“Everything is amazing and no one is happy.”

[Sigiria]

Take a sample of something and show if it is a trend or not. A sampling of 2000 people, with an accounting of bias, is a statistically valid sample.

It really isn't unbiased though since in the case of a forum that sample is made of people that went out of their way to talk about something they see as an issue. You take something like the summoner rework, people that are happy or just ok with it don't have any reason to say anything about it while people that are unsatisfied will search for a place to express their sentiment and might end up creating their thread or find one that did to add their voice to.
You can't really use that as a metric for how many people are enjoying the new summoner. It's like taking a satisfaction survey through the refund hotline.

If SE wanted a more accurate sample they would just do a survey at the connection screen like they did during the 1.0.
Right now they seem to just use the forum to hear out complaints and use their own judgment to decide which point is relevant and which one is not. Considering the game keep steadily growing, I'd say they figured out what's the best course of action for their game despite the outcries of doomsayers on the forum anytime they announce something new.

[Hysorn]

I don't know, I kinda got pretty burnt out after farming EX1 and EX2 at the beginning of the expansion, I didn't manage to find a raid static in time and my gameplay loop right now is: Log in > run the same dungeon multiple times to level a new job > get bored and quit to desktop.

Wish I found crafting exciting so I would have something to do, but nope, the end game is feeling pretty underwhelming right now, at least for me, so I don't exactly have a lot of praise to give aside from "The story was pretty good and I enjoyed my 80 to 90 experience"

[Ronduwil]

“Im not playing that weeb game.” I don’t like anime and Ive never played another FF game before.

I have a similar gaming background to the OP, and this criticism of the game has always thrown me for a loop. I love anime, but I cannot see any resemblance between this game and an anime. Granted, some animes center around characters who magically find themselves inside of an MMO, but those animes have just as much in common with WoW, Guild Wars, Everquest, and every other MMO out there as they do with FFXIV. I don't understand why FFXIV gets labeled as a "weeb" game. I can only guess that it's just because SE is a Japanese company. The mindset that a "weeb" game isn't worth trying feels racist and illogical, IMO. Kudos to the OP for maturing past that weird point of view.

[Doc_Seraph]

Until they come out with another game where I can play as a moogle I am sitting right here come fire or ice kupo

[Equitable_Remedy]

“Everything is amazing and no one is happy.”

Yes, this is the internet.

[Minarisweet]

This game is good if you don't get too into the lackluster endgame . Play it casually and you will never become jaded like the fans that want to care about the game and are forced to see it slowly turn into just another product rather than a world to live in.

[Amon-ster]

This game is good if you don't get too into the lackluster endgame . Play it casually and you will never become jaded like the fans that want to care about the game and are forced to see it slowly turn into just another product rather than a world to live in.

Especially with the recent LL announcement, this might really be the peak way to play XIV. Just treat it as a single player visual novel that you come back to during updates that has some combat gameplay mixed in there.

[Xaruko_Nexume]

I agree that the game itself is good. The community on the other hand.. well..

I am beginning to suspect that the games communities are drastically different data center by data center and server by server.

I have a similar gaming background to the OP, and this criticism of the game has always thrown me for a loop. I love anime, but I cannot see any resemblance between this game and an anime. Granted, some animes center around characters who magically find themselves inside of an MMO, but those animes have just as much in common with WoW, Guild Wars, Everquest, and every other MMO out there as they do with FFXIV. I don't understand why FFXIV gets labeled as a "weeb" game. I can only guess that it's just because SE is a Japanese company. The mindset that a "weeb" game isn't worth trying feels racist and illogical, IMO. Kudos to the OP for maturing past that weird point of view.

It was the cat people. And some of the bosses and spell effects looked VERY anime from an outside viewpoint. And look at me now LOL. Of course there were some isms' there, but never from me personally. I thrive in diversity and experiencing new things, most of the time.

This game is good if you don't get too into the lackluster endgame . Play it casually and you will never become jaded like the fans that want to care about the game and are forced to see it slowly turn into just another product rather than a world to live in.

It's the only way I play, and I enjoy it so much more. It wasn't until this week that a dear friend taught me so many old fights. Ive gotten 24 mounts this week from extremes and what not.

[VirusOnline]

The forums are basically an Amazon Review comment section.

I'd understand your point more if you didn't ad hominem an entire generation of people.
At this moment I can only say that like with any game that we're excited and entranced by - the rose tint does fade over time.

Also, Asmongold once said something along these lines:
"yeah we all talk crap about WoW while logging into play every single day, but that just shows you how much we also love the game. We love the game so much we want to see it succeed"

First world mmo problems or not, feedback is how games have evolved. Just because something seems first world doesn't mean it doesn't deserve attention.
QoL features wouldn't exist if we thought this way, QoL which soon becomes basic expectancies in future gaming culture.
Ignoring first world problems is a part of WoW's decline.

[Gemina]

If SE wanted a more accurate sample they would just do a survey at the connection screen like they did during the 1.0.

They don't even have to do that. Throughout our journey, we are asked on at least a couple of occasions if it was worth it, and if it has been fulfilling. The thing is, the question is not asked in search of a response from you. It's reflective and meant for you to determine the value of the time you have spent with FFXIV. That includes your time on the official forums as well.

The way I see it is that to create something that becomes so massive that you can assign an AI to ask a perplexing question to the targeted demographic about the time spent in their world is a marvelous feat within itself. A survey of player satisfaction can't provide any kind of reliable accuracy that could contradict what they already know. They know they have a good thing going on with FFXIV, and they also know that it can continue to be improved upon.