Difficulty of normal content.

[caffe_macchiato]

So a lot of the people love the content as-is, and that's great. It's designed well, so it should work well, right?

But Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd. decided to make a game engine that cannot deal with fast or overlapping mechanics. What they gave us instead is "snapshotting". So even if you successfully dodge an attack, the servers (aka a thousand forum posters in a trench coat) will say that you didn't, and give you a vuln stack anyway. It's one of the iconic hallmarks of Square Enix design, and because of that, it gets a ton of praise online. And you like it too, because you just need to "get gud" and "you've been playing for 100 levels anyway". What Square Enix did to "increase the difficulty" in Dawntrail content was simply add more mechanics. Think like WoW but more cool and hip. If the game was more responsive, people wouldn't complain as much about the game being hard. But that's not a good thing, it needs to be harder for the sake of it. And Square Enix found out a very smart way to do it!

See, the unique thing about "video" games is that the video is supposed to be important. So when you press a button, it shows up on the screen. But the "new" style of video games (pioneered by Dark Souls, mastered by FFXIV) is where your actions do not correspond with the video. And the key to beating the game is to do exactly what you shouldn't do. So in these new raids, you move in the "bad" zone when it's still bad but a second before not being bad. And if you can't do it? Get gud! 100 levels! The old masters of video games (1970s-2010s) couldn't handle the sheer power of "shapshotting". Only a company as rich and prestigious--excuse me, a small indie company--can come up with this ingenious system.

[Riotas]

Reading through the comments here and from the other MSQ-difficulty thread I get the (very bold) impression that maybe not all, but most of the people who find the dungeons/raids too difficult are
1. older people
2. people with some kind of disability/anxiety/handicap/low self-confidence/etc
3. people who get psychological issues when dying too often
(This is not meant offensively, I'm just not a native English speaker)

I think many people here who say that they just need to get better/skill issue/not willing to learn//use their eyes/etc don't understand that people who fall into these categories can't mentally process the fight as fast and efficient as a normal player. They want to learn, but they can't.
It's probably just a messy visual overload for them and all of their stress hormones are going crazy which further interferes their reaction speed. So it's a valid concern of how we can include these people.

On the other hand, people who fall under these categories are not the typical casual player or the primary target group of MMORPGs.
I actually think these threads are mislabelled, it's not "make the fights appropriate for casual players" but "add a barrier-free option to the fights".
The real average casual player does not have any mental issues and does not have any problems to play with other people or to die in a video game. Dying/Wiping in FF14 has no consequences in real life except maybe a psychological impact on the player.
But a mature healthy player should be able to handle that. This is not school, not your real life job, just one of many video games out there.

Personally, I'm neither hardcore nor casual nor disabled, but I still like the increased difficulty. I almost died in every MSQ dungeon on the first try, and since I was the healer, it often lead to a wipe. But the other players have always been nice and it was fun to learn the overlaps.
I think the devs should continue with the DT difficulty design, because
1. the average healthy casual player (and even some hardcore players) will probably die in the dungeons but this should not be an issue for them and they can still finish it in the end after few attempts, even if it means that the other 3 players need to carry them though the dungeon
2. the difficulty naturally decreases when more people have done and know the fights and when better gear is available. Next tier of gear is going to be released on 30th July. If you're in a hurry get MSQ and optional raids done I would maybe question myself if you're really still a "casual" player.
-> So this increased difficulty is maybe a challenge, but not a big problem for casual players.

Nevertheless I would add some barrier-free option to include the people who fall under the categories mentioned above. Some simple things to implement (I think) are maybe an opt-in echo-option/ unsync-option when entering the dungeon with NPCs.

[Akonyl]

So a lot of the people love the content as-is, and that's great. It's designed well, so it should work well, right?

But Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd. decided to make a game engine that cannot deal with fast or overlapping mechanics. What they gave us instead is "snapshotting". So even if you successfully dodge an attack, the servers (aka a thousand forum posters in a trench coat) will say that you didn't, and give you a vuln stack anyway. It's one of the iconic hallmarks of Square Enix design, and because of that, it gets a ton of praise online. And you like it too, because you just need to "get gud" and "you've been playing for 100 levels anyway". What Square Enix did to "increase the difficulty" in Dawntrail content was simply add more mechanics. Think like WoW but more cool and hip. If the game was more responsive, people wouldn't complain as much about the game being hard. But that's not a good thing, it needs to be harder for the sake of it. And Square Enix found out a very smart way to do it!

See, the unique thing about "video" games is that the video is supposed to be important. So when you press a button, it shows up on the screen. But the "new" style of video games (pioneered by Dark Souls, mastered by FFXIV) is where your actions do not correspond with the video. And the key to beating the game is to do exactly what you shouldn't do. So in these new raids, you move in the "bad" zone when it's still bad but a second before not being bad. And if you can't do it? Get gud! 100 levels! The old masters of video games (1970s-2010s) couldn't handle the sheer power of "shapshotting". Only a company as rich and prestigious--excuse me, a small indie company--can come up with this ingenious system.

Oh my goodness. I love everything about this post, but probably not for the reasons you were hoping I would.

[LilithKha]

Nevertheless I would add some barrier-free option to include the people who fall under the categories mentioned above. Some simple things to implement (I think) are maybe an opt-in echo-option/ unsync-option when entering the dungeon with NPCs.

