FFXIV is reliable and consistent

[Brightamethyst]

So many games in the West feel the need to reinvent themselves all the time for fear of becoming stagnant and losing players.

That's not wrong though. People like to knock WoW for making massive, sweeping changes every expansion, but that's how you keep people things fresh and interesting and why millions of people still play it 14 years later. FFXIV:ARR on the other hand, five years and two expansions later it's almost no different than it was at launch. HW, and now SB have basically just been 2.0... 2.0. XIV's model is much more consistent, but also much less interesting.

I love that we get periodic predictable content patches. My gripe however isnt with the predictability. It's with the "gates" on that content.
I want to PLAY the game, not be restricted because I PLAYED the game.

If someone has the time and energy to play, they should be able to play without being gated at 450 tomes/week, or 1 item per week in raids, weekly crafting turn in caps, etc.
They shouldnt be restricted because someone ELSE doesnt necessarily have a similar amount of time to play.

This actually has driven me from the game a lot. With the exception of Eureka for the moment, I rarely play unless its Tuesday and caps are reset. Don't get me wrong I WANT TO PLAY, but I am forced not to because not all content is relevant to me and/or Im capped on the content I do find appealing...
I'd love to gear up and play MORE jobs than the 3 I do, but honestly keeping those 3 geared with the caps in place is hard enough. (again Eureka being general exception to the rule for the moment...) Can I have more Eureka-like content where progression is uncapped??

Progression caps exists specifically to force people like you to slow down. SE isn't trying to artificially extend your play time. The tome cap is there to keep people from running 100 dungeons in the first week, getting fully geared in a matter of days, and spending the next few months complaining about how there's nothing to do (source: every MMO ever.)

[Vespar]

Progression caps exists specifically to force people like you to slow down. SE isn't trying to artificially extend your play time. The tome cap is there to keep people from running 100 dungeons in the first week, getting fully geared in a matter of days, and spending the next few months complaining about how there's nothing to do (source: every MMO ever.)

Well if Im fast about progression then I feel sorry for everyone who plays daily. Because seriously, I play maybe 2hours every other couple of days if Im lucky (due to having a 9mo old that needs attention), and in 2 months I just finally managed to i380 two jobs and i360 a third (mostly thanks to Eureka). Still working on that third one (accessories). None of my jobs will see i390 until after 4.5. But before I had a kid, I played a lot more and had little to show for it as well because the locks forced me to keep two jobs relevant and forgo all else and then just go play other games anyways....

[DrWho2010]

Well if Im fast about progression then I feel sorry for everyone who plays daily. Because seriously, I play maybe 2hours every other couple of days (due to having a 9mo old that needs attention), and in 2 months I just finally managed to i380 two jobs and i360 a third (mostly thanks to Eureka). Still working on that third one (accessories). None of my jobs will see i390 until after 4.5. But before I had a kid, I played a lot more and had little to show for it as well because the locks forced me to play other games anyways....

if everyone played like you there would be no more game because no one would be playing it because they would be done with everything. go play a single player rpg when you have that urge to finish everything by gobbling it all up.

[Vespar]

if everyone played like you there would be no more game because no one would be playing it because they would be done with everything. go play a single player rpg when you have that urge to finish everything by gobbling it all up.

I already do this...(Playing Let's Go Pikachu, Diablo 3, and Darksiders 3, Subnautica etc right now) but you just PROVED MY POINT!
I want to play THIS game... not another. I shouldnt be forced out of playing THIS game because I get locked on content (or rather the ability to progress my characters stats via that content).
And its a fallacy to say there would be no more FFXIV without locks in place. That is probably the farthest thing from the truth... I'd actually play more, as would alot of my friends who quit because they got bored of being stuck waiting for weekly resets... They'd play more too...

[Geigerette]

I have played other games. I played Guild Wars for several years off and on. NWO. NWN. SWtOR. AION. I played World of Warcraft for way more than that, and a couple of the things that really attract me to FFXIV beyond the obvious is player appreciation, reasonable pricing and what seems to be an expeditious rate of incoming content.

I am looking forward to years of satisfying game play from FFXIV and wish for the IP to endure.

[Berethos]

That's not wrong though. People like to knock WoW for making massive, sweeping changes every expansion, but that's how you keep people things fresh and interesting and why millions of people still play it 14 years later.

The promise of excitement with their sweeping changes brings players back.

Important distinction.

When it works, they keep a fair amount (worth noting it's really only worked once since they started making sweeping changes, arguably with Legion - their periods of growth up through Wrath was when the game was much more iterative in what it added and what it changed). When it doesn't, you get drop off like when WoD launched and managed to lose millions it had gained in roughly 6 months (the lack of content exacerbated this issue, but by and large it was the lackluster content and feature design that was pegged as the major issue).

And worst of all is, when following the example WoW sets, the developers simply change things for the sake of changing them. This is never good design. The change needs to be solving a problem or refining an already good concept, not shaking things around just to say "look old players, we have something for you...oh, don't mind that we got rid of this other thing you like, ok?"

We really, really need to stop holding up WoW as a good example of keeping things fresh. It's just as much (if not more) a cautionary tale at this point.