The game is more dead than it was pre-3.1

[RiceisNice]

Considering the transformation FFXIV went through into ARR, I don't have a problem with his vision.

I think that's the problem. It's always been his vision and it's not necessarily one I agree with going by the translation. He's happy with the clear rate of normal mode Alexander, but it's tuned to the point that you can clear it even with people afking. He's surprised with the very low clear rates on Savage, even though he had intended it to be as difficult as ScoB/FCoB Savage... which in itself also has very low clear rates before 3.0. He'd also say that players weren't familiar with MCH (and BRD) and thinks their damage is fine...then buffs GB/WM by 10% literally a week or two after-the-fact (and the same was done in regards to 2.0 warrior).

The dev constantly jumps between their stance on why BRD/MCH are naturally behind in dps, whether it's due to their mobility or their support aspect. Most of this ultimately comes from the lack of play-testing their content and overall it feels like they're cutting corners on the new features. It really feels like things like Diadem, MCH and non-combat features feel shallow compared to what it was previewed.

[Kosmos992k]

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)

Then it would seem to be a good time to prune friendlists and linkshells and befriend veteran players and new players alike. Individual players move on at a time of their choosing, even if their friends stay. Over the long haul many will come and go, but there is a core group who stay for the long term, find more friends like this.

[Lambdafish]

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.

shots fired or at least they would be if I had even beaten A1S. No, I'm talking from a game design perspective and the value of content. The balance that needs to be made in MMOs is that relevant content needs to stay relevant, and raid content is one of the hardest pieces of content to keep relevant due to difficulty and accessibility. The point is, if the reward for raiding isnt more than anything else in the game(with a few exceptions) then the raiding scene dies, because it really isnt worth the effort invested. This was seen in 3.1 when Alex Savage completely died as everyone flooded to get their gear from the diadem instead. This was seen in 2.3 to a lesser extent as well with hunts.

So, thanks for assuming that im ego driven and that I only care about my precious entitlement, when actually I care about the health of this game and the balance of gear progression and how the game handles difficulty/reward given, because how that is handled seeps into every part of the game, especially player mentality.

[aurace1095]

Then it would seem to be a good time to prune friendlists and linkshells and befriend veteran players and new players alike. Individual players move on at a time of their choosing, even if their friends stay. Over the long haul many will come and go, but there is a core group who stay for the long term, find more friends like this.

In a thread that's explicitly talking about the fact that a large number of people are quitting, and that things seem empty, saying 'just unfriend the people who quit' seems to be completely ignoring the whole issue, which is that a large number of players seem to be leaving the game. You don't think that's indicative of a larger issue with the game itself? It's actually that 'core group' that everyone here is concerned about.

[Mags]

So, let's brainstorm: Fun content.
Content that has replayability beyond any possibly offered rewards, because it offers the intrinsic reward of enjoyment.

Any ideas?

I'll be honest. I don't get paid by SquareEnix to develop a game for them. I pay them to do that for me. If they no longer develop what I like, I stop paying them. And there it is in a nutshell.

[Bourne_Endeavor]

I think the fundamental problem with 3.1 is the five month delay. While not an entirely large patch regardless, this fact was further compounded by many twitting their thumbs in monotonous 'anticipation', only to discover the "big update" amounted to a grind fest dungeon and a mini game no one actually wanted. Frankly, I find it baffling the sheer amount of time they dedicated to Lords of Verminion, especially given the minimalist additions elsewhere.

Unfortunately, the larger issue runs completely contradictory to Yoshi's vision: game difficulty. Very little content lasts long enough to keep people hungry. They need to either find ways to tune old content, if re-running it is their intended direction, or establish an actual midcore scene. It's not exactly reassuring to hear they don't want to offer fights comparable to Thordan EX's difficulty. Imagine if all the Primals got a lvl60 overhaul, a full new arsenal and were thus vaulted to Thordan EX? It would keep people busy. Instead, the devs seem resolved to release easier content that far too many end up blowing past.

