The real reason there are even subscribers in 2024

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Originally Posted by HighlanderClone

Modern FF14:

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Why have you subjected us to this?

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Originally Posted by AnnRam

Yush.
I said before many times, like 80% of the player base (PC players) are""""""""""""" playing""""""""""""" this game like Skyrim with 25000 mods installed, dedicated plugins / addons that leave clients like Second Life in pampers. Those are the whales that keep SE happy and doing the minimum effort.

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I mean, I don't know about 80% but I will say a cursory meandering through Limsa Lominsa on Crystal makes me inclined to agree.

Then again, whatever makes them happy. Not like I'm some kind of puritan. I do wish the game was updated more closely in alignment to better mechanics and gameplay over story and crutching on RP, but RP keeps games alive so I'd say CS3 is damned smart to appeal to those types of players. The players get to enjoy themselves, CS3 gets money, and I can always go play something else when CS3 can't put out the same way Limsa can.

That's right, CS3, I hope you're listening. I expect you to pack as much work as those miqo'te wearing nothing but belts with aspirations of being clothing. That's the bar. Ain't no reason that Au'Ra should be packing more interesting interactions than a world-reknowned game dev studio. You have inspiration on tap from the folks who aim to tap.


(I'll see myself out.)

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Originally Posted by HighlanderClone

Modern FF14:

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https://i.imgflip.com/5pxrz6.jpg

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Originally Posted by Valkyrie_Lenneth

80% huh, Ima need a source for that. No one I know plays for that reason.

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it's a common jaded take, the game has problems but people saying that mods are the only reason it's not dead are pure coping. no one i know plays only for mods. mare(the zone i promise) only has like 26k users online at the time of writing this, compared to.. what is the active player sub right now?

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Originally Posted by localareanetwork

compared to.. what is the active player sub right now?

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I've always been curious to see the number of console users on this game considering every cross-platform game that I knew in the past, PS dwarfed PC in population. Like my last MMO, the PC side had died on its own, and they had to merge with the PS server just to stay alive and a bunch of us got pissed off because we got introduced to speed hacks and modded duplication stuff. CoD I know is majority console as well dwarfing PC.

As a Consoleplayer with no acces to Mods, i clearly need to say yes, you are right, nah just kidding.

I like the Classes, i like the Raids/ExTrials/Variant Dungeons there is so much fun stuff, yea not everyone likes it but i still think FFXIV is great

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Originally Posted by Zakuyia

I assume u think all ppl in ff14 erp...well ur wrong sir...I simp for honey b im beyond the measures of erp.

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Did someone say honey bee? Ask her if she wants to get married because i am available .:)

Playing on ps5 too, so yes, mods can’t be my reason to play.

In my case, I’ve been playing since March 2016. I met my husband on this game. I’ve made some friends too.
I rerolled my main char 2 times because I had to change my psn account 2 times. If I put together the playtime on each of those accounts, it exceeds 18k hours.

In my case I think it’s mostly nostalgia, and that Eorzea make me feel kind of at home.
Unfortunately DT is slowly ruining that.

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Originally Posted by HighlanderClone

Let's be really honest why there are people even subscribed to FF14 in 2024:

It isn't because it's a video game, or because it's an MMO. It's not even a good RPG anymore. Go play Divinity Original Sin 1&2 or Baldur's Gate III if you actually want to play a good RPG. And if you want fun JRPG combat? FF7R has that. Story? Lol. For the first time it's actually worse than WoW's.

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I agree. RPG element of this game has gone down over the years. The combat related content are all about doing the dance the dev want you to do, and the strict rotation the dev want to you to perform

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Who actually subscribes to FF14 for a video game after all?

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I personally don't mind the formula people keep complaining about. I actually kind of like it. However, the thought of unsubscribing has since occurred to me after seeing the quality of the game plummeted in 7.0.

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Originally Posted by HighlanderClone

Thank you for asking, I am actually playing Shadow of the Erdtree and am finding it fun (much more than the baby-fied base game). I stick around because FF14 drama is hilarious and ERPing in FF14 is very accessible and better than any MMO out there.

