A Sincere Thank You

I just wanted to step outside the usual scope of posts in the Official Forums and say, I've been playing this game for over 2 years now and have been thoroughly enjoying myself.

I don't know where people get off thinking they can pick up their pitchforks for every little thing but honestly there is a good number of us that are really having fun.

I've been very fortunate to meet wonderful people through this game and I really have fun with savage, crafting, Hildebrand and housing!

So Moderation and Dev teams, thank you very much for the services you provide and for creating this world of Eorzea for us.

Here's to hoping we can hit the 10 year anniversary!

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Originally Posted by ErysNight

I don't know where people get off thinking they can pick up their pitchforks for every little thing but honestly there is a good number of us that are really having fun.

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A little critical thinking goes a long way here.

1) People can and will criticize bad design/decisions/unfun things, etc. As paying customers it's not some entitlement or unrealistic attribute to do. In fact any successful company will BEG for people to do this.

2) For every vocal person there are considerably more who will just leave without a word. This is known as the silent majority and is a well documented phenomenon and is something companies strive to mitigate.

3) I'm super happy to hear you're having fun. I really am, but that doesn't invalidate our feedback. If you so vehemently disagree with the negativity you've seen, why not try to defend the game with concrete examples/analysis?

I love this game, too. And have a lot of fond memories with it. I make more each day. But that doesn't mean I won't criticize bad designs or bad systems. You can love a game and still constructively criticize it. Some things well deserve the criticism they get, and it's the only way for the developers to know "this doesn't work". We shouldn't just be silent if bad design choices or bad systems are implemented, even if we do love the game.

As others have said, constructive criticism can be very useful to helping to improve a game. This is true of just about anything in life, really. While yes, there may be many players who have somewhat unreasonable demands or expectations from time to time, much of what is said here on the forums is also good criticism backed with supporting information on why something isn't working and what could be done to improve it. And while many people will have different ideas, discussing these ideas (for the most part) is an important part of providing feedback to the developers.

That said, I do believe it's just as important to talk about the things players DO think is working in a game. Positive feedback can tell the developers what they need to know in regards to how to improve current content that may not be as strong, what things they should avoid changing for the time, as well as how they can implement these successful features to shape future content as well, hopefully in a way that builds upon these successes rather than recycling them. As far as these forums go, while positive feedback does come up occasionally, it does seem to be pretty overshadowed by the negative. Failure can be perhaps the greatest teacher, but it's foolhardy to forget to learn from your success as well. One should consider both aspects if they wish to improve and move forward.

People are criticize because they care. Most people want this game to succeed and continue to grow so they express their concern.

That grammar...having to type on the go

I love this game. I don't pitchfork things, I just want them to be better.

If I had no love this game, I'd do the same thing I did with SWTOR: thrash/giveaway all my stuff, cancel sub and never look back.

All this without complaint and/or forum fanfare.

Man you know the people that doesn't share my opinion? Where do they get off!

I think it's incredibly disingenuous to suggest that folks criticizing the (often blatantly recycled) systems are just a pitchfork waving mob. Two years is just enough time for the newness to still be awe-inspiring. This game has been around for much longer than that and those of us here since launch have seen the same things over and over again and those of us who have been here since XI have seen the same MISTAKES over and over again.

I don't hate SE, not really. I do think that the team is a bunch of old dogs that aren't learning many new tricks anymore and it's starting to show in their lack of creativity and responsiveness to things the players are moving on from. A little less emphasis on beauty and a lot more emphasis on substance is what is needed here.

There's two games I can barely stand to log into these days.

One is WoW, a hideous visual mashup of cartoony silliness with compelling and challenging gameplay, interesting mechanics, and sky's-the-limit customization options.

The other is FFXIV, with an absolutely stunning paint job over some of the most tedious and repetitive gameplay I've ever had the displeasure of paying for, not to mention the clunky and cluttered UI that gets worse with every xpac and no meaningful customization options in sight.

What's the solution?
I don't know, but while I'm waiting for it, XIV is getting shelved. 25th is the day my sub runs out and I did not renew.

I want to love this game, I just can't at the moment.
With that said, I can't say I never had good times or didn't make memories.
I met my best friend on this game. About the only reason I'm holding on to XIV these days is because of them (and my large house).

