Quote Originally Posted by tokinokanatae View Post
How FFXIV players feel about Garlean fans is a completely separate issue from how they feel about Garlemald as a story element. It's pretty obvious that after the end of Stormblood, they identified that a large enough portion of their player base didn't like the "war story" aspect of Stormblood. The zones and allied NPCs may have had a part to play in this as well, but Stormblood was also heavily criticized for its story. (The writers and Yoshi-P are also obviously not interested in portraying a fascist military state as a force for good--individual minor characters overcoming their fascist brainwashing is as far as they're willing to go--so a tour of the provinces that "love the taste of imperial boot" was probably never, ever remotely on the table.)

After Stormblood, the expansions with the most fantasy elements have proven to be the most popular, so they're going to continue doing what works for as many people as possible. Even trying to work on Garlean content in side content--like Bozja and Werlyt--had mixed reviews at best. You can say Stormblood is a fluke, but when return trips to the well keep on getting disinterested responses, it's best to find another place for water.
But mixed reviews for what reason? I wasn't too fond of Werlyt, but that was specifically due to the story they were pursuing with the orphans and some reasons relating to the fights - nonetheless, I found Valens amusing. Bozja I enjoyed for the story and instances, but I found the zones rather depressing and the structuring of the whole affair pretty poor. They also didn't do the best job in representing the 4th Legion in a way that was consistent with what the story was pushing. I don't think a similar storyline in some of the provinces of Ilsabard, especially given a bit more visual flair, would've had the same poor reception.