So, pretty dead lately....

[Taei]

No offence taken, its just the nature of the beast we call "Today's MMORG'S". It happens in every MMORPG including WOW. Every expansion or major content update people come back and then get board and leave. Personally I blame it on lack of community, Free Company's and Link Shells are nothing more the glorified chat rooms. There is no companionship in the game because everything can be soloed, so there is no need to make any FRIENDS. And FRIENDS is what kept Everquest, FFXI, alive for all those years.

That's the problem though right? I remember Yoshi-P talked about the 3 pillars that make a solid MMO. One of them was the community/social structure. The game doesn't really want people to have to organize groups to do content other than Savage Alex. It wants the normal average person to come back from work do their daily and go to sleep without having to deal with any social aspects of an MMO. 1.0 still had social structure, 2.0/3.0 does not. Free companies are glorified chat channels.

[Obysuca]

To be fair, this has been the case with patch cycles before, and I can't see any reason it would change. They've outright said that players and subscriptions drop off sharply about a month after the latest patch has been released (which is why their pace of content release has been so feverish before).

Which since SE knows it, you'd think they'd actually give us content that'd keep us busy until the next update, you know, the goal of a mmo, to keep people playing every single month. But nope, they just throw 2 dungeons and 4 bosses at us each update then people get bored of that in a few weeks/a month. It'd actually be more money for SE if the content kept us busy and entertained right up until the next update or even further.

Not picking on you per say but I find it sad that we have accepted lack of content at the end of patches in MMOs to be a new normal. I mean, we just had a major expansion, and yet 2 months or so later, people are already getting bored again. The worst part is that I don't think there's much to look forward too going ahead.

^ This. Why are people so perfectly fine with a big lack of content that only lasts most people a few days to a week maybe before they finish everything new and get bored of the same 2 dungeons for the next 4 months? Who else here remembers whenever an update came out, even if it was spread out longer than 3-4 months, that there'd never be a huge population drop after the first month its out, or even for an expansion? Even if those updates were just minor fixes or adjustments, the population would still be steady because the mmo actually had engaging/worthwhile content to do, rather than trashing what the company just spent resources and time on to make the update before. I sure do.

To be fair, MMO devs will never win this fight.
They give content that takes a while? people complain it takes too long.
They give content that is easily done? people complain they are bored.

There is no golden standard where everyone agrees it fine.
Not to mention people like different.

The problem is, they're trying to please everyone. If you try to please everyone, you're pleasing no one.
Which is why a lot of mmos since 2005 have died out in under a year. Pre-WoW mmos (even WoW since it catered to casuals) were about pleasing their loyal playerbase, rather than trying to please everyone or trying to appeal to the facebook/mobile generation of "gamers" who are 100% fine with a tiny amount of content, when they should be focusing on the people who actually want to play every day for every month. Why do you think a lot of those mmos from 1999-2003 have continued to last for 13-16 years? SE would actually get more money if they were going for the people who play every day/month, rather than the people who jump ship every other month.
Trying to appeal to everyone really isn't the best way to go about it, unless their plan is to ride the cash cow until it dies quicker (1-3 years) than trying to appeal to the loyal players and riding the cash cow for a much longer time(10-15 years).

The devs are doing a great job of pumping lots of varied content into the MMO at a good pace. However, because the content is so varied, no one enjoys all of it. It's because of this that people get bored before the next patch, and not because they have exhausted all of the content. They just exhaust the content that interests them.

Varied? >_> Riiiiight lol The reason people get bored is because there's no variety. We get 2 dungeons to get eso, because SE doesn't want us to have variety, there's no other viable way of gearing up besides those two dungeons.

That's the problem though right? I remember Yoshi-P talked about the 3 pillars that make a solid MMO. One of them was the community/social structure. The game doesn't really want people to have to organize groups to do content other than Savage Alex. It wants the normal average person to come back from work do their daily and go to sleep without having to deal with any social aspects of an MMO. 1.0 still had social structure, 2.0/3.0 does not. Free companies are glorified chat channels.

XIV actually encourages people to be solo too :/ It feels more like a single player game that happens to have other people in it. I remember reading a thing not too long ago about them saying we should act like other players are just npcs. That defeats the purpose of a mmo.

[Ksenia]

Nope, Sargatanas isn't dead. Cat girls coming at me in all directions.

[Velisra]

...
SE would actually get more money if they were going for the people who play every day/month, rather than the people who jump ship every other month.
Trying to appeal to everyone really isn't the best way to go about it, unless their plan is to ride the cash cow until it dies quicker (1-3 years) than trying to appeal to the loyal players and riding the cash cow for a much longer time(10-15 years).

...

XIV actually encourages people to be solo too :/ It feels more like a single player game that happens to have other people in it. I remember reading a thing not too long ago about them saying we should act like other players are just npcs. That defeats the purpose of a mmo.

Well, just to throw this out there...

Then there are people like me.

