FFXIV population decline continues

https://www.thegamer.com/final-fantasy-14-active-players-large-drop-below-1-million/

Thoughts on this article and are you at all worried about the games trajectory?

I'm not worried at all, I've been sounding the alarms for two expansions now. Nobody wanted to hear it. This MMORPG is slowly turning into an MMOVN.

Probably not an issue. There's little to no appeal at the moment for casual gamers with the content actually expecting people to put in effort to complete it, no exploration zone for grindcore content, and little to no 4 player party or solo content.

All of that is consistent with x.1 though and you see the same drop off in player count in previous expacs, it's just happened sooner in DT than in previous expansions which SHOULD be expected given SE has verbalized they don't feel the need to baby casual players this expansion (along with most of the midcore/hardcore players having cleared the raid tier enough to not want to keep griding it).

Stormblood was fine and that was BEFORE data center and world travel; the playerbase could drain pretty significantly and the game would be just as playable at all tiers.

Also (in america at least) there are a lot of direct economic contributors, which you see in ShB as well until about the time the Blizzard controversies start spinning up and content creators jump ship. If the best story this game could offer can suffer from the same issues and still be wildly successful then probably DT is doing fine.

Nothing surprising, this company has shown times and times again they are absolutely out of touch with the entire playerbase, and the playerbase keeps defending their terrible decisions.

I don’t know how bad or normal this is nor do I really care if I’m being honest. I have my theories to the why and so on but who knows.

Is it worrying? Right now I wouldn’t say so.
Imo having strong competition and a reason to develop good content is good for these kind of games.
Personally (even though it’s probably the wrong thing to say) I feel kinda relieved?
EW was when Yoshida and co were on a massive high and even if it was deserved after Shb I think they enjoyed a bit too much glory for too long from players and media alike and it showed with the most lacking content expansion called EW (and let’s be honest that was also when the DT story was written).

Maybe losing players and getting criticism for quite a number of things while getting compliments for things like the new dungeon difficulty will push them to get serious again.
Things like chaotic show that they do want to implement new things.

So all in all no I am not worried but am kinda positive that this might be a chance to get back to better times.

It will start to get worrying if they ignore it though.

MSQ was pretty bad, there's nothing to do aside from farming EX and then wait 9 months to get some wings. Pretty boring...
I'm done with chaotic, helped a few kill runs today, obtained the hairstyle...

I wish this game had more meaningful open world content but I feel like the game is gonna implode if a bunch of people showed up in one map.

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Originally Posted by Skaadenfroid

Probably not an issue. There's little to no appeal at the moment for casual gamers with the content actually expecting people to put in effort to complete it, no exploration zone for grindcore content, and little to no 4 player party or solo content.

All of that is consistent with x.1 though and you see the same drop off in player count in previous expacs, it's just happened sooner in DT than in previous expansions which SHOULD be expected given SE has verbalized they don't feel the need to baby casual players this expansion (along with most of the midcore/hardcore players having cleared the raid tier enough to not want to keep griding it).

Stormblood was fine and that was BEFORE data center and world travel; the playerbase could drain pretty significantly and the game would be just as playable at all tiers.

Also (in america at least) there are a lot of direct economic contributors, which you see in ShB as well until about the time the Blizzard controversies start spinning up and content creators jump ship. If the best story this game could offer can suffer from the same issues and still be wildly successful then probably DT is doing fine.

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You do realize it is the casual players that built this game to success. If they want to focus on the 2% of the midcore/hardcore playerbase, they should expect the numbers to continue to plunge. Some of us who have been around over a decade may just decide to never come back. The game is on a downward spiral, the writing quality tanked with DT. I highly doubt this game makes it to 10.0.

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Originally Posted by Voidmage

I don’t know how bad or normal this is nor do I really care if I’m being honest. I have my theories to the why and so on but who knows.

Is it worrying? Right now I wouldn’t say so.
Imo having strong competition and a reason to develop good content is good for these kind of games.
Personally (even though it’s probably the wrong thing to say) I feel kinda relieved?
EW was when Yoshida and co were on a massive high and even if it was deserved after Shb I think they enjoyed a bit too much glory for too long from players and media alike and it showed with the most lacking content expansion called EE (and let’s be honest that was also when the DT story was written).

