Where is the "never before seen content"?

[Bourne_Endeavor]

There's no MMO that can keep up with their players.

I never insinuated otherwise. There shouldn't be one where a major patch releases then sits around for six weeks despite the content released being nowhere near long enough to maintain a general interest for that length of time. The whole reason why MMOs, FFXIV included, employ grinds are to combat boredom. Stormblood's relic grind has been relegated to one month before 4.4. Not only does it not exactly last long, the weapon itself is entirely meaningless for progression.

I wasn't aware we got a new patch every 30 days.

Don't be obtuse. You know as well as I these abrupt staggered releases are an attempt to keep subscribed. I won't necessarily fault Yoshida for that though.

I'd argue the game's story has only gotten better. This may, or may not, be because of a supposed increase in budget.

And yet the general consensus is Heavenswards' story was largely superior. I will grant you side story quests have been somewhat better, but again, those are one and done.

That is unavoidable, even if you sped up the content cycle or managed to create more content. People leave for reasons; some because the game can't keep up. Some for more personal reasons (families, money, you name it). There are players that literally do savage raids and ultimates, then unsub until the next batch because they have no interest in anything else. No matter what content you place in, unless it's something of similar interest to them, you won't get those players back. You can't please everyone 100% of the time; if they decide to never came back, that's their choice.

And those same "raid loggers" existed in Heavensward yet the active player numbers did not dip nearly as aggressively as they have in Stormblood. You're dismissing virtually ever potential slight against the game as "well that just happens." It didn't in Heavenswards. Perhaps that's a sign FFXIV should follow WoW's resurgence with Legion come the next expansion and not simply sit on all these complaints. Which is why feedback and criticism is crucial. Hand-waving everything aside results in a repeat of the same mistakes—ones that won't be as easily forgiven a second time. If Stormblood's numbers are suffering now and nothing changes; just a purple coat of purple atop red. Those same numbers could decline even further.

People like you and I do not have access to actual numbers; SE does. We can't make any actual arguments on these grounds - we can make educated guesses at best, and even then, those are probably hideously inadequate.

Indeed, nor did I claim otherwise. That doesn't mean those estimations are entirely inaccurate or meaningless either. Considering complaints about lackluster content and little innovation are far more commonplace nowadays than two years prior, we can reasonably assume a decent portion of players aren't thrilled by some of the decisions made for Stormblood. It's not definitive, of course, but it shouldn't be ignored either.

There are people that genuinely enjoy PvPing. Once upon a time ago, I was in such crowd. It comes with the generalist MMO - you make something for everyone. At least SE does stages and stuff to be enjoyed and on occasion, I've dropped in on the streams to watch fights.

By life support, I'm assuming you mean because it's not a massive focus, much like the Gold Saucer and all of its activities. Despite it being enjoyed by a number of people.

No, I mean that it dies within weeks. Outside of the Garo event and Stormblood's initial launch, PvP activity has been staggeringly low. So much so the devs were embarrassed on their own Live Stream with an hour long queue. Rival Wings completely dropped off within two weeks, and how struggles to see queues despite people actively advertising on reddit. There really is no way to argue PvP has not been a failure in numerous ways. Being a generalist MMO does not mean you want content so decidedly unpopular it sees little activity.

By whom? Obviously, players, but what amount of players? What are your numbers? What are your sources? What is the opinion of all patches to compare against? Do you have numbers across all regions? Is there a comparison to each region showing how they felt about 3.1?

Virtually ever census conducted cites 3.1 as FFXIV's worst patch. Of course, it's largely subjective, but considering the overwhelming dislike of Diadem and LoV, Gordias Savage destroying the raid scene and the developers opting not to delay a patch like that again, it's not difficult to surmise 3.1 was not well received.

Had you been another business trying to sell me a product (like a rival MMO), simply saying something like "Gordias" makes it look like one thing. In reality, it was two different things that please two different crowds of players, then tried to sell me on a hook like 'we have double the content!' while separating your own content if you had a normal and savage version. (Just saying, how it comes across to the reader or whoever else is reading our conversation, changes their perception of things. Probably me just being nitpicky, but that's why I said what I said.)

Did I really need to add in brackets (Normal and Savage). I am neither a business nor am I selling you a product. I'm speaking to someone acutely aware of the terms. So yes, that is needlessly nitpicky. Regardless, I do admit to having forgotten to list Ravana and Bismarck, though the overall point remains. Given how poorly the major content releases were received outside 3.0 proper, there remained very little to do for an extended point of time as 3.1 had been delayed longer than their usual schedule.