Dear Square Enix! Make the game harder, not easier!

[Takeshi_Eiketsu]

Greetings,

I’m happy to see that you adventurers are up for a good challenge and ready to get down and dirty with some difficult content!

Of course in addition to supplementing the end-game with extreme battles and other challenging content, we will also reduce the difficulty of the existing high level content at the same time, as Yoshida has mentioned in previously during Letter from the Producer LIVE.

We're always reading and reporting your feedback, but please understand that when we introduce new content and supplement higher-level events, it allows us to ease up on earlier content. (Of course there will be things added in patch 2.1 that isn't focused on end-game.)

We’ll be announcing details about the specific content to be released in the near future, but I wanted to just remind you about the general plan.

You guys are amazing! I love how you make content more accessible for those that can't play it yet! Keep up the good work!!!

[Klutz64]

I don't know, I personally don't like the idea of nerfing older content for more accessibility. Just because I play through the game slower than others doesn't mean I don't want to experience the same level of challenge when I get to that content.

[Hawklaser]

I don't know, I personally don't like the idea of nerfing older content for more accessibility. Just because I play through the game slower than others doesn't mean I don't want to experience the same level of challenge when I get to that content.

I don't want to see content nerfed just for the fact of making it easier for everyone. Some fights however may currently be over tuned, as I remember SE saying when they tested and tuned fights for XI if they thought PLD should have Aegis for the fight, they tested with the whole group having Relic items and other bleeding edge gear for the content. This kind of tuning often is based around the highest common denominator, and it is entirely possible to forget some of the gear used to test it may not be obtainable until after that fight, or that people do not have the mechanics of the fight handed to them on a silver platter. Just a couple of examples of this from XI are Absolute Virtue and Pandemonium Warden.

[Morg]

If for some reason I can't beat turn 5 before it's nerfed, it's going to feel really horrible. I know my group feels the same way. Each week the fight naturally becomes easier as you collect more raid loot and mythology. Additional content that drops relevant gear might also meet the same ends.

[Mordicai]

Luckily for everyone, companies only make games for the sense of accomplishment and to cater to only one sub-set of fans.......

If difficulty of content becomes a issue that costs SE subs, you better believe that the nerf hammer will come out. People wanting to strut their cool guy HM endgame elite club stuff means nothing to them, you are the minority and in a sub based game the math favors the casuals.

[MrSmiley]

Luckily for everyone, companies only make games for the sense of accomplishment and to cater to only one sub-set of fans.......

If difficulty of content becomes a issue that costs SE subs, you better believe that the nerf hammer will come out. People wanting to strut their cool guy HM endgame elite club stuff means nothing to them, you are the minority and in a sub based game the math favors the casuals.

The only successful sub "casual" mmo I can think of is WoW, and when it officially started its big turn into "casual" in wotlk was when it began its decline and has been in such ever since.

You want people to want to keep their sub and be playing every month, not sub a month every few months to try out the new stuff. A look at recent mmo's success or failure as well as WoW's sub history only proves this. If players don't feel the need for a long term investment in the game, they won't stay constantly subbed. Name me all the successful pay to play mmos you can think of that are casual, excluding wow (which I also addressed above, was at its peaks before it was over-casualized has declined ever since).

I will agree accessibility is important and bars should never be set too high or it will be forever niche, but over-doing the opposite side will result in a similar fall albeit in a slightly different way.

[LiadansWhisper]

The only successful sub "casual" mmo I can think of is WoW, and when it officially started its big turn into "casual" in wotlk was when it began its decline and has been in such ever since.

You want people to want to keep their sub and be playing every month, not sub a month every few months to try out the new stuff. A look at recent mmo's success or failure as well as WoW's sub history only proves this. If players don't feel the need for a long term investment in the game, they won't stay constantly subbed. Name me all the successful pay to play mmos you can think of that are casual, excluding wow (which I also addressed above, was at its peaks before it was over-casualized has declined ever since).

I will agree accessibility is important and bars should never be set too high or it will be forever niche, but over-doing the opposite side will result in a similar fall albeit in a slightly different way.

It actually had its sub peak in WotLK (which happens to be the most casual-friendly and accessible expansion they released). :-\ The subs didn't start to decline until the end (when ICC was out for a freaking year), and dropped even further when they tried to "go back to the good old days" with more punishing 5 man content. But revisionist history...