My hard limit is going to be 8.0. If there are no significant new features and just minor fixes, and the same old content bulk. I'm gone.
Why are people moaning about the Story, people hating Wuk Lamat and simps for Emet Selch. This expansion is actually better than EW at the same point as we have slightly more content, and the MSQ is literally 1% of the game and is always the same go from A to B and watch cutscene then more cutscenes then the eventual dungeon (and DTs dungeons and trials were bangers). Literally what they need to do now on though is introduce the relic/exploration zone and variant/criterion in a half patch between the Savage and X.1 and huge improvement. But seriously get over the story its fine Wuk just replaced Alphinaud
I hope not. The level of willful tone-deaf misunderstanding this would require.
Personally I was, and am, angry over living memory for two reasons.
The first is the complete 180 of treatment of soulless life. (We effectively walk back any positive statements made regarding all of Ultima Thul with how we callously and secretively destroy the Endless. Mind, both lack soul Aether and are constructed of memories.)
The second is a very real-world parallel to cultural genocide. We are not only wiping out all memory of the Alexandrians, but also perpetuating an attempt to force their living members to abruptly give up (admittedly extremely destructive) ways.
Much could have or could be done to make this more palatable, and it hasn't been happening.
I feel with an opening like this that you're a dangerous person to try and have an intelligent discussion with, but I'll try anyway. I'm bored.
Spoken like a true WoW player. FF14 has always advertised itself as a story based MMORPG. There's a reason why you have to progress the story to get to the endgame and go from expansion to expansion--level cap isn't sufficient. Solo duties used to be more common in SHB, STB, and HW, in between the "point A to point B". Maybe for you that doesn't matter much, but shockingly, a lot of people who play a story based MMO want the story to be...good. Novel concept, I know.
That's why people are bitching about the story. Because it sucks. Because the pacing is off and the character writing was off, and the plot wasn't something people enjoyed. Someone who views the hours of cutscenes as 1% of the experience probably won't understand that, though.
Also the dungeons are not "bangers". Some of the boss fights are interesting, but the trash pulls are some of the most boring prefabricated, cookie cutter nonsense we've seen. There's not a single one of "those pulls" where you're not sleepwalking through it all. The raid fights are good, I'll give you that. Broken clock is right twice a day, after all.
They do need to do that. And it's a legitimate problem that the hardcore progression chads have gotten multiple releases for their content, while the casuals that still make the bulk of the expansion are still waiting for literally all of this.
I don't know where you've been but Alphinaud had a pretty good character arc that's been entertaining to watch since HW (even if back then it was us enjoying Krile roasting him, and he doesn't come into his own until SHB). Also--you call people out for the story, then make no supporting arguments and go on fifteen different tangents in poorly punctuated Engrish on how they need to stuff the game full of PvE stuff and that will magically fix everything. It's a step in the right direction, but it's irrelevant to your opening statement. Have you even written a High School thesis yet, man?
I'll be honest Dawntrail needs to be written off as a complete failure, in every regard. The content we are given is copy and paste from previous expansions. Stagnant. The story is a complete and utter failure that has cost this game hundreds of thousands of subs. No patch is going to remedy the botched writing, extremely long content droughts, or bad PR coming from Yoshi P and Square Enix sweeping all of the games issues under the rug and pretending everything is fine, and that this was expected.
They should be pouring all of their efforts into 8.0, and doing at least the BARE MINIMUM PR to extinguish the flaming dumpster fire raging on every social media platform due to their lack of response or acknowledgement of any problems with Dawntrail, or any plans to address them going forward.
If you're talking about the Occult Crescent(Shade's Triangle) they've already hinted at a different system. I'm not sure if it's going to be like what we've seen in Eureka or Bozja - we may get something else entirely, so I'm curious at this point what they'll announce in the February PLL.
I would take ANYTHING they promise with a grain of salt at this point especially since they're well aware of the player loss and will do anything to convince people to come back to experience more disappointment. We couldn't even get a micro patch without major issues, I quite frankly do not have high hopes for anything else they've been working on. It's all about them showing (and giving) us the content now, and not telling us about it.
