The game is more dead than it was pre-3.1

[LaylaTsarra]

This game holds your hand way too much and perhaps people do need a few slaps for the greater good.

I do find it to be a loss for those who simply want to unsync everything and not do much with normal fight mechanics. I see it with new players in our FC all the time.

[HyurHyur]

These topics are so discouraging.

[Lambdafish]

snip

You haven't actually answered the question, there really is NO reason for a catch up patch other than to satisfy entitlement, its a slap in the face to the people who worked hard gearing in 3.0. Sure, make it a little more accessible, add new challenging content to get said gear (looking at you Thordan) but we shouldn't be getting good gear as plentifully as we are. High level players (raiding) should get i210 gear, midcore (Ex primals) should get i205, and everyone else should get i200, and thats the way it should stay until 3.2 with exception of relic which follows another progression path.

"well, you missed that content when it was new so, tough luck, you're stuck"

*cough* 3.2 dungeons dropping i200-i210 gear *cough* esoterics being much easier to get in 3.2 *cough*

On another note, Alexander isn't new and is no longer relevant because of catch up patches, i'm stuck BECAUSE they exist, and as Alexander is barring entry to Alex 2, it will probably be more popular in 3.2 than it is now once echo sets in

[Kosmos992k]

XIV doesnt have a dev vision. It has yoship's vision. To know what it is i invite you to read the 3.1 dungeon devblog post.

Considering the transformation FFXIV went through into ARR, I don't have a problem with his vision. The *huge* difference between ARR and HW is that the developers had the dubious benefit of player feedback. A lot of the changes coming into HW can be traced directly to player/fan feedback, both via forums and other means. Lets review, new loot rules, two difficulty tiers for the raid, open world free-form content other than hunts (diadem), more dangerous overworld, crafting specialist instead of mandatory omni-crafters, end-game content for crafting/gathering, no story gated behind raids, more accessible content that doesn't require a static, etc... All of thisis stuff that people regularly complained about and made suggestions about on this forum, other forums; and I would presume similar feedback at fan events and/or confidential survey/feedback.

Considering the relatively positive reception for ARR, and the lack luster raider response to HW, I'd say that Yoshi and the dev team are better off following their own vision instead of trying to satisfy the conflicting and sometimes contraditcory fan feedback.

You haven't actually answered the question, there really is NO reason for a catch up patch other than to satisfy entitlement

I think you are wrong there. Catch up patches are for mainstream players to prevent the playerbase from being spread too thinly across the game. I actually think that opposing catch up to protect the fragile egos of raiders who can't stand the idea that other players will have similar gear for less effort. I can't believe that any self respecting raider cares, or needs gear separation to differentiate themself from other players, or to validate their effort and achievement. Wanting that separation to be prolonged for ego reasons, which seems to be your point, strikes me as pure entitlement.

[Seoulstar]

Wouldn't say it's dead. You can still find things to do. And probably most don't use PF anymore because they're in linkshells and doing things with friends. I mean if the game really was dead. I wouldn't be finding tons of people running around in just about every area I go to. As for the whole catch up patch thing, I fail to see the huge problem with that. The game really isn't holding your hand just because you don't want to do savage, or coil, or whatever raid will come in the future. But I do agree that the game does hold your hand in other areas.

[AzraelX]

Sorry guys but I'm a casual I have not even done Alex nm, 3.0 primals, or Coil. The problem is with catchup patches you give players an easy route to get best gear. Which I am fine, the problem it also devalues the content the dev's just released 3 months ago. I don't know the answer to solve all these issues but I know cath up patches don't seem to excite anyop one. More casual players don't even know it's a catch just know they can get carried and not know what going. It causes he hardcore ppl to dismiss the patch all together cuz it's a " a cath up patch"

[AzraelX]

Wouldn't say it's dead. You can still find things to do. And probably most don't use PF anymore because they're in linkshells and doing things with friends. I mean if the game really was dead. I wouldn't be finding tons of people running around in just about every area I go to. As for the whole catch up patch thing, I fail to see the huge problem with that. The game really isn't holding your hand just because you don't want to do savage, or coil, or whatever raid will come in the future. But I do agree that the game does hold your hand in other areas.

It's not dead, but u know gamers exaggerate. I must say its the deadest I have ever seen it. With this cash shop sale and 4 day free login I think it's SE 's attempt to keep some money coming in. I hope this live letter Yoshi addresses issues cuz I feel lately he and the devs are missing the point

[ErikMynhier]

Who didn't see that one coming?? I'm sure there are a few people who love playing an RTS mini-game in an MMO...I am not one of those people and apparently neither are most FF14 players. Had it been Pokemon style like pet battles in WoW, I might have actually tried it for fun...maybe.

I was actually really excited about LoV. I really wanted to jump in as a minion collector. But it is so convoluted and the tutorial loses a lot of people from the start. I was pretty let down honestly. I was expecting something along the lines of the old FF and Dragon Warrior games. Just a party of a few minions with different skills in a turn-based battle system. My first play, the tutorial was so confusing and not easy with a PS4 controller, I walked away telling myself I'll come back and try it again later when I'm done catching up with raids and all. But to be honest I may not.

[AstralKaos]

Lets review, new loot rules, two difficulty tiers for the raid, open world free-form content other than hunts (diadem), more dangerous overworld, crafting specialist instead of mandatory omni-crafters, end-game content for crafting/gathering, no story gated behind raids, more accessible content that doesn't require a static, etc... All of thisis stuff that people regularly complained about and made suggestions about on this forum, other forums; and I would presume similar feedback at fan events and/or confidential survey/feedback.

Considering the relatively positive reception for ARR, and the lack luster raider response to HW, I'd say that Yoshi and the dev team are better off following their own vision instead of trying to satisfy the conflicting and sometimes contraditcory fan feedback.

I'd personally, and judging from various feedback that the problem with these things isn't that they did them... it's that they did them exceptionally poorly.

Good- They used feedback and came up with things from it.

Bad - They made bad or not thought out things from it, or had a misinterpretation of certain things.

One example, you still need to be an omnicrafter, and everything to do with the specialization either sucks or benefits nobody.

[Strika23]

Between the entirety of my FC, all LS channels, and friends list, this is the first time I've seen points where I'm one of -maybe- a dozen on out of over 1000 possible people. Peak periods I'll see some people on, but it's still noticeably more dead than before. I had a first time a few nights back where my entire FC/LS/Friend lists were showing everyone aside from me offline when there are normally at least a few people on. It's been disheartening to log in and watch everyone I know slowly disappear the further we get into the 3.x series. I think previous posters have stated what some of my issues are with this game really well. I just hope SE and the dev team manage to straighten this ship out sometime in the near future.

I feel the same way, I used to come on and scroll through all the LS/FC and my friend list chats. Now its like a ghost town.
Though I can't say I've been the only one online, I usually see at minimum another 10 friends online at the same time (out of hundreds)