Thoughts on how to improve on FF14

Sorry but I fear this is gonna be a long post.

For starters I began playing this game around 4 years ago and Ignoring everyone telling me to Fokus MSQ I decided to take my time and do as much content as I could before advancing to the next expansion. I have now around 7300 Hours in this game... and am still a sproud for not having finished Endwalker-Postgame.
I have grown to really love this game over these years... which is why I see it necessary to address the problem that I see slowly eroding this game.

1. Job Identity
I sadly only came in after Healer Jobs got guted, but I think I have a good Idea on how they were the first seeing the problem that job homogenization would become. The first Job I really considert being a downgrade was Summoner. Now In Dawntrail more and more Jobs get watered down, removing any and all failstates. Monk telling you what button to push next while removing DoT and Selfbuffs. Astro beeing a shadow of what people considert it´s best iteration, Viper getting all its Buffs and debuffs removed because pushing glowy button is just way easyer. Many more small changes and removals of mechanics that could be to hard for the lowest denominator. And now Recently Black Mage got Lobotomized making on of the last challenging Jobs in the game even easyer then Summoner. And even Pictomancer seem to bemoan that the Devs do not understand the appeal of there chosen Job nerfing the aspekt people liked while buffing the one they feel indifferent about.
All to accommodate the Improved difficulty the Devs seem to want.

2. Gameplay
The Game more and more Devolves into Dance Dance Revolution DDR, and since do not stand in the glowy zone can only get this complicated, the only solution becomes to make it faster, to accommodate this change Jobs had to become so easy you that you can play them blind... next iteration the enemy starts with an Debuff ending the fight after a certian so the players can fully play there FF themed DDR.

3. Possible solution?
Stop the DDR nonsense yes dodging telegraphed AoE will always be a necessary mechanic but making it you only one makes encounters feel utterly uninspired.
Mobs fare not much better always being delalt with by pulling all AoE them down rins repeat.
Give Mobs some strategy or mechanics which they try to use against the players.
Give player an actual Job Identity you then can build encounters around.
Make this game more like an RPG were players have to decide for them self what the next best move to choose is and not and static rotation for always similar mob pulls then then the usual DDR.
Boss encounters have even more potential. Give of multiple zones on the Boss to target let´s find were our attack are the most effective heck let me see him hurt when I hit him with Flare Star and do not just chip of 20 seconds of the encounter time.
Let us push bosses into phase changes let us switch battle zones over the fight make the gameplay for the jobs we choose engaging do´s not need DDR on Savage tier speed.

4. Story
I think many can agree with me that the biggest draw in of FF14 is the story having peaked with Shadowbringer und most peoples opinion and had an worthy climax in the Endwalker finally. And the along comes Dawntrail with expectation higher then ever and and many player disappointed in what was delivert and spiteful of Wuk Lamat a character many see as annoying and immature which the story bends around to please.
I recent years we had many franchises in similar positions and everyone decide to stick with it and go one...
I say as it is no matter how much you seek and may even manage to improve the story... noting will change the fakt that it is build on a rotten foundation and everyone who will from now one play your game has to go through the rot to get again to the good part.
Do what no one else dares to do and take out the rot. Unmake Dawntrail take what worked of the story and build on it but take out the things that killed the players enjoyment. Stop relegating Krile to B plot. Humble Wuk Lamat so she can grow as a character or cut her out entirely. But change Dawntrail for the better... or you will have once again a point were many players will simply drop out.

I know... the Devs will never read this... Many other will take 1 look at this and either laugh or simply belittle me... so let me say it in advance... I know nothing of this will ever happen... I know that the devs have made there minds up a LONG ASS TIME AGO and that nothing will change.
This... is simply my moment... to scream into the void... trying to be heard... hoping that even for a moment people my start considering what could be and not just swallow what it has become.
As much as I love this game we have reached the point were the only way I can help the game... is by walking away from it.

I thank everyone who took the time out of there day to read my crashout... I may log in once ore twice on a weekend to help a friend finish of Bozja and then maybe Eureka if they feel like it... but as it stand... this is a Goodbye... and I feel it may be forever because this game will not change... it will get dumbed down 8.0 will merge every Class into 1 and only give the Cosmetic animation packs to differentiate them...

for all that matters... Endwalker was precisely that... THE END.

