I just don't get it.

[Rikku1987]

Stopped reading at "Diablo 2" since thats not even an MMO

[Shurrikhan]

But, it's the tried and true pengression model. Why would we actually want more than a twentith of all development to be relevant at a time, or not decrease that fraction with each patch? ......

[Gardes]

Just continue like this 1-2 yrs and you will see the monotony in it, even you will "QQ" after a while if this cycle keeps up forever.

There will be people who have played for 2 years who will proudly tell you they aren't tired of it. Argue with them if you like but they will just end up telling you to keep subbing but play less.

[Felis]

Its not only about a timespan how long gear lasts, one of the main points was how you can easily predict when they will release stuff.
I just joined at 3.0, but as they already confirmed: 3.3 will have a new 24 man raid. Surprising really, why not something entirely diffrent?

Because players will complain if there will be no 24 man raid that continue the story around the Void Arc and Diabolos.

[Igziabeher]

Well aware I'm not the most eloquent out there, Damona and Erza probably expressed my opinion in a way that may be easier for people to take seriously. For anyone who thinks I'm being a troll, you're even moreso proving my point by saying that. You basically took what i said right before you posted and just inverted it. I'm asking peoples opinions, if that's trolling, then you have a skewed perception on how human interaction works ^^. If I seem defensive its because you're being offensive, rather than constructive. And if you find me being offensive, then I'm sure you will recall the kindergarten lesson in which you were taught that offense isn't the ideal reaction to being offended I appreciate that the majority of people didn't react like Slappah did, but always gonna be one ;]

shurri: your picture defines the problem. its meme-worthy.......its a meme....hows that okay?

[Damona]

There will be people who have played for 2 years who will proudly tell you they aren't tired of it. Argue with them if you like but they will just end up telling you to keep subbing but play less.

As long as they can keep going to midas normal for 7 weeks and still be happy about it? I'll do it once, and probably never again. ;D

Because players will complain if there will be no 24 man raid that continue the story around the Void Arc and Diabolos.

Its kinda ironic isnt it? The community gets mad about one of the simplistic schedules ever, but not about the things which matter for some awkward reason.
If they would actually skip void and do something entirely diffrent? I wouldnt mind really.

Take Lord of Verminion as an example. It was a great idea, I actually bothered with it a bit and guess what? Its really addicting and well done.
The Problems? Planning. The Release window, rewards, the boost to challange Log MGP may attract people to give it a try for the 10k, but there is still only a mgp reward. AND the worst of it all, you have to queue for it. At least if I have to queue for it, why cant I access it from anywhere?

Its like they put alot of effort into these things, they are good but then just fall flat on their face and get the worst timings ever for it.
It was that weird 3.1 mood back then, when diadem was pretty meh and the void grind started, why not delay Verminion a bit to 3.4 and release it and when the more pressing things are already done? It cant be undone anymore sure, but the LoV Timing is that one thing that i'll never forget.

3.1 felt more like a band aid which should've been released way earlier but couldnt because of reasons.

Its been a while since I read those complaints but I am certain they were there, but sometimes I even wonder if SE takes their playerbase as serious as they tell us.
I'll see how 3.3 and 3.4 turn out, but as SE mentioned it a while ago: 4 man raids.

If those are really well done with some good loot? A dungeonery feel? Maybe some midcore difficulty interestingly done? I am still waiting for it, I would just love to see something in the patch notes like "We didnt tell you about it but here is a 4 man raid!" - as a nice surprise!

The only thing that comes to mind of the last live letter was those... treasure caves or something? Sounds good, hope it wont get pointless as some other stuff or overlooked.

[Shurrikhan]

shurri: your picture defines the problem. its meme-worthy.......its a meme....hows that okay?

Honestly just made it a moment ago. I was just thinking of a long, wasteful, winding road that somehow things it's shooting for great heights. Looked up a pic of a "rocket launching, smoke" and annotated accordingly...

On topic:
@Damona

Agreed on pretty much all accounts. As for the community getting hooked on relatively trivial things, I mean... just look at how quickly pages on vanity gear threads fill up, while a thread on expansion design topics or game mechanics flounder and sink.

