FFXI vs FFXIV Difficulty

[Peptaru]

I think there is talk of xp bein scaled down at 2.0, but idr where i read it. It could be bullcraps.

[Ryuko]

Fights in FFXIV can be pretty difficult by default just because this game is a lot more fast-paced than XI. However, XI really competed with XIV in difficulty... so you really have to think about the complexity of the two games. Overall, I like the XIV battle system better because it requires a bit more movement than the average XI fight.

I understand your frustration with everyone having multiple jobs to 50, but that's because the game launched in all areas of the world together. Then, the team needed to focus on improving the game in general in addition to releasing new content. XI was released a year earlier in Japan, giving them a huuuuge head start on everything from leveling to questing to figuring out how to get stuff done in general. XI may have seemed harder to you for this reason.

Yes, leveling took a LOT more time in XI... but do we really want that? Leveling wasn't especially difficult... just incredibly time consuming. It was difficult when you literally could not level without a party (and if you tried, you couldn't kill much on your own), and unless you were a healer or tank, you were sitting for hours LFG... and good luck if you were a job that wasn't really sought out, like SMN or DRG.

I know many of us look back on XI with rose-tinted glasses. It was a great game and I spent years of my life playing it along with the rest of you. But, don't forget it had its problems... problems we ALL agreed on and complained about even while we were enjoying it. When they took away a huge chunk of exp needed to reach 75 (a few years after NA release), some people complained while others rejoiced. Many of us would sit around talking about it in a "back in my day..." tone.

I don't think XIV is necessarily 'easier'. I just think they can't release as much content as we'd like because they are literally REWORKING the entire game. To be honest... if they can release content that keeps me satisfied (while at the same time also recreating the entire game in preparation for 2.0), I give them a LOT of props. I like it a lot and I honestly prefer this game to XI ... now, anyway. Times have changed and this game reflects that.

Now, here is something to consider: FFXI servers and FFXIV servers are both located in Japan. When I played XI, the lag from Japan to the East coast (where I am) never bothered me. Even when I was part of a stun order, I would NEVER miss my stun (unless it was 3am and my linkshell was forcing me to stay up against my will, etc). In XIV, the lag definitely bothers me. Your 'reaction time' must be a LOT faster now. East coasters and Europeans especially can find this unbearable. It's difficult to tank or to move out of an ability in time. This adds a LOT of difficulty that perhaps not everyone experiences.

[Jericho]

The "time-sink" of leveling, as everyone wants to call it, wasn't an effort to make FFXI more "difficult". It was a balancing tool. The longer it takes to level, the less amount of capped jobs a given player would have. It was pretty rare to see someone with more than 3 of the 20 before Abyssea, and especially before the past areas. Even the hardest of the hardcore didn't WANT to go through all that again, they needed to REALLY want that if they were going to. Maybe the casuals had to suck it up and put in some painful hours and maybe they would stop leveling after 1 job is up top, but its not that big a deal to only have 1 option when the vast majority have no more than 3.

[Raistlin]

i agree it should have a higher top end of difficulty, but i also think that the speed to 50 is a blessing at this point. It will allow the new players at 2.0 to catch up somewhat before the cap increases. From 50 on though, it should not be nearly as fast.

50 out of 100 could be like saying 37 out of 75.
It took a damn long time to reach 75, but getting everything to 37 would be relatively easy.

that could work only if they move level cap from 50 to 75 or 100, but they plan to level it slowly, with expansions, like wow.

I like people to choose a job and try their best on that one. Then level up another or 2 more if u have enough time...

[Timotheus]

Can't believe people can make any single link between difficulty and leveling speed.

Levels mean nothing. I dunno how many sucks player at max lvl in XI I have met.
It is all, all, and all about player skill.

[Niko_Kishiko]

Maybe they should implement some kind of experience loss when players die. >:] muhahahaa

[Jim]

we all know ff14 has kinks

[MStowastiqVahlshdeh]

FFXI in a year most people only had one or two jobs capped with maybe one craft capped and sub craft to sixty.

FFXIV in a year people have all jobs and crafts capped.

Yoshi-P please make the game more difficult, if I'm level 20 and a monster is level 20 then we should be even match to each other and not a one sided fight which I'm guarantied to win. If a monster is my level I shouldn't, unless being real skilled, be able to take on 3-6.

Please make it difficult to where a party actually needs a tank and cant get away with 7 DD and a healer, each DD soloing a mob well enough that the healer only needs to throw one heal at the end of their battle.

Please make it to where every class has to pull out their weapon to "cast", even Lord Voldemort needed to use his wand to cast a DD spell. Point being there is no fun in not having to worry about down time weather it be a party or an important fight.

In the end the game needs to be more difficult. At the moment its not very motivating to get something done when you're almost guarantee a victory.

I hope you read this Yoshi-P and thanks for you're time.

FFXI is famous for the boss that was so hard people got sick because they refused to take breaks and SE had to nerf the heck out of it to make a wipe timer so people would get up and eat instead of playing constantly. Salvage, Absolute Virtue..in general completely different as for difficulty. I am not sure if I want it the XI difficulty but I would play the game either way because I still find challenges at my level.

It took me some time to realize that it was not challenging to fight a mob [at my actual level] in XIV that in XI would be considered an "even match". I figured this out by accident because I started playing as I did in XI, anticipating a far more challenging mob and when I got linked, I realized it.

It is strange having crafting recipes actually in the game and crystals/items that add themselves to the recipe.

Having food stats on the food and in game pop up help, actual user manuals and crafting recipes on line that are not solely fan made websites.

I can't take any of these things for granted because of my time in XI. I am in the middle of choosing and not certain if I want things to be harder again. If anything, having a hardmode button with greater rewards for difficulty [kinda like levees but on non levee mobs too] might just be enough to satisfy both sides.

And there are still some die hards who still play XI and absolutely love it. I like having both games as an option. People will complain no matter what is done though, I am certain of this.