Difficulty spike in Heavensward areas

[Risvertasashi]

ARR zones mobs were normal and the gameplay felt smooth but in the Heavensward areas the outdoor mobs hit really hard. I cannot take more than 2 mobs at a time. I am a tank.

As someone else mentioned, HW overworld mobs are intentionally a little higher on the difficulty curve. Just make sure you keep up to date on gear, and having a healer specced choco as well as potions can help a lot. Potions drop like candy so they should be pretty cheap to buy too. Good luck out there!

[Urthdigger]

The problem is because level 50 ARR mobs are intended for ilvl 50 players. Level 50 HW mobs are intended for ilvl 115 players. It's the same reason why mobs in Keeper of the Lake hit harder than in Castrum Meridianum despite both being "level 50"

[Kragon]

The problem is because level 50 ARR mobs are intended for ilvl 50 players. Level 50 HW mobs are intended for ilvl 115 players. It's the same reason why mobs in Keeper of the Lake hit harder than in Castrum Meridianum despite both being "level 50"

Right now my current ilvl is 122. A strange thing I have noticed that whenever I do MSQ or job quests the mobs in those quests are very weak and die easily but the outdoor mobs take long time to die. If all MSQ mobs, job quests mobs and outdoor mobs are hard then I understand but its not. What is the reason for this disparity of mobs between quests and zones?

[TarynH]

People complained in ARR that the standard zone mobs did not feel threatening so things were adjusted. Congratulations, you are dealing with the effects of what other people asked for.

And those same people probably don't even mess with those mobs now. But they'll be the first to say the new mobs in 4.0 aren't threatening enough.

[SmallHobbit]

WATCH THIS GUIDE

regards hobbit

[Renius]

Time to gear up for the area! They actually made going out of towns, cities more realistic than just grabbing a cup of coffee and wandering off, killing mobs with one blow while sipping coffee and trying not to spill it.

[Niwashi]

Sounds great to me. Going out in the wild should be a bit dangerous, and in ARR, it's sadly not. (It's one of the reasons I'm holding off on registering HW until I'm ready to start it. I want to enter at level 50, not 60, and get a chance to encounter open world mobs while they're still dangerous.)

A strange thing I have noticed that whenever I do MSQ or job quests the mobs in those quests are very weak and die easily but the outdoor mobs take long time to die.

Well, in most cases the mobs in MSQ or job quests need to be killed to continue with the next part of the game. Those are more likely to be set at a level that everyone can complete, and not get stuck there for too long. In the open world, most mobs can simply be avoided, or in some cases pulled singly without engaging others. There's rarely a case where you cannot continue the game without being able to defeat them. (Or if there is, you could get help with it, which is another thing rarely available in MSQ or job quests.)

[Frizze]

Another thing to keep in mind, in the MSQ solo instances those mobs need to be killable by anyone, any class, with no other players to help. My BLM might put out a lot more damage then your DRK, but when it comes time to survive a counter attack im at a heavy disadvantage. So they tune those mobs differently then the open world ones, as open world has no such limitations. The relative difficulty can change a bit from one fight to the next in these quest scenarios(some easier for a tank, some for a healer, some for dps), but with the right tactics all can be completed.