Maybe losing players and getting criticism for quite a number of things while getting compliments for things like the new dungeon difficulty will push them to get serious again.
Things like chaotic show that they do want to implement new things.

So all in all no I am not worried but am kinda positive that this might be a chance to get back to better times.

It will start to get worrying if they ignore it though.

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When the majority of your playerbase is casual and turned off by harder dungeons and chaotic raids, I don't believe going "all in" on more of that type of content is wise. The mid-core/hardcore players represent the minority.

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Originally Posted by DynnDiablos

You do realize it is the casual players that built this game to success. If they want to focus on the 2% of the midcore/hardcore playerbase, they should expect the numbers to continue to plunge.

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This us versus them narrative is so goddamn tired. Other MMORPGs cater to both types of players just fine. It's not a case where you have to forsake one to do the other. Stop stepping all over the things others enjoy about the game just to prop up the things you enjoy about the game. It's pointless.

EDIT: I just realized, you're the person from the other day who made the insanely deranged, "We do not forget, we do not forgive," speech in the other thread. I don't know why I'm bothering.

https://i.imgur.com/pOrrXwo.png

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Originally Posted by DynnDiablos

When the majority of your playerbase is casual and turned off by harder dungeons and chaotic raids, I don't believe going "all in" on more of that type of content is wise. The mid-core/hardcore players represent the minority.

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Can you stop with derailing this into yet another casual / hardcore debate?
Not everything is black and white.
I didn’t say anything about this stuff.

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Originally Posted by DynnDiablos

You do realize it is the casual players that built this game to success.

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fun facts, it wasn't. been here since early ARR and what made the game a success was more midcore than casual. everything else was only good reviews from players. i could even say that the game gone downhill after trying to please everyone and anyone right in their mind knows that by catering to anyone, you cater to noone, you just become stale.

raiding back in the day with coils was more accessible to most ppl than right now. cash shop wasn't even a thing so you could grab previous event rewards in game. a time where you needed to interact with the game and ppl, nowadays ppl don't even greet you in dungeons and everything is braindead to the point of falling asleep during fights (outside of ex/savage).

the game had a soul, and at the time the team really listened to feedbacks and players. when something was badly recieved it was reworked in the matter of weeks, now it's only reused formula over and over and pr talk like "we're listening" but nothing is done.

Don't get me wrong, this numbers are shocking... but i am glab it happen. They will may be start thinking for making things right :)

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Originally Posted by Voidmage

I don’t know how bad or normal this is nor do I really care if I’m being honest. I have my theories to the why and so on but who knows.

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basically, we're back to late stormblood numbers.

I mean, I’m not surprised, as a casual player I would drop too, if I didn’t have my sub paid for few next months already.

Like there’s nothing to do really in current content if you aren’t interested in hardcore raiding, save for farming tomestones and some job lvling.
I at least have some older expansion content like bozia and eureka to do due to being fairly new to the game, but casual players who are up to date with stuff really don’t have anything to do right now, you can’t even farm alliance raid glams due to one item per week limit.

I don’t really understand SE approach to how much resources they put in developing hardcore content vs casual content . Considering that looking at achievements, hardcore raiders are at most a 10% of player base, but get more content with entirely new gear sets and mounts which I assume takes quite a lot of time and resources to make, than reminding 90% of the players.At the same time SE “doesn’t have resources” to not make half of crafted and dungeon gear just bad re-colors (sometimes releasing the same glam for the third time or not evens adding a dyeable option to it when reusing it)

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Originally Posted by Voidmage

Can you stop with derailing this into yet another casual / hardcore debate?
Not everything is black and white.
I didn’t say anything about this stuff.

