It seems that Reddit and some influencers have asked posters to make new threads on the forums to "get the developers' attention", so I will do the same.
Across English and Japanese threads, there has been a main point of criticism regarding hitboxes in the first boss of Strayborough Deadwalk and the M2 raid. In particular, the "bullet hell"-style mechanic whereby particles fill the stage in a random pattern and players must dodge. Because it is random, they are not telegraphed and your "snapshot" area is invisible; and because they are numerous and fast, they cannot be easily dodged. This results in a greatly increased chance of being "clipped" by the "snapshot" from the particle than when we last saw this mechanic in the Nier raids. This is likely the reason why people are saying raids are "too difficult".
We have seen many other examples of "snapshotting" having a negative effect when a new mechanic is designed without mitigating it. See the Fall Guys thread for all the funny gifs of people missing yet being hit. "Clipping" does exist, and you would otherwise agree if this weren't July 2024.
Many people have lauded the new raids for "increasing the difficulty", but Square Enix has not improved the engine to accommodate. I am asking Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd. to budget more staff to improve the netcode or reprogram hit detection accordingly. Specifically, you should not have to move out of a mechanic more than one second before it "snapshots". When you have 20 particles on the stage in a random pattern, the time it currently takes to avoid the "snapshot" is far too long. This was not as noticeable in Endwalker because content was easier and didn't have "bullet hell". I am not saying the mechanic needs to be removed, but either hit boxes or netcode needs to be fixed. The quickest fix would be to simply shrink the hit boxes of the particles. The best fix would be to see what the community has done to mitigate "clipping" and integrate that as an official patch.
Note regarding ping: The lowest-ping players in the world (JP) are having the same issues:
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/505795
Note regarding "skill issue": a video game requires two things: a controller and video output. The controls are supposed to match the video output. This is called responsiveness. If the video is not responsive to the controls, then it has failed to perform its duty as a video game. Countless video games have been criticized for this issue over the past 40 years. Final Fantasy XIV is not a magical exception to game design. Yes, you can use "skill" (wasting time) to beat a bad game, but it is still a bad game. There is no excuse for a game which cannot match controls to video output.
Continue reading...
Across English and Japanese threads, there has been a main point of criticism regarding hitboxes in the first boss of Strayborough Deadwalk and the M2 raid. In particular, the "bullet hell"-style mechanic whereby particles fill the stage in a random pattern and players must dodge. Because it is random, they are not telegraphed and your "snapshot" area is invisible; and because they are numerous and fast, they cannot be easily dodged. This results in a greatly increased chance of being "clipped" by the "snapshot" from the particle than when we last saw this mechanic in the Nier raids. This is likely the reason why people are saying raids are "too difficult".
We have seen many other examples of "snapshotting" having a negative effect when a new mechanic is designed without mitigating it. See the Fall Guys thread for all the funny gifs of people missing yet being hit. "Clipping" does exist, and you would otherwise agree if this weren't July 2024.
Many people have lauded the new raids for "increasing the difficulty", but Square Enix has not improved the engine to accommodate. I am asking Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd. to budget more staff to improve the netcode or reprogram hit detection accordingly. Specifically, you should not have to move out of a mechanic more than one second before it "snapshots". When you have 20 particles on the stage in a random pattern, the time it currently takes to avoid the "snapshot" is far too long. This was not as noticeable in Endwalker because content was easier and didn't have "bullet hell". I am not saying the mechanic needs to be removed, but either hit boxes or netcode needs to be fixed. The quickest fix would be to simply shrink the hit boxes of the particles. The best fix would be to see what the community has done to mitigate "clipping" and integrate that as an official patch.
Note regarding ping: The lowest-ping players in the world (JP) are having the same issues:
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/505795
Note regarding "skill issue": a video game requires two things: a controller and video output. The controls are supposed to match the video output. This is called responsiveness. If the video is not responsive to the controls, then it has failed to perform its duty as a video game. Countless video games have been criticized for this issue over the past 40 years. Final Fantasy XIV is not a magical exception to game design. Yes, you can use "skill" (wasting time) to beat a bad game, but it is still a bad game. There is no excuse for a game which cannot match controls to video output.
Continue reading...