A Fond Farewell to FF XIV

[SpiritMuse]

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.

I largely agree with this point. I hold the same opinion - one of the things that drew me to the game originally was the relative gender parity in outfits. Gear that was heavy armour on men was the same heavy armour on women. And gear that was skimpy and sexy on women was just as skimpy and sexy on men. (The dragoons' "please kill me here" belly window notwithstanding.) But in recent years it does feel more and more like we're moving backwards from that. More and more gear and glamours are sexy short skirts and tights on women but unsexy long trousers on men (like for example the latest hatching tide day gear).

The new races are an extension of that, too. The Au Ra were a bit of a letdown to me because while they had cool, fierce looking men, the women turned out to be tiny Miqo'te-but-with-horns waify waifus. And the Viera/Hrothgar combo is much the same - big tough beastly men and sexy bunnies in lingerie.

More and more they seem to be catering to the stereotypical "male gaze" rather than a more universal audience, and it's starting to put me off the game. I still remain undecided about getting Shadowbringers, for these among other reasons.

[TwistedTea]

(If SE had better options in their normal unsubscription process I wouldn't have resorted to posting on the forums about it... so sorry for those folks who were offended by me sharing. It will sift to the bottom of GD soon enough if you let it.)

Thank you for posting.I found your thoughts expressed in a respectful manner. It is always interesting to hear the thoughts of why someone who has played for 5 + years is unsubbing.

Also as someone, who has unsubbed twice(going to be 3 times soon) in the short time that I've played, if there was a better option to give feedback during the unsubbing process, I'm sure OP and others would be less inclined to use the forums.

[van_arn]

I won't make this long and drawn out

This is me straining to keep a straight face.

[Mansion]

It's good to get some kind of valuable feedback like this one instead of good ol' troll. That's actually constructive feedback, not that it could help make players come back if the devs addressed it, but maybe avoid cycling in a downward spiral of same / same content.

I kinda find some common ideas there, although I'm not planning to leave before I have at least completed 5.0/5.1 - and some other arguments that have been drained out of blood a long time ago (Cash Shop, genderlock and Eureka, namely- I'm not saying genderlock and Eureka are not important issues though).

But yeah, I am 100% with you with gender inequities and game tilting toward easy.
Especially the latter actually. I want the game to be harder, I really do. I want to have to re-try solo instances until I make it and feel like I achieved something there. I want trials to hit hard (Shinryu on 4.0 release is what I'd call a bit tough but very enjoyable; I want all trials to be around that level of difficulty and harder), and raids to be overall harder too.
With us being three expansions in come July, I'm still annoyed to see people complaining on the forum because they could not get this or that instance done because it's too hard.
Maybe FromSoftware made me into SM, but I really want this feeling of achievement to be more frequent in the game more than completing a Savage Raid (which I had to pass on on the last tier, sadly).

[Fawkes]

As far as the holiday thing, FFXI had a holiday for boys where you whacked a robot with a wooden sword for 10 minutes. Wasn’t exactly the most fun thing in the world.

They had the Doll Festival for girls where you got rice cakes that turned you into a little girl, and The Feast of Swords for boys where you got mochi that turned you into a little boy.

I think the doll festival mostly just had you talk to a moogle and get an item, but the feast of swords had unique fights. Most of the Armor enemies weren't that hard for a level 1 capped fight, but the Usukane/Omodaka Armor could one-shot you and it added a layer of danger and excitement to the event. I enjoyed whacking it with a bunch of people and trying to figure out the mechanics.

[NessaWyvern]

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 am also a healer main, but I am a Salty Ast main, who didn't like that the gift for SB was... A different place to look at my cards, that I had to get used to.

[Neoyoshi]

Take care OP, see you for Shadowbringers.

You will come back like all the others that made the threads about them leaving the game

Yep, that pretty accurate, it may seem trite but most people do come back; especially if they find themselves game-bouncing.

[Eloah]

I won't make this long and drawn out...

And yet you did.

Seriously, why is a new thread like this popping up almost weekly, if not daily. If you are bored with the game just stop playing. None of us need bullet points. Since, most are commonalities among the community anyway.

[xbahax92]

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.

Ah yes. Im not saying all your points are invalid, but I guess with all these factors, it was the final straw for you to say good bye.
I am playing this game for around 5 years myself. It has been an on/off relationship and FFXIV does certainly lack innovative systems. (As an example) The idea of the magia board seemed pretty interesting to me during the fanfests, but sadly turned out to be a pretty lazy way to change your attributes to deal more damage to certain type of monsters. And I do agree that some resources seem to go into waste, if we talk about Diadem or Lord of Vermilion, maybe even Rival wings (as its dead on my data centre). And while I think devs got the right to say "this is our game, we decide how things go", the community goes the opposite way (best example, eureka anemos on release - instead of mob chaining, people started fate chaining, big no no for devs)
But I still think FFXIV does provide enough side content to enjoy, with friends and your free company. And thats what an MMO is about. Interacting with people from different places, enjoying events and making memories. And thats why I believe Eureka was a success (even if not perfect, and especially not on release).
Though back to the quote. You are saying this is a farewell, but it does seem to me to be just another hiatus you gonna take. Even if for a year or two, this game is super newcomer/returner friendly, and thats why the same formula of this game works so well for many players. Anyway, good luck on your endeavour!

[AnPo]

More and more they seem to be catering to the stereotypical "male gaze" rather than a more universal audience, and it's starting to put me off the game. I still remain undecided about getting Shadowbringers, for these among other reasons.

There still big variety of gender parity outfits, but those who wants skirt on male or bulky armor on female - already got this... a lot of sets.
I actually dont like feminine gear on male like ilvl 240 fending set was, and want classic "male gaze" armor, but they cannot satisfy everyone at once and this okay!
You need to understand that your preference in online game ≠ preference of all playerbase.

BTW - if you care only about aethetics in online game, and dont care about gameplay wise - you can check Vrchat where you can make your own avatar with your own gaze.