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You can’t really avoid casual vs hardcore debate, when more resources spent on hardcore content (ranging from gameplay content to rewards like glams and mounts) means less resources spent on casual content and vice versa. And SE doesn’t seem willing to increase the general total amount of resources and development

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Originally Posted by Fatch38

fun facts, it wasn't. been here since early ARR and what made the game a success was more midcore than casual. everything else was only good reviews from players. i could even say that the game gone downhill after trying to please everyone and anyone right in their mind knows that by catering to anyone, you cater to noone, you just become stale.

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I would even go as far as saying that the "skill level" of Casuals have declined since then which also makes the gap between Casuals and Mid/Hardcore players wider than it really should be.
Seeing how the later years FFXIV have nerfed a couple of older dungeons that's been fine for years upon years because people started complaining how "they were too difficult" just sends me the message how people just don't put in the effort to improve themselves as gamers as people once used to anymore, and that's casuals included.

Heck, when SE has tried putting in some challenging quests they've been nerfed within the first week because people complained how they were "gatekept" out of the MSQ.
"Casuals" today just don't care about improving anymore. They just want to play the game and not have to put into any extra effort into it.
Those are my 2 cents.
Ofc, not everyone's like this. But it's a trend that I've seen in other games as well. More and more "casuals" find any challenging content as "unacceptable" game design and anyone who tells them otherwise is a "toxic tryhard".

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Originally Posted by DynnDiablos

You do realize it is the casual players that built this game to success. If they want to focus on the 2% of the midcore/hardcore playerbase, they should expect the numbers to continue to plunge. Some of us who have been around over a decade may just decide to never come back. The game is on a downward spiral, the writing quality tanked with DT. I highly doubt this game makes it to 10.0.

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Nonsense, it is not the current casuals that built it. The game had more meat to it from a casual perspective back then. It wasn't as bland and one dimensional as it is right now. That is to say, different breed of casuals built it.

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Originally Posted by DynnDiablos

When the majority of your playerbase is casual and turned off by harder dungeons and chaotic raids, I don't believe going "all in" on more of that type of content is wise. The mid-core/hardcore players represent the minority.

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I do not even think, that they make this with intention. I guess, this neglect of casual players happened accidentaly. For me, it seems, that they basically lost the control over the game. The MSQ failed badly, the graphical upgrade backfired, the casual content is consumed way too fast, then bots everywhere etc. I do not believe, that it was planned. And so much hardcore content is in the game because it is braindead easy and very cheap to make. You take a normal boss, you increase some numbers, you add one ability to it and you are basically done. It is propably one hour of work for one person. I guess, the hardcore content is a sort of damage control for them. Because they are not able to produce interesting normal content fast enough.




Cheers

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Originally Posted by Voidmage

Can you stop with derailing this into yet another casual / hardcore debate?
Not everything is black and white.
I didn’t say anything about this stuff.

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It actually is pretty black and white when the minority of the players have such hatred and disdain for those of us who are the reason they have the hardcore content they get to enjoy. Period.

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Originally Posted by Evergrey

Heck, when SE has tried putting in some challenging quests they've been nerfed within the first week because people complained how they were "gatekept" out of the MSQ.
"Casuals" today just don't care about improving anymore. They just want to play the game and not have to put into any extra effort into it.
Those are my 2 cents.
Ofc, not everyone's like this. But it's a trend that I've seen in other games as well. More and more "casuals" find any challenging content as "unacceptable" game design and anyone who tells them otherwise is a "toxic tryhard".

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This sadly has been a big recurring issue in this game. In any other game, you are expected to improve to a certain level if you wanted to continue. That is not gatekeeping, that is normal game design.
There was a vocal minority (and I absolutely believe it is a minority) that always yaps whenever the game demands a modium of attention - see Steps of Faith, or In from the Cold. There are a few solo duties which are absolutely impossible to fail (I tried, out of curiosity, and failed to fail.) And being deadly afraid of accessibility criticism of the critically acclaimed MSQ of the MMORPG Final Fantasy 14, Square works to remove every hurdle standing in between the player and the cutscenes.
Some players don't want to play the game, they want to watch the cutscenes with their character.

Its not bad making the MSQ not too difficult to allow lesser skilled players to progress. But as always, CS3 are prone to overcorrecting.