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You should check out Black Desert Online it took the number one spot for being best MMO out there. FFXIV ranked 5th last time I checked. I only sub now one family account after how bad Dawntrail was and now my money goes to Black Desert Online and ESO. Only keep one account going for FC and private house.

The real reason WoW, FFXIV and GW2 are still played is cause of lack of competition and sunk-cost fallency. The popular MMO don't have to improve or be innovative cause there no other real options and people will stay on it unless you screw up hard.

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Originally Posted by Magikazam

The real reason WoW, FFXIV and GW2 are still played is cause of lack of competition and sunk-cost fallency. The popular MMO don't have to improve or be innovative cause there no other real options and people will stay on it unless you screw up hard.

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Or people just like the gameplay more. You know that thing is claimed no one likes here.

No forced PvP. No massive gate keeping like Lost Ark. No running around in circles 1 shotting brainless mobs in BDO. No gender-exclusive classes. While DTs story wasn’t as strong it runs laps around most other mmos.

There are a lot of other games out there. By no competition - there is. These games are just more liked.

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Originally Posted by ZephyrMenodora

No forced PvP. No massive gate keeping like Lost Ark. No running around in circles 1 shotting brainless mobs in BDO. No gender-exclusive classes. While DTs story wasn’t as strong it runs laps around most other mmos.

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Finally someone that actually played other MMOs here lmao.

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Originally Posted by ZephyrMenodora

Or people just like the gameplay more. You know that thing is claimed no one likes here.

No forced PvP. No massive gate keeping like Lost Ark. No running around in circles 1 shotting brainless mobs in BDO. No gender-exclusive classes. While DTs story wasn’t as strong it runs laps around most other mmos.

There are a lot of other games out there. By no competition - there is. These games are just more liked.

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that kinda my point too. The popular mmo right now got their little unique thing, but there no competition on these little thing. You don't have other story driven MMO in the market. GW2 and WoW also dosen't have massive gate keeping, running around one shottting brainless mob or gender exclusive classes.

My point is mostly that if you find, let say FFXIV story driven content good, but the gameplay lacking, well you don't have Any other option for a story driven mmo. And even if one come out an try to be ''FFXIV but better'' it will just die due to lack on content compared to the 10 years we got here and the sunk cost fallency. There a reason why all the tab target ''WoW killer'' died soon after launch.

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Originally Posted by Magikazam

that kinda my point too. The popular mmo right now got their little unique thing, but there no competition on these little thing. You don't have other story driven MMO in the market. GW2 and WoW also dosen't have massive gate keeping, running around one shottting brainless mob or gender exclusive classes.

My point is mostly that if you find, let say FFXIV story driven content good, but the gameplay lacking, well you don't have Any other option for a story driven mmo. And even if one come out an try to be ''FFXIV but better'' it will just die due to lack on content compared to the 10 years we got here and the sunk cost fallency. There a reason why all the tab target ''WoW killer'' died soon after launch.

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ESO is story driven. It's just the stories are not as strong and the gameplay / floaty combat is worse IMO. So it's competition, but worse IMO. And it seems many agree as it's just not as populated as XIV.

Again, there are probably MMOs that try to do a variety of things XIV does, but the competition is just not as good at it. That doesn't mean there isn't competition.

10 years of content is hard to overcome, but if a game is outstanding it can. XIV came onto the market 14 years after EQ1 and that generation of MMOs.

MMO players flood to every new MMO that releases, at least at first. There is a market for new MMOs, they just simply are not as good.

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Originally Posted by hynaku

Black Desert Online it took the number one spot for being best MMO out there. FFXIV ranked 5th last time I checked

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? I haven't even heard BDO mentioned by friends in like half a decade. What system/media made this rating?

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Originally Posted by VoidsentStatus

? I haven't even heard BDO mentioned by friends in like half a decade. What system/media made this rating?

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IDK and honestly don't bother playing it. It's a PVP P2W mess and the PVE content is extremely lackluster. The rest of the game is pretty much Island Sanctuary: The MMO.

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Originally Posted by HighlanderClone

Explain why you have to do hunt trains or Expert over and over again for six to seven weeks to get BiS for Ultimate then??

