How Cataclysm killed WoW is how Heavensward will kill FFXIV.

[RiceisNice]

Cata wounded WoW and they've never recovered. They could have but honestly I don't think the developers really understood why Cata was such a disappointment. And I think that stems from the developers not understanding why WoW had been such a huge success. People are fond of saying that Cata's biggest failure was that it followed Wrath, but it's actually more than that.

With each expansion you set up the bar even higher because of it's successor; people have the same or more expectations. Cataclysm failed to deliver on so many levels, including but not limited to the severe lack of content and the presentation of the content.

I remember when they had done previews of things like Path of hte Titans with archaeology, and they ended up scrapping that. Same with some of the questing hubs in WoD and it became a major disappointment. Much like my initial impressions with MCH and they failed a bit to deliver on a couple of levels, but it's on a smaller scale than that of the features in cataclysm or WoD.

[DPZ2]

I will always respect the developers of FFXIV for loving their own game and trying to make it the best they can. But I don't think they "get" it either.

Confusion reigns - what, exactly, don't they "get"? The bit I take away from your Cata rant is "don't change a winning strategy in the game". SE is not changing things out just for the sake of change, for which I thank them ...

People who come to FFXIV from other MMOs, especially when there are fond memories of that other MMO, tend to want the game to become more like what they remember. I am extremely grateful that FFXIV is not that other MMO ... I spent 8 years playing it, might go back for a look-see when the next expansion comes out, but I do not want FFXIV to become that MMO. So far, it hasn't even started down that path.

[jomoru]

Really? I thought it was MOP that killed Wow because "Lol kungfu Panda" no wait it was the End of Wrath because they spend six months on the same content that killed WoW. No wait it was WoD because there was no fucking content in it and the devs tried to take away flying no wait..

Really I'm more worried about the slow patch cycle rather than all these threads that can basically be boiled down to "There's no way I'm going to be able to sell carries this Expansion I need to fix that!"

[Veerne]

Funnily enough, the reason Cataclysm flopped at the start was because the end game dungeons were so much more harder than the previous expansion's (Wrath of the Lich King). Another reason was that there was no new "continent", just separate zones throughout the old continents. Basically, the first downfall of WoW was due to it being too hard after an easy period. The mid-expansion of Cataclysm (Firelands raid) is some of the best content WoW has to offer. At the end (Dragonsoul) they introduced Looking For Raid which I view as the real point of no return for WoW. After LFR was introduced and continued with Mists of Pandaria and Warlords of Draenor while making it even easier, WoW has steadily been losing support. MoP killed WoW, not Cataclysm. WoW has gone from hard (vanilla, The Burning Crusade) to easy (WotLK), then back to hard for 3/4th of an expansion (Cata) but people didn't like hard anymore so it has gone easier ever since (MoP, WoD), yet the sub numbers have kept falling.

Now, back to FFXIV, I see the problem being Alexander Normal being way too easy while Savage is, well, way too savage for most. With the upcoming Void Ark being super easy mode again, I feel Squeenix should make the "normal" mode 8-man raids a bit harder in the future (take all the Savage mechanics and just lower the numbers). The current issue is that there is no smooth gradient in progression, just derp mode (Alex NM) and then suddenly a huge wall of brutal beatings (Alex Savage).

[Mycow8me]

Fatal flaw of all MMORPG's: There is no X-factor. Everything is clear cut and nothing is random.

Imagine a real .hack mmorpg where weird shit is going on all the times. That's an X-factor. This game is all scripted and there's not really a different experience every time you log in except for the social scene but that's the same in every game.

Honestly I haven't even bought heavenward yet so I can't speak from that standpoint but from what I can see, It doesn't add enough to warrant my 30$ (yet?), so this game has kinda been getting stale before that came along at least for me. I'm pro-openworld content though and there doesn't seem to be that many people around here that desire that kind of gaming. They want a quick hop in do some stuff and hop out. Todays youth's attention span isn't big enough for what my generation considered fun. Instant gratification pls.

[Hito-Shura]

The replies of this thread make me sad... Are people that blind?

I stopped caring.

[Gralna]

It wouldn't be a normal day in any game forum without a "Game is dying!!!!" thread on the front page. xD

What ever happened to that thousand deaths of FFXIV thread from a while back, that was hilarious.

[Riardon]

What ever happened to that thousand deaths of FFXIV thread from a while back, that was hilarious.

It's because people finished HW MSQ capped the lvl of their favoured Jobs/Classes and the lack of real endgame content in 3.0 along with the delay of 3.1 helped those threads to pop out. More free time = more QQ. When 3.1 arrives we will be too busy wiping in Void Ark and grinding for the new relic to create death threads.

[Gilthas]

This discussion is pretty funny considering the reason why I've barely played FFXIV in the past month (2 months?) isn't because they made the game too easy, it's because they made the game too grindy and time-consuming (gathering and craffting).

[Evtrai]

What could you do?

- Alexander Savage
- Alexander Normal
- Crafting
- Gathering
- Leveling 2.x jobs
- Leveling 3.0 jobs
- PVP
- Triple Triad
- Chocobo Races
- Play the market board game and earn money
- Help friends
- Cap Esoterics
- Others random options.

If you can't check at least one option of the list. What is the reason to play? Are you searching the carrot on the stick? Still there, don't wait for Dev put for you. Grab one and just do it. Don't let dreams be dreams (lol). If you don't enjoy the game, take a break, play another games and come back when you need.

Boy, you really thought up to come with those, more than half of those no one cares, crafting is broken and nearly everyone hates it, myself included because it turned from something fun to fill your time with to a weekly chore constantly being walled from progressing and there's really nothing to trully craft, the gold saucer is basically dead after the month it was released, triple triad lost interest aswell especially after how bizarrely the tournament works.

Cap esoterics, really? especially of how fun it is to run neverreap and fractal?

PvP is broken, leveling all jobs? that's still a excuse of content that comes up here by the white knights, a lot entirely subjective and inflated content, and what's the purpose of this? to gear a job when the game locks you into playing only one with weekly caps and caps for everything?

Help friends? really? is that supposed to be content? help them in what? in the extreme hard content besides Savage?

You basically listed some basic functions and irrelevant content and outlined them as they are the crown jewel of this game or worse, the expansion.

This discussion is pretty funny considering the reason why I've barely played FFXIV in the past month (2 months?) isn't because they made the game too easy, it's because they made the game too grindy and time-consuming (gathering and craffting).

But, obviously people lists the tome capping and grinding as content, so you are wrong, get out of here bro.