The game is more dead than it was pre-3.1

[Gardes]

Yeah I agree with OP and unfortunately, as a house owner, I'm also "threatened" to not leave the game, or else I'd lose my hard-earned house, in a server where housing is already hard to find, if not impossible.

And suffice to say, if I lost my house I'd definitely lose all the little reason I have to keep on playing.

See, my subscription has ended and I've thought about the possibility of coming back somewhere down the line. Maybe in 3-4 patches, maybe the next expansion. But then I started thinking of the content that I will have missed out. All of my FC has already quit with me and if I do come back, it'll likely be alone and I can't help but think all of the content save for the latest ones I want to try will be out of date and irrelevant. I will either have trouble finding people to tackle through it or I will be pushed through them asap like I was a fresh 50 character going through CM/Prae with 7 other people who just wants to get it done in 10 mins either because of it being turned optional (see titan ex) or just sheer over gearing.

By the game's design, I will just be pushed to the latest series of contents as soon as I resub but I really cannot see this as a good thing. 1-2 years of content that can be passed through in a week or so wouldn't feel right to me and I don't get how most people see this as an incentive for new players. Maybe some of them will enjoy being pushed to the same level of play/content as the long time players without getting there on their own but I really can't imagine going through something as garuda hm and then getting kicked out of the instance 2 mins later because the other 7 players have brute forced it for you while you try to grasp what's going on constitutes as playing. If this is what's waiting for me if the thought of resubbing ever crossed my mind down the line, I'm not sure If I will.

I really really question if other players are really thinking of the new/returning players when they support this kind of setup and throw the "catch up" catch phrase around or whether they just want stuff to be easier for themselves.

Edit: I quoted the person I quoted because she's talking about what's keeping her in the game and I wanted to give input on what's going to keep me from getting into the game again.

[Teryaani]

My personal problem with it is not necessarily because of the armory mechanic itself, but rather the design of jobs and how they wanted it to branch off. Looking at 2.0, SCH and SMN share the same foundation of arcanist, and it wasn't until 3.0 (which gave summoners more abilties) that their gameplay of DPS largely differentiated from each other.

There also was the complaint about stat optimization which I can kinda....sorta see.

And heck, that's one of my complaints with 3.0 in regards to MCH/BRD, they don't even share a base job but they managed to make those two have extremely homogenized gameplay because they gave them both abilties that are functionally exactly the same, while being different jobs.

<sarcasm alert> They are totally different! One has a gun, the other a bow. One gives MP or TP by singing and the other does it by a pet that they have to disable to give the bonus. And the MCH is ever so slightly worse because of the RNG factor when you've messed up with cooldown juggling.

Edit: and the MCH adds something to their gun that makes them stand still while they attack and the bard sings something that makes them stand still while they attack.

If they wanted multi-jobs to branch off from a single class, it needs to be done sooner than 30 (so they have more abilties), or have the pre-3.0 abilities change retro-actively so it suits their new job or even role (such as changing Bio to Regen or something that acts an HoT), but no matter how yotu slice it ,it's a lot of work to redo a job from scratch (though honestly speaking, they're gonna have to for BRD/MCH if they want to dehemogenize their gameplay. Same in regards ot summoner if they want them to be a DoT-oriented spell dps, or a spell dps that utilizes pets.

Just my opinion, I think it would have been better for SCH/SMN to have different root classes to start from.

Regarding MCH and BRD, I like the idea of a support dps, but MCH should have been a pet based purely ranged dps and left the support features to the BRD. I genuinely dislike the RNGness of it. Yes, cooldown juggling helps, but it doesn't make it interesting to play, just annoying - separate issue I suppose.

[Iromi]

This community, and others like it, told people that were unhappy they should "take a break and go play other games." Well, maybe that wasn't the hottest advice. When people go play other games, some of them never come back.

Hahaha I've been saying that since seeing that weird suggestion, and always got told I am wrong and nothing wrong with taking a break...well, looks like I was right..people took a break and never came back LOL so yeah...let people keep giving that advice and see what great shape this game is in. I also dislike how the community rep responses we get are only about cosmetic things and never game changing or really interesting things. Where is our interesting stats we had in 1.x for our gear? Where is the horizontal progression we were told we were getting way back in 2.0? Really disheartening.

[RiceisNice]

There also was the complaint about stat optimization which I can kinda....sorta see.

It's it's own seperate problem when SMN benefits the least out of spell speed, and their endgame gear is saturated with spell speed (especially with very little horizontal options present). The other problem is that the stats end up being nothing but numbers; it adds nothing interesting or even cosmetic. Yet we still see people opting out for the "best optimized" gear pieces, when the general census is that they don't want players favoring X over Y equip because of additional effects like set bonuses or on-hit procs.

Regarding MCH and BRD, I like the idea of a support dps, but MCH should have been a pet based purely ranged dps and left the support features to the BRD. I genuinely dislike the RNGness of it. Yes, cooldown juggling helps, but it doesn't make it interesting to play, just annoying - separate issue I suppose.

