FFXIV needs to stop accommodating Solo Players

[AmiableApkallu]

Given that SE will continue to accommodate solo players, is there a path forward that generates the kind of content you would like to see?

For bread-and-butter Duty Finder-able content, I would aim to make it feel like you're playing with other players without necessarily requiring any more communication than running in a direction and jumping up and down.

One way we get there is with a return of mechanics where somebody needs to act, but it doesn't matter exactly who. For example, picking up fire sand and hitting the detonator in Copperbell Mines. Or swatting away the bombs in A5N. Moments where I wonder how the party will self-organize.

Another way we get there is with a return to mechanics where you notice the effects of another player's choice. Where is someone going to drop that AoE, or take that flare? Where is that other alliance going to aim the death laser? Moments where someone else's choice might make my life… interesting.

[ZiraZ]

Given that SE will continue to accommodate solo players, is there a path forward that generates the kind of content you would like to see?

First of all nuke tank self-sustain defensive capabilities into the ground, a lone tank should not be able to last very long without a healer. This alone makes peoples eyes glaze over the second they load into a 90 dungeons they know its time to watch a movie on their 2nd monitor because the tank can solo the dungeon (while he also watches a movie). Absolutely tragic 90 roulette content is far easier than most 50(hard) dungeons.

Then they could learn from crit dungeons, instead of boring fodder trash enemies we could have more specialized trash packs with mini mechanics the entire group needs to follow.

I know most of the reworked dungeons were turned into TRASH to accommodate for Duty Support but there is one exception I think was very well reworked, the last boss in Aetherochemical Research Facility felt pretty good, it required actual healing, it required light levels of teamwork and it even had a light enrage. SO they do have the capability to make dungeon bosses fun and enable duty support at the same time.

[SieyaM]

I get the feeling that what some people want is a design that necessitates certain jobs working together to clear content, which is all fine and good until content becomes outdated and new players cannot clear because no one is running those things anymore. Even with the duty finder queueing for something that is old and not in one of the more commonly run roulettes can mean a queue of an hour or so. Adding to that the restriction of jobs having to play in sync with each other to even be functional in said content means that if the queue fills and the older players participating don't remember how to coordinate this dungeon or don't want to bother with it then they will just leave and the new player is left to try and queue again. This will probably also lean even heavier into a META where if you are not one of the META jobs this patch cycle you might as well not even bother playing, your job will be rejected from even normal dungeon queues because you do not have the most favorable interactions with other jobs that make the content an easy fast run.

[IDontPetLalas]

I get the feeling that what some people want is a design that necessitates certain jobs working together to clear content, which is all fine and good until content becomes outdated and new players cannot clear because no one is running those things anymore. Even with the duty finder queueing for something that is old and not in one of the more commonly run roulettes can mean a queue of an hour or so. Adding to that the restriction of jobs having to play in sync with each other to even be functional in said content means that if the queue fills and the older players participating don't remember how to coordinate this dungeon or don't want to bother with it then they will just leave and the new player is left to try and queue again. This will probably also lean even heavier into a META where if you are not one of the META jobs this patch cycle you might as well not even bother playing, your job will be rejected from even normal dungeon queues because you do not have the most favorable interactions with other jobs that make the content an easy fast run.

I haven't seen anyone asking for specific jobs working together, rather it's for the existing roles to work together. That wouldn't lead to an increased demand for a meta nor a job restriction.
if on the other hand that lead to it being considerably more difficult to queue and complete dungeons as- let's say- 3 DPS and a tank, and not the more traditional 2 DPS 1 tank and 1 heal- and dungeons were more engaging as a result- I would consider that an improvement, since "easy fast run" can get quite boring.

