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

[NoctisCaelus]

People say it's too easy, people say it's too hard, then they make threads about it.

[jk315904]

People say it's too easy, people say it's too hard, then they make threads about it.

The sad truth is the same people who cry to make the game harder, when given what they want, they come back two months later and complain it's now too hard.

[Sil3ntxR3qui3m]

The sad truth is the same people who cry to make the game harder, when given what they want, they come back two months later and complain it's now too hard.

This, so so much. Come Phase 3 beta, the game was too hard. People demanded they lower the difficulty, and they did.

[HOLY_S-HIT]

The sad truth is the same people who cry to make the game harder, when given what they want, they come back two months later and complain it's now too hard.

Exactly, SE shouldn't make things easier or harder. Just add NEW harder content to maintain the armony on end-game progress.

[Felis]

Yoshida already said once, that current hardcore events get easier after enough new hardcore events are out. Give hardcore players always something new and let the casual players enjoy the old.

[Yshnal]

I would like to see what would happen if they made fights be like the ones with Ruby Weapon, Omega Weapon, or Yiazmat. The amount of complaints after wiping 50 times (with no reward) would be epic.

No, there needs to be a balance and, from what I've seen and what I'm being told, I think that the game is fine as it is right now. Also, I agree with the fact that nerfing prior content a bit when a new tier is introduced is good, as it helps the rest of the playerbase to see said content (they pay too) and catch up.

[Mithent]

In many cases it's not so much skill (once you're at a reasonable level) as it is time, which makes it difficult to please everyone.

Okay, you need to be able to understand and follow tactics, and know how to play your class. If you stand in pools of poisonous green goo and ignore the adds, you're not going to get very far. Equally, if your DPS rotation consists of spamming the first skill you learn, you tank exactly one enemy at a time and you heal as a BLM casting Physick then you're going to have a bad time. Barring that, once someone somewhere has worked out a decent strategy and your gear is acceptable, your success depends largely upon whether you can execute that strategy without making too many mistakes. That might require a fair bit of practice, of course, but you should get there eventually.

There's always going to be a limited amount of content, and the rate at which it's created is never going to come close to the rate at which it's consumed. And so gear starts becoming a limiting factor. Sometimes a hard one, because you'll inevitably fail a DPS check, sometimes a soft one, because as your gear improves, so does your effectiveness, so battles become more forgiving of the occasional mistake.

Practice is time and getting gear (through repeated dungeon runs) is time. "Hardcore" generally means "I am willing to dedicate a lot of time to this game in order to get to the top". If there's an ultra mega weapon that you can only get if you run through some particular dungeon 200 times, there are people who will run that particular dungeon 200 times as fast as they possibly can. They might complain about it a bit, but they will knuckle down and do it, and some will get there within a few days. If the next dungeon pretty much requires you to have that ultra mega weapon, you're gating that content to only allow people through who are going to spend many hours running through the previous one. And the next dungeon probably does need to require the ultra mega weapon, or there's not going to be much point in getting it, given that it doesn't set your achievement in getting it apart from people who ran that dungeon once and then carried on to the next one. Making that later content feel exclusive gives you a reward for all that effort. And the designers really need to try to hold these people back a bit by gating content to stop them burning to the end too quickly, at which point there's nothing for them to do, and they might get bored and unsubscribe.

But then there are people who might like the game a lot and are pretty competent at playing it, but only have time for a couple of dungeon runs a day. Maybe they have other commitments, maybe it's just one of several things they're enjoying right now etc. But they enjoy playing new content and learning new strategies just as much as anyone else. It just takes them longer, as they have fewer hours a day to dedicate to doing so. They get up to the point at which they pretty much have to run that same dungeon 200 times to continue, and, ouch. Sure, they'd like to see what's on the other side. But facing weeks upon weeks of repeating that same dungeon without moving on? They're probably not in a raiding FC that's going to guarantee a good group in return for 3-4+ evenings a week's commitment, either, so even if they have the tactics down, they might be regularly DF'ing with those who are still learning, further slowing down their progress. They could just try to bypass it and move on, but the later dungeon is just too hard without better gear. What can they do? Faced with never really progressing for the foreseeable future, they may give up and unsubscribe.