Going forward (beyond 8.0), SQENIX needs to start to innovate with FFXIV because it is falling significantly behind its competition in terms of systems and mechanics.
From UI functionality to how static the combat is (I know this is subjective).
I remember switching from WoW to ARR at its release (I had already played 1.0 briefly while it was free), and ARR felt so modern in comparison to WoW at the time, but now it's the opposite.
FFXIV feels outdated, whereas World of Warcraft has upgraded its numerous mechanics over time, making it feel modern again.
And for Venat's sake, fix the mobile forum!
It's so annoying that the mobile version of the forum doesn't even have functionality for post editing.
There is no saving Dawntrail. Dawntrail was done for the moment it released.
Unless they decide to revamp the entire Addon's story, which they should (but won't because it costs money), nothing can salvage this butchered attempt at storytelling.
It's a disgrace to everyone who worked hard to build up this game's reputation over the last 10 years.
I don't think there is much hope for Dawntrail now and the patches won't save it. the story has been locked in for a good amount of time now and I doubt they have time to change much. I imagine they will put more focus on making 8.0 better and just have to ride out DT, here's hoping 8.0 returns to the days of Shadowbringers quality
Just think of Dawntrail as WoW's Shadowlands, players didn't like it and a lot of people stopped playing thanks to it.
But now WoW has The War Within and a lot of players say that it's really good and a lot of players returned thanks to that.
Point is, Dawntrail might not be the best for many but just endure (or take a break) and perhaps the next expansion will be better and people can just "forget" that Dawntrail ever happened.
This is a "glass half full / half empty" kinda mindset.
You chose to pick an expansion that is followed by another bad one / glass half empty
Where I picked an expansion where the following one ended up to be an improvement / half full.
This kinda shows the mentality whether or not people choose to hope that things can get better or not.
The number of people on here acting like if DT is the second coming of 1.0 is baffling.
Dawntrail is going to be remembered as the expansion that broke the back of the game.
At the very least, it's going to be remembered as the expansion that turned the players against Yoshi and showed just how little they are actually innovating.
This game has been effectively led by a one trick pony, and it shows. The same thing has been done over and over and over. It worked for a time, but people get tired of seeing the same trick time and time again and thats where we are.
This game needs new vision, it needs new leadership and innovation, not the same thing over and over. That's what got us into this mess.
It's going to take effort to get us out.
Anyone who vehemently defends Dawntrail, and says they see "no problem" with characters like Wuk Lamat, and think they are "great" are far too out of touch to bring this game back.
The jobs have been homogenized to the point where you can summarize every single one of them as "1-2-3, 4-5-6, builder/spender, 2-3 gcds, and maybe another 2-3 buttons if necessary".
The "open world" is nearly featureless and empty feeling.
All the systems feel more and more dated as time goes on.
Every time people ask for change, ask for something fresh, we're met with the exact same excuses we were met with 8 years ago. "Spaghetti Code!!11!"
At this point, that's code for "Not going to happen, loser!"
There's a lot of copium going around for 8.0. But you are out of your mind if you think it's going to get any better without a major shakeup.
This expansion has somehow managed to make Cataclysm look like a major success, and yet there is radio silence.
I don't think they can really "save" Dawntrail. Even though we're only at patch 7.16 with another one and a half years or more to go until 8.0, what's done is done, and nobody can change it. 7.0 already left it's mark on the player base no matter which side you're on, and 7.1 didn't really do anything to help or alleviate that for players. Hell story wise 7.1 might've potentially just made it worse because so many people, myself included, already threw out ideas for what was even going to happen in the patches given how 7.0 went and, currently, it seems like where they're heading plot wise with post-patch is incredibly obvious at the moment, so there isn't really anything to exciting to look forward to unless 7.2 gives a massive curve-ball.
