Variance in player skill is hurting FFXIV's itemization design.

[Ibi]

Diadem was fine, but the crybabies of casuals came to the internet complain about it because it would require effort to get decent gear, it was a grind fest, yes, but the only real grind there was, good job casuals, keep killing content, at this rate in one year there will be 10% of hardcores and raiders than there is now.

Are there really people that honestly enjoy content with minimal engagement, requiring zero skill and near-zero effort with extremely low reward rates?

I found diadem mind-numbingly boring, personally. The only good thing about it was that spending more than fifteen minutes in there actually made me eager to get back into A3S/A4S.

[Vivi_Bushido]

Are there really people that honestly enjoy content with minimal engagement, requiring zero skill and near-zero effort with extremely low reward rates?

I found diadem mind-numbingly boring, personally. The only good thing about it was that spending more than fifteen minutes in there actually made me eager to get back into A3S/A4S.

Some people do actually. I did. But not because I enjoyed the physical content like Diadem. I enjoyed getting the gear and how quickly I was able to progress simply by sacrificing and hour or two at a time to gear up. It wasn't the content that was fun. It was the thrill of the rewards that made it fun.

[Ibi]

Some people do actually. I did. But not because I enjoyed the physical content like Diadem. I enjoyed getting the gear and how quickly I was able to progress simply by sacrificing and hour or two at a time to gear up. It wasn't the content that was fun. It was the thrill of the rewards that made it fun.

I can see how that could change your perspective.

I was already in mostly i210 gear when Diadem hit. Our FC did a Diadem night for the first three weeks it was out, and I think in those three sessions I got a total of two offspec upgrades, so the reward factor was rather absent for me.

Regardless, you said yourself that it's not the content that you enjoyed, it was the rewards. Those could just as easily have been added to a system that was intrinsically interesting, rather than where they were the only motivation.