The one consistent critic on Heavensward is "too much like ARR"? srsly?

[Obysuca]

Well OF COURSE IT IS, it's not a new game, it's the same game with added content.

The problem is, we were kind of expecting a variety of content or something different, not "2 dungeons to spam for 4-5 months", log on, do expert/cap, do alex, log off until Tuesday. You can tell that formula was already stale within 6 months of release, just by looking at the amount of people who had quit by then. If people were already quitting and taking long breaks (which isn't the goal of a mmo, the goal is to keep people playing every month) because of that, you can see why we were hoping it'd be more than 2.0 with dragons.

I don't know if this is your first mmo or not, but usually expansions for a mmo add something new and different alongside the current content, not just an almost exact copy of everything over the last year and a half. Congratulations, SE tricked all of us into paying 50.00 - 120.00 for the exact same content we get for "free" every 3-5 months. I can tell you, if 4.0 is more of 2.0, they'll start bleeding subs fast.

That's precisely the point. An expansion makes the game bigger, nothing else.

But... besides the zones, it didn't make it bigger. We have the exact same amount of content as we did in 2.0, especially since SE outdates stuff faster than its out for, there's pretty much no point in going back and doing coil or CT. That's another problem with how they're doing things, by 4.0, we'll have a massive amount of the game that's just dead and void of people doing the content (coil, hm primals, CT etc). If you think the whole "we can't add more inventory because the servers would crash" is bad now, wait until a massive portion of the game is outdated, empty and useless. All that data just sitting there, for nothing.

[SecretCrowds]

I can tell you, if 4.0 is more of 2.0, they'll start bleeding subs fast.

Really? Didn't the opposite happen to WoW? They bled subs after changing stuff.

[SarcasmMisser]

Not sure if you are aware but the reason is because there are a lot of broken souls who are hanging out for the game to be largely reverted to 1.x. They actually believe this will happen "just next time I know the Devs will not ignore this consistantly delusional request".

We're going to get to 4.0, maybe 5.0 and they will still be waiting hahaha, isn't it sad? SE must regard these people as their easiest customers to keep, I don't think they can ever imagine themselves not playing an FF game.

[Bishop81]

I don't think anyone wanted a 'new game' I think people wanted something more exciting than to literally do the same sh!t we did back in 2.0.
Literally, doing the same things we did in 2.0, same patterns and all. It's not all that fun.

Most player already have a lot to deal with with the new abilities - especially if you play more than one class/job.

Not to mention, no doubt SE would prefer to try out new stuff in smaller patches rather than in the upfront part of the expansion - they are already rushing for time to get the the relatively huge expansion out.

[Elisewin]

Well, I'm not in the group of disappointed players but I think that this game have a huge problem: there's a total lack of mid-content, and if you play more than 1 hour a day outside raids you don't have nothing to do.
Probably it's me: I don't like to level jobs so I don't find a lot of things to do, and all I do when I'm not in raid is to craft and gather.. And is just for earn something, not for fun ^^' .

The only thing I can say to SE is that they keep missing to design some mid-content.
A lot of things balanced for casuals and beginners, something designed for hardcore gamers but nothing for the ones in between.


I really hope that the airship's travel content will be interesting and exciting.

[Dorfentyme]

But... besides the zones, it didn't make it bigger. We have the exact same amount of content as we did in 2.0, especially since SE outdates stuff faster than its out for, there's pretty much no point in going back and doing coil or CT. That's another problem with how they're doing things, by 4.0, we'll have a massive amount of the game that's just dead and void of people doing the content (coil, hm primals, CT etc). If you think the whole "we can't add more inventory because the servers would crash" is bad now, wait until a massive portion of the game is outdated, empty and useless. All that data just sitting there, for nothing.

We actually got less in 3.0. The endgame content may be roughly the same, but we actually got a lot less content with Heavensward than we did in 2.0. 2.0 had 16 dungeons. 3.0 has 8. No hunting log(the 53/56/59 hunts are just the same thing as the hunt system introduced later in the game, not exactly a hunting log to help with leveling, no new leves(they REALLY could have done some great tweaks here, but no, copy paste), 2 primals instead of 3. I could go on, but I think I made my point.

Having said all that, I'm enjoying Heavensward a lot, but I am completely bummed that we have to sit here and grind the same 2 dungeons repeatedly for the next few months to get our AF gear.

[Inferiae]

It's not that it's too much like ARR, it's the illusion that we got any new content.

450 tomes/week for gear, again.
8 man, 4 turns end-game raid, again.
Weekly Alex, instead of weekly towers, to get fill-in gear, again.
Linear faceroll dungeons throughout the story, again.
EX primals that are beaten on the first day, again.
New hunts, same thing, again.
New maps, same concept, again.
Temple leves, same concept (maybe not even worth it), again.
FC airship is pretty much like ventures, again.

The only thing I feel that changed is gathering/crafting (with a lot still being the same "wait for node to pop", but with shorter windows), and I can't really say it changed for better, though.

What changed in your daily playtime from before and after HW? Nothing.

[Tyla_Esmeraude]

Really? Didn't the opposite happen to WoW? They bled subs after changing stuff.

It's not about changing stuff.. it's about expanding in terms of content... add different, varied content (and not just changing the theme... it's more about the design of the instanced content. At the moment it's just "kill trash>kill boss> Exit" disguised as different flavours, instead of having instanced content that works differently in terms of objectives and mechanics and I'm not talking about the Boss itself! I'm talking about the DUNGEON itself), specially on the obtaining gear department.

Is this a concept that hard to grasp that people have to say it just means a revert to 1.x? What? There needs to be better reading comprehension. That's not what people are asking for.

[aerialrave]

Sometimes ppl seem like they strive REAL HARD to complain about something...

Oh, the irony.

[Brill_]

It's not that it's too much like ARR, it's the illusion that we got any new content.

450 tomes/week for gear, again.
8 man, 4 turns end-game raid, again.
Weekly Alex, instead of weekly towers, to get fill-in gear, again.
Linear faceroll dungeons throughout the story, again.
EX primals that are beaten on the first day, again.
New hunts, same thing, again.
New maps, same concept, again.
Temple leves, same concept (maybe not even worth it), again.
FC airship is pretty much like ventures, again.

The only thing I feel that changed is gathering/crafting (with a lot still being the same "wait for node to pop", but with shorter windows), and I can't really say it changed for better, though.

What changed in your daily playtime from before and after HW? Nothing.

This! I was really hoping they change things up a bit, but it's 2.0 all over again.