There is one problem I will always have with Massively Multiplayer Online games that remains an issue in Final Fantasy 14 no matter how much I love the game. I like to do things for the challenge of them rather than for most other rewards, so when I get through something difficult, I stop wanting to do it. I’ve already finished it, you see, and proven myself capable. I might repeat it sometimes to hone my skills or make sure that my success wasn’t a fluke, but I generally don’t like repeating things too much once I’ve done that. In MMOs, though (and many other games, to be clear, as this is not an issue restricted to MMOs alone), this kind of repetition is a key part of the game. You do things over and over again for gear, for cosmetic items, for achievements, and so many other reasons, most of which have to do with the often frustrating fact that few loot drops are guaranteed. Sure, you’re always going to get something and there’s usually some kind of challenge-specific item or items you’ll get every time from the parts of the game you’ll need to repeat a bunch (something built-in so you can eventually buy whatever it is you’re trying to get), but there’s no guarantee that the thing you want is going to show up, much less that you’ll get it when it comes time to roll for loot. I’m just not that interested in doing a challenge up to fifty or one hundre times in order to get the challenge-specific variation of the expansion’s mount. Most of them aren’t that difficult once you’ve done them a time or two, which is why I just don’t have it in me to do them over and over again in hopes of getting lucky one some mount or housing item.

Still, that’s what a lot of the people are here for. They want to complete their mount collection or there’s a specific one they are willing to put in the hours to get or there’s a rare drop for a resource they need to make some special thing or the challenge-specific loot is something they need in order to make something they want. There’s what feels like an endless list of reasons players of Final Fantasy 14 might have for repeating these fights over and over again and while I do enjoy the sense of accomplishment that comes with achieving a difficult goal, I just don’t have the patience for it. Which is funny, considering just how willing I am to collect the same item over and over again for crafting projects. Most would argue that the boring, monotonous task is the one no one wants to do while fighting the same battle(s) over and over again is at least kind of interesting and engaging at the worst, but I can shut my brain down and just click the same buttons or macros over and over again to gather or craft things while I have to stay at least sort of engaged with whatever battle I’m in, even if it’s boring and repetive enough that I’m struggle to stay awake while doing it. You can’t really phone those fights in, once they start to catch up to your level, anyway. A lot of the earlier ones don’t do enough damage to seriously hurt you no matter what, unless you’re disempowering yourself to fight the boss on fairly equal terms.

This is probably where I depart from a lot of the people I like to play with when it comes to group activities. I don’t mind battering my skull against a wall until we overcome the challenge or force our way through it, but the instant it stops bein a challenge, I am bored and want to move on to the next thing while most of my companions want to spend some time doing the fight they’ve learned until they’re satisfied or got whatever drop they wanted. I expect when my focus shifts from doing new things, improving, and trying to wrap my mind around the various methods of Doing Current Content, I’ll probably eventually turn my attention towards mount, minion, and relic collection, all of which requires a lot of the repetitive work my friends are currently interested in doing (since that’s the phase of their FF14 experience that they’re in). I’ll probably also wish I’d done more of it way back when all my friends were doing it, just like all the Blue Mage stuff I’m currently ignoring because there’s so much other stuff to do. And it’s not like I’m actively avoiding any of this stuff. If my friends put out a call for some activity, I’ll jump right in if I’m not busy with something else, but I generally won’t keep trying to do it past the point where they and everyone else has gotten what they wanted. I won’t skip on trying to get whatever cool thing they’re going for, but I’m not really going to be super bummed if I don’t get it. There’s so much other stuff to do and I can always go back to that activity if I want to in the future.

I’ve heard stories from other MMOs about doing dungeons hundreds of times to get specific mounts or special, high-powered armor and I really appreciate that this really isn’t the way that Final Fantasy 14 works. Sure, I might need to do these battles a few dozen times in order to get what I want, but there’s enough mechanisms in place to essentially guarantee that, on a long enough timeline, I will absolutely get what I want. The loot system is fair and balanced to allow you to get what you specifically want in the new raids and extreme trials, even if you need to do it a few times in order to get it. Sure, there’s no way to ensure you get some of the minion, mount, and cosmetic drops, but they’re not so rare that you can go fifty times without them showing up once like I’ve heard about rare raid and dungeon drops in other games. My only real experience with the endgame and current content in an MMO is Destiny 2, so I don’t have a lot of personal experience with other loot systems, but I really can’t imagine sticking with a system other than Final Fantasy 14’s given how little I actually care about most of that stuff. I’m just not motivated by status symbols for most things. I just want to see myself improve, overcome a challenge, and then move on to the next thing because I need something new and stimulating to keep me engaged. Repeating one fight, however challenging, for hours mutliple nights a week sounds like my own personal hell. Unless it’s a fun fight, like the most recent Extreme Trial. Fighting a train that grows arms? I love that. It’s fun and there’s enough places to slip-up that even clearing it a few times is no guarantee that you’ll be able to do it repeatedly. That’s my kind of repetitive challenge.