I actually agree with this sentiment. It does seem like that is the case, but I wish that people wouldn't misrepresent their position as one of "casual" players. I would be for some kind of accessibility option for players who exclusively want to enjoy the story, possibly a way to skip instances or otherwise make their quality of life easier, without taking significant development time away from the rest of the playerbase. I would actually be fine with having solo duties that reuse the dungeon areas, but with the bosses and enemies being essentially striking dummies ala most A-rank hunts. That way, the actual encounter designers and scripters can work on content for the general playerbase, and the people who find that content too difficult/stressful have a way to experience the visual storytelling of dungeons/raids without the hassle of actually needing to understand the gameplay. Something like a "very easy" option for trusts. WoW does something similar with LFR already.

[VanillaWafer]

Nevertheless I would add some barrier-free option to include the people who fall under the categories mentioned above. Some simple things to implement (I think) are maybe an opt-in echo-option/ unsync-option when entering the dungeon with NPCs.

While that sounds nice on paper, you'd have to realize that people are likely take the path of least resistance, regardless they're healthy or disabled. Inevitably, it cheapens the rewards. Duty Support does exist though, and is actually really nice to go with NPCs as you go at your own pace. Heck, I used Duty Support through DT. Their AI is pretty responsive and actively gives you a big clue on how to answer mechanics as is. Yet, these "casual" people insist on playing with other players who have gone through the story and muck up their time. As long as you have updated gear in Duty Support, you should be fine.

You are correct about waiting for better gear, though. It'll get easier with higher ilvl gear, like it always has been since ARR.

[MakariaZofura]

Ok, fair enough. When put this way, i simply respectfully disagree. IMO the old combat mechs made running many dungeons really boring and repetitive, at least to me. The point was made that the Stormblood dungeons were a little tougher and more interesting, and some of the old ARR dungeons have mechancis that just simply don't happen anymore (I believed i wiped in Qarn normal recently because healer and tank died to doom).

While they revamped the worst offenders, MSQ roulette, Leveling roulette, and most of of level cap roulette has been very boring to me for a long time.

Some of the alliance raids (pre-nerf Ivalice raids, for example) where actually quite challanging. I remember once trying to heal TG cid as a red mage because the healers in my party were so bad (lol). There was this one pull on construct 7 where I was also playing RDM and I cast verraise 23 times and we somehow killed it.

While I know FFXIV is great on many, many levels, there is an intristinc value to games where you overcome challanges and have great stories to tell, but if the game is easy, this value is lost. While i don't suggest FFXIV goes to their level of difficulty, the impact of the souls-like games is that you actually feel accomplished when you do it, you actually have a story to tell. I think this is part of what games bring to the table, but if my BP is 120/70 and my pulse is 65, then i just don't feel anything from playing. It's a big part of why i don't find crafting/gathering interesting because there is no real challange, just a grind (unless you are one of those divine people who make the macros).

For these reasons, i respectfully disagree.

[DanielleFarlow]

See, the unique thing about "video" games is that the video is supposed to be important. So when you press a button, it shows up on the screen. But the "new" style of video games (pioneered by Dark Souls, mastered by FFXIV) is where your actions do not correspond with the video. And the key to beating the game is to do exactly what you shouldn't do. So in these new raids, you move in the "bad" zone when it's still bad but a second before not being bad. And if you can't do it? Get gud! 100 levels! The old masters of video games (1970s-2010s) couldn't handle the sheer power of "shapshotting". Only a company as rich and prestigious--excuse me, a small indie company--can come up with this ingenious system.

You can literally leave earlier, or enter a bit later. Or try to discern the pattern of a mechanic before it is resolved. Or die, learn, and try again. It is that simple, and it is the "game" part of a video game. Snapshotting is an issue for high ping players, but what you're describing is just delusional.

[Astronema]

I have MS Multiple sclerosis and my hands tremor and shake often. Dawntrail is the first expansion that makes me want to quit. The ramped up difficulty results in me chain dying or unable to do some of the new normal content. I have been priced out of this game. I had to take an extra dose of meds trying to complete alexandria dungeon boss 1.
If housing auto demolition wasn't a thing i would unsubscribe right this minute. I don't like dawntrail for the most part it sucks the msq being the worst. picto and viper are ok.

[CidHeiral]

But Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd. decided to make a game engine that cannot deal with fast or overlapping mechanics. What they gave us instead is "snapshotting". So even if you successfully dodge an attack, the servers (aka a thousand forum posters in a trench coat) will say that you didn't, and give you a vuln stack anyway.

That's not what snapshotting means. A snapshot is when an AOE marker disappears and registers anyone in it as being hit by the attack. If you weren't in the AOE marker when it resolves you would not get snapshot. If you're getting snapshot by things you're either failing the mechanic or you have horrendous ping, neither if which are the game's fault.

[AurisNix]

Thank you very much for the question! The point is, if I'm right and this hurts the engagement of the game I believe most people aren't going to forums or reddit or twitter to express critique for the game, they will either just stop doing the content or if worse come to worse, stop playing altogether. If this comes to pass I feel that's important to leave the devs know that this might be one of the issues.

You already have been prove wrong in EW when most of the criticism was that the content for casual and midcore was boring and non existing, the lack of engaging fights is what was killing EW and ppl actually stopped doing content already cuz of that so don't worry they already know if they design braindead content ppl will stop playing and Yoshi P knows it very well