Objectively, The Royal Managerie Will Be Nerfed

[Auteur]

I'm not saying subjectively right or wrong that The Royal Managerie (end of SB story mode trial) should be nerfed, but objectively it screams nerf. SE can't have an instance at that difficulty as a part of story mode because it's going to gate people from content (same logic behind Steps of Faith). They will lose subs otherwise and it's bad for business.

The same defensive rationales will be made, i.e. "all you need is a premade," but once it's at that point it's objectively too much for story mode. SE knows, or should know, they absolutely cannot afford to have story mode be at a high enough difficulty that it gates people from content (it's required to unlock the Verity vendor)... they should, and already are largely, saving it for the optional stuff, i.e. EX primals and savage.

[Powercow]

Once more people become better geared as time goes on, the fight will become more trivial. Even if only a handful of people know the fight well enough to not die repeatedly, people can be carried.

[Clawbriar]

On the other hand, I kinda feel if you're level 70, you should have a good enough grasp of what to do by now.

[BlastHardcheese]

I don't think it should but I agree it probably will.

It's an encounter that punishes you for messing up and it asks you to not mess up constantly that's usually a contender for the nerf bat because people get disheartened, DF parties rage quit and people will just stop trying to clear it.

It's not especially a problem at the moment because it's not gating you from anything that won't equally kick your ass bar the dungeons but once content moves past it? It'll get nerfed.

[Auteur]

Once more people become better geared as time goes on, the fight will become more trivial. Even if only a handful of people know the fight well enough to not die repeatedly, people can be carried.

The problem is that this is a Story Mode instance that is required to unlock the Verity vendor and 310 gear. So there is an innate gear cap and it acts as a gate. Again, subjectively it may not be right to nerf it but objectively SE will likely nerf it because the gate risk is too high. SE will literally be throwing away subs and money otherwise.

[Nestama]

People complained about the Final Steps of Faith being too hard and requested for nerfs and it never was (and now that people are overgeared for it, the DPS race is trivial. People still die to easy to dodge mechanics, though).

If you can clear it in DF with randoms even after a wipe or two, then it doesn't need to be nerfed. If you see someone who is new still wearing their level 69 gear, tell them to do their Job Quests. Free level 70 gear is good, as well as the level 70 ability.

[Vhailor]

I'm not saying subjectively right or wrong that The Royal Managerie (end of SB story mode trial) should be nerfed, but objectively it screams nerf. SE can't have an instance at that difficulty as a part of story mode because it's going to gate people from content (same logic behind Steps of Faith). They will lose subs otherwise and it's bad for business.

They can, but they need to build up to it. The major issue with Steps of Faith and Royal Menagerie is that while neither is especially difficult from an objective point of view, they're insanely difficult when compared with previous MSQ content. I don't know how the f*ck SE doesn't realize this. The annoying part is that, as you said, they're almost certain to take the lazy route and nerf the fight, rather than the proper route of building up content difficulty so that players can, gosh, I don't know, improve their skills.

[Powercow]

The problem is that this is a Story Mode instance that is required to unlock the Verity vendor and 310 gear. So there is an innate gear cap and it acts as a gate.

That's the point of the carry. That one new player can spend the entire fight dead and still get through it easily if everyone else does the work. Their personal gear is entirely irrelevant.

The real trick is to make the rewards for helping a first timer through Menagerie worth a damn. Right now, even with the first time bonus, it's more efficient to do a single PvP match than to one-shot that fight with a decent group.

[Tsukino]

Once again, the problem with Steps of Faith was not difficulty. It was the design - having to wait for the dragon to get to the end even when defeat was long assured - that caused people to immediately drop from groups and necessitate a change.

Other difficult story fights that are straight-up full-party boss battles - The Chrysalis, Final Steps of Faith - have not been "nerfed" except by overall gear trends and maybe eventually Echo buffs.

[Kling-Klang]

That characters final fight does not deserve a nerf.