Received a survey emailed to random users from the XIV survey team

Right in the middle of all this “deep discussion” and complaints about devs ignoring feedback, guess what shows up in my inbox:

https://imgur.com/a/ULLbnpB

Boom. A feedback survey. Out of nowhere.

What caught my eye was the title: "Oh, Where’ve You Gone, Warrior of Light?"

Followed by: "It’s been a while since we’ve seen you in FINAL FANTASY XIV. We’re always looking to improve the game and deliver the best experience possible."

I haven’t “gone” anywhere. I log in several times a week.

If this “unique survey link” has landed in your inbox—active or not—use it. Let them hear it loud and clear.

I have no idea how much weight these surveys carry, or if they just get funnelled into some data void. But the timing is... suspiciously convenient, considering how many of us are voicing frustration right now.

So if they’re asking? We might as well answer. Properly.

If anyone, active or otherwise, has received this "Unique survey link", let your voice be heard. I'm not sure how seriously they take these or how much of an impact we can make. I find this timing to be unusual; this email arrived when many of us are dissatisfied with the current state of affairs.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MaikoRaines

Followed by: "It’s been a while since we’ve seen you in FINAL FANTASY XIV. We’re always looking to improve the game and deliver the best experience possible."

I haven’t “gone” anywhere. I log in several times a week.

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If this doesn't sound your scam alarm bells, I don't know what would. Maybe an email from amazon that a package you did not except got confiscated by customs, and you now need follow the link in the email to clear this issue?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gwenkatsu

If this doesn't sound your scam alarm bells, I don't know what would. Maybe an email from amazon that a package you did not except got confiscated by customs, and you now need follow the link in the email to clear this issue?

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Exactly! I was about to drop in and talk about how awesome this was, but after reading this part:

Quote:

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What caught my eye was the title: "Oh, Where’ve You Gone, Warrior of Light?"

Followed by: "It’s been a while since we’ve seen you in FINAL FANTASY XIV. We’re always looking to improve the game and deliver the best experience possible."

I haven’t “gone” anywhere. I log in several times a week.

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The scam siren is alarming.

I'd be careful with that, @MaikoRaines.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shinku_Tachi

Exactly! I was about to drop in and talk about how awesome this was, but after reading this part: The scam siren is alarming. I'd be careful with that, @MaikoRaines.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gwenkatsu

If this doesn't sound your scam alarm bells, I don't know what would. Maybe an email from amazon that a package you did not except got confiscated by customs, and you now need follow the link in the email to clear this issue?

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I had the same concerns at first, so full disclosure: I do scambaiting in my spare time and use a virtual machine to safely handle and analyze malicious content when working on campaigns (mostly research and reverse engineering).

I ran the email through a virtual instance and confirmed it’s legitimately owned by Square Enix. It passed all verification checks.

Edit: To be clear, it does not ask you for any login credentials etc. I think the survey is linked to your account's email. My Discord group report that some have received it and others haven't. Everyone who has received it is still subscribed to the game, too.

https://imgur.com/a/LgfrEVy

Interestingly, this same email address was brought up on the forums about 12 years ago, and it was confirmed back then that it belongs to SE—specifically their promotions department:
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/65130

On top of that, several users on both the forums and Reddit have confirmed receiving game codes through that domain. I can confirm this myself as well:

https://imgur.com/a/bH780Bp

I think it's more likely they just run surveys for lapsed players, and they asked them to send it out to more people because of the current state of things. But they just repurposed that survey or maybe only modified it slightly without changing the email they send out.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MaikoRaines

I had the same concerns at first, so full disclosure: I do scambaiting in my spare time and use a virtual machine to safely handle and analyze malicious content when working on campaigns (mostly research and reverse engineering).

I ran the email through a virtual instance and confirmed it’s legitimately owned by Square Enix. It passed all verification checks.

Edit: To be clear, it does not ask you for any login credentials etc. I think the survey is linked to your account's email. My Discord group report that some have received it and others haven't. Everyone who has received it is still subscribed to the game, too.

https://imgur.com/a/LgfrEVy

Interestingly, this same email address was brought up on the forums about 12 years ago, and it was confirmed back then that it belongs to SE—specifically their promotions department:
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/65130

On top of that, several users on both the forums and Reddit have confirmed receiving game codes through that domain. I can confirm this myself as well:

https://imgur.com/a/bH780Bp

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Well that's awesome then!

I'm glad to hear its legit.

I was just worried because that one bit in your first post kinda set off the scam sense, lol

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MaikoRaines

I had the same concerns at first, so full disclosure: I do scambaiting in my spare time and use a virtual machine to safely handle and analyze malicious content when working on campaigns (mostly research and reverse engineering).

I ran the email through a virtual instance and confirmed it’s legitimately owned by Square Enix. It passed all verification checks.

Edit: To be clear, it does not ask you for any login credentials etc.

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There are still so many people out there that fall for the most stupid of traps. So it's good to hear you know what you're doing.

It's similar to the one I got in 2021 which was sent to veteran players with a high amount of subscription time, but clearly rewritten because the wording is slightly different except that they are excited to hear from us. The address it was sent from back then was the same.

Legit email. They've issued a small number of survey through it over the years, I've kept every single one for posterity.
I wouldn't be surprised if we start seeing more of these sent out in the coming months or so, as its clear they realize things are not good but have no idea what to do and are out of touch with the player-base.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MaikoRaines

I had the same concerns at first, so full disclosure: I do scambaiting in my spare time and use a virtual machine to safely handle and analyze malicious content when working on campaigns (mostly research and reverse engineering).

I ran the email through a virtual instance and confirmed it’s legitimately owned by Square Enix. It passed all verification checks.

Edit: To be clear, it does not ask you for any login credentials etc. I think the survey is linked to your account's email. My Discord group report that some have received it and others haven't. Everyone who has received it is still subscribed to the game, too.

https://imgur.com/a/LgfrEVy

Interestingly, this same email address was brought up on the forums about 12 years ago, and it was confirmed back then that it belongs to SE—specifically their promotions department:
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/65130

On top of that, several users on both the forums and Reddit have confirmed receiving game codes through that domain. I can confirm this myself as well:

https://imgur.com/a/bH780Bp

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Thank you for your service o7