How Cataclysm killed WoW is how Heavensward will kill FFXIV.

[Averax]

I thought cataclysm was okay. I had fun anyway.

I didn't mind it at all actually, It was the expansion that actually got me into raiding in the first place, my guild brought me along for Firelands and Dragon Soul, and I had fun because i was playing with friends.

And i can't say that cataclysm killed wow, because there were 2 expansions after it, and another one is on the way.

Sure they are way on the decline, but if i'm blaming anything for killing WoW, it's WoD

[Colorful]

snip

Even a "dying" WoW has over 7 times the amount of subscriptions FFXIV has, and it's over 11 years old. By the time WoW is classed as not profitable enough by Blizzard it'll likely around the 500-600,000 subs which is around the same amount of players FFXIV has based off of the fanrun census (using Lodestone data). People are really kidding themselves if they think WoW is dead, as far as I'm concerned if Legion is not a massive fuck up like WoD it'll still outlast FFXIV unless they decide to shut down the servers themselves.

[kazeandi]

Cataclysm didn't fail because everyone could do everything (and therefore deny all those elitists the comforting touch of their e-peens), but because people had played WOW for years at that point and just became bored.
WOW didn't even lose that many customers back then, hardly an exodus, but it sure was one of the less optimal xpaxcs.

Where WOW really failed was Warlords Of Draenor, and there the main reason is, Blizzard implemented garrisons, killed the outdoor experience, made people totally self-sustaining, killed the dungeons and stripped the player of all options except for raids and their instanced garrisons with its minigames.

WOW basically became a Facebook game with attached raids.

[Craiger]

Could you please explain what difference there is with Heavensward and ARR?

Everything is the same, only now we have Alex Normal on top of things, as well as raids being much harder...

Alex Normal is way too easy and it ruins some of the excitement of clearing a floor in Savage, but this is hardly why so many players are bored... In fact, overall, it lasts longer than previous raids, and gives players the challenge that everyone wanted.

Am I bored in the game at the moment? Yes... I haven't played this little before, pretty much...

In 2.X after the relic quests, hunts etc really took off... you started to have quite a lot of dungeons to do, you had Crystal Tower, hunts, relic grind (big part) etc. Those are the aspects of the game that keeps players busy and happy after all.

3.0 has the exact same problem 2.0/2.1 had back then... but then more and more content started coming out, which improved things immensely.

When 3.1+ comes out and we have our relic grinds, Void Ark, airship exploration, (meaningful hunts?) and just more content in general... what exactly is different to 2.X?

EDIT: To expand on this, what I really want to know, is what you think is made easier/more available in 3.0... Cause I can't think of anything made easier.

[Elim]

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).

inb4 someone says, "I'm happy less people are crafting, that means I make more gil. Please don't change the system! Some people like it!"

Sadly, I don't think that was the devs goal(to make people give up). And having crafters unsub was probably not a desired outcome either.

[Magis]

When 3.1+ comes out and we have our relic grinds, Void Ark, airship exploration, (meaningful hunts?) and just more content in general... what exactly is different to 2.X?

This isn't a "reset", or a "new" game, it's an "expansion". It shouldn't be just start from 2.0 again as if nothing happened, it should build upon the game.

[StrejdaTom]

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

Following text is MY SUBJECTIVE OPINION which means that you might not and will not agree with me. That's how I feel about actual content.

- Leveling 2.x jobs
- Leveling 3.0 jobs

This is almost the same as leveling alts in other games, how can it even be considered valuable content? Spamming dungeons or FATEs all day? No, thanks.

- Alexander Normal

Already have 2 sets from there, have done it over 100 times, what else? Should I run it again? No, thanks.

- PVP

I have done over 200 Seal Rock games. Seal Rock, the only PvP that is doable now because other modes are kept behind. Shame that it is mostly about standing at your nodes or backdooring other nodes while the teams are fighting, much strategy, much fun.

Even when we have 3 battlegrounds, there is only 1 that is actually worth running and won't take you whole day to get into. We have gear that doesn't even work, arenas that are obsolete and no real leaderboards.

- Triple Triad

What exactly do you mean by Triple Triad? Tournament that can be done in 1 hour or gathering cards from NPCs that takes even 700 wins because they have set up incredibly nice drop chances?

- Crafting
- Gathering

For what exactly? Except from food, pots and thavnarian gear there is no need for crafts at all. Unless you are just trying to find excuses to log in.

- Play the market board game and earn money
- Help friends

I won't even comment this, it is sad that community has to list things like this as a game's content to keep themselves willing to even log in..

- Cap Esoterics
The same as the previous one. What kind of content is this? It is only something that pushes you to either do PvP or 2 dungeons several times. For tomes that will be obsolete earlier than you will be able to gear up all your classes with them

- Alexander Savage
- Chocobo Races
- Somehow a bit of PvP, somehow a bit of Triple Triad

The only content that keeps me logging in for now together with a hour or two of FATE exping other jobs while playing other games on my second monitor.

Shamefully Triple Triad got much worse in Heavensward because NPCs are mostly about unfair rules and having "random" cards with 2 or 4 attacks stats while NPCs have 6 or 8.

And raiding is completely same story, Alex has boring story and no original mechanics when you compare it to Coil (but yeah, I still have to clear A4, so maybe I am not worthy of commenting on this, I have seen the whole fight though).

What keeps me playing then? The worst reasons of them all:
I have put enormous time in this game in the last 2 years and don't feel like leaving it. I have got many people into this game and don't feel like leaving them.
Only game-wise reason for me is Alexander Savage, which is also huge disappointment to me.

[Craiger]

This isn't a "reset", or a "new" game, it's an "expansion". It shouldn't be just start from 2.0 again as if nothing happened, it should build upon the game.

Oh, don't get me wrong, I hate that they made it like this... but this thread was about how SE made Heavenward "easier" in a sense. That just isn't the case at all.

The reason everyone is bored, is simply the lack of content in the game until the patches start rolling out, not because they changed anything in their formula.

That's two very different things.

[Tiah]

I didn't mind any of the expansions for WoW except WoD. I played it for maybe a week and it just didn't hold my interest. I've played this game off and on since release. Both games have their pros and cons. I am a die hard FF fan so I am more biased toward this game however, when I get to the point that I find it's no longer enjoyable I will unsub for a while and play something else, ESO or maybe try WoW again. When the next content patch drops I will come back to this game.

All MMO"S require a lot of grinding so I expect to do a lot of that. I don't like some of the changes made to crafting but that isn't game breaking, imo. Right now, this game still offers the most enjoyment out of the other MMO's on the market (IMO). If 3.1 doesn't deliver on what they promised I'll probably take my break from this game at that time.

As a content filler I want to see Blitzball!!! Ha! Probably never happen but I can Hope!

[Khalithar]

Snip

Honestly, I think if you feel that way it might be a good idea to take a little break from the game. Maybe cancel your sub and come back once the patch is out, sounds to me like you're pretty burned out at this point.