The older (pre ShB) content feels WAY too easy.

[SargeTheSeagull]

This is not a "game too easy, make harder" thread. I've been leveling a lot lately and i've noticed a pretty big issue. A lot of pre shadowbringers dungeons, trials and raids feel really off, numbers wise. Case in point: Singularity Reactor. I did that on gunbreaker earlier today and there were at least three new players in that group. In that instance, I had 16k HP. Thordan's autoattacks were hitting me for less than a thousand. Every raidwide was dealing less than a tenth of each party member's HP, no shields, no mitigation. We finished the instance in less than four minutes. I cannot imagine how anticlimactic that must have been for the sprouts. This is an issue in almost all older content I've done lately post ARR. Outside of some very specific dungeon pulls like the first pull of Bardam's Mettle, nothing deals any damage and can be killed effortlessly. I haven't gotten below half HP in I don't know how long. This issue seems to go away once you get to content in Shadowbringers.

This isn't to complain about how the devs are making the game too easy or "accessible" this seems to be a genuine oversight in terms of how certain values scale. I say that mainly because in the revamped ARR duties (castrum, praetorium, porta) those are actually fairly challenging and there's a real risk of dying at a few points. Then you do king moogle mog and everything hits like a wet noodle and you can finish it in three minutes. That's a constant up until the start of ShB. Compare the damage and kill time of Royal Menagerie to Titania or Innocence. It's night and day and i'm sure it's downright jarring for newer players. I don't know if this has to do with the number crunch in 6.0 or has to do with item level bloat or what but it's a real issue.

[AngelCheese77]

I found it’s because of gear. Even when I do sync to a FATE in the 20s, my 66 WAR dodges every hit or hit for zero

[Kolsykol]

I found it’s because of gear. Even when I do sync to a FATE in the 20s, my 66 WAR dodges every hit or hit for zero

It's also because of potencies.
Some potencies have basically doubled since ARR, so even if we disregard gear people are basically dealing double the damage lol.

I really think the devs should go back and just do a huge rework of the way the content is scaled.

[Jeeqbit]

This has always been an issue and it has to do with how syncing works. Trials and raids are not item level synced, only level synced, so max level trials and raids are synced to the maximum item level of the expansion.

The Singularity Reactor is designed for the gear you wear when you reach level 60 (item level 142). Higher level players sync to the maximum item level of Heavensward (item level 270). You are almost double the item level.

Dungeons are different. Most of these get item level synced after a 40 item level difference. This didn't happen in some previous expansions and it caused there to be a massive difference in how easy the dungeons were if they were all new to it. You can see this problem in Gubal Library (Hard), the Antitower or Fractal Continuum (Hard).

[Ronduwil]

This has always been an issue and it has to do with how syncing works. Trials and raids are not item level synced, only level synced, so max level trials and raids are synced to the maximum item level of the expansion.

This is a very good point, and I would also like to add that many of the sprouts the OP feels so sorry for do not yet realize that they can use their tomestones to buy the best gear for a given expansion every ten levels. At least, that was the case for me when I hit level 60 and started receiving massive beat downs from overworld mobs when attempting Heavensward content in my item level 55 gear. That's why there's a "minimum item level/no echo" option for players who want to tackle challenges in premade groups.

[ACE135]

That's why there's a "minimum item level/no echo" option for players who want to tackle challenges in premade groups.

Why is wanting to do the content as how it was intended when it was new now called wanting a challenge? I think it is pretty understandable that one would want the content to maintain its (release) "difficulty".

[Ransu]

Why is wanting to do the content as how it was intended when it was new now called wanting a challenge? I think it is pretty understandable that one would want the content to maintain its (release) "difficulty".

Potencies have changed significantly since then...you're asking for the impossible. If you want it to be close to how it was on release then the only way to do so is min item level and no echo.

[Rilifane]

This is a very good point, and I would also like to add that many of the sprouts the OP feels so sorry for do not yet realize that they can use their tomestones to buy the best gear for a given expansion every ten levels. At least, that was the case for me when I hit level 60 and started receiving massive beat downs from overworld mobs when attempting Heavensward content in my item level 55 gear. That's why there's a "minimum item level/no echo" option for players who want to tackle challenges in premade groups.

That just isn't a valid option for new players that still go through the story. Setting up a PF for a MINE run of story Thordan just so they can have a better experience than an anticlimatic pushover boss. It's not about the challenge but rather keeping old content from being a pushover in the sense that you don't even notice what is evening happening and just blindly running through another hallway/ facerolling another boss whose only difference from one another is the name.
It makes old content flavourless, repetetive even when doing it for the first time and bland because there is simply nothing about it that makes it memorable or fits with the impact this battle should have in the story.
Thordan is by far the absolute worst in that regard and I've seen plenty of disappointed new players in there when I got in roulette and they asked "wait, that was it?". Yes, that was it. But some other duties suffer from the same problem.

With the insane potency changes since ARR (some potencies basically doubled) we're already much stronger than we were and a few adjustments to at least enable players to see the fight properly without making it difficult or "challenging" (because it's not about a challenge) would go a long way. They did a good job on the 3 MSQ duties. I'm sure they're able to make adjustments to other duties as well. Even something as lowering ilvl sync a bit would help immensely.
It's also better for creating a smooth difficulty curve instead of having these odd spikes and back to faceroll.

It's sad because I still remember doing Sastasha for the first time and it was way different.
Actually felt like an actual dungeon in ARR.

It wasn't super hard or anything but at least we got to see the mechanics lol.
Especially the last boss he just dies now before he has a chance to even summon any of the adds.
But yeah...
My impression of FFXIV the first time I did it was probably way better than the first impression of people who do it today.

I remember that clicking the bubbles was standard in most parties and occasionally someone would say "I think we can skip this, dps seems good enough".
It was nothing huge, the dungeon wasn't difficult. But it wasn't the same faceless pushover that all just blend together after a while.

[Kolsykol]

I remember that clicking the bubbles was standard in most parties and occasionally someone would say "I think we can skip this, dps seems good enough".
It was nothing huge, the dungeon wasn't difficult. But it wasn't the same faceless pushover that all just blend together after a while.

Yeah I actually have strong memories of it, even tho it wasn't hard it still felt like a dungeon and like it had a certain danger to it.
In the end of the day it's also just the '' new MMO '' thing, but I still think new players nowadays have a very different experience in a more negative way.
Nowadays it's like a speedrun and people sometimes end up with the impression that mechanics don't even exist because bosses die so fast they don't even happen lol.

Thordan who gets brought up really is a good example of this problem too, he's hyped up like crazy and is a really really cool fight but he just dies instantly.
It's crazy the devs haven't solved this yet I really think it's a pretty big problem.
It should've been fixed when the big increase in players happened especially imo, I think it actually does give a negative impression.

[UkcsAlias]

Even something as lowering ilvl sync a bit would help immensely.
It's also better for creating a smooth difficulty curve instead of having these odd spikes and back to faceroll.

Well, i think that this can be well managable by simply making the dungeons that are harder part of the MSQ roulette (and in that also involve HW/SB reworks). Even if this in the end ends up being a glorified leveling roulette, it can help a lot since it doesnt require an instant rework of everything.

Those that arent MSQ dungeons can be modified regardless as they wont block the player from progressing anyway. Those are not realy the issue dungeons that require extensive reworks (usualy an ilvl cap would do enough here).

But i still would prefer a rebalance of the lower gear. Tomestone gear is simply too powerful compared to the gear that is 1 lvl below (ilvl 50 vs ilvl 130 is a too big spike that is almost instantly given to players).