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Considering you can cap out on tomes, weekly, with less than an hour of play a day, I would say that's not a grind.

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you call that grind ? How innocent you are

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This made me chuckle. Some of these youngins will never understand the true meaning of grind.

Square Enix has been a laughing stock of a company for years. It will never get better. Dawntrail will likely be the last expansion for many people before they switch to a different game. The “other MMO” is coming back and its newest expansion has good reviews. Square Enix is so incompetent that it likely doesn’t realize how important roleplaying and modding are to its bottom line. It’s a sad company that only exists to remake old titles, which were made with actual talent. Now that they killed off the classes and all the old content that made the game great, FFXIV no longer deserves its “mainline entry” status. It’s now a small app for making your avatar like IMVU. Fans have added more content to the game than Square Enix has in the past four years.

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Originally Posted by SigmaOZ

Mods are also mediocre since the ones that create them do it however they want and they are too different from the "vanilla" models.

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I think you should definitely check the mod website to re-evaluate your opinion of “mediocre” and “too much different from vanilla”, especially if you look for bodies like Bibo’s and TBSE’s.
They also had the hands and feet remeshed to something more…human-like.

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Originally Posted by HighlanderClone

Explain why you have to do hunt trains or Expert over and over again for six to seven weeks to get BiS for Ultimate then??

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you cap out on weekly tomestones by doing Expert roulette four days in a week.
That's hardly a grind. It's only slow because of the time gating. And unless for some reason, your BiS is some bit of crafted gear that has to be pentamelded, you don't need hunt trains either.

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Originally Posted by HighlanderClone

Let's be really honest why there are people even subscribed to FF14 in 2024:

It isn't because it's a video game, or because it's an MMO. It's not even a good RPG anymore. Go play Divinity Original Sin 1&2 or Baldur's Gate III if you actually want to play a good RPG. And if you want fun JRPG combat? FF7R has that. Story? Lol. For the first time it's actually worse than WoW's.

Let's all be honest. The reason why people are even "playing" FF14 in 2024 isn't because people are "playing" the game. It's because FF14 has the best suite of third party, ToS-violating tools that help you look your best in screenshots. Or the best in different custom poses. Or the best while they're all unequipped and you're doing gods know what down there while staring at those unequipped characters.

It's also because FF14 has the best drama. Desolance? Xeno? Arthars? Healer strike? Wuk Lamat? Need I go on? It's always a fun time to be in the FF14 community because every other day some human interest story will organically pop up that lets people get a huge whiff of what absolute human depravity looks like.

And it's also because you can find your e-girl or e-boy on some steamy Discord and get dating while sitting on each other's lap (both catgirl ofc) on the Limsa Lominsa Lower Deck Plaza bench under a tree right to the left of the marketboard. But really it's all just Discord and using FF14 to heat up your room.

Who actually subscribes to FF14 for a video game after all?

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The shackles are the housing system and weekly roulettes. The 450 tome cap is there to both stop people from over doing it, and also stop people from walking away since if someone doesn't cap they can't exactly go over 450 tomes on another week to make up for it. The custom deliveries and what not are built that way as well.

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Originally Posted by caffe_macchiato

Square Enix has been a laughing stock of a company for years. It will never get better. Dawntrail will likely be the last expansion for many people before they switch to a different game. The “other MMO” is coming back and its newest expansion has good reviews.

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Doubtful. Every expansion will be the "last one" for some segment of the population, while other players will simply rotate in (or back in) and take their place. People doomsayed to no end trashing EW, and what happened? Yeah, DT had the highest pre-sales ever for FFXIV, even beating EW which had been inflated by the "WoW exodus." People will also continue playing multiple games, including FFXIV as one of them.

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Square Enix is so incompetent that it likely doesn’t realize how important roleplaying and modding are to its bottom line.

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They absolutely do realize that. Why do you think they "outlaw" modding, but look the other way at so many of the mods that exist unless people are mind-bogglingly idiotic and openly broadcast that they use them? Entire modding communities exist within FFXIV that SE recognizes is beneficial and lets alone.

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It’s a sad company that only exists to remake old titles, which were made with actual talent.

