How is it only...

I logged in this morning and got the notice that we are having maintenance for patch 7.38 on Tuesday.

And I thought to myself, by Altana, how is it only patch 7.38? And we still have over 5 months, nearly half a year still, before even the first fanfest where we get the first hints of 8.0 which means at least another year of the wet fart that this expansion has been.

Yawntrail feels like it is never going to end. The extended time between patches, the lackluster and lacking content, further crippled by the jobs themselves being in the worst state they have ever been is really hitting hard and it feels like SE didn't just drop the ball with DT, but put it down and walked away. I am trying real hard to stay optomistic while I play other games, but man its to the point of rediculousness now.

And the worst part is the wall of silence coming from SE. It makes it feel like they really just do not care at all anymore. And as a legacy, who remembers the time when we had a great community team, Yoshida was actually excited about XIV and there was a feeling that we actually had something to look forward to, it's just beyond perplexing that this is the stance they are taking when the game is at it's lowest point since 1.x

The mind just boggles.

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Originally Posted by MicahZerrshia

I logged in this morning and got the notice that we are having maintenance for patch 7.38 on Tuesday.

And I thought to myself, by Altana, how is it only patch 7.38? And we still have over 5 months, nearly half a year still, before even the first fanfest where we get the first hints of 8.0 which means at least another year of the wet fart that this expansion has been.

Yawntrail feels like it is never going to end. The extended time between patches, the lackluster and lacking content, further crippled by the jobs themselves being in the worst state they have ever been is really hitting hard and it feels like SE didn't just drop the ball with DT, but put it down and walked away. I am trying real hard to stay optomistic while I play other games, but man its to the point of rediculousness now.

And the worst part is the wall of silence coming from SE. It makes it feel like they really just do not care at all anymore. And as a legacy, who remembers the time when we had a great community team, Yoshida was actually excited about XIV and there was a feeling that we actually had something to look forward to, it's just beyond perplexing that this is the stance they are taking when the game is at it's lowest point since 1.x

The mind just boggles.

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They've been firing California based staff recently. They seem to have their priorities pretty straight right now.

uhm, its always 8 to 12 months drought between x.5 patches and new expansions


nothing new here :c

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Originally Posted by BlisteringFrost

They've been firing California based staff recently. They seem to have their priorities pretty straight right now.

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What does Square Enix firing staff in the US and Europe have to do with the quality of FFXIV?

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Originally Posted by Underscore

What does Square Enix firing staff in the US and Europe have to do with the quality of FFXIV?

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I have no obligation to explain why the news when you can just go find the news for yourself.

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Originally Posted by BlisteringFrost

I have no obligation to explain why the news when you can just go find the news for yourself.

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What I could find out about what has been happening, this answer is from an AI:

The company announced layoffs on November 6, 2025, affecting an unknown number of employees in its North American (US) offices—along with Europe and the UK—as part of a "fundamental restructuring" of its overseas publishing operations to cut costs (aiming for ¥3 billion/$19.6 million in annual savings) and centralize control in Japan.

These cuts target support roles like IT, marketing, publishing, sales, QA, and business planning to create a "leaner and more agile" structure with a "globally integrated marketing strategy," building on similar 2024 layoffs that "didn't achieve desired results."

Instead of hiring replacements, Square Enix is consolidating development and resources in Japan (where most games are already made) and plans to automate 70% of QA/debugging with AI by 2027 via tools like generative AI research with the University of Tokyo. No sources mention new NA hires, rehiring, or outsourcing to new Western staff—it's explicitly about downsizing and efficiency.

This fits Square Enix's shift away from Western studios (many sold off previously) toward Japan-focused operations.

It does feel like an eternity to be honest, just due to how drab it all is (even if the timeline is no different) But I am not even bothered about it at this point...

It's going to be the same thing next expansion as to what it was this expansion with a fresh coat of paint.

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Originally Posted by Hyperia

What I could find out about what has been happening, this answer is from an AI:

The company announced layoffs on November 6, 2025, affecting an unknown number of employees in its North American (US) offices—along with Europe and the UK—as part of a "fundamental restructuring" of its overseas publishing operations to cut costs (aiming for ¥3 billion/$19.6 million in annual savings) and centralize control in Japan.