[ty_taurus]

I get the feeling that what some people want is a design that necessitates certain jobs working together to clear content, which is all fine and good until content becomes outdated and new players cannot clear because no one is running those things anymore. Even with the duty finder queueing for something that is old and not in one of the more commonly run roulettes can mean a queue of an hour or so. Adding to that the restriction of jobs having to play in sync with each other to even be functional in said content means that if the queue fills and the older players participating don't remember how to coordinate this dungeon or don't want to bother with it then they will just leave and the new player is left to try and queue again. This will probably also lean even heavier into a META where if you are not one of the META jobs this patch cycle you might as well not even bother playing, your job will be rejected from even normal dungeon queues because you do not have the most favorable interactions with other jobs that make the content an easy fast run.

I never understand where this fear comes from. "Content becomes outdated and new players cannot clear because no one is running those things anymore." The only example of that we see is DR and Rival Wings. Everything else has either roulettes to supply that content with players reclearing for other rewards, or a dedicated community that continues to run that content regularly. Like, Eureka and Bozja are not dead. They're not as active as they were at launch day, but you can log in at pretty much any time of the day and find people there. DR's flaw is being a very specific piece of content with little to gain from running and no way of accessing it through any kind of roulette. And even that's not fully dead because there are absolutely communities that continue to run it that a new player can access.

As for meta jobs... That whole "if you're not one of the meta jobs this patch, you might as well not even bother playing..." Have you ever actually raided in FFXIV? Because you could not be more off-base with how the meta has existed throughout this games lifespan. Look at Stormblood where you had things like piercing damage comps. This meta was pretty much just for world first races and speed clear teams. No PF worth its salt restricted any job from joining, and the maybe 4 of them that did because they read on some BS gaming article that DRG + BRD was "Mandatory" and proceeded to treat that as gospel were seen as jokes and not worth joining anyway.

These fears are baseless, especially to the extent that people are asking.

[Mistress_Irika]

I'm surprised that this thread isn't dead yet.

I would love to say that this thread is not needed. However, MSQ that is mainly done solo is heavily tied to dungeons and trials. So that alone should tell you the message. Yet, Pandora's box was opened once the trust system was introduced. There's no closing the box back up.

What to do for Dawntrail? I don't know. However, I would take that old advice and be careful of what you ask for. Sure, we can make EVERY single thing accessible for any solo player to do. I would personally love that. However, if you have a large enough of a solo player base that can't get through certain parts of the content with their favorite class then expect for more simplicity to come, expect for more dungeon nerfs, and expect for certain parts of the group to defend that system in the name of accessibility.

Just putting that out there.

[Supersnow845]

I would love to know how you can physically make dungeons any easier than they are now without just zoning in and it going “duty complete” and patting you on the back

[AnnRam]

Why bother in the "MMO" aspect when the whole community play FFXIV like they pick up Fallout 4/ Skyrim install 200 mods that can be synchronized with others and poof, you're playing FFXIV (+5) and don't even bother what devs do lol,

[Shonicss4]

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FFXIV needs to stop accommodating Solo Players

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No. As someone who started in 2024(im in current content now) there is so much past content i want to do, but CAN'T because it's dead to the community. Mount farming in older content is one. Ones I can't solo unsync are impossible to get because I can not get ppl to help. Like S0S, i've been trying to do a run for the dragon for the last 2 months and NO ONE wants to help.

[RedLolly]

No. As someone who started in 2024(im in current content now) there is so much past content i want to do, but CAN'T because it's dead to the community. Mount farming in older content is one. Ones I can't solo unsync are impossible to get because I can not get ppl to help. Like S0S, i've been trying to do a run for the dragon for the last 2 months and NO ONE wants to help.

I found a group that actually wanted to do the StB Extremes unsync'd and I hopped on that so fast. We got one mount.

Actually, I think this is why the Moogle Treasure Troves rotate old EX mounts. I would not have the Susano mount if not for that since it's *actually* impossible to solo now. There was a very, VERY brief window Pictomancer could burst Susano down fast enough that the sword phase never happened. I don't think it's possible anymore since the PCT changes that put more of it's damage on the color spells. RathGames has a whole video about it during his Solo Only challenge.

I just really want the Gwibers, but same problem.