Who Thought Adding Difficulty Levels To Instanced Quests Was A Good Idea?

[SerLuke]

Accountability? It’s a freaking video game not a job, people need to chill.

[silverlunarfox]

That actually shocked me too. It's the easiest one so far, and by far the coolest. Though the ones failing do tell us exactly why SE put those difficulty modes there...they're practically a "walk of shame" to players who don't have any physical disabilities or horrible ping.

I think people aren't realizing one of the attacks does regain health. I panicked at first too when i took a hit. Not the hardest instance since I remember one in 4.X being ridiculous, but could catch you off guard if youre not paying close attention and just caught up in the moment.

That being said, difficulty levels to instanced aka solo quests is not a bad thing. Maybe they just want to get through the story just to enjoy, maybe they're having a tough time and don't want to worry about the instance. Regardless why someone wants it easier, thats OK. It doesn't affect any of us in the slightest. Now I won't be lowering the difficulty, but if people want too, all the more power to them. It's no different than failing multiple times to acquire stacks of echo for an instance. This way it's just easier from the start.

[Nepentha]

Imagine tying your self esteem to how you perform in a video game to the point that you actually feel superior to people who play that video game in a way you don't approve of.

[Fhaerron]

Obviously, Square Enix did.

[Mahoukenshi]

But it's not a solo game. It's an MMO. There are MSQ duties where you need to play with others. You want to only experience the story? Go watch it on youtube.
*snipÜ

Again, if I suck at group-content mechanics, I won't get better at them by choosing Normal over Easy/Very Easy in Solo MSQs. I won't. You (not you specifically) may be concerend in group play in that I should play without being a PITA for the other 4-7 members, but in solo content it's my decision how I play. I wish to believe that many players are able to differentiate between how to conduct between two game modes. Just because I decided to choose an easier setting, doesn't mean that I don't want to improve my equipment (as long as it doesn't lead to running the same dungeon over and over and over and over and over and over), or refuse to AoE or - at least - try to avoid bad stuff. That's pure BS and overgeneralisation of player groups. Besides, you won't probably notice that someone chose an easier difficulty outside of conjecturing.

[MeowingKittens]

Just because I decided to choose an easier setting, doesn't mean that I don't want to improve my equipment (as long as it doesn't lead to running the same dungeon over and over and over and over and over and over), or refuse to AoE or - at least - try to avoid bad stuff. That's pure BS and overgeneralisation of player groups.

This is absolutely true, and if you are this kind of player, you are not the type that the concerns are about. If you pull your weight in group content, I absolutely do not care, and have no way to tell, what level you did a solo duty at.

But it's not complete BS because the generalization doesn't exist out of nowhere. There are actual players who DO have this mindset that they are entitled to clear content just because they play, without putting in the effort. The game doesn't do a very good job of encouraging that effort, and changes like this do not help. Making things easier, regardless of how trivial it is can sometimes get people stuck in a valley of complacency. And I don't think people are wrong to be concerned over it. It starts to set a precedent. Forgive the slippery slope argument, but how long before people say other content is too hard, because they content they've done so far has held their hand and they don't know how deal? Can you see how that begins to do collective damage to the playerbase?

I'll answer that to some extent for you, because it has already happened. In 2.1, with Pharos Sirius. Nowadays, the dungeon is no harder than any other. back then, people actually would refuse to even unlock it, due to low clear rates. The reason was because they had to pay attention to someone OTHER than themselves. Healers had to heal the DPS. Tank had to learn they didn't have the healer's full attention and that they had a stun. Adds needed to be prioritized in a certain order. You had to look around the arena. Quite frankly, we were all terrible at the game back then, and instead of getting better and recognizing lack of skill was largely the problem, some people ran away and avoided it. This left the players who didn't shy away having to deal with people instantly leaving in the newly launched dungeon roulettes, or dealing with party members who did unlock it, but weren't up to snuff. Imaging running out the ENTIRE 90 MINUTE TIMER and still not clearing. And even if you back out of the dungeon, no guarantee you wouldn't just get it again when you re-queued. Can you imagine how frustrating this was, knowing people all around you refused to recognize they were part of the problem, and ignoring it only made things worse for everyone else?

