Does 14 Promote a Culture of Mediocrity?

[Raoabolic]

It promotes it like most modern media that has to spend millions to make. Can't really blame XIV over following a trend. /shrug

[TaleraRistain]

FF14 is a sandbox MMO, it's designed for EVERYONE. There's content for all skill level.
But the truth is simply that there's a massive amount of unskilled and stubborn player in the game. And a lot of white knights and enablers.
So many people can't to their rotation, can't read their skills, can't dodge anything, the cure1 bots, the "you pull you tank" players, the NOdps Sages... and so many people that defend that "bUt iTs fInE wE cAn ClEAr tHe CoNtent AnYWay DoNt Be tOXic bla bla bla"
There's a difference between being a toxic elitist and expecting people to play at a decent level by the time they reach the lvl90 dungeon...
Do you really think it's ok to do expert roulette in 30+ minutes because the healer is spamming cure 1, the tank is doing small pulls and the dps only know to do their 1-2-3 combo when it's easily beatable in less than 20 minutes by playing at a decent level?
Why there so much people ok with this is beyond me...

I don't think it's so much people being okay as this just doesn't seem common.

I play on Aether, in Eastern time zone prime time to the wee hours of the morning and all day on weekends. I do Expert every day. I get the Dead Ends so much it feels like Dead Ends roulette. I PUG almost everything. I can't remember the last time I saw something like this. It's possible I just didn't notice it because I was busy adjusting to a pear-shaped group. But my personal experience has been I just don't see this that often, in almost 8 years playing.

So for me it's not a huge deal if I have to step up a little more here and there in a group from time to time. The vast majority of my groups are quick, fast, and efficient. Someone might get hit with this or that but nothing we can't recover from. I have no reason not to be chill about my party mates because my experience has been if I do get those types, they're just a momentary blip on my radar that I barely notice. If things are egregious enough with enough members of the party, we won't be able to clear. Then we may need to look at what we're all doing. Or just acknowledge our makeup may not be working and abandon. I think I can count on one hand the number of times that's happened.

[Lieri]

It promotes the culture of have fun however you like in our game.

[Tetsujin]

I'm not sure why so many people found your post offensive.

As far as the classes go, every expansion it's "we're cutting off the fat guys." but there's no fat left to cut. They're just picking at the bones. Homogenization everywhere. Previously complex classes turned mind-numbingly easy and/or mashy so that high APM gives the impression of depth. Removal of DoT interactivity and DoTs. Positionals mattering less and less despite having a giant crutch named True North, if they're not removed entierly. Less penalty for messing up rotations. No aggro management at all. Healers having no damage rotation despite not having to constantly heal so they're just hitting that same button over and over. I mean, really. Nuance and depth is stripped at every turn and the skill ceiling and floors are crunched together ever closer. It's a shame, every system that lets players stand out from one another in performance should be celebrated and inspire others to do better, not removed.

It's one of the few criticisms I can give this game. It's fantastic but classes are certainly shallower than it used to be.

[Wyakin]

This game (more like this community) promotes an “it’s ok to be bad if you’re having fun” and in all honesty it’s the worst part about the game. It’s not ok to be bad! It’s a multiplayer game where your performance effects the time and enjoyment of others. Being able to press 123 and a few OGCDs in a relatively semi correct order isn’t too much to ask. Stop promoting mediocrity.

Quick point before all the keyboard warriors and white knights jump to defend themselves for being bad players. No one expects people to be doing 99% top tier dps. Just to play semi decently.

[Caurcas]

White knights will defend mediocrity, even as it is slowly hurting the game. 14, is turning into a joke in the eyes of many with it being known for two things: bad players and degeneracy. The game used to be such better. I Iong for the halcyon days of HW and SB.

[GrumbleBeard]

I've spent the last ten years training people to do simple manufacturing jobs and something you need to understand is that sometimes people are just not good something no matter how much they try. In a work environment, this can get you moved around or released but for a game that people pay for you can't really punish them for it nor do they have the pressure of having to perform or be fired.

[Snorky]

Another stellar thread designed to insult FFXIV. There's a door here somewhere.

[DkFusion]

Hurt the "Game" is a bit of an exaggeration. Hurting optimized/strong players with injected boredom...sure, maybe. While I didn't go through all 12 pages, this has been explained in pretty great detail already. There are 2 key factors on why you feel like complexity in job rotation has been tuned out over time:

1) Developers have stated that they do not feel it is healthy for the game to continue to develop more difficult encounters mechanically while also continuing to make playing the class more difficult. This ends up raising two ceilings and is likely factored by percentages that clear difficult encounters. This has always been a thing in all well grounded, developed MMO's.

2) Class complexity has to be balanced around "adding more to the class" each expansion. If you have some highly tuned class with a large ceiling running 200 apm you don't leave a lot of room to "added more buttons". I'm not saying they're doing it right, wrong or the other, but it is easy to see how it can become a logistical nightmare, and one where there are 100,000 indians with their own idea of what's "good" -> Tanks are a prefect example.

I'm definitely not countering your point, but they are definitely things that need to be considered. Personally I'm neither here nor there. The reason my neutral thoughts is this complaint doesn't come from a spot of progression but instead from optimization and parsing.

[Jirah]

Very much agree on all fronts

And I wince on those defending this practice saying “it’s made for a diverse crowd so it needs to be as accessible as Tetris on a leapfrog” or “the game isn’t meant for you if you want somthing that requires a ounce of foresight” or my favorite one “this game respects your time” which doesn’t even add anything to the conversation but shows how hypnotic and enthralled the community is with their own words.