FFXIV Dawntrail reviews are out on Metacritic

Update: Steam score and Metacritic User Score drop.

Update: Steam score and Metacritic User Score dropped again. However, Critic Score rose by a point.

Unsarcastically: Thank you for the updates. Appreciated.

It's also interesting that quite a few Steam "thumbs up" reviews are not really positive in the descriptions. I wonder what the numbers would look like if given a 1-10 or positive/neutral/negative option.

I hope that this is a reminder that XIV isn't untouchable. We need them to bring their A-team writers and actors, and hire more if their team is spread too thin.

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Originally Posted by Sivante

Unsarcastically: Thank you for the updates. Appreciated.

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No problem at all. This data needs to be made widely known as it's one of the several ways the players can voice their discontent.

It's common practice for companies to pay millions to journalists and PR companies that run bot accounts for good reviews, or to delete, censor or shadowban bad reviews. Its not illegal or anything.

No question a giant like square enix does the same. Its just a part of the marketing budget.

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Originally Posted by Wildheaven182

It's common practice for companies to pay millions to journalists and PR companies that run bot accounts for good reviews, or to delete, censor or shadowban bad reviews. Its not illegal or anything.

No question a giant like square enix does the same. Its just a part of the marketing budget.

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Oh, absolutely. Which makes the fact that they've been doing all this damage control, and are still getting dunked on, even more delicious.

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Originally Posted by Swordsman

And the User Scores for all other expansions:

EW: 8.9
ShB: 9.1
SB: 9.0
HW: 8.7
ARR: 7.8

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Oooh, so my favorite expansion Stormblood really isn't as bad as the whiners say. :D

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Originally Posted by Swordsman

90 Inverse
Jul 9, 2024
I could actually see myself replaying Dawntrail in its entirety just to pore back over this adventure and look for missed details and re-experience the highs and lows. That’s a first for me, nearly a thousand hours in.

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Whoever wrote this article is clearly a masochist. Replaying DT in it's entirety...the thought alone is scary.

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Originally Posted by Erinellza

Oooh, so my favorite expansion Stormblood really isn't as bad as the whiners say. :D

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Stormblood's main issue was Lyse. The rest of the expansion, Hien included, wasn't bad. And the raids and extremes are still my favorite.

However, Stormblood was also the beginning of the end for Job design. That was the moment they started neutering everything, and haven't stopped since. They'd pruned quite a bit after HW, but the Jobs were still mostly enjoyable. After SB, though, SHB and beyond just killed every Job.

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Originally Posted by Isala

Stormblood's main issue was Lyse. The rest of the expansion, Hien included, wasn't bad. And the raids and extremes are still my favorite.

However, Stormblood was also the beginning of the end for Job design. That was the moment they started neutering everything, and haven't stopped since. They'd pruned quite a bit after HW, but the Jobs were still mostly enjoyable. After SB, though, SHB and beyond just killed every Job.

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God - I miss HW Dark Knight so much. It was genuinely more complex, fun and involved than what we have right now, despite having 40 less levels to work with. Genuinely the funnest class in the game until it was savaged.

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Originally Posted by Isala

Stormblood's main issue was Lyse. The rest of the expansion, Hien included, wasn't bad. And the raids and extremes are still my favorite.

However, Stormblood was also the beginning of the end for Job design. That was the moment they started neutering everything, and haven't stopped since. They'd pruned quite a bit after HW, but the Jobs were still mostly enjoyable. After SB, though, SHB and beyond just killed every Job.

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I still miss the pre-dumbed down SCH. That job could carry if you knew what you were doing.

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Originally Posted by Uncle_Jafar

I still miss the pre-dumbed down SCH. That job could carry if you knew what you were doing.

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I started the game as a CNJ, and have pretty much alternated WHM and SCH as my mains the entire game. I also miss what they used to be... It's been depressing seeing the changes every single expansion.

