Are static groups simply the now accepted reality for endgame progression?

[Andrien]

restricted progression sucks when done in this extreme. i hope they change it because it needs a little more flexibility.

[Aegis]

I can't tell... is OP really imputing that running statics for content is in some way new? Statics were de rigeur all the way back in EQ. In ffxi statics were the best way to level and people frequently did endgame events with the same people every time.

hell, with sky/sea you had no personal progress. One or two designated people would hold the keys for the next tier of content.

join an ls that's looking for members for a static group. Adhere to their schedule. ???. profit

[LunarEmerald]

Coil is impossible with pug. The level of coordination makes it not possible.

The content is beyond Duty Finder where it's luck of a draw if you get competent teammates.

[Bizniztyme]

Currently what I'm seeing in my current community is the officers are full darklight / titan weapons, while the other lv50 members are struggling to get any darklight and some are having trouble with garuda, but because of them not being in the little click of 8 people within the guild, the higher geared members are not helping them at all.

This current system is toxic to a community style of play and only allows people to pick 7 friends to play with threw all of endgame, why even have a guild system in-game if you only design content for 8 people. (Square raise the text cap srsly.)

This is nothing new, this happens in every single MMORPG, no matter what you do, there will always be clicks.

[Bluefox]

This is nothing new, this happens in every single MMORPG, no matter what you do, there will always be clicks.

While this is true, clicks are always a thing. What isnt helping is that the endgame supports this, over allowing the players to form a community to help each other.

[Xatsh]

This is nothing new, this happens in every single MMORPG, no matter what you do, there will always be clicks.

You are right they exist in every game, but a good guild should be able to remove them. That would be the hallmark of a good guild. A guild should not be A group, B group, C group. OR Raid Group and rest of people who are not good enough. A guild with its officers decked out in BIS gear or a world first means honestly nothing in terms of overall guild progression and skill... it is how good the guild is as a whole.

XIV is forcing this bad mentality on people, which needs to stop. It shouldn't have to be a choice between good progression or guild involvement. It MUST BE BOTH... not even a should it must be for guilds to exist and thrive. I should be able to incorporate all 45 people in my guild into an event in some way. Not force 8man statics which butcher scheduling if 1 person has a RL commitment that day.

[Rivienne]

Coil is impossible with pug. The level of coordination makes it not possible.

The content is beyond Duty Finder where it's luck of a draw if you get competent teammates.

First off, the op never said anything about PUGS. The point was being stuck with the same 8 forever, and thus destroying the larger community.

Second, people say coordination isn't possible with PUGS all the time.. But I have been with perfectly organized PUGS, where nobody knew each other, but they all knew what they were doing and took the time to make sure everybody was on the same page. In fact, I find this to be true at least half of the time. So.. As I have found I enjoy the randomness of it all, I disagree.

In fact, I think it is perfectly possible to get thrown together with a good group, run with them for a week, then disband. And isn't this where the new party finder feature is supposed to come in? To allow this very thing? Ultimately it will still be a random pickup group, just a self-formed one from the same world. I love the idea. And hey, maybe if you really liked them you can join up with the same group again later, maybe you never do. That is the point here. If you get stuck with the same group forever, you get locked out of meeting new people, and the overall community of the game. And if you don't care about community, why bother with a social game at all? Anyway just my opinion. Take it as you will.

[The-Alchemist]

I don't mind the fact that it requires guilds to beat end game content. That is fine the problem is with how the guilds are rolling now. They run less than 30 members it seems and created this elite end game that is very hard to catch up with unless you have a guild.

[charlemagne]

Forgive me if I'm misunderstanding this as I've yet to start the coil. It seems to me though that you're limited in your group choice for a week at a time.
I think it's unfortunate and I'd rather players could join a group up to the highest level they have personally reached but I'm not convinced that it's a huge problem.
The static group you put together in your FC need not be the same static group every week if progress is reset. I think it's perhaps more of an issue now than it will be when we have more content to keep us busy, but it does seem a mystifying decision to impede progress in such an artificial way.

[Yoko_Kurama]

I think a lot of people reading your post don't exactly get what you mean, based on many responses it seems they are assuming you want end game content to be easy enough for random duty finder to work. What you are talking about is old school mmo end game playing where you build an elite guild of like 100 players, which forms about 12 good parties and you easily can interchange core guildies with newer guildies in end game dungeons so that at the same time (roughly) everyone in your guild is completing the content together even when split into smaller parties. Heck games of the past you could just have your whole guild run into the dungeon at the same time and once inside the dungeon then form your parties out of the guildies that are there. With the way todays end game is you are saying that this style is not viable correct? In that way yeah we are probably living in the past and i feel you brother

*edit*
In other words a true end game guild in the past would have been when you had over 100 people who were all geared and experienced at the same time rather than todays end game guilds which can have 100 people but only 8-10 people who actually know what they are doing.