#i am not arguing for or against a nerf of r4

[vespertine-legacy]

The forum discussion about R4 Anomaly story mode needing to be nerfed in difficulty has trickled into a couple of the discords I’m in. While I’m not going to touch the arguments about whether or not operations should or should not have mechanics/be difficult/etc., there is one thing I do want to say:

There is currently story content that all subscribers, regardless of their raiding proficiency, have already paid for that is sitting locked behind operations that are not accessible to some players right now.

Sure, Gods of the Machine, Nature of Progress, and R4 Anomaly CAN be cleared by a truly random complete pick-up group made from group finder (doubtful if it’s actual 2 tank, 2 healer, 4 dps though, to be honest for some of those fights, but that’s an entirely different issue), without coordination through discord or other voice chat, without anyone rage quitting the group because of minor issues or too many bad pulls (or without anyone yelling at you to stop watching the cutscenes and “spacebar, you [slur]”).

I don’t think having to work or prog through an operation--even on story mode--is a problem. I get that it’s an MMO and that it’s intended to be played with other people, but most of the story takes place in solo instances and individual-driven paths. I think not having any way to access the story that you have paid for is cheap when you do an entire storyline that can be so captivating and then suddenly “you must be in a group to enter this phase.”