I just realized I have a pattern. Am I alone?

[DinahDemiurge]

No, not male pattern baldness...but a pattern with FFXIV. I am curious if anyone else is similar. It generally goes like this:
1.0 Bought it, played for about a month before running on foot through the black shroud became more than I could handle.
2.0 Bought it, loved it, played through all the coils and through 2.55.
3.0 Bought it, loved the story and music, then around 3.1 stopped playing. I started seeing the pattern around this time...
WENT TO FANFEST! STORMBLOOD ANNOUNCEMENT! SO STOKED!
3.5 Resubbed, caught up on story and ready to tackle stormblood!
4.0 Super happy had a great time with story, and was very excited to get back into savage raiding, etc. After first tier of savage...same thing happened. Started to realize that after the first clear of savage, there's generally no point. The gear would be outdated in a few months anyway so desire to play dropped dramatically after initial clear. Unsubbed...until... SHADOWBRINGERS ANNOUNCEMENT!
4.5 Resubbed, caught up on story and ready to tackle SHADOWBRINGERS! YES!
5.0 Super happy had a great time with story, and was very excited to get back into savage raiding, etc. After first tier of savage...same thing happened. Started to realize that after the first clear of savage, there's generally no point. The gear would be outdated in a few months anyway so desire to play dropped dramatically after initial clear. Unsubbed...until... ENDWALKER ANNOUNCEMENT!
6.05 ...and I am back to being just horribly unmotivated. Only this time, I don't even really want to do savage at all even to just get the clear. I wish just for SOME SORT of permeant horizontal progression system that does not become outdated. Something...anything. It doesn't have to be game breaking. Maybe every billion exp you can add one point to a stat permanently. Something...Anything. I really want to play but I need to know that my time is worth it.

Anyway...that's my story. Am I the only one?

[kejakalope]

A LOT of people just stick around for the first few months of an expansion, leave, then come back and get caught up in the months before the launch of the next one.

If you want permanent vertical progression or lots of horizontal, FFXI might be up your alley.

[Zfz]

That's exactly what I do. Most recently I resubbed in November 2021, just a couple weeks before 6.0 (which then got delayed). I see no problem with that.

FFXIV is by no means a perfect game and I find its biggest value being the story and the graphics. But the combat, raid, and dungeons aren't something I can just keep doing to no end for years because I quickly feel bored by the same old mechanics everywhere, and then the planned obsolescence of the gear treadmill shows through again. FFXIV is still, in its core, designed to have players repeat the exact same things over and over, day after day, month after month, and I know a lot of people just don't like that. And when that thought hits after the honeymoon period of a new story is over, I start to see and feel all the flaws of this game again.

Which is why YoshiP also considers unsubbing and resubbing to be a perfectly normal thing, if not encouraged. Playing other games for a couple of months always renews my interest in FFXIV, but rarely other gear treadmills.

I find little motivation to go back to WoW, for example, because of its graphics; to Division, because of its bullet sponges; to Division 2, because again of the bullet sponges; to Destiny 2, because of the slow unrewarding and boring grinds; etc. But every new expansion there's just something that makes me come back. For 4.0 it was the Red Mage and Samurai (although I was a little disappointed I couldn't double wield swords and do six slashes with each sword each time I attack on my RDM). For 5.0 it was the Gunbreaker. For 6.0 it was the promise of the grand story finale.

Just go away for a while. Elden Ring is scheduled to release on Steam in late Feb. Plenty other games to play. Plenty of other non-gaming things to do. I just got my new car yesterday, been waiting since September last year. So it's likely I'm going to start going into the unsubbing phase, which is a lot earlier than what it used to be.

If I remember correctly, one time I dropped out of FFXIV to go back to Minecraft...lol

[DinahDemiurge]

That's exactly what I do. Most recently I resubbed in November 2021, just a couple weeks before 6.0 (which then got delayed). I see no problem with that.

FFXIV is by no means a perfect game and I find its biggest value being the story and the graphics. But the combat, raid, and dungeons aren't something I can just keep doing to no end for years because I quickly feel bored by the same old mechanics everywhere, and then the planned obsolescence of the gear treadmill shows through again. FFXIV is still, in its core, designed to have players repeat the exact same things over and over, day after day, month after month, and I know a lot of people just don't like that. And when that thought hits after the honeymoon period of a new story is over, I start to see and feel all the flaws of this game again.

Which is why YoshiP also considers unsubbing and resubbing to be a perfectly normal thing, if not encouraged. Playing other games for a couple of months always renews my interest in FFXIV, but rarely other gear treadmills.

I find little motivation to go back to WoW, for example, because of its graphics; to Division, because of its bullet sponges; to Division 2, because again of the bullet sponges; to Destiny 2, because of the slow unrewarding and boring grinds; etc. But every new expansion there's just something that makes me come back. For 4.0 it was the Red Mage and Samurai (although I was a little disappointed I couldn't double wield swords and do six slashes with each sword each time I attack on my RDM). For 5.0 it was the Gunbreaker. For 6.0 it was the promise of the grand story finale.

Just go away for a while. Elden Ring is scheduled to release on Steam in late Feb. Plenty other games to play. Plenty of other non-gaming things to do. I just got my new car yesterday, been waiting since September last year. So it's likely I'm going to start going into the unsubbing phase, which is a lot earlier than what it used to be.