I simply don't want to see a repeat. I want to see the game encourage people to get better, and this feels like a step back. Maybe it is small and insignificant and won't change anything for the worse. I honestly can't be the judge of that at this time. Nor can anyone in this thread.

[SDaemon]

I'll answer that to some extent for you, because it has already happened. In 2.1, with Pharos Sirius. Nowadays, the dungeon is no harder than any other. back then, people actually would refuse to even unlock it, due to low clear rates. The reason was because they had to pay attention to someone OTHER than themselves. Healers had to heal the DPS. Tank had to learn they didn't have the healer's full attention and that they had a stun. Adds needed to be prioritized in a certain order. You had to look around the arena. Quite frankly, we were all terrible at the game back then, and instead of getting better and recognizing lack of skill was largely the problem, some people ran away and avoided it. This left the players who didn't shy away having to deal with people instantly leaving in the newly launched dungeon roulettes, or dealing with party members who did unlock it, but weren't up to snuff. Imaging running out the ENTIRE 90 MINUTE TIMER and still not clearing. And even if you back out of the dungeon, no guarantee you wouldn't just get it again when you re-queued. Can you imagine how frustrating this was, knowing people all around you refused to recognize they were part of the problem, and ignoring it only made things worse for everyone else?

I simply don't want to see a repeat. I want to see the game encourage people to get better, and this feels like a step back. Maybe it is small and insignificant and won't change anything for the worse. I honestly can't be the judge of that at this time. Nor can anyone in this thread.

Pharos nerfs were in 2.2 along with Amdapor Keep's bee nerf and the Echo "nerf" to BCoB and Trials. And there are several other points in the game's life so far that SE has made situations easier because people have asked for it or SE has felt that the roadblock was unnecessary. I remember the outcries about Pharos and Amdapor, also remember numerous times about various trials including HW's legendary Steps of Fate. Still surprised that The Chrysalis never received any significant nerfs with all the complaints about that one and it being part of the MSQ and all, but clears must have been well enough that SE didn't find in necessary. My point being though is that it isn't just a handful of nerfs over all these years that SE has done to help people along the way, it has happened and continues to happen constantly.

[SerLuke]

There are actual players who DO have this mindset that they are entitled to clear content just because they play, without putting in the effort.

You are strawmaning, you can’t see into people’s heads you have no idea what their mindsets are or what they think are are entitled to. Unless someone is flat out coming out and saying “I’m entitled to this without effort” you really don’t know what is going on in their head. Not everyone has the same core understanding of how the game works, I started playing over 4 years ago and while I can stay I’m a better player than I was 3 years ago even when I was a max lvl player back years ago I didn’t have the same understanding of the game I have now.

[Wildsprite]

my opinion on the difficulties selection is simple. the story mode should be simple, worry free so you can do the story. multiplayer content being more difficult I'm quite ok with but frankly I don't see solo/with NPC(not the trust system NPCs) content as something that should cause stress and to many people it does. they just want to go through the story and enjoy themselves. not to mention those role play quests toss you in a situation that SHOULD simply be a CS but the devs thought it might be fun to toss you into a situation where you have unfamiliar skills that you have on NO other jobs/classes. personally I hate these things I don't care the difficulty of them. I want to do fights as my own character not as some over-powered or under-powered NPC.....


derp. forgive the necropost please. I didn't notice the date of the last post till I hit quick post >_<

[linay]

my opinion on the difficulties selection is simple. the story mode should be simple, worry free so you can do the story. multiplayer content being more difficult I'm quite ok with but frankly I don't see solo/with NPC(not the trust system NPCs) content as something that should cause stress and to many people it does. they just want to go through the story and enjoy themselves. not to mention those role play quests toss you in a situation that SHOULD simply be a CS but the devs thought it might be fun to toss you into a situation where you have unfamiliar skills that you have on NO other jobs/classes. personally I hate these things I don't care the difficulty of them. I want to do fights as my own character not as some over-powered or under-powered NPC.....


derp. forgive the necropost please. I didn't notice the date of the last post till I hit quick post >_<

I understand the idea, but I just think the regular difficulty is easy enough, especially if you keep up with gear upgrades. If you don't mind multiplayer content being more difficult, then I think the solo content doesn't need to be made easier because you can practice it on your own without being pressured by your party.