Live letters have lost their magic - Zepla

https://youtu.be/UnY7PMsV8QI?si=9MCrmXa-iwJ4Is-9

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I just felt real tired and it showed... and I wished I didn't feel this way. I don't care about the story anymore, I don't expect it to be good....

Who else is old enough to remember we got an exploration zone and a deep dungeon in the same patch?

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Hearing Zepla talk about the live letter, it really reminds a lot of us just how much wonder and magic has evaporated from the live letters. We still rely on community translators to understand the live letter to this day. The live letters are such a sick joke at this point, and their stale format is a good representation of the staleness of the entire game.

They had magic when we didn't really know what to expect, when the wanderlust still existed.

But now it's just BAU (Business as Usual) type stuff, where we know what we're getting without really being told what we're getting.

Coupled with the downhill story, it's difficult to even be enthusiastic about trailers and the story.


If I am honest between the population of EU/NA, it more than warrants in-house translation. But honestly, like most things now my response is I honestly don't even care until I'm genuinely taken by surprise again.

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Originally Posted by Kaurhz

If I am honest between the population of EU/NA, it more than warrants in-house translation. But honestly, like most things now my response is I honestly don't even care until I'm genuinely taken by surprise again.

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It's actually just sad that we've all just accepted that this is the way things are when it would be totally unacceptable if it was EA or Ubisoft doing this lmao

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Originally Posted by Kazuke_Miso

It's actually just sad that we've all just accepted that this is the way things are when it would be totally unacceptable if it was EA or Ubisoft doing this lmao

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It is. and this will be part of the problem.. Is that a lot of it is just getting lost to sheer apathy... At that point there is no second redemption arc lol

Like, how can I care when it all operates like clockwork anyway.

If you don't care about the game, you not going to care about the live letter and Zepla's long since stopped caring about the game.
I saw cosmic exploration and occult crescent stuff and was excited from a live letter for the first time in a long time, no amount of polish is going to make it exciting if you're not interested in the content it reveals.

It's about time that we started calling the constantly negative content creator or influencers what they really are, attention seekers. I suppose it does pay the bills but the cycle of negativity is super annoying. Are there areas where Square Enix could improve the game and/or communication around it? Sure, but there's also proper feedback channels to communicate through that don't involve farming ad revenue and are arguably a more respectful way to do it.

I do wish Live Letters were a little more professional, so to speak, and used proper screenshots or in-game previews rather pointing a camera at A4 pieces of paper. English translation would be great also but the pacing would fall off of a cliff if they didn't otherwise overhaul the format.

Finally, and this really is the most important part, stop playing FFXIV if you dislike it so much? Square Enix are just a business like any other in this industry and you don't owe them anything. You can take a break, play another game or, find another hobby.

The live letters feel exactly like they always were. I don't personally feel they lost their magic. The magic you feel is reflective of your personal enthusiasm for the game - which is obviously not high for Zepla right now.

When I say they feel exactly the same I mean it's the same stuff. They look passionate to me, show up freshly printed pictures of gear at the camera, etc. It's about as unchanged as every other formula they have.

The story was always a major driver of enthusiasm as well, so trailers for patches such as 4.4, 4.5 and 5.3 were hype. Whereas now they depict a story many aren't enthusiastic about. For what it's worth though, I don't know where they are going with the current trailer but they promised it would lead to the Warrior of Light "returning as the hero of this world". I get it's nostalgia bait, but the FF9 castle and the boss are pleasurable nonetheless, and Occult Crescent already had me interested being based on the Bermuda Triangle but I also like that we will talk to Ketenramm, one of the few threads of lore remaining from ARR/Heavensward for them to explore. But that's just me personally.

I think the main issue with them is they avoid mentioning the elephants in the room, such as Black Mage, cross-DC PF, the story reception, addressing common player sentiments, having the stream chat scrolling in front of them and not reading out a single question.

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Originally Posted by Johners

It's about time that we started calling the constantly negative content creator or influencers what they really are, attention seekers. I suppose it does pay the bills but the cycle of negativity is super annoying.

