the normal content is too easy

[Thorio]

It boils down to if the majority finds it fun or not, if you make normal content require pinpoint precision or it's over you'll surely appeal to the hardcore crowd, at the cost of the game becoming unsustainable in the long run because those kind of players are the minority.

[Nekokaori]

in the snow and the fight with zeno's was the only hard part of the game *chuckles* 2 stupid fun msq harder and more fun than 99% of the game

[LeonKeyh]

I think that the real issue is "Difficulty curve is too flat." or "Synced Content is made irrelevant." I don't think that anyone would disagree that it would be nice to have synced content closer to the way it was intended, where you actually have to do mechanisms and can't just face roll through it. Something that is even a little bit engaging.

[Xirean]

I think that the real issue is "Difficulty curve is too flat." or "Synced Content is made irrelevant." I don't think that anyone would disagree that it would be nice to have synced content closer to the way it was intended, where you actually have to do mechanisms and can't just face roll through it. Something that is even a little bit engaging.

I don't much care for the difficulty curve arguments, but I'd be 100% on board with item level sync being stricter.

[TaleraRistain]

I think that the real issue is "Difficulty curve is too flat." or "Synced Content is made irrelevant." I don't think that anyone would disagree that it would be nice to have synced content closer to the way it was intended, where you actually have to do mechanisms and can't just face roll through it. Something that is even a little bit engaging.

Even this is by design, though. We're not face rolling those things when they drop in the ilevel available. Things get easier over time because ilevel increases. But this is necessary. Take something like Shinryu. That was a pretty big bottleneck on drop. I know it took me a couple of PUGs to get it. My first group just ran out of time. It was rough on healers in the gear available. I finished it, got my gear, then ran it constantly to learn it and to be a solid healer helping people get through. At first, I saw people drop constantly when they got it. But over time we stopped seeing that as more made it through, got the gear, found it easier after that, groups wiped less, and people stayed. If our ilevel didn't allow things to get easier over time, we'd remain stuck on these bottlenecks and players would either leave or call for nerfs. There were calls for nerfs on Shinryu that eventually died out as more people were able to get through. It's not a perfect system, but it is functional for the intention.

[ThaCa]

Even this is by design, though. We're not face rolling those things when they drop in the ilevel available. Things get easier over time because ilevel increases. But this is necessary. Take something like Shinryu. That was a pretty big bottleneck on drop. I know it took me a couple of PUGs to get it. My first group just ran out of time. It was rough on healers in the gear available. I finished it, got my gear, then ran it constantly to learn it and to be a solid healer helping people get through. At first, I saw people drop constantly when they got it. But over time we stopped seeing that as more made it through, got the gear, found it easier after that, groups wiped less, and people stayed. If our ilevel didn't allow things to get easier over time, we'd remain stuck on these bottlenecks and players would either leave or call for nerfs. There were calls for nerfs on Shinryu that eventually died out as more people were able to get through. It's not a perfect system, but it is functional for the intention.

I think the biggest issue with Shinryu was too many people not finishing their level 70 Job quests and trying to fight it without their Ultimate skill and Artifact Gear. It certainly was a rough boss for Story standards, but it also felt very fitting. If some bosses do end up being bottle necks, they might need some tuning, but few tougher fights don't really negate the need of having most of the remaining fights to keep their base difficulty instead of becoming complete walkovers.

Look at the current Crystal Tower raids, there are few mechanics with outdated markers that might pose issues or people but most bosses can't even dish out their abilities before lying in dirt. Some of the early story Trials completely lose the awe effect of not even tickling the players and just dying in record times. Dungeons are easier than ever, you can even pull some of the long ARR hallways all the way to boss and still come out at the top.

Content is fun when its engaging, if its too easy then it loses all its meaning, if it ends up too hard it can brickwall people. Previous Normal was fine as it was, the current watered down experience is sorely dissapointing. Doesn't really help that past all these expansions people still have very few buttons for large part of game. Adding weaker versions of some later skills to lower levels would also make the game more engaging.

[Xirean]

Adding weaker versions of some later skills to lower levels would also make the game more engaging.

This sounds like a decent solution. At the very least, it's better than not having skills at all.

[TaleraRistain]

I think the biggest issue with Shinryu was too many people not finishing their level 70 Job quests and trying to fight it without their Ultimate skill and Artifact Gear.

I saw plenty of groups in full 290 gear. It was rough even in that. The upgrade to the tome gear locked behind Shinryu was a big difference.

And they seem to have learned from that, especially with Endwalker giving the gear at 89 that is at full power at 90.

[ICountFrom0]

Adding weaker versions of some later skills to lower levels would also make the game more engaging.

Somebody's been paying attention to the live letters.

I'm looking forward to that too, one button MCH was never fun.

[TaleraRistain]

Somebody's been paying attention to the live letters.

I'm looking forward to that too, one button MCH was never fun.

I remember they mentioned that but I don't think we got too many details. I will cry happy tears if DRG gets an AoE earlier.