FF14 Becoming More "Solo Friendly" is bad, Maybe

[IdowhatIwant]

sounds like you are just burnt out on the game. there's a great amount of content on it's way imo, if you've done literally everything that interests you and you're bored, that's not really the game's fault lol. clearly the advice to take breaks is healthy for the game because it's doing great by every metric, better than it ever has. and it is sound advice. I got tired of the stale combat, took a month off to play other games, came back and it's fun to play again. as for solo play, the trust system is already developed so reworking old content, which needed some tlc anyways, realistically wouldn't take as much dev time as you're assuming.

Not burnt out, tired of getting burnt. And No there is not a great amount of content on it's way. It's the same amount of content as patches 4.1, 4.3, 4.5, 5.1, 5.3, and 5.5 and will likely be about the same amount as 6.3 and 6.5. I will bet my house, my car, and a ps5 that the new dungeon is going to be 3 trash pulls we do wall to wall then a boss fight x3. So why you going to lie to my like this, I've seen these patches for a decade I know what's going to be in each one.

[Serious-Cat]

See when you just join the game in EW and tell me that, I can't really take your opinion with much merit. I envy how much content you have to do, where I have played this for a decade. The new patch will be a day or two of new content, outside of the gated weekly lock out for the 24man or if I want to climb pvp ranks after that I will be back to nothing to really do in the game again.

Its okay if you don't like or agree with my opinion xD but it really doesn't change the fact that I pretty much have became you, in the sense of "there's nothing much to do rn except wait because I done it all" If I did not take all my leave to play FF14 from ARR till EW, I would have probably enjoyed FF14 more and for longer too. I literally just finished that tasty and expensive block of cheese and now I don't have nothing good to eat no more.

Now I know what people are going to say Yoshi P says to take breaks. At the same time, is it a good sign that I want to play the game, but I am taking a break because there is nothing in it for me to do? Should I come back from a break play the game two days only to go back to a break because the lack of content longevity? How is that healthy for the game?

In the case for my short experience so far, if I were to pace my play I would have gotten more value from the enjoyment I should be getting when playing a game. In the context of Yoshi P saying its ok to take breaks, I'm sure its just the Japanese way of being polite that they can only put out that much content humanly possible. Using Bozja as an example, my bro told me I could get it all done in 3 days tops in the context of me utilizing my work leave however when I tried to break it down to my normal routine, would prolly take me a month or so :/

Another point of view is that in relation of entertainment sources and its value, a 90 minute movie takes maybe 4 years to produce and costs $15 where I live. The 2 year FF14 content costs me $13 for 30 days of play and looking at the quarterly content release cycle, I'd only need to sub for 6 months max to play the entirety of endwalker and its expansions since I'm never keeping up with the Jones on content while Lost Ark cost only time. I'd prolly be grinding in Lost Ark for 2 years for ungodly hours everyday to hit endgame as a free player.

1/3

[Serious-Cat]

The value for playing FF14 is still good in relation to other forms of entertainment to fill my work life balance. Of course its always better to receive more than you bargained for but the limitations of story based MMO is apparent because its just difficult to put in content that doesn't jive with the story in anyway at all and realistically corporations would want to maximize their production costs against the customers perceived value. SE could prolly go the grindy content route for players that only play FF14 since it doesn't require as much time and resources for cinematics and worldbuilding but that would prolly cause another outrage of SE cheating players with grindy content :/

Don't come at me with the just cause the content isn't for you doesn't mean it isn't content either, cause that's just a childish excuse no brainer excuse you can make about any piece of content. Who defends a game having less content it just blows my mind people will defend this. Not saying you did but just in general this community is just so mind blowingly shallow.

Well realistically in any product in the market, corporations would want to maximize profits at minimum cost. While its evident SE do attempt to bloat play time with slight inconveniences its not as major as the industry standard. It's as good as it gets, most Japanese are overworked and I'm sure the dev team in SE is no different that the average salaryman in Japan. I can empathize with humans doing what's humanly possible for their corporations to make money and then it trickles down back to them.

2/3

[Serious-Cat]

The game needs a better focal point

Seeing how content transition over expansions so far I doubt SE would act against the majority target market to which we wouldnt know. I enjoy online play with other people, after all its an MMO and that comes with a social aspect but to those that just want to play FF14 like any other non FF11 titles, they should get that chance to be fair and who knows? these JRPG players may eventually meld into the robust MMO community later on

It is also a huge amount of work, and money to make this work during a time where this game has hit a huge peak in player count where those resources could be allocated to more content..