I'm not surprised because what I see is just the same repeat I've seen in other MMORPGs I've played. Multiple issues across the board from job design to straight out no content to do for long patch waits.

People will eventually move on somewhere else, it's bound to happen. SE doesn't care because they want to invest into their new shiny mobile game.

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Originally Posted by AntoniusQuil

You can’t really avoid casual vs hardcore debate, when more resources spent on hardcore content (ranging from gameplay content to rewards like glams and mounts) means less resources spent on casual content and vice versa. And SE doesn’t seem willing to increase the general total amount of resources and development

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But that isn’t the case though.
I jump in to defend casuals getting things in a heartbeat and even defend them with things like the hairstyle in chaotic or that hard raids are from the beginning of the expansion to the end but I also have to draw the line somewhere because I am a raider myself.
The problem is that the casual / midcore content is backloaded af and not that it isn’t there.
That’s even written in the article itself.
Your example with the undyeable and reused gear is also wrong.
It’s not like this because hard raids take up those resources but because the devs want to milk it till the end with the least amount of effort.
Do I have to remind you that EW had two hairstyles in island sanctuary? That WAS casual content even if not good while most of the entire criticism about criterion was that the rewards sucked.

AGAIN.
Not every damn problem in this game is the fault of one of the two sides but of the devs starving content for so long that they would have to put out double the amount than usual to even get in normal waters again.
Blame the devs for how the game is right now and not the players because the devs decide what to do in the end.

That’s all I say about this whole debate because there are other threads out there.

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Originally Posted by NamiRocket

This us versus them narrative is so goddamn tired. Other MMORPGs cater to both types of players just fine. It's not a case where you have to forsake one to do the other. Stop stepping all over the things others enjoy about the game just to prop up the things you enjoy about the game. It's pointless.

EDIT: I just realized, you're the person from the other day who made the insanely deranged, "We do not forget, we do not forgive," speech in the other thread. I don't know why I'm bothering.

https://i.imgur.com/pOrrXwo.png

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Objectively, they aren't wrong. For every one hardcore raider there's probably over a dozen casuals. Statistically, the casual audience has a way larger stake than the combined hardcore audience; objectiveness aside, if the majority of people who play this game for super super casual content, the story, some roleplay, maybe fishing? then suddenly amping up the difficulty is obviously going to see people unhappy.

I am concerned about this game in the long--long-term.

That the subscriptions continue to go this way consistently shows a sheer lack of enjoyment from the community with their McDonalds formula. The developers are probably well aware of this fact, but are too insistent on continuing to drive the game in a way such that you only login for short term enjoyment. You login, do your dailies/weeklies, and it is a pitiful experience. Maybe some of it is budgetary constraints, but at this point they are just making so many fundamental mistakes that it's difficult to believe that constraint.

The developers don't seem very forward with their intentions or anything whatsoever, and this has been a problem for a decade. It is what makes a lot of people in the community just feel an overwhelming sense of disappointment, because nothing is made clear, bar vague remarks.

I don't mean to be nasty either, but they are also appealing to the lowest denominator humanly possible, and I get the feeling they do this because they have the weird idea that "If they please them, then everything must be ok". Crafting has been made a miserable husk because of this. The game constantly goes into an identity crisis with itself because of this. - and it isn't because things are too hard... It's not because it's too long... It's not because the objective is very obscure.. It's simply because impatience is a thing, and you can't develop a game around human behavior like impatience.

They are making the same mistakes they made a decade ago, it feels like they have generally very little involvement with the community, nor how the community wants to consume the game. They don't understand how the community interacts with the game or how they consume content in the game.

and no this whole topic of 'us' (the casuals) versus 'them' (the hardcore) should not be a thing.

