For those of us who didn't play 1.0, our deadline to sub or lose access to the game is coming up in a mere week or so and the question on my mind is:

Are you going to continue playing and why?

The fact that I've managed to get a level 50 already in a mere two weeks after release(early access included), played plenty of end game content thus far, and find myself bored to tears with the everyday grind makes me really wonder if I should sub or not.

Before the white knights flood this thread with their grand standing defense I'd like to point out these facts:
  • End game content isn't challenging.
  • Apparently SE's idea of "Hard mode" is memorizing a pattern.
  • The most challenging thing about the HM fights isn't the fight itself, it's the rage quitters who ditch on first wipe
  • To call Titan HM extremely hard is like saying Bowser from Super Mario world is extremely hard.
  • End game is purely getting a certain set of gear and without it no one will party with you.

A more in depth point is this:

When you enter a HM fight for the first time, of course your going to have no idea what to do. You know how the regular fights work but these guys are a totally different ball game.... Or so SE would like you to think.

What it boils down to is memorizing the pattern and knowing when to-


*ahem* Anyways...

The problem is that most players are unable to learn these patterns because a player rage quits on first wipe expecting them to know the pattern. This is why most players call Titan HM one of the most challenging fights, no one sticks around long enough to allow the new comers to learn Titan's pattern. Hell, most people don't stick around to allow new comers to learn any of the HM fight patterns.

It took me ten garuda fights to finally learn her pattern because our tank would ditch on first wipe every time which lead to me being forced to leave and re-cue which can take HOURS to land a slot if you are a DPS.

If all players know her pattern however, it boils down to gear. This is BAD. Why is it bad you ask? Lets look at it like this, Player A has watched enough Ifirit videos and knows his pattern by heart but his gear is mere AF gear which means his DPS/healing output or tanking ability will suffer greatly.

But how can Player A get said good gear if no one will run to farm tomes with him/her because his/her gear sucks? This is a self-destructive pattern that SE created themselves when they created this end game content. This is why it is bad.

These HM fights only require you to know the pattern and have good enough gear to handle the fight, NO SKILL REQUIRED. A boss battle should be 45% gear, 50% skill, and 5 % luck. Not 95% gear and 5% luck.

I threw luck into the equation because lets face it, who hasn't gotten blasted before and went "I know i dodged that!" and find out it was a lag spike that actually caused them to stand on the server there like an idiot for an extra 2 seconds even though locally they had already moved.

Now to those who wish to call BS on everything I just said I would like to point out that kissing SE's rump will not score you free gear or free game time so don't bother.

For those of you who genuinely think the HM fights are hard then I suggest you check out some videos, learn the patterns, and if you have bad gear, prey to god you got an FC or LS who will run for tomes with you.

What does this have to do with subscribing to said game?

EVERYTHING

Challenging end game content is what keep players like myself who have hit the level cap from growing bored of the game. The game content isn't challenging. PERIOD

So in conclusion,

I'm not sure if I will sub or not, it's really up the air for me at the moment.

So discuss, Why are you subscribing? What in this game makes it worthwhile to pay money?

or

Why are you not subscribing? Is there something that just drives you up the wall? graphics settings too strict for your PC?