If you continue to dumb down the game, you will lose half your player base

[Banriikku]

I think players in this thread need to remember that these are MSQ duties that have been adjusted and for good reasons - start as a new player (not a vet) and play DPS then find yourself stuck in queue after queue just to progress your storyline.

Harder content without the AI systems is there and continues to be added. This is all about keeping the new players progressing instead of dropping out because they cant face wasting time in another queue.

I am darn sure the devs would not have added it otherwise.

I want to agrre with you at the point that some stuff here is exaggerated but also i believe in the fact that the game caters to too much groups of people and tries to be playable by everyone. IN my opinion that is a futile idea and will lead to very bad things and no the dev are not some otherwordly beeings that cant do wrong. A game needs a target audience, you will not get everyone and this lesson is something Yoshida needs to learn at the momen.

[Caurcas]

They should just give players the option to skip ARR and not spend so much time reworking it.

[MagicalChase]

Dark Souls isn't even hard, and I don't know why it's constantly brought up are the barometer for difficulty in video game. Y'all out acting like it's Ninja Gaiden or something smh.

Do you think the type of player who thinks people are asking for FFXIV to turn into dark souls even know what ninja gaiden is???

[MiaShino]

I think players in this thread need to remember that these are MSQ duties that have been adjusted and for good reasons - start as a new player (not a vet) and play DPS then find yourself stuck in queue after queue just to progress your storyline.

Was able to witness this fairly recently by observing others I have invited to play. Remember them waiting outside cutters cry for fifteen minutes as two dps almost ready to quit.

Upon asking them I was informed that the queue times would not be so awful if the experience inside of the dungeon were better. Something close to (can always ask when they wake up ); "Would not be so bad but waiting fifteen minutes for THAT sucked". Twas not the queue alone it was the single pulling no stance tank dance thirty minute harang inside of the boring dungeons.

Alright so go in with trusts then! Oh wait, then they cannot play together which was also major reason for them continuing on with the game. Will ask others how they feel about it in the later times. I see much boredom in the future for new players and kinda feel for them. Ohhhh forgot to mention! Toto (looks amazing!) now walls at double pulls. No more yeet boy into the boss room with the whole dungeon following in there anymore. Double pulls only! Six mobs and no more!

Did test, AI healed me without cooldowns through those pulls. Am certain it could handle bigger pulls without issue provided cooldowns are used.

[MagicalChase]

I see much boredom in the future for new players and kinda feel for them. Ohhhh forgot to mention! Toto (looks amazing!) now walls at double pulls. No more yeet boy into the boss room with the whole dungeon following in there anymore. Double pulls only! Six mobs and no more!

That's disgusting. Doing entire dungeon pulls is the most fun part about ARR dungeons. Drives me insane that we're losing these dungeons and getting more crummy endwalker FFXIII hallway dungeons.

[Payadopa]

I don't get why we can't have options. It's always filthy casuals vs. master racers or something. Both need to exist. The MSQ needs to be easy, sure. But solo fights already have easy and very easy as an option. You can also finish the game with pressing 3 or so buttons.

The skill floor has been sufficiently lowered. And soon you'll be able to do all dungeons without ever having to talk to someone. In an MMO. I think the game has achieved ultimate casual friendliness. That's fine. But please don't make up excuses like button bloat for taking stuff away. Give back the challenge for people who want it. So far it's either baby's first MMO or Ultimate. I'm not keen on either honestly. I'd prefer more mid-tier stuff but anyway. Where is the middle ground?

[MagicalChase]

"If you want a challenge play Ultimate" this is straight from the developer's mouth. Otherwise, the game has thrived for years being casual friendly. If you're bored and unhappy then switch games, there's tons of more challenging games out there and they aren't going to change what has been successful for them.

I don't know if you were here for before shadowbringers, but the casual content that you're talking about used to be harder and was a nice comfy challange before going into energy draining savage. Then shadowbringers came around and halfway through it they decided to make all normal content easier and then kept doing this until now.

[D6Damager]

I don't know if you were here for before shadowbringers, but the casual content that you're talking about used to be harder and was a nice comfy challange before going into energy draining savage. Then shadowbringers came around and halfway through it they decided to make all normal content easier and then kept doing this until now.

You are absolutely correct, but that doesn't seem like the direction they are taking anymore since SHB (nearly 3 years ago now + a pandemic).

I also think it's safe to assume that all the players from the 'WoW exodus' are not all going to stick with the game. People will make up all kinds of reasons for why they think they are leaving; but at the end of the day this game isn't WoW and isn't going to appeal to all MMO players (and that's OK).

[MagicalChase]

You are absolutely correct, but that doesn't seem like the direction they are taking anymore since SHB (nearly 3 years ago now + a pandemic).

I also think it's safe to assume that all the players from the 'WoW exodus' are not all going to stick with the game. People will make up all kinds of reasons for why they think they are leaving; but at the end of the day this game isn't WoW and isn't going to appeal to all MMO players (and that's OK).

But then....as a veteran player who's been with the game since 2.1....Who's literally subbed for years on end....what do I do? No other game let's me look like my miqote or express myself like this one does. But all the content feels like it's designed to push me away.
well except the new PVP that's pretty great .

[MiaShino]

That's disgusting. Doing entire dungeon pulls is the most fun part about ARR dungeons. Drives me insane that we're losing these dungeons and getting more crummy endwalker FFXIII hallway dungeons.

Some later pulls are still okay, I suppose. Stone Vigil first pull has lost several mobs however it is now possible to more consistently survive full wall pull to the boss room there. Frog Death canyon will likely no longer be the meme that kept on giving, it has been altered and are no longer able to fall there. Like the Vigil pull though can just pull to boss room to re-create original big pull.

Last Vigil boss is boring as all heck. Anything that made that dargon threatening is gone.

Haukke final boss is rather neat so not all things about this are the negative. Lanterns are gone buuuuut you get to learn about gaze mechanics from eyeball of doooooom soooner. This will help assist sprouts for later gaze mechanics.

Copper hell is drastic improvement over original. Bosses in there have actual mechanics now that are familiar. This will also assist in the teaching of new players.

Toto looks pretty but is somehow even more of the boring. At the least it seems shorter. Tested new trusts and you can plow through in no time with them. First and second boss cannot cleanse poision anymore? Do not understand this change as Toto was great dungeon for teaching about cleanse.

We collectively despise the tank buster marker for reasons most varied so seeing it implemented here is not happy change. Vwamp Vwamp Vwamp use cooldowns dummy! Vwamp! Just.. delete that please, it is also distracting having my entire character glowing bright red like that. No new player is going to go ohhh big red marker that means mitigate when first seeing that. Cannot wait for all the sprout tanks to run around with that marker confused then not press cooldowns anyways. Worse about this is not all bosses were adjusted for this. Many still lack the marker so there is still no consistency in these dungeons.

Warrior AOE can go die in a hole. Same drift issues that Paladin aoe has resulting in you wiffing constantly.

Sam just spams Shinten at 52 now, yawn.

Team is capable of doing good things so.. wish they would just keep doing that and leave unbroken things alone.