These cuts target support roles like IT, marketing, publishing, sales, QA, and business planning to create a "leaner and more agile" structure with a "globally integrated marketing strategy," building on similar 2024 layoffs that "didn't achieve desired results."

Instead of hiring replacements, Square Enix is consolidating development and resources in Japan (where most games are already made) and plans to automate 70% of QA/debugging with AI by 2027 via tools like generative AI research with the University of Tokyo. No sources mention new NA hires, rehiring, or outsourcing to new Western staff—it's explicitly about downsizing and efficiency.

This fits Square Enix's shift away from Western studios (many sold off previously) toward Japan-focused operations.

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There's also some restructuring (see: new lead) in the localization team SE has on payroll.

Looking back, Dawntrail was announced pretty quickly after 6.4, so it feels kinda weird being at this point now with… nothing.
I really wish they’d tease something, maybe at The Game Awards or something. If they really wait until April 2026, that will definitely be too long and might kill the rest of the interest in this game.
So yeah, it kinda feels like Dawntrail will never end, especially with 8.0 possibly dropping in late 2026 or even 2027

Dawntrail lingers like
Elevator flatulence
Swirling, eternal.

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Originally Posted by ServerCollaps

uhm, its always 8 to 12 months drought between x.5 patches and new expansions


nothing new here :c

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2.5 Jan 2015
3.0 June 2015

3.5 Jan 2017
4.0 June 2017

4.5 Jan 2019
5.0 July 2019

5.5 April 2021
6.0 Dec 2021

6.5 Oct 2023
7.0 July 2024

It'S aLwAyS bEeN 8 tO 12 MoNtHs, PaTcH cYcLeS hAvEn'T cHaNgEd

pre-covid were always around 6 months from .5 to .0, now we are looking at a year. But do keep making excuses for the CEOs, they love it when the common folk do that for them

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Originally Posted by MicahZerrshia

pre-covid were always around 6 months from .5 to .0, now we are looking at a year. But do keep making excuses for the CEOs, they love it when the common folk do that for them

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If 7.5 is june 2026 and 8.0 is december 2026/januari 2027, technically it is 6 months (ish) XD

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Originally Posted by Kozh

If 7.5 is june 2026 and 8.0 is december 2026/januari 2027, technically it is 6 months (ish) XD

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I get what you are saying and that you were tongue in cheeking it, but that would put 6 months+ between .4 and .5 when the standard before was 3 months. So they are just shifting the time without adding anything worthwhile for us to do in that time.

Mainly because so many ppl either don't understand math, Construct 7 taught us that all too well lol, or because someone is always going to make an excuse for them, like the person I quoted.

If the explanation is that they're not working their teams to death anymore, i'm fine with it (is it by the way?).
I'm less fine with the fact that they're not trying to compensate by taking up measures to keep up through other means.

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Originally Posted by MicahZerrshia

I logged in this morning and got the notice that we are having maintenance for patch 7.38 on Tuesday.

And I thought to myself, by Altana, how is it only patch 7.38? And we still have over 5 months, nearly half a year still, before even the first fanfest where we get the first hints of 8.0 which means at least another year of the wet fart that this expansion has been.

Yawntrail feels like it is never going to end. The extended time between patches, the lackluster and lacking content, further crippled by the jobs themselves being in the worst state they have ever been is really hitting hard and it feels like SE didn't just drop the ball with DT, but put it down and walked away. I am trying real hard to stay optomistic while I play other games, but man its to the point of rediculousness now.

And the worst part is the wall of silence coming from SE. It makes it feel like they really just do not care at all anymore. And as a legacy, who remembers the time when we had a great community team, Yoshida was actually excited about XIV and there was a feeling that we actually had something to look forward to, it's just beyond perplexing that this is the stance they are taking when the game is at it's lowest point since 1.x

The mind just boggles.

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On the plus side, sounds like expansion launch will be right after or near right after fanfest from the teasing
No guarantees of course, but we might not have THAT long of a drought after the last raid tier.