If I remember correctly, one time I dropped out of FFXIV to go back to Minecraft...lol

Yeah, I feel that. It just kinda feels bad because of the very enjoyable roller coaster that I don't want to end (the leveling MSQ) then BAM you just kinda hit a wall. I do frequent another MMO that I prefer in the system design standpoint (I will not mention because that's not the point) but not really the story/world. I also am looking forward to elden ring.

[NegativeS]

I can definitely relate to the new player "overwhelmed by having to traverse huge world on foot" feeling, but because I'm an MMO addict I can't bring myself to unsub, even during slumps or content droughts.

[Driavna]

No, not male pattern baldness...but a pattern with FFXIV. I am curious if anyone else is similar. It generally goes like this:
1.0 Bought it, played for about a month before running on foot through the black shroud became more than I could handle.
2.0 Bought it, loved it, played through all the coils and through 2.55.
3.0 Bought it, loved the story and music, then around 3.1 stopped playing. I started seeing the pattern around this time...
WENT TO FANFEST! STORMBLOOD ANNOUNCEMENT! SO STOKED!
3.5 Resubbed, caught up on story and ready to tackle stormblood!
4.0 Super happy had a great time with story, and was very excited to get back into savage raiding, etc. After first tier of savage...same thing happened. Started to realize that after the first clear of savage, there's generally no point. The gear would be outdated in a few months anyway so desire to play dropped dramatically after initial clear. Unsubbed...until... SHADOWBRINGERS ANNOUNCEMENT!
4.5 Resubbed, caught up on story and ready to tackle SHADOWBRINGERS! YES!
5.0 Super happy had a great time with story, and was very excited to get back into savage raiding, etc. After first tier of savage...same thing happened. Started to realize that after the first clear of savage, there's generally no point. The gear would be outdated in a few months anyway so desire to play dropped dramatically after initial clear. Unsubbed...until... ENDWALKER ANNOUNCEMENT!
6.05 ...and I am back to being just horribly unmotivated. Only this time, I don't even really want to do savage at all even to just get the clear. I wish just for SOME SORT of permeant horizontal progression system that does not become outdated. Something...anything. It doesn't have to be game breaking. Maybe every billion exp you can add one point to a stat permanently. Something...Anything. I really want to play but I need to know that my time is worth it.

Anyway...that's my story. Am I the only one?

Your "complain" about gear progression is a valid point. FFXIV is a game that gear reset after each raid tier appears instead once per expansion, not something everyone enjoy. Anyway, if you have fun with FFXIV expansion releases stick to that, but no, you are not alone and actually is rather common.

I also prefer others MMO's progression wise so FFXIV has turned into a side thing.

[van_arn]

The homecoming effect is strong with this game. You're not unusual and there's nothing wrong with it. Play when you want, and come back when you want. Keep up with the patch trailers, though!

[Illmaeran]

The homecoming effect is strong with this game. You're not unusual and there's nothing wrong with it. Play when you want, and come back when you want. Keep up with the patch trailers, though!

I like how you said that, The Homecoming Effect. It's so true!

I agree with the rest too; you're probably in the majority of players who come in for the story expansions, play a little bit of something else, and then go do other things for a while. There's not one thing wrong with this pattern; it's a hobby activity after all and hobbies are meant to be enjoyed. If you're not enjoying it, change how you do it until you do enjoy it or take a break to refresh.



My XIV journey has included extended breaks for various reasons. While I do regret not maintaining my sub to do things like seasonal events, I don't regret taking breaks when necessary. I recently realized that my need for breaks outside of RL circumstances, have been due to me taking the game more seriously than I should have and treating it like a To Do List of things to check off rather than a toy box full of things to play with for a little while when I feel like it. Now that I've started taking the Toy Box approach I'm finding myself enjoying the game a lot more than I used to, which is saying something! I recently decided I want more emotes and have started farming Diadem and doing Ishgard Restoration, something I've barely touched in the past. Once I've got everything I want I'll probably go back to doing Beast Tribes until I've had enough and move on to something else.

I also did something I thought I'd never do; started an alt. When EW got that two week delay and I'd taken a few days off work since it was Thanksgiving here in the US, I decided to see what it was like to go through ARR on a fresh character seven years after starting the game. It was a fun experience and I look forward to seeing HW again. I won't deny it, having a drop-dead gorgeous Femroe has got me spending quite a bit of time gathering/making glamours for my new dress-up doll. <3

Giving myself permission to take breaks or cut back my play time to prioritize other things has improved my gameplay experience significantly. It's only a couple months into my return after a post-5.0 break so we'll see how well it works out, but so far I'm not feeling the urge to put them game down for the next year or until the next content patch I look forward to. I'm hoping this leads to continued activity throughout the entire expansion this time. We'll see how it goes.

[Knot_D]

Yeah I'm too lazy to do raid right now, this expansion is like my "retirement" day lol, just do casual stuff here and there...

[Ravor]

My thought exactly, i play the game nowadays mostly doing casual stuff like trust and crafting, never doing savage when the savage is out, I once played game with neverending dailies to keep up your power or lvl with others, its stressful and the only reason i play FFXIV is i can do whatever i want with no stress or afraid of being left behind for anything at all, its just i am at that kind of stage in my gaming life..... long have gone the day i spent 4 to 8 hours a day on specific time every day to do some daily/chores to grind for more increase of number in my stats/power