Shadowbringers starting to feel like a budget expansion

[Riardon]

If we are between grinding and nothing at all then I prefer grinding.
Having absolutely nothing to do is not the answer to grinding.
I'm bracing for a long dead drought period in XIV.
5.2 and 5.25 brought nothing and the next patch is delayed by a month.
That's very bad.

[Barraind]

started out players on such a sour note that upon realizing the level of GRIND it took just to go up a few levels many casuals turned their nose up at it and never came back

Anemos was pretty well received, especially early on, when it was more "make groups and kill stuff" and not sit around in a pile just doing NM's. This was helped because it was the single best place to get multiple things accomplished.

Pagos, on the other hand... Pagos was awful for the first couple months and didnt really take off for most people until the second wave of light nerfs and large challenge log xp bump.

[Ricyosma]

Even if I think the patches were decent. I think most resources of the team has been going towards the ARR rework. Because I think people might forgot that it is actually coming in 5.3. So who knows, maybe after that they have more resources to work on more content.

[LaylaTsarra]

This is a common yet completely out of context whine I see.

In SB they gave us Eureka Anemos ... which (regardless of Eureka eventually turning into the best bit of Social combat content added to this game IMHO) started out players on such a sour note that upon realizing the level of GRIND it took just to go up a few levels many casuals turned their nose up at it and never came back, content with just whining about how they don't get a relic this expac. No matter the nerfs which made anemos decent, not matter how much praise the 3rd and 4th zones got after SE found out how to make it actually fun, no matter the rewards ... MANY casuals just never came back because of that first impression. And because they never wanted to come back people whined that they didn't like that new mounts and hair styles were locked behind it cause god forbid SE actually reward people for doing time-sink content.

So what's happening now? We have a relic story that's connected to events in the MSQ. We have an engaging, interesting story featuring a cast of known characters, lore behind a new race, an EX encounter and such. Way more welcoming than Anemos. What's coming next? We have some kinda eureka like exploration zone coming next with the option to grind your shiny weapon out without touching it apparently according to the devs. IDK why people can't appreciate what good they've gotten as they wait for the mindless non-sense grind they can complete later.

This is a P2P game, your time sink is coming. Seems clear to me that they're making the intro to these weapons easy so that people are actually willing to put up with the grind later and/or are more tempted to give the eureka like stuff a chance once it's ready.
I think it's actually very sneaky on their part, like a drug dealer giving you the first hit for free. You end up with 10+ weapons right now and it's gonna be hard to NOT want to complete 10+ weapons when things get grindy. Where as with Eureka even someone like myself who LOVES what it became was content to leave it at 1 completed weapon for a long time cause "I don't wanna deal with Pagos again ...".

But that's just me though.
IMO every relic before eureka was just a failure in design that didn't grab me. Tis why the Eureka relic are the only one I completed, it actually demanded you interact with others and learn new stuff. Why anyone wants the devs to tell them to run the same old dngs over and over again just to give them "something to do" is beyond me.

I think you're right on the money with these comments I totally agree.

[Razard]

Here comes defend squad, they jumped out of the plane, did a hero landing and proudly telling everyone that a less content to do is a great idea.
One says that doing 1 dungeon instead of 2 somehow increased quality, but it's still wall to wall pull fiesta, so AI could handle it.
Other one used copypasta about 74 dungeons and that we should get less following by that logic, because somehow old content should be viable again for some reason.
And the last one comparing hunts to 4 man content.
They like avengers, but with red noses.

Please stop that. All you are doing is making yourself look like a fool and getting straw everywhere.

[Selova]

If you are not enjoying the game you can take a break. I know its crazy talk but you can especially considering how easy it is to catch up by design. I could respond to everything you have gripes about but it won't resolve anything or change your mind so I won't waste the time.

There is nothing wrong about giving a game critique, which is exactly what the OP did. They never even said they weren't enjoying the game, they were criticizing the amount of content we've received between 2 expansions and everything they've said is 100% valid. Dismissing critique and claiming that all these problems are somehow going to be remedied if they quit the game is pretty silly. This is a copout defensive response that people like to use anytime someone says anything negative about the game. Contrary to popular belief, FFXIV is not a perfect game. Not even close. People are allowed to criticize the game.

[dinnertime]

I disliked Anemos and Pagos greatly. I would still like to have something like them over the lack of max level content we currently have. Even if its not attached to the relic.

Preferably I would like something much better, but its better than nothing.

Personally I just don't get that. Just *something* to do isn't going to cut it when it's not fun. Some of you here are practically saying that you wouldn't care if the relics for example is another FATE grind because it's something to do.

At this point I'm just hoping the new Eureka equivalent (if there is one) would impress me with the amount of adjustments made from constructive feedback they've received back then, because the current model has way too many problems other than the rehashed lifeless FATE grinding.

[Nedkel]

I think you're right on the money with these comments I totally agree.

Eureka was a good content i enjoyed a lot playing it with my old FC, it was a lot of fun when we tried to follow the train and try not to die. :P

[Lersayil]

Personally I just don't get that. Just *something* to do isn't going to cut it when it's not fun. Some of you here are practically saying that you wouldn't care if the relics for example is another FATE grind because it's something to do.

At this point I'm just hoping the new Eureka equivalent (if there is one) would impress me with the amount of adjustments made from constructive feedback they've received back then, because the current model has way too many problems other than the rehashed lifeless FATE grinding.

We each have our reasons to play a game. For me, personally, MMO's are a time sink. As long as I enjoy the base (combat or otherwise) mechanics, as long as I have things to do, and be reasonably rewarded for them, I am mostly content, even with mediocre content.

I am having fun, because I enjoy the basic mechanics of the game, even in a boring, repetitive context, working towards a guaranteed bigger reward which my subjective judgement deems worthy.

For the other kinds of fun and entertainment I play other games, as an MMO rarely provides enough in quality or quantity. On the other hand, single player games rarely provide the constant long term social platform present in MMOs, to make grind rewards in any way meaningful.

[LittleImp]

Please stop that. All you are doing is making yourself look like a fool and getting straw everywhere.

The sheer number of likes his comments keep getting defies that assessment LOL. He's speaking for a large part of the community that's tired of getting insulted and told to unsub every time they offer a criticism of the game.