FFXIV Can't be More Difficult... Unless? [Dawntrail Media Tour] (2024)

Mr Happy said it best: "We are not the majority". In his video about Yoshi P and the 7.2 job "individuality" quote. The VAST majority of people are playing this game as a Final Fantasy game for the story. That's one of the unique things about it. THIS IS NOT WILDSTAR – STOP TRYING TO MAKE THIS INTO WILDSTAR.

I don't think you're an "elitist prick", but some of what you're suggesting IS elitist.

Any time the word "forced" is used, you're in elitist territory – or tyrant territory – no matter what good you think it would achieve.

The VAST majority of the playerbase just wants to do the MSQ for the story then hang out with people and socialize. That is what FFXIV is. It HAS Savage and Ultimate raids for people that WANT to do them. But the vast majority do not. Why do YOU need them to? "Because they should be better!" WHY? If they aren't raiding, if they aren't engaging with the game at a high level – and NEVER want to do so – why should they? What are they missing out?

People need to understand what THEY find fun not EVERYONE finds fun. Not everyone thinks "Playing my Job to the utmost potential is fun!" Many people think "Playing through a good story for the story is fun!" And this is what you would be robbing from them so that WAR players…<checks notes> …know the difference between Bloodwhetting (which they don't even get until level 82) and Vengeance?

How is that more important than players enjoying a story and a videogame itself for its sake?

WoW figured this out allllll the way back in Vanilla. Give the playerbase Hunter so anyone with working stubs attached and either eyes or ears (not necessarily both) can play successfully.

MSQ is not Ultimate. It is not Savage. It is not Extreme. It is not (Hard).
…and it's not supposed to be.

Raiders need to stop trying to get everyone else to be raiders. Not everyone WANTS to be. And they don't NEED to be. And they certainly don't need to be "forced" into it.

Wildstar died.

Do you want FFXIV to die, too?

Of course, I know the answer to that is no.

So let me propose a different answer: The game should EMPOWER people to succeed. Not force them to. Give people mechanics that show success or failure at them, not punish them nor force them to memorize their Job's Balance page and Discord folder. That show them what things do and how they can use them, not by force but optionally.

Have the game teach people things like weaving and the difference between an oGCD and a GCD – this skill considered essential in high end play IS NOT MENTIONED ANYWHERE IN THE GAME ITSELF.

Reintroduce (Hard) mode OPTIONAL dungeons. Give players difficulties between MSQ/Normal content and Extremes. Give players that WANT harder things to do ways to cap tomes and whatnot doing those things instead (Hard dungeons again might help).

Give the players tools. But if they choose not to use them…let them not use them.

It doesn't hurt you to do so. It doesn't matter if a 4 man Duty takes 15 minutes instead of 12, especially if you're running the "Hard Roulette" instead anyway to cap your tomes.

Accept that not every Job is the same and not every one is for everyone. BLM isn't for everyone. SMN isn't for everyone, either. It's fine for them to both exist because each is for SOMEone. Why does healing need to be "harder"? What even is HARDER in terms of healing? MP demands? Cast times? complex oGCD tooltips? Even that concept isn't clear, and why does it need to even be in the first place?

.

Just let people have fun. What is fun TO THEM, not what you think they SHOULD feel fun. Is there not enough force and suffering in the world that it must also be imposed on people in games that they play because they just want to experience a story? And no, "watch it on YouTube" is NOT experiencing tthe story. It's the difference between going somewhere in person and looking at someone else's vacation photographs. The two are NOT the same, and we all KNOW they are not the same.

And no, the story is not a reward to be held like a carrot in front of someone to force them to run on a treadmill for hours so that you can say "Don't you feel better now you're in shape?"

You're a good person, Cole. I've seen enough of your stuff to think that.

So that is it.

That is the answer.

Reply