Difficulty of normal content.

[Strike_]

This is the previous mega-thread that we had on this topic: https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...-to-increase./
You'll see that most (not all) replies are ragging on OP for being "elitist" (you will find that word many times in the replies).

frankly, I think OP in that thread is being extremely disingenuous. to say that content has not gotten more difficult and complex since ARR is absurd. if he wanted a more legitimate discussion he could have said the difficulty had not really gone up between shadowbringers normal content and EW, but he chose to speak in extreme platitudes that are objectionable. I agree that harder normal content is more fun and we shouldn't be able to autopilot just because we have good gear, but I don't think that thread was a legitimate attempt at discussion.

the other thread doesn't really read like "most replies [are] critizcizing him" it mostly reads like a pretty fair discussion around difficulty, player engagement and player retention. granted, with a lot of "people suck and they'll get mad if you make it harder" posts thrown in.

[jdtuggey]

This is the previous mega-thread that we had on this topic: https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...-to-increase./
You'll see that most (not all) replies are ragging on OP for being "elitist" (you will find that word many times in the replies).

And here's another large thread from the world-famous aveyond-dreams calling for a higher difficulty, with most replies criticizing him: https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...and-Exclusion/

This is biased. People who are against this have way more incentive to say no, same with here. We're way more incentivized to speak up when we need to say no, because people want to protect their interests.
Your arguments are pretty naive and shortsighted.
Look at the threads that speak positively about the changes, they're wayyy less popular, people that agree just have very little incentive to post in these.
Notice also how suspiciously absent people who think it's hard are in these threads also, maybe most of them realized that having it a little harder is much more fun after all ?
Like, look in this thread also, there's a couple of individuals at most ? Where are all these people that were saying no to this ? You even said yourself that you're fine with the difficulty rofl.
Even with the added incentive to say no and defend their interests, they're nowhere to be seen.
When we speak of "hard" in terms of video games, usually people see like... Fromsoft kindof hard, even I wouldn't be okay playing FF14 if it demanded that much of me, is why I don't savage and such.
(still love elden ring tho, but I don't play it for the same reasons I play this)

Even Yoshi P said he was getting sleepy during endwalker content. Imagine your life's work making you sleepy. I wouldn't want that lol.
Like, it's important to understand that yes, they want to like, "please" their players I suppose, but also it's their game, even if you bought it, you don't have to like it, and they don't have to change the game so you do ? Especially if they're gonna alienate other players lol.
I haven't read those threads, but given how you're superhyperbolic with everybody here and crafting narratives about them that suit your points, I wouldn't be surprised that you grossly misrepresented them, and am not even sure it's worth looking, cause I already gave you my thoughts if you're being truthful. Like, you really don't see all of this leveled with most here and I do not feel you're being reasonable at all, yet you're saying we're the ones that are not, and demanding we conform to your standards.
You also like... keep putting OP in the crosshair by re-setting fire to this thread lol, really counter-productive to your alleged goal. You can't control a community of people like this, they'll do the opposite you demand just to spite you lol. You're boosting this thread as much as Xeno, Arthras and MrHappy. :P

[ForgeTyrant]

So first off, this is one post of all time and that is kind of funny, and the fact that a lot has been talked about already would make this reply redundant, but I digress. Secondly;

Just so we are perfectly what I am asking for is to return to the same difficulty level of SB, ShB and EW when it comes to normal dungeons, trials and raids.
And to all the people giving me tips on how to play, thank very much but I've been playing for 6 years, might not be a 1.0 players but I know how to play the game, and I stand by what I wrote in the OP, there is a clear jump on difficulty in normal content compared to the last 3 expansions and if you don't notice it congratulations on being a big d!ck player, I guess.

The fact that you want to return to the difficulty level of SB and that you have been playing for 6 years tells me either you are making a bait post or you are lying about your experience to imply you have enough "credibility" to criticize the current raid difficulty. If you were genuine about wanting the difficulty of SB/ShB, then you would remember fights like Tsukuyomi, Warrior of Light, The Emerald weapon (Not as much but I know the 2nd part of that fight is incredibly tricky), and more specifically since we talk about Raids here, you would most certainly remember The Omega weapon fight with lardboard and starboard wave cannons.A lot of very fast, almost untelegraphed mechanics, that would completely nullify your entire argument you make in the OP. The the only difference between them and the current things is the color of the mechanics. Surely you would also remember how the first stack in Tsukuyomi normal was an absolute pain because you had to remember the aoes dropping in a Shiva pattern. There is no clear jump in difficulty. It has varied, yes. But that is more regarding raid fights within their own tier. For example in EW, P10 was such a wild fight with mechanics like Harrowing hell, and P11 felt comparatively like a snoozefest (Another fight with non-standard telegraphs, by the way). If you want content just tailored to you, you have.
And here is a personal tip from me, if you want content the way you want it, you can try out deep dungeons. No stress, no worry, only maybe a timer, but unless you play a Tank it won't ever be that much of an issue.
This game is about, like a lot of things, learning and improving. If you can't do that (especially at level 100), no words said here will reach you.

[RezPls]

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..)

Housing, Treasure Maps, Variant Dungeons, Legacy content, FATEs, Crafting and Gathering content, Hunt content; all of these are fall asleep at your computer easy and casual friendly. Consider those, if the challenge of Normal 8 mans and dungeons are too difficult for you.

