I have enjoyed my time here since pre-ARR, and every expac up to ShB and EW have been excellent. I loved the depth, character progression, music, crafting, housing, glamor, battle, and other content. But more than anything the story has always stood out among MMOs as the strongest draw for this game.
I avoid extremes and progression raiding in ALL games I play as I neither have the time nor interest to devote hours of my life to a 2nd job memorizing eye-strain-inducing mechanics for the sake of some bragging right, but I am perfectly happy for the people who do enjoy it. Up until now that play style has been totally OPTIONAL and didn't negatively impact the game I enjoy (and pay for).
However, ALL this changed with Dawn Trail.
The story is not even in the same time zone as past expansions. I am truly sorry for those that can't see the difference between nuanced characters like Emet-Selch and the laughable cartoon TV "villains" we get in DT, never mind the emotionally tone-deaf main character. It isn't setting up anything new (until maybe post 7.1 which I haven't gone through yet, reasons below). It is just bad, by any metric of symbolism, eloquence, emotional impact or intelligent design.
But the final nail for me has been the cost cutting. That is the real problem with the "too difficult vs. too boring" debate on MSQ-required dungeons.
The problem isn't "too hard vs. too easy," it is that SE became too too greedy and/or too complacent to design SEPARATE content for each of these classes of players like they have throughout the game's decade+ history.
SE frankly refused to invest in DT, and it shows.
There is absolutely no reason they should be shoehorning progression raid and extreme mechanics into MSQ-REQUIRED NORMAL 4-MAN DUNGEONS.
Yuweyawata Field Station is a perfect example. It actually names abilities "Dark Souls" as an overt reference to the masochistic games by the same name, and throws in a literal finger mechanic as if to say clearly what they feel about the terrible server lag making this game no place for such latency-dependent mechanics.
In the past dungeons like The Dead Ends were story-rich, and had mechanics you had to learn but which were visually interesting and intuitive, unlike the progger 1-shot "boss is because boss" slop we are getting now.
This "friendly, helpful community" will chime in and defend this and belittle huge swaths of long-time players leaving the game feeling betrayed (and taking their money with them), showing how much they REALLY care.
But the company should be ashamed because they are truly to blame for this polarizing cost cutting, and if the shareholders had any sense they would hold Yoshida responsible for unilaterally pushing raid mechanics on MSQ players to appease streamers, gating people out of base game content they paid for, while hiring frankly unqualified noobies to write the story.
I know SE can do better. But this is probably the end for me.
Continue reading...
I avoid extremes and progression raiding in ALL games I play as I neither have the time nor interest to devote hours of my life to a 2nd job memorizing eye-strain-inducing mechanics for the sake of some bragging right, but I am perfectly happy for the people who do enjoy it. Up until now that play style has been totally OPTIONAL and didn't negatively impact the game I enjoy (and pay for).
However, ALL this changed with Dawn Trail.
The story is not even in the same time zone as past expansions. I am truly sorry for those that can't see the difference between nuanced characters like Emet-Selch and the laughable cartoon TV "villains" we get in DT, never mind the emotionally tone-deaf main character. It isn't setting up anything new (until maybe post 7.1 which I haven't gone through yet, reasons below). It is just bad, by any metric of symbolism, eloquence, emotional impact or intelligent design.
But the final nail for me has been the cost cutting. That is the real problem with the "too difficult vs. too boring" debate on MSQ-required dungeons.
The problem isn't "too hard vs. too easy," it is that SE became too too greedy and/or too complacent to design SEPARATE content for each of these classes of players like they have throughout the game's decade+ history.
SE frankly refused to invest in DT, and it shows.
There is absolutely no reason they should be shoehorning progression raid and extreme mechanics into MSQ-REQUIRED NORMAL 4-MAN DUNGEONS.
Yuweyawata Field Station is a perfect example. It actually names abilities "Dark Souls" as an overt reference to the masochistic games by the same name, and throws in a literal finger mechanic as if to say clearly what they feel about the terrible server lag making this game no place for such latency-dependent mechanics.
In the past dungeons like The Dead Ends were story-rich, and had mechanics you had to learn but which were visually interesting and intuitive, unlike the progger 1-shot "boss is because boss" slop we are getting now.
This "friendly, helpful community" will chime in and defend this and belittle huge swaths of long-time players leaving the game feeling betrayed (and taking their money with them), showing how much they REALLY care.
But the company should be ashamed because they are truly to blame for this polarizing cost cutting, and if the shareholders had any sense they would hold Yoshida responsible for unilaterally pushing raid mechanics on MSQ players to appease streamers, gating people out of base game content they paid for, while hiring frankly unqualified noobies to write the story.
I know SE can do better. But this is probably the end for me.
Continue reading...