Why is Yoshi P turning his back on the playerbase that loves this game the most?

[FizzleofHyperion]

Please keep this conversation civil its a healthy discussion and I think its important that this should be discussed since most people who interview Yoshi P really don't bring the important things up maybe in fear of not beeing able to interview him in the future? I don't know... I'm not speaking for everyone ofcourse but to the people who feel like I do. I'm not generalizing but I know I'm speaking for a part of the community that share the same thoughts and feelings I do.

I love this game as much as you guys do or else I wouldn't be disappointed with certain things and this is why I try to voice my opinion. People who wouldn't care would just leave talk bad about FFXIV to others and not recommended the game to anyone.
We are here for the exact opposite reasons. We care we want this game to grow and be something that we can enjoy for years to come.


I've read Yoshi Ps interview and what he had to say about character growth.
Like some of you its very mixed feelings cause some answers went a bit into exageration from his end.
I understand certain things and why they have to be the way they are it just feels that they havent really asked the community correctly.

If this game was funded mostly by FFXI players who had double subscriptions and players from 1.0 who backed up Yoshi P during this games darkest hours (refering to that live letter from many years ago when Yoshi-P told the playerbase to keep the subs for a certain amount of time or the game had to be shut down 2011 If I remember correctly)

Why are we now 3 years later still catering to a group of people that are mostly come and go players?
I'm not refering to legacy players as some V.I.P customers but didnt they want this game to go a different path than its current state?
No I'm not refering to FFXI 2.0 but I'm neither refering to its current state wich feels FFXIV A WoW Clone Reborn.
No one here goes and buy a Street Fighter came because the content of Street Fighter reminds you so much of Mortal Kombat am i right?

I fully agree with Yoshi P that everyone should have fun and be able to catch up but he has pretty much encouraged the customer (pretty much all of us) that we should take a break from the game and come back later for next patch?
Alot of players that took breaks came back maybe once or twice but then gave up on this game because of its repetative cycle of nothing really happening.
We all understand how many players gave up on FFXI because they felt they could never catch up and it shouldnt be like that here!

This game is amazing if you are a new player but eventually even the new player would have done everything and be stuck in this boredom hamsterwheel we all seem to be facing thats an actual chore. Fast levling has been psychologicly proven that it triggers your mind into beleiving that you are continuing to acheive things and keep you busy but due to how fast everything is acheived here you hit that wall pretty fast when you reach your own certain goals.
No one that plays this game should feel that they need to level alternative jobs in order for having something to do that arguement should not even be discussed because you play a main job for a reason.

No game is perfect but this game is lacking midcore content. Everything is either on a very easy difficulty or a very hard difficulty with savage / newest ex primal.

Surely there has to be a way to keep Player A and Player B happy at the same time without having to continue punishing the envoirment for Player A making all their acheivements and progress feel like a waste of time and let down just because of nerfs from left to right to continue to satisfy Player B because they can't play as much but since Player B pays for a sub he is entitled to everything Player A has without putting as much effort in but the only difference is a time frame.

Its also sad that the formula itself is so predictable and you already know that whatever that is currently released will get nerfed and stuff will get useless again so fast. That alone kills the motivation more than keeps the player going imo.

I'm fully aware that this is a business and money is important but is money really that important when it starts damaging your most loyal customer group and slightly starting to kill the heart of the game?

There are so many games out there that pretty much follow the same pattern that FFXIV why must Square Enix be followers aswell?

Final Fantasy itself is such a strong name and brand that it alone can shape players into a different envoirment that gives something different than whats already out here.
Instead FFXIV just keeps giving in to everything thats out there. If Yoshi P keeps giving into the casual community only wont these casual gamers just keep jumping to the next trending MMORPG than sticking here?

Forgive me for all the thoughts and questions I'm just slightly confused myself to why FFXIV wont start taking risks and introduce new things.
Some horizontal progression wouldn't kill this game especially when there are so many players in FFXIV who are not used to the 1.0 content and FFXI content at all that would surely love ideas that are used from 1.0 and FFXI cause at the moment we are using alot of things from almost another other MMORPGs out there but the original flagships of square enix.
We have plenty of times seen and heard things in the novice network aswell as in linkshell chats or in duty finger party groups of players who came him from WoW because this game reminds them so much of WoW.
It really shouldnt be like that atleast from my perspective.

If people love this game so much that they find time to play this alot why should they be the ones getting the short end of the stick for the sake of not loosing someone who bought this game and might stay for 1-4 months but then leave for good?

Just because the Patch arrives today that doesnt mean that the hardcore community will rush through most content the first 1-2 days aside from savage and sofia ex and the rest of community that are int he endgame state might reach there in 3-4 weeks from now and then be back at the repetative cycle with the gears from the new amazing jibba jabba currency thats useless again by january.