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This is the one part I can half agree with. I wish they would stop with the remakes, especially FF7, which to me is the most overhyped and overrated game in existence. The new titles are still made with plenty of "actual talent," though, they're just made in a different style that simply may not appeal to the same people SE's older games had appealed to.

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Now that they killed off the classes and all the old content that made the game great, FFXIV no longer deserves its “mainline entry” status.

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They haven't "killed off" anything. Classes still have their own unique flavors, and every single piece of content made for the game is still playable (unlike certain other "popular" MMO's that either completely destroy and remake their world, rendering the "old content" physically gone from the game, or put it in a "content vault" where it's - again - literally inaccessible). FFXIV still has all of the old content available, and most certainly deserves its "mainline" status.

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It’s now a small app for making your avatar like IMVU. Fans have added more content to the game than Square Enix has in the past four years.

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Oh, please. Comments like this just shred credibility on anything and everything else. The hundreds of PF Extreme and Savage groups, Hunt trains so large they're lagging servers, ~60+ hours of new content released in 7.0, etc.. Seriously.

Though I should ask, now that you've gone from the fake "cheerleader" posting to the utterly bitter posting, and saying things like your opening two sentences...why are you even here? Go play a game you'll actually enjoy (seriously).

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Originally Posted by Lak14

people who enjoy mmorpg without grind ?

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and people who want to post on the forums asking why people are still subbed. Oh the irony

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Originally Posted by Striker44

Doubtful. Every expansion will be the "last one" for some segment of the population, while other players will simply rotate in (or back in) and take their place. People doomsayed to no end trashing EW, and what happened? Yeah, DT had the highest pre-sales ever for FFXIV, even beating EW which had been inflated by the "WoW exodus." People will also continue playing multiple games, including FFXIV as one of them.

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I disagree on the player population thing.
EW had the WoW people but DT surfed on the EW hype.
Long time will show if DT can stand on it’s on legs.

Other than that I agree.
FF14 will not die for the next several years and probably not even decline.
DT story sucks but many (me included for the foreseeable future) stay while being miffed about it because the rest is still good and many years of playtime were sunk into it.

The biggest thing is probably also that there is no real competition.
Wow can be big again but it has another target audience for a huge part and for me and quite a number of others is uninteresting because of art style and narrative alone.

Guild Wars maybe but I don’t know the status of it since I heard rumors of Guild Wars 3.

Personally I think the only ones who could become a danger right now would be Hoyoverse with the huge financial playroom they have would they develop an mmorpg.
But I don’t see that and if there is none they can exist peacefully besides FF14.

The worst thing for ff14 right now is that it can become widely known as mediocre.
If it has nothing anymore that makes it stand out than people might spent less in it. Less subscription (just waiting for expansions) less mog station and so on.

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Originally Posted by Voidmage

I disagree on the player population thing.
EW had the WoW people but DT surfed on the EW hype.
Long time will show if DT can stand on it’s on legs.

Other than that I agree.
FF14 will not die for the next several years and probably not even decline.
DT story sucks but many (me included for the foreseeable future) stay while being miffed about it because the rest is still good and many years of playtime were sunk into it.

The biggest thing is probably also that there is no real competition.
Wow can be big again but it has another target audience for a huge part and for me and quite a number of others is uninteresting because of art style and narrative alone.

Guild Wars maybe but I don’t know the status of it since I heard rumors of Guild Wars 3.

Personally I think the only ones who could become a danger right now would be Hoyoverse with the huge financial playroom they have would they develop an mmorpg.
But I don’t see that and if there is none they can exist peacefully besides FF14.

The worst thing for ff14 right now is that it can become widely known as mediocre.
If it has nothing anymore that makes it stand out than people might spent less in it. Less subscription (just waiting for expansions) less mog station and so on.

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Hoyo wouldn't make an MMO, Tower of Fantasy proved that a gacha based MMO would not work well for a majority of people. Launch scandal aside it's not a fun concept in the long run as someone who does still semi-regularly play it, as you're basically required to get multiple copies of characters to even push large damage numbers. Feels weird in an MMO environment where gear/skill should ultimately be the defining factor of how strong you are, not how large your wallet is/how lucky you are.

