They made quest battles too easy.

[Riposte]

I'm carrying this sentiment over from the beta forums since it is a big deal for me and, judging from the posts there, a lot of other people.

The biggest reason I want to play FFXIV after aesthetics is challenging, well-designed episodic story content. Yes, that is more important to me than end-game (please don't tell me to "wait for endgame", not only does that not answer my concerns in this case, that is the oldest line in the book for new MMOs and it never works). Endgame is more of a grind (softened through community relationships) that just holds me over until the next patch of new episodic content. I can explain it like a series of main scenario quests being a true (co-op) Final Fantasy game in itself (except way more fun and rewarding at times, see: FFXI's Chains of Promathia), packaged as a traditional videogame within a bigger whole. The MMO-ness outside of that is the lesser part, mainly meant to keep me playing, which I'll do if it means more of that well-designed core.

Though I have my problems with the combat system (both in attribute mechanics and how it feels), I was 100% on board with this game with phase 3. It was beautiful and it had challenging, level-capped quests. To be honest, I was ecstatic and felt respect towards developers willing to make their battle system (i.e their game) matter as early as level 15. It made me think they actually cared about the game being more than a skinner's box.

Then the developers immediately backpedaled and turned the quest battles into absolute jokes, worst than what I'm used to in most games on "very easy" difficulties. This is the result of adding not one or two or even three changes, but several, including a meaty nerf to enemies that makes some battles play themselves thanks to NPCs. No longer do they even teach you how to play your class role (a genius aspect), because they've become brainless fluff. I'm well aware there was some backlash, but there is always going to be some backlash and immediately discarding your vision to appease people who may not actually understand what you are trying to do just makes for a more boring game. This is exactly what happened with FFXIV. The game is now less fun and I no longer give that recognition to the devs. I'm pretty pessimistic about future content, as they've been shown to care more about quieting voices than having their own as game designers. They made some good changes on helping people understand these quests more (along with some balance ones, like antidote changes), but they also completely and utterly stripped them of their interesting qualities.

I've said enough for now. Do you agree or disagree? I hope the devs see this, as it will likely decide for how long I'll play this game. (Like I said, end-game just holds me over for the main scenario and major side quests.)

EDIT: Well, I'll add what I think is the most simplistic fix, just so people understand my position:

Keep the changes like quest hints, antidote/poison, etc.
Turn it back to how difficult it was for Phase 3.
Have the easy mode enchantment only appear after a few deaths. Make it optional.
Give bonus EXP to those who complete the quest without it.
(A little more difficult) Give Thaumaturge's Scathe some healing utility. Like a drain spell. (TBH, Scathe is kind of boring/unnecessary with there being no elemental weaknesses to make fire ever disadvantageous and fire/ice/thunder already being their main spells.)