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

[linay]

Well, I mean if you wanna get into semantics, sure. The point is, the duty I was talking about really is filler. As in, it serves no real purpose other then giving you busy work before the next MSQ dungeon or trial. And that's just it. You can't progress through the MSQ without completing this duty.

It also happens to be a super annoying duty, as well. Run around and pop bubbles before it reaches an NPC with increased difficulty per wave. And if just one bubble gets to an NPC, then the duty is failed. Yeah no. Just no. I'm not doing that.

Very Easy mode all the way.

Well, it's part of the story. Sure, it could be told a different way, but I think that's a different issue.

[Mahoukenshi]

That's not true as it impacts what one can and should expect from other players and from the game itself. If, at the easiest content, you can still make it even easier on demand, then that affects your expectation of the rest of the game.

Everything is filler. It's a game. You don't have to do any of it.

Unless you ask said player(s), you have no idea on what difficulty they did the solo content, thus it cannot affect you by purely existing. If someone played bad/below what's to be expected or your own standard, there could be other reasons than "playing on Very Easy solo duty X." And most people with common sense know that just because they chose to do X on "Very Easy" doesn't mean that the whole game will automatically adjust to said difficulty.

[linay]

Unless you ask said player(s), you have no idea on what difficulty they did the solo content, thus it cannot affect you by purely existing. If someone played bad/below what's to be expected or your own standard, there could be other reasons than "playing on Very Easy solo duty X."

The reason why one chooses a certain difficulty is not relevant as that's their own choice to make. What's more important is that, by having that option on the easiest content, the game sets its own expectation that is not necessarily followed through with the rest of the game.

And most people with common sense know that just because they chose to do X on "Very Easy" doesn't mean that the whole game will automatically adjust to said difficulty.

Why would that be common sense? We're not talking random "X" content. We're talking the easiest instanced PVE content in the game meant for players to be able to do on their own. If that content needs to be made easier on demand, then surely the more difficult contents also need to be made easier on demand.

At the very least, if they think those solo duties are too hard for its worth in the game, then just reduce the difficulty and call it a day, just like they've done with dungeons/trials/raids.

[Kenky]

Does it matter?

Obvious question, but still. Does it honestly matter? People have off-days, or a time where they just don't want to put in maximum effort, while still getting something done.

Sure, if they decide to bring the half-baked effort into dungeons, trials and actual Co-Op content, then the anger is justified. But until that becomes a worrying majority of players, it doesn't really need to be put under the microscope. MSQ is single-player at the end of the day (minus dungeons, obviously.) and perhaps people don't want a hard fight.

To that end, I can both agree and disagree with its addition. While trying to kill Zenos at the end of Stormblood as a White mage was infuratingly taxing, some people certainly enjoy the challenge. So perhaps the way to 'solve' this situation (or rather, dull its effect) is to go along with the New Game+ thing and give players HARDER difficulties to test themselves.

Preferably harder in terms of actual difficulty. Not just making the mob have more health and slap you harder. That's not difficult, that's just annoying.

[SieyaM]

So this thread has come a long way but let me ask the million dollar question here. Has this change caused any significant drop in the clear statistics for Savage or Ex content like everyone thought it would? Has this caused every DF group to be so low skilled that they cannot clear dungeons or 24 man content? Are there now thousands upon thousands of players that now cannot clear anything without being "carried" by far superior characters? Or was that all just forum boasting so that some of you could talk about being such amazingly skilled players that nothing aside from savage content could even come close to challenging you, and even then it is only other players that might have caused errors that prevented you clearing?

[linay]

Does it matter?

Obvious question, but still. Does it honestly matter? People have off-days, or a time where they just don't want to put in maximum effort, while still getting something done.

Does it really take maximum effort to complete these solo duties in normal difficulty?

Sure, if they decide to bring the half-baked effort into dungeons, trials and actual Co-Op content, then the anger is justified. But until that becomes a worrying majority of players, it doesn't really need to be put under the microscope.

I disagree. I think, if it ever comes to that point, then the expectation has already been set, so why should anyone be upset if people want to not put in the effort?

So this thread has come a long way but let me ask the million dollar question here. Has this change caused any significant drop in the clear statistics for Savage or Ex content like everyone thought it would? Has this caused every DF group to be so low skilled that they cannot clear dungeons or 24 man content? Are there now thousands upon thousands of players that now cannot clear anything without being "carried" by far superior characters? Or was that all just forum boasting so that some of you could talk about being such amazingly skilled players that nothing aside from savage content could even come close to challenging you, and even then it is only other players that might have caused errors that prevented you clearing?