We all know this, and however much the developers may or may not, they are very slow at getting to the point of addressing it.

For example, they know job identity is a problem, but their plan is to address it in 8.0, instead of right now when changes to jobs such as AST, SAM, BLM, DRG, healers and an over abundance of heals and mit across all jobs making eachother individually irrelevant, have slowly chipped away players. I wonder if they understand the urgency of the problem when even now, their plan is to address it in about 1-2 years time.

I don't mind DDR, but I did not think the fights needed to be faster than Valigarmanda, but they really did have you rushing around even more than that in these new normal raids. If you aren't hurrying around and watching things like tethers, adds, tracking which order it last casted things, etc, you'll have some nice vulns at minimum.

They aren't going to reverse the story. That's really not an option. But they can go back and make subtle changes such as adjusting how the music fits (old expansions tracks, Smile in particular is fine if they make it start from a different point in the track so it's less sudden), subtle changes to the cutscenes such as Wuk Lamat not jumping down from heights, making Scions chime in a little more when they are meant to be the experts, cutting out repeated points, sending a few of the other Scions into the portal, and making gameplay sequences out of the train scene and the cooking competition.

I really hope they can find a more aesthetically-pleasing story though. It destroys me to see them continue to dirty FF9 lore with technology. You can be enticed by the pictures of the Alexandrian castle dungeon, but when you enter it, it's just what it looks like after being mostly converted to Electrope and Electrope-containing robots. It ruins any excitement you might have had for it as an FF9 fan.

As much as the new story thread is nice, it taking place in a backdrop of electrope (Solution Nine) and destroying the excitement I'd otherwise have for Alexandria by decorating it with Electrope, really just wrecks most of the enthusiasm for it. I'd just got over how soul crushed I was to see FF9 muddied like that and forgiven it, but the new dungeon did it again and it's hard to see how this is meant to entice fans.

Unmaking the story would be a terrible business decision, and if players start being spiteful of a videogame story, I don't thnk we're talking about a game issue anymore, no matter the quality of the story.

Also this is quite dramatic for a "i don't like the game anymore" thread.

I only skimmed your post, sorry if I'm mistaken here, but you say you're still in EW yet you're giving opinions on DT's story. Is that right?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by TheInsomniac13

3. Possible solution?
Give Mobs some strategy or mechanics which they try to use against the players.

---

NGL, an Honor difficulty with a turn-based style, like Baldur's Gate 3 has, would be amazing and also oddly familiar since FF games are also turn-based.

Stop trolling and creating forum char after forum char.

Well I am honestly surprised to have gotten any kind of post on my crashout so Thanks Jeeqbit for an constructive opinion to my given points.

I know that an unmaking of Dawntrail is not possible which is big part of my worry since as I see it the 3 big appeals of FF 14 are the Story the Jobs you can play and the actual Battles the game gives you.

Good or Bad story telling is a very subjective topic but it cannot be denied that a very big crowed sees Dawntrails MSQ as objectively bad which then in turn means that the only things keeping these players in the game would be Gameplay... which with a stronger homogenization of Jobs and a stronger Fokus on DDR mechanics is not as strong as it once was, which then creates a point of people dropping out of the game.
The Question then is how much can you Improve the story via editing it so we are once again at the Point of ARR were all we can do for disgruntled player is to say we promise it get´s better.

While in Terms of Gameplay I think the devs took the claim of being to easy personally and now leading them down Focusing making encounters harder while Jobs become even more dumbed down, which in my opinion is the exact opposite of what they should have done, and now even retroactively made older content boring to play putting even more need for the story to carry

Hello Sekundessounet

Yeah I know that unmaking the story was rather thickly laid on at my part. But my emphasis still stands, People majorly had a disliking for the story and the Narrative quality. I tried to get a broad understanding of what people disliked and why and then tried to hear the counter arguments of people who did enjoy it and the sad truth is that even the ones who said the overall liked the story had to be critical of many choices that were made.

And yes I know I am Dramatic but it´s not an I don´t like this game anymore. It´s because I do like this game. I really wanna see them succeed. ARR to Endwalker was one of the Greatest Storys I ever gor to experience. But Sidequests, Job design, encounters, optional activitys. All are heavely flawed and feel often underdeveloped.
Which either means the Devs do not know... Do not care... or have simply not the resources to try making it better.

