The game is more dead than it was pre-3.1

[Kosmos992k]

The "why not level everything to 60" excuse...

No, not at all.

Yes, you could level other classes, play an Alt or whatever you want to define "level everything at 60". Or, you could run the side quests, see the sights, craft, gather, fish, fly, work on your glamours, work on your house, help your Free Company, talk to your friends, make new friends, help newbies, etc...

With this quote;

What do "new players" have in terms of content? The main dungeons they do once or twice to get to 60 and the MSQ.

You are effectively defining the game content as MSQ plus dungeons and raids. What about all the other things that you can do in the game? I mean, I'm sorry if you're bored, but just because you don't want to do anything else in the game it doesn't make the game bad or light on content, it simply means you've run out of things that interest you.

If the answer for you is not to broaden your interests in the game, then as in any game where there is a finite amount of content (*every* game), once you have done what interests you, you will gradually become bored.

[Magis]

Or, you could run the side quests, see the sights, craft, gather, fish, fly, work on your glamours, work on your house, help your Free Company, talk to your friends, make new friends, help newbies, etc...

You are literally doing what I just said. You are listing of "things" in the game, that aren't fun or basic features of an MMO. Socialization? What? That isn't even content, that's just an aspect of MMOs. Next your gonna tell me "you can sort your inventory!".

The core game is dungeons, story, and raids. Or should they release three more LoVs (dead on arrival lol), Chocobo Races, and Triple Triads to drive that point home?

[Zojha]

The core game is dungeons, story, and raids.

Run, now! The crafters are after you!

[Magis]

Run, now! The crafters are after you!

I should have added crafting to the list, but it's a well though out feature that falls short because they don't want it to compete with dungeons. Still, it isn't up there with the main core: Story, Dungeons and Raids. Case in point: You cannot even unlock crafting without doing one of these, nor can you unlock all the later things without doing so (though that was the case in 1.0).

[Cyclingsofa]

(...) you could run the side quests, see the sights, craft, gather, fish, fly, work on your glamours, work on your house, help your Free Company, talk to your friends, make new friends, help newbies, etc..

Everyone's been leveling in all zones, don't tell me you did it with your eyes closed. Craft/Gather/Fly ????? To me they're a means of making money, busywork and a chore. I like combat. Spent several millions on glamours. My house is fine. Social interactions is par for the course in online games and not something uniquely on offer in this game. I'm having just as much fun messing about with my static mates on LINE chat outside the game.

It's a themepark running out of rides, don't pretend it's not. And don't pretend like people haven't already played this game for countless hours. I think we've been flying for long enough, the new and shiny has worn off and they did nothing really interesting with it - We're still just teleporting around.

[aurace1095]

Or, you could run the side quests, see the sights, craft, gather, fish, fly, work on your glamours, work on your house, help your Free Company, talk to your friends, make new friends, help newbies, etc...

Let's not forget the core content of setting up your hotbars, walking around town, configuring your graphic settings, etc.

[Teryaani]

Let's not forget the core content of setting up your hotbars, walking around town, configuring your graphic settings, etc.

Snark aside, Kosmos is right. There is a lot of content. Just because you don't feel like doing it doesn't mean it isn't there.

[aurace1095]

Snark aside, Kosmos is right. There is a lot of content. Just because you don't feel like doing it doesn't mean it isn't there.

Things like seeing the sights, flying, talking to friends, making new friends, and helping newbies (which apparantly is fully separate "content" from helping your Free Company) is just as much content as my "snark" is. Just like Magis and Moqi said, the core content of the game is sorely lacking, and it's really starting to show and have an affect on players.

[Teryaani]

Things like seeing the sights, flying, talking to friends, making new friends, and helping newbies (which apparantly is fully separate "content" from helping your Free Company) is just as much content as my "snark" is. Just like Magis and Moqi said, the core content of the game is sorely lacking, and it's really starting to show and have an affect on players.

Is the gold saucer, and all it entails, content?
Wolves Den?
Frontlines?
Sightseeing Log?
Hunts?
Crafting?
Gathering?

Is this game lacking something sandboxy? You're dang right it is. But there are things to do.

[aurace1095]

Is the gold saucer, and all it entails, content?
Wolves Den?
Frontlines?
Sightseeing Log?
Hunts?
Crafting?
Gathering?

Is this game lacking something sandboxy? You're dang right it is. But there are things to do.

Yet with the possible exception of crafting/gathering, none of that is "core content". PvP is largely ignored by SE, the Sightseeing Log is the very definition of side content (which is easily completable in a few hours, especially the HW entries), and Hunts are a boring zergfest that I've never seen anyone say they enjoy. Regardless, I was calling out Kosmos' post for fluffing up his list of content with extra things that are obviously *not* content, none of which your post has touched on at all. So, you obviously either agree with me and don't want to admit it, or you think those things are content but can't come up with a reasonable explanation for how they can be considered content.