Steam Reviews - 58%

lmao it actually went down

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Originally Posted by Aniise

Whoever wrote this article is clearly a masochist. Replaying DT in it's entirety...the thought alone is scary.

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It reads more like a shill to me

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Originally Posted by Aniise

Whoever wrote this article is clearly a masochist. Replaying DT in it's entirety...the thought alone is scary.

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I can safely say DT is the only expansion I'll never play again.

Well, the good side it's that ARR got less hate ^^

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Originally Posted by Lorika

Well, the good side it's that ARR got less hate ^^

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Lyse now looks preferable by comparison as well.

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Originally Posted by Sivante

Lyse now looks preferable by comparison as well.

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I never disliked Lyse. She was a bit annoying, but she evolved through the story, being made aware of her shortcomings and trying to fix them.

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Originally Posted by Erinellza

Oooh, so my favorite expansion Stormblood really isn't as bad as the whiners say. :D

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Controversial opinion - I liked Stormblood more than EW.

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Originally Posted by Lorika

I never disliked Lyse. She was a bit annoying, but she evolved through the story, being made aware of her shortcomings and trying to fix them.

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Agreed. She had her annoying moments and all but I didn't find her dislikable, and she had significant character development throughout the MSQ.

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Originally Posted by Lorika

I never disliked Lyse. She was a bit annoying, but she evolved through the story, being made aware of her shortcomings and trying to fix them.

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I hated her, but I think it was because she wasn't given enough story nuance. Everything with her felt silly levels of ham-fisted and forced. I think I would have liked her more if they took time with her. That being said, Fur-Lyse makes me love Lyse by comparison.

Update: Steam score dropped by 1%. Added Steam reviews in the last 30 days which currently sits at 39% (Mostly Negative).

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Originally Posted by Swordsman

Update: Steam score dropped by 1%. Added Steam reviews in the last 30 days which currently sits at 39% (Mostly Negative).

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Yet steam numbers are EXACTLY the same as when EW came out.

https://steamcharts.com/app/39210

I want to know what avenue of voicing discontent is valid at this point.

I've seen the wannabe Marxist activist types saying forum posting = not valid form of criticism..

Metacritic reviews = review bombs..

Steam reviews = review bombs. Vocal minority. etc.

At what point or length does someone who genuinely wants to leave a sincere review have to go to to be considered not a review bomber?
Do we just shut up like they intend? Do they want to just stifle any dissent and get their way no matter what low they have to stoop to? I'm inclined to believe there's a much larger situation at play.

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Originally Posted by Rabblerabble

I want to know what avenue of voicing discontent is valid at this point.

I've seen the wannabe Marxist activist types saying forum posting = not valid form of criticism..

Metacritic reviews = review bombs..

Steam reviews = review bombs. Vocal minority. etc.

At what point or length does someone who genuinely wants to leave a sincere review have to go to to be considered not a review bomber?
Do we just shut up like they intend? Do they want to just stifle any dissent and get their way no matter what low they have to stoop to? I'm inclined to believe there's a much larger situation at play.

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The only valid reviews are the positive ones, of course!
Remember, whenever you say something bad about the game, you have to dismiss your point immediately and make a positive point about the bad thing you just pointed out. Only then does the hivemind accept your review.

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Originally Posted by Uncle_Jafar

Yet steam numbers are EXACTLY the same as when EW came out.

https://steamcharts.com/app/39210

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And honestly that's why I'm giving up on this game. It's gonna become yet another Pokemon situation, where the reviews can be abysmal yet the sales will be gigantic, and of course all that the company cares for is how much money it makes, better yet if they barely need to make an effort.

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Originally Posted by Rabblerabble

I want to know what avenue of voicing discontent is valid at this point.

I've seen the wannabe Marxist activist types saying forum posting = not valid form of criticism..

Metacritic reviews = review bombs..

Steam reviews = review bombs. Vocal minority. etc.

