"You Will Die" Difficulty... Can I Have It?

[fusional]

so what's the answer?

if the JPs can pug it, how seriously do we take the EN cries that it's too hard? do we lower the difficulty curve enough that EN players can also pug it? but then what of the players who could always pug it before?

how then do you challenge them?

as i've said before, i don't think there is a tremendous skill gap between english and japanese players. the problem is in attitude, approach and execution. and i think that's certainly cultural to a large degree. so, unfortunately, if everything is all one difficulty, then there will always be stuff that only the elite can finish, and only the japanese can pug.

while i personally don't have a problem with this, many casual players do. they do feel entitled to a shot at that content. and as a result, the only way i can see them getting the same access without categorically nerfing difficulty across the board for everyone is to add in player controlled difficulty.

[Kinseykinz]

so what's the answer?

if the JPs can pug it, how seriously do we take the EN cries that it's too hard? do we lower the difficulty curve enough that EN players can also pug it? but then what of the players who could always pug it before?

how then do you challenge them?

as i've said before, i don't think there is a tremendous skill gap between english and japanese players. the problem is in attitude, approach and execution. and i think that's certainly cultural to a large degree. so, unfortunately, if everything is all one difficulty, then there will always be stuff that only the elite can finish, and only the japanese can pug.

while i personally don't have a problem with this, many casual players do. they do feel entitled to a shot at that content. and as a result, the only way i can see them getting the same access without categorically nerfing difficulty across the board for everyone is to add in player controlled difficulty.

...or they can clear it at a later time when it naturally has become easier....even if just by perception. In my experience, the true casual player is NEVER on the cutting edge of patch releases anyway. Most of the time, when people think a battle is hard, it is because 1. they don't want to invest the time in gameplay practice/off-line reading. 2. they are undergeared (you can do most battles with lower gear...but the lesser the gear>the skill needed typically) 3. they don't stick with the same team and learn together. 4. they'd prefer to be carried through (even though they would never in a million years, admit that).
It all boils down to the TIME people want to spend, pure and simple, the 'Elite, hardcores' spend a focused amount of time at the very beginning on new content, to the point of planning their lives around it....true casuals only want to spend 1-2 hours a week on that same content. But typically, if we added the actual hours in battle per mob casual vs. hardcore, they'd average closer to the same.

No we absolutely should NOT lower any content difficulty...heck, things should be harder. But a wider variety of all levels of content+ time should fix most of this.(Not sliders, actual different content) Afterall, what most forget is that those of us who played this game in version 1.0 were basically all HARD-MIDCORE....very few casuals played. Also, we've had so little to do for so long that when we did get new content, we'd burn it fast and hard. A normal, healthy MMO community isn't filled with max-level, max-geared characters though. Not everyone can be first....esp. when not everyone puts in the same amount of time.

[Syrokko]

Woah.

Check out this Altena Trife person and his flashy sig and his Eorzea font.
Neat.

Anyhoo, back on topic...
Extreme difficulty is a nice idea. Can't see anything wrong with this.

[Altena]

Woah.

Check out this Altena Trife person and his flashy sig and his Eorzea font.
Neat.

Anyhoo, back on topic...
Extreme difficulty is a nice idea. Can't see anything wrong with this.

Lol... this guy... Where did you crawl from?

[Altena]

Great post.

My favourite line - "The feeling of empowerment is very powerful"

[Tempestmoon]

@OP that is a great idea and I hope they impliment this along with the difficulty slider. To everyone else it really isn't a yes or no question. The slider is there. Put the elite setting on there and it's your choice if you use it or not. Should not be a matter of if you want it or not because obviously there is a demand for both and as long as it's a choice it is a good idea to impliment.

[Orophin]

After reading through some of these posts about progression, I really wish there could be an alternative to better gear as a means of progression. I'm just not creative enough to come up with something.

[Klive]

My main fear is power creep.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_creep

This covers most of my fears

http://www.penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/power-creep