Knowing how hard it is for an MMO to make a profit and considering how much of that profit has to flow back into the game... makes me question how much Squer Enix actualy takes of FF14s earings. And if the state of the game is of a same reason as why WoW nearly died a view years ago... because the Publisher simply pockets all the money leaving nothing for the devs to reinvest into the game.

Hello Exmo
Yes I have not leistend to the opinion of many FF 14 streamers to Fokus down the MSQ and took quite a lot of time doing side content. Like leveling every job, crafting every Relic, doping Eureka and Boja or Fokusing on Crafting jobs.
I was int the early parts of Endwalker when Dawntrail released and at first avoidet any kind of spoilers, however the negative Preception of the expansion was rather hard to miss.
It was when in a patch Monk got his self Buffs removed and DoT taken away were I had to admit that yes the Job is now more accessible but it simply feeled that Personality was lost. And I could no longer ignore that Jobs were getting dumbed down more and more.
Patch 7.2 Dumbed down Black Mage to a state that as we all notice lead many Mains to complain about it but they are not the only ones that feel utterly misunderstood by the developers. Heck even Pictomancer made strong points that the Developer do not understand what thy consider is the heart of there Job having nerved the Canvases while Buffing the color combos. Pictos are now punished for Paining Canvases in combat.

So already having decided I would stop playing I sat down and made a deep dive on the story of Dawntrail to see what people hated so much about it but also looking for the opinion of people wo did enjoy the story. In the end I have to sadly say I agree that the story failed at many essential points some that would be very hard if not impossible to fix retroactively.

Hello Kohashi

Deam even imagining how a Turn based als styl FF made by Larian would look like makes me drool ^^.

I am thinking back and ARR Dungeon design and yeah many call it Jank but Halatalia normal and Hard had strangely enough more creative mechanics that that were not reliant on DDR mechanics then anything Shadowbringer delivered.
And I really wish that back in the days the Developter would have decidet on stronger Job Identity and Dungeon mechanics Fokusing and building around this.

Mobs trying to split the party. Encounters tough and or tactical enough to not pull wall to wall but have to engage with them. Jobs that are not static rotations but in the moment decisions of every player of what is the best action I right now am able to do.
Multiphase Bosses that change depending on how you perform.
Imagine The Arcadion M1 The one Fight I thing putting in all the DDR mechanics is quite fitting, as it stands dodging mechanics only enables you to do damage which is simply a shortening that is the timer that is the Bosses health. Now think about it that with every mechanic he hit you with he becomes more potent the damage ramps up while the more mechanics you successfully dodge makes him stress and panic more and more getting more hectic until he slips and delivers you and opening to do Majore Damage. It rewards you for doing the mechanics right.

What could have been.

Hello Shialan
I am not fully sure what you mean with creating forum char after forum char... do you mean character?

I am sorry if my validity suffers from as of jet only having read and never posted in this forum but I can ensure you this is my only account.

Should this however be just an bait them please feel acknowledged and consider giving your opinion of the state of the game and what you think could improve it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by TheInsomniac13

So already having decided I would stop playing I sat down and made a deep dive on the story of Dawntrail to see what people hated so much about it but also looking for the opinion of people wo did enjoy the story. In the end I have to sadly say I agree that the story failed at many essential points some that would be very hard if not impossible to fix retroactively.

---

Thanks for clarifying the basis through which you formed an opinion on DT's story. You may have drank from a poisoned well, though. A lot of big name streamers and youtubers are ambulance chasers first and foremost and critical thinkers last. If you absolutely had to have an opinion, you would have been better off playing through it yourself rather tbh.

I agree with you on that part. It was rather hard to find objective story analyses that tried to stay objective. There are quite a lot of sharks in the water that smelled blood in the water and jumped at the chance of easy clicks and engagement.
Another problem I ran into when searching for positiv feedback were a lot of people defending the story claiming people only hated on it because Wuk Lamats English voice actor is Trans... I really do not care and would never even have know this if not for many people solely focusing on that, it made it hard to find some one who could give objective reasoning.