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Zepla just makes the videos because she's fallen off and just semi-remembered as a once darling FFXIV content creator, knowing she can only cling to the hate train to try get any sort of views.

I am highly critical of SE, I think SE is a company that has no idea of how to run a MMORPG they just throw stuff at it and see what sticks, if it doesn't stick, they don't alter it they just throw something new at it down the line, at the same time I'll give credit where credits due. So my dislike of her approach has nothing to do with being defensive of the company, she literally wants to dislike everything about the game and thats her target audience.

I've only somewhat recently started watching the live letters, and I missed this recent one because it was early for me and I had to leave for work, but unless they are drastically different now than they were back then they seem pretty enjoyable to me

I like how excited they seem and how much they joke around
It's fun to see what's coming up, though it sucks we have to wait so long between patches for things
but I know it isn't for everyone, and it doesn't take away from the major criticisms the game is facing right now

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Originally Posted by Kaurhz

They had magic when we didn't really know what to expect, when the wanderlust still existed.

But now it's just BAU (Business as Usual) type stuff, where we know what we're getting without really being told what we're getting.

Coupled with the downhill story, it's difficult to even be enthusiastic about trailers and the story.


If I am honest between the population of EU/NA, it more than warrants in-house translation. But honestly, like most things now my response is I honestly don't even care until I'm genuinely taken by surprise again.

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It doesn't help that there's less of it either.

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Originally Posted by NaoSen

Zepla just makes the videos because she's fallen off and just semi-remembered as a once darling FFXIV content creator, knowing she can only cling to the hate train to try get any sort of views.

I am highly critical of SE, I think SE is a company that has no idea of how to run a MMORPG they just throw stuff at it and see what sticks, if it doesn't stick, they don't alter it they just throw something new at it down the line, at the same time I'll give credit where credits due. So my dislike of her approach has nothing to do with being defensive of the company, she literally wants to dislike everything about the game and thats her target audience.

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I'm going to be honest. I'm not quite sure why people come to this conclusion. The impression I always got was that FF14 *itself* fell off. Hype petered out. It happened to other creators to disastrous ends.

Also why is a streamer criticizing FF14 something perceived as bad? People had no problem seeing WoW take its well deserved lumps. 14's in a similar state now, like it or not.

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Originally Posted by Basteala

Also why is a streamer criticizing FF14 something perceived as bad?

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It's not but take a look at Xenosys or Arthar's when they criticize among others. They still enjoy the game, still play the game, are open to new things in the game and will be constructive. Zepla just whines, in her dawntrail playthrough you could tell she wasnt even willing to give the story a chance, she'd made up her mind and WAY overplayed her dislike of every single scene. It was pathetic acting.

Criticizing when you genuinely want to like the game vs when you have already decided it's no longer for you and will not like it no matter what happens come across way different.

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Originally Posted by Kazuke_Miso

https://youtu.be/UnY7PMsV8QI?si=9MCrmXa-iwJ4Is-9



Hearing Zepla talk about the live letter, it really reminds a lot of us just how much wonder and magic has evaporated from the live letters. We still rely on community translators to understand the live letter to this day. The live letters are such a sick joke at this point, and their stale format is a good representation of the staleness of the entire game.

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Although annoying, the translation issues weren't even my problem. What took away the magic is my sad conclusion that live letters became disappointment announcements, the latest disappointment being that Occult Crescent will take another 2 months. I will wait another 2 months, then try the new content, then, so I expect, come across a detail or issue that will be promised to be fixed or continued only after the next patch for which I will be teased while waiting another 6 months.

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Originally Posted by Johners

It's about time that we started calling the constantly negative content creator or influencers what they really are, attention seekers. I suppose it does pay the bills but the cycle of negativity is super annoying. Are there areas where Square Enix could improve the game and/or communication around it? Sure, but there's also proper feedback channels to communicate through that don't involve farming ad revenue and are arguably a more respectful way to do it.