Accept that exciting content is exciting because there's a bit of difficulty tied into them.

[Deslyxic]

So first off, this is one post of all time and that is kind of funny, and the fact that a lot has been talked about already would make this reply redundant, but I digress. Secondly;


The fact that you want to return to the difficulty level of SB and that you have been playing for 6 years tells me either you are making a bait post or you are lying about your experience to imply you have enough "credibility" to criticize the current raid difficulty. If you were genuine about wanting the difficulty of SB/ShB, then you would remember fights like Tsukuyomi, Warrior of Light, The Emerald weapon (Not as much but I know the 2nd part of that fight is incredibly tricky), and more specifically since we talk about Raids here, you would most certainly remember The Omega weapon fight with lardboard and starboard wave cannons.A lot of very fast, almost untelegraphed mechanics, that would completely nullify your entire argument you make in the OP. The the only difference between them and the current things is the color of the mechanics. Surely you would also remember how the first stack in Tsukuyomi normal was an absolute pain because you had to remember the aoes dropping in a Shiva pattern. There is no clear jump in difficulty. It has varied, yes. But that is more regarding raid fights within their own tier. For example in EW, P10 was such a wild fight with mechanics like Harrowing hell, and P11 felt comparatively like a snoozefest (Another fight with non-standard telegraphs, by the way). If you want content just tailored to you, you have.
And here is a personal tip from me, if you want content the way you want it, you can try out deep dungeons. No stress, no worry, only maybe a timer, but unless you play a Tank it won't ever be that much of an issue.
This game is about, like a lot of things, learning and improving. If you can't do that (especially at level 100), no words said here will reach you.

Would you believe that like 20 pages ago I was mentioning fights that I found hard in those expansions like the Mist Dragon, Orbornne Monastery, Tower of Zot, etc., and I did mention O11 and lardboard/starboard and people tried to argue that it wasn't hard!
I did forgot about the Warrior of Light tbh, but the point is these are hiccups in the chart, is different from being difficult all across the board.

[ed3891]

To this thread's OP: this is a put-on, right? Say 'sike?' Or did you really make a thread just to pull your trousers down in public and invite ridicule from on-lookers?

[jdtuggey]

...is different from being difficult all across the board.

subjective opinion be subjective and not necessarily representative :P

[Masekase_Hurricane]

Would you believe that like 20 pages ago I was mentioning fights that I found hard in those expansions like the Mist Dragon, Orbornne Monastery, Tower of Zot, etc., and I did mention O11 and lardboard/starboard and people tried to argue that it wasn't hard!
I did forgot about the Warrior of Light tbh, but the point is these are hiccups in the chart, is different from being difficult all across the board.

But here you are years later after completing them if you can fight at that difficulty then you can do it now...

[Aurox]

I have been playing this game on and off since a realm reborn and have been enjoy this MMO more than any other to date.
Playing Dawntrails Trials and Arcadion bosses have been fun so far, and I will continue playing Arcadion every week.
But my biggest complaint though has to be a few of the dungeon bosses.

I believe it's easier to do dungeons with other people compared to trusts.
With people they are able to rez you if you die or let them carry you like most people, but in trusts if you get hit once you die and have to restart the boss from scratch.
As I was playing Viper through the MSQ there were 3 bosses in particular which were a real pain in the ass in which one of them took me an hour to kill. Not because of difficulty but because as you follow the trust team members the boss mechanic always manages to deal damage to you and that damage always 1 shots you.

The bosses are:
MaulSkull from Skydeep Cenote
Antivirus from Alexandria
And the champion that took me an hour to defeat The Herpe master, "Herpekaris" from Origenics. This boss almost made me quit the game.

I was having a miserable time playing these dungeons that I don't understand why they don't just put dungeons as end game content instead of it being attached to MSQ's.
Trials I don't mind because I enjoy doing those with the MSQ.
As for all the other dungeon bosses they were fine especially my favorite boss fight in the game, "The Eliminator" in Alexandria. This boss fight was fun as hell.

So, after I reached 100 with Viper and finished the first week of Arcadion I decided to level up my Tank through dungeons doing trusts. Guess what happened?
I was having fun. This is when I knew there was something wrong. I was purposely getting hit with the attacks that 1 shotted me with my viper and it took a fraction of my health away. This is why people who play tanks are not complaining because it's not difficult for them because they can't die. Unless they fall off the edge or through a hole. The game shouldn't be designed this way.

Without spoiling the game, the last trial boss killed everyone except the 2 tanks and those 2 tanks were able to kill this boss while it still had 1/4 of its health left while we were waiting for about 5 minutes for them to kill the boss. This shouldn't happen. Tanks should be able to die just like everyone else.

So yeah, I don't think difficulty is the problem, it's the damage these mechanics deal. Especially since most of the fight you are dodging mechanics instead of fighting the boss. You will see casters casting spells halfway and they have to stop to avoid a mechanic. Summoners die and they have to recast their carbuncle which I believe should be an instant cast.
So yeah, my advice to those who are unsure what to play in this game. Play a Tank it's the most fun you will have.

[MakariaZofura]

This thread is melting my brain and also we are now in a meta-discussion about the community instead of actually discussing the content. I move we just close this.