FFXIV is reliable and consistent

[Alestorm]

Could always be worse off, look at WoW. Your stuck waiting for almost a year for half a patch's content and everything is intentionally kept lower for the raid that wont be out for another month. Never mind people aren't leveling alts to pass the time because the current expansion is so bad that they're stuck with nothing to really do but solo older content for mounts,achievements and tansmog gear.

[KageTokage]

It's consistent in ways both good and bad, lamentably.

I appreciate the regular content updates, but the cycle has gotten rather stale and certain issues that have been present since 1.x still haven't been addressed properly.

[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.

[Izanagi_Fiaresu]

They do this out of necessity. Remove these restrictions and players will have full i390 within a week. Some will have i400. At which point, what purpose does normal mode, crafted, Primals and the 24 serve? All that gear is rendered 100% DoA since you can simply spam dungeons or Eureka and buy better gear.

As for the topic in question. I feel FFXIV has already stagnated to an extent. While I can appreciate some predictability, I shouldn't be able to predict an entire expansion's worth of content with 90% reliability. Stormblood is literally Heavensward with a red coat of paint. If Shadowbringers simply dips its brush into the purple can, it'll have an uphill battle keeping me engaged. Granted, I wouldn't mind the repetition so much if I had stuff to do. In many ways, Stormblood has boiled down to either raid, do Eureka or play a different game after a month or so. At least this is a common criticism I see—one I cannot fault people for. It didn't help content was spread out far too thin. Look at 4.3. There was nothing to do outside Namazu, Tsukiyomi and Ridorona once you finished the story... for six weeks. Unless, of course, you jumped into Ultimate.

Have you leveled all the jobs? Done all of Hildebrand? Done your hunts. Raised your chocobos? FFXIV has a lot of content, in fact it can be too over whelming with content. It might not be content you wanna do, but its there.

[Jollyy5]

I've said this before, but because of the restrictions being as strict as they are, it's incredibly painful to gear up multiple classes/roles... And this is in a game where being able to play any class on one character is one of it's bigger selling points.

Having weekly caps on tomes and raid drops is fine, but I feel like those caps should be increased somewhat, or maybe even have separate caps for different roles. (As in tank/dps/healer)

As for Eureka, I WOULD be glad to hear that it's gotten better, but it's kinda hard to be happy about it because you need to get through Pagos and Anemos before you can get to Pyros.

[Ilan]

Have you leveled all the jobs? Done all of Hildebrand? Done your hunts. Raised your chocobos? FFXIV has a lot of content, in fact it can be too over whelming with content. It might not be content you wanna do, but its there.

You forget one thing: Not everyone is interested in all of this.

[SturmChurro]

I've said this before, but because of the restrictions being as strict as they are, it's incredibly painful to gear up multiple classes/roles... And this is in a game where being able to play any class on one character is one of it's bigger selling points.

Agreed. I have been back for about 4 weeks, and I have had to spend 4 weeks to gear up my main (dragoon) in mostly just 380/390. I don't have anything else really geared in anything other than 360, and some 370. So, dragoon is about it for me when it comes to end game content. Alts can make this easier, but it is a pain to level that up, and I don't want to spend the money to skip. Granted, in every mmo I play I am a one character main person, so it doesn't effect me as badly, but like you said being able to play any class on that one character is a major selling point.

[Izanagi_Fiaresu]

You forget one thing: Not everyone is interested in all of this.

100% Right, but to say there isn't content to do in stormblood or FFXIV outside of dungeons and raiding is false. It just isn't content they wanna do.

[Ilan]

100% Right, but to say there isn't content to do in stormblood or FFXIV outside of dungeons and raiding is false. It just isn't content they wanna do.

Well i'm not saying you are wrong but for people who don't like all of the stuff you've mentioned there is not much content. So you could say that no one of you is wrong or right.

[Vahlnir]

Could always be worse off, look at WoW. Your stuck waiting for almost a year for half a patch's content and everything is intentionally kept lower for the raid that wont be out for another month. Never mind people aren't leveling alts to pass the time because the current expansion is so bad that they're stuck with nothing to really do but solo older content for mounts,achievements and tansmog gear.

The problem started in WoD (imo) went away in Legion and came back with BfA. BfA has been a hot mess with the lack of interesting content and rewards. They don't even try to hide the fact that they're trying to slow you down. I have my gripes with FF XIV, but SE currently has my money while Blizzard does not. I do no regret that choice. This game isn't always reliable, but it is consistent.