I'm perfectly happy to play this game solo, and do except when forced to group up for MSQ progression, yet I also play every day, for many hours each day. I did the same thing in WoW (and would still be doing that if I hadn't completely lost faith and trust in Blizzard as a company), and managed to keep myself busy with endless things to do for five plus years in that game without a break in my sub. I fully expect FF to keep me similarly occupied.*

*Though I will note here that if SE doesn't somehow fix the housing issues before too much longer, they may lose my custom as well. If I can't have a house and play the whole game while paying the same rate for a sub as someone who does have access to housing and the content gated behind it, I guess SE doesn't need my money.


So, there are people who don't quite fit the "mold" of the typical MMO player out there. /shrug

[Roegadyn_Bear]

Nope, Sargatanas isn't dead. Cat girls coming at me in all directions.

Behemoth isn't dead either, based on everyone I've seen on all over the place as well as all the different Roegadyn men I catcall.

I've been glamour hunting, leveling my gatherers, and just being a huge flirt on the game, which may explain why I don't see the very things people are pointing out. I'm generally having fun whenever I'm on, I notice.

Maybe I'm just not progression based enough to feel bored?

[Nadirah]

Three days ago I ran through a couple of places on Moogle, counting the active players milling around after noticing Limsa Lominsa was particularly packed. At the time there were 96 in the Limsa market row and Aetheryte plaza combined, 63 in Gridania's trade building, and 55 in Idyllshire.

I popped back over to WoW for comparison, where I play on a connected realm (where Blizzard joins multiple distinct servers together rather than merge them into one), and found a total of 6 people in Stormwind, 18 in Ironforge, and 17 in Stormshield (the Alliance's main "city" in the current expansion).

So not really dead over here yet, no.

You should have done a /who Lunarfall and /who Frostwall.

Everyone in WoW is in their garrison.

[Roth_Trailfinder]

Varied? >_> Riiiiight lol The reason people get bored is because there's no variety. We get 2 dungeons to get eso, because SE doesn't want us to have variety, there's no other viable way of gearing up besides those two dungeons.

That particular statement only demonstrates the point being made.

There is "content" for gatherers. There is "content" for crafters. There is content for "grouping," and there is content for "raiding".

By focusing exclusively on the two group dungeons, you are completely ignoring the rest of the content : that for the gatherers, that for the crafters, and that for the raiders.

Granted, each section has a rather irritating lack of content, but taken as a whole, there is a fair amount of content that many people are choosing to be bored rather than to do. Two dungeons? Yup. Two dungeons, a normal and hard mode of the one "raid", as well as stuff to gather and stuff to craft. Not to mention ways to work at gearing up the combat classes either by "raiding" or doing those two group dungeons; or working on gearing your crafting and gathering classes.

That's a four entrée buffet table right there. Quit focusing on just one dish.

[Iromi]

Varied? >_> Riiiiight lol The reason people get bored is because there's no variety. We get 2 dungeons to get eso, because SE doesn't want us to have variety, there's no other viable way of gearing up besides those two dungeons.

I agree with you, so many people I know unsubbed and such due to this. This game direly needs more variety. It is so strange to see the open world have so little PvE, and the game general. It seems like Yoshida realizes this though at least (I think?) and said they gonna cut down on the dungeons to add new variety each patch.

[Aramina]

Well said Roth.

To expand a bit: "There is no content." = "There is no content I want to do." Which is a fair assessment, you like what you like. That said, you have to realize that time is finite... everyone needs something they enjoy but there aren't enough hours in the day to create everything everyone would possibly want. There has to be balance between the different playertypes. Could they do more than they are now for every different type? Possibly. I honestly don't know but it's a bit bothersome to see the "they should do more for <me>" comments because that is arrogant at best and highly detrimental to the longevity of the game at worst.

[Nadirah]

Well said Roth.

To expand a bit: "There is no content." = "There is no content I want to do." Which is a fair assessment, you like what you like. That said, you have to realize that time is finite... everyone needs something they enjoy but there aren't enough hours in the day to create everything everyone would possibly want. There has to be balance between the different playertypes. Could they do more than they are now for every different type? Possibly. I honestly don't know but it's a bit bothersome to see the "they should do more for <me>" comments because that is arrogant at best and highly detrimental to the longevity of the game at worst.

There is a serious lack of PvE content.



Two dungeons. That I'm quite sick of seeing. And if I want Esoteric tomes, I get to do one of those two dungeons.

Alexander normal is done in about an hour on Tuesday. There is no reason to have a static for casual raiding anymore.

Alexander Savage was released too early with a condescending, sadistic "here you go, bet you won't clear this, hahahaha" vibe to it. It was designed to not be completeable at launch. This is a problem.

So folks like me, who'd raid heroic in wow(used to be "normal" until that flexible raid difficulty BS came out), and have no desire to be masochistic and slam their head against the wall that is Savage, or play the wrong class(yeah, Paladin) is left out completely.

Why have a static raid again?

I don't craft. I don't gather. If you look at my character crap you'll see I gave them both a shot and I find them both boring as hell. So what's there left to do for progression after Tuesday when you have more than half an hour a day to play?

Absolutely jack shit.