Post-Honeymoon SHB thoughts?

[Nicodemus_Mercy]

Overall feels like a rehash of past expansions with different colored monsters and tomes. Same formula. Story is better, but the gameplay seems to be just another endless cycle of grinding.

See... I actually LIKE the fact that there's a formula that SE generally sticks to. I LIKE the consistency of knowing what to expect in general. Unlike some MMO's that feel the need to reinvent the wheel EVERY. DARN. EXPANSION. and either abandon or change for the sake of change, things that were perfectly fine as they were, I am happy that when a new FFXIV expansion comes out, I know there will be tome gear that my non-savage raiding butt can eventually get, that there will be lots of story for me to engage in, basic raid content with weekly rewards, etc.

Heck, I was sorely disappointed that SE made the change in Stormblood to lock the relic behind Eureka instead of it being a long chain of quest content like previous relics. I am hoping (though realistically expecting disappointment) that the next relic will not be locked behind Eureka 2.0 style content because I absolutely detested Eureka and the lack of that content (because if I hate it that much it may as well not exist) caused me to unsub for stretches at a time in Stormblood because there was "less content" for me to do, that I wanted to do, that felt worth doing.

[StarRosie]

Overall? It was pretty good. Some rehashes here and there but hey, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. The story was overall great, the presentation, the dungeons, all of it was great. The trust system was invaluable to me as I job swapped mid story due to reasons. So it allowed me to safely grind up and get gear to finish out the story. I won't go into my full thoughts on the story, as it contains an apparently...very unpopular opinion. But, overall I loved it, even with the grating parts.

[Makeda]

Solid story.
Jobs that improved improved a lot. Jobs that got hurt, got smacked way too hard...

New tank is like finally adding chocolate to peanut butter.

New DPS is like... well it’s a lot of fun, maybe the funnest DPS in the lost, but I fear it’s undertuned. Yet I disagree with consensus. I like the low DPS, I want the buffs to get a buff.

New Bunny race has the best “human model” in the game and the most detailed face so win.

New cat race... all I can say is that I wish it had a female option because playing a grizzled mangy cat is a thing for me since I made a Charr Warrior in Guild Wars 2 in memory of a one-eyed cat my mother had when I was a teenager. So... as a male locked race I haven’t even looked and that makes me sympathize with players who wanted bunny-dudes.

New dungeons, trials, and raids are great.

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Concern: I though SB was pretty solid and cohesive at this point. I also thought that about ARR at this point.

Imagine if the patch cycle from here sends us to a half developed version of Garlemald or Damascia (of whatever the name of Fran’s home was)... or both... then we’re right back to the flaws of SB... and all the Zenos cutscenes hint that this is what we will get...

[Ranhansha]

See... I actually LIKE the fact that there's a formula that SE generally sticks to. I LIKE the consistency of knowing what to expect in general. Unlike some MMO's that feel the need to reinvent the wheel EVERY. DARN. EXPANSION. and either abandon or change for the sake of change, things that were perfectly fine as they were, I am happy that when a new FFXIV comes out, I know there will be tome gear that my non-savage raiding butt can eventually get, that there will be lots of story for me to engage in, basic raid content with weekly rewards, etc.

Heck, I was sorely disappointed that SE made the change in Stormblood to lock the relic behind Eureka instead of it being a long chain of quest content like previous relics. I am hoping (though realistically expecting disappointment) that the next relic will not be locked behind Eureka 2.0 style content because I absolutely detested Eureka and the lack of that content (because if I hate it that much it may as well not exist) caused me to unsub for stretches at a time in Stormblood because there was "less content" for me to do, that I wanted to do, that felt worth doing.

Not liking Eureka has nothing to do with predictability. They could have 3 expansions in a row with relics locked behind Eureka so it wouldn't be unpredictable anymore. Would you like it then? Even you say you are expecting something like that to happen in ShB and are not happy about it. Maybe, that's exactly what other people feel after years of doing the same stuff over and over again. It's a matter of what will get them more money. The same formula with small risks or great changes to the game? I understand both points of views.

[Nedkel]

Dissapointed on glamour and pvp.
Hoped for more hairstyles, some more unique stuff to glamour on, races are limited like blue mage is. Gunbreaker even tho i like the gameplay, they completely messed its looks, weapon sizes and sounds... On the glamour side, they reused a ton of models and just recolored it, i dont mind it, but at least change them a little.
PVP is same thing again, i hoped for more skills to use, not LESS, at least balance is a bit better, but again they gave us no reason to play it anyway.

I like what they did with tanks in this expansion, and like new GNB too, but nothing really "wow" that i would call it.
I cant understand what were they thinking by nerfing healers so much.
No idea what they did to DPS so i wont say anything about it.

I dont like some music in this expansion, i dont get a sense behind using "artificial language" to "sign" these songs, one song is about ebola, another is about tiny balls or something, a lot of tracks are good tho.

