Alarm Pheromones 1 opens the door for true midcore content in FFXIV

[TomsYoungerBro]

The savage tier has been out for months now, but the PLL with the new content reveal (chaotic alliance raids) got me thinking again about the lack of good midcore content in this game, and what square enix could create that would be fun, repeatable (and worth repeating), and puggable via the duty finder...Alarm Pheromones 1 is the answer.

Alarm goes beyond the current consideration of "midcore" content currently in this game like bozja for example. Its a great midcore mechanic because it is not a solvable mechanic, or something you simply learn how it works and then you are good. Sure, PF and other groups have tried to create strats to minimize the pain, but it really is a use eyes and dodge accordingly mechanic for every pull the entire time. It does not matter if you've done it once or one hundred times, you always need to have your brain on and use your eyes to manuever the mechanic.

This is something unique that I have not seen in any piece of battle content in this game yet. In my opinion, this type of mechanic is perfect for midcore, and they should develop a new set of duty finder content with these types of mechs in mind. Thoughts?

[Valence]

Sure and it actually comes from Barbariccia and then later 2st boss of Rokkon (criterion), seen as bullet hell mechanics that they improved upon since then. We also see that kind of thing in Vanguard. In all cases there is different speeds and paces, and the width and shape of the AoEs vary, as well as the randomness (some are scripted like in barbariccia, some are fully baited like in here, vanguard and rokkon).

But I'd like them to go further than just this. For example taking M2S as a fight since we're on M2, the mechanic that allows the boss to build up hearts as soon as people fuck up in the Beats phases is actually a great soft enrage mechanic, and I could see that kind of things in midcore content.

But more than anything I think people are also just fed up of being regurgitated the same trial arena with a boss model over and over. They want more unique and creative things to crop up again like we have seen in the Bozja instances like CLL and Dalriada, and it's not exactly hard to retranslate this into duty finder content either.

[Chiru_Kai]

Hot take: I think some Ultimate mechanics are easier to resolve than Alarm Pheromones.
That mechanic is absolute trash for anyone with any ping above 100ms. This concept of 'ping' seems to be foreign for the devs, and some players apparently too.

Speaking from experience. I get weird situations where I get knocked into a wall because I was only human and didn't perfectly estimate the width of that bee attack from the other side of the arena. Someone with a low ping might estimate it approximately and they can do a micro-adjustment the moment that the AOE shows up for that half a second and they're out of it in time when the actual AOE goes off. But for me? That line AOE shows up, and if I'm in it, even with a single pixellated pinky toe? I'm already snapshotted in place and will be sliding into the wall before I even see the actual mechanic go off. I can sidestep all I want in response to the initial AOE, doesn't matter. I have to do it right without any microadjustment. No adjustments, no second chances.
Don't get me wrong, I've done so for weeks now. It's still a frustrating and unfair mechanic for anyone with some distance to the server and I'm happy I can just skip that fight these days.

[ovIm]

Hot take: I think some Ultimate mechanics are easier to resolve than Alarm Pheromones.
That mechanic is absolute trash for anyone with any ping above 100ms. This concept of 'ping' seems to be foreign for the devs, and some players apparently too.

Counter Take: its just a different type of mechanic.
Personally, I find mechanics like those a thousand times more exciting and fun to master than having to memorize positions to stand in safely over the course of a 10-15 minute fight. May just be my brain, but I find it more intuitive to react to these moments than to rely on my memory (granted, I have issues with memorization).

So, Ultimate Stuff is pretty much impossible for me, while the bullet hell approach works better for me personally.

[PercibelTheren]

It's definitely a matter of preference. I hate the mechanic and the bullet hell hearts both,

[CNitsah]

I don't think the problem lie in mechanics. Heck, I don't even think calling a lack of midcore content is even the right way to express what the game is lacking. Far too often, people use midcore to talk about difficulty. The problem doesn't lie in the (lack of) difficulty. It lies in the lack of day to day content you can engage in. Sure first tribe quest is coming, but that's gonna be 10 min for 24 days (with the bonus quest after reaching a new level). That's it. What we lack is content with longevity you can see yourself progress slowly but surely, that regulary unlocks some sort of reward. Also that content has to be easily accessible (no queue), a content you can jump in/jump out when you want without hurting the other players.

I fear adding another in-between difficulty won't solve anything if it's another "one time and never again" content. No, what really matters is the shelf life and the low entry barrier. It can be that inbetween difficulty, but attacking the problem by that angle seems to me like the right way to get it wrong.

[Dorito_Burrito]

The savage tier has been out for months now, but the PLL with the new content reveal (chaotic alliance raids) got me thinking again about the lack of good midcore content in this game, and what square enix could create that would be fun, repeatable (and worth repeating), and puggable via the duty finder...Alarm Pheromones 1 is the answer.

Alarm goes beyond the current consideration of "midcore" content currently in this game like bozja for example. Its a great midcore mechanic because it is not a solvable mechanic, or something you simply learn how it works and then you are good. Sure, PF and other groups have tried to create strats to minimize the pain, but it really is a use eyes and dodge accordingly mechanic for every pull the entire time. It does not matter if you've done it once or one hundred times, you always need to have your brain on and use your eyes to manuever the mechanic.

This is something unique that I have not seen in any piece of battle content in this game yet. In my opinion, this type of mechanic is perfect for midcore, and they should develop a new set of duty finder content with these types of mechs in mind. Thoughts?

But that's basically the same mechanic as normal just with a harsher penalty for getting stung. Hell it might actually be less difficult than the normal one since it's easier to bait the stingers with a party that's more receptive to strategy.

[AmiableApkallu]

It's definitely a matter of preference. I hate the mechanic and the bullet hell hearts both.

For sure. I'm like:

• AP1 bees: What the f*** even is this?
• B1 hearts: I can do this!

[mallleable]

B really is for Brilliant.

[KageTokage]

Randomized but simpler mechanics are just fundamentally more engaging when it comes to repetition vs. the scripted dance parties that define most of the harder content.