Concern on the current state of FFXIV, and future content

[InkstainedGwyn]

an echo chamber where ppl can insult everyone that doesn't share the opinion

This is honestly the biggest feeling I have. Every time I spend a few hours on the forums reading these threads, I come away with the horrible, oppressive feeling of SUCK, and I can't be alone in that feeling. However, when I log into the game, and ignore the forums, I find that (in the absence of other's opinions), I still enjoy the game. I deal with this at work; I have a minor complaint about a product issue, but as soon as the time comes for me to explain it, and other people on my team start to agree it turns into an absolute bash-fest, which we then have to step back from, reign in our emotions, and go back to "okay, it's really not as bad, we're just annoyed and it gets amplified by other opinions."

Do I think Eureka is the amazing breakthrough everybody was hoping it would be? No.

Do I think there are problems with it, and with other content? Yes.

Do I love a lot of the constructive feedback that happens on the website? Yes.

Remember, though, that it's easy to get caught up in the negativity (or dragged down), which continues the cycle. And if people enjoy that, or this gives them a vent, or they feel like this is honestly what they want to be doing and how they feel about the game, that's valid. But I just want to point out that the fraction of players that post on the forums is small - and usually the angriest. That's how society works, and especially ours. People who are content/happy/don't care don't usually go out of their ways to log in and say so. (In before "but I do!", yes, that's great, but the majority don't.) It's easy to cry "doom of the game, the game is dead" but I've been reading video game forums since City of Heroes started around 2004, and this is something you hear nonstop, even in good cycles. People were crying that Lord of the Rings online was dead when Moria came out, even to this level. And guess what's still going?

My FC is small, and in no way indicative of the general population, but I felt like it was a good reminder in looking at how people received Eureka in general. Of the 10 of us that have gone in within the last two days, four are FFXI players, one is a 1.0 veteran, four of us are new to FFXIV within the past year/year-and-a-half, and six are ARR veterans.

One person hates it and isn't going back. Three of them love it and have spent all of their time in there. Six of us don't care. It's not bad, it's something we'll do when we're bored or interested in hanging out/grinding, and if we've got something else we want to do, we'll do it. And maybe it's completely unrelated, but I have a strong suspicion that's what the overall opinion of the general populace is. A small margin adores it, a small margin hates it, most people don't have particularly strong feelings one way or another.

And for folks claiming that "nobody asked for this", there was a specific thread on the forums that even said "this looks exactly like the grind us XI veterans have been asking for so please don't beg for them to nerf it, let us have our fun" (pre-release). And while my opinion might be "go to XI if that's what you want," I can't say that nobody playing XIV asked for this.