(Granted, there's a lot of principle involved in those vanity threads.)

[Gardes]

2 more void arks in a predictable schedule for the sake of campaign conclusion isn't a big deal. The problem is when they're done they are not gonna bother designing content. They're gonna repeat a 24 man every odd patch again. It is no longer designing content, it is designing maps.

You might be inclined counter what I just mentioned with Alex normals and while they are 'new' to hw, they are merely the result of pandering and basically just tweaks of content they were gonna add regardless and even then they just throw them into the same routine trap.

[Damona]

Agreed on pretty much all accounts. As for the community getting hooked on relatively trivial things, I mean... just look at how quickly pages on vanity gear threads fill up, while a thread on expansion design topics or game mechanics flounder and sink.

(Granted, there's a lot of principle involved in those vanity threads.)

If you consider that it also happens ingame even and people just straight out ignore you or just reply to you casually with the usual "TAKE A BREAK M8!", it is crazy yea. I could easily turn this into a debate about money/subfee but that would just derail the topic into something far off.

The turning point for the game will be 4.0 anyways, at least for me. If they go the whole Heavensward route again like they are doing now, I'll gladly quit.
Farming dem ilvls and dem weeklys for a while is fun, but not forever.

But I admit, I am a bit jaded in that regard and even if I dont need to place my fancy FFXI nostalgia goggles all around the place and I am fully aware of the flaws this game always had. But at least after all that grind and after all those hours of finding people for stuff, I felt like I accomplished something. Not only Gearwise, also story fights that were really hard back then etc.

Also a reason why I miss the old Vault when it was not nerfed to the ground and a decent Challange. Stuff like that.
Or clearing T9/T13 unsynced like a scrub and it still felt like a "I DID ET" moment but not running through alex and... yeah uh... holding off teh illuminateh, (Loved Manipulator and Brute Justice though!) but we'll see what the final part will bring.

The one thing I will not deny though, I really loved thordan ex, even with almost 205-210 and hating it at first, it felt like I did something. One of the few rewarding things in my eyes but primal fights are always nice, even if they are a script show and rarely have any randomish moments to them.

[Shurrikhan]

The turning point for the game will be 4.0 anyways, at least for me. If they go the whole Heavensward route again like they are doing now, I'll gladly quit.

The one thing I will not deny though, I really loved thordan ex, even with almost 205-210 and hating it at first, it felt like I did something. One of the few rewarding things in my eyes but primal fights are always nice, even if they are a script show and rarely have any randomish moments to them.

If 4.0 is another rehash, I'll probably switch to about a 50% membership, appearing just before patch and disappearing just after Ex primal farms, and gradually fade from there.

Just because of all the skilled players who were farming for Tidal Mirrors over DF at one point, Levi Ex really claimed that place for me. Losing GL3 only once in that fight just due to people both keeping up the pace and respecting my "please leave us Monks the last punch on the marked spume" was an amazing experience. Not that BLMing, Barding (especially co-Barding, love that), DRGing, tanking, or healing it were any less fun, actually. Just goes to show that every fight ends up at the mercy of its combatants though. Sometimes you enter, take a look each at the two BLMs and know the adds are going to be Flare ash before they can touch anyone, and neither tank moves to intercept, and sure enough, the adds are dead before they reach either BLM or the healers. Other times, you know that PLD will be going Sword main, and the whole set of triggers that might cause seem to just lay themselves out in front of you for you to play around with; anything goes, just make sure to double Regen per Conv as always, and if things go south, track tank CDs. Those little things make XIV for me. Sadly, apart from a couple good Ex roulettes, I haven't felt them in a long time. More and more the ideosycracies seem to fade, and I feel like it's due more to the fights, somehow feeling less open-ended, and reduced community experimentation than to any internal (class/job) design.

As for rose-tinted goggles, one of the funny things to me is that a lot of my complaints I'd put up on the forums back in 1.x haven't changed at all going into 2.x and now 3.2. I expected I'd be wanting more of the 'good old days', but instead it's just the exact same worries that seemed problematic then, although perhaps magnified.