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Originally Posted by Voidmage

But that isn’t the case though.
I jump in to defend casuals getting things in a heartbeat and even defend them with things like the hairstyle in chaotic or that hard raids are from the beginning of the expansion to the end but I also have to draw the line somewhere because I am a raider myself.
The problem is that the casual / midcore content is backloaded af and not that it isn’t there.
That’s even written in the article itself.
Your example with the undyeable and reused gear is also wrong.
It’s not like this because hard raids take up those resources but because the devs want to milk it till the end with the least amount of effort.
Do I have to remind you that EW had two hairstyles in island sanctuary? That WAS casual content even if not good while most of the entire criticism about criterion was that the rewards sucked.

AGAIN.
Not every damn problem in this game is the fault of one of the two sides but of the devs starving content for so long that they would have to put out double the amount than usual to even get in normal waters again.
Blame the devs for how the game is right now and not the players because the devs decide what to do in the end.

That’s all I say about this whole debate because there are other threads out there.

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Blame the devs, yes. Blame the devs for player's opinions and reactions? No. Obviously the hardcore players are happy and casuals not-so right now. They're the ones being focused on. It's not "us vs them" as you enjoy saying it is. Casual players aren't blaming hardcore players because the developers are putting hardcore content in the game. Do you hear yourself? What can be blamed on (each individual) players is how they react to the given content. Theres toxic casuals and toxic hardcore raiders. Objectively, right now, there is more content being pushed out for the more hardcore playerbase than the casual playerbase.

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Originally Posted by KiiNGKRUSH

https://www.thegamer.com/final-fantasy-14-active-players-large-drop-below-1-million/

Thoughts on this article and are you at all worried about the games trajectory?

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New content like the World of Darkness Chaotic Raid and Echoes of Vana'Diel Alliance Raid are pretty cool, with a level of difficulty that players find refreshing

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https://media.tenor.com/nbJLAkkQ4QQA...oody-laugh.gif

I feel like the game has a number of creeping issues and it probably makes sense for the population to start to decline because of it.

Job design is always a major issue with every expansion, and anyone unsatisfied has to just wait until the next expansion.

The quality of the MSQ has gone down.

The graphics update has messed with character faces and from the updates we've had it doesn't seem like they'll be able to remedy it.

The content pipeline hasn't seen many positive changes, new things like variant dungeons and chaotic seem like they've missed the mark.

Basic stuff like viera/hroth hats have been on the backburner for years, I don't even play them but it's just plain embarrassing at this point.

For an MMO, if you're not growing your playerbase, then it's shrinking. It's very normal for people to be coming and going, the population is never going to hold steady. But the excitement and interest of current players is part of what draws in new players. If everyone playing the game is just talking about all the problems then fewer new players are going to be drawn in, and the overall population will decline.

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Originally Posted by Lilapop

Casual players aren't blaming hardcore players because the developers are putting hardcore content in the game. Do you hear yourself? What can be blamed on (each individual) players is how they react to the given content. Theres toxic casuals and toxic hardcore raiders. Objectively, right now, there is more content being pushed out for the more hardcore playerbase than the casual playerbase.

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The entire post I quoted was blaming the hardcore raider side though with things like undyeable gear being because of them.
I even said the last part you wrote there myself. That there is more content right now for raiders.
I disagreed though on the point of there being NO casual content made because it is there just backloaded. Something that annoys me also to no end.

I don’t know what you want from me.
I stand by my point.
Instead of punching each other on both sides blame Yoshida and co.

Anyway I won’t respond here anymore because the entire thread is just starting to devolve into the same crap again.

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Originally Posted by Voidmage

Instead of punching each other on both sides blame Yoshida and co.

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The forums could really benefit from being a bit more level headed. The constant "casual vs hardcore" discourse has been exhausting 1 week ago.
Savage raiders benefit from good casual and "midcore" content. It can be social, it fills the world with life, it helps to relax after playing the hard stuff for a while.
Casual players benefit from good hard raid content. Raiders help the game economy, the hardcore number crunchers untangle some of the mess that is rotations, and a good players presence in easier content can make all the difference in the world.
Even if you don't participate in some specific content, the more players we have, the fuller our worlds become, and the more alive this game feels. I want to see people fishing in the cities and on the fields. I want to see raiders share class gameplay tips with struggling players in dungeons. I want to see players come together to compare glamours. Its absolutely the developers fault when their release schedule can't accommodate the customer base they have accommodated in the past.

