Things sure have been stale around here...when is the next major patch ?

I would like to see more content with some longevity. I was hoping to see that with the relic finally coming out, but it honestly doesn’t seem like it takes much to complete this relic step. Coupe hours at most, and I’d likely have all of the relics.

I’ve been on an extended break from this game since Week 3 of the current tier. Basically before all the pandemic stuff started. The break was partially voluntary and partially work-related because my job was considered “essential” and I was working 50-60 hour work weeks. Now that it’s more or less calmed down and I’m back to my normal 40 hours, I’m logging in again—but there isn’t much for me to do. After I level the remainder of my jobs to 80, I won’t have much else to do aside from playing on alts.

Really wish that the relic was something that would take a bit more time. Sure, there’s farming for the dyeable AF gear, but I only really care to get the DNC gear so that’s not going to last me that long.

I’m purposely spacing out my leveling to “drag out” stuff for me to do. But... I don’t know. I think content with more longevity would be nice to have.

I’m not blaming the developers for the delay. It’s perfectly understandable, and I don’t hold their decision for the delay against them. But I’ve felt like content has been pretty sparse in this game for a while now. Well before I took my break recently. Even last expansion I would run out of stuff to do, so I’d fall back on making alts and leveling them because my main was all maxed out. And this was with me participating in Savage/Ultimate raids and doing just about everything this game offered.

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Originally Posted by ForteNightshade

This delay, while completely understandable given the whole pandemic, really does highlight how flawed FFXIV's design approach is.

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Every game, no matter how old or new, has a content cut off point. There is no game in existence short of rogue-likes and random generated assets that provides content that never "expires" so to speak. Especially if you play a lot throughout the day. You could get an expansion's worth of content every two months and someone will say it's not enough because they no lifed everything within a week.

You may have run out of things to do, but think about how long you've been playing and how long you play a day. There are thousands of people not on the same page as you. It's people's personal way of playing that dictates when content has become old hat. I often find myself feeling the drought because I don't want any spoilers, nor getting to a new trial with people explaining mechanics or expecting you to watch Mr. Brappy. But that's on me.

I do think they could take a page out of Runescape and add certain optional grinds that take a very very very long time to accomplish that require a lot of time and resources to achieve with special unique rewards at the end of it to show off. At least it gives players more to do during the downtimes if they which to achieve that goal.

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Originally Posted by Jojoya

So what is missing?

Personally I have plenty to do right now and I've got far more time on my hands to be playing than most players.

The problem isn't the developers. Content does take time to develop.

The problem is players who rush through content at breakneck speed then complain when they run out of things to do. That's their choice to play that way. They need to accept responsibility for that choice.

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How is it "breakneck speed" to complete things like Copied Factory, MSQ, Eden (Normal) and etc. when they release? None of that takes more than a handful of hours. Even at a slow pace, you'd be done over a weekend. I wouldn't call that "breakneck speed." Which leaves things like Ocean Fishing, The Firmament and Blue Mage. The former two are essentially one and done much like the MSQ. There's no point to spamming Ocean Fishing once you've obtained the mount and minion. Once in a while for fun? Sure. But it has no longevity.

And that is the crux of the problem here. Nothing lasts long enough to keep people occupied. There's a reason our first relic step garnered so many complaints. If you were already capped on Poetics; and lets face it. Most people typically are. You had four relics in two hours.

Considering I took a two month break; logging in only to cap and do the occasional side quest. I'm not exactly speeding through the content. There simply isn't much left.

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Originally Posted by Gula

Every game, no matter how old or new, has a content cut off point. There is no game in existence short of rogue-likes and random generated assets that provides content that never "expires" so to speak. Especially if you play a lot throughout the day. You could get an expansion's worth of content every two months and someone will say it's not enough because they no lifed everything within a week.

You may have run out of things to do, but think about how long you've been playing and how long you play a day. There are thousands of people not on the same page as you. It's people's personal way of playing that dictates when content has become old hat. I often find myself feeling the drought because I don't want any spoilers, nor getting to a new trial with people explaining mechanics or expecting you to watch Mr. Brappy. But that's on me.

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It isn't that content expires but how quickly. Take the aforementioned relic. Once you've finished the story, it takes no time whatsoever to farm every single relic. A patch that lasts for fourteen weeks shouldn't require you to basically play for only a handful of hours a week or you'll run out of content within the a month. Yes, some people will no life everything. Many people, myself included, who are criticising the lack of longevity aren't no lifing. We simply don't have enough to do because nothing lasts longer than a couple hours.

So by that logic, veteran players are just SoL? You're essentially saying this game's content is only catered to new players. That kind of proves my point. Nothing lasts long enough that unless you're new—with a backlog of old quests—you'll run out of things long before the patch cycle finishes. All some of us are asking for is some content that lasts long enough to focus on for more than a day or two. Savage and Ultimate are the only two things really fitting that bill. And that's only because they're much harder than everything else.

