Analysis on dungeon difficulty increase

[BigCheez]

In terms of difficulty, normal content is maybe a 3/10 instead of a 2/10 now. I can see how people who are less familiar with the game could get caught out the first time around, but once you've seen the mechanics they're very simple. Not a problem in the slightest IMO. It's more fun and engaging than Ew content.

[Arohk]

In terms of difficulty, normal content is maybe a 3/10 instead of a 2/10 now.

3/10 ?
If we say Ultimates are 9-10 difficulty, the hardest dungeon you can think of is 1.5 at best.

[Iedarus]

Even as a healer I'm noticing that I'm spamming Broil more because more people are learning the fights. A little difficulty won't kill anyone.

[HemlockEvergreen]

The dungeon and trial difficulty has been increased in Dawntrail. Here is my analysis on the techniques and the consequences of it, as a veteran MMORPG player.

In most boss fights of older expansions, most mechanics either have very obvious visual effects or a cast bar with the name of the boss skill, so one can use these as a clue to react. In this expansion, they added some skills that have no cast bar, name or obvious visual effects. This has turned verbal and quantifiable information into nonverbal and unquantifiable information. That is one technique to make it harder.

The second technique, is to increase the amount of one-shot kill skills for boss encounters. Surely, for those who value competition over collaboration, this brings them the adrenaline rush, and it serves them very well.

However, it is the same old path Blade and Soul Online once walked. The major consequence is the drastic reduction of the error tolerance, and thus the surge in stress levels in the player base. In turn, it fosters perfectionism and a false sense of superiority, causing schism and alienation among us players. As a consequence, expect way more toxicity in the player community. This is not our fault, but the unintended consequence of SE's game design.

It is SE's game, it is their call. I, for one, can handle the mechanics, but if the toxicity reaches the BnS level, sorry then♥

Every mechanic has a clear tell. You just have to look at the boss instead of staring at your skill bar because you haven't memorized your rotation.

[Jinglypockets]

In most boss fights of older expansions, most mechanics either have very obvious visual effects or a cast bar with the name of the boss skill, so one can use these as a clue to react. In this expansion, they added some skills that have no cast bar, name or obvious visual effects. This has turned verbal and quantifiable information into nonverbal and unquantifiable information. That is one technique to make it harder.

Can you give an example of a mechanic like this?

[Mooserocka33]

Honestly the difficulty has not been raised at all, if you are talking about the ex dungeons how about just do mechanics over dps. They are not hard and even the dungeons have guides online. They are so easy I a, old now and still can do it fine. My reaction time sucks and this is great. If you can’t p,ya do trusts. They do mechanics and all you have to do is stand and follow the,.

[Shikiseki]

Ironically, they added a massive hint right in your face for mechanics that used to be identified by looking at the attack name (Ghost/Fleshbuster) or boss stance (tri-birb and its beak) so you can't really say that has been more difficult.
The amount of one-shot mechanics hasn't noticably increased either - remember Titan (a story trial mind you) you could actually fall permanently!

So the real problem is that people got too comfortable not being able to fail to the point they aren't even trying. They aren't used to see a game-over screen anymore or stumble or heck even die at least once lol and not they call it "casual game". It really is a visual novel with auto clicker "fights" where you go in/out, left/right, spread/stack.

The only interesting bits this time around that made it "harder" is the encounter started to experiment with new stuff again (something YoshiP and his team stopped doing because of players) so it's nice to see some mini games like the labyrinth sprinkled into your striking dummy fight for once

[Mooserocka33]

God I hate how much this game has gotten easier from casuals. I remember when titan story mode had us knocked off the edge looking up at players as the beat it. Or when leveling dungeons got you ready for end game content that’s what leveling dungeons are supposed to do. Now they even went in and made level 32 dungeons easier and brain dead. People that are complaining have ruined this game and either need to only do msq, hunts, etc or need to find something else. I quit because how brain dead it became and finally it’s getting good again. Stop ruining the game for people that like to do anything other then press o)e button and clear everything on first try.

[Caitamm]

The dungeon and trial difficulty has been increased in Dawntrail. Here is my analysis on the techniques and the consequences of it, as a veteran MMORPG player.

In most boss fights of older expansions, most mechanics either have very obvious visual effects or a cast bar with the name of the boss skill, so one can use these as a clue to react. In this expansion, they added some skills that have no cast bar, name or obvious visual effects. This has turned verbal and quantifiable information into nonverbal and unquantifiable information. That is one technique to make it harder.

The second technique, is to increase the amount of one-shot kill skills for boss encounters. Surely, for those who value competition over collaboration, this brings them the adrenaline rush, and it serves them very well.

This is all well and good to say, but do you have any evidence to back this up? What specific attacks are you referring to that do not have clear tells or some sort of hint? How many oneshot kills are there in DT leveling dungeons and how does that compare to leveling dungeons in previous expansions?

I ask this because I did not notice either of these two points myself.

[ForsakenRoe]

I feel like a lot of the complaints that 'this is way too hard suddenly' stem from players who are playing with trusts, and hoping to watch what they do to see where is safe to stand. Obviously, the issue with this is that they're super slow to get there, make it by the skin of their teeth, and in some cases, 'should have been hit' but dodge the attack because they've got trust privilege. So, rather than watch the trusts dodge right on the 99 dungeon elevator boss, get hit, wonder 'why didn't the trusts move sooner', instead it's on the player to look at the boss, the castbar, and try to discern 'why did the trusts go to the right?' (eg on that boss it's because it raised the fist on your left, so the left is not safe)

I worry that some players can't (or don't want to) associate boss' movements and their 'tells' with how the mechanics work, and would rather be told 'stand here' in a game of monkey see monkey do

Also, to be 'that guy', I don't recall us having complaints about dungeons having 'insane difficulty' when SCH had 3 DOTs and AST had the SB card system. It's almost like, if you take complexity out of the job's kits and move it to encounter design, this is the end result: encounters that are super unforgiving, full of oneshots (and if you die in a trust run, it's an instant reset even if you're not the healer), and exclude casuals because 'too hard'. Meanwhile, if a casual didn't juggle Bio/Bio2/Miasma's timers correctly in HW/SB, you'd... clear the dungeon 3 minutes slower. I know which design I'd rather have