Anyway I assume that you were some one who enjoyed Dawntrails story in spite of many nay sayers. I am glad for you In this day and age we should take all the joy the can get and hold onto for as long as we possible.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by TheInsomniac13

2. Gameplay
The Game more and more Devolves into Dance Dance Revolution DDR, and since do not stand in the glowy zone can only get this complicated, the only solution becomes to make it faster, to accommodate this change Jobs had to become so easy you that you can play them blind... next iteration the enemy starts with an Debuff ending the fight after a certian so the players can fully play there FF themed DDR.

---

Something I'd love to see return is actual teamplay like we had in SB.

Aggro should be a team effort again, not just tanks.
Healer MP should be a team effort again, not just one button.
TP was an avenue for needing your team to refill it for you. (Though, outside of AoE spam, this barely was a factor)

As it is now, outside of it feeling bad when someone misses their 2min buffs, you may as well play solo on most jobs, it feels sad imo.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Exmo

Thanks for clarifying the basis through which you formed an opinion on DT's story. You may have drank from a poisoned well, though. A lot of big name streamers and youtubers are ambulance chasers first and foremost and critical thinkers last. If you absolutely had to have an opinion, you would have been better off playing through it yourself rather tbh.

---

A lot of us have formed our opinions after playing DT ourselves, but the moment we criticized it, it doesn't matter to you anyway. We will always be "haters", "grifters", "lacking critical thinking" or whatnot in your eyes.

FF14 white knights are the last people who has the right to judge others.

I love watching white knights oscillate between “streamers amplify toxic opinions of the forums/discussion sub” and “the forums/discussion sub are just sheep that parrot the opinions of the steamers”

Hello Pokefan5

Sadly I only Joined the game midway through Shadowbringer but what I read about Stromblood game designe makes we wish I would have gotten to experience myself, it sounds fare more situational and reactive then what we got now.

The Problem I see with a Fokus on Rotation that center around a 2 min Raidbuff window is that in an optimal play scenario every run will be the same, which makes me think that DDR mechanic is quite a fitting term for this typ of gameplay because every encounter is practically dance which steps you got to learn and never divert from it.

As to the notion of that it feels we play mostly alone in this MMO I think the YouTuber Josh Strife Hayes had some good thinks to say about this in regards to modern MMO designs. Were conveniency removes more and more player interactivity, while not having a Dutyfinder or Partyfinder would keep many player from entering the content all together. We basically play MMOs now Alone Together. Maybe this is why I remember Eureka quite fondly even though the content often kicked my Ass and cost me much sanity when I decided to do all the Eureka Relics.
But in the end some of the best times I hade there were with some random players all joining up for a Fatetrain.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kozh

A lot of us have formed our opinions after playing DT ourselves, but the moment we criticized it, it doesn't matter to you anyway. We will always be "haters", "grifters", "lacking critical thinking" or whatnot in your eyes.

FF14 white knights are the last people who has the right to judge others.

---

Are you a big name streamer or youtuber? If not, why do you feel called out when I criticize them?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Supersnow845

I love watching white knights oscillate between “streamers amplify toxic opinions of the forums/discussion sub” and “the forums/discussion sub are just sheep that parrot the opinions of the steamers”

---

I didn't say either of these quotes so either this is off topic or it's a silly little strawman. Nevertheless, without giving my own opinion on those two statements, they are not mutually exclusive because we live in a world where two things can influence one another.

Actually clamp down on people using 3rd party software, you know the kind I'm talking about.

The thing is you can’t really fix the game because the abysmal gameplay (jobs) and shitty encounter designs are interwoven and made so on purpose.

Essentially the game is: “press our hardcoded, bloated button sequence right, but you can choose which one you want and the accompanying effects to look at (different jobs). The boss mechanics will serve as a nasty distraction”.

If you “fix” the jobs, so they have an actual point and gameplay like classes in WoW, the game falls apart because it itself is too braindead.

Just imagine you're playing the normal game but with PvP style jobs (which is the closest thing in this game resembling real MMO classes), so there's no "rotation", no never changing button sequences, no 123 124 125 into resource into resource into finisher into finisher 2 clockwork gameplay. Only ''real'' skills and your decisions. But here's the catch....there are no decisions to make.