At what point or length does someone who genuinely wants to leave a sincere review have to go to to be considered not a review bomber?
Do we just shut up like they intend? Do they want to just stifle any dissent and get their way no matter what low they have to stoop to? I'm inclined to believe there's a much larger situation at play.

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That's called toxic positivity.

And that's the best way to kill FFXIV.
Those who are voicing discontent but still playing the game are those who care for the game and hope that it will stay alive as long as possible
Those who are all about toxic positivity are those who don't (I'm not talking about those who liked Dawntrail, but those who are berating people for complaining with any justification, even stupid ones, or even worse who are telling to stop playing).
Those who aren't on any social media / forum and that aren't voicing their discontent are the "main" justification used by those guys to say "you are just a vocal minority", but what they don't understand is that they are also the one who will just stop playing without warning if the quality of the game hit rock bottom. And it will be too late to complain after that.

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Originally Posted by Uncle_Jafar

Yet steam numbers are EXACTLY the same as when EW came out.

https://steamcharts.com/app/39210

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Because peoples don't stop playing MMORPG on a whim (for most).

It's a long process, but once it's started, 9 times out of 10 it's unstoppable. Dawntrail isn't close to being what could cause this for now but ignoring complaint could lead to that if the story remain divisive.

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Originally Posted by Teah_Kaye

I'm sorry, what in the word salad does Marxism have to do with this?

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A tactic they love employing.. Attack any dissenting opinion, deflect any criticism, single people out and attack relentlessly. Keep people divided and just straight up lie about anything and everything. With abandon.
They will never admit any guilt, or any fault. Many of the online publications are actually staffed by people openly stating they are Marxists. It's the cool grift it seems these days.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...4110ad7099b3e&


https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...07092062992d9&

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...5898bfa7f7617&

These are the types of people that go and declare that reviews that don't align with their standards are "review bombs". Or that people that don't like something and post a negative review are oh, a vocal minority, all the while demanding to the places that host these reviews to remove the review, or face some kind of financial back lash.

https://youtube.com/shorts/wv8ckDqlk...3LAE8G-HgtuJM9

This is another example, threaten whoever they are talking to with some financial consequence.

Now I have no issue with any of the politics involved in the expansion of the game, I have stated before I have no care either way for Wuk Lamat, or the v.a. , rather I have disliked the narrative, writing and characters in the game for quite a while. I enjoy XIV. Honestly, it is pretty fun in my opinion. The story and characters tho are 0% of what I enjoy about the game.

All I want to know is where can someone post a review without being labelled as a vocal minority or a review bomber?

I hope this "word salad" helps you understand why I chose the words I chose Teah_Kaye.

Actually I just think your average person is really emotionally sensitive and defensive of things they like because of consumer culture so they're prone to playing defense for large corporations because an attack on the thing they like is perceived as a direct attack on themselves

Among us among us

I think caring about reviews scores is dumb though like thinking the stock market or horoscopes are real

Score update: Steam score dropped and Metacritic User Score dropped. Added link to new /r/ffxivdiscussion thread: "Dawntrail has reached "Mostly Negative" reviews on Steam."

Score update: Metacritic User Score dropped by 1 point, Steam reviews in last 30 days rose by 1 point. I wonder if Metacritic user score will dip below 6.0.

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Originally Posted by Swordsman

Score update: Metacritic User Score dropped by 1 point, Steam reviews in last 30 days rose by 1 point. I wonder if Metacritic user score will dip below 6.0.

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And to go along with that update - the player population numbers show nobody really cares about those scores or reviews, as DT is maintaining practically the exact same retention % as every other expansion, coupled with one of the highest active playerbase numbers (topped only by the release month of DT itself and that brief "WoW Exodus" spike a few years back).

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Originally Posted by Swordsman

Score update: Metacritic User Score dropped by 1 point, Steam reviews in last 30 days rose by 1 point. I wonder if Metacritic user score will dip below 6.0.

