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

[DwightParkman]

this game has a very popular problem about how hard-to-get stuff ending up being weaker then the easier things to get in this game.

i almost lost all confidence in respect for this game when i witness how pathetically easy and fast it takes to get your level 45 artifact armor. my friend managed to get almost all the peices within 20 mins of reaching level 45?? are you kidding? that gear is supposed to be sacred..?

[Alkimi]

this game has a very popular problem about how hard-to-get stuff ending up being weaker then the easier things to get in this game.

i almost lost all confidence in respect for this game when i witness how pathetically easy and fast it takes to get your level 45 artifact armor. my friend managed to get almost all the peices within 20 mins of reaching level 45?? are you kidding? that gear is supposed to be sacred..?

AF is just starter gear for lv50 and should be easy to get. It's not sacred at all. If you run AK with any regularity once you hit 50 it'll be replaced in no time.

[DwightParkman]

AF is just starter gear for lv50 and should be easy to get. It's not sacred at all. If you run AK with any regularity once you hit 50 it'll be replaced in no time.

what you said is EXACTLY why i have a problem with this game.

Really good gear should never be completely accessible to achieve. Because now all the gear that 'isnt' really good or as good as it, now becomes wasted content and completely over looked. Since the level 45 artifact gear is the obvious best thing to wear at that point, it completely makes gear crafting utterly pointless! if that isnt bad game design, then i dont know what is.

[Bouteiller]

Most of the people crying, haven't done all the content. Honestly, unless you have done everything and still think it's too easy then shut up. I'm just about the "start the game" by doing Ultima Weapon on my paladin, so I don't know enough about the end game to comment. But there seems to be a lot that people haven't done it, and yet still seem to be experts on it. Odd.

[DwightParkman]

ITT: People who insult people who want challenging and more harder game play are just bad at video games and don't have the capacity to try, let alone have the actual mentality of a gamer. These people are lazy, and are called non-gamers or casuals. a real gamer has the mindset that games will test them and challenge their mettle. and if they fail, they take it as a learning lesson and try to become better at it. I just so happen to have a very well structured life, but that doesn't instantly suggest i want my video games to be casual. i want them to be hard.

Just because you suck at it, doesnt mean everyone else sucks at it. Get better at playing the game. Don't ruin the fun for everyone else because you are terribad.

[darknetwork]

i wish they do something with lv 50 crafted gear. so DoH and DoL can enjoy endgame content too

[Swishytail]

I quit WoW for a reason. Handouts and insanely easy content are so boring.

/YAWN!

I much prefer the "Holy hell, we did it!" rather than "k lez queue again..."
I understand that content will get this way eventually, as people get gear
and what-not... but please don't make it like that right off the bat.

The day the devs start swinging the nerf bat at this game like it's a damn
pinata is the day I quit. So far they seem to be holding strong, which is
awesome.

[Blaste]

The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, which is the case here, SE wants to attract gamers from other MMO's and to do that they need to make this game casual friendly, its nothing about being loyalist its all about the numbers, they need to maintain a certain degree of subscriptions and to do that they need to sell this game as a casual MMO, sucks for the players who were part of 1.0 craze, but unfortunately you have to suck it up buttercup and be thankful you get to play a FF game.....errr...an updated one I mean.

[Jynxii]

SE wants to attract gamers from other MMO's and to do that they need to make this game casual friendly, its nothing about being loyalist its all about the numbers

So what happens when the 'hardk0re' players leave because it isn't challenging, and the 'casual' players leave because 'they've done everything' and now find the game boring?

Your logic is great, but anything that involves humans is fragile and full of variables. My 'example' is clearly a doomsayer, worse case scenario, but it is still a possible scenario. As an example, the pay to play versus free to play argument has many human facets. To cut a long story short, people feel more compelled to play, or continue playing a game if they are paying a monthly subscription, to get 'their value'. On the flip side, people can be offended and boycot the product with such practices.

It isn't about the company being loyal to it's subscribers (although it probably helps), but players need to form some kind of investment into something to continue using it. Do you honestly think every single player still playing World of Warcraft is doing it because they are thoroughly thrilled and moved by all the content? From my own circle of friends, I have those that still play the game even though they are bored with the content and 'over it'. It sounds silly if you look at it rationally, but humans aren't rational. They've invested up to 10 years of their life into this game, and just 'throwing that away' is a massive deal, because it is like a part of their identity. This in turn keeps them subscribed.

People and their irrational emotions are a major factor in the MMO scene, and companies hire psychologist specifically to hit these and get players deeply rooted into their games (or other products). A false sense of achievement is another great one that keeps people hooked.

[Frothylager]

So what happens when the 'hardk0re' players leave because it isn't challenging, and the 'casual' players leave because 'they've done everything' and now find the game boring?

This is exactly what bliz did with wow, they looked at the hardcore players and said we can't keep up with the pace that this 10% of the player base clears content at, no matter how hard it is. What ends up happening is large corporations say fuck that small percentage 24/7 players and gear the game towards casual players, who even though the content is far easier, still clear it at a much slower pace.

Long story short, hardcore players are their own worst enemies in making games "too easy". Simple solution, stop playing so damn much and take up some other interests.