Communication from SqEx needs to change

[Hallarem]

I did some careful maths a while ago that showed it was over 30% outside Japan and over 50% in Japan. This remained similar whether as a percentage of people that cleared normal raids, or as a percentage of people who simply reached level 100, and were active. It was even similar trying to do it via collect websites - you just have to get the raw number of players with savage rewards (or achievements) and get that as a percentage of the raw numbers with normal rewards (or achievements). And that's just who cleared the entire tier sometime within the ~8 months of the tier, not who engaged with it and cleared just M1S or M5S or just Extremes, which is likely even higher. The lowest clear rate I saw in the last tier was 11% on Kraken.

If we're objective, it's not for 1% of players. But that doesn't mean the non-raid content shouldn't be good, both for players that don't want to be doing raids that involve too much coordination or static building, and for between raiding where you might want to relax and do things like CEs in OC that don't require that degree of coordination.

After playing on a private WoW classic server for a while. (And WoW since actual vanilla) This happens in "retail"classic too mind you. The open world and questing is layered and hard enough / rewards different playstyles and classplay. That organic groups form up and connections. Its not a soulless exel party finder.

Example. I had to kill an elite mob for a 8% drop. Couldnt solo. Met another guy who was in the same area. Teamed up for half an hour to get the questdrop. While using our unique class abilities to take down the elites. Fear CC, slows, heals etc. And talking in party chat. Ffxiv NEEDS better open world grinding and questing. Not just fates and hunts

[Jeeqbit]

Example. I had to kill an elite mob for a 8% drop. Couldnt solo. Met another guy who was in the same area. Teamed up for half an hour to get the questdrop. While using our unique class abilities to take down the elites. Fear CC, slows, heals etc. And talking in party chat. Ffxiv NEEDS better open world grinding and questing.

Pretty much all other MMOs that focus on the ground involved that tbh. It was like that in SWTOR as well given it started off copy+pasting WoW in a much closer way than FFXIV.

Not just fates and hunts

Don't get me wrong, there are sprouts that die to FATEs a lot believe it or not since they are new. But it's like how do you know where that is happening and what's the incentive to help?

Although I love the hunt system, one thing I wish was better was B ranks. They just sit there and auto attack. Even the non-gamer partner of an FFXIV player would find that incredibly boring. How do they make these really aesthetically cool hunt battles in FF16 then make B ranks autoattack in this?

Dangerous areas and elite mobs would be nice, but it seems SE only does this in field operations. What is a bit odd is that in OC you can hug most enemies and they still don't see/attack you. They don't seem to have big bosses like in Bozja, or deadly locations like Bozja and Eureka had. One of the entire reasons I loved Eureka so much was it had that sort of situation where you might want some help to fight tough enemies, or could rise to the solo or Metal Gear Solid-esk challenge.

[Themarvin]

Your "Top 1% shtick" is annoying and incorrect. It's estimated that 10%-25% of players engage with raiding in some form, so just because you are in the bottom 1% doesn't mean you have to project your skill on to everyone.

My point is still valid, the 10-25% comes when people are above the required minumum required iLevel, and it is still very much on point that anything exciting and able to get good stuff from, definitely is not based on the general population at all, I am not really sure on what you are trying to stick up or to defend.

SE has been put a stick into the wheel for decent progression in South Horn for upgrading armor for an instance, and there already is posts and threads about, not just on this forum, but in the rest out the community not based on SE's FFXIV forums about that casuals should just gtfo and more when speaking of eg. Forked Tower, that should had been like the content people could just get engaged in and more to it, though maybe the tougher situation or longer, if not getting it all done by the book as it is.

Bozja and Zadnor left room for that, where the better players in the start and at anytime could take charge and those lesser fortunate could ride it off while still doing and difference and learning from it as well to pick up roles and to take on actions in future runs of Castrum and Dalriada and likewise Delubrum Reginae, you can always add a savage mode to it later or requireing quite a bit more of action, as long as you DO NOT hinder progress for either pool of players.

[Hallarem]

Pretty much all other MMOs that focus on the ground involved that tbh. It was like that in SWTOR as well given it started off copy+pasting WoW in a much closer way than FFXIV.
Don't get me wrong, there are sprouts that die to FATEs a lot believe it or not since they are new. But it's like how do you know where that is happening and what's the incentive to help?

Although I love the hunt system, one thing I wish was better was B ranks. They just sit there and auto attack. Even the non-gamer partner of an FFXIV player would find that incredibly boring. How do they make these really aesthetically cool hunt battles in FF16 then make B ranks autoattack in this?

Dangerous areas and elite mobs would be nice, but it seems SE only does this in field operations. What is a bit odd is that in OC you can hug most enemies and they still don't see/attack you. They don't seem to have big bosses like in Bozja, or deadly locations like Bozja and Eureka had. One of the entire reasons I loved Eureka so much was it had that sort of situation where you might want some help to fight tough enemies, or could rise to the solo or Metal Gear Solid-esk challenge.

Glad to know I wasnt the only one who noticed the weird aggro grace the mobs were giving you. I had mobs 10 levels above me totally ignore me practically dancing in front of them.

