Quote Originally Posted by Carin-Eri View Post

And, if I'm honest, as a polar opposite the majority of forumites, I don't find the game easy. And I'm still pretty rubbish at it overall (though not for lack of trying to improve) - but, thankfully, the in-game community are pretty forgiving of it.
I remember something Yoshi-P said a while ago (though I can’t remember where or when lol), about how longer time players have become so accustomed to the game that even when the content actually is ‘difficult’, it ends up feeling simplistic because of that familiarity.

I know I’m guilty of it myself; I don’t do savage content despite having played for quite a while, so I do often think to myself ‘this feels way too easy’, even after doing content for the first time. But then I have to take a step back and remind myself that the reason it feels so easy is because I’m so familiar with the game. If I had been playing for less time, my experience of it would’ve been completely different.

I think this could contribute to why people are much more forgiving about mistakes (generally) than in other MMOs. There’s an understanding that part of the reason for content seeming much easier to some than others is familiarity with the content and not solely the difficulty of the content in and of itself.

Honestly, I think particularly in FFXIV, there isn’t actually anything that inherently separates ‘good’ and ‘bad’ players. It’s more about familiarity, willingness to engage with the content and willingness to persevere when making mistakes. Not to say that someone ‘less skilled’ is lacking in those things, simply that they’re the most important ingredients to doing well in content.