Things sure have been stale around here...when is the next major patch ?

[NessaWyvern]

I’m filling this content gap with leveling classes to 80, but I’m running out of classes :/ just have MNK and DRG to go

[Flay_wind]

I’m filling this content gap with leveling classes to 80, but I’m running out of classes :/ just have MNK and DRG to go

Saaaame.
The only ones i have left not at 80 are PLD/WAR and both are at 79 and SAM is at 67.
And moogle tome farming for the MGP is not that bad either.

[ForteNightshade]

This delay, while completely understandable given the whole pandemic, really does highlight how flawed FFXIV's design approach is. A month delay shouldn't put the game on near life support in terms of content yet... here we are. Hell, I've been running out of things to do besides cap since May. And that's with me taking a break to play other games.

There really needs to be more longevity at this point.

[Jojoya]

This delay, while completely understandable given the whole pandemic, really does highlight how flawed FFXIV's design approach is. A month delay shouldn't put the game on near life support in terms of content yet... here we are. Hell, I've been running out of things to do besides cap since May. And that's with me taking a break to play other games.

There really needs to be more longevity at this point.

So what is missing?

Personally I have plenty to do right now and I've got far more time on my hands to be playing than most players.

The problem isn't the developers. Content does take time to develop.

The problem is players who rush through content at breakneck speed then complain when they run out of things to do. That's their choice to play that way. They need to accept responsibility for that choice.

[Xatsh]

So what is missing?

Personally I have plenty to do right now and I've got far more time on my hands to be playing than most players.

The problem isn't the developers. Content does take time to develop.

The problem is players who rush through content at breakneck speed then complain when they run out of things to do. That's their choice to play that way. They need to accept responsibility for that choice.

Most gamers would not consider 8-10hrs a week a lot of playtime. Which I am assuming is your average game time with your comment. That would be the definition of a extremely casual player.

If I am wrong with that assumption then you either came back after a long break and are playing catchup, you have started the game recently, you are spending most your time socializing not playing content/not really actually playing the game's content, or you are playing about as unproductively as possible in terms of time spent / productivity. I hate to break it to you but FFXIV in the actual content department has always been lacking. They release alot but it is burned through in weeks to a month tops. This is not players overplaying it, that is the content being way way way too far to the casual side of the curve which is the point of things. Someone playing 20hrs a week that did not start fresh in ShB that took no breaks should easily have most things nearly capped at this point if they are actively playing ingame content and not just socializing.

ATM almost everything in ffxiv is designed for people who play 8-15hrs a week tops. That is very bad design for a mmorpg in my opinion, the content developed is very good but it works like a bell curve. Too little content that is really really good is just as bad as a ton of crap content, there has to be a balance. Playing bad content is not fun, just like not having anything to do is not fun. You need content not just for the casual crowd but the midcores 15-30hrs a week and hardcores 40+hr no lifers (Which are a very big minority and arguably the only group that should run out of content). This is 100% the devs fault not the players as it is a direct design choice. It is also the design choice of devs to negate all content on a roughly 6-8month cycle, again not the players fault again it is a design choice. NO average player should feel required to play competitors games because your game of choice is failing to keep you occupied. That is a sign that something is wrong in content design.

The point is in most other mmos if there was a release delay it would of not mattered because some of the content developed easily would last months longer then patch cycle would. There needs to be some content in FFXIV that had longevity to it. Eureka had serious problems, but that style of content in terms of alot of various rewards (tomes/mounts/music/glamour/armor/weapons)/long lasting/endgame tier rewards/and so on should be adopted and released at the start of every expansion and updated every single major patch. That way there is always something to be doing that is productive in the end.

[Jojoya]

How is it "breakneck speed" to complete things like Copied Factory, MSQ, Eden (Normal) and etc. when they release? None of that takes more than a handful of hours. Even at a slow pace, you'd be done over a weekend. I wouldn't call that "breakneck speed." Which leaves things like Ocean Fishing, The Firmament and Blue Mage. The former two are essentially one and done much like the MSQ. There's no point to spamming Ocean Fishing once you've obtained the mount and minion. Once in a while for fun? Sure. But it has no longevity.

If your only interest is in a small part of the overall content and you do it once then you're done with it, then of course you're going to run out of things to do. MMOs are designed around repetition of content, not once then done.

I've got friends still running Copied Factory just because they like it and not because they need anything from it. I've got other friends running Eden Savage to get gear for alt jobs.

The Firmament still has content for crafters and gatherers. It's by no means once and done unless your only interest is the quests and FATEs. The Expert achievements are a good 500 hours grinding. You don't think that qualifies as longevity when most games are completed in 20-30 hours and then you move onto another game?

There are lots of spells to be learned as BLU and not everyone was interested in running EX trials hundreds of times a week to knock out all those spells as fast as possible. I suspect it's still an extremely small portion of the player base that has earned their Morbol mount at this point.

There's plenty of content out there worth doing right now. If you don't want to be doing it, that's fine but it doesn't mean that content doesn't exist and can't be repeated if you desire.

Most gamers would not consider 8-10hrs a week a lot of playtime. Which I am assuming is your average game time with your comment.

And you'd be totally incorrect in that assumption. I play far more hours than that a week.

There's plenty of content I enjoy so I repeat doing it. Crafting, gathering, beast tribes, FATEs, hunts, roulettes, housing, running the FC workshop and doing content with other FC members... all things I like to do and so that content has longevity for me.

As for what most gamers do, most true gamers play a lot of different games because they know it's impossible for a single game to fill all their available time. If you expect a single game to fill up all your available time, I wish you luck but I doubt you're going to find one.