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Originally Posted by KiiNGKRUSH

https://www.thegamer.com/final-fantasy-14-active-players-large-drop-below-1-million/

Thoughts on this article and are you at all worried about the games trajectory?

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When your problem is created by repeatedly hitting yourself in the face, step one is to stop hitting yourself in the face instead of continuing to do so while announcing that you are fully aware that a bloody nose is not optimal and you are looking into ways to stop the bleeding.

Comparison of populations for December going back to 2014:
https://i.imgur.com/yuGlLfG.png
Comparisons of populations for each X.15 patch going back to 2014:
https://i.imgur.com/JUXAfn0.png

My reason for making these is to give a sense of if it has fluctuated this much at comparable months or patches.

There are some obvious possible reasons it spiked so high before and returned to how it was: Covid, and the game going viral. Sure, people are quick to blame the content and issues they have, but objectively those were factors that caused spikes around that time.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Voidmage

But that isn’t the case though.
I jump in to defend casuals getting things in a heartbeat and even defend them with things like the hairstyle in chaotic or that hard raids are from the beginning of the expansion to the end but I also have to draw the line somewhere because I am a raider myself.
The problem is that the casual / midcore content is backloaded af and not that it isn’t there.
That’s even written in the article itself.
Your example with the undyeable and reused gear is also wrong.
It’s not like this because hard raids take up those resources but because the devs want to milk it till the end with the least amount of effort.
Do I have to remind you that EW had two hairstyles in island sanctuary? That WAS casual content even if not good while most of the entire criticism about criterion was that the rewards sucked.

AGAIN.
Not every damn problem in this game is the fault of one of the two sides but of the devs starving content for so long that they would have to put out double the amount than usual to even get in normal waters again.
Blame the devs for how the game is right now and not the players because the devs decide what to do in the end.

That’s all I say about this whole debate because there are other threads out there.

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I see your point, and agree that the devs are to blame, but I don’t see them changing anytime soon.

IMO the best solution to the conflict caused by some cosmetic items being locked behind long-time hardcore or casual content would be making most stuff like glams, cosmetic items or mounts, which are obtainable from pvp currencies, causal grind or hardcore riding, tradeable. It’s the most optimal solution where people who like to grind that particular type of content get good gil, while people who don’t like that content get the item, win-win scenario. At least making the hairstyle and one mount from Chaotic tradable seems like a move in good direction.

And here’s where most of my frustration with hardcore riding community comes from, because whenever the topic of making more items tradeable on mb is mentioned, it’s always hardcore raiders who get really hostile and protest this idea (with a lot of typical “git gud talk”)

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Originally Posted by Jeeqbit

Comparison of populations for December going back to 2014:
https://i.imgur.com/yuGlLfG.png
Comparisons of populations for each X.15 patch going back to 2014:
https://i.imgur.com/JUXAfn0.png

My reason for making these is to give a sense of if it has fluctuated this much at comparable months or patches.

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A good indicator are the steam numbers:
https://steamdb.info/app/39210/charts/#6y

The game has a declining population ATM. Endwalker could retain many players with new content patches. In DT the content patch did almost nothing.



Cheers

Based on the two graphs, there are some obvious possible reasons it spiked so high before and returned to how it was: Covid, and the game going viral.

Now sure, people are quick to blame the content and issues they have, but objectively those were factors that caused spikes around that time.

Well listen, personally, I don't care.

Like Stormblood, which many people didn't like for many reasons. They leave and they come back in droves in a future expansion.

I think it's good that it's going down, so maybe they'll rethink bringing back a scenario like Shadowbringer and Endwalker.

Doing an expansion with an MSQ that displeased 50% of FFXIV players will make them think about what to do to make it better, it's all about the metacritic score of the players, don't look at the ones who got a check from the publishers.

