4-man variants for endgame content going forward?

[Rayne6665]

Heck yeah lets go!

[ThaCa]

I would think the sweet spot for some harder content would be like 12-16 players, it will allow for slightly more variation in team compositions and mechanic design, while not going all the way to the alliance/eureka/bozja level of mess. Sadly the party UI isn't really designed for that.

4 players is great to reduce the bar of getting in, but it will most likely end up having to deal with simpler team mechanics and having most of the responsibility fall onto the single healer. DPS are balanced around the 8 people content anyway so some of the might struggle reaching the DPS checks which basically means those will either be super lenient or so hard that you have to bring spesific Jobs. Tanking will be completely brain dead unless there's insane amount of enemy positioning through the fights because there's no swaps among other stuff for 4man.

[Darthgummibear]

but it will most likely end up having to deal with simpler team mechanics

This is really the key point right here. At level raid content is quite literally mechanically designed around the number of bodies on the field. You reduce the number of players, you reduce the complexity. If they were to do something like that they would basically have to create two completely different versions of the same raid, which would obviously lead to less content for everyone across the board.

[Deveryn]

Now for my main point: I can't speak for everyone, of course, but if the 4-man endgame content we get now ends up being popular, I'd personally love to see some of the current/incoming 8-man content get 4-man versions as well. Allowing for the completion of EX/Savage content with just 4 players would be an amazing step up in accessibility for the endgame combat portion of the game, and I hope something like that will be possible somewhere down the line.

What does everyone think? Let's hear your thoughts!

I don't see this interacting with the 8-man savage tier. I do see this becoming a replacement for exploration content. Eureka and Bozja were interesting. I found the latter to be an improvement. However, when the population died down, they were forced to make some changes. We saw the content get scaled in such a way that 4, sometimes fewer people could engage it. People have been asking for harder dungeon content for a long time. It only made sense that they try going this route, which not only offers that same engaging content, but also ends up preserving a space like Bozja to see continued use.

I'm excited to see what they've prepared. I hope it's something they continue to do going forward.

[Toutatis]

There’s a variety of content in the game. Some is single player only, some give you 1-4 freedom like PotD and HoH, then you have 4, 8 and 24 ppl content (and a few other variations) and it is fine like that, there is something for everyone in there and they each come with a different level and type of challenges. The addition of the Criterion dungeons is a new and welcome option. It is not gatekeeping. Different new content > rehashed content.


Making current Savage raids available to groups of 4 would probably make it even more difficult to find 8 people groups as it is much easier to partner with a few friends to kill content than forming, gearing and maintaining a static of 8. It would also defeat the purpose of having to work in coordination with a group of 8 to beat a boss. Just create a PF with your friends if a real static is not possible.

If the new dungeons are really savage level difficulty but for 4 people, I believe that groups of 4 will be more exclusive and people will from closed groups with friends only making it less accessible. If done with randos, it will certainly lead to more bitching if someone weaker joins as it will prevent any progress (we will have to see how they are tuned...the only way to keep the difficulty with 4 is to leave even less room for error). In a group of 8, having a dps that is a bit behind is generally not a problem.

[Banriikku]

Needed skill is gatekeeping ? 8-Man content is not gated except for skill - you have it or you dont and thats ok. We should people give a chance but the outcome can't be same if the necessary skill is diffrent. Lesser people = lesser difficulty=lesser rewards. Not gatekeeping, its skill you need. My Opinion.

[Nyxs]

I don’t think they need 4 man versions. They are called ‘extreme’ ‘savage’ ‘ultimate’. If you invest the time you get rewarded in the feeling of beating it and rewards. All the arr-shb ex can be unsynced if you just want the items. Its not going to be content made for everyone and you have to accept that. There is other content for everyone though.

And for the people calling others who disagree gatekeeepers and ableist. Just stop. You not being able to do harder content is not that at all. You make yourself look silly using them as an argument.

[Merrigan]

And for the people calling others who disagree gatekeeepers and ableist. Just stop. You not being able to do harder content is not that at all. You make yourself look silly using them as an argument.

Thank you ; I didn't really understood those remarks, specially the "ableist" one.

[Pomelo]

I like content like this, I've had the same 3 friends for about 8 years now. I don't do many stuff that requires 8 people. But this sounds nice

[Fhaerron]

Keep Savage and EX as is.

We get new stuffs for mythic plus dungeons.

More 'new' content I like more then just changing current content. If this make sense?