I do wish Live Letters were a little more professional, so to speak, and used proper screenshots or in-game previews rather pointing a camera at A4 pieces of paper. English translation would be great also but the pacing would fall off of a cliff if they didn't otherwise overhaul the format.

Finally, and this really is the most important part, stop playing FFXIV if you dislike it so much? Square Enix are just a business like any other in this industry and you don't owe them anything. You can take a break, play another game or, find another hobby.

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Fully agreed. We in the FFXIV Movement (yes, this is a movement) believe that FFXIV is the best MMO and one of the best games of all time with over 30 million players. If you have a negative opinion about the game, you better not share that or upload a video. Because if you do, that’s attention seeking. You ARE allowed to share positive opinions (thanks Asmon!) but you may NOT criticize our game. Everyone else likes it and if you don’t, just go play other games. This is FFXIV, the game for playing other games.

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Originally Posted by NaoSen

It's not but take a look at Xenosys or Arthar's when they criticize among others. They still enjoy the game, still play the game, are open to new things in the game and will be constructive. Zepla just whines, in her dawntrail playthrough you could tell she wasnt even willing to give the story a chance, she'd made up her mind and WAY overplayed her dislike of every single scene. It was pathetic acting.

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Agreed. If your approval for this game is below a certain value, you may NOT comment on it, even if you do or have played the game. If you don’t have at least a 70% approval for FFXIV, YOU MAY NOT COMMENT ON IT! THIS IS NOT THE GAME FOR YOU! Make sure that your opinion is within acceptable parameters or you are not FFXIV-y enough for our movement.

https://files.catbox.moe/sxr54a.png

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Originally Posted by Johners

It's about time that we started calling the constantly negative content creator or influencers what they really are, attention seekers. I suppose it does pay the bills but the cycle of negativity is super annoying. Are there areas where Square Enix could improve the game and/or communication around it? Sure, but there's also proper feedback channels to communicate through that don't involve farming ad revenue and are arguably a more respectful way to do it.

I do wish Live Letters were a little more professional, so to speak, and used proper screenshots or in-game previews rather pointing a camera at A4 pieces of paper. English translation would be great also but the pacing would fall off of a cliff if they didn't otherwise overhaul the format.

Finally, and this really is the most important part, stop playing FFXIV if you dislike it so much? Square Enix are just a business like any other in this industry and you don't owe them anything. You can take a break, play another game or, find another hobby.

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Forced to agree.

Whilst I, personally, have mixed feelings about the current state of affairs I do feel that some of those who're constantly complaining are defeating their own arguments - because if you're constantly complaining and unhappy with how things are with the game, but keep your subscription active anyway, you are communicating exactly what you are willing to accept in the only language they understand or care about.

They have already lost their magic since EW, and arguably SHB.

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Who else is old enough to remember we got an exploration zone and a deep dungeon in the same patch?

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Yeah it sucked. They should never double up on grindy content. I'm more upset that cosmic exploration and occult crescent are coming out so close together.

Zepla has lost all the magic as well...

Content creators are just downwind of current player sentiments. You'll have creators fall on both sides of the arguments and they just amplify as needed to get their views.
I don't tend to watch the ones that just spew out opinion pieces for that reason. It's just forum posts in video form that people watch to feel validated in their opinions or to rage over their different ""hot"" take.
I just watch the ones that tend to actually do things regardless of their feelings like Cider Spider. He's just out here getting achievements.

The live letters do hit different when you're not as invested in the story. I found the trailer interesting but not in the same way I was gripped by trailers in the past, when I needed to know what happened next. I think the new content they announced was interesting even if I'm not in love with the release timeline.

I think the "magic" that was lost is the illusion that these live letters are part of a dialogue between the devs and the playerbase. They've been described that way in the past and were specifically established to be a way for the devs to be clear about upcoming changes to the game. During live letters YoshiP and Foxclon had feeds of the chats from various streaming platforms and might respond to things that were being said in them during the LL. The comment about it being business as usual feels right to me. All the pieces are there except for the faith I had in the devs that existed during previous expacs. Nothing happened during this LL that brought that back, so yeah. It felt different.

