Fan Fest announcements will determine my future in this game..

[Atoli]

Revamped Itemization
I like being able to plan ahead. RNG is the bane of my MMO life and there is gonna be even MORE of it than we already have, I'm the one out of here instead of you.
More interesting stats wouldn't hurt though, although I don't mind them the way they are right now either and would prefer them even over not optimally balanced new stats.

Overworld Content
Absolutely agree, although the playerbase are the ones who'd be the biggest problem with that. A dangerous but rewarding overworld would frustrate many, and if it goes the way of FFXI's HNMs...well, we've all seen what hunts do to people..

New Types of Content
Throwing a new type in from time to time is all I want, but I do agree that by the way they are implementing things, many get shafted by the playerbase just because they are hard to use or not rewarding enough - Deep Dungeon being pretty much the only exception so far.

Shift away from fluff content
No. I understand that different people look for different things in a MMO, and if you dislike glamours and minions and mounts, well, that's fine. But many others do (or even have that as their sole reason for playing this game!).
I love fluff and while you want it to go away to not quit, if they dropped that it would make ME leave. SE can't please both sides, so I'm gonna make my voice heard as well and say that to me, fluff is more important than a handful of random new stats on gear that someone will figure out in a week anyway and then we'll be back to farming BiS again.

[Krazymagic]

Revamped Itemization
Shift away from fluff content
No. I understand that different people look for different things in a MMO, and if you dislike glamours and minions and mounts, well, that's fine. But many others do (or even have that as their sole reason for playing this game!).
I love fluff and while you want it to go away to not quit, if they dropped that it would make ME leave. SE can't please both sides, so I'm gonna make my voice heard as well and say that to me, fluff is more important than a handful of random new stats on gear that someone will figure out in a week anyway and then we'll be back to farming BiS again.

I'm not advocating an end to fluff. Im not an idiot, I realize this would chase a lot of people off. I just hate that fluff feels like its in the driver seat with this game right now. You see it said all the time "Glamour is the end game"...Well I for one hate that. While I struggle to see how people find dress up and mindless pets so motivating, I dont advocate doing away with it. Every event though is just a fate grind for fluff. Costumes, pets, or mounts that dont run any faster or do anything different than the dozens of other mounts already in the game simply dont motivate me to play.

[Atoli]

I just hate that fluff feels like its in the driver seat with this game right now. You see it said all the time "Glamour is the end game"

That's mainly for 2 reasons:

• people conciously picking glamour over other goals because they simply enjoy it the most
  (and since FFXIV is a beautiful game with amazing glamours, it is not unlikely a lot of people who put much emphasis on these things have gathered here)
• fluff being an actual long-time reward.
  If I spend 300 runs on getting this pony/bird/whatever, I have something that will stay with me forever.
  In 2 years, it will still look amazing, it will still perfectly coordinate with the color of my outfit and still carry me wherever I need to go.
  But why would I spend 300 runs on farming a weapon just for the stats when those stats are gonna be outdated in a few weeks?

Personally, I don't exactly mind this lack of longevity of gear, since I already have moved on to considering fluff the true goal, but a more horizontal gear progression would accomodate those who do not care about fluff without taking away anything the fluff lovers care about. But there are many things in the way of this - meaningful different stats would be needed on gear to make different sets really necessary for different content, and that would not just require REALLY careful finetuning but also a complete overhaul of the system since the current limits to how much gear one can hold are not even remotely adequate for such a progression form.

Every event though is just a fate grind for fluff. Costumes, pets, or mounts that dont run any faster or do anything different than the dozens of other mounts already in the game simply dont motivate me to play.

They are events. If event items were anything but fluff we'd have a real problem on our hands.
If someone misses an event now, it's like "well, it's just fluff, but if you really care about it, you can buy it in the cs".
If event gear was cutting-edge stuff or event mounts were faster than regular mounts or event furniture had special gameplay functions, we'd be right at the point where you can literally BUY progress and advantages in the CS.
And if they weren't availabe in the cash shop but forever lost, that would alienate a big part of the community and be even worse.
The problem with grinding Fates for fluff for events is the "grinding FATEs" part, not the "fluff rewards" one.

[Istaru]

-SNIP-

I am at pretty much the same place. I mostly play this game for the fluff anymore. It wasn't always this way, but I have accepted that it is the true endgame and I don't care anymore.

I would love to see unique stats again, I would love to see gear that grows with us as we do content (tomestone replacement, not the same as relic). I lost faith in seeing anything unique for gear in this game some time ago.

Even with that, I have no plans to unsubscribe.

[Krazymagic]

I am at pretty much the same place. I mostly play this game for the fluff anymore. It wasn't always this way, but I have accepted that it is the true endgame and I don't care anymore.

Even with that, I have no plans to unsubscribe.

I struggle to understand how this is enough motivation to dump your free time into. As a grown man, playing virtual barbie or dress up does not sound the least bit enjoyable to me. If I had to accept the fact that "well the game is all about acquiring new dresses and boots" I would stop logging in that day. I would rather play Pong at that point.

[SessionZero]

I struggle to understand how this is enough motivation to dump your free time into. As a grown man, playing virtual barbie or dress up does not sound the least bit enjoyable to me. If I had to accept the fact that "well the game is all about acquiring new dresses and boots" I would stop logging in that day. I would rather play Pong at that point.

It's almost as if not everything in life is tailored specifically to please you.

[Kaurie]

It's almost as if not everything in life is tailored specifically to please you.

It's almost as if he is having a discussion and providing his opinion.

[Celef]

I struggle to understand how this is enough motivation to dump your free time into. As a grown man, playing virtual barbie or dress up does not sound the least bit enjoyable to me. If I had to accept the fact that "well the game is all about acquiring new dresses and boots" I would stop logging in that day. I would rather play Pong at that point.

Well it's not better nor worse than to watch TV or play something else so...

[Istaru]

I struggle to understand how this is enough motivation to dump your free time into. As a grown man, playing virtual barbie or dress up does not sound the least bit enjoyable to me. If I had to accept the fact that "well the game is all about acquiring new dresses and boots" I would stop logging in that day. I would rather play Pong at that point.

My friends do not play anywhere near as much as I do, I have almost 600 days of playtime. Most of them are not hardcore players, I enjoy their company. One of those people I play with is my IRL boyfriend.

If they were gone, I would probably stop playing and most likely would keep my sub active since I don't care about $10 per month. I spend 10x that on cable tv that I barely watch.

Lastly, not every one playing this game is a "grown man".

[Elim]

Lastly, not every one playing this game is a "grown man".

Or insecure.

I have many straight male friends that ask for my opinion of their outfit. Sometimes they make me come on TS for it! I don't think I have any friends that don't care about glamour.