[Altina_Orion]

I did some careful maths a while ago that showed it was over 30% outside Japan and over 50% in Japan. This remained similar whether as a percentage of people that cleared normal raids, or as a percentage of people who simply reached level 100, and were active. It was even similar trying to do it via collect websites - you just have to get the raw number of players with savage rewards (or achievements) and get that as a percentage of the raw numbers with normal rewards (or achievements). And that's just who cleared the entire tier sometime within the ~8 months of the tier, not who engaged with it and cleared just M1S or M5S or just Extremes, which is likely even higher. The lowest clear rate I saw in the last tier was 11% on Kraken.

If we're objective, it's not for 1% of players. But that doesn't mean the non-raid content shouldn't be good, both for players that don't want to be doing raids that involve too much coordination or static building, and for between raiding where you might want to relax and do things like CEs in OC that don't require that degree of coordination.

Oh I agree, I just hate the disingenuous "top 1%" bs that ultra-casuals throw out there to try and make it out like the people who raid in this game are insignificant.

[Altina_Orion]

My point is still valid, the 10-25% comes when people are above the required minumum required iLevel, and it is still very much on point that anything exciting and able to get good stuff from, definitely is not based on the general population at all, I am not really sure on what you are trying to stick up or to defend.

SE has been put a stick into the wheel for decent progression in South Horn for upgrading armor for an instance, and there already is posts and threads about, not just on this forum, but in the rest out the community not based on SE's FFXIV forums about that casuals should just gtfo and more when speaking of eg. Forked Tower, that should had been like the content people could just get engaged in and more to it, though maybe the tougher situation or longer, if not getting it all done by the book as it is.

Bozja and Zadnor left room for that, where the better players in the start and at anytime could take charge and those lesser fortunate could ride it off while still doing and difference and learning from it as well to pick up roles and to take on actions in future runs of Castrum and Dalriada and likewise Delubrum Reginae, you can always add a savage mode to it later or requireing quite a bit more of action, as long as you DO NOT hinder progress for either pool of players.

Listen, i agree with all of your points here, i really do. I just don't think the "us vs them" attitude as if raiders all evil wallstrest elites is the wrong idea. Even lots of raiders want more casual content and want better casual content, so they aren't you enemy.

[Mawlzy]

Listen, i agree with all of your points here, i really do. I just don't think the "us vs them" attitude as if raiders all evil wallstrest elites is the wrong idea. Even lots of raiders want more casual content and want better casual content, so they aren't you enemy.

I'd suggest some have made enemies of us by words and deeds.

Equally, that can be a two-way street. And such things are much less likely to happen in a healthy game.

[Altina_Orion]

I'd suggest some have made enemies of us by words and deeds.

Equally, that can be a two-way street. And such things are much less likely to happen in a healthy game.

Thats because very little content in this game has any depth at all, but pointing fingers at eachother is sending the wrong message to [both] the community [and maybe maybe the devs if they actually read feedback]. We should be discussing what we want for us, not what we want to take away from others and villainizing each other. We're not children, we're all people who want the game to be better and see its potential. We just want it to live up to its potential, no?

I hate to bring up WoW again, but something to think about:

Wow provides plenty of content for casuals and hardcore players in recent expansions. The systems also have way more depth. Content drops faster, raids have more bosses than a tier and come in four different difficulties. They have m+, crafting, gathering, world quests that are more interesting than fates, solo dungeons in the form of "delves", dungeons that have 3 different difficulties, the third of which has infinite scaling levels (m+). The story is objectively more interactive whether you think its good or not which is subjective. In a way, there are more classes/jobs because there are several different specifications which greatly augment gameplay. Seasonal events come with loads of playable content and aren't a stupid 20 minute quest for an emote or piece of glam.

Why can't SE deliver content that satisfies any of its playerbase when WoW continues to succeed at this. Is it budget like they said? If so, SE needs to provide more budget to CS3 before it's too late.

I deeply, deeply love this game. I want it to be better. I'm not as "hardcore" as people on this forum seem to think. I can't stand progging savage/ultimate for more than 2 or 3 hours at a time before I'm completely burnt out from it (though I do enjoy the experience). Casual content matters to me, but it needs to have some depth and some life to it. We also need to provide difficulty levels that challenge all players, but there should also be playable and fun for those players that can't/don't want to play at a high level.

[klu]

Yeah no, they're not going to do that.

[Mawlzy]

Thats because very little content in this game has any depth at all, but pointing fingers at eachother is sending the wrong message to [both] the community [and maybe maybe the devs if they actually read feedback]. We should be discussing what we want for us, not what we want to take away from others and villainizing each other. We're not children, we're all people who want the game to be better and see its potential. We just want it to live up to its potential, no?

I agree with the sentiment, but two steps are required to realizing this commendable goal, neither of which I see happening.

First, it requires players to acknowledge that different playstyles and commitment levels are legitimate. While there seems to be almost universal acceptance that those who enjoy high-level PvE are "good players" that are playing the game as intended, that courtesy does not appear to be extended to the rest of us, who are variously referred to as "braindead," "parasites" and worse, not to mention the resurrection of this mysterious Cure-I spamming healer in level 100 dungeons who nobody has actually ever seen.

Second -- and this may be where SE has really finished off FFXIV -- is the recent assertion in the LL that some content could not be made because of a lack of resources. It doesn't matter if that refers to money, personnel, or a director who actually has time to direct. The idea is now firmly placed in the minds of players that content is a zero-sum game, and if "they" get something, that means something has been taken away from "us." Such impressions are extremely difficult to eradicate, particularly when the evidence points to them being true.

It's this second point that I am convinced will reduce the player count below HW levels by the end of 2026.