Based on NA FanFest 2026, Do You Think Friends/Players Will Return to FFXIV?

I agree with many of you that it'll be hard to get old players to return. Maybe people are just waiting for Dawntrail to end, I don't know yet.

The "middle difficulty" will definitely interest people who found Savage to be too hard.

With that said there's some hope in some of your responses, which I enjoy.

I really hope that this expansion will be the one where everyone comes back.

I know my friend is not returning. And I already told them that for me 8.0 is basically the make or break for me as my own interest is low.

That to me, evercold really needs to be the expansion that does a lot of work to entice players to comeback, not just 8.0, but its whole expansion. Not just the job gameplay but like like the story, the voice acting, the side content, the dungeons and raids and trials.

I've got a few friends who are interested in coming back. After mentioning evolved mode, their interest's piqued. One of them is talking about resubbing beforr next patch. Whether they stick around for the next expansion is yet to be seen though.

However, I'd say the people who are/were on the hate train for Dawntrail and quit along the way, will more than likely not return. I honestly don't want them to either.
I'm hearing a lot of folks doom about the evolved combat system before they even get the chance to try it out. People are allowed to be skeptical but people are scared of change. All the news could bring alot of people back while simultaneously pushing alot of players away. We'll just have to wait for more updates.

Some have already returned, but I do not expect the majority to return until the October time frame as it will give them plenty of time to do the MSQ and any catch up they need to do.

A lot of people come back every expansion. What matters is if the expansion can hook them and keep them playing. Dawntrail failed on that with it's lackluster story and very little changes and addition to jobs, even though combat design was a definite improvement.

We'll have to see if Evercold's story, Evolved Mode for old jobs, and other changes and additions are able to hook returning players immediately.

I expect a lot of returners, but as far as new NEW players... aside from Switch 2 users, I don't expect ShB or EW numbers again.

Ever since I started playing ARR I was always under the assumption that new players didn't mind the 300+ hour of MSQ in the way of reaching endgame or the solo focus. But one of the most common complaints I heard from people I know who quit before reaching the climax of 6.0... Is that you can't play the MSQ with friends and the time commitment to be done with it is excessive.
Yes there are duties that are fun to play with friends who are new across every expansion, but they seem to generally feel like "catching up" is a priority, but the catching up experience is largely solo, and not very interactive.

My point being, they're going to have to do something about the MSQ experience. It being so solo-focused, having all of its field zone portions being ridiculously easy, and consisting mostly of long stretches of reading and watching when you're not doing the next MSQ duty... That was OK for a while. But now it's five expansions of that... It's not the most engaging giant time commitment you can give to new players.

I don’t think many brand new players will appear although the Switch 2 version will probably bring some in, but I think all the system changes plus the story which looks pretty intriguing will bring a good few returners out. I certainly know some people who haven’t played since 7.0 gearing up to return for 8.0.

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Originally Posted by Wyldkat99

Some people won't agree, but the Community of FFXIV has changed drastically since ShB. There's a lot more Weirdos and Pervs than there used to be, or they are at least much bolder in their actions.

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God, YES ! How can people not agree with that ? I feel like the community changed so much socially since SB/ShB too. Before, it felt more genuine. Everyone was rowing in the same direction. People were nicer/friendlier, more socially active (not in an ERP kind of way that we see so much nowadays), there was less weirdos and pervs like you say. I see a lot of that kind of people almost every time I log in.

I read something some months ago theorizing about that and how the game used to be played majorly by people with certain personalities/ personality traits/ tastes, but then when it became popular during covid/shb, it got diluted, that landscape changed with the amount of new players the game got (and because of other reasons too, obviously) - hence the shift in that feeling.

You know, it just occurred to me there's a chance they have to make dungeon content compatible with NPCs for Duty Support.. so ... encounter design may not change much...
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Well, it's a wait-and-see situation for most of us since we're still lacking critical information until the next two Fanfest, and a wait-and-see if any of us stays long term based on what they do with the existing concerns and feedback.

My former ingame friends weren't even interested in watching the stream. DT was a massive disappointment, so Evercold has to deliver twice as much to convince. I am not seeing much of that at the moment.

Despite all this, there are always people who come back for a new expansion, play a couple of months and then return to hiatus, so yes, there will be a good chunk of returners.