[ForteNightshade]

If your only interest is in a small part of the overall content and you do it once then you're done with it, then of course you're going to run out of things to do. MMOs are designed around repetition of content, not once then done.

I've got friends still running Copied Factory just because they like it and not because they need anything from it. I've got other friends running Eden Savage to get gear for alt jobs.

The Firmament still has content for crafters and gatherers. It's by no means once and done unless your only interest is the quests and FATEs. The Expert achievements are a good 500 hours grinding. You don't think that qualifies as longevity when most games are completed in 20-30 hours and then you move onto another game?

There are lots of spells to be learned as BLU and not everyone was interested in running EX trials hundreds of times a week to knock out all those spells as fast as possible. I suspect it's still an extremely small portion of the player base that has earned their Morbol mount at this point.

There's plenty of content out there worth doing right now. If you don't want to be doing it, that's fine but it doesn't mean that content doesn't exist and can't be repeated if you desire.

Once again, you're making assumptions. I am far from someone who only runs content once and never again. This is an alt character I post here on, however my main has pretty much done everything from FATEs to Ultimate. In fact, you mention Copied Factory, I'm currently sitting on 18 tokens over a two week-ish span. Admittedly, I dropped out of Savage this tier for drama related reasons but pugged almost every fight well over 20 times (E2 over 70).

So no, I've done a lot throughout this game. I'm sorry but grinding out 500,000 Skybuilder points for every single DoH/L isn't what I'd describe as good content. Although, I am doing it because hey, what else is there? Which is precisely the point. Even a MMO should have more to offer than the crafting equivalent of grinding 10,000 FATEs. Your subsequently reply actually touches on this more. If you aren't doing every little thing FFXIV offers, it runs out of content fast. While yes, you can't expect to only enjoy Savage or Crafting and be kept entertained for several months but if you're fairly active in a variety of things but content still runs dry unless you opted into the extremely grind-y achievements or have a rather infrequent play schedule. That speaks to a lack of longevity on more meaningful content.

There's a reason Mythic+ styled dungeons keeps being brought up every other Q&A they do. It's one of the few things WoW did well that kept people busy. Is it perfect? No. But FFXIV could certainly build off the same premise.

[Gula]

This delay, while completely understandable given the whole pandemic, really does highlight how flawed FFXIV's design approach is.

Every game, no matter how old or new, has a content cut off point. There is no game in existence short of rogue-likes and random generated assets that provides content that never "expires" so to speak. Especially if you play a lot throughout the day. You could get an expansion's worth of content every two months and someone will say it's not enough because they no lifed everything within a week.

You may have run out of things to do, but think about how long you've been playing and how long you play a day. There are thousands of people not on the same page as you. It's people's personal way of playing that dictates when content has become old hat. I often find myself feeling the drought because I don't want any spoilers, nor getting to a new trial with people explaining mechanics or expecting you to watch Mr. Brappy. But that's on me.

[ForteNightshade]

So what is missing?

Personally I have plenty to do right now and I've got far more time on my hands to be playing than most players.

The problem isn't the developers. Content does take time to develop.

The problem is players who rush through content at breakneck speed then complain when they run out of things to do. That's their choice to play that way. They need to accept responsibility for that choice.

How is it "breakneck speed" to complete things like Copied Factory, MSQ, Eden (Normal) and etc. when they release? None of that takes more than a handful of hours. Even at a slow pace, you'd be done over a weekend. I wouldn't call that "breakneck speed." Which leaves things like Ocean Fishing, The Firmament and Blue Mage. The former two are essentially one and done much like the MSQ. There's no point to spamming Ocean Fishing once you've obtained the mount and minion. Once in a while for fun? Sure. But it has no longevity.

And that is the crux of the problem here. Nothing lasts long enough to keep people occupied. There's a reason our first relic step garnered so many complaints. If you were already capped on Poetics; and lets face it. Most people typically are. You had four relics in two hours.

Considering I took a two month break; logging in only to cap and do the occasional side quest. I'm not exactly speeding through the content. There simply isn't much left.

Every game, no matter how old or new, has a content cut off point. There is no game in existence short of rogue-likes and random generated assets that provides content that never "expires" so to speak. Especially if you play a lot throughout the day. You could get an expansion's worth of content every two months and someone will say it's not enough because they no lifed everything within a week.

You may have run out of things to do, but think about how long you've been playing and how long you play a day. There are thousands of people not on the same page as you. It's people's personal way of playing that dictates when content has become old hat. I often find myself feeling the drought because I don't want any spoilers, nor getting to a new trial with people explaining mechanics or expecting you to watch Mr. Brappy. But that's on me.

It isn't that content expires but how quickly. Take the aforementioned relic. Once you've finished the story, it takes no time whatsoever to farm every single relic. A patch that lasts for fourteen weeks shouldn't require you to basically play for only a handful of hours a week or you'll run out of content within the a month. Yes, some people will no life everything. Many people, myself included, who are criticising the lack of longevity aren't no lifing. We simply don't have enough to do because nothing lasts longer than a couple hours.

So by that logic, veteran players are just SoL? You're essentially saying this game's content is only catered to new players. That kind of proves my point. Nothing lasts long enough that unless you're new—with a backlog of old quests—you'll run out of things long before the patch cycle finishes. All some of us are asking for is some content that lasts long enough to focus on for more than a day or two. Savage and Ultimate are the only two things really fitting that bill. And that's only because they're much harder than everything else.