It's a bit of a tricky game. You want the utilities to be homogenized (they have regen), but not the gameplay (they both have GB/WM). If MCH didn't have regen, BRD would still be uncontested for party composition (esp for progression), and you're potentially shafted of a spell dps if MCH stays ranged.

Honestly the initial previews made MCH to be so much more than what we have now. They showcased the use of turrets, ammunition and attachments. Turrets add almost no gameplay to MCH outside of regen and basic auto attacks, and otherwise feel underutilized in the tools of a MCH, ammunition gets shoe horned to being a flat potency boost and garunteeding procs (which averages out the RNG aspect of MCH, but honestly all it did was turn quick reload into anotehr oGCD to use off cooldown, rather than a innovative, unique mechanic for the job), and they scrapped the idea of attachments and gave us GB...which is functionally the same as WM so it even loses the novelty of it being an "attachment" (which ironically also becomes an eyesore for almost all weapons, esp since we don't have the option to hide it). The only time I feel like I'm actually playing a MCH is during wildfire bursts, after that I feel like I'm playing 2.0 BRD all over again (which...isn't a good thing for an expansion/new job)

Hahaha I've been saying that since seeing that weird suggestion, and always got told I am wrong and nothing wrong with taking a break...well, looks like I was right..people took a break and never came back LOL so yeah...

Funny enough, I bought me and a friend 30 days of game time for WoW to play the WoD expansion just to break the tedium of FFXIV. Ironically, the reasons for WoD being such a flunk is almost mirroring most of 3.0's collective downfall; The classes feel largely unchanged and unrewarding for leveling, their new features could've been handled better (who thought garrisons being required for particular end game content was a good idea?), they took away features from existing classes and games (such as flying, and I can definitely attest to hunters getting this treatment), scrapped features that were going to be implemented, and really the developers being overall condescending toward the playerbase when confronted about these issues.

The only thing that's truly good is the Garrison as a side feature (rather than being integral to the game), and the leveling process (at least the quests, not actually gaining levels on the character).

[KitingGenbu]

I also dislike how the community rep responses we get are only about cosmetic things and never game changing or really interesting things.

If the Japanese player base isn't complaining then nothing will change. Heck, Yoshida didn't even notice that some of the main characters in the story were pretty much rewritten entirely in the English version until it got compared to the Japanese version on youtube for crying out loud.

[Kosmos992k]

At this point because of hte mass server transfers, smaller severs dwindling and super servers getting larger, some are in an unrecoverable state of having a very, very weak raiding scene.

OK, you've posted more or less this at least twice today. So I'll ask, where are you seeing this evidence of mass server transfers? Where are you seeing small servers actually dwindling, or 'Super Servers' getting larger? I'd just like to see the information you're referring to myself, I've not heard mention of mass server transfers happening before now.

As for the raiding scene...IMHO the raiding scene is suffering more from the self inflicted wounds of infighting and burn out than anything else, and to quote a friend of mine who left the raiding scene, he left because most raiders "have their heads up their ass about things" and he simply could not deal with their crap any more, too much stress, not enough actual raiding. My understanding was that raiding should be fun for all concerned, but is it?

Sure, the amount and type of content is partly responsible, but so too are the players involved, and if the raiding scene is dwindling, it's not simply because of the game, there is plenty of stuff to do between content patches. If the raiding scene is fading it's also down to how the players handle the content, and each other. If my friend's experience is an indicator then it seems that the players in question are not handling it well enough and are alienating their own.

Of course, it's also true that people like to come to official forums, pronounce things as dead or dying and go on to be doomsayers. that kind of thing can become a self fulfilling prophesy if enough people buy into the negative mind set and continually repeat the same thing. I just don't find doom saying or posting about servers dying to be helpful or constructive at all.

[Kosmos992k]

Actually, I was just about to get off the forum, but a thought struck me, so.....

Perhaps the biggest problem with the game faces is a two fold problem; SE is trying to satisfy two very different audiences with content for the end-game raiding scene and content for the more casual or mainstream players who are not heavily into end-game. So they produce a broad range of content.

At the same time though, there's a lot of feedback via forums and fan events, and they are trying to listen to that too to make sure that they respond to player wishes. Except that there are conflicting wishes from the different communities of players, and typically the loudest voices will be heard. So when SE implements changes to satisfy fan demands, other groups of fans are pissed off by the changes and demand more changes to fix things.

SE is stuck between a rock and a hard place, when they do something to satisfy one group, it annoys another, and vice versa. SE can't really win in that situation. To be honest I think that Yoshi and team should stop trying to patch and develop the game by focus groups or popularity contests, and stick to their vision of the game. I think the game would be stronger if they did.

[Whocareswhatmynameis]

Someone please explain to me why they dont just implement more XI styles of content? 13 years of content right there....