Only thing I really pitchfork in this game is the housing system.
It purely down right horrible in every sense of the word and people still abuse the system because they know they can get away with it.
The rest is whatever. I either go with the flow or I don't (<--- pagos when it was released lol)

I'd like to see the game succeed like XI. For it to last just as long if not longer then XI (which is still going after 15 years). But in the direction that XIV is going in the moment, godz help SE if someone were to step up and make a better MMO that had the same beautiful graphics, customization, and a system that 10x better then the subpar of XIV. I for one, will go to that MMO over staying here. And I for one, would love that MMO 100x more if it had a housing system that didn't punish it player base if they took a break to play another game/deal with real life and could come back to still having my house and everything in it :P just saying!

Even though this game is boring most of the time people like me stick around anyway. That's a true fan, but this game could be so much better so even though I'm too lazy to complain about things I'm glad others do. The minority of complainers speak for the lazy majority

I really enjoy the game. And I know that the devs have poured countless hours of their time into making sure it's as accessible as possible for a great many of us.

I especially appreciate the attention toward usability. That's not something you often see in games. I can't tell you how delighted I was when they brought back the (hidden) ability to scale the text chat. That was so helpful to me, personally, and it's not something you find often in any video game, let alone an MMO. So thank you for that!

I'm absolutely going to stand up and say something if I feel the need to. We like to point fingers and talk about, "oh so-and-so is entitled because of blah blah blah" but the one thing we all have in common is how much we love this game and how much the franchise as a whole means to us. I'm really glad that we have these forums, and the live letters where we can make comments and ask questions (even though sometimes they can't always answer!)

If I'm going to pitchfork anything, it's PVP and the lack of attention or participation in it, except for a select few. At this point it feels like it's withering on the vine, and no amount of time-limited, exclusive shiny toys is going to bring it back from the brink. Very few want to participate in something that can be so easily manipulated.

Otherwise, I'm quite happy with the dev team and their ability to listen despite the fact that I'm sure sometimes they come to these forums and are completely taken aback by the posts. This one, I hope, will stand out and show them that we're not all out for blood!

Yes it is a lovely game and people are critical of the game because they want it to succeed, if nobody were to complain, then how would the devs know whether people enjoy the content or not?

Granted there are players on here that provide criticism where it isn't even appropriate, and without understanding the depth and effort gone into it, particularly when compared with other games. Remember the jumping puzzle that some people complained about for lack of originality? How many other developers, or games for that matter do you know that not only do seasonal events, but aim to make them unique every time.

Some comments I can agree on, and some are an absolute farce, and do nothing but damage the prospect of people staying around, or joining.

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Originally Posted by ErysNight

I just wanted to step outside the usual scope of posts in the Official Forums and say, I've been playing this game for over 2 years now and have been thoroughly enjoying myself.

I don't know where people get off thinking they can pick up their pitchforks for every little thing but honestly there is a good number of us that are really having fun.

I've been very fortunate to meet wonderful people through this game and I really have fun with savage, crafting, Hildebrand and housing!

So Moderation and Dev teams, thank you very much for the services you provide and for creating this world of Eorzea for us.

Here's to hoping we can hit the 10 year anniversary!

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I'm glad you enjoy the game, and that you don't have anything to say.

But critisism is usually made by people who want the game to be a success.

I've always been a Final Fantasy fanboy. I've played FFXI extensively, I've played FFXIV v1, FFXIV béta, the launch of ARR etc.
I want this game to last for more than 10 years.

But that don't mean that I agree with everything they say or do, far from it.
If I really didn't care about the game, I wouldn't even bother posting my thoughts and ideas, I'd just move on.

This game has the potential to be a great game, but right now is hindered by an archaic vision of it and overly cautious devs.

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Originally Posted by KaldeaSahaline

A little critical thinking goes a long way here.

1) People can and will criticize bad design/decisions/unfun things, etc. As paying customers it's not some entitlement or unrealistic attribute to do. In fact any successful company will BEG for people to do this.

2) For every vocal person there are considerably more who will just leave without a word. This is known as the silent majority and is a well documented phenomenon and is something companies strive to mitigate.

