Casual players leaving for frustration or hardcore players leaving from boredom.

[Yurimi]

I dont know if I'm hardcore or not. But I didn't resub because I don't want to pay 15 dollars a month to only play on Monday and constantly be locked out of things because they have no clue how to make content last.

My subscription ends on the 15th not sure whether to resub or not. I love chatting with people but if that's all I am doing I can try to get them to play another game with me or even just use Skype.

[reality_check]

Don't pretend like there aren't people out there who enjoy FFXIV's style of content. In fact, there are over a million of them at the moment and will soon be more come PS4 release.

Sorry if FFXIV style content isn't for you. Fortunately, there are plenty of MMORPGs out there that will better suit your lifestyle. These concerns have been voiced many times, and SE has stuck with their vision -- and for good reason.

[Black91CRX]

I've been playing 30hrs a week since launch. I still love the game. It was my first MMO. I think the problem with most people here is they have played lots of other MMO's in the past. They compare FFXIV to other games with their nostalgia goggles on. Pointing out what FFXIV isn't instead of appreciating it for what it is. Having some complaints is only natural, but if you're that bored and disgusted with the game then by all means quit subscribing and move on.

[Orophin]

I think the people in my FC that have stopped playing the game have done so because they can't beat the hardest content. (Ex Primals (mostly Titan) and Twintania) They get tired of logging on only to do T1-4 every week. There's nothing else in game that appeals to them I guess.

I still log in everyday and do roulettes for WAR (last battle class to 50) or level crafting a bit in preparation for the next patch, but admittedly the new Diablo 3 patch has taken some focus off of this game for me a bit.

Anyway I'm venting because I just do not believe the vocal ones are in the minority, rather they are willing to speak up for something they feel passion for and I can both respect and admire that. And it is in my opinion that those dissatisfied continue to do so even after. We may never see the changes you want here and now. But it will certainly make them consider investing in this direction next time.

I think it's quite the opposite actually. Roughly 10% of the people that have game accounts actually have a forum account and even then only a small percentage of those people regularly post here. Most people that don't like the game simply quit and are never heard from again. You see very few actual "I quit" posts here.

The vocal people who don't like the direction of the game deep down like the game itself, they just want to see it change in a way that suits them and this commonly tends to clash with the design decisions of the development team.

I've been playing 30hrs a week since launch. I still love the game. It was my first MMO. I think the problem with most people here is they have played lots of other MMO's in the past. They compare FFXIV to other games with their nostalgia goggles on. Pointing out what FFXIV isn't instead of appreciating it for what it is. Having some complaints is only natural, but if your that bored and disgusted with the game then by all means quit subscribing and move on.

I think this is a very good point. There usually isn't a game that can match the experiences, memories and feelings towards the first game of a specific genre you played, assuming it was actually a good game. FFXI, WoW, these games are that for a lot of people and it's hard to recreate those initial experiences those games offered. Once you've seen it once it's kind of all the same with a new layer of paint on it. You just have to accept what it is at face value and decide if it's something you want to continue playing or not.

[Z3M0G]

Is the player base leaving?

[Nutz]

The problem with quickly expiring content will persist while itemization remains as simple as it is and the devs refuse to use traditional time sinks to gate off endgame content. I could go either way on the itemization. I am not at all upset at the prospect of new gear being uniformly better than old gear, but at the same time variety within top tier equipment would be nice, as would some lasting appeal to items (either through set bonuses, new stats, or some other mechanic that doesn't require a complete overhaul of their current item system).

Making endgame content last usually isn't about making it exceptionally difficult. Making it extremely difficult doesn't even work very well for that as it will usually fall to a binary situation. Some people can clear it and others cannot. What makes it last is tedious and time consuming entry requirements (see Sky, Sea, ZNM for examples), very restrictive entry requirements (see Dynamis, Salvage), and/or terrible drop rates (see virtually everything in FFXI). I'm not really in favor of replicating those systems as they existed in FFXI, but perhaps there could be a happy medium, like farming a pop set that consists of 100% drops from enemies that are virtually always up. This would give you 8 chances (for 8 man content) at a boss before you had to go farm again instead of just endlessly fighting until you win.

[Mixxy]

OP, what about people who just play the game for fun? Personally, I don't care how difficult the game is. I'm not playing an MMO for bragging rights. I only care if they've found a way to make it fun. FFXIV is about as easy as a major MMO can get, but its also a great amount of fun. So if you want pure difficulty, you could go play one of those awful Korean MMOs. You know, the ones where it takes 8 months to get to max level and you need the best gear in the game to do the easiest content in the game? Those aren't very fun though.

tldr: Quality > Difficulty

[Doo]

I hope new content doesn't become obsolete quick and then harder version made over and over again.

[CYoung187]

I do not understand why the people who only play on mondays are still subbing to this game. There is so much disdain from them I don't get why they keep playing. I understand why they are upset with the lockouts and being capped, but luckily in a few weeks that will be gone. I understand their frustration, if I was locked out of everything I wouldn't play as much either. SE needs to find a way to balence the game so the hardcores have something time consuming to work for. This game actually works out well for me because I can't play on mon/tues due to RL schedules. So I end up in PUG for coil/primals all week. Some bad, some good. This actually works to keep me with plenty to do all week. I still see plenty of people playing on the weekends.

[Synapse]

I wish i was a 2.0 player, that way i can at least level classes to pass time.. sadly all my class were Lv50 back in 2010-2011.