Difficulty of normal content.

[Blacksuit00]

What really annoys me in this forum is the willingness to bury other players when things don't go the way you want them to.

Instead of giving some encouragement to an insecure player who is now complaining about the difficulty, they are downright ridiculed and dragged through the mud.

And on the other hand, all the players who are happy about the increased difficulty are selfish twats who have no idea and for whom there is enough content anyway, so they'd rather keep their mouths shut.

I myself have a brain that doesn't process information as quickly as it should. That's why it takes me much longer to learn new things, but, and I say this to everyone who is against the new level of difficulty, i'm ready to learn. Are you ready to expand your horizons? Have you all sat down and tried it out for a while?

Anyway, the topic isn't really one. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Yoshida-san said in an interview 4 months ago that "So from now on, we’ll keep working to surprise players and go beyond what they imagine. But that reminds me of something I regret… as we’ve continued to operate FF14, we’ve made the game more comfortable, a game you can play without stress. But looking back on the last 10 years, I’m thinking we’ve overdone that a bit." https://www.ign.com/articles/final-f...-going-forward

I don't think they will give in immediately, and that's why i don't understand why there are statements like "the difficulty level is good and it must be prevented at all costs and by all means that the difficulty is lowered again!"

I want you to understand that we’ve been dealing with easy braindead low level content since stormblood and it got progressively worse and worse with each expansion and it climaxed in endwalker where it was so bad that even yoshi said that the shit has gotten ridiculous.

Now. What the op has said was hard is the first boss in Alexandria…..did you know that the 1st boss in Alexandria has 2 mechanics, that’s right…….2. Single. Mechanics. One that all you do is dodge stuff and the 2nd all you do is stack and stand there while the tank takes a tank buster………that’s it, that’s what op thinks is difficult.

So if op thinks that’s difficult and wants a change from this “ difficulty “ can you imagine how braindead they actually want the content to be?

[SamLeens]

I want you to understand that we’ve been dealing with easy braindead low level content since stormblood and it got progressively worse and worse with each expansion and it climaxed in endwalker where it was so bad that even yoshi said that the shit has gotten ridiculous.

Now. What the op has said was hard is the first boss in Alexandria…..did you know that the 1st boss in Alexandria has 2 mechanics, that’s right…….2. Single. Mechanics. One that all you do is dodge stuff and the 2nd all you do is stack and stand there while the tank takes a tank buster………that’s it, that’s what op thinks is difficult.

So if op thinks that’s difficult and wants a change from this “ difficulty “ can you imagine how braindead they actually want the content to be?

Antivirus X has 3 mechanics. at least in the way i count them. 1) go in the middle, or on the side of the boss for the tentacle attacks. 2) + and O. 3) Tankbust and stackmark.

The thing is,i'm not in a position (and i dare say no one is) to tell someone whether their feelings are right or wrong. I accept that it's hard for some people. I don't have to agree, but i accept it and don't question it. What i can do is encourage the person and also try to make them understand that they don't have to be put off by 10 deaths and 4 wipes. Any change takes time.

[VioletCatastrophe]

What really annoys me in this forum is the willingness to bury other players when things don't go the way you want them to.

Personally, I've been extremely curt this entire time, but also always encouraged people to do their best and improve regardless of whatever barriers they may or may not have.

If having a disdain for people spending more time complaining on the forums than trying to actually learn the content is dragging people through the mud and being a selfish twat, then okay, sure I guess. I don't mind playing the role of the villain, it doesn't bother me. I just find it really tedious to see people acting like this content is unmanageable. It is not. It has been out for not even a week! We lack gear, we lack experience as a playerbase, and yes the difficulty has increased but by a reasonable amount that one would expect from rising expectations of the player base.

What I want, is for these people to calm down a little bit and work on being better. I've given plenty of bits of actionable advice during this whole disaster, and in general asking for help and support in a social game like an MMO is kind of to be expected. It just feels like these people are seeing the tiniest bit of pushback from the game and immediately instead of considering the possibility of needing to improve they instantly jump to blaming the game. It's frankly embarrassing, and entitled. I know the term entitled gets thrown around a lot, but I mean it in all sincerity and weight. They feel entitled to clear the content without any challenge whatsoever, and without any effort on their part to be good enough for the content to not be challenging.

Personally, if it were me, I think they didn't go far enough. But... I also recognize that I'm a better player than most, that my skill levels aren't representative of the majority of the casual playerbase, and that expert dungeons don't challenge me is fine and honestly expected. I'm glad they are at least non-trivial now. It feels less mind numbing to do expert roulettes for tomes than it did before. The normal raids are also well balanced. The timings are generous, the telegraphing is pretty damn clear, the tutorialization of mechanics is extremely solid. My raid group didn't wipe to the bosses when doing them, but I at least didn't feel completely safe the entire time. There is nothing that puts undue responsibility on any one player (beyond the responsibility of a role). I firmly believe an average PF group going in completely blind can clear it in one lockout - which is exactly the balance point that normal raids aim for.

