It really is all a matter of perspective. I'll be the first to admit, in some of my darker moments recently I allowed myself to react emotionally without really thinking. In knowing my own situation I realize that a lot of negativity comes from people who are suffering legitimate pain and stress in real life, and if they are like me FFXIV has been an island of happiness for many years now. It occurred to me that just an overall negative reception of an expansion, or not clicking with the story or finding it on the same level, can destabilize the entire balance of hope/anticipation/faith that carries that relationship forward. People don't want to lose the things (or people) they love. So, they can react as if it is being threatened even if they don't realize that is what they are doing.
All that said, it is best to heed the immortal words of Bill Murray in Groundhog Day and "don't drive angry" when it comes to making constructive criticism posts. At least if it is to be constructive.
So to the point of the thread. I was not really giving Dawntrail dungeons a fair chance befor jumping on the "too difficult" bandwagon. That is not to say there aren't opportunities to add difficulty options to the Duty Support NPCs because I feel that is absolutely a route SE could take to alleviate legitimate issues deriving from physical or bandwidth limitations. However I do think a lot of the perception of overly difficult mechanics comes from a combination of negative apprehensions or avoidance of figuring things out, talking about it, looking up guides etc., likely from this fundamentally destabilizing DOUBT about DT in general (which HAS been improving in 7.1+ imo).
Take Maulskull, the last boss in Skydeep Cenote for example.
Many people were complaining about how difficult this was, and I myself was dying repeatedly and not understanding why. So what I did was try it with the NPC's. When I kept getting nailed by the knockback phase where he cleaves one half of the room then the other, even though I KNEW I was on the right side, I looked up a video. This didn't seem to show what it was I was doing wrong. Then I just happened to realize I was standing too close to the knockback circle to where my character was actually INSIDE it, which was 1-shotting me! After making that one small correction to stand OUTSIDE the circle (which the video I looked up didn't mention, the mechanics are actually pretty simple.
So I guess the takeaway is, don't despair that Dawntrail is the end of the world. The story gets more interesting and the devs are absolutely devoted to this game. We are lucky to have a group of talented game devs and artists that care so much about the game first, given how much the industry has moved to quick cash grabs. FFXIV is here to stay and things continue to improve. So, let yourself have a little faith and make the effort and it will definitely be worth your time, I promise.
Continue reading...
All that said, it is best to heed the immortal words of Bill Murray in Groundhog Day and "don't drive angry" when it comes to making constructive criticism posts. At least if it is to be constructive.
So to the point of the thread. I was not really giving Dawntrail dungeons a fair chance befor jumping on the "too difficult" bandwagon. That is not to say there aren't opportunities to add difficulty options to the Duty Support NPCs because I feel that is absolutely a route SE could take to alleviate legitimate issues deriving from physical or bandwidth limitations. However I do think a lot of the perception of overly difficult mechanics comes from a combination of negative apprehensions or avoidance of figuring things out, talking about it, looking up guides etc., likely from this fundamentally destabilizing DOUBT about DT in general (which HAS been improving in 7.1+ imo).
Take Maulskull, the last boss in Skydeep Cenote for example.
Many people were complaining about how difficult this was, and I myself was dying repeatedly and not understanding why. So what I did was try it with the NPC's. When I kept getting nailed by the knockback phase where he cleaves one half of the room then the other, even though I KNEW I was on the right side, I looked up a video. This didn't seem to show what it was I was doing wrong. Then I just happened to realize I was standing too close to the knockback circle to where my character was actually INSIDE it, which was 1-shotting me! After making that one small correction to stand OUTSIDE the circle (which the video I looked up didn't mention, the mechanics are actually pretty simple.
So I guess the takeaway is, don't despair that Dawntrail is the end of the world. The story gets more interesting and the devs are absolutely devoted to this game. We are lucky to have a group of talented game devs and artists that care so much about the game first, given how much the industry has moved to quick cash grabs. FFXIV is here to stay and things continue to improve. So, let yourself have a little faith and make the effort and it will definitely be worth your time, I promise.
Continue reading...