FFXIV is too simplistic and bland

[Penthea]

OP it might be time to face the fact that this game isn't for you. Your opinions are valid but that's all they are; opinions. They're not facts. Many of the things you dislike are things people enjoy. Not everyone likes the same thing and that's okay. That's why there is more than one game to play.

I certainly have criticisms about the game but overall I love it. I don't know if I would say it's the best FF game I played because frankly most of them aren't even mmorpgs, they're single player games. Completely different experience. However I can say that I feel that XIV has the strongest story out of every FF I have played. I also enjoy the mechanics and game features. The only thing that I strongly criticise is housing, but my problems are the availability and acquisition methods of houses. The housing content itself is something I very much enjoy (which is why I criticise availability and acquisition so much because I think it's a huge shame so many players don't have access to something I consider a lot of fun, but going deeper into this would be going off-topic).

As for players who haven't been in 1.0 while it's true they didn't personally experience it, everything surrounding 1.0 is so very well documented that it's actually very easy to get educated as to what state the game was in. I didn't play 1.0 but I did research on it and I know people who have. Based on both my opinion is that 1.0 was terrible. I only regret not playing it so I could have seen first hand the jump in improvement 2.0 was, and how 1.0 changed when Yoshida took over production. As for 1.0 itself, I know I wouldn't have enjoyed it save for the Dalamud's fall event.

[Gothicshark]

...The only thing that I strongly criticise is housing, but my problems are the availability and acquisition methods of houses. The housing content itself is something I very much enjoy (which is why I criticise availability and acquisition so much because I think it's a huge shame so many players don't have access to something I consider a lot of fun, but going deeper into this would be going off-topic).

...

Just agreeing with you, if the OP said the state of Housing was an issue, I would have thumbs upped that, I think the one thing ESO got right was Housing, hell what WOW did with Garisions was perfect for Housing here. You could have the same zones, same plots, with unlimited housing if they used the same sharding technology WOW did with garrisons.

[VenKitsune]

Travel:

While i dont really agree with your examples, thats not relevant, i do kinda understand what you're saying.
I do wish that airships and ships were more than just another cutscene - I kinda wish we had what was in WoW/FF11 where you hop on a boat or an airship that flys around on a timer, and you are taken there physically - You can see the world around you as you go.
Unfortunately this isnt possible with the current way the game is designed - Everything is separate zones, not one big one like WoW and it was designed this way to allow the game to run on PS3 and to some extent the PS4. We may see this change when the game goes over to PS5 as the technical limitations of that will be well and truly gone but its still unlikely as changing something of that scope takes a lot of money and time that may be better spent elsewhere.

Questing:

I can't help but agree on this one - All the quests are basically the same. Go click on some things, go kill some things, go collect some things or find some things.
That being said, considering quests are more or less irrelevant at endgame and only really serve the purpose of leveling in this game...So long as they're written to be interesting enough, then i dont mind so much.

Dungeons:

Agreed. However, i dont agree with your examples.

from levels 15-50 (early 50) there ARE optional rooms, loot areas and stuff to explore in dungeons. Loot at the central area after the 2nd boss in Sastasha, there is like 4 different rooms to explore all with loot and extra mobs inside.
I do agree that more dungeons should have optional areas like this - Many dungeons these days are basically copy-pastes of eachother with a different lick of paint. Its the same old pull from boss to boss, AOE, dodge stuff from boss and kill it, repeat two more times and you're done with the dungeon.

Equipment:[/U][/B]

Agreed.
However, this has been brought up many times in the past and SE seem content to ignore anything on this subject. I doubt it'll change, i dont think we'll get any kind of horizontal progression in terms of gear, only vertical.

Battle:

Whats the problem with them being scripted? Honestly, tell me what the problem is. I dont see your point here... AT ALL.

Zone design:

Agreed. The areas from HW onwards seemed to be designed to be a good thing to look at while you're high up in the air or from far away but there isnt these little interesting details you have on the ground that you could find in ARR areas.

Monsters:

Agreed.
Still, i dont think its necessarily a bad thing so long as the dungeons they're in are designed well enough and not just a boss to boss pull of mobs.
Otherwise, i think this is an unfortunate necessity due to the average skill of your average casual player - Make basic mobs too hard and suddenly they dont want to pay for your game anymore if they keep dying to something so simple.