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Originally Posted by Kazuke_Miso

It's actually just sad that we've all just accepted that this is the way things are when it would be totally unacceptable if it was EA or Ubisoft doing this lmao

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Yup. Ubisoft, EA, Blizzard, Epic, Mihoyo... if these companies did what SE/CSIII was doing, they would be absolutely crucified by their players. My brother used to play Escape from Tarkov, and if you white knights of the forums think a little mild and valid criticism of Yoshida (and the game) is toxic and evil, you should see the way Nikita (lead dev of Tarkov) was treated. Being harassed in-game, being harassed on Twitter/X, getting his fancy sporst car keyed, having shoes thrown at him during a live event and being screamed at to "FIX YOUR SHIT GAME, NIKITA!" You might recoil in horror from that treatment, but guess what?

It worked. He fixed his shit. Turns out, anger works. Complaining works, when it isn't silenced and smothered in "goody good-good feels".

And guess what ? I used to be a big white knight for this game myself. I used to get into heated debates about this game with my brother, I thought Yoshida was a rockstar, that he could do no wrong. I've just become so worn-out by this game and these devs that I can't find it within me to praise them for mediocrity anymore.

As long as the White Knights of the Square Enix Creative Studio III Defense Force silence all valid criticism, Yoshida will never fix his shit.

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Originally Posted by caffe_macchiato

Fully agreed. We in the FFXIV Movement (yes, this is a movement) believe that FFXIV is the best MMO and one of the best games of all time with over 30 million players. If you have a negative opinion about the game, you better not share that or upload a video. Because if you do, that’s attention seeking. You ARE allowed to share positive opinions (thanks Asmon!) but you may NOT criticize our game. Everyone else likes it and if you don’t, just go play other games. This is FFXIV, the game for playing other games.



Agreed. If your approval for this game is below a certain value, you may NOT comment on it, even if you do or have played the game. If you don’t have at least a 70% approval for FFXIV, YOU MAY NOT COMMENT ON IT! THIS IS NOT THE GAME FOR YOU! Make sure that your opinion is within acceptable parameters or you are not FFXIV-y enough for our movement.

https://files.catbox.moe/sxr54a.png

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Based fellow Midlander female main. I wish I could upvote this twice.

Live Letters stopped being interesting to me when they stopped answering forum questions.

They at least seemed like they cared back then.

"Has the spell faded and now I'm just seeing things more realistically?" — a question smart people who have been brainwashed will eventually ask.

Square Enix needs to act, before it's too late for FFXIV. Asking people to play other games when they are unsatisfied with FFXIV is only going to make them quit. There is no one to replace them this time, there is no exodus from WoW.

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Originally Posted by Johners

Finally, and this really is the most important part, stop playing FFXIV if you dislike it so much? Square Enix are just a business like any other in this industry and you don't owe them anything. You can take a break, play another game or, find another hobby.

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People do leave, you know? Aside from a handful of same people who complain on the forum, a lot of those who agree and speaks up are not the same people who complained last year(s) ago.

It's quite funny how forum white knights get this bothered by people's complaints, even though with how the forum works, they already have advantages. And by that I mean, people who unsub can't post or reply anything here, therefore ensuring that the forum will have more people defending the game than who criticized it.

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Originally Posted by brinn12

"Has the spell faded and now I'm just seeing things more realistically?" — a question smart people who have been brainwashed will eventually ask.

Square Enix needs to act, before it's too late for FFXIV. Asking people to play other games when they are unsatisfied with FFXIV is only going to make them quit. There is no one to replace them this time, there is no exodus from WoW.

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"Go play other games" was never meant to be the actual solution. Hell, it didn't even mean what it's been twisted into meaning by the Great Community. All it meant originally was that they wanted to respect your time and life enough to not make you a slave to FFXIV, to not make you feel like you HAVE to play 14 literally every single day for hours or you fall irreversibly behind like in WoW at times... and like players have been enslaved to WoW at times. All it ended up being was a way for white knights to deflect valid criticism. I wish he'd never even said that now... and I wish he hadn't actually bought into that BS argument himself. It's pretty telling when the Producer and Director of a game says, "You should just go play something else instead."