3) I'm super happy to hear you're having fun. I really am, but that doesn't invalidate our feedback. If you so vehemently disagree with the negativity you've seen, why not try to defend the game with concrete examples/analysis?

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Seriously you need complain in this thread?so we cant say thanks for developer because it has bad content?

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Thanks dev for bring awesome content like eureka, really love eureka

The majority of players in this forum do not know what constructive criticism is and how to position a sentiment in a way that it can help a company grow. In fact, everyone just whines about things they don't personally like, as though the company needs to cater to them individually until the mob mentality takes over.

I have never seen a constructive post here. Just a ton of entitled people that literally put the NA community and dev team down and constantly tell them that they are terrible.

Don't pretend like you're paragons of virtue looking to help because you care. It's selfish entitlement. When you learn how to post feedback in a way that doesn't include insults then it 's constructive. But the OF are a toxic place and I wanted to post this so that at least one thread said thank you.

Since I've done that, I won't post here anymore. Instead I challenge you to go into your post history, see how you speak to the people that do their best to give us this game and constantly try to improve it and see how it would make you feel if someone took that tone with you. Instead we get keyboard warriors and that is sad.

9/10 the feedback here is viable and is actually pointing out things that can be improved but it's always written as an attack which is unnecessary. It's not what you're saying but how you're saying it that makes this place toxic.

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Originally Posted by KuuroYuuki

Seriously you need complain in this thread?so we cant say thanks for developer because it has bad content?

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people argue against complaints all the time in threads wich were created to complain... i don't see the problem here o.ô;

Thank you for this thread, OP! I'm also enjoying the game a lot, and I've been on the ride for 5 years ^^
A game can be as fun or as boring as the person playing makes it to be~

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Originally Posted by ErysNight

I have never seen a constructive post here.

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Then you aren't looking at all. I don't browse here much since you can get perma banned here easily but in my short time I spend here I've seen countless threads and posts with constructive criticism. Honestly I rarely see the ones where they're just "attacking" as you put it, especially since you can get banned for that.

Also your thread would come off as sincere if you didn't try and "attack" other people in it.

We only get so upset and critical about this game because we love it that much. If we didn't care about it we would simply leave it as negative comments without any constructive critique.

I'm glad to hear you're having a good time with it all. I've playing consistently for the year and love the community in strides for the fun everyone brings.

There are a lot of pitchforks and terrible, terrible argument practices on the forums (if I had a gil for every straw man and ad hominem attack I'd be able to gift everybody in my FC with Night Pegasus whistles) - and at the same time, there are always thoughtful, measured responses. It's not hard to see who the "will always disagree no matter what's said, even if you tell them they're amazing" folks are, who the "I will scream my opinions and discourage all dialogue" people are, and it shouldn't be difficult to recognise who the people are that actively want to have a discussion. You just have to be willing to accept that some people are going to criticise things you yourself might love, and you can't take it personally.

Constantly praising someone that is either only doing their job or is actively making missteps is actually harmful. You can say something is good, and I do. But blind worship never helped anyone and has ruined a lot of people and companies. EDIT: There's also a time and a place for both. There are threads where people talk about positivity, what they like about the game. There are threads where people discuss content and whether or not they like it and what they see needs changing. Some people are going to bring the negative into the positive, always, but this is the internet. Those are the people I blacklist, because they don't want to discuss, they want to complain.

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Originally Posted by ErysNight

I just wanted to step outside the usual scope of posts in the Official Forums and say, I've been playing this game for over 2 years now and have been thoroughly enjoying myself.

I don't know where people get off thinking they can pick up their pitchforks for every little thing but honestly there is a good number of us that are really having fun.

I've been very fortunate to meet wonderful people through this game and I really have fun with savage, crafting, Hildebrand and housing!

So Moderation and Dev teams, thank you very much for the services you provide and for creating this world of Eorzea for us.

Here's to hoping we can hit the 10 year anniversary!

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You're my hero! Thank you for being so awesome!

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Originally Posted by ErysNight

I just wanted to step outside the usual scope of posts in the Official Forums and say, I've been playing this game for over 2 years now and have been thoroughly enjoying myself.

