dev1031 You are losing your main playerbase by making things too easy/fast/casual

[Visch]

Like I said before, it seems like the main criticism from self-identified "hardcore" players is that combat is easy. Too easy.

I agree with that.

What I don't agree with is blaming the ease of combat on SE appealing to "casual" players. It's scapegoating. The fact that combat right now is stupid easy is not to appeal to casuals. It's simply because combat is just frelled right now. The development team is working on it.

If they succeed, only time will tell.

Combat is only part of the problem. I just watched a LS wipe to Uraeus so obviously it's still hard for some people.

Honestly there shouldn't be this division between "hardcore" "casual" w/e... There should be content no matter how much time you have to play. The problem is everything thing is easy right now. From leveling to killing NMs. Nothing requires much of any thought at all, just time but far less time than FFXI.

[Verecund]

IMO Time spent is a measurement of dedication, rather than a measurement of difficulty or skill.

[Arcell]

IMO Time spent is a measurement of dedication, rather than a measurement of difficulty or skill.

Time spent subscribed or playing as a whole maybe, but not time spent waiting for a single NM pop. That just means you've got more time to sit around doing nothing. I'm sure I'm not the only one going to college and working, on most week nights I've only got 4 hours at the most to play. I'd rather not spend 3 of those waiting around for an NM pop only to either not get the drop or not get the claim.

I'm fine with NM spawns that are a bit longer, but not this once a day 3 hr window crap.

[Mack]

Time spent subscribed or playing as a whole maybe, but not time spent waiting for a single NM pop. That just means you've got more time to sit around doing nothing. I'm sure I'm not the only one going to college and working, on most week nights I've only got 4 hours at the most to play. I'd rather not spend 3 of those waiting around for an NM pop only to either not get the drop or not get the claim.

I'm fine with NM spawns that are a bit longer, but not this once a day 3 hr window crap.

So camp the NMs that have a 3-5 minute spawn window and let the people who have more time on their hands camp the other NMs, or is there no compromise?

[Dragonheart]

The problem (imho) is that for people here Pop Time and low drop rate = hardcore .. imho is totaly wrong .. We need some diffuculty raid content that people/ls can do very hardly with good drops .. Example? WoW had normal and hardmode of the same istance/raid .. So casual and medium people do the normal mode and gets normal drop (and even some normal mode were a bit hard, in particular at their release) .. And hardcore ppl was doing hardmodes that were veeryy veryy harder and of course with superior drops .. (Some first kill required months of wipes.. and you know how many ppl plays wow no? ) .. Sorry for the WoW example, but it was just to explain my opinion.. I prefer to PLAY and do very hard encounters and maybe wiping, rather then watching the monitor for a 3H windows while doing nothing and maybe killing a monster like fafnir by standing on his foot to spamm SC+MB without 0 strategy for several minutes.. It's not fun for me (and prolly without drop at the end..) /cheers!

[Xenor]

I think there should be some balance. I really hate this new 8 player max party thing. I like raiding with my LS not sitting watching because the party is full. This new max just means more people have to sit and watch. Is it really that hard to design challenging content for 15 people? They managed it for 18 in XI and they managed it with 64 in XI when Dynamis was new. I hope in the future they add an alliance option and allow 16 or 24 to group up for certain content.

[Zenaku]

End this topic it's pointless casual and hardcore have noting to say there doing it anyways.

Everyone can rest assured that the raid dungeons and content that we're planning to implement in the future will feature not only tough battles, but also challenging and exhilarating bosses. The nitty-gritty details are tied into the future rollout of Grand Companies which we'll be announcing the juicy particulars of at a later date. I hope you're all looking forward to it with bated breath!

now enough with all the dumb topics about casual vs hardcore

[Seif]

There just isn't big goals to work towards. No need to farm for items to craft gear tailored to get through a specific boss fight. No Lu'Shang rods to dream of and basically nothing that makes me plan ahead.

[Shiyo]

[Removed by Moderator according to the FINAL FANTASY XIV FORUM Guidelines.] There is no "opinion" about FFXI being harder than this games, its a FACT. [Removed by Moderator according to the FINAL FANTASY XIV FORUM Guidelines.]

To the guy talking about how FFXI is now, yeah, I know, it's why I was going to play it a month ago, read/heard about how it was, and quit instantly. Horrible game now, easiest most casual friendly MMO on the market ;_;.

@Argh, I loved your post about a time sink through a place avoiding aggro, I miss stuff like that. Hopefully this game gets harder so we get to experience going through hard zones avoiding aggro and stuff, and they remove anima so we can't instantly port everyone >_<.

[Abriael]

I have played the game in years so i would not know if this is true or not. I think you are being sarcastic, though.

No, actually he's not.

But you also have to understand that ffxi is at the end of its life cycle so that usually means that content becomes easier so newer characters can catch up to veterans quickly so they wont be alone in the world.

That's not the problem. The problem is simply that the market has evolved and isn't the market that we had 8 years ago.
Endless timesinks and grinding simply don't fit a successful game in today's market. SE had to drastically reduce them in order to slow down the player bleeding from the game towards games in which time is spent more actively.

[Removed by Moderator according to the FINAL FANTASY XIV FORUM Guidelines.] There is no "opinion" about FFXI being harder than this games, its a FACT.

Again, taking a line completely out of context is a rather weak argument. You may want to actually read a discussion before butting in. We were quite obviously talking about *tanking grind mobs*, which is a rather *specific* topic.

[Removed by Moderator according to the FINAL FANTASY XIV FORUM Guidelines.]

Ahem, who are you again?

I'm very, very interested in seeing you quote examples of when I "stalked" you (quite unlikely, considering that I have no idea of who you are), or even more "insulted" you. Please, do show.
Mind you, disagreeing with you (if I ever did, because again, you don't really ring a bell) doesn't equate to insulting you.