Ifrit, and ideas

[ReverendVayne]

Ifrit...wonderful, isn't he? Big, strong, terrifying...and a bit of a nuisance, especially with all of the interface lag and skill lock-ups that occur. While the idea of a dynamic, movement-oriented fight is great, this was hardly the ideal time. An inherently flawed game design with a good idea operating under it is still...well, an inherently flawed game design! I congratulate Yoshi-P for moving forward the way he and his team has--great job; still, the game just wasn't ready for a battle like Ifrit. Frankly, I don't even think Darkhold should have been done just yet.

The reasons? Several. First off, the already existing lag makes it difficult, even with a great, state-of-the-art gaming rig. Sans that level of technology, it's a nightmare. This isn't to say it's impossible, and to some it may come easy! But not everyone.

Many people claim it's an 'easy' battle. Easy is a relative term, and most of these people are what could be called 'hardcore' and 'experienced' gamers. Keep in mind that part of the intent of FFXIV was to be friendly to the casual gamers, and we have a huge population of them within our community. While there's nothing wrong with a challenge, some people with less experience are at a disadvantage--even at level 50.

The solution? Simple: difficulties. You can choose to do a slightly easier battle, based on stars (with the middle difficulty being the 'base' Ifrit you all know, and the higher being stronger than normal, if you want a real hard battle). This way, the 'hardcore' gamer can get the thrills they seek, and the casual gamer can still achieve the satisfaction they desire.

Will this happen? I don't know, but I'm voicing it regardless! I would certainly hope it gets seen.

[Maxwell]

Thats not a bad idea. Lets avoid all the potential flaming about hardcore or not and focus on ideas.

Borrowing from another MMO, you would have 2 or 3 difficulty levels with each one a varying % on drop rate and maybe different tier of drops. A win on any of those difficulty would still complete the objectives.

1 star: drop rate 5%
2 star: drap rate 15% + some cash* maybe ?
3 star: drop rate 25% + unique items to this rank


* when i say cash i mean at least 20-30k gil per head

[Estellios]

Ifrit is meant to be a challenge. It caters to casual players because it is repeatable with minimal wait in between and getting the items to enter it are easily mass farmable.

I apologize if I sound stand-offish, but casual should be more about accessibility/being able to actually attempt the event rather than difficulty. Having done it a few times, the fight is very doable with some practice even with a sensible group (2-3 healers, tank, dds). You have to work together with your group and the ability to retry the fight relatively quickly means you can get quite a bit of practice in a short amount of time. My LS is mostly weekend only and this sort of challenge is a breath of fresh air and the kind of content we need. I'm assuming you haven't been able to try the hyper mode fight looking at your job levels, but check it out when you can and practice it a few times.

Coming from FF11 where failing a fight means you have to wait 3 days at best and weeks/months at worst to re-attempt it, I am enjoying learning fights a lot more in this game and a lot of things are intuitive enough for you to learn how to deal with them through practice with a good group.

[Eiz]

Yeah, that's cool, but they still need to do something to server lag, it is frustrating to have to push an action five times.. That doesn't help in hard battles. No matter how fast or skilled are you, there's always that filter that will slow you down or even make you lose buffs and recasts..

[Roaran]

There is absolutely nothing wrong with giving people more options. But a few things need to be satisfied. The more difficult encounter should reward accordingly and proportionately more valuable items than the less challenging encounter.

AND *Important one* It shouldn't distract the development of more important things.

I have no problem with other people fighting a lesser Ifrit that rewards appropriately less valuable rewards. But I think it is important to identify what function it should serve.

I don't think it is absolutely necessary to allow everyone to defeat Ifrit, only to allow everyone to attempt to battle with Ifrit. So, I'm already satisfied. It may be discouraging to not win at all, but really what is being decided is, "What proportion of the community should be able to defeat Ifrit," and the only people that can answer that question are the Developers. And it is an arbitrary decision no doubt. They will decide on whatever reasons they come up with, and I'm sure the community will help influence the decision.

And it's a balancing act.. If it's too easy, the rewards become less valuable and the achievement less glorious. Less people will even care at that point.

Then again if they don't offer two 'modes' and it is too easy, they end up not satisfying the 'hardcores'. By offering two modes they might be able to satisfy a larger amount of people for sure... but they will never be able to entirely satisfy everyone. I personally don't think ifrit was a challenge at all (can't believe it took BG 500 tries... wtf?) but I still had fun.

Basically the question is, do we break up existing content into 'modes' to satisfy more people with each encounter, OR do we simply develop separate content for each group. I think SE has chosen the former, despite many MMOs (glares at WoW) find the former a much cheaper alternative to satisfying masses.