Story was cool, long and exciting, but emotions and communication between npcs was bland and flavourless, just like it was in stormblood, there is something i was not liking in it, sometimes they gave us so much unnecessary text to read/listen to. Give it more life, less talking about "technical stuff", it may be good for lore reasons but honestly why talk about magic interractions that nobody know what it is all about without knowing a whole ff lore?

I like they made fates a little more valuable and worth to do, but it wasnt for too long.

While the graphics were fine for the most part, there are really terrible and ultra low resolution textures, i was able to see individual pixels on some of these textures, are we in 2010 year still or what?
Maps design is nice, it have a nice atmosphere in them, but however not everywhere, in kholusia when you look at the lower half of the map from high ground it looks like a wasteland.
Overall some parts are really well done, and other seems like SE didnt wanted to put more money into. It had a chance to be a really polished expansion in every bit, "we will fix it later" mentality is what broke it for me. Definitely not a "wow killer" expansion, they played it safe and tried to save money in places where they should not cut at all.

Thats oll

[Kling-Klang]

I liked the story and all the new areas, music was good as well and the dungeons are nice. Some glamour options are good too.
I dislike the new races, they feel very unfinished and not at all what I imagined viera to be. Eden story was a bit lazy(?), it was too fast to unlock stuff and kinda weird how suddenly we can just fix everything with that thing, which they dont even explain what it is.
Excited for more story in the next patches!

[Edax]

Story was good, it got me interested in the lore. Admittedly I'm not that interest in the First, can't say any of the outfits, culture or architecture caught my eye apart from Amaurot. I actively avoid the gear treadmill so when I finish leveling up Gunbreaker I suspect my interest in the game is going to severely diminish.

For all the talk about becoming the Warrior of Darkness and that photo competition showing us embracing the darkness in 2 screenshots, the new gear sets don't reflect that at all. Since I don't see any gear sets that catch my eye, I'm not sure what's going to keep my interest apart from the story. That's my perspective at least. I'm not that interested in item lvls.

[Reeereee]

SHB has the best story telling I've ever seen in an MMO format. Unfortunately I realized I just don't care for the combat elements of the game and that's never going to change. FFXIV is a game I stop in to catch up on the story and collect some glamour, it's never really going to be my main MMO.

[AnimaAnimus]

Story is the best it has ever been even if we were roundabout lied to about the whole warrior of darkness thing, for a major selling point that was a huge disappointment. But sadly once its done, its the same ol same ol. Tomes, mounts, and a new 8 man. Hunts, maps and yada yada. Nothing new to see or do, just the same thing with a different veneer.

What I would give for them to shake things up a little with some really well made content spanning multiple avenues that could get us out of this rut.

[Cidel]

Shadowbringers is certainly an improvement over Stormblood in pretty much every regard, but that doesn't say much either; Stormblood was a low bar.

The story is by far one of the better ones in the series, but once it's over, it's... just over. I guess you could say it's relatively memorable... But I've watched/read stories that do timetravel/utopia-justifies-the-means/etc. tropes better, so it's not a huge selling-point for me. Not to say I'm not interested in what's coming next, but story has never been a centerpiece in MMOs for me.

I'm pleased that they left their apparent "comfort" zone with Hrothgar, but unfortunately the inclusion of the Elezen-Hyur hybrid with rabbit ears pasted on top of their heads "just because" still reeks of lazy pandering to me. Though customization-wise, they bungled both with Horthgar getting the shorter end of the stick because their limited hair choices are tied to Fantasias.

Content-wise, I am not surprised that so far this is essentially the third launch of Heavensward. Sure, nothing wrong with tomestone gear and weapons and Savage gear and weapons on a practical level, and the two starter EX trials so people get the hang of things, but the one-trick-ponying is getting fairly apparent. Thank goodness they say updates and changes are coming to crafting and gathering, because aside from the new quest turn-in formats they're still as boring underwhelming as ever. They re-tweaked PvP a bit and gave everyone a little more to work with, which is nice, but still fumble with potencies and designs on a basic level (Like, really? SCHs must stop healing to DPS just to get Aetherstacks, too bad though if no enemies are around to prepare).

I feel like this expansion was lacking in some new QoL areas, especially in customization, but I do appreciate the expanded Dresser to 400 slots; I managed to clean-out and lose 1 retainer (hears corporate SE groaning) and the small bonus to our plate limit. The free extras and crafting mats from those new inventory-free FATE tokens. And the small changes to crafting (DoL is still as dull as ever). Probably forgot a few more, but they're relatively forgettable.

Not too crazy about GNB or DNC (though I did level DNC because I love its weapon and like that it's a mobile ranged DPS). I also feel like their inclusion of DNC and its abilities is at odds with the identity of BRD, and it shows. I think you could argue they felt the need to strip BRD and AST of some things just to create a niche for DNC. Never been a tank person, so no comment on GNB aside from its aesthetics looking like a MCH in heavy armor.

Having said all that, I need to wait for 5.1 (when there supposedly is going to be a whole bunch of stuff releasing) before I can form a better opinion.