FFXIV has lost it's magic

[Nialle]

I really think that people who have been playing MMOs for a decade+ might need to consider the possibility that they're just burned out on the genre at this point. You never get that 'first love' feeling back. Neither can a 6 month old game hold a candle to one that has years worth of expansion content, no matter if it's FFXIV or anything else.

However, I totally agree that we need more niche MMOs out there. But everyone wants to copy WoW and have millions of players and they don't want to build games to a smaller scale. I think the biggest plague on gaming in general is the obsession with AAA budget games (both with players and studios) and how they're strangling creativity because they NEED to make millions to even break even on their huge costs to build. In such cases it's always a case of the broad market over the niche.

[Blarp]

I really think that people who have been playing MMOs for a decade+ might need to consider the possibility that they're just burned out on the genre at this point. You never get that 'first love' feeling back. Neither can a 6 month old game hold a candle to one that has years worth of expansion content, no matter if it's FFXIV or anything else.

That's just not true. I've been playing MMO's for a long time, but there have been several that captured me. FFXI, WoW, EVE, and to a lesser degree, GW1 and TSW. It's games like FFXIV that are nothing more than "yet another MMO" that I'm burned out on. I really can't complain much though as I knew what I was getting into with this game, but I guess I was foolishly hoping that this game would turn out to be a bit different.

[Amberion]

I really think that people who have been playing MMOs for a decade+ might need to consider the possibility that they're just burned out on the genre at this point.

I don't really agree with that. While it may not be as high up on the "emotional" scale as the first MMORPG gave them, it should at least give people some "tingly" feelings. I just don't think a generalized game like this can give the same impact a niche game does.

Take FFXI for example, people either loved it or hated it. It wasn't that much of a middle ground there.

[Nialle]

While it may not be as high up on the "emotional" scale as the first MMORPG gave them, it should at least give people some "tingly" feelings.

Happy players don't post long introspective threads on forums -- only 10% or so of a game's playerbase ever even uses them (that is a percent I've heard repeated by many MMO devs in GDC talks and such). Personally, I'm still enjoying the game and don't usually even come here unless there's a maintenance. Certain topics here can become echo chambers of agreement (complete with hand-waving away of dissent as being 'white knighting' or 'trolling') but that doesn't mean it's representative of even a significant percentage of people playing.

I've played many MMOs (including niche/sandboxy ones like Saga of Ryzom, Horizons, and Mabinogi) and I'm still having fun in FFXIV after playing since Beta 2. I can only speak for myself, however and don't assume to speak for any majority. It'll take another 6-12 months before we get a better idea of just how many people agree with one side or the other, on this issue.