Something I noticed this weekend...

[Abelfei]

I won't deny that players get burnt out, but this game does not have millions of players. Between the 3 regions, I'd say 700,000 to 800,000, and that's probably a bit generous.

There's an estimated 10 million subscribers,and that's well documented by Square Enix, granted they don'tall play, I get that,but this game has more subscribers than most MMO's. 11.6 million subscribers, 570k active.

[Doozer]

Oh, and comparing this to GW2 isn't really that effective. Of course you'll have more fun playing PoF right now since you just bought it, because all the content is new to you, and the biggest part of it and GW2 as a whole is story that doesn't require other people. Once you're done that, you'll be back to doing the same repetitive content, just like this game. Only the cash shop is bigger and has loot boxes.

[HyoMinPark]

There's an estimated 10 million subscribers,and that's well documented by Square Enix, granted they don'tall play, I get that,but this game has more subscribers than most MMO's. 11.6 million subscribers, 570k active.

That's over the course of this game's lifespan--it also includes RMT bots because those accounts are bought and paid for. There has never been more than a million simultaneously subscribed at the same time, save for maybe ARR's launch in 2013. All 11.6 million are not currently subscribed. Nice try, though.

[Vidu]

I just would like to remind everyone that "content you have no intrest in doing" =/= "there is no content to do".

Since the OP claimed that there is no single player content, that you can do off duties, when thats simply not true - it might not be singleplayer content OP (or any other person, really) is intrested in, but it doesnt stop that content from exisiting, nor from other people enjoying it (so its legit content, thats actually being played, not a waste of ressources)

We have:
- Crafting
- Gathering
- Beast Tribes (limited daily, granted)
- Jump Puzzles, despite whats being claimed in the OP, DO exists - one can argue about how great they are and how well this game is suited for them, but you can do them
- Triple Triad
- Squadrons - you can level a second, third, whatever class by taking your Squadron into dungeons
- Try PotD solo!
- Khloes book - again, weekly, granted. If you have a level 70 character you can unsych most duties in it though - depending on your job/skill, some might even present an extra challenge
- Housing - yes, I know, not everyone has a house, but if you have an FC-room, apartment or a house after all, you can spend quite some time decorating. With an actual garden, you can add crossbreeding to that list
- Daily and Weekly hunts - or Hunts in general

...I'm probably forgetting a lot more.
Not a solo-thing, but if you want to "raid" outside of your one Savage-clear, you can always join dog-farm-parties and attempt to complete your collection!

Considering that we're between patches right now, that its summer and by keeping your own timezone aswell as the one of your server/datacenter-population in mind, saying "this game is dead" seems just as unfair and shortsighted to me as "there is no solo-content for me to do!"
People not playing on a saturday morning, because they're sleeping in/working/enjoying the day outside does not equal that no ones playing anymore. There have always been and always will be times during the game will appear dead, because its unfortunate times for the majority of the server/datacenter population.

And its obviously fair to say "Non of thise solo-stuff you listed, intrests me" - but if a wide variety of the content offered to you isnt to your liking, then yes, maybe its best to step away and find a game that focuses more in aspects that are important or interesting to you.
But dont spread miss-information by just ignoring a bunch of content or certain circumstances that might contribute to people currently not playing.

[HyoMinPark]

In terms of general content, there isn't much to do and Patch 4.3 didn't contain anything that could keep the masses busy for the time being. A lot of the things you listed, Vidu, are pretty niche, and may not appeal to the masses, in all fairness. There are also others that have already done a lot of what you've listed since 4.0 launch/the content was available (e.g., PotD), so they aren't really "content" for those who have already done them.

I still think it was a mistake to delay Heaven on High until 4.35. 4.3 itself didn't offer enough new, long-lasting content to justify the reasoning for the delay.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

I can explain long Ridorana queues slightly. I have a friend who was in queue for almost 25 minutes by herself, and yet to have anyone else listed in her forming party. She plays a ranged dps. I join Ed her, we queued up, and maybe a minute later, it popped. I am a melee dps.

Most times, in df queues, I am way ahead of my friends in the role waiting list. I believe ranged dps have longer waits, from our experiences over the past year or so, I have always moved through the role list much faster than my ranged friends.

