FFXIV needs to stop accommodating Solo Players

[Supersnow845]

^which as I’ve explained in the 7 points I’ve made since the single one you apparently read if half the party decides they would rather stand at the entrance and the content is still totally clearable (which it js) then you aren’t really cooperating with each other in a practical sense, you are wailing individually on the content with a vaguely aligned goal

Cooperation implies you are actually working with each other and work with each others strengths to achieve something, 14’s casual content is not that

[Suniva]

Cooperation implies you are actually working with each other and work with each others strengths to achieve something, 14’s casual content is not that

Hello again, new day! I have a question I would like to ask you, Supersnow845. You're a healer, yes? Could you, as a scholar, queue up in party finder and take on the whole instance by yourself? No help from the tank, no help from the dps, but just you and you alone? And no, I am not talking about using trusts. I am talking about you queueing up with three other people, telling them to sit back and afk while you solo the entire instance by yourself? Are you capable of doing that?

[Maltothoris]

Hello again, new day! I have a question I would like to ask you, Supersnow845. You're a healer, yes? Could you, as a scholar, queue up in party finder and take on the whole instance by yourself? No help from the tank, no help from the dps, but just you and you alone? And no, I am not talking about using trusts. I am talking about you queueing up with three other people, telling them to sit back and afk while you solo the entire instance by yourself? Are you capable of doing that?

Well its quite possible. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzsiQWjhRp8 Of course the sch was being very annoying but it can be done.

[Suniva]

I thank you for the incredibly toxic sch video, but the video only shows the sch handling trash mobs, while being a class A ickwad. Doesn't show him/her doing the boss at all, so my question isn't exactly answered.

[Supersnow845]

Hello again, new day! I have a question I would like to ask you, Supersnow845. You're a healer, yes? Could you, as a scholar, queue up in party finder and take on the whole instance by yourself? No help from the tank, no help from the dps, but just you and you alone? And no, I am not talking about using trusts. I am talking about you queueing up with three other people, telling them to sit back and afk while you solo the entire instance by yourself? Are you capable of doing that?

In a lot of the current dungeons the answer would be yes because of the pitiful damage the content puts out but that’s not really the point I’m making.

If I queue into the content and we all run forward from that moment till the moment the dungeon ends I as the SCH don’t have to care about anyone else, the tank doesn’t need me, the DPS don’t care if I’m a physick bot or doing twice their DPS, I don’t have to care that the DPS is trash, I don’t have to care to hat the tank is doing, if they can’t hold mobs they barely do any damage anyway and mobs no longer cancel casts if they hit me. The tank no longer has to meter CD’s because they have cost less CD’s on tiny CD’s so their other mitigations become fluff and the healers heals are just there, this also removes the DPS needing to be decent to not exhaust the healers/tanks

If I queue in and literally don’t have to care about anyone else in the instance for the duration of the instance because we don’t have to I don’t see that as cooperating with anyone

[Suniva]

If I queue in and literally don’t have to care about anyone else in the instance for the duration of the instance because we don’t have to I don’t see that as cooperating with anyone

I still feel like you want to change the definition of what cooperation means, and like Jojoya said, you seem to be arguing about coordination more so than cooperation.

co·​or·​di·​na·​tion

"The process of organizing people or groups so that they work together properly and well.

There is cooperation, which again basically means working together toward a common goal, and then there is coordination, which means organizing people to work well together. I think what you are saying is that in roulettes, you don't have to be very coordinated, which I think we can all, mostly, agree that that is a fair statement compared to the other content available, but in roulettes, it is much easier, and faster, if you cooperate together to complete the task in front of you. Sorry if I am repeating myself or being pedantic. I just really feel like you are confusing the two definitions.

[ty_taurus]

Hello again, new day! I have a question I would like to ask you, Supersnow845. You're a healer, yes? Could you, as a scholar, queue up in party finder and take on the whole instance by yourself? No help from the tank, no help from the dps, but just you and you alone? And no, I am not talking about using trusts. I am talking about you queueing up with three other people, telling them to sit back and afk while you solo the entire instance by yourself? Are you capable of doing that?

I couldn't do a level 90 dungeon because it doesn't let you que with an undersized party, and I didn't want to waste anyone's time or ask anyone to eat a penalty to appease my unnecessary challenge run, but I did just successfully solo a level 80 dungeon, synched, as Sage. Sage and Scholar are basically the same thing, so that counts in my book. I died once because I didn't barrier myself during a buffed tankbuster from the last boss, who gives himself damage buffs if I can't grab all the orbs in time, and still had about 10 minutes left before I'd run out of time. I didn't think to take pics until after the second boss, but here's some evidence:

Level 90 dungeons are actually easier than level 80 ones (did you know the second boss has an untelegraphed, instant cast double tankbuster? I didn't). So I can't imagine it's any more challenging to do that at level 90 if the game allowed you to. And it wasn't until I was almost done that I also remembered, there's a guy making a series of videos on how far you can get soloing FF14. So yeah, there's plenty of evidence of much of the multiplayer elements being very much soloable. Just to note, his interpretation of "solo" means you also cant obtain items that came from another player. You can't use the market board, for example. He's doing everything by himself, from gathering gear to crafting... everything.

[Maltothoris]

Well the thing is the mobs are more dangerous than the bosses for the most part in dungeon. Take the final boss of that dungeon from the video, doesn't do a single tank buster.

[AmiableApkallu]

When I run a dungeon via Duty Finder, you can tell me all you want that I'm "cooperating" with three other people, and it might even fit the dictionary definition, but it still feels like solo content half the time because there's no real "coordination." As long as the tank follows the tank script, the healer follows the healer script, and the DPS push buttons, the job gets done. Everyone I partied up with is forgettable and (literally) replaceable.

I don't even need real people to get that imperfect, scuffed, "OMG what are these people doing" feel. I just did a Trust run where Alphinaud let Thancred die to Superbolide and then couldn't be bothered to raise him until we were all out of combat.

[Suniva]

When I run a dungeon via Duty Finder, you can tell me all you want that I'm "cooperating" with three other people, and it might even fit the dictionary definition, but it still feels like solo content half the time because there's no real "coordination." As long as the tank follows the tank script, the healer follows the healer script, and the DPS push buttons, the job gets done. Everyone I partied up with is forgettable and (literally) replaceable.

Thank you. This statement makes sense and I can see why many are feeling that particular way, I appreciate you clarifying. But as for the second part of your statement, I'd argue that because the roles are so defined, as has been the case for decades now when it comes to an MMO that follows the trinity of tank, dps, healer, that the coordination is still inherently there, but people understand what their roles are so well nowadays that we take it for granted. Hence why people are left feeling the way they do. I think this is a problem for all older MMO's truth be told. The community gets so used to the status quo that they clamour for something new to spice things up. The game already has savage and ultimate content for those that want more of a challenge, and we all agree that roulettes are easy to accomplish, mainly because it is a daily activity for gathering your tomes for the week.

So, what ideas might you have to add to the game to make things not feel as they do? More challenging 4 man content? Also, what's to stop players from coming full circle even if this more "challenging" content is added? After years of the same thing, won't players be left feeling as they are now?