Say something negative about the game

[Lunaxia]

Game doesn't have enough content set in Ancient (pre-Sundering) times - 'Asciantown-Adventure!' Amaurot under the sea, and a floating research facility and it's dirty little secret containment centre underneath aren't enough. I want more Amaurot Gang adventures!

Honestly, I'd be over the moon solely with an Ancient EP - I don't even need the original cast to sell it. Amaurot and Elpis were stunning, the lore is fascinating and the possibilities for stories feels endless. FFXIV does high fantasy incredibly well, and after witnessing the likes of Norvrandt, Mare Lamentorum and Ultima Thule I think they'd be in their element creating brand new settings unrestrained by the constraints of having to fit everything neatly into the boundaries of Hydaelyn.

2) There's no good midcore content to comfortably get you from Extreme to Savage unless you're at the beginning of an expansion (referring to easier Savages like P1S)

I really wish they would put more energy overall into encouraging players into harder content, giving them the education necessary to actually succeed there from earlier on and deconstructing the perception of Savage and the like as this impenetrable bastion of gaming skill that only the top percentage of players can try. They're shooting themselves in the foot by putting the time into developing this content without attempting to up participation, and if they insist that players bored with the game should be turning in that direction, the least they can do is bring it to the fore and make it less of a niche within the game.

[TaleraRistain]

I really wish they would put more energy overall into encouraging players into harder content, giving them the education necessary to actually succeed there from earlier on and deconstructing the perception of Savage and the like as this impenetrable bastion of gaming skill that only the top percentage of players can try. They're shooting themselves in the foot by putting the time into developing this content without attempting to up participation, and if they insist that players bored with the game should be turning in that direction, the least they can do is bring it to the fore and make it less of a niche within the game.

Where is the game itself perpetuating that idea? That seems to come more from the community. The game puts the unlocks out there. It puts them into a separate Duty Finder for a time, yes, but there doesn't seem to be anything in the game itself that says only the top percentage of players can try it. Maybe there's something they could do with DF on JP servers but, for instance, NA uses PF for that content, so what could the devs do there? If they restrict it so it can only be done in DF then NA would most likely only run with statics and the ability to PUG Savage would either be incredibly limited or die off.

There's no good narrative reason to have the story split between Labyrinthos and Thavnair at the beginning of Endwalker, it's only done because the other expansions did it. This wouldn't necessarily be a terrible thing if it wasn't so obvious when it was impacting things.

Narratively, no, but it's not just because other expansions did it. It's so we don't have a repeat of Stormblood Early Access and everyone getting stuck on the Raubahn instance because the instance servers were overwhelmed and everyone followed a single path in the story.

As to the OP, the game is very alt character and alt job unfriendly. Especially for a game that encourages you to play everything on a single character. If you need to have alts for one reason or another, they can't share in anything from the main character that would make synergy between the two characters easier.

[Lunaxia]

Where is the game itself perpetuating that idea? That seems to come more from the community.

It does, but the game/ devs do insanely little to actually refute that notion and actively draw in players to high end content.

[TaleraRistain]

It does, but the game/ devs do insanely little to actually refute that notion and actively draw in players to high end content.

We've seen some changes though. I wasn't raiding at the time, but I know my raiding friends in earlier expansions weren't doing Savage through PF. They had to have statics. But Savage now is accessible in PF. In fact, I have a static but we just started and both my 9S clears have been in PF groups after we were free for the week to get our clears. Also the book change to my understanding is a good one, since you can get geared up faster now. And they put a cute mount in P12S.

What ideas do you have on what other things they could do? Not being snide. Truly curious on seeing what possibilities they might try and who knows, they might read it and get some food for thought.

[Lunaxia]

What ideas do you have on what other things they could do? Not being snide. Truly curious on seeing what possibilities they might try and who knows, they might read it and get some food for thought.

I think more proactively encouraging players within the game to attempt it might help, beyond just simply unlocking the content and leaving them to do it. Maybe a notice or something like "why not push your skills to the limit and try your hand at besting [duty name here]" on completing certain trials/ duties, as well as perhaps offering something like an advanced version of HotN ("Hall of the Warrior"?) with more information on the specifics of raiding like materia, pots, pushing the importance of your rotation and info on various mechanics etc. - obviously nothing really heavy or detailed, but more of an introduction of various terms, what to expect and where to look - and generally just providing more content that can function as a sort of stepping stone between that of the MSQ and Extremes/ Savage that would build confidence.

A lot of players balk at the idea and find it offensive ("handholding" is a cherished term) but I remember being a sprout, being new to MMOs, and over the years meeting new players who had no idea what the likes of openers or procs even were, and various people who were familiar with end game content but felt it was out of their league. I think it just needs to be made to feel more welcoming and a more natural part of the game once you've finished the MSQ instead this distant, optional part of the game that feels inevitably daunting.

[TaleraRistain]

I think more proactively encouraging players within the game to attempt it might help, beyond just simply unlocking the content and leaving them to do it. Maybe a notice or something like "why not push your skills to the limit and try your hand at besting [duty name here]" on completing certain trials/ duties, as well as perhaps offering something like an advanced version of HotN ("Hall of the Warrior"?) with more information on the specifics of raiding like materia, pots, pushing the importance of your rotation and info on various mechanics etc. - obviously nothing really heavy or detailed, but more of an introduction of various terms, what to expect and where to look - and generally just providing more content that can function as a sort of stepping stone between that of the MSQ and Extremes/ Savage that would build confidence.

A lot of players balk at the idea and find it offensive ("handholding" is a cherished term) but I remember being a sprout, being new to MMOs, and over the years meeting new players who had no idea what the likes of openers or procs even were, and various people who were familiar with end game content but felt it was out of their league. I think it just needs to be made to feel more welcoming and a more natural part of the game once you've finished the MSQ instead this distant, optional part of the game that feels inevitably daunting.

Those are some good ideas. Rotation might be a little tricky, though. There's not much in the game that establishes a full rotation. The information is there but it's not like the game lights up buttons outside of combos or such. So it might be hard for the game itself to explain something the community did the numbers on. Plus there are differences even in the community based on certain stats sometimes.