Job Design:

Agreed. However, i dont agree with your examples. Why do you keep using FF11 as an example? That game is ancient by todays standards of game design, and 1.0 was so similar to FF11 that its the reason why it failed.

That being said - Yes. One thing i really hate hearing from SE is "Button Bloat" - There is no button bloat in this game! None! Infact, some jobs like MCH and WAR have LESS buttons than they did in Stormblood! Its stupid!

From ARR to HW, no actions were removed from the game. You know what i did to solve it? I changed my HUD, i changed some keybinds and added some. It was fun changing it around, and it didnt take me more than a few days to get used to everything again, get used to having 5-7 more actions than i had had for two years prior.

Stormblood and Shadowbringers? They keep removing abilities for seemingly no reason, as i mentioned some jobs have even less buttons than they've ever had!
Some people say "Well controllers only have so many buttons", but here is the thing, if you enable certain options in character config its literally impossible to run out of buttons on a controller, there are many button combinations available and you can have a LOT of hotbars, more than the default.

[SakiKojiro]

If it means anything to you, I completely agree with your points.

FFXIV has been overly safe for a long time, and I strongly dislike it's directiong. This is to the point that I left for WoW for about a year just to see, and wow, that game is SO much better when it comes to gamefeel and creative content, but there's just something about FFXIV that keeps me coming back. It may just be the FF aesthetic, and that's kind of upsetting.


I get that you point out the flaws because you care, and I feel the same. I just wish people were more open to criticism. I want this game to be better.

[Gameovers]

If it means anything to you, I completely agree with your points.

FFXIV has been overly safe for a long time, and I strongly dislike it's directiong. This is to the point that I left for WoW for about a year just to see, and wow, that game is SO much better when it comes to gamefeel and creative content, but there's just something about FFXIV that keeps me coming back. It may just be the FF aesthetic, and that's kind of upsetting.


I get that you point out the flaws because you care, and I feel the same. I just wish people were more open to criticism. I want this game to be better.

I dunno.. I rather the game stay safe then throw things at the walls hoping it'll stick.

[Starkbeaumont]

if you are trying to make a point on the internet don't write a whole essay. op is way too long.

[Sabrenn]

Isn't FFXI still being updated? Why arent' you still playing that if it's so much better?

I really don't understand.

[DrWho2010]

OP has more or less been banging the same drum for years now. nothing he asks for would be implemented unless the *direction* of the game were to change and for that, Yoshi-P would have to be ousted entirely from the picture. something i don't see happening.

[kaynide]

This is so wrong.

FFXIV 1.23b only saw an increase in player retention and player attraction.

(To go even further, there was a huge "exodus" of 1.0 players at the release of version 2.0, because 2.0 did the very thing I'm mentioning here. Too much homogenization and simplification.)

You are completely entitled to your opinions, thoughts and ideas (of course). Some of your points I agree with, especially regarding exploreable open world options (a la FFXI dungeons) and travel (I was dissapointed very much that fishing was on a stationary ship, when it should have been easy to make the ship appear to move).

That said, the above point I would need source to confirm. If the game was doing particularly well, SE wouldn't have fired most of the 1.0 team and spent a huge chunk of money rebooting it with team YoshiP.

I CAN buy people jumping ship at launch because when 1.0 was going down it had no subscription fee, but upon 2.0 release it became subscription based, so yeah, obviously some people dipped.

Moreover, if memory serves, wasn't 1.0 overly homogeneous in that classes were largely cosmetic due to the amount of cross-class skill setups?

[BunnyChain]

The ffxiv puddle is too shallow and wide, yes. They have stretched it so far that it's barely unmanageable. Simplifying and keeping it simple is the only viable way forward for this game. They keep adding jobs, half races, etc. that needs to be kept up to date. They already gave up with some of these things and just push it to the next patch / expansion - please look forward to it guys!

We're now getting 1 dungeon every 3.5 months, if things go as expected, imagine getting actually unique dungeons with sprawling paths, secrets, engaging bosses... we'd be get 1 in a year if we're lucky.
To make this game more interesting from a technical standpoint you'd need a completely new game with a completely different dev team.