the normal content is too easy

[vetch]

It is actually very popular right now, all things considered. This isn't the age of the MMO anymore like it was in the early 2000's. WoW achieved its amazing feat by creating a casual-friendly game at the perfect time the genre itself was peaking. Speaking frankly, you could design the literal perfect MMO right now and you still wouldn't come close to reaching WoW's peak, simply because you have an entire younger generation of gamers who have moved away from long-term MMO's and to the immediate gratification of the Mobile, MOBA, and FTP genres. In this day and age, an FTP w/ microtransactions on a mobile device is always going to get more players than a subscription-based MMO. That's just reality.

Given that environment, EW has been an enormous success. It blew away all previous xpacs, and even the late-patch troughs (which happen in *every* game in this genre) are still miles above the number of players during similar late-patch troughs in previous expansions. Take a trip around YT or even Reddit (of all places) and you'll see a massive amount of praise for EW.

The FF14 subreddit has been tongue-bathing the game since at least the time I started playing in Shadowbringers 5.2.

[Stanazolol]

It is actually very popular right now, all things considered. This isn't the age of the MMO anymore like it was in the early 2000's. WoW achieved its amazing feat by creating a casual-friendly game at the perfect time the genre itself was peaking. Speaking frankly, you could design the literal perfect MMO right now and you still wouldn't come close to reaching WoW's peak, simply because you have an entire younger generation of gamers who have moved away from long-term MMO's and to the immediate gratification of the Mobile, MOBA, and FTP genres. In this day and age, an FTP w/ microtransactions on a mobile device is always going to get more players than a subscription-based MMO. That's just reality.

Given that environment, EW has been an enormous success. It blew away all previous xpacs, and even the late-patch troughs (which happen in *every* game in this genre) are still miles above the number of players during similar late-patch troughs in previous expansions. Take a trip around YT or even Reddit (of all places) and you'll see a massive amount of praise for EW.

WoW was levels beyond anything else ont he market when it came out. It was peak Blizzard at the time also, after D2, brood war, WC3 they could do no wrong.

But even given all that today, it wouldnt be as succesful, as I think most of the success was is its social aspects which cant be replicated today. For one it was pre social media days, and two the box has been opened on features that are huge Qol improvements but which kill much of the social aspects.

[MonteCristo]

I definitely agree about things being over-telegraphed. One of the best experiences I've ever had in a dungeon was Tam Tara hard. There were 3 new players and it was really fun explaining how the fights worked instead of them just being able to go in blind like most others. The other players actually had fun because we talked?? i know crazy that happens in an MMO lol. It's not even a hard dungeon. The way dungeons work now just stifles any positive social interaction

I had a similar experience recently just like this

[PetThisMiqo]

No. The content is difficult enough for the majority of the casual playerbase. You are a part of the dissatisfied toxic elitists and you need to accept that whether it's through true skill or your cheats that you are significantly better at the game's combat than most average players. Just because you are better at the game's content does not mean that the game's difficult should center around you. Square Enix is well aware of your awful habits and all these threads will ever amount to is bragging.

[CaedemSanguis]

«*The normal content is too easy*»

That’s probably because of the 95% casual playerbase ?

Im doing Savages & Ultimates, and I find the «*normal content*» too hard sometimes (like the 2nd boss of the new dungeon), for me normal content is supposed to be chill, easy to farm and fun, if I want harder content there is tons of savages/ultimates/criterions

[Carin-Eri]

It is actually very popular right now, all things considered. This isn't the age of the MMO anymore like it was in the early 2000's. WoW achieved its amazing feat by creating a casual-friendly game at the perfect time the genre itself was peaking. Speaking frankly, you could design the literal perfect MMO right now and you still wouldn't come close to reaching WoW's peak, simply because you have an entire younger generation of gamers who have moved away from long-term MMO's and to the immediate gratification of the Mobile, MOBA, and FTP genres. In this day and age, an FTP w/ microtransactions on a mobile device is always going to get more players than a subscription-based MMO. That's just reality.