I genuinely don't think 7.2 will do much to "save" Dawntrail, since if their voice lines being recorded 6-12 months in advance is actually true, then it would mean both 7.1 and most of 7.2 were most likely already set in stone story wise when Dawntrail launched. I know Yoshi-P said they would see the feedback from Dawntrail's launch and then change things as needed story wise, but if the story is set in stone a year or so in advance then 7.2 shouldn't really "change" much from what was originally planned alongside 7.0/7.1. Patch 7.3 though is when it might finally be able to be changed up and will really be the last chance to "save" Dawntrail since, if I recall correctly, Yoshi-P said 7.3 was going to be where they "finished" Dawntrail's story.
By 7.3's launch though, Dawntrail will be over a year old, and by that point in the expansion's life it wouldn't really be them "saving" Dawntrail, it'd more be them "salvaging" Dawntrail, especially if 7.2 comes out and does absolutely nothing to help or change player's current thoughts on the expansion.
Said it before, I'll say it again. Relying on one patch to save DT is insane. Diadem with a space skin won't save a darn thing. Reskinned Bozja/Eureka won't either. Releasing them both around the same time won't either. Why? It won't change ANYTHING that came before it that people don't like.
Hoping these zones are fun so I'm excited for them.
That won't suddenly make DT's story good. It was terrible. It's the only MSQ I honestly would never want to experience again in my life and I wish I could have selective amnesia to forget everything that happened.
Doubt the story will get better, but at least we might have something to do.
One thing I've noticed is that the doomers have been having a massive, hyperventilating DOOM THIS GAME SUUUUUCKS circlejerk since 7.0 launched and a chunk of the playing base decided it was Terrible, Awful, No Good and have taken every opportunity to shit on it.
In the meantime, those of us who kept playing - heck, even replayed 7.0 on alts or watched other streamers go through it - have had an opposite reaction? Mostly, "Oh, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was." Things didn't happen the way I recalled them happening. Wuk Lamat's character is a dumb unga bunga ... because she's a warrior, of course it makes sense she'd be a dummy.
Were there pacing flaws? Yeah. Did I dislike how much I was forced to interact with Wuk Lamat instead of.... anyone else? Yeah. Was the story weaker than anything since ARR? Absolutely yeah.
Have I still been playing every day and grinding all my jobs to 100 and trying to clear the savage tier and doing silly events with friends like maps and old Extreme mount farming? Also yeah.
I've tuned out the "THIS GAME SUCKS" crowd and decided I'd find my own way to enjoy it, and I've been a much happier person after I cut out every else's negative opinions.
Exploratory Missions is my one and only reason for excitement at this point.
MSQ has been awful.
I really have no interest in Sphene, Wuk Lamat, or any of the Dawntrail characters. They could all die in one big fire and I'd be like, "perfect, this is better."
Bring the Ascians back, at least they kept us on the edge of our seats.
If the exploration zone is unable to save the expansion, then truly all is lost.
I think a good chunk of the people expecting it to save the game are going to be disappointed. I personally loved grinding Bozja, but there were a LOT of people who hated it on release (and ditto for Eureka from what people have told me). I can't see this new zone being any different
There is an essential difference though.
In World of Warcraft, you can opt to ignore Shadowlands and BfA.
In FFXIV every single new player joining in will have to bear through the drastic drop in story telling quality right after Shadowbringers and Endwalker set the bar really high. There is no skipping or avoiding story in this game. Dawntrail is the new low, far worse than pre-revamped ARR (to be fair, ARR wasn't even bad. It just had and still has pacing issues).
Dawntrail is the new "it gets better after"-breaking point... potentially. We don't even know for sure yet. Considering last patch we witnessed a relevant story NPC showing more interest in selectively protecting one random entity of wildlife from another random entity of wildlife, than they showed for protecting their own father figure from being killed, my hopes are not exactly skyrocketing.
Unless they revamp, no one will be able to forget how full of severe plotholes and things that don't make any sense Dawntrail is.
The hilarious part of this whole discussion is that what people are clammoring for the exploration zone like it isn't just going to be Bozja zone 3 & 4. Yes it will be different, but it isn't going to reinvent the wheel, and many will be done with it within 2 weeks. Then it's right back to waiting 6++ months for something else.
