to rush to Heavensward to try to be included in the current patch, but not enough for SE to be hurting to do something about it.

[Moomba33]

I love the unsync option myself. It allowed me to do content with my friends that we never would have done at all otherwise.
Honestly I suspect that if there was no unsync option many new players would simply never get to see those old fights at all. I can't imagine a new player successfully recruiting a learning party for something like t9 one or two expansions from now.

Maybe SE could add incentives to running stuff synced or at min ilevel, such as boosted drop rates?

[Pence]

Maybe SE could add incentives to running stuff synced or at min ilevel, such as boosted drop rates?

They've already done this with 3.2, the primal music drops will be 100% while synced iirc.

[Lambdafish]

They've already done this with 3.2, the primal music drops will be 100% while synced iirc.

Not 100% iirc, just "higher"

[Pence]

Not 100% iirc, just "higher"

Another new item is the orchestrion - can you tell us about the availability of the music scores? When you introduced it in the producer letter live, it sounded like content that could be challenged with minimum item-level sync. Will the drops change under those conditions?

Yoshida: No, you don't need to use the minimum IL sync to get drops. However, if you clear the extreme primals at the minimum IL sync, it will be a guaranteed drop.

Extreme primals at the minimum item level.... Will the drop rate go up in normal primals as well at the minimum item level?

Yoshida: Because that would be too easy, it won't change in the normal primals. The regular drop rate should feel similar to Triple Triad cards.

[ColinWilson1980]

Maybe SE could add incentives to running stuff synced or at min ilevel, such as boosted drop rates?

Or a token system instead of gear drops, where on completion of the coil you roll on a token that can be exchanged for any piece of gear that drops from that specific turn.

[Takfloyd]

The casual player base is where SE's money comes from so no, sadly. New players will never be able to experience pre-nerf coils especially, even clicking off the echo buff will not make it the same because the fights themselves have been modified mechanically to be easier than they used to be. What you say is true that some people may be ultra turned off by the game seeing there's so much content they won't actually get to experience and just have to rush to Heavensward to try to be included in the current patch, but not enough for SE to be hurting to do something about it.

It's not about needing the fights to be as hard as when they first came out, obviously that's unreasonable since the raiding scene has long since moved on.

It's just about making the basic mechanics still meaningful and not turning the whole fight into pure cheese that lasts for half a minute before the boss dies.

Echo is fine. Some overgearing is fine. Even mechanic nerfs are fine as long as the mechanic isn't removed altogether.

But going in with twice the ilvl you're supposed to have and 10 more levels including new abilities, then pressing 1 2 3 until all the bosses are dead, and then getting all the rewards? That's not okay. That's called butchering content.

So SE has nothing to do with it, if you run DF by yourself it syncs group and in PF group has a option of whether they want to run synced or unsynced.

SE has nothing to do with allowing that option in the first place, and thus making doing it by DF completely impossible because no one else does it?

[Lexia]

It's not about needing the fights to be as hard as when they first came out, obviously that's unreasonable since the raiding scene has long since moved on.

It's just about making the basic mechanics still meaningful and not turning the whole fight into pure cheese that lasts for half a minute before the boss dies.

Echo is fine. Some overgearing is fine. Even mechanic nerfs are fine as long as the mechanic isn't removed altogether.

But going in with twice the ilvl you're supposed to have and 10 more levels including new abilities, then pressing 1 2 3 until all the bosses are dead, and then getting all the rewards? That's not okay. That's called butchering content.



SE has nothing to do with allowing that option in the first place, and thus making doing it by DF completely impossible because no one else does it?

Yea cause it so bad SE gives people options.