Please nerf/adjust one of the new Expert Dungeons (7.0 spoilers)

[Noitems]

Please at least reduce or fix the amount of stuff going on during the first boss of Strayborough Deadwalk.

I'm fine with the concept behind the fight, but it is one of the most punishing Extreme dungeons in the game. I've been playing melee only, and whether it be someone else gets binded (which on melee is even more punishing) by wack hitboxes or just the amount of visual clutter going on during that fight. The debuff lasting 10 seconds and causing you to not be able to do anything but move is also extremely rough. I think the idea of the mechanic if you get hit should do something but at least make the timer for it 3-4 seconds.

Especially during one of the moments the mascots are running at you and the purple raidwide hits basically blocking your screen potentially walking into another mascot or an aoe dropped by another player. It legit has waaaay too much going on for an Expert dungeon. Between this boss and the second one it felt like a Savage designer got their hands on a normal dungeon and made it into an obstacle course. The third boss is more in line with what I expected despite it being much easier.

I'm all for the challenge, but considering this is something people are going to queue in for the daily, with varied player experience it may lead to fatigue from players just trying to get a daily done. Alexandria and Tender Valley are great middle grounds for fast and fun fights with just enough going on, which I hope we get more of going forward.

UPDATE AS OF 7/21/24

I am keeping the original body of this post as it is. However I've included an update regarding why my mindset was how it was when making the post, and also what I think about the content now. Please read the updated reply as these are my current views!

Hello, I wanted to give an update on this topic. I've included a video discussing my thoughts as well as a google document going over the highlights for the video. I'll try my best to get it all on here, but the forum post character limit does make it tricky.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...it?usp=sharing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wles6EBlUVI

Tl: DR for people who don't want to read/listen to either:

The post was made at a time when I was mentally exhausted/frustrated after a marathon session for DT/ spree of getting the dungeon repeatedly while grinding for tomes to prep for a trip. I went in with the notion Expert dungeons were going to be the same as SB-EW and was corrected by people in this thread, which I'm thankful for. I have austism/ADHD so trying to explain what I wanted came out as a complete mess, add in a poor mind state, and pressure from getting it all done in time and that post is what happened.


I am a player who does higher end content, I've been doing it since back in 4.5. Extremes, Savage, Ultimates, I love doing them. Higher end content is fun for me as it does put me on the spot, and the adjustment from SB-EW Expert Dungeons to Dawntrail ones took me by total surprise.

Expert dungeons are being made for players who are seeking more difficult content, so now that I recognize the content is being made to be harder, it does change my opinions greatly on what that first fight is aimed for, and Expert as a whole.

My original post was my hope that the content would be adjusted to allow casual players more leeway and ease when trying to complete something that may come up every single day in a rou.

I believe the fight is fine, but the hitboxes can be janky, which seems the be the majority opinion, but that is also a general XIV opinion. In terms of the rest, player skill will improve over time, and even now to fix my original issue hunt trains are the norm, so there are ways to grind for tomes past Expert roulette. I'm in favor of how dungeon design is in experts, and I hope they continue to try new ideas like the first boss. It can be off because of the hitboxes, but the concept of what they want to do gets me more excited the longer I think about it. So I'm in favor of this design, and I feel that if people are struggling, remember that everyone has to start somewhere, and even some of the best players around goof up every once in a while. It's about sticking to it, and looking to improve that will make content like feel easier, which lately is what i've been trying to do by running it more often.

My apologies to the title of this post, as I wrote it assuming it wouldn't gain too much ground, but it blew up on social media and this forum, I'm sure because the title is very clickbait (something I didn't realize till it blew up lmao).

[GeneralPraying]

I'm personally loving that the dungeons & trials thus far have seem to have a lot more going on than the SNOOZEFEST that we endured in Endwalker.

One of the few bright spots of Dawntrail for me. Leave it as is - hell, even build on it for future patches!

[Gralna]

Please ignore the request of this thread, thank you.

[Kes13a]

wasnt this you?

God forbid we actually have a challenging set of trials/raids instead of the laughable Hades EX that was said to be "Hard as Shinryu EX"

[Basteala]

I don't know about "nerf", but the first boss can be a real pain in the ass if you don't watch the add movements very closely. I *will* say the second time I ran it it was way better than the first.

I'm against nerfing it so soon just because my word EW Expert put me to sleep, but I won't lie that it can be frustrating when one mistake deep sixes your entire fire phase. If they *do* nerf it, I hope it's just something where the debuff is just a smidge shorter (and I do mean a smidge, like literally 1 second). I think the actual idea of the fight is perfectly fine.

[genuine_stranger]

Please ignore the request of this thread, thank you.

I second this. The difficulty of the expert dungeons are just right.
People just need a few attempts to figure it out.

[Voidmage]

Yoshida himself said that this time the word expert in expert dungeons will mean something.

You have your story dungeons. The others are not needed so no there should be no nerf.
There is a time and a place for casual dungeons but this isn't it.

I agree with the posters before me. Do not listen to OP.

[Andevom]

They're perfect the way they are - last boss of this dungeon is also fairly easy (but a lot of fun).

Savor this now before people out-gear it.

[Basteala]

Yoshida himself said that this time the word expert in expert dungeons will mean something.

You have your story dungeons. The others are not needed so no there should be no nerf.
There is a time and a place for casual dungeons but this isn't it.

I agree with the posters before me. Do not listen to OP.

I wonder if this means we're going to see any more optional dungeons this go around. And if they'll maintain this level of difficulty. That would be nice--might go a long way for healer QoL for more midcore/casual content, too.

[Granyala]

Yoshida himself said that this time the word expert in expert dungeons will mean something.

Ahem ..yah... lol.
I believe that when I see it ingame.

So far, the first dungeon tier was alright with wall-wall pulls because our initial gear is crap but every subsequent tier was outclassed via tome gear already.