Request: More challanging / difficult content. PLEASE

[tachikoma]

Everyone can agree that we need more challenging content I'm pretty confident no one wants it any easier right now. Everyone also seems to agree that crafting for the best gear is not a good idea and comparing it to "I died 100 times on the most epic raid ever to get my sword of champions" vs "I got lucky and tripple melded str gloves cool story".

As previously stated some simple solutions: Allow U/U gear to be melded, improve U/U gear stats, introduce new materia or top tier materia to drop from instanced content or to be created from U/U gear.

My extra idea: add in achievements for specific kill conditions, the 5chest speed run in DH was a great example. Short order for moogle is another. Now just improve the drops or add more unique drops to those special conditions to give the most dedicated players something to do. ex. Short order moogle > only way to get the sword. something like this would go a long way toward keeping content worthwhile.

[AndySolace]

I do like the idea of 'unlocking' a tougher version of a dungeon, with perhaps a slightly new map and feel to it, after completing a normal run.

[Onji_T]

I think the trick will be to find a balance between raid and crafting. If such a balance can be struck no party feels left behind. It would be nice if you had to get materials from raiding and then craft the items or something, more like the first world nms. Sure this wouldn't solve all the issues, since the current raid gear is crap, but I think it would be a helpful step.

[OranGemeo]

Another idea that kind of popped into my head is... What if U/U gear allowed one meld, but it had a different selection of materia to chose from? Maybe this materia could be found in chests in some of the dungeons, but would definatley have different effects on it than what you can normally put in crafted gear.

Such as... maybe the Helm of the Lone Knight could allow a STR and Defense meld, and maybe a special meld for Auto-Regen. I think there's absolutley a lot they can do with materia, but I don't think U/U gear should ever allow for double melds (and who honestly would really want to try anyway?)

Some default U/U gear should DEFINATLEY be better than a single meld, but never a double. What it could have, however, is a wider variety of stats on it that you just simply cannot find in a piece of crafted gear. They all have their place. And a definite YES on going back to using NM drops more. Dodore Wing, Buffalo Horn, etc... make em used in more synths. I'm under the impression that new weapons have to come out for jobs, so please make the best ones using this theory. I WANT to go back to the old content and do them.

[Dreamer]

I'm okay with more challenging content so long as it isn't of the massively time-consuming grindfests that are popular in FFXI and many Korean MMORPGs. FFXIV has been from the outset a game targeted at the more casual "I don't have eight hours a day to play" crowd. For all of WoW's flaws, it does do a decent job of catering to both groups.

[Tigerme]

i only read some of posts that's on first few pages, didn't bother to read the rest.
so.. from the posts i read, it seems like people want difficult + long term contents
People who don't like current contents it's because they are so easy + it takes 300 wins for hardcore player to get 7/7 weapons, while it might only takes 70 ~100 wins for casual players to get 7/7. It's not fair for hardcore people.

For the drop rate, you just have to deal with it. even back in FF11, you have to deal with drop rate too. it's all about luck.
although i do hate that loots are not going to loot list, and have to waste it if already have one.

For the difficulty, I think it's easy now because people know what to do. When Ifrit first came out, i remember it took 3 days or a week for people to clear the content (according to yoshida-p). Same for WOW. All those contents were not easy when they first came out. so, I don't think it's right to complain FF contents are too easy. It's just that we know what to do now.

Difficulty actually brings up another problem. When a content is too difficult, it requires times and gears to clear. This is not a problem for hardcore players, but what about casual players? should they just stay in town wearing crafting gears ?
why should casual player sit out from difficult content? After all, casual players pay same amount of monthly fee as hardcore players.

[SniperRifle]

Difficulty actually brings up another problem. When a content is too difficult, it requires times and gears to clear. This is not a problem for hardcore players, but what about casual players? should they just stay in town wearing crafting gears ?
why should casual player sit out from difficult content? After all, casual players pay same amount of monthly fee as hardcore players.

The thing is, with trial and error, casuals will eventually be at the same skill level as hardcore players, just at a slower speed because they don't play the game at the same speed/momentum as hardcore players. This means that the game can continue to get more difficult, but by the time the casuals get to, say, the final God in Sky... The hardcore players will already be focusing on CoP content (the next expansion). Both types of players play the game, and those who play more and are better, will get rewards faster. If casuals care enough about rewards in a video game as hardcore players do, they can simpley put in the time and effort to obtain the same rewards.

Some of the issues w/ 14 is, if you didn't have LNC to 50 for Ifrit, or ARC 50 for Moogle or Dzemael, then the fight was more difficult. This has to do with class balance, and any casuals who didn't have multiple classes at 50 would be playing under a handicap. Poor class balance resulted in corrupting the judgement of the community on what type of content we should have. The current fights are fine like you said, it's just they can continue to get harder and require better gear.