1. The team might have an issue with resource prioritization, and it's hurting the game. Prime example: a ton of effort went into Eureka, but only a tiny fraction of the playerbase engaged in it. We lost content everyone did to create something few benefitted from. Ultimate fights re-use assets and music; they are comparatively cheap to make and add value appropriate for the cost. But Eureka took away a lot and gave little back, despite all the prizes SE put in it to tempt players. And now they are going to do Eureka again in 5.0... I lost the relic grind and some dungeons to this, and got nothing in return. There's also the issue with Viera and Hrothgar being major selling points for ShB but not being able to wear most head gear when the expac lands. YoshiP admitting that they were rushed into prod does not inspire confidence.
Also, SE is unable or unwilling to make the tough decisions to keep the game fresh. Whether it's due to lack of resources or lack of willpower or both, the dev team keeps putting bandaids on stuff that really need some comprehensive care. Not having enough housing, refusing to acknowledge how the game actually works by developing jobs in a vacuum, not going back to tighten up the ARR leveling quests and the 8 man dungeons, and so on. Games need TLC on their old bits to keep it fresh for new players. For every person who buys a skip potion, there is another who tries the game and quits by 35 because of how tedious the game is until HW. There are people who have played for years and have the money but haven't had the luck to get a house. Jobs that get shafted during the Expansion Shuffle have to languish for two years unless they are WAR and AST. I feel for the team that they can't fully control where the game's earnings go but someone really needs to make the case that treading water is not good for the long run. If 6.0 turned out to be almost nothing but QOL improvements + bun bros and a new heal job, I would be legit excited and willing to come back and try it out.
2. I don't think the XIV team knows why people find their game fun. I appreciate that they found a formula that works and want to stick to it- makes a hellacious dev cycle that much easier after all- but the new things they try really seem to suffer in the execution stage. Sounds great on paper, sucks in reality type of thing. Not to harp on Eureka but it's another perfect example: map events driven by player interaction, dangerous mobs, risks to being careless in the overworld, and a design that encourages teamwork accompanied by /shout banter. All things players have asked for in the game, here in one instance! But they implemented those requirements by taking the worst parts of XI and shoving it into XIV without much time in UAT. (If you believe that Anemos and Pagos were extensively tested before release, I have a bridge to sell you...). The result was an old school grindfest reminiscent of early 2000's game design with none of the benefits that made the slog worthwhile. Both iterations of Diadem were preferable to this and Diadem didn't steal the relic grind.
This mentality also applies to job design- WHM will be a pure power healer, SCH will be a tactical/efficient healer, and AST will be a flexible healer with buffs. Sounds good theory. But holy cow did it not work out as expected because of how combat actually works in this game. I weep for the future of WHM. And MCH. And DRK.
3. Cash shop in a sub MMO with many exclusives. I have strong opinions on this, but as the years go by and things get added without much benefit being seen, I don't feel like I can tolerate it any more. The days when you could buy a game and expect to have it all until the expansion are gone unfortunately, but that does not mean companies have a carte blanche to stuff as much as they can in those stores. The expectation with SE's cash shop was that every cent goes back to XIV alone. Fair enough. But with us getting more of the same and less than desired each year, I don't think it's existence is justified.
4. There's not enough midcore content and most available content is too easy. You have loads of easy dungeons and 8-man raids/trials, the amount of which piles up as patches increase and ilvls inflate and level caps are raised. You have some hard stuff that stays kind of hard (sometimes in counterintuitive ways like Ramuh/Levi/Ifrit EX before the adjustments) in Coil/Savage, some EX trials, and now UwU. There's special randomized encounters like PotD/HoH that can be done solo for extra spice. But group content that asks players to pay attention without instawiping for one mistake is rare. The best difficulty in the game (IMO) comes from the 24 man raids- the chance for recovery is there, but you better be on your toes. I think the dev team is trying to bridge this gap by making the first two Savage tiers easier and the latter two casual 8 man instances harder but there's still not enough. And we shouldn't have to give up what little truly difficult content the game offers to make up for a lack elsewhere.
Overall I think the game is too tilted towards "easy". It was reassuring when I first started out, but I quickly caught up and became bored of dungeons and story trials before they were released. More Shinryu and Tsukuyomi trials, more The Burn and Ghimlyt Dark dungeons please.
I liked Steps of Faith before it was nerfed too. People needed to git gud at tower defence games is all.
5. This is deeply personal and controversial, but SE drives me bonkers with the gender inequalities in the game. As someone who plays a male character I got really annoyed when females got more glam options, more apparent effort put into their outfits, and a whole freaking seasonal event dedicated to them with nothing for guys. Now I'm saying this knowing that XIV is actually better about this than many other games are. I initially came to the game because there was a distinct lack of waifu worship and both genders got the same stuff more or less. But the glamour system was introduced, years passed, and the discrepancy grew. Again they are trying to rectify this but the locking nonsense is frustrating. I'd like to see actual equality like the flouncy sets that came out- girls got a cute little dress, guys got... an attempt (nice shirt at least). The spirit was there and that's what I wanted to see. But SE doesn't really get it. They want to cater to the waifu loving crowd at the expense of people like me until we get a little too vocal, and let me tell you, I am sick to death of waifus.
Also, unpopular opinion: I would not care in the least if they got rid of Little Ladies' Day and replaced it with a gender-neutral option. Yes I am still mildly annoyed at the 2014 event that gave girls the Princess for a Day title and guys had to settle for that minion. And yes, I am so freaking tired of idol mania (girls and guys alike).
6. I'm a healer main. It's been discussed to death already so I will say this: you had all of SB to balance healers. I'm extra salty as a WHM main that got freaking LILIES as my gift for SB (Thin Air was cool though, please don't share that with SCH/AST like you did with our other unique buffs).
I'm aware that balancing the healers the right way will probably involve adjusting how the game works at a fundamental level so that more types of healing can be added, but it still stings. Not having a new job to try out in my preferred role twice in a row means I am not really thrilled for the new expac. My interest in what they'll reveal in May is also muted due to SE probably screwing the pooch in favor of making meaningful changes to create room for a future heal job. Band aids 4 lyfe,
7. Male Viera and Female Hrothgar not being present. It's very disappointing to see SE go back to making boneheaded decisions that will haunt them forever, but here we are I guess. Been discussed to death already but it is a factor in me not buying. I had names ready for a bun boy alt depending on the race's build and now... nothing.
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Originally Posted by Hestzhyen
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