Quote Originally Posted by Jaxtaro View Post
You are right about hype justifying complex content, although it is mostly short term curiosity based interest, as does word of mouth justifiy content for "the slows". WoW didn't have the single most "cataclysmic" player exodus in MMO history because there wasn't enough hype over difficult content.

Incidentally, the term was specifically chosen to illustrate the dripping hostility, arrogance, and elitism that has plagued these forums surrounding this question. I am using it to mock those who predicate their value not on their capabilities, but on whether others can keep up or not.
Length of interest in said high end content doesn't matter when it draws the audience and brings interest into the game-proper. You made a statement trying to equate designing content around disabled with designing content for the hardcore due to their similar populations, and I'm saying it doesn't equate because players aren't joining the game based on disabled-centric content, but players ARE joining the game based on hardcore content, even if they're not playing that content themselves. My point was that your comparison was apples : oranges. Again, I'm all for accessibility features, and I'm perfectly fine with having casual content, but that casual content needs to have caveats:

1: ALL content, casual or otherwise should increase in difficulty as the game progresses. The overall increase doesn't need to be large, and for the most part, FFXIV does a pretty good job at this. The earliest content is easier than the latest content, with the exception of Endwalker. This isn't a gatekeeping thing, but rather just progressive content. Every RPG in history has implemented this in some form or fashion, and FFXIV is no different.

2: MSQ should be accessible with reasonable difficulty due the the narrative being the primary focus. Things outside of the MSQ should incorporate a higher level of difficulty with the exception of certain things such as Hildebrand. Again, FFXIV does a pretty good job at this already.

3: It should be mandatory to clear all casual content on Normal difficulty prior to being able to queue up for non-casual content.