My friend the "content locust" :(

[TornadoFury]

content is boring i'm starting to see my friends stop there subs now i feel i am next for i only log in monday to cap.

[jabbywocks]

...

I agree that saying there is no content isn't correct.

But, I can't tell SE what will make everyone else happy, just what I enjoy about any MMO I've ever played and even just basic console RPGs; Questing and leveling. I find more excitement in leveling from level 1 -2 than beating primals. Farming for Plundered gear more than saving up for Allagan gear. What can I say? "Ding! New level!" vs. "Ding! Capped myth for the week. Now what?"

[Kat_Manx]

I agree that saying there is no content isn't correct.

But, I can't tell SE what will make everyone else happy, just what I enjoy about any MMO I've ever played and even just basic console RPGs; Questing and leveling. I find more excitement in leveling from level 1 -2 than beating primals. Farming for Plundered gear more than saving up for Allagan gear. What can I say? "Ding! New level!" vs. "Ding! Capped myth for the week. Now what?"

Yeah, leveling is fun. Sad news for people who already have everything leveled though: I'd assume a lot of the jobs they add in the future will be the second job for a class we already have, so basically you'd be level 50 the second it's released, after you do the quest. Heh.

[Edellis]

Compared to other MMOs (and despite how adamantly a few people whine on this forum), FFXIV is extremely lenient with how it limits your progression. So unlike other games where you simply get bored because it's too time consuming to get anywhere else, FFXIV just opts to give at a fair pace until it has nothing left to give but Coil runs.

So your friend is bored because he's technically beaten the game already. The game does not in any way require you to level more than 1 class to 50 or even bother with Disciple of Hand/Land classes. If you've beaten the 3 EX primals and have cleared Coil, then you're done with all the actual content the game has to offer.


Until 2.2 anyway. And that's the sad issue with MMOs that egocentric players just cant seem to wrap their minds around. Once you've beaten the game AND entertained yourself past the auxiliriy content, it's going to be extremely tough (read: impossible) for the devs to replenish that high you had when you cleared the initial content. Even with an expansion pack, probably.


But for newcomers, it's like a cake shop!

[Doo]

Compared to other MMOs (and despite how adamantly a few people whine on this forum), FFXIV is extremely lenient with how it limits your progression. So unlike other games where you simply get bored because it's too time consuming to get anywhere else, FFXIV just opts to give at a fair pace until it has nothing left to give but Coil runs.

Maybe it's just not FFXIV but just how most recent mmos are. They make it so easy to get everything done that everyone leaves, the game goes f2p, and everyone looks forward to the next hyped mmo.

[Thorauku]

Alot of the contents here are meaningless, that's why players tend to get bored fast.

[Namasu]

The base game is solid and the content + future updates have the potential to be long lasting. Right now, I'd love to be able to challenge T1-5 over and over again with fc members outside of my static group. I already know that the T1-5 lockout will be removed in 2.2 but I want to acknowledge that it's a good step in upping replayability for players who are endgame focused. The dev team is obviously taking the heat from complaints about the lockout and this is a great response but I would not want to wait another 6 whole months to see coil 6-9 lockout removal. That's just ridiculous at this point. At most remove t6-9 lockout by 2.3, but I'd think the sweet spot should be 2.25.

Now onto the can of worm. My main concern for the content development cycle basically come down to this: Crystal Tower will worthless aside from vanity. People are already beginning to realize that they can farm T1-5 all day next month so why bother doing CT? Aside from getting that housing item and gears for vanity, there is absolutely little reason to go to CT for progression even on an alt (not to mention you are limited to 1 loot per week and there is no mention of limit removal next patch). Many veteran players and I will probably tell all new players to just gear up with darklight + relic then go to farm T1-5.

So by the next patch, the first set of CT raid will be effectively invalidated in my opinion. I won't be running it anymore and neither will most of my fc members. If our train of thought fall along with other fc's then we will see a ripple effect and CT queue wait time will be longer and longer until everyone just give up and it will take 2~3 hours to gather 18 poor newbies.

My solution? I don't have one, but I'd like to make a plea to everyone who've read this to also voice their concern about CT soon. We all know that the patch cycle alternate between each set of coil and CT with CT always expecting to be behind Coil in term of ilevel reward . So even in 2.2, we will still be happy grinding coil 1-5 to complete our alts and main classes. That would make coil 1-5 content potentially lasting for 6~9+ months while CT will be a ghost town after being out for measly 3 months. If CT contents will be invalidated so fast then I think that it's a big mistake for the dev to focus on this pattern at all and they should start making major changes.

[Kelvani]

I've played a lot of MMORPG's. and believe me when I say this is nothing new. People who level fast get what I like to call "End Game Syndrome". They have burned through the content before the next expansion hits, and the drive which propelled them is now.. unfocused leaving them with a sense of discontent. Its kind of like that feeling of anticipation you get on Christmas morning as you look at the unopened presents. The sense of anticipation, the excitement, the hope that it will be all you wanted and more... vs Christmas afternoon when the presents are opened (including the obligatory ugly sweater from aunt Gertrude) and the meal has been eaten. Its not like the real world, where you can set yourself a new goal to refocus your drive on. Instead, you wait for expansions hoping for the kind of content you personally are interested to be doled out.

I have often thought game designers need to find a way to involve these players more in the game. Maybe recruit them to host events. Maybe use them as beta testers of new content. Maybe start a think tank with them. Maybe even make them in game consultants where new players (and older clueless ones) can ask them questions and get help.. a guide program if you will. Regardless of what the devs do.. or don't do.. this never ending cycle of reaching the end content then being bored will continue. Its just the way it is for some players.

[Dazd]

Most of the stuff listed in the OP doesn't even count as "content." Leveling a chocobo is not content, it's just another boring grind, the fact that there's going to be future GC ranks is moot because there's nothing you can do about it now, leveling other classes is not content, especially if you don't have an interest in said classes. The only actual content mentioned is PvP, which again is not everyones cup of tea, so telling someone they haven't done everything if they aren't a PvP player is also a moot point.

Anyway it's not so much a lack of content that's the problem it's the poor design of the game itself. Combat gets boring fast, there's no real difficulty, and nothing in the game lasts for more than 6 months so it mostly boils down to "what's the point?"

[Dreamer]

Content locusts are the fault of the games themselves, not the players. There is a reason we're seeing a lot more sandbox gameplay oriented titles in the pipeline. A constant stream of railroad content is nearly impossible to do, unless you implement massive grinds. You can cheat by using time-gated content (this is the method that FFXIV utilizes; GW2 does partially as well), but it's no substitute for real player-driven content. This is also why roleplayers tend to be the longest subscribers to games like this - they make their own game, so to speak.