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Originally Posted by Kazuke_Miso

https://youtu.be/UnY7PMsV8QI?si=9MCrmXa-iwJ4Is-9



Hearing Zepla talk about the live letter, it really reminds a lot of us just how much wonder and magic has evaporated from the live letters. We still rely on community translators to understand the live letter to this day. The live letters are such a sick joke at this point, and their stale format is a good representation of the staleness of the entire game.

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No Zepla's feelings don't reflect how I feel at all. She's turned into a real miserable endsinger and I'm not playing to that tune.

they want you to stay subscribed while playing other games... other games from SE, dont they?

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Originally Posted by Asari5

they want you to stay subscribed while playing other games... other games from SE, dont they?

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That might be the idea, but the company is so adept at burning money and good will that it's doomed to fail.

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Originally Posted by Nadda

No Zepla's feelings don't reflect how I feel at all. She's turned into a real miserable endsinger and I'm not playing to that tune.

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You say this, and yet in another thread you say that the BLm changes are not just "player dramatism" but are actually bad and need addressing - which Zepla herself said was the "icing on the cake" of the 7.2 negativity. So either there are major problems, or there aren't, which is it?

I feel like Zepla's tone in her video was way over the top—it’s like a neighbor coming to tell me they ran over my dog. Dawntrail has issues, but people are acting like it’s the worst thing ever, as if we’re in WoD/BfA/Shadowlands combined. She’s misrepresenting Yoshi-P’s words like he’s Ion Hazzikostas, which is bad faith stuff. She says, “I’m trying to be positive” while pouring on nothing but depression in every video. Enough already.

The forums are full of vitriol and pessimism, and it’s draining. Trust is hard to earn and easy to lose. Zepla used to call FFXIV her lifeline, making people believe it was a paradise. But now, she's adding fuel to the fire with endless negativity.

I get that there are valid issues with Dawntrail, and there’s a difference between blind optimism and reasonable critique. But the constant doom and gloom isn't helping anyone. Positive change requires some optimism, not just tearing things down.

Zepla bailed on WoW during its hardest times, but the people who stuck around got rewarded. I have no doubt FFXIV can course-correct too—it just takes time. Zepla built the narrative of FFXIV being a safe haven, but now she’s burning it down over a rough patch. It’s disheartening, and I’ve lost respect for her. She made me love the game, but now it feels like she's stabbing me in the heart over a stumble. Forget it. Forget her.

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Originally Posted by Auro_Seldaris

You say this, and yet in another thread you say that the BLm changes are not just "player dramatism" but are actually bad and need addressing - which Zepla herself said was the "icing on the cake" of the 7.2 negativity. So either there are major problems, or there aren't, which is it?

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Because I can recognize a reasonable issue without losing myself to despair. I'm nothing but consistent I could levy the issues with Dawntrail here and still find myself optimistic for the future. We are not the same.

Rational pragmatic thinking is different then demoralization, disillusionment, pessimism, apathy and vitriol.

It's the nature of the game. Never watched a single one of her videos but I'm imagining it's run of the mill takes. Hard negativity gets more clicks especially when players already feel aggrieved.
Personally I feel the strong negativity is probably necessary at this point as the FFXIV community is normally too positive to issues and the devs (or more appropriately the higher ups at square) have gotten a little too comfortable with that. I think it may even be more helpful for Yoshi P too as now he can go to those idiots at square and say 'Look how bad it's getting, please stop taking all our money and giving it to crap like Forsaken."

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Originally Posted by Nadda

We are not the same.

Rational pragmatic thinking is different then demoralization, disillusionment, pessimism, apathy and vitriol.

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Look everyone, there is the chosen one. Let's start a rational-pragmatic-thinking-cult and bully everyone who has a different opinion.

