Ostia wrote:
The difference between level 20 content and level 30 content is none,
Bullsh*t. Calling it loud and clear. Once again, Ostia, your blatant disregard for detail has you crossing the line between negative opinion and spreading misinformation.
Each
individual guildhest differs for one another, so that's too long of a list for me to disseminate here.
We have no reference for Trials as Ifrit is the only impression, and that is level 20. So your argument there is baseless.
As far as dungeons, nothing previous to Manor can account for an Instant Kill moves during boss fights. Manor has Lady's Candle (or some such similar name) which will kill you and anyone in range if you let it detonate.
Same situation between manor and Copperbell. If you've got a full party of strong DPS, you can out-speed kill the Boss before the adds become a problem. Conversely, the Adds give Lady Amaranthine a high-potency Stoneskin effect which they will refresh if you break through it early with a limit break. Copperbell is also the first dungeon to introduce Monster that have to be weakened by using objectives.
Hatali, just one step above Copperbell, you are introduced to field damage via Wyrm that can easily wipe your group if you don't get the eff out of the water. You also differ in add objectives between 'defend target point' to 'eliminate enemies before they reach destination'. The latter comes with an additional attack effect and additional adds as consequence.
Step beyond that, you get landmines, terrain effects (the slime on the ground.) As well as your first Dungeon objective for attacking an individual body part on a monster.
Back to Manor, the Void Lamps, additional multi-target switch objective on top of instant kill boss spawn, on top of peel objective. This time the adds can coordinate with the boss to freeze a larger area with Terror as well. Also - patrolling mobs in the dungeon itself. ALSO - secondary hate targeting.
Moving on to Longstop, first introduction of NPCs to defend, additionally, first interrupted mini-boss fight. Additionally, first introduction to boss healing mechanics. It also has a different formula for targeting than simply 'secondary hate' as it seems to target people at different stages on the hate list at a currently undetermined pattern.
So yeah, level 20 dungeon, defiantly different than level 30 dungeon. The difference is in the details. What are you doing, what are you supposed to be learning? And yes, the dungeons, particularly the bosses more than the dungeons themselves, get more difficult as you go on.
But it is gradual. If you're already someone who has endgame raiding experience, all this stuff is water under the bridge to you. If you're new to MMOs or your MMO experience is limited, then these elements are significant learning points to you.
Ifrit level 20 is the equivalent of Three Kingdoms BCNM in FFXI in terms of progression. Back when that BCNM fight was released it had a cap of 25 in which certain jobs could SOLO the fight given proper preparation, let alone be duoed. My first memories of the BCNM involved me and two others going in with me at only level 23 on my Red Mage. Our 'Tank' died briefly after the seeker did and I was forced to chainspell in order for us to beat the fight. However, we did beat it. By your own standards, we shouldn't have.
OBVIOUSLY Vanilla FFXI was too easy.
Edited, Jul 15th 2013 11:47pm by Hyrist