I don't know where people get off thinking they can pick up their pitchforks for every little thing but honestly there is a good number of us that are really having fun.

I've been very fortunate to meet wonderful people through this game and I really have fun with savage, crafting, Hildebrand and housing!

So Moderation and Dev teams, thank you very much for the services you provide and for creating this world of Eorzea for us.

Here's to hoping we can hit the 10 year anniversary!

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Yes. This... and a +1 to you.

Critical thought with a clear gesture of appreciation. Thank you for posting this.

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Originally Posted by addz3

Even though this game is boring most of the time people like me stick around anyway. That's a true fan, but this game could be so much better so even though I'm too lazy to complain about things I'm glad others do. The minority of complainers speak for the lazy majority

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A true fan plays a game even though it is boring? Cannot say I ever heard of that one before. Might have missed the sarcasm, if I did my fault.

People have every right to give negative feedback for a product they payed for. This is basic business. If a product isn't to ones satisfaction one will refrain from purchasing it in the future. Feedback is important to maintain a steady customer base. If you're satisfied with ffxiv as it is. Great! More power to you! I enjoy the majority of the stuff in the game but for that which I feel is sub par I'll give honest feedback. Its not rued or hostile its imperative for the product to hold my interest or I'll simply take my business elsewhere.

And if too many people follow suit then the game fails and dies. Which is something none of us want

The OP never said you don't have to right to give feedback.
The OP just said they really love the game.

5 years, and still going. Don't plan on stopping either!


Oh. My 5 cents though? There's difference between constructive feedback and whining. Most of what the forum does is whine.

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Originally Posted by Lambdafish

I wouldn't go that far. But the truest fan you can get is one that criticises and complains to the hills about a game out of love, because they care so much that they want to see it in the best form it can possibly be.

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If they complain to the hills, as you've said, doesn't that mean they hate the game? If I found a game I so despised, I know I wouldn't play it. Just saying!

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Originally Posted by Rogatum

A true fan plays a game even though it is boring? Cannot say I ever heard of that one before. Might have missed the sarcasm, if I did my fault.

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I wouldn't go that far. But the truest fan you can get is one that criticises and complains to the hills about a game out of love, because they care so much that they want to see it in the best form it can possibly be.

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Originally Posted by Lambdafish

I wouldn't go that far. But the truest fan you can get is one that criticises and complains to the hills about a game out of love, because they care so much that they want to see it in the best form it can possibly be.

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Criticism is fine and allows for growth, but the person I quoted mentioned that a true fan puts up with a game even though they find it boring. Which I find odd, but if that was the general mindset then that also explains why "some" 1.0 players have such a mindset regarding they are the saviors of them game. Thus, confused if the comment was made in jest or serious.

I'm thoroughly enjoying the game too! Approaching 10,000 hours and I'm sincerely not bored yet. I think Kaldea makes a very good point, about there being a vocal minority and a silent majority. It can be easy to lose perspective and forget that sometimes, especially when you get a batch of content updates in a row that people are not terribly fond of.

I'm pretty new to the forums here, but from what I've been reading these past couple of days I get the distinct impression that people are really just up-in-arms over Eureka specifically, as well as Stormblood perhaps feeling a little stale since SE seems to be following a formula that might be getting a little old (With maybe just a hint of people padding their arguments with nitpicks to make things seem worse than they are). I certainly understand. I'm not a big fan of Eureka and Stormblood did feel like just more of the same. But I don't feel that XIV is "Dying" as some claim. My server is packed with new players, ARR maps are alive and well. DPS queues are shorter than ever and I'm making new friends almost every day. Maybe I'm wrong, but this isn't what a dying game looks like to me, and I say that as a former SWG player.

However, I would love to see them change things up a bit. There are many quality of life improvements I would love to see even more than just new content added using the same formula as before. I would suggest that the devs maybe take a little break. Maybe stop planning 2 years ahead and instead work on what's already here. Ishgard feels (figuratively) abandoned now that Stormblood is out, even though there's so much potential there what with the change of government, major rebuilding efforts, etc. A new & improved dye system would be nice. Perhaps work towards shedding the PS3 stigma that still lingers. Stuff like that. But if I were to make a list of my criticisms towards XIV, they would mostly be only nitpicks. If there is a piece of content in the game I don't enjoy, I won't play it. But maybe somebody else loves that content even though I don't. That's what makes this game great in my opinion. Yes, there are things I would love to see added (Mostly weird roleplay-related stuff, like a private room in Fortemps Manor), but there is only so much they can do. No game is going to be absolutely perfect.