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Originally Posted by Jojoya

So what is missing?

Personally I have plenty to do right now and I've got far more time on my hands to be playing than most players.

The problem isn't the developers. Content does take time to develop.

The problem is players who rush through content at breakneck speed then complain when they run out of things to do. That's their choice to play that way. They need to accept responsibility for that choice.

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Most gamers would not consider 8-10hrs a week a lot of playtime. Which I am assuming is your average game time with your comment. That would be the definition of a extremely casual player.

If I am wrong with that assumption then you either came back after a long break and are playing catchup, you have started the game recently, you are spending most your time socializing not playing content/not really actually playing the game's content, or you are playing about as unproductively as possible in terms of time spent / productivity. I hate to break it to you but FFXIV in the actual content department has always been lacking. They release alot but it is burned through in weeks to a month tops. This is not players overplaying it, that is the content being way way way too far to the casual side of the curve which is the point of things. Someone playing 20hrs a week that did not start fresh in ShB that took no breaks should easily have most things nearly capped at this point if they are actively playing ingame content and not just socializing.

ATM almost everything in ffxiv is designed for people who play 8-15hrs a week tops. That is very bad design for a mmorpg in my opinion, the content developed is very good but it works like a bell curve. Too little content that is really really good is just as bad as a ton of crap content, there has to be a balance. Playing bad content is not fun, just like not having anything to do is not fun. You need content not just for the casual crowd but the midcores 15-30hrs a week and hardcores 40+hr no lifers (Which are a very big minority and arguably the only group that should run out of content). This is 100% the devs fault not the players as it is a direct design choice. It is also the design choice of devs to negate all content on a roughly 6-8month cycle, again not the players fault again it is a design choice. NO average player should feel required to play competitors games because your game of choice is failing to keep you occupied. That is a sign that something is wrong in content design.

The point is in most other mmos if there was a release delay it would of not mattered because some of the content developed easily would last months longer then patch cycle would. There needs to be some content in FFXIV that had longevity to it. Eureka had serious problems, but that style of content in terms of alot of various rewards (tomes/mounts/music/glamour/armor/weapons)/long lasting/endgame tier rewards/and so on should be adopted and released at the start of every expansion and updated every single major patch. That way there is always something to be doing that is productive in the end.

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Originally Posted by Edax

I do think they could take a page out of Runescape and add certain optional grinds that take a very very very long time to accomplish that require a lot of time and resources to achieve with special unique rewards at the end of it to show off. At least it gives players more to do during the downtimes if they which to achieve that goal.

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I enjoyed grinding for Tank mount and I wouldn't mind similar grinds tied to duty finder.

I'd love a system in which you get a certain token after doing, say 100 instances which are perhaps the same ones you need for the Tank mount. Have a special shop for spending those tokens and add items to it as time goes by.

Perhaps do a seperate token for trials and dungeons, since right now there's really no reason whatsoever to do normal mode trials except for story progression. Have a Trial Token and a Dungeon Token. 100 Lvl 60+ dungeons completed grants you a dungeon token and 100 lvl 60+ trials completed grants you a trial token. 2 seperate shops. The shops could provide minions, mounts and/or glam pieces.

Just something to look forward to for people who enjoy doing random Duty Finder content for fun.

You all seem surprised at how things are when this is how they've been since the beginning. You all need to take Yoshi-P's advice and take a break to play other things, expand your horizons. be careful of what you wish for, lest this game turn into another WoW/BFA mess that incessant, needless grinding that drove so many people away from that.

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Originally Posted by DrWho2010

You all seem surprised at how things are when this is how they've been since the beginning. You all need to take Yoshi-P's advice and take a break to play other things, expand your horizons. be careful of what you wish for, lest this game turn into another WoW/BFA mess that incessant, needless grinding that drove so many people away from that.

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... did you even read some of these posts? People have said they've taken breaks. HyoMin literally posted on this very page she wasn't playing for three months. And even with that break... she's voicing the same criticism others are, myself included. Taking breaks does not speed up content that lasts less than a month unless you're on the very casual end. At least not unless the expectation is playing for a couple weeks and unsubbing for a couple months. I sincerely doubt that, especially when they purposely stagger content around patch cycles.

I'm not surprised by the lack of longevity. I am, however, voicing my criticism of it. Asking for more content with longevity doesn't mean we'll get WoW. That's just a strawman.

I don't even have a good joke about this, kinda got used to "those kind of people".
This game has big problems with having no mid core content, most of what they delivering is dead in like few weeks.
No one asked for fellowships, cheaply made ocean fishing that already dead, now we're getting sort of minion farm. Where is the content that will make you actually do something more, than waste 20 minutes per day? Nowhere, we will get another Shiva trial though, hell yeah, reused assets for no good reward.
So anyway folks, play the game for story and looking at stuff once, then unsub and bring your money to other games that will surely take your time to play it, stonks.

Imagine the lengths people would go to unlock an extra Glam plate. They could keep players busy with that for weeks.