Difficulty of normal content.

[Gullis]

No, some stuff is already starting to fade in difficulty, as ppl are getting gear and experience. I barely have to heal anymore in the new expert dungeons. wait a bit before proclaiming things to be too hard

[marrrow]

By the time someone has completed DT, they will be LVL 100 in an MMO that's been running for a decade--let the fights (even the normal fights) be challenging. If I'm going to log time in a game with fights, I'd like for those fights to be engaging. If I wanted to mindlessly press buttons, I could find a way to do that for cheaper than the cost of my sub

In a lot of ways, FF14 is a visual novel with an MMO strapped to its side, but the reality of the game still demands that players meet the expectations of an MMO. This is the flip side of the people who complain that current raid content shouldn't be locked behind story progression. FF14 is unique among MMOs for its blend of story & dynamic party content. If you can't find pleasure in the fast-paced, reflex-based, spatially-aware style of gameplay that makes up of half of FF14, then FF14 ultimately isn't for you. I don't see why the game should be adjusted to accommodate people who don't enjoy one of its core components

That it took you four tries it clear Valigarmanda without dying, but that you finally managed it, is an achievement, & one you should be proud of. If you don't take pride in overcoming a challenge, then why are you playing this game?

[jdtuggey]

Uh? Yeah????? I like cool mounts and gear???? I think the majority of raiders do aswell. Like you gotta be trolling now, there's no why you think people are just gonna put up with a whole raid tier just to get NOTHING right? Weapons, Mounts, Titles, Orchestrion Rolls it doesn't matter. People like being rewarded for their hard work. Do you seriously think people would do TOP, DSR or any other hard content if they didn't get a damn thing? God your arguments are just pathetic.

There's absolutely people that clear content just to show people they can. That's essentially the function of a title. Your own post defeats itself. :P
To be fair, showing people they can is a reward in its own rights I guess ? :P
I think this post comes from not really understanding why people raid stuff like ultimates in the first place.
I think a good parallel would be world firsts or people who do speedrunning. Neither want a concrete reward from the raid or their runs. They just want to prove they're capable.
Insert obligatory #notallraiders disclaimer here

[tank2fish]

The difficulty is perfect. Frankly, it could still be a little harder and still be good casual content. If you're struggling, make a PF and ask for help. This game is FULL of people who LOVE to help and explain how to do the content, or even be happy and willing to carry you through the content you struggle with if it feels hopeless on your own. Genuinely. I can't tell you how many PFs I have joined specifically to help people through the content they struggle with, and I know I'm not alone bc those PFs always fill up FAST.

And frankly, the idea that it's "too difficult" is not an accurate assessment. You are too used to the game's difficulty being tuned way down, with EW being the easiest the game has ever been, and too used to running content while being heavily over-geared. Now that a new expansion has released, everyone is running at min ilvl, which means things are the hardest they're going to be, for now. As time goes on, things will get easier as better gear becomes more widely available.

Personally, this has been the most fun I've had in the game running dungeons and raids so far. It would be a tragedy if they were to tune the difficulty down, so please don't do that.

I do want to say there is an argument to be made (and should be made!) about there not being enough accessibility features for people with light sensitivity or color blindness, and tbh I feel like all these discussions about "difficulty" always distract from the actual bigger issue of accessibility. If there were more accessibility options (ability to change aoe colors, arena colors, saturation, brightness intensity, etc.), that could also HELP with people struggling to see the mechanics who may not normally "require" accessibility features. But instead we're out here, asking for the content to be nerfed instead. There needs to be a wider view when looking for solutions instead of "too hard, make easy?".

[caffe_macchiato]

We don't want you to already be good. We want you to learn how to fall and pick yourself back up rather than cry about it and make it so nobody gets to go out in the rain anymore when people actually don't mind.

And we also want a game that survives another few years without being turned into maintenance mode. We don't want FFXIV to be a stagnating ditch of level 100 players who've been playing for 10+ years. We don't want FFXIV to turn into a c-jerk like WoW. We'd rather FFXIV be more accommodating to new players, even if it means we're not allowed to dig up parses and harass people online. We think the TOS should be respected rather than e-celebs and 4chan brigading the forums just because of one person with a bad opinion.

(The difficulty of the raid here is irrelevant because we can all agree that it wasn't that hard)

[LilithKha]

FFXIV will stop growing and your game will die out or become an elitist c-jerk like WoW Classic.

Wait... YOU THINK WOW CLASSIC IS ELITIST? BAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Buddy, I think mmorpgs are not for you. They didn't suddenly make the game dark souls, there are plenty of older folks on here who completely disagree with you. You seem to be a terminally online forum complainer and I'm honestly not sure why you're still playing since you claim to hate all of the combat content on "design principles" even though the fundamentals of the game have never changed. Are you ok? Genuine question.

