Pergatory wrote:
I don't know that I'd agree completely, though I won't disagree completely either. What I do feel is that most of the things you mentioned, even as simple as Fafnir, were a challenge at one time. As more equipment and merits became available, as tricks like standing on his paws were discovered, as people learned not to flail him, and later as level caps rose, yes they did get easier. However, that's kind of how it goes with MMOs. Things are very hard when released, but become easier. Look at the worst example: AV. He was a nightmare, incredibly challenging. Nobody beat him for a long time. Now he can be killed with 6 or 7 people. I would not call AV "challenging" anymore, but he certainly was at one point.
There content now that is challenging, such as Neo-Nyzul and Legion. I'll bet a few years from now, Legion will be farmed like Dynamis.
I can see what you are saying here, and I agree on some level (I kind of hinted at it in my posts too). Content for 6, 8 months is difficult; then, the playerbase comes up with a strategy and if the fight was truly difficult, everyone would stick to the same strategy. There is the catch, though: after the playerbase figured out the trick / right job combinations, that was the only trick used / job combination brought to that fight. The challenge could have still been there, but noone - not even the people today claiming the game is too easy - would even consider deviating from the trick / job combination. I am not saying we should have fully trashed the various tricks / job combos discovered to work for the various fights, but then again I am not claiming things need to be "harder" either. It just strikes me as odd that the people claiming things need to be more challenging today never spoke up to deviate from the "accepted" easy tactics used for a particular fight in ye old ffxi, but meh.
Pergatory wrote:
Fair enough, you are right. The assumption I made was that you're one of those people who thinks the game is easy because you don't try very hard. As a WHM, that's pretty difficult to do. You're absolutely right. I do, however, find it surprising then that you still think there's so little challenge in the game.
And a little more backpedaling - the first few times you fight a particular battle, its tough because you dont know exactly what to expect. After fight #673, though, its fairly easy, outside of some Voidwatch NMs that just have cheap moves.
I wont say everything is completely devoid of difficulty today - Bismarck, Morta, Ig, Rex.......there is still a decent amount of difficulty there, even the other T6 Jeuno can catch people off guard. Just like you noted with Legion and Neo Nyzul, I think these will become easier as the playerbase irons out strategies (you just have to pray your job is involved in that strategy).
That being said...I still think many out there confuse 24H spawns/very low drop rates /other time sinks with "challenging."
Pergatory wrote:
As a WHM, I'm constantly challenging myself in everything I do. Even fights that many people consider "simple" are not simple to me. Maybe it's because I take healing so seriously, but I feel there's no limit to what a good healer can do. No matter how fast you remove ailments, it could always be faster. No matter how good you are at preventing death, you could have always been a little better. Does it necessarily change the course of the battle? No, but it can make the experience more enjoyable for everyone. DD's love playing unimpeded by status ailments, slow healing, lack of buffs, and the like; and as a healer I love giving them that environment to play in. That's where I find my challenge, and like I said you can find these challenges even in simple events. You just have to look for them, and constantly push yourself to perform better.
I wouldnt argue with you here, and to be quite frank, I am not a top tier WHM - just midrange, I know I could be better for sure. Good on you for always trying to improve yourself! :)
Edited, May 24th 2012 4:03pm by ManifestOfKujata