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but why????

the game is good no? we got another finisher for summoner.. things can't be this bad

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Originally Posted by Zackneifein

Because peoples don't stop playing MMORPG on a whim (for most).

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This. I recommend people look up a term called the "trust thermocline". It's not a perfect analogy (though there never is), but it's a pretty accurate representation of what happens, particularly in gaming. At a previous game company I worked at, it played out like that exactly. The development management teams kept pushing the players further and further until they finally snapped and left in droves. Players are sticky and won't leave on a whim, particularly if there are other things keeping them around. I for one am sticking around because I have a house and I'm waiting to see what happens with 7.1. Others will stay out of sunk cost, because they have friends still playing, or they have far higher tolerances. But at some point a company will hit a point where their customers lose faith in them and they will go elsewhere en masse.

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Originally Posted by lolnotacat

This. I recommend people look up a term called the "trust thermocline". It's not a perfect analogy (though there never is), but it's a pretty accurate representation of what happens, particularly in gaming. At a previous game company I worked at, it played out like that exactly. The development management teams kept pushing the players further and further until they finally snapped and left in droves. Players are sticky and won't leave on a whim, particularly if there are other things keeping them around. I for one am sticking around because I have a house and I'm waiting to see what happens with 7.1. Others will stay out of sunk cost, because they have friends still playing, or they have far higher tolerances. But at some point a company will hit a point where their customers lose faith in them and they will go elsewhere en masse.

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WoW was a prime example of this because people started complaining about system/grind bloat as far as back as in MoP, but it only really came to a head with Shadowlands where they finally got grouchy enough/started quitting to an extent that the devs couldn't ignore it anymore.

XIV still seems rather early on in that process and the complaints are more about general boredom due to lack of content and innovation, so it's kind of having the opposite issue. "Just play other games" really isn't the kind of mentality any subscription/live service model should be trying to encourage when it comes to finanicial success, though...

I wonder how close we are to the point of no return in that trust thermocline since there are already some warning signs.
DT seems to be the lowest rated XIV product since 1.0, the job reception so far is mixed to negative, the promises haven't been met so far, msq is divisive at best, and negativity towards the game is more common than it has been in the last years

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Originally Posted by WaxSw

I wonder how close we are to the point of no return in that trust thermocline since there are already some warning signs.
DT seems to be the lowest rated XIV product since 1.0, the job reception so far is mixed to negative, the promises haven't been met so far, msq is divisive at best, contand negativity towards the game is more common than it has been in the last years

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Probably not so far that they can't swing it around if they start releasing quality again, because people have short memories, but damage has been done to the core of the sense of identity of both the player character and those nearest them, so it will not be easy to make us "like" characters (including our own) again after seeing them behave in ways that made them look really bad.

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Originally Posted by Striker44

And to go along with that update - the player population numbers show nobody really cares about those scores or reviews, as DT is maintaining practically the exact same retention % as every other expansion, coupled with one of the highest active playerbase numbers (topped only by the release month of DT itself and that brief "WoW Exodus" spike a few years back).

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Genuine question striker

What do you achieve out of what you do on the forums? No matter what the topic is or where the traditional “hardcore” vs “casual” stands on a particular topic if you send a reply it ALWAYS amounts to some form of “game is fine any sort of feedback is the minority, it’s pointless to complain”

Like are you just really strongly attached to 14 and don’t like the thought of it going downhill, I can understand that sentiment because I used to feel it in RuneScape many years ago or is it something else

There is zero positive or even neutral way to spin aggregate reviews being this poor when the vast majority of reviews are neither 10’s nor 1’s. It’s not getting review bombed people are just reviewing it mildly negatively. MMO players are sticky but there is only so much they will tolerate. Would you prefer they attempt to fix the problems now or wait till large swarms of people hit the proverbial tipping point and we have our own WOW exodus

Shielding the developers from critisim on their behalf just doesn’t benefit anyone, I’m not sure what you get out of this