That all being said, do I think the game is dying? Not even remotely. Much as we many fancy believing otherwise, the forum represents only a small fraction of players. People seem more inclined to congregate to certain servers, or are exclusively focusing on their own groups. But I sincerely doubt the population is dwindling. I suppose that too could be argued as a problem, considering it does not promote much motivation for the devs to change their current paradigm.

[Azper]

As someone who's been playing since the ARR Beta Phase 3 in 2013... I can safely say that the game is starting to lose me a little. It's hard to motivate myself to work towards something when I feel like all my efforts are just going to be worthlessly nerfed, outdated, or made easier to obtain by the next patch. The overwhelming amount of gating they added to all aspects of the 3.0-series so far has been about as off-putting and alienating as I've ever felt in this game.

[KitingGenbu]

Of course this game can't copy the core feature of XI which was allowing gear to be changed in combat. That alone combated gear becoming irrelevant, well that and the no ilvl thing. You wanted a decent amount of accuracy which could be obtain via various items from various levels. The peacock charm was the best accuracy neck in the game for the longest time and was only lvl 33. There was a lot of thought put into the gear progression of XI. The things they could copy are the rewarding areas you unlock as you clear the long story like XI did with sky and sea, not all this instanced based garbage. Reward people more for doing stuff in the open world. Add systems similar to merits/capacity points that allow you to further strengthen your character beyond max level. This could easily be done through added passives or strengthening existing passives so it makes it easier to add content later. SE has A LOT of resources at their disposal since they've made so many good games, yet they still want to copy half arsed from WoW. Its disappointing.

I dont know about anyone else, but I especially like the capacity point system for several reasons. 1) You have to play the class to get points in it. 2) You're able to eventually get everything for that class in that category which is usually relevant to passives you already have. 3) It actually shows how many people are dedicated to their class versus the meaningless item level which can honestly be forged and has been numerous times for people to get access to content. Heck, I just did A4 with a Bard that had full vit accessories, but hey, he met the item level....good job.

Also, was it ever asked why or did the team ever explain why we never got passives or a 6th cross-skill slot? I dont really care for the cross-skill system but its their system and they have failed to adhere to it. Didn't even get classes for DRK/MCH/AST...I don't care what anyone says, that was lazy to me.

[Theodric]

I'm still enjoying the game quite a bit. I think the biggest problem for me, at least, is the five month gap between 3.0 and 3.1 - since that would have been roughly two content patches if they'd been going with the three month cycle that they embraced previously. I liked most of what we got in 3.1 but the MSQ's felt like they were on the short side even if they intrigued me. Diadem felt disappointing to me but with some work it could be made more engaging. Verminion was fun for a while but there's no real incentive for me to go and play it - and even on a busy realm like Balmung I only see a tiny portion of players invested in it whenever I drop by.

Despite that, however, I feel like we're still getting more than certain other MMO's. I don't blame the developers either - FFXIV's are very passionate and appear to genuinely care for the game. I fear they're overworked and understaffed, however.

[Starkbeaumont]

again i can't really understand the complainers. If you have beaten everything including A4S and are only interested in ever playing one job, i can see why you are bored for now. in all other cases i don't.

void ark is for catch up or gearing secondary jobs. it's a very well designed large scale raid, which some might find a bit too easy. but seeing how some ppl are just terrible at the game, it is right where it should be.
Diadem is imo crap and i hope we don't have to go there for our anima weapons, but it is what a majority of players ask for in a wide sense: a grind fest for gear. i see ppl often compare this to dynamis from 11. it is almost the same. a long time mind numbing zerg, which may or may not drop something valuable.

in our fc we can hardly find ppl for savage or thordan. they rather stand around doing nothing or crafting for glamours and gils. no gil or glamour will help you clear content. while savage is not very interesting in terms of the battle design it is still challenging content. but that might be the actual problem, ppl want to get stuff handed for free. they fail the easiest mechanics over and over again. one guy from the fc once said, he doesn't wanna learn the fights now, when in a few month we can already get better gear. ya but what for, when you don't do the content the game provides.
This game is not rocket science...

What is it, that the complainers really want out of an MMORPG