No, no. It's the new revolutionary content we deserve and have been waiting for! It'll fix Dawntrail and might even change gaming as we know it! /s
Joking aside, we've seen nothing so far in the 7.x expansion that has lead us to belief that this will be any different than the mediocre slop we've been given so far, unless I'm wrong?
If you really want to compare you have to talk about BfA and Shadowlands as if they were the current expansion, seeing how Dawntrail is the current right now.
And at those times people couldn't really opt out of BfA and Shadowlands as they can do now.
And once Dawntrail isn't current it will sooner or later get a "skip potion" from the store so people can opt out of it as well if they so choose to.
If people really dislike Dawntrails story that much, why not just pretend that it's not happening?
I played through out most of Dawntrail and skipped almost every single cutscene and I don't look back and think "this happened in Dawntrail".
I simply focus on what I think is enjoyable.
To be fair however, I've probably skipped like 80% of all cutscenes in FXIV from 2.x up to now.
So I'm not the targeted audience when it comes to this whole "Story Driven" game that most FFXIV players seems to gather behind.
But that also means that the "problems of Dawntrail" isn't a problem for me so I can just enjoy the game like I've always done and not be bothered.
That being said, I've been on a FFXIV break for a while now.
Just returned for a month to buy the new mount from Chaotic and my sub will run out before mid-Februari. Edit: Correction, it ends tomorrow. I really forgot when I resubbed.
Then my break will continue and I will continue playing other games.
Not that I think FFXIV is any worse than before.
I'm just at the time of "burned out" of FFXIV from playing for years upon years.
I would recommend others to try taking a break from FFXIV if they are tired of the "poor quality".
There are plenty of games to explore while waiting for the game to "get better" instead constantly complaining about it.
Why waste precious time of ones life complaining when one could fill it with enjoyment instead.
Absolutely, but the correct thing to do when you have a bad opinion about something is to.... stop interacting with that content. Instead of continuing to consume hate-watching content of other people who also disliked it. That's the negative feedback loop. It was fine for the first month when everyone was still trying to parse out what had happened, but it's been going on for half a year now.
I've stopped watching quite a few streamers who insist on talking about how much they hate it over and over and over again, instead of finding a new game to play and discuss that they like better.
There's constructive criticism, but also destructive criticism, and too much of what has been put out has been the latter.
Doesn't help when I get a ping on Discord from my college buddies from 20 years ago who go HEY KAT WANNA DO MAPS
Honestly Shadowlands is the best comparison for Dawntrail, Not BFA.
Shadowlands and Dawntrail were both expansions that had absolutely AWFUL content. The stories were trash, the content sucked, and they resulted in mass player loss on a scale never seen before.
I am not convinced anyone at Square Enix, CS3, or even Yoshi P himself are even aware of just how bad the situation is. They're not taking the communities feedback seriously, players are rapidly dropping off and amidst the largest player drop off in recent history Yoshi P continues to blunder his PR. I think the reality of the situation is, that Yoshi P and SE have convinced themselves that this player loss is normal and they're not going to fix anything or do anything differently in the future.
That people leave during the time of an expansion is normal and no developer would consider it as a sign.
Sure, might be more than normal now during Dawntrail, but still within the "acceptable amount".
Doesn't help that people complain yet still pay a sub. That only shows that people might not agree with the expansion but doesn't consider it bad enough to stop playing, which itself is within acceptable parameters.
What people have to do if they aren't happy is to not just complain and do nothing about it.
People have to stop playing and end their subscriptions.
Ofc, there are no promises that such actions will yield results.
And probably why a lot of people don't do it.
But it sure leaves a stronger message than remain paying for "bad content".
Nothing is saving this disappointment.
They have demonstrated time-and-time again that they cannot deviate from their rigid formula. Exploratory will not save this expansion. It's going to be Bozja with a fresh coat of paint.
Cosmic won't save it either. Sure, it'll approach it from a different angle, but we're still going to have the same boring excuse for expert recipes because they find it a brilliant idea to induce recipes ridiculous requirements, that are still underpinned by the same disappointing crafting system, because they elected to completely gut one of the few things that actually had FFXIV going for it (An engaging crafting system)