4.1 - The emptiest patch yet.

To be honest I think the issue stems in the game being too friendly to those who are all about instant gratification. New content gets dated and made irrelevant within months because they don't want players who do take a break to feel like they are behind. But then these returning players get to the end too fast and will find themselves leaving until the next patch again.

I'm not unhappy with this patch, but I do think people are honestly missing the underlying problem. It doesn't matter how many new dungeons they add because dungeons as they are now are only there for tomes and glamour, and you are devoid of any reason to run them outside of roulettes for the most part. Extreme trials are victim to this as well, as they are made obsolete pretty quickly as the expansion progresses. Instead of designing content that is meant to last four months, maybe they should better allocate their resources and make content that can be timeless.

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Originally Posted by Remedi

Ye but sticking to a game that you clearly don't like anymore and just complaining on the forum while dissing any content that you don't like as useless it's not makiing you any good

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This.

FFXIV isn't designed to keep people entertained 24/7 and it's never going to be able to do that. At the same time, it also isn't going to be able to appease everybody and not every bit of content is going to be custom tailored to any given individual's personal tastes.

I adore the inclusion of swimming as it makes the game world feel more immersive and it's a great addition for role-players. It also sets the stage for more engaging underwater content in the future.

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Originally Posted by Theodric

I adore the inclusion of swimming as it makes the game world feel more immersive and it's a great addition for role-players. It also sets the stage for more engaging underwater content in the future.

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The addition of underwater swimming is actually a good parallel to most of the new content in FFXIV. Neat and flashy feature added with stormblood, during the MSQ I was like "woah!" Exploring the depths of different cities was fun.

Then you beat the MSQ and they never give you a reason to go back underwater ever again.

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Originally Posted by Coatl

The addition of underwater swimming is actually a good parallel to most of the new content in FFXIV. Neat and flashy feature added with stormblood, during the MSQ I was like "woah!" Exploring the depths of different cities was fun.

Then you beat the MSQ and they never give you a reason to go back underwater ever again.

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I feel pretty much the same about swimming, although I realised early it would be pretty much this, however I hope that them adding swimmable areas to the housing district will mean that they will update the old world

I also agree that the underlining problem is that they appeased the instant gratification masses too much

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Originally Posted by Theodric

FFXIV isn't designed to keep people entertained 24/7 and it's never going to be able to do that.

I adore the inclusion of swimming as it makes the game world feel more immersive and it's a great addition for role-players. It also sets the stage for more engaging underwater content in the future.

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It makes the game more immersive? Except that you can't swim certain areas. You just RP that there is sharks? And please elaborate how underwater will become more engaging. There's never going to be underwater combat (Which is the backbone of any game).

Also, ATM XIV keeps people entertained 3/168 hours per week if you're up-to-date with content. It'll go up for 4-5 weeks then RIP again until 4.2.

Raiders WANT to play the game, we love it. We just hate that it's so empty for our skill level.

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Originally Posted by Pence

It makes the game more immersive? Except that you can't swim certain areas. You just RP that there is sharks? And please elaborate how underwater will become more engaging. There's never going to be underwater combat (Which is the backbone of any game).

Also, ATM XIV keeps people entertained 3/168 hours per week if you're up-to-date with content. It'll go up for 4-5 weeks then RIP again until 4.2.

Raiders WANT to play the game, we love it. We just hate that it's so empty for our skill level.

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Off topic, but speaking of sharks, the first time I run into one at ruby sea I wish that if you got too close they will bite you and drag you down to the bottom of sea, killing you in the process. Kinda like crocs in MGS3. If only...

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Originally Posted by Coatl

Instead of designing content that is meant to last four months, maybe they should better allocate their resources and make content that can be timeless.

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PotD is probably the biggest success for renewable content on the PvE side. Still getting quick matched-party queues for it now. Some of those design elements could be extended to other content. Standard dungeons aren't built to last because it's the same groups of enemies in the same order every time and rewards are meagre.

For the next deep dungeon, I'd like to see them build on the things that worked in PotD and increase the fun with new mechanics.
I'm just going to spitball some ideas, might not be good but maybe somebody can think of better ones.

> Mini-bosses on middle floors that survive long enough for you to do a proper attack rotation
> Chance of roaming big enemy to dodge like wanderer's palace
> Diversify objectives like sometimes you unlock exit by finding hidden key; defeating enemies optional
> Variation in size and shape of rooms
> Change up the types of hazards, don't necessarily need to repeat things like frog status and mimics
> New floor enchantments like one that makes your movement speed really fast
> Floors that have mounts you can ride which do AOE attacks to mow through big waves of enemies
> Floors where party members do not all start at the same position

And pvp is inherently long lasting, every match is different. Has its own problems but they are trying.

-pvp
the vendor sells minions and musical stuff, but hey, the moba is at least something new.

-Chocobo racing
The guy who worked on the racing got moved to EX trials, so unless someone replaces him, tough luck.

-Triad
You can also just fight the NPC's to raise your rank. just saying.

-PotD
That will prob be 4.3 to be honest. and it wont be an update, it will be a new deep dungeon.

-Treasure Maps
The gambling part we are getting for the sunken canals is good, and as much as you hate it, it's good gil.

-Zhloe
It was made to help people gear up to do collectibles without shilling out gil.

-Khloe
RNG is RNG.

And to end it off, they make these other kinds of content to give something to do rather than just run dungeons over and over or do the raids over and over, it's something different to do, and it's better to try to find something else that works than do nothing.

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Originally Posted by Pence

It makes the game more immersive? Except that you can't swim certain areas. You just RP that there is sharks? And please elaborate how underwater will become more engaging. There's never going to be underwater combat (Which is the backbone of any game).

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I've yet to see an MMO get underwater combat to be decent enough to be a backbone.

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Originally Posted by blindfoldedkaos

I've yet to see an MMO get underwater combat to be decent enough to be a backbone.

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Combat is the backbone...sorry if I worded it wrong