That said, it is important that people feel free to criticize, especially since we are paying to be here. Having criticisms doesn't mean you're not enjoying the game. If people were truly not enjoying the game, they wouldn't still be here. Any criticisms I may offer are soley given with the desire to see the game become even better. Either way, I love this game and I won't be leaving any time soon.

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Originally Posted by ErysNight

I don't know where people get off thinking they can pick up their pitchforks for every little thing but honestly there is a good number of us that are really having fun.

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Originally Posted by Odstarva

The OP never said you don't have to right to give feedback.
The OP just said they really love the game.

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They are (inadvertently) hinting at that, as people who complain about something are often disregarded as whining over every little thing. I've been going almost 5 years myself too.

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If they complain to the hills, as you've said, doesn't that mean they hate the game? If I found a game I so despised, I know I wouldn't play it. Just saying!

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Oh no, I will complain to the hills about certain aspects (I know a YouTuber who does just that about another game but still loves the game). It is possible to love the game but hate aspects of it. I'm one of them.

I just got this game a few weeks ago.... I'd only played it for a few hours when I wished I had joined it years ago; I like it that much. I've played many MMORPGs since '99 when I discovered EQ 1 (around Kunark). I've played that, SWG, EQ2, City of Heroes/Villains, Champions Online, Star Trek Online (still play it) and WoW....

I'm having to adjust to playing a tank class again - For 90 percent of my time in WoW I played DPS, and the last time I played a tanking class full-time was EQ1 back in the day... but I have only hit 39 on my PLD so far, so I haven't really experienced anything that people seem to be complaining about. :D

So thanks, Square-Enix. :D

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Originally Posted by Mightion

I just got this game a few weeks ago.... I'd only played it for a few hours when I wished I had joined it years ago; I like it that much. I've played many MMORPGs since '99 when I discovered EQ 1 (around Kunark). I've played that, SWG, EQ2, City of Heroes/Villains, Champions Online, Star Trek Online (still play it) and WoW....

I'm having to adjust to playing a tank class again - For 90 percent of my time in WoW I played DPS, and the last time I played a tanking class full-time was EQ1 back in the day... but I have only hit 39 on my PLD so far, so I haven't really experienced anything that people seem to be complaining about. :D

So thanks, Square-Enix. :D

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Welcome and don't listen to them... just toxic fumes that disperses once you ignore. Eventually you'll get to know how to separate solid informative posts that possess critical thought from the ones that have absolutely no sense of cognition.

Definitely keep enjoying the game till you clock 70 and then several new chapters of gameplay will open up to you.

Happy gaming.

I for one agree with this post. Reading the opening post gives me comfort at times too because I've been seeing people in game, in the internet, and in real life whose attitude reeks worse than a Morbol's Bad Breath. And that's me being generous as far as being real goes.

Thinking positive and minimizing negativity is my secret to enjoying this game and having success as a FFXIV player.

Thank you for Pagos, and thank you for future Pyros !

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Originally Posted by Ceasaria

Thank you for Pagos, and thank you for future Pyros !

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*(Looks thoughtful)*

Pagos? Not sure I have the discipline right now to maintain my composure when I think of Pagos... but yes, I agree that Pyros does sound promising.

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Originally Posted by RokkuEkkusu

Thinking positive and minimizing negativity is my secret to enjoying this game and having success as a FFXIV player.

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The best advice I can give any player, if they want to maximize their enjoyment, is to stay away from the official forums. Sadly, it's too late for all of us, but I do strongly suggest it.

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Originally Posted by RokkuEkkusu

Thinking positive and minimizing negativity is my secret to enjoying this game and having success as a FFXIV player.

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You and me both man... indeed. Like a said in another thread to a new player, just learn how to separate the negativity from the good stuff and ignore as needed.