FilthMcNasty wrote:
Xoie wrote:
If you're hardcore, you'll put in the time, and even make nice with other people to get the rarest stuff. But if you're casual, you'll be happy to get some nice gear and wait for less time consuming activities to advance.
Except those who are casual are not just happy with the nice gear.
Purely casual players just want to make substantial progress in the little time they have to play. As long as there's something interesting to do that grants this opportunity, it's enough. The vast majority of FFXIV players are like this. They aren't on forums stating their goals for the week. They show up for a few hours a week, and they're happy to hit a new level, or claim a new article for their build.
I think there's trouble when people have a foot in both sides. They'll burn through the casual stuff too fast, and then hit a wall trying to do the hardcore stuff. The material that I see for people who straddle the line is accessible, but comes with an incredible grind (finishing a relic weapon is not for the timid). But if they want to traverse into purely hardcore material, they can sometimes hit a wall.
The only thing that requires real skill in this game is the purely hardcore content. And, save the pioneers who clear the content first, for most people it's a matter of learning how to dance. By that I mean all the steps to victory are laid out by the people who finish first. For everyone else, the only real skill they need is how quickly they learn the steps to this new dance so they can win too. Once you learn the steps, however, the dance never changes, so it's only ever about perfecting your performance not about adapting to bad situations or a clever AI.
In some sense, this is helpful for not-so-casual-not-so-hardcode cohort, because you'll find plenty of guides online detailing
exactly how to win,
exactly what it looks like to win. Getting the opportunity to practice might involve forming a learning group, which could be the most frustrating part of the exercise. But once you've learned the steps, a win is virtually assured as long as you team up with people who also know the dance (which is also a contender for the most frustrating part of the exercise.)
Long story short, gear isn't really the issue, or rather, people being "handed gear" isn't the issue. A lot of the hardest fights don't even need the best gear to complete (although it helps).
It's a problem of access. If you want to take on Titan Ex, you'll have a hard time gaining access to practicing the steps you need to perform to win. Most the experienced people who've won in the past either don't want to do it anymore or have long since lost the patience to train newcomers and just want a quick victory. And it can be hard to get enough newcomers to practice, and even then, the group might not even make it to the final phases of the fight in the time you have.
If anything, this is the source of frustration. You're either forced to pass yourself off as experienced when you're not, or you're stuck in a long slog of trying to gain experience from a dwindling pool of talent. iLvls don't really have anything to do with it.