[RiyahArp]

You know, if a customer leaves, you don't argue with them. You look at your product or service to see ways you can improve on it.

The point I took from this is that content is just too spiky in participation in this game. I call it the two week problem; a tremendous amount of content in this game is best done the first two weeks it launches, because the population degrades after that. I also think the 2 chest thing is a bigger problem than people think; the content in this game that seems to draw the most consistent attendance tends to have zero limits to it, like eureka or POTD.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

You know, if a customer leaves, you don't argue with them. You look at your product or service to see ways you can improve on it.

The point I took from this is that content is just too spiky in participation in this game. I call it the two week problem; a tremendous amount of content in this game is best done the first two weeks it launches, because the population degrades after that. I also think the 2 chest thing is a bigger problem than people think; the content in this game that seems to draw the most consistent attendance tends to have zero limits to it, like eureka or POTD.

This isn't a problem with the content, but how rewards are given. If you want content to not have limits, then drops can't be guaranteed. We can have 1 or the other, but not both.

It's either going to be weekly limits, but you are guaranteed to see gear drop upon winning, or now you can do the content as much as you want, but now drops are either heavily grind gated a la Eureka, or heavily RNG based, a la primal mounts.

We can go back to how primals and raids used to be too. Coil doesn't have tokens, and neither did the 2.0 primals. It took my raid group over 2 years to see the casting earrings drop from Turn 9. Months to see healing pants.

[Vidu]

In terms of general content, there isn't much to do and Patch 4.3 didn't contain anything that could keep the masses busy for the time being. A lot of the things you listed, Vidu, are pretty niche, and may not appeal to the masses, in all fairness. There are also others that have already done a lot of what you've listed since 4.0 launch/the content was available (e.g., PotD), so they aren't really "content" for those who have already done them.

I agree that thats specially the case for someone who did indeed all of that - myself for example, except for the dog-farming, bascially.

I did snoop around a bit however and checked the OPs lodestone and they'd still have a lot of options to pick from, if they wanted to.

Even though some of the content I listed can be classified as "niche", so can raiding - which is all fair.
This game is a buffet after all and you got to pick and choose what you like. Its unreasonable to expect that everyone is gonna like everything, but if you're only intrested in one niche-content (raiding it seems, for the OP), you might be better off looking for a game that provides you with that.

Not all of those niches appeal to the masses, thats true - but a combination of all of them made for a pretty mass-appealing game, I'd say! And if you dont find enough in it, thats appealing to you, its fair to leave - but not fair to say that there is not content.

I'm struggling myself to keep busy, because I actually did most of what I listed, plus a few extras like PvP and such, and I agree that delaying HoH and Pagos wasnt the best move, but when I look at someone whos got quite a few options to pick from state that the game is dead on a saturday morning or that there is no content, I'm basically just shaking my head.

[HyoMinPark]

@Vidu - fair enough! I can understand both sides of the coin: there is content in the aspect of leveling other jobs or doing more "niche" things like PotD solo or Sightseeing Logs, but some just aren't interested (I can say I haven't finished my Sightseeing Log nor done solo PotD past the first 40 floors, but the latter is burn-out on the content from all the time I spent doing Floor 200 runs and leveling runs with friends in HW), or they don't see it as content when you do the same content (like dungeons) on a different job. I generally suggest alts, but I know that's also not "new content" and won't appeal to some like it does me (I like leveling alts because it's a different character and a break from my main, who is more or less maxed out now).

I do think the developers need to consider more long-lasting content for patches. PotD was wonderful for this because it was easily accessible, provided an alternative to DPS queues for leveling, and had added challenges for people that were interested. I can only hope HoH will be similar, and that more stuff like PotD is added in the future to give more options to the general masses.

To address the OP's concern, Savage could have been unlocked with the release of UwU; I know they'll unlock it probably within the next month or so, but unlocking it for 4.31 wouldn't have really hurt anything, I do think. The current loot system is a bit punishing in the sense that raiders who have already cleared cannot join parties to help without screwing over the parties in terms of chests. I don't see a need to outright remove it, but maybe lax it to where, if 1 or 2 players have already cleared for the week, you can still get a chance at 2 coffers.