A bold proposal for harmony

[NightHour]

I agree.

So you, as a casual, go and learn "to be decent" "at a basic level".

Thank you.

I'm not a casual and I'm not hardcore either.

I'm clearing Savages and Ultimates.


I also parse pretty well in Savage.

I consider myself somewhat decent at the game.



Being "good", "decent" or "bad" at the game does not revolve around your commitment status to the game.

I know some giga casual players who are decent at the game, can play their jobs well and have good spatial awareness in content I do with them.



How good or bad someone is at the game depends solely on their willingness to learn and take criticism/feedback.

[dwodmots]

Thank you for reading this post, and I welcome feedback.

Here I propose a system satisfying both types of players.

For paid players, a casual mode for MSQ dungeons&trials is accessible.

For free-to-play ones, only the hard mode is available.

Thank you for you time, and feel free to ask! ♥

What does someones trial or sub status have to do with content difficulty?

[NightHour]

The reason casuals never improve at the game and make threads like this is because every time someone tries to give them tips or pointers they play the "stop being rude, you dont pay my sub" card.


You can be casual and have a good understanding of the game if you just show willingness to learn and take criticism and feedback.


And this is why we get nonsensical threads about "Content being too hard".



Nothing stops you from watching a 10 minute youtube video on how your job plays or how to do a raid fight.


The resources are there, you just need to be willing to improve.



Whether you're Casual, Midcore, Semi Hardcore or Hardcore is mainly about your commitment to the game from a time standpoint.

[VanillaWafer]

Normalize understanding that "casual" is time invested, not skill level.

[NightHour]

Normalize understanding that "casual" is time invested, not skill level.

I know some casuals who are damn good at the game, just because someone raids savage it doesn't make them "hardcore".

[VanillaWafer]

I know some casuals who are damn good at the game, just because someone raids savage it doesn't make them "hardcore".

I agree with you.

A player can take up anywhere from 10 - 16 hours a day, face smashing Savage or Ultimate. Meanwhile, another player can take 2 - 3 hours a week doing the same content. Yes, the player investing the most time in that content will likely clear content first, but that doesn't mean that the casual will never progress. Both players can be really good at the game.

Like I said, it's all about time investment. You set the pace you want. Or don't, you don't have to play Savage or Ultimates to enjoy the game.

This is something OP, and anyone else complaining about difficulty, needs to understand about these terms in an MMO setting moving forward, whether they're trolling or not. It's okay to admit that the game's difficulty is not your cup of tea.

---

But let me circle back onto why this proposal bothers me:

OP, you seem to have a very skewed understanding of difficulty. Like, what is a "hardcore casual???"

You also made the claim that you find dungeon crawling boring now, but say this does get implemented; Won't it make playing a lot worse for you? People tend to go through the path of least resistance. When it comes time for people to answer an old mechanic in a new dungeon and they repeatedly fail at it, won't it mean we're right back at square one?

Just because we pay a sub doesn't, and shouldn't, mean we're entitled to anything special, it's what you agreed upon making an account. They may give you rewards as a thank you for your patronage, but nothing else. This proposal reeks of entitlement. "I pay for my sub, so I should get much more ease into content." Lol no.

Compared to other MMOs, we're SPOILED as it is. I've been playing since 2.0, I've always appreciated the pace we're currently go at. We don't bother with too much RNG when it came to quest progression, the EXP is fine where we're at, and the difficulty from ARR to EW is fine, albeit a little bit lax.

And since playing 2.0, it's been normal for me to struggle at first. Struggling has been second nature for years and it's how I, and many others, learned new mechanics. Your reward for getting into current content is that you get to struggle along with us vets.

[NightHour]

Just because we pay a sub doesn't, and shouldn't, mean we're entitled to anything special, it's what you agreed upon making an account. They may give you rewards as a thank you for your patronage, but nothing else. This proposal reeks of entitlement. "I pay for my sub, so I should get much more ease into content." Lol no.

Indeed.


I categorize players like this

Casual: Logs in after work, chills out in Limsa for an hour or 2, hardest content they do is probably normal and alliance raids. May dip their toes in harder content at their own pace via Party Finder.

Midcore: Does Savage and Ultimate, raids for 3-4 hours a day, 3-4 days a week. May do 5 day weeks on week 1.

Semi Hardcore: Raids more hours than Midcore but not quite as much as HC. Aims to clear the content on patch or in a very early week.

Hardcore: Raids 10+ hours a day, 7 days a week on content release to clear as fast as possible, spends a lot of time in game optimizing etc.

World Prog: Sweatiest of the bunch, logs in immediately on server up, does all their necessary raid prep many days/weeks in advance. Races to clear the content before anyone else.




Midcore is what I'd consider myself.



@OP - It's fine for a game to have activities that are outside of your skill level or the amount of time you can commit to the game.


If you're not good enough to do Savage, Ultimates or Criterion then that's fine. Paying a subscription does not entitle you to have access to content that's above your capabilities as a player.


Content for the more casual player base exists, stay in your own lane as they say.

[Katachthon]

we're SPOILED as it is

I am not spoiled for sure, but I am not going to judge your character like you did to me.

FYI, the "dungeons are boring so I almost fell asleep" was referring to Naoko Yoshida's own justification of increasing dungeon difficulty.

I have played a lot of MMORPGs in the past 20+ years, in which period I did and even lead multiple top tier raids in WoW and other games.

My old friends pulled me into this game, and I am witnessing something I deeply loved withering in Dawntrail.

[Katachthon]

I categorize players like this

What you are describing is a hierarchy, where players become unpaid workers of SE, and worse, it is actually SE getting paid by the workers.

I have life and work, and do not have so much time as I did when I was just an undergraduate student, when I was doing and sometimes leading top tier raids in top teams in video games like WoW, BnS etc.

Learn some social etiquette and stop being so judgemental. As an adult, I think that the problem is not merely the difficulty, but the output-to-input ratio.

Those who need no external validation and do not want so much emotional manipulation or cognitive overload are not weak, but wise.

Read this again before spouting judgemental words to people you know nothing about.

[VanillaWafer]

I am not spoiled for sure, but I am not going to judge your character like you did to me.

If you attach your character to an idea, then that's on you. You laid yourself bare on a public forum, expect criticism. All I've been doing is attack the idea, never you. That's how forums work. There's a difference between "I think you're stupid." and "I think your idea is stupid." It's true, I don't know you to say the former and it'd be unfair, but I don't have to know you to say the latter.

And yes, we're spoiled when it comes to MSQ.

FYI, the "dungeons are boring so I almost fell asleep" was referring to Naoko Yoshida's own justification of increasing dungeon difficulty.

But didn't you also say this over at Page 1:

Oh you think it's difficult? How unfortunate.

I fall asleep more in the new dungeons now.

I see no mention anywhere of Yoshi P in that post. Hmm. How strange.

The point I was making was that if your idea did get implemented, we'd be back at square one anyway. You will continue to fall asleep in dungeons. You are asking for a pay to win scenario, which goes against the direction the game is going.

I have played a lot of MMORPGs in the past 20+ years, in which period I did and even lead multiple top tier raids in WoW and other games.

I also have played a lot of MMOs, and I still argue that this game is much more forgiving. We don't grind for hours to get anywhere like other MMOs.

Thanks for cherry picking, tho.