[MakariaZofura]

That's exactly what I mean, I'm feel like the content that should have been aimed at all these players just wasnt delivered on. I was seeing the Savage Tiers go down day 1 with nothing really standing out? It's curious because if you go back to Shadowbringers? Eden Shiva was pretty difficult for what it was but it was absolutely engaging.

I did e8s in Party Finder. It took me 503 wipes to clear (yes i was counting). It was excruciating and painful.

Yet it is still my absolute favorite fight. The mechanics were great. Punishing but not overly slow. Couple with the AMAZING music, the variety of things that happen, the dance of in and out and read... it was amazing.

The one problem i had was snapshotting the look away and breaking my uptime. That bothers me a ton.

[MakariaZofura]

For me, I started in Stormblood, and I witnessed Shinryu Week 1. To hear they had to nerf the fight made me sad, because I personally LOVED the chaos I LOVED the challenge. (Lmfao and now I get replies it didn't get nerfed at all? All those years I believed my old FC leader lmfao xD! THANKS FOR LETTING ME KNOW <3. Validates more the pint of: getting better MATTERS)
That fight alone, as a new player, as the highest level content I was able to do, tempered me into the player I am today.
Looking at cast bars, looking at boss tells, looking around the arena, etc. etc.

That week, I was going for my mentor crown. I needed 1000 coms or dungeons and I was on 999. I thought, eh, quick easy trial roulette on my scholar should be no problem. Ended up spending over half an hour coaching sprouts through Shinryu. Was a huge pain, but felt great afterwards.

[Vuro]

I don't think I have anything to add that hasn't already been said in favor of the higher difficulty, but I'm personally very relieved that the game is giving me a challenge after I was so underwhelmed by the last couple years of normal content. I play XIV for the story above all, make no mistake, but I also enjoy developing and refining a skill - if I can't fail, learn, and strive, what's the point of the MMO aspect of this game? I only consider myself a slightly-above-average player, but I found the majority of the raids in post-EW to be painfully dull once I'd learned the fight (Myths of the Realm in particular). It's nice that everything isn't one-and-done this time, especially since I'll have to replay these fights for tomes.

[caffe_macchiato]

Buddy, I think mmorpgs are not for you. They didn't suddenly make the game dark souls, there are plenty of older folks on here who completely disagree with you. You seem to be a terminally online forum complainer and I'm honestly not sure why you're still playing since you claim to hate all of the combat content on "design principles"

Agreed, and I think this is a MAJOR turning point in Final Fantasy XIV. FFXIV was my first serious MMO and I started playing in Heavensward. But, in 2024, that is now considered to be too late to have started playing. You do not believe that MMOs are for me, even though I have been playing for almost ten years. I have been "weeded out" as an undesirable, too late and too inexperienced, despite having completed mid-core (not hardcore) content. This is the new Final Fantasy XIV and you love it, as do the many other posters from 4chan and YouTube.

even though the fundamentals of the game have never changed.

Why do you disagree with everyone else here? Everyone is praising the raids because they changed the design. Now you say they didn't?

No one is saying you can't learn in level 100 content and you must already be good.

I have been told by several people in this thread to uninstall the game because I merely defend the OP's right to post an opinion without being harassed. The only other, actual criticism I gave is that the netcode needs to be improved to accommodate the existing mechanics. Not that the mechanics should change. And if my opinion gets that reaction, and OP's milquetoast one gets 600 replies, then what is acceptable here? Because this thread contains a level of vitriol that was rarely seen before this new raid tier dropped. And people are practically celebrating that they can finally tell someone to "get gud" and "uninstall the game", because now is their time.

yet you are whining about core fundamentals of the game's design that have NOT CHANGED in 10 years,

And by the way, nothing about the CORE FUNDAMENTALS of these raids are difficult or even different from previous encounters.

Why are you lying? Nearly everyone here says that these raids are different, and they like it. That's why you are here too. I am only offering a suggestion as to what the company can change in the future.

They did not change anything about the netcode of the game, or the way telegraphs or snapshotting works.

Correct!

That is YOUR complaint, and everyone else is saying that it is not a problem

Incorrect! Why do you disagree with Yoshida?

Naoki Yoshida : In truth, more than the game engine, which is getting a little old and limiting us in terms of possibilities, the biggest challenge with FFXIV - which offline games don't have - is the technology and the exchange between servers and clients. It imposes some very specific limitations on us, and really requires us to be flexible in our development and to have the means to compensate for the kind of problems that can arise. It's been our headache, literally, for over 10 years now. We've got lots of ideas, we'd like to implement them, but how are we going to manage to do so with the limitations that exist as a result of being an MMO?

That is what's so difficult about FFXIV. Every time you take an action in the game, the game will communicate with the server, check for cheating and come back afterwards. This creates a delay that an offline game doesn't have, since there's no need to check on the Internet. This limitation is something we've had to deal with for years, and it does limit us somewhat in what we can manage to implement in the game.
https://www.finaland.com/?rub=site&page=news&id=6801