The difficulty of Normal Content in this game needs to increase.

[SamuraiMiqo]

No, not does not. There is a reason people are unhappy with the difficulty increase of DT. Too many mechanics at once that lead to confusion and irritation. People look down on those who dislike it because 'You're a casual, stop playing ' but the MSQ's difficulty was not a step in the right direction. People are also unhappy with the First Walk in the new Alliance Raid because of the difficulty increase.

[Connor]

No, not does not. There is a reason people are unhappy with the difficulty increase of DT. Too many mechanics at once that lead to confusion and irritation. People look down on those who dislike it because 'You're a casual, stop playing ' but the MSQ's difficulty was not a step in the right direction. People are also unhappy with the First Walk in the new Alliance Raid because of the difficulty increase.

Uh, are they? I’ve yet to see a single person comment that Jeuno was simply too difficult . If anything I’ve only seen complaints suggesting people think the exact opposite.

As for DT ‘difficulty increases’ I think I’ve said before but the actual mechanical difficulty hasn’t really changed from Endwalker to Dawntrail. What has changed is the way it’s presented and that’s where the perceived difficulty is coming from. Like those evil doll things in Strayborough Deadwalk’s first boss. It seems annoying, but if they expressed the doll’s paths as a standard line aoe, it would become extremely easy to resolve. Similarly with if Honey B Lovely’s hearts telegraphed their path before going being released - it’d effectively just be that spiral mechanic from the final boss of Yuweyawata Field Station.

But personally I don’t see the problem with them playing around with combat mechanic presentation to keep things ‘interesting’. God knows we could use some (perceptual) variety lol. But overall I don’t think there’s been any major or drastic increase in ‘actual mechanical difficulty/complexity’, just the way it’s presented (and occasionally speed of resolution is altered to ‘throw players off’)

[Kuroka]

In needs yes. But not in "just more faster flashier!!!" but in actual smart things, awareness etc...

[Infindox]

No, not does not. There is a reason people are unhappy with the difficulty increase of DT. Too many mechanics at once that lead to confusion and irritation. People look down on those who dislike it because 'You're a casual, stop playing ' but the MSQ's difficulty was not a step in the right direction. People are also unhappy with the First Walk in the new Alliance Raid because of the difficulty increase.

Can you point me to the people saying Jueno was "too hard"? Legitimately confused where you are seeing that. The only issue with the raid is Giga Slash is sometimes difficult to read with the camera.

[SamuraiMiqo]

Can you point me to the people saying Jueno was "too hard"? Legitimately confused where you are seeing that. The only issue with the raid is Giga Slash is sometimes difficult to read with the camera.

So in the times I've played it, myself and some of the people in the party were having difficulty with the..I believe it's called the Five Angels? (Never played 11, have thought of doing so) And when they start overlapping attacks that leads to confusion and multiple KOs in various alliances. There's also the final boss that seems to have this 'you need lightning fast reactions' attack involving the swords he summons above his head? Like, it's a similar issue I had with the first boss of Alexandria, no matter how fast I moved, I'd die due to not being fast enough. Now, it could just be that people are having issues with how certain mechanics pop up. Going back to the First Walk, i have seen people say many times that the sword summons on the final boss seem to be out of place. Could that be a glitch or a visual error?

[SamuraiMiqo]

Uh, are they? I’ve yet to see a single person comment that Jeuno was simply too difficult . If anything I’ve only seen complaints suggesting people think the exact opposite.

As for DT ‘difficulty increases’ I think I’ve said before but the actual mechanical difficulty hasn’t really changed from Endwalker to Dawntrail. What has changed is the way it’s presented and that’s where the perceived difficulty is coming from. Like those evil doll things in Strayborough Deadwalk’s first boss. It seems annoying, but if they expressed the doll’s paths as a standard line aoe, it would become extremely easy to resolve. Similarly with if Honey B Lovely’s hearts telegraphed their path before going being released - it’d effectively just be that spiral mechanic from the final boss of Yuweyawata Field Station.

But personally I don’t see the problem with them playing around with combat mechanic presentation to keep things ‘interesting’. God knows we could use some (perceptual) variety lol. But overall I don’t think there’s been any major or drastic increase in ‘actual mechanical difficulty/complexity’, just the way it’s presented (and occasionally speed of resolution is altered to ‘throw players off’)

I can agree that if they made the mechanics you mentioned more in line with others it could make things more easy to understand. My big issue so far is that there's been times, like in the latest MSQ dungeon that I've been having difficulty in finding the 'safe spots' with how things overlap and cause panic on what to do, even when doing my best to focus. I've seen in various discord servers of people saying "if they'd slow that down just a smidge, it would be better."

[BigCheez]

In needs yes. But not in "just more faster flashier!!!" but in actual smart things, awareness etc...

This.

I don't think boss mechanics need to be harder. They're honestly fine as they are for casual content.

I think damage rotations need to be more engaging, CC and interrupts should be more useful outside of incredibly niche solo deep dungeon scenarios, tanks should need to actually use their defensives somewhat and healers should actually need to heal.

[Ardeth]

Can you point me to the people saying Jueno was "too hard"? Legitimately confused where you are seeing that. The only issue with the raid is Giga Slash is sometimes difficult to read with the camera.

The first and only time I did it took all, but 5 minutes of the duty timer, and I never went back. I just think encounter design on that respect sucks. It's too flashy and too fast. It's designed to kill you to teach you to understand it, but for most people, that leads to frustration, and then that leads to unsubscribing and uninstalling. I've done unnerfed Orbonne Monastery and wasn't that bad, but they think they can go meat grinder mode on casuals and keep them coming back multiple times for multiple weeks is pie in the sky.

[Gurgeh]

No, not does not. There is a reason people are unhappy with the difficulty increase of DT. Too many mechanics at once that lead to confusion and irritation. People look down on those who dislike it because 'You're a casual, stop playing ' but the MSQ's difficulty was not a step in the right direction. People are also unhappy with the First Walk in the new Alliance Raid because of the difficulty increase.

I'm confident the main reason people think it's harder is because it's the first time they have done an alliance at release, and for the first time they are not OP. And they are getting a shock 'because of the state of the casual game'

I mean take the mobs. They could really have made it to that one tank taking them all will kill the tank. Or throw one mob in there that dies 'nasty' shock , or fatal tank buster aoe that a tank takes off. Instead it's got less challenge than a dungeon pull. Get it wrong and murder the alliance and they will soon look for what killed them, make that mob the only one putting out huge aoes and they'll be able to work on our why/what and stop it happening.

[Kaurhz]

It should be yes,

IMO, the game difficulty needs to increase a little more, and the amount of visual effects bloat needs to be toned down significantly. Like, from my perspective I found the game more difficult and engaging in ARR/HW/SB, than what I did in, say, ShB, and EW.. But I bizarrely had more struggles in those expansions just because of the visual bloat.

This is what SE doesn't understand about their game. They say time and time again that they don't want new players to struggle like that, but they would absolutely be fine if we had the earlier difficulties and design back, with the subtle visual effects. I would go on to say that some people would unironically struggle less as well if they put emphasis on having something engaging with something level of resistance and toned down visual effects than what they would if the difficulty and engagement factor were undertuned, whilst visual effects were significantly bloated.