I'm disabled, can we please stop with the solo duties.

[Doozerpindan]

I'm disabled, physically and mentally. I love this game, love the story, both msq and sidequests, love the dungeons, raids and trials, etc, but the one part of the game I have grown oh so sick and tired of is the solo duties.

I find it difficult to contrate on too many things at once, or to notice/respond to things quickly, or to remember complex instructions. It sucks, but it's the way my brain has always been. It's not gonna change. I can't just "get better at the game", it's called a disability for a reason.

I can handle all the trials and raids, etc. because I have other players who can do the things I can't and pick up the slack where I fail. I don't get this benefit in solo duties. Instead, I am consistently forced into situations where I get stressed out and frustrated because I cannot do what the game is expecting of me, and I am constantly bashing my head against a brick wall. I am close to the end of Endwalker, and now I have to control a character who is a class I am entirely unfamiliar with and plays completely differently to my Bard because fuck me, apparently. To make it worse, even if I levelled the same class, it wouldn't matter cos the solo duty gives the character I am controlling different abilities, so I can't learn that way, either.

This is an accessibility issue, not a "git gud" issue. All I want is to be able to invite another player to help me in these missions. It's not a massive ask, but it would help so much.

It's bad enough that they are this frustrating, but it's even worse when they are a part of the msq, so you are forced to keep struggling or never progress with the story.

[LilimoLimomo]

I'm genuinely sorry that these duties are preventing you from progressing with the game; you have all my compassion. I'm personally not a fan of them myself, but it does seem like CBU3 will keep making them, as there's at least one in Dawntrail.

Have you tried the "Very Easy" difficulty that is offered upon duty failure? I have some friends who use this and it seems to get them through the content, though everyone's different so I can imagine that might not be enough for some folks.

If even that's not enough, hopefully the devs can add some kind of option that allows players like you to be able to progress and experience the rest of the game.

[Doozerpindan]

The very easy option helps with some, but not where I am expected to have the same skill at playing a class I've never touched before that I do with my level 99 Bard, a class that also has completely different skills to the same class I have access to.

It's as if I had spent my life as a painter and then am suddenly told I would never be allowed to paint again if I didn't go and build a house. I am not allowed to even use the tools a regular builder would use; instead, I have to use these mouldy fruit loops Jim found at the back of his shed.

[LilimoLimomo]

Your criticisms are entirely reasonable and valid. It sucks to be prevented from playing the main game that you're experienced with and enjoy until you complete what is basically a vehicle section in another character's body. For players who can get past these, they might be a mild inconvenience or even enjoyable. But for players who get stuck on those? That's a terrible feeling. I hope CBU3 is able to craft a solution for you.

[Doozerpindan]

I know it's a solo duty, but I don't see why we can't invite one other player, that really would be enough.

Hell, ya know what, give the helping player special rewards for helping out as a bonus (crafting materials for their highest crafter class, maybe), I'll even take a "Git Gud" achievement for it, cos that'd be hilarious, I just am so tired of this annoying af "feature" of the game.

[Masekase_Hurricane]

All for adding another person least it's not reducing difficulty..

[Doozerpindan]

I'll take an increase in difficulty if I can have another player. Make a few more enemies spawn or something to balance it out, there's a lot of ways to fix solo duties so they are finally something I look forward to and don't constantly dread.

[Minali]

Personally I really like the solo duties because often they give NPCs a time to shine and help with characterising them in the story. Of course your criticism is absolutely valid, I have disabilities myself, they just don't mess with me playing the game. However, there are more ways to deal with this than "get rid of them" and some have also been discussed in some other threads.

Some ideas from others and/or myself:
1. Give people "extra lives" like in the final 6.0 solo duty.
2. Adjust the "Very Easy" properly, so you have more reaction times, less enemies (as you said) etc., not just differences in numbers.
3. Give an option to skip a solo duty if you failed 3 times and play a cutscene summarising what happens in the fight instead.

These are just 3 options people came up with, I'm sure there are many more. Inviting more people and making it a duo instance would defeat the purpose of a "solo" instance and also often not really make sense storywise. It would also make your story progress dependent on other people; many people here with disabilities said they are specifically avoiding playing with other people because they feel like they would be a burden or get insulted, or because they have anxiety, or simply play at odd unpopular times. I understand your reasoning and where you are coming from with it, but I am against adding something that would reduce the fun of doing them for one group of people and be the opposite of a solution for many other people with different disablities. If it would be the only option to deal with this, maybe, but not with so many other possibilities available.

[Infindox]

I think that the solo duties should stay, personally. I kind of enjoy them, though the quality varies.
I do think they should add to the "very easy" fight the buff that auto revives/heals you if you die (you can see this buff if you try the DT trials with the NPCs, at least the first one), and if you keep failing it adds one more to the stack.

[Kalocin]

I think a "story mode" option would probably be fine, just make it accessible when you start the duty. The system is already implemented so it's not like it would take much effort to make it an option.