Basically, I think the complaints are completely unfounded, and I think players just need to believe in themselves a little bit more and stop worrying so much about wipes. We all start somewhere. If you love this game to want it to be better, then love the game enough to be better too. I believe in you all.

[SamLeens]

I've said it to someone else before: "I'm not in a position to tell someone if their feeling is right or wrong." But, and i have to add this here,i also see that the complaints come in very quickly, and yes, it hasn't even been a week.

i have the least patience with myself and am very quick to blame myself. For me, it's never the game's fault. But i can imagine some players even feeling left out because they don't know how to approach this new challenge. They go to the forum and they're told to just get better and not be so whiny because the content isn't that hard.

i think both sides need to calm down and more patience would be a good thing too.
Are they really completely unfounded? Can you speak for every single player?

[Oku-1]

Man, the more things change the more they stay the same.

The simple fact of the matter is you've had 90 levels to learn how to do mechanics and recognize the very predictable patterns in how fights progress that have maintained relatively the same for over a decade now. The game is capped at level 100 now, content is going to be designed at the difficulty of 100 levels progression and iteration, and there's really nothing you can do about it. Friction in games is good. Failing and learning from those failures is good. If you're terrified of loss-states then don't play games with them. This is a conversation that gets had in Literally Every Single Online Game That Makes Hard Content, and to be quite frank it's getting extremely exhausting.

If the content is getting too hard for you, then you have tools at your disposal: if it's MSQ content, then let your trusts literally show you where to stand and follow them around. They do mechanics FOR you. If it's stuff like Normal Raids, then you're in there with at minimum 7 other people, just say ahead of time "/p Hey I'm struggling a bit here so please be patient with me, thank you <3" and 99.99% of the time people will be completely fine with you face planting and if the group wipes, will give advice and pointers if you ask for them, especially now when everybody is still learning the encounters. In a month or so, the majority of people will have cleared and will be farming for tokens and tomestones, and then it becomes content you can just follow other players around in to clear 90% of the mechanics you'll be facing. If that's STILL too much for you, then wait until IL increases and then go back in and clear with much more forgiving stats. At that point if it's still just too much then just have the courage to tell yourself "yeah I'm at my limit haha" and do other content until the game advances and you can go back at IL cap in the future.

Friction is good. It keeps things engaging. It provides a sense of meaningful progression not just stat-wise but as a player. When something that gave you trouble no longer does, you feel that and it feels good. FF14 has been missing that friction outside of end game raiding for a long time now and to see it back finally is a joy.

I feel for people who are struggling, I really do, but your convenience should not come at the expense of the game's content and I urge you sincerely to not give up and keep trying until you get it, because when you finally do you will feel like a god.

[AdriTaiyo]

For me the dungeons right now, are very good and engaging with new mechanics that most are not seen before, that make us be focused on the mechanics and not see a movie at the second screen we are so used to do, but keep our eyes at the game.

I love now how devs have done it so far, with practice and checking the mechanics that make them you die, after can be solved and done practicaly easy knowing the way.

Cheers!

[Edelgarde]

I think you turbo casuals should just deal with getting carried through the content once, and go back to treating your favorite mmorpg game like habbo hotel. This is not the game's problem, since this is how normal content should be in the first place. This is purely a you problem where you're too stubborn to learn the mechanics, nor are you ever willing to pull your own weight a bit. And when the game finally doesn't cater towards your selfish request of braindead easy content, you resort to whining on the FFXIV forums.

What is wrong with wiping? Especially on normal raid content. You wipe, you start from the start, and then you just learn and grow along with your party members. Oh! But you're selfish to learn and it's either your way or the highway. It is one of the worst mindsets to have. It's a video game, and the satisfaction comes from overcoming obstacles that were difficulty the first time. Just let the huge majority of players have their fun, let them carry you, and just don't touch the current content again. If you wanna level your alt jobs up, just do FATEs. Do your gatherers and crafters.

There are plenty of things you can do in FFXIV, so I don't understand how difficulty of current content is such a huge deal for players like you.

[Shiroe]

going back to the boring bosses is not cool either, but fun & engaging doesn't mean it has to be harder..., INSTEAD bring fresh ideas for mechanics & grafix displays (like the tank buster in Ex1, think its called mountain buster, its not hard to stack in a line and move asap left / mid / right, depending on the boses postion, but its fun / engaging, or the big sword attack from Sudano, just add sime more flair to it etc.). so the casuals are not pushed to hard and we feel still feel engaged

[Shiroe]

the game needs to have doable / non stressd content for the less skilled / less capable / handicapped / etc. players too.., they should be "easy" but not boring (gawd, like the beast tribe quests, they could use more fun / engaging content too.., boring AF AND easy AF..)

[AlexanderOrnitier]

the game needs to have doable / non stressd content for the less skilled / less capable / handicapped / etc. players too.., they should be "easy" but not boring (gawd, like the beast tribe quests, they could use more fun / engaging content too.., boring AF AND easy AF..)

It does have it.