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Originally Posted by HighlanderClone

Modern FF14:

https://i.ibb.co/fkPzSxn/IMG-1616.webp

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Most people don't see this on their screen unless they run Mare.

It's kinda sad when people are just so used to mods that they can't see anything beyond that anymore.


For me as an RPer and casual Crafter/Gatherer, it's... that. RP, crafting gathering.

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Originally Posted by LianaThorne

Hoyo wouldn't make an MMO, Tower of Fantasy proved that a gacha based MMO would not work well for a majority of people. Launch scandal aside it's not a fun concept in the long run as someone who does still semi-regularly play it, as you're basically required to get multiple copies of characters to even push large damage numbers. Feels weird in an MMO environment where gear/skill should ultimately be the defining factor of how strong you are, not how large your wallet is/how lucky you are.

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I know HoYo probably won’t make an mmo (even though I think they are the only ones who could combine good gacha with it without it being predatory).
It was just an example of the fact that there is actually no one who can really be a competition to ff14 right now because all others are too different, be it art style or storytelling.
I’m not saying Hoyo is better but that ff14 could actually learn from looking what other games do in some aspects.
And as sad as it is. When I compare Wuk Lamat to any of the Fontaine characters she falls flatter than the earth in some tinfoil brains.

FF14 actually needs competition in my opinion but there is none and that’s the big danger.

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Originally Posted by TBerry

Most people don't see this on their screen unless they run Mare.

It's kinda sad when people are just so used to mods that they can't see anything beyond that anymore.


For me as an RPer and casual Crafter/Gatherer, it's... that. RP, crafting gathering.

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This may be an unpopular opinion but in my eyes mods are part of the problem.
The people just fix stuff like hats themself instead of demanding that from the devs.
It’s crazy how fast the community can throw out good looking hairstyles while the devs can only be bothered to half ass one every few years.
When was the last time we got a good looking hairstyle? Bozja?

Those pictures while creepy are just the most extreme.
If my time with Skyrim modding is any indication then most people mod only little things like ears, makeup or hair, maybe some outfits but normally not like in those screenshots.

This is actually true. Someone had to say it. Thanks for being based.

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Originally Posted by Voidmage

I disagree on the player population thing.
EW had the WoW people but DT surfed on the EW hype.
Long time will show if DT can stand on it’s on legs.

Other than that I agree.
FF14 will not die for the next several years and probably not even decline.
DT story sucks but many (me included for the foreseeable future) stay while being miffed about it because the rest is still good and many years of playtime were sunk into it.

The biggest thing is probably also that there is no real competition.
Wow can be big again but it has another target audience for a huge part and for me and quite a number of others is uninteresting because of art style and narrative alone.

Guild Wars maybe but I don’t know the status of it since I heard rumors of Guild Wars 3.

Personally I think the only ones who could become a danger right now would be Hoyoverse with the huge financial playroom they have would they develop an mmorpg.
But I don’t see that and if there is none they can exist peacefully besides FF14.

The worst thing for ff14 right now is that it can become widely known as mediocre.
If it has nothing anymore that makes it stand out than people might spent less in it. Less subscription (just waiting for expansions) less mog station and so on.

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To be frank, the only type of game that even has a "death" is a live service. FFXIV already died multiple times as well since we can never go back to play the game as it was before. I can go back and play Chrono Cross on my PS2 and it is still the same experience I had in the late 90s. The other thing is the illusion of progress in FFXIV: nothing matters in the game. If someone wants to get the most enjoyment out of the game they might as well wait until the next expansion and retro play the prior one, because the entire system favors that over grinding in the current end game.

OP is funny. Maybe I will go back to playing Divinity 2. I need to try and beat the game on the harder difficulties. Whether I'll do it entirely solo again is a different story.

I can't say I'm innocent when it comes to RPing. However, it did take over 4 years for that alone to drag me out of grinding PvP. That's what has truly kept me going when I first started. So much to do in the game, and that's all you can come up with? Shame...shame on you.

