Trends in content types and faux difficulty

[LuciBlack]

It seems we have two differant situations at hand.

Situation1: Low drop rate but spamable dungeon.
Situation2: High drop rate but cooldown.

Most of us know Situation 2 was the system in FFXI. A great game that was successful for many many years.

When looking at situation 1 you can see right away that the ability to pick up the game and grab a party for Endgame at anytime you want is more focused for Casual players. Which is what SE wanted with FFXIV.

When looking at Situation 2 you see that it would have to be more of a planned scheduled event that has to take presence over RL if you want to atend the event. Not for the Casual players.

It looks like Situation 1 is what FFXIV is going to be...

The only thing you can hope for is that SE decides to add Both situations in the game to cater for all kinds of players.

[TerahValeth]

It seems we have two differant situations at hand.

Situation1: Low drop rate but spamable dungeon.
Situation2: High drop rate but cooldown. <--- (should be more like moderate drop rate)

Most of us know Situation 2 was the system in FFXI. A great game that was successful for many many years.

When looking at situation 1 you can see right away that the ability to pick up the game and grab a party for Endgame at anytime you want is more focused for Casual players. Which is what SE wanted with FFXIV.

When looking at Situation 2 you see that it would have to be more of a planned scheduled event that has to take presence over RL if you want to atend the event. Not for the Casual players.

It's not that cut and dry, there are other factors to consider.

Situation 1:
Some casual players may get lucky and get a piece or 2 in short order. The large majority of players however will need hundreds of runs under their belt to obtain one. For hardcore players this causes them to get exhausted from over playing the dungeon, and for casual players it will cause loss of interest when it becomes apparent how many months it will likely take them to run the dungeon the hundreds of times it will likely take for them to get a drop. If the hardcore players are frustrated w/ having to run through these hundreds of times, how must the casual player who gets in 1/4 or less of the playtime feel?

Situation 2:
Cooldowns will encourage people to spread out what they do while in game which will help keep the content fresh. it won't hurt the casual players who only get on a few times a week because they really won't have to worry about the cooldowns, or those that can only play for a couple hours a day because when they do, they will always have something they can go do. Creating PUGs won't be any harder than it is now, you will lose the few hardcore players that aren't burnt out yet, and a few casuals that are on cool down for whatever you are shouting for, but you gain the casual players who would normally not respond in situation #1 because they already ran that dungeon a a few times this week, and they feel like doing something else now. Since the casual player can/will only be on for a limited amount of time each week, the increased chances at a drop will encourage them to join more parties while they are on, and they may find people that have the same schedule and build informal-statics. People in hardcore shells will be more likely to stick together too, but since they won't be as burnt out on the game, they'll be more likely to join PUGs for things their ls/group doesn't run on a regular schedule.

Situation 2 is better for both player-types, it helps create community, and it extends content without draining the fun from the game.