I want to play Final Fantasy XIV not Fashion Fantasy 14.

I honestly don't have answers to how things should be fixed but I feel that I belong to a part of a community that has mixed feelings of the current state. I'm a legacy player yes I beleive that I should earn my levels and gears and content should feel rewarding and satisfying. I don't want the mega huge time sink of FFXI but I don't want this World of Warcraft envoirment either and neither do i want this very easy content on everything.
I havent beaten savage contents but I also don't feel I deserve a handout like the current state of the games formula. If I want to beat something or acheive a relic or a specific item it should be on the same conditions as everyone else. I don't feel I need to cry over something thats there for me as an option but I just have to do it under the same conditions and circumstances as I mentioned.


Thoughts?

English isnt my first language so I apologise for all type-o.

[Reynhart]

Why are we now 3 years later still catering to a group of people that are mostly come and go players?

Probably because those people are more numerous.

FFXIV accounts created are around 6 millions. Even considering FFXI and FFXIV 1.x players, we're really really far from that number. And of those 6 millions, we're not really sure of what people actually stayed to make the (I think) 700k players the game still has.

They should post a recent census of the number of Legacy accounts, and the number of SE account with an active FFXI and XIV subscription. They might be a minority.

[FizzleofHyperion]

The players who backed this game from day 1 are a minority now due to the path thats currently taken.
If you want to expand to the current customer group of mainstream players ofcourse its more likely they are a majority overshadowing the rest of us. Its also people from that market that have been cycled through a few times by now with players that comes and goes.
So ofcourse you will be far from that number but you can't neglected the wishes of players that kept your game alive either am I right? Its like releasing a kickstarter saying fund me I'm gonna make this then you go do the exact opposite of what the core people wanted to get a different group of people. Wouldn't that make you feel used in a way? Getting a silly tatoo and 1 dollar less per month for the rest of your gaming career feels like crumbs on the table.

[Xlantaa]

I love this game. I don't feel he is turnig back for me and I like how is he doing.
Please, do not generalize.

[Reynhart]

So of course you will be far from that number but you can't neglected the wishes of players that kept your game alive either am I right?

A game can't take several directions at the same time. What you can't neglect is the wishes of the majority. And nothing that can come out of the forum can be considered a majority. As long as enough accounts are active, then the game is doing well.

Saddly, the only way for you to really voice your opinion is to let the money talk and hope that enough people will do the same. But even then, the game will never please everyone. Personally, if the game keeps the same fomula with the next expansion, I'll probably subscribe one month for each path, then suspend my account until the next patch.

[FizzleofHyperion]

Saddly, the only way for you to really voice your opinion is to let the money talk and hope that enough people will do the same. But even then, the game will never please everyone. Personally, if the game keeps the same fomula with the next expansion, I'll probably subscribe one month for each path, then suspend my account until the next patch.

Sadly that seems to be the fate of this game. Its too predictible too unrewarding. I also beleive if this game was not called Final Fantasy but was something from another company and not the Final Fantasy lore and characters it would have been dead a long time ago. I don't think you are alone with that opinion either. Buying an expansion just to clear it then unsubbing then coming back almost 1 year later that sure is not the way to go.

At one time we where the majority and we got neglected for the sake of a casual market who are most likely here because they are temporary fed up of WoW or their first main mmorpg wichever that is.
That part is already written all over the history of FFXIV 1.0 and its current state. Business is Business it can never be personal but the history of this is the legacy majority who voted for a specific type of gameplay and got something way different.

[AlexanderThorolund]

Ugh. We've got 24 hours more of this blog fodder.

[Reynhart]

Buying an expansion just to clear it then unsubbing then coming back almost 1 year later that sure is not the way to go.

Well, put that on perspective as buying a single player J-RPG. Over the course of 2 years, a new expansion will provide far more hours of content, and we still have new content every three months.

[Belhi]

They designed FF14 to fit what their research indicated was going to be successful in the place the MMO marketplace is going. To be honest I kind of agree with him. Even if I did have more time to invest in gaming in general, I still want to have free time to spend doing other games as well.

I get why there are a lot of older players, particularly from games like FF11, that aren't happy where the game design has gone, but to some extent that is because that is where the marketplace has been moving. MMOs in general are on the decline. They are very expensive to make and have been losing popularity. Game design has had to adapt to the changing consumer desires. This doesn't make your opinion invalid but they will be making these decisions based on statistical data and metrics as well as over all feedback.

[Genaxx]

I also feel there is a lack of midcore content. It's either faceroll easy content where I just turn my brain off or content that requires me to have a weekly static which I don't have time for.

But Yoshi / development team seems pretty set in their ways, so I don't think there much point in people trying to reason with them anymore. Just enjoy what little bit you can for now and then find something better to spend your money on, that's what i'll do.