Mind you, 7.38 is the *unlock* patch. That means we can do savage fights as much as we like for the loot.
7.1 months of locked, followed by 5 weeks of unlocked, then we're onto the new tier where this one doesn't matter anymore.

This system has been broken forever, regardless of the increased patch cycle (that also sucks). If there is 8 months between raid tiers, we should have 5 months of lock and 3 months of unlock.

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Originally Posted by Underscore

What does Square Enix firing staff in the US and Europe have to do with the quality of FFXIV?

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Okay.

The prevailing thought is that SE is moving away from using Western consulting groups (IE Sweet Baby Inc and Black Girl Gaming) when designing games for audiences around the world. This theory stems from the series of financial flops to underperforming games over the past few years. Most games made with such groups pretty consistently have the critique of "safer, simpler writing" or "over-simplified gameplay" as they all gear themselves towards making games media more friendly to mass audiences of all tastes and skill levels.

This will allow SE to save money by keeping everything in-house, in Japan, and also hoping that their future creations being helmed entirely by Eastern devs and their tastes can help reclaim the reputation as the best publisher for JRPGs and other media like manga and anime.

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Originally Posted by MicahZerrshia

I get what you are saying and that you were tongue in cheeking it, but that would put 6 months+ between .4 and .5 when the standard before was 3 months. So they are just shifting the time without adding anything worthwhile for us to do in that time.

Mainly because so many ppl either don't understand math, Construct 7 taught us that all too well lol, or because someone is always going to make an excuse for them, like the person I quoted.

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One detail to note is that Yoshi-P has already stated that 8.0 is launching closely after the final Fanfest in Japan next year. The dates are 10/31 and 11/1 of 2025, so the the Dec/Jan date seems on the money unless it drops November. (Which would make us Western fans happier as it dodges Christmas earlier).

But yes, the longer patche cycles since Covid are just the standard now and it sucks.

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Originally Posted by Valence

If the explanation is that they're not working their teams to death anymore, i'm fine with it (is it by the way?).
I'm less fine with the fact that they're not trying to compensate by taking up measures to keep up through other means.

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They are still working their teams to death, it's just that the workload now includes multiple games instead of XIV exclusively.

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Originally Posted by MicahZerrshia

And the worst part is the wall of silence coming from SE.

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To me, I feel a bit lost when the only times we get - vague - news about the game is once every 4 months or so with the Live Letters.

Not saying that is a good system or that XIV needs exactly that, but in WoW, the PTR/open Beta kind of fills in for me this itch about getting news of what's coming in a near future. Yes, you'd get spoiled easily, but on the other hand you can get hold of non-spoilery stuff like class changes, or even cosmetic items that are to come.

Were you people complaining when Endwalker had just as long between patches with even less content, or is this thread just here to keep alive the Dawntrail bad meme

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Originally Posted by Rahcel

Were you people complaining when Endwalker had just as long between patches with even less content, or is this thread just here to keep alive the Dawntrail bad meme

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Brother, we have been complaining since ShB. Except at that time people were more understanding of the long waiting time since covid is a valid excuse for patch delay.

Also idk why you say it's a meme when DT *is* bad so far. Don't blame us lol

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Originally Posted by Rahcel

Were you people complaining when Endwalker had just as long between patches with even less content, or is this thread just here to keep alive the Dawntrail bad meme

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I was there, a lot of us were here. But back during EW if you dared to say anything critical at all about FFXIV, ppl would pull out the torches and pitchforks. You couldn't say anything negative or critical on third party sites like reddit without being downvoted into oblivion. So we were here, just silenced. But do go on about how we are just DT haters

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Originally Posted by Rahcel

Were you people complaining when Endwalker had just as long between patches with even less content, or is this thread just here to keep alive the Dawntrail bad meme

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Yes, we were.

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Originally Posted by Kozh

Brother, we have been complaining since ShB. Except at that time people were more understanding of the long waiting time since covid is a valid excuse for patch delay.

