How much do FRIENDS make a difference with you?

[Super_Bee_Brian]

I'm a little surprised by the majority of people saying their experience with FFXIV is mostly solo.

I understand it, but I definitely think there is a community for everyone in the game. You just have to look for it. I probably wouldn't be playing as much as I do today if it weren't for the friends I've made along the way. I'm in a tight knit group and through them I've made more connections, so being able to play with friends makes a huge difference for me when it comes to my enjoyment in the game. Can I play solo? Yeah, because just as everyone else mentioned, a lot of my friends are playing other stuff during the content lull we've been having. When I find myself playing solo more than usual I just put my hand out more and interact with people I may not usually interact with on my friends list, Linkshell, or what have you.

To be honest with you, I was a little surprised too. lol

Like I said, this is a MULTIPLAYER game.

[Stellafreyja]

A lot of games in the past (League of Legends, Overwatch, BDO) that I played I stopped because I didn't have friends to play with and thus had no reason to keep playing unless I just really liked the game a lot. When I started playing FFXIV, I played because of the YouTuber/Streamer that got me into the game. So I was holding out until I got to transfer to her server. However, when I transferred servers, I made friends very randomly and joined my current FC. If it wasn't for them, I would've quit forever ago. I absolutely keep playing because of my friends. Also we have a Discord so it makes it very easy to keep up with friends when not playing. :3

Tbh, this game is super boring alone. I don't know how y'all do it.

[SavingPrincess]

To be honest with you, I was a little surprised too. lol

Like I said, this is a MULTIPLAYER game.

It's a "multiplayer" game built of the MOST "single player" franchise.

It's like back in the 2000's when Metallica did a symphony concert and some people were surprised the fans/concert-goer's didn't show up in suits.

This entire franchise was about kids sitting at home alone on summer experiencing awesome stories and equipping espers and materia and fighting hidden bosses and naming their characters ASBUTT and JENIFR and downloading walkthroughs off AOL.

Don't be surprised when we all wanna just play our game alone.

[Skivvy]

It's a "multiplayer" game built of the MOST "single player" franchise.

It's like back in the 2000's when Metallica did a symphony concert and some people were surprised the fans/concert-goer's didn't show up in suits.

This entire franchise was about kids sitting at home alone on summer experiencing awesome stories and equipping espers and materia and fighting hidden bosses and naming their characters ASBUTT and JENIFR and downloading walkthroughs off AOL.

Don't be surprised when we all wanna just play our game alone.

I think the bigger issue is how the game is designed. Just about everything can be done through DF, and there is very little need to actually form a group to accomplish whatever content goals you have. DF, while great for moving queues along, is horrible as far as fostering a community feel and actually bringing people together. Most times you're treated like a glorified NPC and should be lucky if you get a "hello" out of people. Not to say it's impossible to meet through DF (my latest addition was actually from a roulette run, so it CAN happen), but it's fare more rare.

With all that said, MMOs benefit quite a bit from the social aspect (IMO), so I'm glad people are finding that. XIV is a rare beast in that you can do perfectly fine solo if you so choose.

[EmeraldAres]

I generally play alone, mostly because of the way the game is designed as others have said.

Since I don't want to commit to a schedule and gear is outdated within a few months, I usually don't bother with Savage and Extreme content. I'd only do those with a reliable group of friends because I don't like dealing with random people with bad attitudes in hard content... so I don't. I stick to doing only the roulette activities that I need and spend the rest of my time focusing on side activities like gathering obscure emotes and raising desynthesis levels. When new story / side content does come out, I usually just dive into it via DF as a healer and finish it relatively quickly. That's what I'm planning to do with Eureka Pagos soon, and the regular content in 4.4 coming up.

I did have some family playing this game, but they left to go play WoW with some of their friends. That said, I do have some limited social interactions in this game. I'm in a fairly large FC, so sometimes I help people with story trials, dungeons, or furniture requests when they ask (I'm good enough at crafting to make vanity items). Outside of that, I have made a few friends from treasure maps because that seems to be the only current server-only activity. They're more casual acquaintances than anything, but we talk a bit from time to time.

When I get really bored of being by myself, I turn to my other hobbies until I get less bored or new content is released.

[CainCrimson]

I get by just fine without friends here.

[Jkap_Goat]

I'm still waiting for that FFXI feeling with FFXIV players and community. I missed out on FFXI during it's prime but I heard that like FFXI made you work together and bond with one another like you needed other people so the community was close from what I hear, FFXIV I don't feel anything or tight knit community, as I first started playing 3 years ago and did everything solo. Crafting/gathering/ story.. everything solo. I said hi to my FC mates but that's all there was. I have no fond memories whatsoever. The ffxiv community on malboro was very nice but Leviathan is ...I don't have no memories. I'm in a new FC now and I have some good friends I talk to and the FC is good but it's just HI and bye really. I wish I could of played FFXI in it's prime

I still feel a bit lonely on ffxiv

[MysticDreamer]

Eh I don't have any friends, I could try to make some but I dont care to.I am lazy.

[Super_Bee_Brian]

It's a "multiplayer" game built of the MOST "single player" franchise.

It's like back in the 2000's when Metallica did a symphony concert and some people were surprised the fans/concert-goer's didn't show up in suits.

This entire franchise was about kids sitting at home alone on summer experiencing awesome stories and equipping espers and materia and fighting hidden bosses and naming their characters ASBUTT and JENIFR and downloading walkthroughs off AOL.

Don't be surprised when we all wanna just play our game alone.

I understand that most Final Fantasy games are single-player. This does NOT make 14 one of them. It's in the realm of MMOs. And in MMOs, you play with other people whether you like it or not. It's foundation is PLAYER-CONNECTIONS.

[Super_Bee_Brian]

Eh I don't have any friends, I could try to make some but I dont care to.I am lazy.

I like your honesty.