I'm pretty sure that the 2 year development cycle of each expansion release were planned ahead and minor tweaking done as needed. The content release have to be staggered or there will be content drought in the 2nd month of every expansion release till the next 2 year development cycle is completed . I took 3 weeks leave to play FF14 because its 10 years worth of content, if SE told me they are releasing 2 year worth of content tomorrow, I'll be on a week leave to finish all of it and then I can complaint there's nothing else to play in this game for the remainder of my sub. xD

SE should not detract the current game play for the current players for a group of players that likely are not going to jump ship onto this game

Undying loyalty to brands is a thing of the past, very few people still suggest having an AMEX when you travel and the reason is the competition is tight, margins are tight, player's time is tight. The changes on expansion content seem to reflect a cohesiveness to the greater entertainment market, dominance in market is no longer possible lol evident as streaming services toppling Hollywood, Adult entertainment, music and etc. I personally believe the costs to ensure continuous dominance is not worthwhile as consumers will always look for the most value in everything eg watching netflix while doing roulettes, eating/cooking while watching tiktok, netflix and chill, listening to curiosity stream podcasts while working and more. SE would prolly aim to be an entertainment source you can have when you want, instead of in your face best game ever play me or else! It may seem counter productive but this is as good as it gets for the health any product. People don't like being told anything xD

By all means, I would love people to give me 3 reasons

Well that's a question you know nobody can answer xD but in relation to FF14, its much more complicated than that as brands enjoying primacy all these while can be cancelled overnight but thats the nature of things lol

Anyway I'm sure SE would love to add that thing you love and want over time as resources and time are made available. I'm glad the 10 year content I blaze thru did not have as much bloat as I expected

3/3

[SamsaraTrickstar]

It's definitely a problem in the long run . Thing is in this community it's some what of a forbidden thing to talk to people as it is. Now you can join the many active communitys In the game ,that 100% exist on discord onlly.but there no one big FF14 one in game as SE never did 1 thing for it to be a thing. Now they do things that never let it be a thing as well.

[Serious-Cat]

slow down.
You're gonna hurt yourself.
Enjoy the experience.
Take in the sights.
The journey is as good as the goal.

That is true! I regret approaching the game initially to just "defeat" it with the goal I can beat the game before my leave ends and now I am the same with people that complaints there's nothing to do in game except wait for 6.1 xD

[Serious-Cat]

It's not even an MMO anymore at this point.

To be fair, no MMO element was taken away, only the element of solo is added tho? Maybe that part where we cant gang up 8 on 1 Lahabrea any longer xD

[KizuyaKatogami]

To be fair, no MMO element was taken away, only the element of solo is added tho? Maybe that part where we cant gang up 8 on 1 Lahabrea any longer xD

Correct me if im wrong but arent castrum prae westwind etc now only done solo?

[IdowhatIwant]

Seeing how content transition over expansions so far I doubt SE would act against the majority target market to which we wouldnt know. I enjoy online play with other people, after all its an MMO and that comes with a social aspect but to those that just want to play FF14 like any other non FF11 titles, they should get that chance to be fair and who knows? these JRPG players may eventually meld into the robust MMO community later on

Undying loyalty to brands is a thing of the past

Love the detailed response, I can agree and disagree on various things, but these are two that stick out that I would prefer to discuss in light of this thread topic at least. Sadly the reasons why I think the focal point of adding a more solo experience to the game to attract more JRPS fans into FFXIV is two big issues that I feel SE has not really thought through. A large majority of players choose not to play a MMO not because of a social aspect but because they do not like the MMO game play (tab target system). Another large majority of players and FF fans would also opt out due to the monthly subscription fee. So although it is possible to get some new players through this route, it is not going to be a large profit margin in the grand scheme, and would be a even better profit margin, if this game were in a dying state which it isn't. This sort of target market just looks like poor decision to try and make quick profit. If I really had to guess, I think SE is ready to try and milk FFXIV and dial back that budget very hard, at what would be the worst time to do.


To the part I have bolded, you clearly have not seen this games player base.

To be fair, no MMO element was taken away, only the element of solo is added tho? Maybe that part where we cant gang up 8 on 1 Lahabrea any longer xD

Sorry wanted to respond to this as well, I will say over time this game has catered more towards the casual and more solo oriented players, and classes have been changed to appease this. So both MMO and RPG elements have been taken away as the classes get more homogenized for casual play at the loss of class identity.

[SamsaraTrickstar]

This is, first and foremost, in Yoshi-P's own words, "a numbered Final Fantasy". That makes it a game whose primary goal is to tell a story, and there are Final Fantasy fans both new and old who want to play it for that story. So do I begrudge a developer, whose lifelong dream has been to tell a story in one of Square's flagship RPGs, for taking steps to make sure more people can enjoy that story, even people who don't want to take what they might perceive as a gamble by subjecting themselves to unpredictable social experiences? Not at all.

This statement can be taken onlly if they did not fucked up the story so bad in end walker. They smashed at last 2 if not 3bexpansions in to 1 rushing all the plot point to show a new bad girl taken out of no where. To ultimately not even have an effect on the game world. So care for the story my ass.