SE's answer seems to be to relax the requirements as time goes on, which makes sense. But it's certainly a difficult balance to reach: stop people who have large amounts of time running out of content too quickly, while stopping people who don't have as much time from hitting some near-insurmountable wall. I don't think anyone sensible wants high-level gear to be handed out for nothing, because then everyone is sitting at the top waiting for something new, and there's no sense of accomplishment in obtaining something that you haven't worked for. But the amount of time that different people are willing to put towards getting there is very variable, and everyone wants (and, in many ways, deserves) to feel some progression in the amount of time they have.

[Bahram]

If you haven't cleared the content then you aren't equipped to make that judgement.

I personally think the difficulty is fine. I am on AK/Ifrit and eventually Garuda here soon. Nothing has been super tricky, but I don't think it needs to be. This is raiding 101 and is clearly preparing you for Bahamut's Coil. If it's too easy, then clear it and move on to something that isn't too easy. The current MMO generation likes to bluster about how skilled they are, but they are not nearly as good as they think they are. Fun times seeing the other tank in my Ifrit act like he's hardcore 1337 and then cry like a baby because he doesn't understand that silence doesn't share DR with stuns.

Also, gear shouldn't be your indicator of skill. Your ability should be evident to those that play with you. Gear is just a tool to get from point A to point B. If you are looking at it like a status symbol, you are doing it wrong.

[Malamasala]

Things don't need to be hard or easy, but it would be nice if things were more equal.

A typical situation is boss fights which have gimmicks for the players, but that isn't covering pets, making SCH much harder than WHM to play. This is by no means a design for "hardmode SCH" but rather an oversight that they need to let pets be immune to certain things (or at minimum get the same effects a player gets).

[Shiyo]

Things don't need to be hard or easy, but it would be nice if things were more equal.

A typical situation is boss fights which have gimmicks for the players, but that isn't covering pets, making SCH much harder than WHM to play. This is by no means a design for "hardmode SCH" but rather an oversight that they need to let pets be immune to certain things (or at minimum get the same effects a player gets).

SCH +WHM is the best combination for every 8 man raid right now and SCH can mainheal any 4 man just as well as a WHM. If your pet is dying or you're having problems healing on a SCH it's a personal problem, not a game problem. SCH is INTENDED to be much more difficult than WHM to play and a more challenging healer.

LMAO, because people with real-lives can devote 3-4 hours uninterrupted to play a video game.

Really? 3-4 hours is too much for you? What are you working 10 jobs? Learn to manage tour time, or perhaps play a video game/video game genre that isn't well known for taking lots of time to get things done.

I know many many MANY people who work fulltime and have a family to take care of that can devote at least 5 hours twice a week to play a video game. sounds like you don't know what you're talking about.

Also, casual does not mean "bad player" and hardcore does not mean "pro player", I know many casual players who don't want easy, they want to be challenged and feel like they accomplished something. Casual means less time to play, hardcore means more time to play, right now you can play for 2 hours per day and get a relic done in a reasonable amount of time if you have skill or the motivation to learn. I know many players who play 24/7 and are hardcore who are HORRIBLE at the game, and casual players who don't play often and are amazing at their job(s).

Want to get your loot? Get better, don't ask for it to be nerfed because "b-b-b-b-ut I can't play 24/7 so I can't get this even though the fight only takes 1-2 hours at most!" There is nothing stopping you from getting all the gear in the game currently, it takes 8 runs of AK per week to cap out af+2, you can slowly work on a relic, and the only thing stopping you is a CHALLENGE, not 5 hour dungeons, not 10 hours of grinding, simply a challenge.

That doesn't mean casuals can't get it, it just means people can play the "but I'm a casual so this is too grindy for me and takes too long!" card, when in fact it's lack of skill holding them back, and not time.

Conclusion: Stop sucking and saying things need nerfed when you lack the skill. Get better.