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Originally Posted by yesnt

Look everyone, there is the chosen one. Let's start a rational-pragmatic-thinking-cult and bully everyone who has a different opinion.

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Ah yes, because pointing out that constant negativity and blind pessimism aren’t helping anyone is clearly the same as bullying people with different opinions.

The idea that I am in any way invalidating you yet you diminish me.

I'm not the one shouting people down for what they think, I merely ask for reasoned and leveled heads to prevail when levying their concerns. I am more than equitable towards that.

If my words are such a challenging threat as to bore the brunt of such disdain then let it be so. It's not the critiques I am after but the manner in which they are presented that matters. You'll not win me over with such a cynical snark.

When you make a challenge or critique it should be in part to win people over but you have lost me. So what does that say about your endeavors?

Laser-focused, good-faith critique is worth a thousand hours of 'vibes-based' doomposting from a washed-up grifter.

Not for me! I think the live letters are still exciting and always like to watch clips and the news that come from them. I also like how informal they feel - they don't feel like a corporate presentation, but just the devs showing off what they think is cool.

The format, the previews, everything remains the same as they were - except the info they reveal is new. If the style of the presentation is the same, but you don't feel excited, at what point do you look at yourself and wonder if it's you that's changed?

To me it's hard to understand the constant negativity. It's not clear to me from the feedback what would make people happy and I can't imagine what message the devs are able to glean from it. Almost every single thing they do receives criticism and nothing is enough. People have been saying for over a year now that they want a new field operation, but now that it's been announced and details revealed, it's still not enough. I commend the devs for not just throwing up their hands and giving up and just not doing liveletters at all.

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Originally Posted by yesnt

Look everyone, there is the chosen one. Let's start a rational-pragmatic-thinking-cult and bully everyone who has a different opinion.

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O_O

What was it you were saying yesterday about complaining about people complaining?

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Originally Posted by yesnt

People who complain about players complaining just want to start fights for personal entertainment.

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If you don't have anything to contribute to the thread you should just stay out of it.

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On topic, I agree with others who have a lack of interest in Zepla. Personally I think most FFXIV "content creators" function as little more than Shatter amateur tabloid writers. They rarely offer valuable insight, their mode of expression is boring and lacks creativity. They don't even function as bellwethers, since they mainly observe and parrot existing mainstream trends in the community, chasing their audience. I get that they have their viewers so many people so like them, good for them, but it's just not for me.

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Originally Posted by Exmo

O_O

What was it you were saying yesterday about complaining about people complaining?

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That was yesterday.

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Originally Posted by Nadda

I'm not the one shouting people down for what they think, I merely ask for reasoned and leveled heads to prevail when levying their concerns. I am more than equitable towards that.

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Reasoned and level heads HAVE tried to levy their concerns. All critique or discussion is buried in "GOOD VIBES ONLY" or "YOU'RE JUST A NEGATIVE NANCY."

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Originally Posted by ElysiumDragon

Laser-focused, good-faith critique is worth a thousand hours of 'vibes-based' doomposting from a washed-up grifter.

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People have written "laser-focused, good-faith critique" of Dawntrail. There have been forum threads with lengthy posts discussing and dissecting the problems with DT's plot, characterization, world-building, job design, staleness and repetitiveness of content, etc. There have been many of these threads, all done in good faith and with reasonable attempts at discourse. Do you know what happens to those threads?

They get buried in an avalanche of simplistic "I LIKED IT!" or "YOU'RE JUST A HATER, A DOOMPOSTER, A TROLL."

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Originally Posted by Auro_Seldaris

People have written "laser-focused, good-faith critique" of Dawntrail. There have been forum threads with lengthy posts discussing and dissecting the problems with DT's plot, characterization, world-building, job design, staleness and repetitiveness of content, etc. There have been many of these threads, all done in good faith and with reasonable attempts at discourse. Do you know what happens to those threads?

They get buried in an avalanche of simplistic "I LIKED IT!" or "YOU'RE JUST A HATER, A DOOMPOSTER, A TROLL."

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Can you give an example of this happening, please?