It's time to redesign Level Sync

[Vhailor]

There is, it's called game design. That's what balancing content is all about.

Horseshit. That's what over-emphasizing a slow learning curve is all about. SE introduces abilities far too gradually in FFXIV, generally speaking, and the game is less interesting (both for level synced and newer players) for it. It has absolutely nothing to do with content balance, and the phrase "game design" must be something that just sounded good to you, considering that it encompasses everything gameplay-related in FFXIV, and would apply to abilities gained regardless of how quickly they were introduced.

Brutal, right? Having to make intelligent decisions regarding when to hold back and when to cut loose. Sounds almost like...gaming.. Then again, 70% of legal adults can't even follow a speed limit sign when driving, so maybe they are better off having else make their decisions for them.

The main problem is that most people that I've seen, in DF at least, cut loose first, and blame the tank or healer for the run going badly second. Sure, they could get vote-kicked for screwing things up, but realistically speaking, I think it would just lead to a lot of stress within low-level parties.

Also, adults are fully capable of following a speed limit sign (they all got their license, after all, which requires obeying the speed limits). It's that they don't want to, or feel the posted speed limit sign is too low, or need to surpass it in order to keep with the speed of traffic. Just saying.

[Ayer2015]

I see no real point in doing this, and doubt they will. The point of auto-downgrading certain skills was to address bloat and skill bar management when doing old content. If anything I'd like them to tune level syncing so we are not so overpowered.

Please make old content harder by syncing our ilv down further

[Macleod]

SWTOR was able to implement level sync awhile back without stripping you of all your abilities when leveled down. I really wish they'd do the same here, it's so boring being leveled down and having no buttons to push.

[Avatre]

I don't know about you guys but I'm always reluctant to help lowbies or even bother with leveling roulette sometimes because I'm not keen to spend 20 minutes in a dungeon spamming 2 abilities (hello Sastasha) It's BORING and almost puts me to sleep.

Yes, it is VERY boring, but that is how the game is sometimes.

If you are a level 70 synced down to level 20, your abilities remain but they are statistically reduced to match level 20 damage/healing output. This means your rotations stay the same but your damage and healing is significantly reduced to match the dungeons content.

They would also have to include a formula to reduce the benefits from your gear even further based on the underlined above. So your base stats when you get synched would be lower than a level 20 with level 20 gear to compensate, and make it matching.

[Kosmos992k]

The fundamental misunderstanding of your post lies in the title and your own words. You talk about level sync, when in fact you mean ilevel sync. The game has both. For older leveling dungeons full level sync places players on an even footing. Otherwise lower level players would be little more than window dressing in a dungeon, and would get and learn nothing from the run.

ilvl sync leaves your abilities in tact, but drops your gear and it's stats to something approaching the level of the content. In other words, it already does what you are asking for. So your request is redundant.

I see no real point in doing this, and doubt they will. The point of auto-downgrading certain skills was to address bloat and skill bar management when doing old content. If anything I'd like them to tune level syncing so we are not so overpowered.

Please make old content harder by syncing our ilv down further

I have been asking for this additional tuning of level sync since before Heavensward. Level sync isn't strict enough, a level 70 in an early dungeon such as one of the ARR dungeons is far and away more powerful than any appropriately leveled player or the enemies in the dungeon which makes the dungeons both easy and boring.

[Maeka]

This wouldn't work.

Let's say I, the Lv60+ WHM gets put into Baby Ifrit. Compare that to a Lv20 WHM that also does the same Baby Ifrit...

They have...

Cure
Medica

I have....

Cure
Medica
Cure 2
Medica 2
Assize
Asylum
Regen
Tetragammaton
Benediction (which doesn't scale!! It's always 100%!)
Cure 3

How is that healer supposed to be able to even come close to competing with me, unless they nerfed the other skills so hard they aren't worth using?

[ErryK]

Horseshit. That's what over-emphasizing a slow learning curve is all about. SE introduces abilities far too gradually in FFXIV, generally speaking, and the game is less interesting (both for level synced and newer players) for it. It has absolutely nothing to do with content balance, and the phrase "game design" must be something that just sounded good to you, considering that it encompasses everything gameplay-related in FFXIV, and would apply to abilities gained regardless of how quickly they were introduced.

Just don't play low level content if it's going to get your knickers into a twist. The game gives abilities at a good pace. You get your full combo at 30, and with the increases to EXP it takes less than a week to get to 50, even 60, but that's besides the point. Next you're gonna tell me that single player games should reward all abilities by Level 2.

[Voltyblast]

I wish they could indeed make us use all of our skills even while synched: sure it would need a lot of work on it but if big games like SWTOR (where synching up is a thing) and WoW (where time travel is a thing, but nothing else) can do it, I don't see why not.

Although I wouldn't be surprised if it's the usual "strain on server" excuse we hear every time so, alongside many other minor excuses and comments so I doubt it will ever happen.

Too bad, but not surprised at the very least.

[Nixxe]

As much as I don't like losing abilities when synced, do I really want to have to work three times as hard for DPS similar to the guy spamming one or two buttons over and over? No, no I do not. Personally, I hate Sastasha more for the fact that the scaling of the end-of-dungeon bonus doesn't compensate for the lack of mob XP.

Just don't play low level content if it's going to get your knickers into a twist. The game gives abilities at a good pace. You get your full combo at 30, and with the increases to EXP it takes less than a week to get to 50, even 60, but that's besides the point. Next you're gonna tell me that single player games should reward all abilities by Level 2.

There are three complaints I commonly see from people who either refuse to try FFXIV or tried it and quit:
1. I don't like the "anime style."
2. The GCD makes combat too slow.
3. I don't have enough abilities for it to be fun.

Now keep in mind that most of these people are quitting in the first few levels. To be sure, these are mostly people coming from other MMORPGs, so they aren't total rookies and therefore need less of a learning curve, but I do think there's something to the idea that classes/jobs don't get enough abilities quickly enough, especially when we're talking about core abilities that may really showcase what playing it will be like later. There's perhaps a better balance that can be struck. WoW introduces abilities much faster and it certainly didn't cause me problems when I had first picked it up, despite having never really played any games truly like it before. The slow learning curve of FFXIV definitely helps less experienced people get into the game, but it still needs to be fast enough to keep them here. I stuck around because I really liked the story. People who are less interested in the story may not have much of a reason to do so.

[Berethos]

Brutal, right? Having to make intelligent decisions regarding when to hold back and when to cut loose. Sounds almost like...gaming..

The other part is that the there needs to be an element of fun to those decisions. What is fun about sitting on most of your abilities because if you don't you'll pull aggro?