Quote Originally Posted by Deveryn View Post
This really means nothing to me as I started after that. I've played MMOs for many years and the one big problem is communication from the players, not just in saying what they'd like, but listening and understanding what the devs communicate as far as limitations. A lot of what I see in this thread is either vague, in need of polish or just moot because 6.0 is likely to bring about these changes.
So much this. There's a ton of armchair game dev going around when it comes to MMO players, and often the longer the player has played the game the more certain they are they that they know exactly how to fix the problems they perceive, without realizing that the developers have likely already thought of that and have chosen not to implement it for one reason or another (be it cost, resources, technical, staffing, intended impact, lack of player desire, etc.).

The other issue is that most suggestions are made from a personal bubble. There's an immediate assumption that "Well, I want this so..." or "Well, the people I hang around with want this so..." by players who have no access to analytics or even in some cases no interest or care for the wider community. MMOs by their very nature need to service as many people as possible. FF14 has recently passed 24 million accounts and, while it's absolutely true that not all 24 million are current, active players of the game, there are still a ton of people playing the game, and every single one of them would like something a little different even in cases where they do agree on the broad strokes. If the developers don't implement your chosen changes, it may well be that your chosen changes just don't fit into the game they are making because those changes are deemed to be against what works for the larger majority.