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Originally Posted by Voidmage

This may be an unpopular opinion but in my eyes mods are part of the problem.
The people just fix stuff like hats themself instead of demanding that from the devs.
It’s crazy how fast the community can throw out good looking hairstyles while the devs can only be bothered to half ass one every few years.
When was the last time we got a good looking hairstyle? Bozja?

Those pictures while creepy are just the most extreme.
If my time with Skyrim modding is any indication then most people mod only little things like ears, makeup or hair, maybe some outfits but normally not like in those screenshots.

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I get what you're saying, and I agree, but my point is, if you're just a mismatched mess while you expect everyone to see what you see, and without any desscription or explanation (which RP hinges on), it's just sad.

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Originally Posted by Voidmage

I know HoYo probably won’t make an mmo (even though I think they are the only ones who could combine good gacha with it without it being predatory).
It was just an example of the fact that there is actually no one who can really be a competition to ff14 right now because all others are too different, be it art style or storytelling.
I’m not saying Hoyo is better but that ff14 could actually learn from looking what other games do in some aspects.
And as sad as it is. When I compare Wuk Lamat to any of the Fontaine characters she falls flatter than the earth in some tinfoil brains.

FF14 actually needs competition in my opinion but there is none and that’s the big danger.


This may be an unpopular opinion but in my eyes mods are part of the problem.
The people just fix stuff like hats themself instead of demanding that from the devs.
It’s crazy how fast the community can throw out good looking hairstyles while the devs can only be bothered to half ass one every few years.
When was the last time we got a good looking hairstyle? Bozja?

Those pictures while creepy are just the most extreme.
If my time with Skyrim modding is any indication then most people mod only little things like ears, makeup or hair, maybe some outfits but normally not like in those screenshots.

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I think it's a cause and effect thing.

People have been asking for years for the devs to add/fix things, Viera hats included (I joined during 5.2 and people were asking for them then prior to mods exploding). I think after a while some just got tired of waiting for the customization they wanted and now we're here. I don't think it's necessarily fair to blame them for the issues existing but I agree now that Square might just not care to improve on things since modders will do it for them.

They definitely help make the game better, such as the one that gives you hats for viera and hrothgar. In my opinion square enix should be happy the modding and plugins community has kept people around; they've fixed a lot of things square enix hasn't fixed in a decade like the physics engine breaking above 60fps.

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Originally Posted by Striker44

Though I should ask, now that you've gone from the fake "cheerleader" posting to the utterly bitter posting, and saying things like your opening two sentences...why are you even here? Go play a game you'll actually enjoy (seriously).

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You don't need to "play" FFXIV in 2024 as the game basically plays itself. I will stay subbed, I will make images of my character in lingerie, and I will continue to trash this "game" on the forums at the same time. FFXIV is the video game equivalent of a trailer park brothel and it should be treated as such. I'm glad they have tolerance because this is the one thing that FFXIV does very well.

i mean i didnt start playing until a little over a year ago so i guess i dont have the most rooted opinion but i enjoy myself with the game very much for just...the game, i dont use third party software hell i barely kno what a macro is lol. i take pics of my lala on my phone sometimes and thats about it. i dont even have any glam rly

whats with all the doomposting anyway? if ur not having fun then yea you should probably leave

bait threads used to be believable

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Originally Posted by caffe_macchiato

You don't need to "play" FFXIV in 2024 as the game basically plays itself. I will stay subbed, I will make images of my character in lingerie, and I will continue to trash this "game" on the forums at the same time. FFXIV is the video game equivalent of a trailer park brothel and it should be treated as such. I'm glad they have tolerance because this is the one thing that FFXIV does very well.

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Rebel against the system by paying into it. Thanks for helping keep the servers up pal!

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Originally Posted by vafurous

i mean i didnt start playing until a little over a year ago so i guess i dont have the most rooted opinion but i enjoy myself with the game very much for just...the game, i dont use third party software hell i barely kno what a macro is lol. i take pics of my lala on my phone sometimes and thats about it. i dont even have any glam rly

whats with all the doomposting anyway? if ur not having fun then yea you should probably leave

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Welcome to the forums! The ones doomposting here are usually pretty miserable thus spend their time here complaining rather than, ya know... Playing the game.. :O