The gameplay is there, but for the MSQ, we're back to being Npc followers like before ShB and EW. And we've even had off-topic BGM and old BGM reused from ARR. I'd like to relive one of our adventures, not that of a WoL Npc who reacts with some emotion to the adventures of Wuk Lamat and his suicidal half-brother who jumps in front of a dinosaur with arms spread wide LOL. Are you sure you're the ruler of Knowledge?

If it had just been successful, we'd have had the same for the sequel, so wait & see. On the other hand, 1M out of 30M is fine.
There are MMOs that would like to have at least half of the total.

Ps: In the meantime, it's sales time, and a good time to buy Persona 3 Reload at 40% off. Don't worry. And Honkai Star Rail 3.0 is being released in 10 days, so all's well.
I'll be back to ventilate my housings.

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Originally Posted by Jeeqbit

Comparison of populations for December going back to 2014:
https://i.imgur.com/yuGlLfG.png
Comparisons of populations for each X.15 patch going back to 2014:
https://i.imgur.com/JUXAfn0.png

My reason for making these is to give a sense of if it has fluctuated this much at comparable months or patches.

There are some obvious possible reasons it spiked so high before and returned to how it was: Covid, and the game going viral. Sure, people are quick to blame the content and issues they have, but objectively those were factors that caused spikes around that time.

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This is the long and the short of it. Anyone who ignores the real world context here is just trying to sell you something.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jeeqbit

Comparison of populations for December going back to 2014:
https://i.imgur.com/yuGlLfG.png

My reason for making these is to give a sense of if it has fluctuated this much at comparable months or patches.

There are some obvious possible reasons it spiked so high before and returned to how it was: Covid, and the game going viral. Sure, people are quick to blame the content and issues they have, but objectively those were factors that caused spikes around that time.

---

That graph doesn't really align with covid. It shows a slight downturn in december 2020, which is after everyone was isolated at home.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jeeqbit

Comparison of populations for December going back to 2014:
https://i.imgur.com/yuGlLfG.png
Comparisons of populations for each X.15 patch going back to 2014:
https://i.imgur.com/JUXAfn0.png

My reason for making these is to give a sense of if it has fluctuated this much at comparable months or patches.

There are some obvious possible reasons it spiked so high before and returned to how it was: Covid, and the game going viral. Sure, people are quick to blame the content and issues they have, but objectively those were factors that caused spikes around that time.

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Can we please stop pretending that people are playing less videogames since COVID.

CSGO/CS2
https://i.imgur.com/dn7YxJA.png

WoW
https://i.imgur.com/kLqQRUw.png

Other games aren't struggling with declining player numbers since COVID. This is a FFXIV problem and the problem is the game.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BigCheez

Can we please stop pretending that people are playing less videogames since COVID.

CSGO/CS2
https://i.imgur.com/dn7YxJA.png

WoW
https://i.imgur.com/kLqQRUw.png

Other games aren't struggling with declining player numbers since COVID. This is a FFXIV problem and the problem is the game.

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I'm going to be real I dont understand how XIV is second top MMO. almost all of its systems are problematic or archaic, nothing feels finalized or fleshed out. and its been this way for a very long time. it seams like the attention of WOW players due to the success of SHB has only drawn attention to this more for all to see

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Larirawiel

Endwalker could retain many players with new content patches. In DT the content patch did almost nothing.

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And how, pray tell, did Endwalker achieve this? Reviewing patch notes, here's what I see:

Patch 6.01 and 7.01:

• Normal raid

Patch 6.05 and 7.05:

• Savage raid
• Treasure hunt

Patch 6.1 and 7.1:

• MSQ
• Alliance raid
• EX3
• Unreal
• 6.1 only: Final role quest, Crystalline Conflict
• 7.1 only: Pelupelu society quests

Patch 6.11 and 7.11:

• Ultimate

Patch 6.15 and 7.15:

• Capstone Studium/Wachumeqimeqi quest
• Hildebrand
• Custom deliveries
• 6.15 only: Omega and Tataru quests, Arkasodara society quests
• 7.15 only: Chaotic alliance raid

At this point in the patch cycles, the only content Endwalker has over Dawntrail is a few one-and-done quests and… Crystalline Conflict. :confused: