This game needs to be harder

[strawberrycake]

Here is what I feel like the main issue with how we engage with the content in XIV atm is, I no longer have the engagement in my job, or my content. In so many other games multiplayer, MMOs, single player, the goal is for what the player is doing in terms of expression and how that expression interacts and affects the enviornment to be fun and engaging.

To simply put it, XIV is not very engaging, the solutions are very limited and once figured out there are no variables to keep it fresh or at least entertaining. It's been more than obvious that the game hasn't been doing that lately. And if the game is, the players become stubborn and want to avoid all unfavorable variables.

So for example, lets take Criterion dungeons and Raiding in NA:

Now this all assuming the game is very engaging and has variables. A player will come into a Crierion run, say which pathing they wanna take for the optimal run, instead of just choosing amonst themselves and the other 3 players, and just have a good time, here we have our first issue. You see the average players will be cool with whatever, so long as they get done in a reasonable time, and they have fun, as is the point of playing a game, but we have some people who feel everything needs to be optimal. This person in a way has contributed to XIV being very static, as the devs have most likely seen this pattern over the course of the last several expansions and figured. What if we just did that for them?

Example 2 PFing during the savage tier:

Now there are multiple ways, the Savage fights can be resolved and that is true to this day, BUT, every so often you'll have someone or a few people who will, despite seeing what strat you've choosen, implay, or vaguely say, or outright say, they don't like said strat and will try to change what strat is being used. This person believes that the other variables in the run are not worth dealing with for whatever arbitrary reason, and will see what you are doing as inferior. Again see how the devs will react to seeing that trend over the course of a long time.

Example number 3:

Now i've given a casual and not so casual example, but I'll also do one in the middle for the sake of my point so it doesnt seem so black and white. This happens in dungeons. EXs, PvP, Hunts, Relics, Tome farming, Glam farming, you name it. The problem here, is that the Devs are taking how people look for and want Optimal Routes and Plans and Strats in Content and try to develop around those trends instead of sitting down and having meaningful back and forth with their entire player base. And before someone throws in semantics or whatever, the point of the devs job for a game of this caliber is to find the middle ground for us all, take a step out of everyones comfort zone and make something we can all just enjoy as players of the game.

Developing around extreme trends will never be healthy for any game.