No, because everything has been made easier, that's why the usual complaint now is that everything is too easy (except for those who think it's still too difficult).

[Packetdancer]

The reason why one chooses a certain difficulty is not relevant as that's their own choice to make. What's more important is that, by having that option on the easiest content, the game sets its own expectation that is not necessarily followed through with the rest of the game.

I had a friend, ex-military, who passed away several years ago. He loved playing MMOs and video games in general. However, he'd taken some pretty nasty nerve damage to his hands while in the service; some days it was hard for him to even type coherently at a reasonable speed. (He was a professional artist, too, which did not help; it took him time and pain to continue to make things.)

After much frustration, he'd accepted that he had reached a point where due to this, he needed to turn down the difficulty on most games he played; in easy modes he could still generally play quite well, but normal mode—much less harder settings—tended to become very problematic for him. So in MMOs, he'd run content with friends who knew him because of this; he'd never go into instanced content with random folks, he didn't try for high-end content, he'd party up for open-world questing with friends who could help if his hands suddenly messed up on him—he'd adapted. MMOs were great because friends could be there alongside him and help, and he could still enjoy a game! But any place he had to do something solo in a multiplayer game and none of us could go in with him? Well, that could get rough.

So this change, to support 'very easy' mode for solo instanced content? He would've loved it. It would've opened up a whole level of independence for him to play an MMO without struggling in places like that; he could've gone through, and then resumed doing things with friends.

Whether or not this option was designed for situations like his, it sure as heck can benefit them.

[KrisDLuna]

Lol, I can't believe the amount of people actually defending the difficulty options... it's sad.
If you use the easier difficulty options, you're not a casual player, you're an entitled one.

[Lium]

I had a friend, ex-military, who passed away several years ago. He loved playing MMOs and video games in general. However, he'd taken some pretty nasty nerve damage to his hands while in the service; some days it was hard for him to even type coherently at a reasonable speed. (He was a professional artist, too, which did not help; it took him time and pain to continue to make things.)

After much frustration, he'd accepted that he had reached a point where due to this, he needed to turn down the difficulty on most games he played; in easy modes he could still generally play quite well, but normal mode—much less harder settings—tended to become very problematic for him. So in MMOs, he'd run content with friends who knew him because of this; he'd never go into instanced content with random folks, he didn't try for high-end content, he'd party up for open-world questing with friends who could help if his hands suddenly messed up on him—he'd adapted. MMOs were great because friends could be there alongside him and help, and he could still enjoy a game! But any place he had to do something solo in a multiplayer game and none of us could go in with him? Well, that could get rough.

So this change, to support 'very easy' mode for solo instanced content? He would've loved it. It would've opened up a whole level of independence for him to play an MMO without struggling in places like that; he could've gone through, and then resumed doing things with friends.

Whether or not this option was designed for situations like his, it sure as heck can benefit them.

Just wanted to say thank you for taking the time to post this. There is a lot of irony in the people complaining about this change. They say the people that don't want to put any effort into improving or more accurately, playing the game exactly the way THEY think they should be playing it are being selfish.

[RitsukoSonoda]

Lol, I can't believe the amount of people actually defending the difficulty options... it's sad.
If you use the easier difficulty options, you're not a casual player, you're an entitled one.

Basically. Casual or Hardcore isn't a term for player skill. The ones trying to label the terms as such for a reason to be bad at the game are simply people looking for an excuse. It doesn't take 40-80 hours a week of gameplay to acquire basic competency in gameplay. It literally just requires basic observation and analysis skills and the ability to actively think. If you're unable to do these things then I'd be more concerned with how you plan to survive IRL more than crying over not being able to progress in a video game.

In regards to arguments about disabilities. 20-30 years ago the norm for people with physical or mental disabilities was them doing what they can to be or live as "normal" as possible with as few concessions or special accommodations as possible. I'd befriended a number of people with disabilities during that time and interacted with many others that would actually get angry or take offense to people offering such things. Fast forward to today and it feels like people are throwing money at healthcare facilities to have themselves diagnosed with something that can be labeled a disability just so they can part in handicapped parking spaces and demand special treatment from businesses and individuals.