the normal content is too easy

[Xirean]

That’s exactly why i bring up trusts though. People can still have that engagement without difficulty by running trusts. No one, again, literally no one is saying they can’t play the game. You’re making up scenarios that no one is even stating. The people advocating for more engaging and slightly harder normal content aren’t going around saying f people with disabilities. But i will say it is incredibly difficult to balance a game around the minority with disabilities. But that’s why trusts are a very good option for them. They can get the full msq experience without having to worry about difficulty and they can go at their own speed. It’s a win/win. If at some point they want to play with other players, there’s loads of casual content tailored to that. Deep dungeons,maps, i would say eureka/bozja but i haven’t a clue if that’s too hard with people with disabilities.

You can't say that I'm making stuff up then in the same post advocate for going into trusts as a solution. Trusts are a separate avenue of play for single player. They are not easy mode. I'm also not against adding more challenge into normal content. As I said earlier, if more challenge is to be introduced then I want it to be done properly without alienating people.

[Ronduwil]

But that’s why trusts are a very good option for them. They can get the full msq experience without having to worry about difficulty and they can go at their own speed.

That's not how trusts work. It's not like you get to completely ignore mechanics once you're in trusts. In fact, you can argue that trusts are harder because you can't get carried through them. If you die in a trust, the run fails with no second chances. While it's true that 75% of the mechanics in trusts can be done by simply stacking on one of the more reliable NPCs, there are many mechanics that require you to be on the ball. I'm not saying this is a bad thing. I like that there's some challenge even in trusts. I just don't think that trusts justify an increase in normal dungeon difficulty. Such an increase impacts trusts almost as much as it impacts roulette/PF runs.

[Catwho]

That's not how trusts work. It's not like you get to completely ignore mechanics once you're in trusts. In fact, you can argue that trusts are harder because you can't get carried through them. If you die in a trust, the run fails with no second chances. While it's true that 75% of the mechanics in trusts can be done by simply stacking on one of the more reliable NPCs, there are many mechanics that require you to be on the ball. I'm not saying this is a bad thing. I like that there's some challenge even in trusts. I just don't think that trusts justify an increase in normal dungeon difficulty. Such an increase impacts trusts almost as much as it impacts roulette/PF runs.

I wiped so many times in Vanaspati final boss because the Trust healers won't heal you up if you screw up the yeet mechanic and get blasted by Aetherial Charge. A normal party would have just giving me a shield, a cure, or a rez. Urianger and Alphinaud point at you and go LOL YOU SUCK and you have to start the fight over from the beginning.

[Rulakir]

Trusts aren't available for trials though (except one) and won't be for awhile. Trials are specifically what I think are demanding of the average player. As someone who plays for the story and doesn't like group content, they're probably the worst part of the game for me and annoyingly consistent roadblocks in the MSQ. You don't get 'carried' when half the team or more are also new and going in blind. Brings back miserable memories of progression raiding, I didn't enjoy it then and I don't now.

I can't help but be reminded of an old Ghostcrawler quote from around the time of Cata: "There is a pervasive myth that making content hard will induce players to rise to the occasion. We find the opposite."

[KizuyaKatogami]

Unfortunately, Trusts are designed for those who are uncomfortable in social situations, not for those with physical limitations.

How do you know that where MSQ is tuned now is not at the limit of those with the limitations? How many others with limitations already had to quit the game because the tuning was too high for what they could handle?

How are you harmed by difficulty being at the level it is? The game is still accessible to you. Making the difficulty harder will remove accessibility for others.

You can play this game when you're in the mood for casual story mode, or for the harder content you can unlock once story mode is completed. If you aren't in the mood for story mode but don't have the other content unlocked yet, there are plenty of other games to choose from that will give you the difficult content you desire and you can return here when you're back in the mood for story mode.

Making the difficulty easier will remove the will to player for other people as well though. There needs to be a balance. I brought up trusts because while they can’t exactly carry you, they are imo an excellent way to be able to learn your job and role in peace.

People with disabilities is a whole other ball game though, and again, you can’t expect every game to balance or cater to that. It’s the unfortunate truth. Because then at that point a larger number of people are having to suffer because of it, whether it be in engagement or enjoyment. I think if SE really wanted to do something for players with disabilities there would be a whole separate difficulty and mode for them that they could choose. As far as multiplayer dungeons go….i mean it’s multiplayer. Harder content is severely limited compared to the more “casual” kind like dungeons. We get 4 fights every 6-8 months. Meanwhile there’s dungeons,alli raids, normal trials etc. Not to mention you have to get through the story to be able to even unlock endgame content.

[KizuyaKatogami]

Heavily disagree. If people want to use trusts then that is a choice to play solo, NOT a difficulty choice. The two are separate concepts.

It is a difficulty choice in the end though. It does make things easier in the end. It’s two in one lol. But a friend of mine brought up how WoW’s WOTLK expansion was the peak of mmo history and it’s casual content wasn’t nearly as streamlined as 14’s currently is…so if they can do it and retain a peak number of players then 14 can too.

[Xirean]

It is a difficulty choice in the end though. It does make things easier in the end. It’s two in one lol. But a friend of mine brought up how WoW’s WOTLK expansion was the peak of mmo history and it’s casual content wasn’t nearly as streamlined as 14’s currently is…so if they can do it and retain a peak number of players then 14 can too.

Actually some things in trusts are easier while others are harder. Really it's more of a gameplay style choice.

[Ronduwil]

It is a difficulty choice in the end though. It does make things easier in the end. It’s two in one lol. But a friend of mine brought up how WoW’s WOTLK expansion was the peak of mmo history and it’s casual content wasn’t nearly as streamlined as 14’s currently is…so if they can do it and retain a peak number of players then 14 can too.

I'm trying to understand what you're saying here. Like Xirean said, some aspects of trusts are easier (the NPCs usually stand in safe spots, so if you stick with them you're generally safe), but others are more difficult (your death is an instant wipe with no second chances). What do you mean by "streamlined" in the context of WotLK? You could literally level from 1-80 without touching a single dungeon in WotLK, and it's not like their quests were super difficult. The dungeons themselves were so easy even by those days' standards that players often claim (falsely, IMO) that they caused the game's downfall by "dumbing it down." The typical rotation had about four buttons that were usually hit in a repetitive manner (hence the term, "rotation"). Specs that had to worry about timers (like shadow priest) had even simpler rotations that consisted of one cooldown, one filler skill, and a couple of dots that had to be managed. As you said, they somehow managed to retain a peak number of players despite having all the flaws that the OP is calling out: mechanics that are "telegraphed, repetitive, and predictable." So in what sense are you saying that FFXIV's content is streamlined? To be clear, I'm not disagreeing with you. I'm just trying to understand where you're coming from.

[Serious-Cat]

Count me as one of those players who played for the story above all else. And yeah, I found it hard. And that's difficult to admit in a thread full of forumites implying that bad players shouldn't be bad and don't deserve to play the game.
Partly due to my lacking performance at least, I have no intention of going anywhere near anything above 'Normal' level content.

Its okay! what's important is knowing what you can and want but a lot of people see inability in video games as an excuse. Well being good at video games isn't an essential part of life and there's no need to defend yourself against people that think being good at video games should be the norm xD

[Raikai]

What I feel is that in normal mode difficulties - on learning stages at least - the challenge is mostly upon the healer's shoulders.

If you get average, and under, healers, bad pugs might need a few tries.