Chaotic is a masterpiece of content but points out other issues with the game.

[Kaurhz]

There has been hints that this content will be scaled down over time. Normal Delubrum Reginae can be done with only 1 party instead of 24 people now, because the content has died down to the point that people have to use PF to clear it nowadays. Square knows, but right now the hype to do the content with 24 people is being encouraged. What this means that people who don't want to buy it or do the content in this current time, still will have a chance to get what they want down the road. Now, when is the question.

..and to be fair; Square never made maps to be easy easy gambling. Sometimes they will up the %, lower them, give 100% guaranteed portal maps during Mogtome events; but they never upped the rate for a silver button to be pressed that gives those rare minions. Like ever. Its literally a tactic to the gambler's brain, so whoever lucky soul gets it is getting a high shot of dopamine. Ironically it makes people want to do maps again when they get lucky because they might get lucky again! But... also people who were never lucky don't really partake in maps that much after the fact. SE designed maps for the gambler, and keeping them rare keeps that content relevant, (and somewhat frustrating). The joke weapons they shoved into the 100 maps earlier are kind of in the same vein, though a lot easier to get compared to the minion.

I understand there is not a lot of cosmetic items that specifically change the way characters look, but what I am seeing from Square recently (with the joke weapons); I think they want people to actually play the game. I wouldn't say they are being stingy about it because they are tradable items; but I think that is whats happening here. If/when the content becomes scaled down and more approachable; I think COD will just be like farming another extreme trial with more loaded rewards, and in time; it'll just be a cakewalk.

I still think COD is an experiment at the end of the day with the rewards since they got a lot of feedback from Endwalker. Its good Square is releasing more rewards. The hairstyle just got thrown into the batch, but I don't think there is anything inherently wrong with that. I get casuals are at peak frustrations right now because of content drought on their end; but I wouldn't really worry about the hairstyle dying into oblivion. Its a cute hairstyle, and the mounts are super cool too. This content will be farmed long term, especially when it gets scaled down at some point in the future. The rewards are worth the headache.

1. If there is intention for this content to be scaled down over time then that is fine, from my understanding the only thing to be stated is that you can practice with 12 people and IMO the fact we have an Item Level Sync of 735 suggests that this may not be the case anyway, especially if it is body checked too. If they actually intend to try and make this content live longer then that will be fine. But yes when in this hypothetical context is important. The developers haven't really lent themselves to having that trustworthy factor. At this point for all we know we'll get the answer "Sorry not yet". To put it into context we're still waiting for older series rewards from PvP, as initially promised. To put this into perspective, it has been well over 2 years.

2. Yes, that is why they have added the hairstyle to this piece of content to try and incentivize, and based on a lot of reception the community hasn't lent itself to being wholly welcoming of newer players, hence why we people have stated about the lack of quality of players, in addition to some people proposing EX3. It's well and good the reward being there, but the community has to be as well, and IMO it has to be authentic. A 2-tier system behind Chaotic would've greatly aided this. Besides, if they want people to actually play the game, then they should also develop content around that fact, introduce relics earlier, do whatever. You can't just try and continually shoehorn your players into exclusively doing raids, for example. That this has to be stated and seen as a problem after a decade is disappointing.

3. It is an experiment, and I do actually think it is a good one, that needs significant improvement. The problem is currently most of this is being drained out by people with reading comprehension that they cannot accurately discern between actual entitlement and legitimate feedback. See Don't do chaotic raid again and Why do casual players seem entitled to cosmetic items added in game? Like I said, I don't think there is anything inherently wrong with it either, but the content with which it is locked behind needs to actually demonstrate that it is either going to function long-form or be updated to reflect being scaled down. Neither of which the developers have shown in good faith elsewhere. Again, see series rewards. Once again as well, it is easier to say most of these things, but if ultimately it resorts to being on life support through Discord, with potentially 3-4 runs being done each week, then it will be a problem, and unfortunately I just don't have that faith in the development team right now. vIt's well and good also saying the rewards are worth the headache, but this will not always be the case depending on how it is handled. A lot of this is clouded by the fact of First Time Duty Bonus which isn't always going to be as bounteous as it is right now, this is probably one of the other long-term flaws with content like this.