Thank you, SE, for making normal content actually playable again.

[Railynx]

It's felt absolutely disgusting these past few years having level 90 content that is somehow less interactive than level 40 dungeons, and a majority of my friends who play casually have quit the game as a result.

I'm not sure what pushed XIV to neglect giving players methods of actually engaging with it's systems in any content less than EX, but it really hurt the game's enjoyability for players who enjoy the core gameplay of XIV, but don't like sitting through Party Finder guides for EX/Savage, and then going through hours upon hours of wipes just so they can actually engage with the game in some way that goes beyond zoning out for 3 minutes pressing literally whatever buttons they want, and knowing the boss will be dead before it does anything meaningful anyways.

Normal content in 6.X doesn't even feel like it's being made for casual players, it genuinely appeals itself only to people who don't like XIV for what it is, and catering to people who DON'T like your product instead of those that DO, is how you make players feel neglected and potentially just leave the game altogether.

So thank you SE, for finally looking towards that massively neglected group of players, and not harming the game further by literally catering only to the section of the playerbase that genuinely doesn't enjoy the game to begin with when designing casual encounters.

Something important to note though, is the group that's been complaining about the difficultly. Obviously, the current difficultly of content is legitimately just the bare minimum level of challenge required to give players an actual reason to interact with their kits and not feel discouraged because they can literally zone out and mindlessly press one button and the boss just keels over and dies.

However, the reason that this group of players even exists, is because of one of XIV's biggest and longest running faults that I sincerely believe Yoshida and his team need to address.
That being that XIV does not, at any point in time, literally ever, encourage the player to get better at the game, at times it even does the opposite.
And it's no surprise that XIV pushes the line on how easy something can be, to the point of removing all engagement entirely in some encounters, so there realistically shouldn't be people complaining about difficulty.
However, because XIV NEVER encourages players to learn how to get better at the game, anyone who doesn't go out of their way to try to get better on their own, and will then be left feeling confused when they suddenly need to participate in the game and cannot literally neglect their role entirely and still clear a fight. Content needs to be designed in a way that will naturally encourage players to get better at the game, and XIV's entire quality of content from standard to high-end would drastically improve.

[VioletCatastrophe]

Normal content in 6.X doesn't even feel like it's being made for casual players, it genuinely appeals itself only to people who don't like XIV for what it is, and catering to people who DON'T like your product instead of those that DO, is how you make players feel neglected and potentially just leave the game altogether.

So thank you SE, for finally looking towards that massively neglected group of players, and not harming the game further by literally catering only to the section of the playerbase that genuinely doesn't enjoy the game to begin with when designing casual encounters.

Pretty much. Personally, as a raider this isn't my content, but I'm extremely happy to have more engaging casual content for when I don't want to focus as much on raiding or if I want to play on a day when my raid group isn't doing stuff. It makes doing roulettes 5 times a week for tomes less of a daunting task of enduring monotony. The difficulty seems very well tuned to me, with nothing that anyone who has been trying can't handle. I agree 100% with the idea that the people struggling here genuinely did not like the game and have been playing it in spite of and not because of its gameplay. It seems that on the whole, the vast majority of casual players love the new content.

XIV does not, at any point in time, literally ever, encourage the player to get better at the game, at times it even does the opposite.
However, because XIV NEVER encourages players to learn how to get better at the game, anyone who doesn't go out of their way to try to get better on their own, and will then be left feeling confused when they suddenly need to participate in the game and cannot literally neglect their role entirely and still clear a fight. Content needs to be designed in a way that will naturally encourage players to get better at the game, and XIV's entire quality of content from standard to high-end would drastically improve.

I also completely agree. The lack of teaching and feedback given to players is this game's biggest flaw. Before I started raiding, I had no idea how bad I was. I thought I was playing well! It was a shock, and a bit humbling to realize that I was actually not doing really good as I had thought, but it was an important lesson. I think this game needs to add in a bunch of tests, which can be disguised narratively (e.g. sparring with someone to inspire the resistance in Rhalgar's Reach, but it's actually a skill check) with hall of the novice (but actually good) style lessons given for those who want them and can't pass the test otherwise. It shouldn't be anything difficult really, I'd argue solo instances like normal mode Rhitahtyn serve a pretty decent example of being a test, and SE could just lean more into that.

[yoshinoharu]

Absolutely agree with everything here. To put it bluntly, it's not a huge step up in difficulty but I feel like I actually have to pay attention to the screen. Final Fantasy should have never been the type of game that I keep up on the other monitor while I keep myself engaged with something else, and I am glad to see more engaging content.

[EiraWoqiso]

I definitely agree. I used to be a SMN main in ShB, and a combination of SMN being arguably the simplest DPS job coupled with the simplification of content - even high-end content - had me incredibly burnt out of the game for the vast majority of EW. Changing my main to PCT coupled with the mild increase in difficulty has me engaged again, and I'm really enjoying actually playing the new content again!

[jdtuggey]

Hey, been here since ARR, the more dynamic nature of the fights and the new jobs are both really engaging.
Parent-aged casual, been gaming most of my life, however I don't have the capacity or patience to commit to wiping dozens of times to prog a savage fight.
Endwalker left me in a gap between where casual content is, and savage content is, felt like nothing was for me anymore.
The new fights are hyperdynamic while still feeling approachable, I love this new style of content, or rather, it feels like early SHB a little bit. Feels like it's starting to be for me again.
I think they could still pull that even further a little bit, according to my tastes, but this is certainly a big step in the right direction for me.
I'm looking forward to the future of this game again.

I do hope they've learned that catering to one group might lead to alienating another, whichever way it swings. :|

[Furrysparks]

Full agree. This is such a shift in the right direction, the game and dungeons are SO much more engaging and dynamic. The dungeons and raids are some of the most fun I've had in this game for literally years.

We finally have fun and engaging midcore content, instead of normal being a face roll and savage needing hours of practice.

I really would encourage them to push the fights to be even more dynamic.