The current state of the "MMORPG" FFXIV is unsustainable. Here's why

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Originally Posted by SieyaM

I feel like people are really trying to sell Bozja as the incredible engaging piece of content that every loved every minute of when the reality is a lot of people did it for the relic because they just liked it better than the other options. The reality is both it and Eureka are FATE grinds with the setting changed and some extra bells and whistles added to it. Going into Zadnor now (I haven't been to the southern front in a long time) you just sit in the top of the map running the same 3 or 4 FATEs until a CE pops. There was also a time not very long ago the getting CLL to fill was near impossible before they ramped the mettle rewards up to insane levels, and that was necessary for relic progression so anyone looking to do it was just plain out of luck.

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I always liked Bozja but maybe things are so bad right now even content some people thought was mid back in the day seems like gold now.

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Originally Posted by SieyaM

I feel like people are really trying to sell Bozja as the incredible engaging piece of content that every loved every minute of when the reality is a lot of people did it for the relic because they just liked it better than the other options. The reality is both it and Eureka are FATE grinds with the setting changed and some extra bells and whistles added to it. Going into Zadnor now (I haven't been to the southern front in a long time) you just sit in the top of the map running the same 3 or 4 FATEs until a CE pops. There was also a time not very long ago the getting CLL to fill was near impossible before they ramped the mettle rewards up to insane levels, and that was necessary for relic progression so anyone looking to do it was just plain out of luck.

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I remember the tons of threads on here about what a massive bottleneck CLL was before that.

Why can't I see OP as having cleared any relevant content worth citing their class design opinion on? How can you act like an expert if you didn't engage in the first place?

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Originally Posted by KageTokage

I do feel like they're leaning way too hard into following the "safe" content cycle they've had since HW.

It's nice that they made an attempt at introducing new types of content through Island Sanctuary and variant/criterion dungeons, but both still lack the longevity the exploratory zones had.

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My hypothesis on the former is that what we're seeing is currently more groundwork for it than the actual content for it. Anyway, call me out for coping there if you want, but I just don't think the current state of Island Sanctuary shows the breadth of what it is supposed to be. At least going by the work put into it on a systems/coding level.

As for variants/criterions, myeah, I guess. I don't think there's a lot wrong with one-and-done content, but I do think criterion might have missed the mark they intended it to hit. For one, the base version of criterion (not savage) should've been around extreme trial level whereas a lot of people said it felt more like early to mid-savage. Also more (cosmetic) rewards. Variant, idk. It did... a thing? I did all the variant routes, but to me it didn't really sell the fantasy they were going for. This whole notion of different paths kind of just fizzled for me. Maybe it would be better if variant became more like a mini-outdoor zone with different activities and stuff to earn and then criterion was the instanced dungeon portion of it.

I do look forward to the next variant dungeon simply because it's always nice to get more lore about various NPCs/locales...though I think there could be better ways of doing that then making you play through a dungeon several times with most of those runs having only mild differences.

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Originally Posted by KageTokage

I do look forward to the next variant dungeon simply because it's always nice to get more lore about various NPCs/locales...though I think there could be better ways of doing that then making you play through a dungeon several times with most of those runs having only mild differences.

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Agreed, agreed. I did it in the end, but I feel like it could've been... more.

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Originally Posted by Xirean

I'm well aware of those discord groups and I've already checked them out. My opinion on exploratory zones still stands. If content requires an outside sourced discord group to be playable then the content has failed.

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To you. But still, bad opinion. Eureka wants you to find people to tackle hard stuff. To socialize. Because every other damn fight in this game is just quee and get over it. It just make FF14 a boring lunapark, instead of living MMO world. Also, except BA and DRS, you dont need groups. I just solo leveled both Eureka and Bozja on my new alt.

So dont be lazy. Socialize. Find people to play with. You are playing damn MMO, not single player game.

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Originally Posted by SieyaM

I feel like people are really trying to sell Bozja as the incredible engaging piece of content that every loved every minute of when the reality is a lot of people did it for the relic because they just liked it better than the other options. The reality is both it and Eureka are FATE grinds with the setting changed and some extra bells and whistles added to it. Going into Zadnor now (I haven't been to the southern front in a long time) you just sit in the top of the map running the same 3 or 4 FATEs until a CE pops. There was also a time not very long ago the getting CLL to fill was near impossible before they ramped the mettle rewards up to insane levels, and that was necessary for relic progression so anyone looking to do it was just plain out of luck.

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Was it the best content we ever had? Probably not. Was it the best and most interesting relic grind? For me, yes. I have never felt CLL being a issue and when I started playing, I knew nothing.

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Originally Posted by SieyaM

I feel like people are really trying to sell Bozja as the incredible engaging piece of content that every loved every minute of when the reality is a lot of people did it for the relic because they just liked it better than the other options. The reality is both it and Eureka are FATE grinds with the setting changed and some extra bells and whistles added to it. Going into Zadnor now (I haven't been to the southern front in a long time) you just sit in the top of the map running the same 3 or 4 FATEs until a CE pops. There was also a time not very long ago the getting CLL to fill was near impossible before they ramped the mettle rewards up to insane levels, and that was necessary for relic progression so anyone looking to do it was just plain out of luck.

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This is whats blowing my mind now with how easily lulled the community gets when they immediately start wearing nostalgia goggles for Bozja and Eureka. It is like you said, these zones are nothing but FATE grinds where half of the time players spend afk at the aetheryte waiting for the next NM or skirmish to pop up. During that downtime people just prep the same mobs and the whole thing is just mindless.

WoW have better world quests than Bozja and Eureka.

I think Bozja had potential but nothing more. It was a glorified FATE farm zone that locked you out of other duties while inside.
The Lost Actions and Essences were a great idea but having to re-farm/ buy them instead of unlocking them once acquired put many people off of using them. The system of giving so much flexibility was brilliant though.
It's almost a bit like a functioning talent system.

But the tasks itself in Bozja were mostly lackluster. The raids felt more like raids and were enjoyable enough but FATEs are still "Kill stuff" FATEs and CEs were more difficult boss FATEs.
It had potential. But it was seriously lacking variety.

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Originally Posted by Yukimin

If people want the Stormblood relics they should suck it up and do Eureka. Bozja having a bunch of cool stuff such as CLL/Dalriada and Delubrum Reginae was amazing. That's the kind of content we need and -not- give the option to get relics outside of such foray.
Difficulty wise, Ultimates are designed for a tiny fraction of the playerbase, it doesn't reflect the midcore players like I said. Stormblood was the perfect middle ground.

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Amazing to who? Not everyone liked that crap. I hated Bozja with every fiber of my being and I'm super happy to have a new deep dungeon instead this expansion and I'm sure plenty hate deep dungeons. You're not going to make everyone happy with content so take what you can get and ignore what you don't like. Its that simple.