Given that environment, EW has been an enormous success. It blew away all previous xpacs, and even the late-patch troughs (which happen in *every* game in this genre) are still miles above the number of players during similar late-patch troughs in previous expansions. Take a trip around YT or even Reddit (of all places) and you'll see a massive amount of praise for EW.

This.

From a previous game (MMO) I played, I'd say that F2P games now 'enjoy' a generation of gamers who want to be able to buy their way through the game to the point where, in the actual game content, you can literally fall asleep/afk and still receive a completion reward when the timer runs out because the beancounters don't care about making quality, playable, content anymore - they care about producing loot boxes and pay-to-win cash-shop bait to entice players to get their credit cards out.

[Sjark]

The game is too easy, while simultaneously doing nothing to teach players what their job abilities does or when to use them. The training offered by the Smithy is a joke that doesn't prepare completely wet-behind-the-ears sprouts enough.

Most of the time you will not see a dungeon boss to its full potential, because by the time it is halfway through its kit, you've killed it. When a boss actually uses a tank buster (extremely rare) it hits like a bad joke and you'll barely see the tank's HP move.
The only real threat to a tank dying in dungeons is during double pulls because either the tank or the healer, or both, don't know their job properly or have suitable gear.
There are some rare instancecs where a party might fail anyway on a boss, but you can clear almost every dungeon in the game with a dead healer or a dead tank, or just forego having a healer altogether. Like you'd do for the so-called """expert dungeons""", which are so painfully easy that it feels offensive.
Nowadays you'll be shocked if a duty contains an action that can be interrupted by players, you'll be shocked if a boss applies debuffs on the party that has to be removed or mitigated.

The only "midcore" experience I get in this game is by queueing for mentor roulette and getting an old extreme trial where the party is mostly new players who have to learn a lot of mechanics, and it actually brings me joy to see them learn and actually beat the fight. It's one of the best feelings in the game remaining. Beyond that, it's just mindless instance after mindless instance.

Once you've finished wiping your drool off your chin, and maybe a tear if the story had a good part, you might think that trying whatever is current tier of savage would be fun. And it's like the game decided to punch you in the gut. Nothing beforehand prepares you for what extremes and savage fights have in store for you. But then you learn (hopefully), and things start to get stale again.


FFXIV made its bed, by making content increasingly easy, it is making players turn off their brains.
Why learn how your job works, or its optimal rotation if there's literally nothing in the game that requires you to do so except end-game raiding.
Want to spam Medica 2 constantly? Go for it, game won't punish you for it anyway, despite it being a bad thing to do.
Want to never do a proper combo as a melee job? Go for it! You won't be punished anyway.

I know this isn't anymore the game I loved, and it probably never will be again as much as it pains me to admit that. I don't see any reason for the devs to change their course, because they've gotten an influx of bright eyed sprouts who are not experienced enough to see all the flaws the game has now. And whenever those sprouts become veterans and see the issues the game has, it won't matter, because here's a new carriage of sprouts!
So nothing will improve for us dissatisfied with the game's difficulty.

[Wim]

I don't care if normal content is easy but make it more interesting look at arr-hw dungeon before the rework the mechanics are very creative now look at endwalker dungeon plain af just stack, resolve aoe, tether and mostly find the safe spot

[Ivtrix]

The FF14 subreddit has been tongue-bathing the game since at least the time I started playing in Shadowbringers 5.2.

mainsub likes to think its so high and mighty but its quite literally as bad as these forums lol

[TomsYoungerBro]

«*The normal content is too easy*»

That’s probably because of the 95% casual playerbase ?

Im doing Savages & Ultimates, and I find the «*normal content*» too hard sometimes (like the 2nd boss of the new dungeon), for me normal content is supposed to be chill, easy to farm and fun, if I want harder content there is tons of savages/ultimates/criterions

Did you die/get hit and someone say "insert legend btw"? XD