An impassioned plea from a WoW member, A lesson for FFXIV.

[Theodric]

You might want to cite your sources on that. Poker stars universally hate the game? Pro sports players who study playbooks and work out 7 days a week hate their sports? Movie critics hate movies? Game enthusiasts hate games. It’s obvious.

I find that the post history of some of the more vocal posters serves as a decent enough source. Especially if it includes any or all of the following:

- More complaints than compliments towards the game itself.
- Deceptive claims or moving goalposts when it comes to clarifying their concerns.
- Statements implying that they stick around due to time/money invested rather than because of friends/enjoyment.
- Leaping at the chance to negatively criticise content that is not even out yet - such as the hysteria surrounding BLU.
- Refusal to acknowledge that quite a lot of people actually enjoy the stuff that they do not and that they, themselves, may simply be part of an echo chamber/very vocal minority when it comes to expressing their views.
- Attempts to incite panic. In this case implying that the game is not doing well based on 'numbers' and attempts to track the amount of active players.

I have my own beef with the game when it comes to certain elements. If it ever reaches a point where the negatives outweigh the positives I'll quit, just like I did with WoW. I urge others to do the same. It's just...not hard to assume that some people are sticking around out of habit and misguided motives when most of their contributions to debate are negative.