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

[magitekLuna]

Yeah, how about not. I already hate having to do low tier content with randoms. The average player isn't going to get better. They will remain at their current level, and it will rapidly become everyone else's problem. The game has gradually upped the difficulty of even basic stuff over the years, and thus far there is zero sign of your average player in any way stepping it up.

are you for real? cant think for even 1 sec o something so easy?
if the MSQ at no point make people be better they will not, if it will people will have to.

[Sesera]

are you for real? cant think for even 1 sec o something so easy?
if the MSQ at no point make people be better they will not, if it will people will have to.

No they are just going to spend their money elsewhere. They pay to have fun not to "work hard".

[Gemina]

Normal content should be easy! but would be nice to have a middel ground to harder content (there is a huge gap between them).
Many have a life outside the game and can not spend 8hrs on a game everyday!

The middle ground exists. People just like to say it doesn't coz reasons.

[Payadopa]

Normal content should be easy! but would be nice to have a middel ground to harder content (there is a huge gap between them).
Many have a life outside the game and can not spend 8hrs on a game everyday!

Normal content should be normal. What we have right now is baby mode until you reach current content. If anything SE should at least decrease the ilvl cap for every encounter. Rule of thumb, if you can stand in any AoE without needing a healer you need to lower the ilvl cap. Healers are allowed to have fun, too.

[Absimiliard]

The middle ground exists. People just like to say it doesn't coz reasons.

EX trials (which I have to imagine are what you speak of) are not a middle ground. They range from completely brain dead to making savages seem like a vacation, with very few falling between these two options. Criterion on the other hand is just absolutely worthless by default, and no one should even waste the time with it until they give it some kind of proper reward structure.

[RyuDragnier]

EX trials (which I have to imagine are what you speak of) are not a middle ground. They range from completely brain dead to making savages seem like a vacation, with very few falling between these two options. Criterion on the other hand is just absolutely worthless by default, and no one should even waste the time with it until they give it some kind of proper reward structure.

That's why they're midcore content. Because they're having to span the ranges between MSQ difficulty and Savage difficulty. It's why some EXs like EX1 are about as easy as a MSQ trial, and others like EX4 are nearing savage difficulty.

[Absimiliard]

That's why they're midcore content. Because they're having to span the ranges between MSQ difficulty and Savage difficulty. It's why some EXs like EX1 are about as easy as a MSQ trial, and others like EX4 are nearing savage difficulty.

And yet the majority of players doing EX trials, regardless of where on the scale they fall, are still incapable of doing the mechanics. Therein lies the problem. What constitutes midcore is determined by the quality of the players, not the sensibilities of those of us that can already do the content. And hoboy, does this player-base suck.

Unfortunately, the ones that suck are probably gonna continue sucking because they have no incentive to move beyond their comfort zones and thereby improve themselves. They just kinda exist in a vacuum where every other roulette queue and party finder group is an absolutely miserable experience for the people being subjected to them. I'm sure people are going to say I'm being too harsh, and in truth I probably am a little bit, but I think we can all agree there really is a community skill issue at play here. A bad one.

[Deveryn]

EX trials (which I have to imagine are what you speak of) are not a middle ground. They range from completely brain dead to making savages seem like a vacation, with very few falling between these two options. Criterion on the other hand is just absolutely worthless by default, and no one should even waste the time with it until they give it some kind of proper reward structure.

You claim they range, so there IS a middle ground. This conversation gets to be so damned ridiculous. Just because you're of that opinion does not mean the middle ground doesn't exist. Even seasoned pros will occasionally run into stuff that takes some time to register. So what if some are easier than others, it's still that part of the game where you have to start paying attention to things like mechs and gear. Prior to that, you're supposed to be learning how to do mechs from the dungeon content.

[Absimiliard]

You claim they range, so there IS a middle ground. This conversation gets to be so damned ridiculous. Just because you're of that opinion does not mean the middle ground doesn't exist. Even seasoned pros will occasionally run into stuff that takes some time to register. So what if some are easier than others, it's still that part of the game where you have to start paying attention to things like mechs and gear. Prior to that, you're supposed to be learning how to do mechs from the dungeon content.

What I am claiming is that very little content falls into the middle ground between brain dead and savage. EX trials are generally either on roughly par with MSQ, in which case it definitely doesn't qualify, or dancing well across the line of what makes a savage savage, in which case it's well above what one would typically consider midcore. Very few EX trials fall into a middle ground between the two. In other words, if people want true midcore content, their options are limited to a select few trials that do meet their criteria.

When people request midcore content, they are generally not asking for a sliding scale. They are typically asking for content that firmly and consistently lands at some ill-defined mid-point between normals and savage. They are asking to be able to engage with content without having to hope in any given patch that SE introduces an EX trial that falls into the "sweet spot," so to speak.

Now, realistically, these people are never going to get what they want. That would require the development team to be spread even thinner than they already are, not to mention the allocation of even more resources. They should probably just learn to live with the few EX trials that fall within their preferred range.

[AnotherPerson]

With the amount of low damage from story mode, it sometimes feels very lackluster. I honestly rather they had another category for simplistic mechanics that aren't too complicated to understand, but with higher damage than story content in terms of frequency of attacks + higher damage auto attacks, and make that the "middle ground" mode.
Recovery in the "middle ground" mode would still be more doable since there are less difficulties in resolving mechanics. Something akin to deep dungeons higher floor bosses but with more mechanics and tuned for 4 / 8 players. Criterion bosses is a bit too far into Extreme with the mechanical burden it places on players, and having something that's slightly below that would be a good middle ground for players who don't exactly like the high mechanic gameplay, but still want something tougher than the average boss that tickles like a wet noodle outside of its mechanics.

Then Extreme and Savage fights would be the higher mechanical difficulty fights instead.