Southern Front Problems

[NealSnow]

So yesterday I tried going into the front only to find... it had like 5 people in it, counting me. And I had a strong feeling this was going to happen that it would die fast, but didn't think this fast.

1) Making the relic totally doable AND faster to do OUTSIDE the instance!
While I understand they wanted to give people options since Eureka was divisive I feel they really really REALLY dropped the ball by making the new content for the relics... the WORST way to get the relics. I feel, and this will be divisive as well, that it shoulda been the reverse, have it easier to get it in the instance and harder out of it.

2) Shadow of Eureka
Back on Eureka, as above it left many angry, including me I HATED eureka til hydatos where I felt it finally got better, and have since calmed down about Eureka. But it's shadow loomed over the front because imho the devs did a terrible job showing, not telling people it would be different. They should have shown it off more, the nonstory bits some of the fights, to show people it'd be different vs "Hey totally believe us its not going to be the same thing." I feel that was an issue.

3) The future of the front as a whole
With all of this said, do you think there is anything they can do to assure the future instances don't die as fast? Because outside of people through discord scheduling jaunts into it for the raid, thats now locked off for a lot of people at least Eureka, something that was hated lasted far far longer then front did.

Should they instead make future parts vastly smaller installments? Like maybe 8 party small zones ot at least 24 zones and build them more as alliance raids? Stop with them altogether and just make the relic updates alone with no new content with them?

I'm curious at to what people think could, or couldn't be done to save the front as a whole.

[Jandor]

In my opinion it was probably a mistake to let people get the relics outside of Bozja, it was definitely a mistake to make it the fastest method.

I much prefer doing Bozja to grinding HW fates, but the knowledge that I'm playing inefficiently inherently saps some of the fun out of the content. I'm not the best player in the game but I do at least try to avoid deliberately playing the game wrong, and that's what engaging with the relic content to get my relic feels like, playing the game wrong. In the time I can get one from Bozja, I could have got two or maybe even three from Heavensward instead.

[ItMe]

In my opinion it was probably a mistake to let people get the relics outside of Bozja, it was definitely a mistake to make it the fastest method.

I much prefer doing Bozja to grinding HW fates, but the knowledge that I'm playing inefficiently inherently saps some of the fun out of the content. I'm not the best player in the game but I do at least try to avoid deliberately playing the game wrong, and that's what engaging with the relic content to get my relic feels like, playing the game wrong. In the time I can get one from Bozja, I could have got two or maybe even three from Heavensward instead.

If you're just in it for the relic then yes, its doing it the slow way.
But Bozja is still valuable because you can get exp, practical experience using a class you're levelling at cap, lockboxes, clusters, coins, mettle, AND grind a relic.
If you're only interested in one of those... yeah, you should probably focus on the content that specializes in getting you that one thing.
But if Bozja were the fastest way to get the relic... why would anyone do Fates?
Imo the system is fine as is.

[Avatre]

If you're just in it for the relic then yes, its doing it the slow way.
But Bozja is still valuable because you can get exp, practical experience using a class you're levelling at cap, lockboxes, clusters, coins, mettle, AND grind a relic.
If you're only interested in one of those... yeah, you should probably focus on the content that specializes in getting you that one thing.
But if Bozja were the fastest way to get the relic... why would anyone do Fates?
Imo the system is fine as is.

Honestly, if they released Bozja MUCH earlier in the expansion(like no later than 5.1 - which might even be considered too late by some), then I'm sure people would have used it to level classes. As is, there was likely a very large(myself included) portion of the player base who had all their classes at max by the time it came around. Not only that, but if they put it at 75% chance of getting a memory from inside Bozja(or varying degree, like a mob has a 50% chance, 75% chance from skirmishes, and 100% from Critical Engagements, then 100% chance to get one of each from Castrum), and say 50% - at most - from HW FATEs, then I'm sure Bozja would have had more people in there even now - though I saw around 50 people in there yesterday when I went in...but only 3 of us queued up for Castrum when it popped.

[NealSnow]

Honestly, if they released Bozja MUCH earlier in the expansion(like no later than 5.1 - which might even be considered too late by some), then I'm sure people would have used it to level classes. As is, there was likely a very large(myself included) portion of the player base who had all their classes at max by the time it came around. Not only that, but if they put it at 75% chance of getting a memory from inside Bozja(or varying degree, like a mob has a 50% chance, 75% chance from skirmishes, and 100% from Critical Engagements, then 100% chance to get one of each from Castrum), and say 50% - at most - from HW FATEs, then I'm sure Bozja would have had more people in there even now - though I saw around 50 people in there yesterday when I went in...but only 3 of us queued up for Castrum when it popped.

See thats exactly me, leveling wise I hit all my combats at 80 like in 5.1 so... by the time front came it was way too late to be used for that. And because its low populated castrum raid is now useless as well and only future way to try and get in will be discord groups scheduling them weeks in advance

[Avatre]

See thats exactly me, leveling wise I hit all my combats at 80 like in 5.1 so... by the time front came it was way too late to be used for that. And because its low populated castrum raid is now useless as well and only future way to try and get in will be discord groups scheduling them weeks in advance

Unless they increase the reward for doing Castrum, significantly at that, I agree.

[GeminiReed]

Honestly, if they released Bozja MUCH earlier in the expansion(like no later than 5.1 - which might even be considered too late by some), then I'm sure people would have used it to level classes. As is, there was likely a very large(myself included) portion of the player base who had all their classes at max by the time it came around.

I've heard a metric derived from public lodestone stats that only 24% of the player base has the Amaro achievement. I've "only" been playing for two years and I finished mine a couple weeks ago. I had high hopes for Bozja to help level 10 or so jobs. Unfortunately the XP rewards are stingy enough to make Bozja too grindy for my taste. I mostly dipped in at the tail end of levels if I could do it in 2-4 encounters. For the last 2-3 jobs I was sick enough of Bozja that I didn't even bother.

It's not fun on its own merits, it stinks for leveling, it stinks for grinding memories AND it's in a super inconvenient spot that requires an expensive teleport.

[Jandor]

If you're just in it for the relic then yes, its doing it the slow way.

Yes, and that's the problem. It's the relic content, I don't think it's unreasonable to want to be in it for the relic.

The other stuff is nice I guess, but it also doesn't seem like it's actually enough to get people in there.

[Liam_Harper]

But if Bozja were the fastest way to get the relic... why would anyone do Fates?

Honestly, who cares. They're HW Fates, old content that can easily be soloed. Shouldn't the participation rate of un-soloable current expansion content tied to storyline and future instalments be more important?

[NealSnow]

If you're only interested in one of those... yeah, you should probably focus on the content that specializes in getting you that one thing.
But if Bozja were the fastest way to get the relic... why would anyone do Fates?
Imo the system is fine as is.

Simple, the people who were too badly burned by eureka to want to even try the front. But instead of it being an option its THE option.