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

[Kinseykinz]

The key word here is optional guys - people are always so quick to jump in and nay-say because they feel that the particular thing being discussed doesn't sound as though something they would enjoy.

Something optional and as simple as this would only require a bump in the mobs level/speed so it wouldn't waste any of Yoshi and his teams time so there isn't really any reason to say no to something like this.

Yes, it is 'Optional' but the reality is, that that optional content will end up tearing the community further apart and causing undo headaches...because 'if you were a real player you'd have beat that battle on EXTREEEME' will be the epeen sentence people hear all the time. At the end of the day, we will as a community consider the battle to be 'the Extreme' version, not the 'Normal'. But, unless you have a dedicated static/group you do everything with AND play together often (like 4-5+nights a week), you stand little chance of being able to clear this, regardless of your actual skill.

Besides, this is an MMO...overtime battles that once were "epic/hardmode/dude I can't believe we beat him", get easier. This happens either because level cap is raised, players get better gears/abilities/exploits are found/many in the community have clear and are now able to focus on getting 1 person at a time their clear/ or the developers gradually ease the battle as the release newer content. It is far smarter overall to allow the community to ALL beat the same version of a battle for the same quest, than tier content.

For example: Lets remember version 1.0's Ifrit Battle(s) as they were semi-ish tiered.

Ifrit level 25 and Ifrit 'Normal' were both released in the same patch. At the time they were released, we were still in the middle of the 'battle system reforms' and did not have jobs. Even then, Ifrit level 25 was so very easy that very few of us even talk about it. Heck, it is possible to kill him before the person who started the quest can finish watching the CS's.

But the 'Normal' Iffy battle back then, was a decent challenge. MP conservation was an issue, Survival was hard without Sentinel it required some actual player skill, luck with lag and teamwork. But, as the game evolved, with us getting the more refined battle system, jobs, better gears etc. Ifrit 'Normal' became fairly easy for many in the community.

Now that we actually had a battle system and jobs, SE could introduce the Iffy battle they originally intended for us to have..."Iffy Extreme" (due to the lack of jobs, and battle system this would have been an impossible battle back at Ifrit's original patch release) Very few have cleared him at this point or have even gained access, but we ALL talk about it. And now, 'Ifrit Hardmode is now considered the battle you need to clear to be 'Elite'.

Sliders were never needed to allow the community to clear Ifrit though. Overtime and though in game changes, we all get better at the content in the game. Someday, Iffy Hardmode will be considered 'fairly easy' to the community just like 'Normal' mode seems now. (unless SE keeps updating him of course).

Besides, 'hardmode' sliders are really just a cheap way of re-using existing content over and over. "Hey guys we just beat Iffy Easy-mode. Lets try Normal...cool beat that, lets try Hard...beat that....lets do extreeme..." Instead of 'Woot we beat Ifrit! Lets go work on clearing Garuda!'