MSQ Difficulty and Exclusion

[ForteNightshade]

Genuinely difficult content (Extreme, Savage, and Ultimate) is there for players who want it. The MSQ should not be designed to kill you; this game's focus is on it's story, whether or not you like a given line, and all content is set to "Easy Mode" by default. Besides which, you don't have a full toolbox below the level cap - and because of that ever growing toolbox, even simple 6.X bosses can be more complex than high difficulty 2.X ones.

Difficult story bosses can be incredibly rewarding (hello pre-nerf Shinryu!) but it's not the wisest course for drawing in and retaining non-hardcore players, and as an MMO there needs to be as wide an audience as possible.

First and foremost, Shinryu was never nerfed. I really don't know why this keeps being mentioned. Trial bosses simply don't have an ilvl sync, thereby making them gradually easier as the expansion carries on. By the end of Stormblood, we were 120 ilvls over him. Naturally, Shinryu is going to melt by then.

Secondly, as Absurdity noted above. Why should the MSQ content be a toothless participation award? It certainly doesn't need to be expressively difficult but at the same time doesn't need to be a walk in the park that's near impossible to fail. Case in point, I just did Castrum Abania with a friend to help them level. I healed a grand total of seven times the entire dungeon. Of those seven heals, less than five were even necessary. The mobs and bosses alike utterly melted. The tank even did the huge pull at the end and I never needed to touch them once. Between Holy stuns and their paltry health, they were almost dead by the time stun immunity kicked in. This is the last dungeon before the big boss and that's the experience players get?

No mainline FF has ever been hard but they've certainly had bosses able to kill you. That's rarely the case in FFXIV outside of first time experiences. Even if you get a new player, the content is easy enough you can carry them through without a problem.