And 90% of this community will tell you FFXI was just a grindfest and a bad game. Could you imagine this community trying to do salvage, where all your gear is stripped away? Or a tower where you lose if you don't get through 5 floors in 30 minutes? lolz Ultimately there's not much the devs can do. They took customer feedback, implemented it, and now the combat side of the game is boring... Drop rates were doubled so people are running content half as much. The raids were made easier/accessible and everyone that cared had them beat a week or two after hitting level 60. Not much will change in 3.2, new alexander raid that most everyone will beat the first week it's patched in. Maybe 5% of the community will do savage mode and it's back to the same situation we in now. Even the xp from dungeons and fates were doubled between 3.0 and 3.1 because of ppl complaining it was too grindy.

If you want to know why the game is boring, don't look at the devs. Look to your left and your right because your peers made it this way by constantly whining.

[Amaranths]

Ive started to find this game really boring now. the world feels empty only thing to do In them is fates. The Diadem should of been added to all of the zones. so that people could kill mobs as a group and hope to get a NM or HNM to pop in the high lvl zones for your group only kinda like how when you do a MSQ fight with the purple ring only your group and go in and fight. even if the mobs don't drop anything all the time they could give the some stuff as the hunts tome seals etc. more then 1 of the same NM or HNM can spawn or it could be kinda like ZNM's in FFXI where you start with 1 pop item and you work your way up in the to the HNM in that zone. I know that people don't like some of the stuff added from FFXI but FFXI had some really good open world stuff to do that kept you playing for hours and never being bored

[RiceisNice]

OK, you've posted more or less this at least twice today. So I'll ask, where are you seeing this evidence of mass server transfers? Where are you seeing small servers actually dwindling, or 'Super Servers' getting larger? I'd just like to see the information you're referring to myself, I've not heard mention of mass server transfers happening before now.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...gid=1891972249 This is only over a period of roughly a month, and I've first hand seen at least 2 FCs and 4 statics on my realm transfer off. I honestly don't consider this game to be overly big or populated, and on my realm there's never more than 10 PFs at one given time (including spam PFs, if there was any to begin with). Losing around 50-60 people is actually quite a lot when you're looking at the scale of smaller servers can't get enough people for S ranks to have it die within 2 minutes (1 for 2.0 S ranks) of being pulled (sans pale rider)

Perhaps the biggest problem with the game faces is a two fold problem; SE is trying to satisfy two very different audiences with content for the end-game raiding scene and content for the more casual or mainstream players who are not heavily into end-game. So they produce a broad range of content.

Even if broader range of content was the goal, there's definitely very little content that's fitting in the middle. Content that statics can get together to progress and clear the entire tier within 2-3 weeks of attempts (1+ month on one floor). Fights like the EX primals and thordan EX hit the mark well, but that's all there is. to tied over the launch of 3.0 and 3.2 (as far as the raiding scene is concerned). If we're using broad strokes, you have the likes of Diadem, void ark and nerfed EX primals for groups who can't get a static together, but can still get up bodies with a hit/miss rate of sucess (in other words, Duty Finder). 2.0's Coil (before echo and nerfs to SCoB) was the to-go content for people who formed statics to tackle it with the same 8 people. It was a step up from the former content, and you needed communication if you wanted to clear it before the nerfs came inbound. Then there was Savage SCoB which went beyond that, and at the very least A3s is serving as the same, except the aforementioned "normal" mode is already tuned for DF instead of a typical static.

My understanding was that raiding should be fun for all concerned, but is it?

Skill problems aside, I don't think anyone finds it fun to be doing the same floor for the past 3 months because they don't want to can't commit more than 3 raid days/week for 3 hours/day. The design of A3s requires progression to stick, and that requires time commitment above all else. But this also comes into play when that this is one of the few raid content that's available (since normal mode is loosely tuned to be done through DF).

SE is stuck between a rock and a hard place, when they do something to satisfy one group, it annoys another, and vice versa. SE can't really win in that situation. To be honest I think that Yoshi and team should stop trying to patch and develop the game by focus groups or popularity contests, and stick to their vision of the game. I think the game would be stronger if they did.

At this point, I feel that they need the time to design good content, rather try to beat the dates and release it half cooked. Diadem could have been so much more than a grind-fest. They have the environment and no-fly zones for special triggers and exclusive resources, but didn't take advantage of it. And honestly the same could be said for the expansion in general; there's so much room to add innovative elements to the game like an actual FC crafting (crafts that take more than 1 person to accomplish, rather than hand-ins), espesically the introduction of MCH as a direct comparison to BRD, and the dynamics of gathering (their collectible is a step toward the right direction, but it's not used for anything other than turn ins). The things I felt they did right was the evolvement and additions to some of the jobs; they feel stronger compared to their 2.0 or otherwise are capable of minimizing their downfalls such as MNK downtime. The story and track is also outstanding, but hell, this is a final fantasy game and I expect them to at least get that right. Failing that would be like a modern Sonic game having a bad OST.