Also idk why you say it's a meme when DT *is* bad so far. Don't blame us lol

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dunno, i think its pretty decent and does a lot of stuff right or better than previous expansions

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Originally Posted by ServerCollaps

dunno, i think its pretty decent and does a lot of stuff right or better than previous expansions

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Just because your bar is ankle high, doesn't mean its like that for the average player. If anything this expansion has made that loud and clear.

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Originally Posted by MicahZerrshia

I was there, a lot of us were here. But back during EW if you dared to say anything critical at all about FFXIV, ppl would pull out the torches and pitchforks. You couldn't say anything negative or critical on third party sites like reddit without being downvoted into oblivion. So we were here, just silenced. But do go on about how we are just DT haters

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EW came about the same time as the great WoW exodus. So people were praising FF XIV as much as they could to keep the WoW refugees. It made sense, you don't talk about bad things that could scare away new players. The issue though was exactly as you say. If anything critical came up that was serious, people would shout it down. I noticed during EW particularly, we had a rise in "Toxic Positivity". Where you couldn't be critical of both the game or a players laziness/bad gameplay. Even if you were just trying to help a player when they did a mechanic wrong, you'd get shouted at for being mean to them.

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Originally Posted by SalamanderIX

Mind you, 7.38 is the *unlock* patch. That means we can do savage fights as much as we like for the loot.
7.1 months of locked, followed by 5 weeks of unlocked, then we're onto the new tier where this one doesn't matter anymore.

This system has been broken forever, regardless of the increased patch cycle (that also sucks). If there is 8 months between raid tiers, we should have 5 months of lock and 3 months of unlock.

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8 weeks of unlock. Savage is dropping January 6th

The mind boggles how someone could complain about content and refuse to do any and all high-end content.

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Originally Posted by RaionKansen

The mind boggles how someone could complain about content and refuse to do any and all high-end content.

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I engage with high end content, including attempting old ultimates with my friends lately
There is still far too little content for the 2nd biggest MMO

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Originally Posted by Reimmi

I engage with high end content, including attempting old ultimates with my friends lately
There is still far too little content for the 2nd biggest MMO

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Compared to what game?

WoW is a shell of its former self.

M+ has been made largely more accessible and the community that pushes keys is insanely toxic.

World quests are fun and interesting for a time, but they're just dailies and get dull eventually like any other game's daily content.

I personally don't find heroic and mythic raids in WoW all that interesting either.

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Originally Posted by RaionKansen

The mind boggles how someone could complain about content and refuse to do any and all high-end content.

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You do know many of us here are not here on our mains right? Looking at character stats really doesnt mean anything, but if it makes you feel really really really good and superior, you do you I guess

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Originally Posted by ServerCollaps

dunno, i think its pretty decent and does a lot of stuff right or better than previous expansions

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Hm, I admit there's some QoL that is good. Not to mention that unlocking glam restriction is part of DT. But to me the bad still outweigh the good. Mostly the garbage writing and job homogenozation.

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Originally Posted by MicahZerrshia

I was there, a lot of us were here. But back during EW if you dared to say anything critical at all about FFXIV, ppl would pull out the torches and pitchforks. You couldn't say anything negative or critical on third party sites like reddit without being downvoted into oblivion. So we were here, just silenced. But do go on about how we are just DT haters

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Oh no, you (not you, personally, the collective "you" of people dumping on the game) were out in full force here as well. This forum has *always* been an echo chamber of negativity, where it's positive voices that get torched for daring to say they like the game. Remember the infamous near-1000 page thread bashing EW? Heck, ShB is widely viewed as the "best" expansion in survey after survey and most places around the internet, but if you poked around here during the ShB days, you'd think it was the worst expansion to date.

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Originally Posted by Striker44

Oh no, you (not you, personally, the collective "you" of people dumping on the game) were out in full force here as well. This forum has *always* been an echo chamber of negativity, where it's positive voices that get torched for daring to say they like the game. Remember the infamous near-1000 page thread bashing EW? Heck, ShB is widely viewed as the "best" expansion in survey after survey and most places around the internet, but if you poked around here during the ShB days, you'd think it was the worst expansion to date.

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