A Toxic Culture in XIV

[Renalt]

great community btw

Excuse you! It's Best Community BTW since we won that award!

/s

[Lost_Dreams]

Unfortunately, the devs are planning to make it even more "solo friendly" for people who play the other FF games but have held off on XIV because they don't like mmorpgs. So yeah =/

I can't speak for everyone but I like MMORPGs, fourteen isn't my first one and likely won't be my last. I have problems with people in general and with my own performance and anxiety with group related content. The " "solo friendly" " changes are a gods send for me and for others with similar issues. Also,

It's not like it's taking away from the rest of the experience and it might even get some people interested in checking out the rest of the game. They'll even know how mechanics work.

[VictorTheed]

Throws a chair that breaks through the window and lands right upside the head of a fem roe sitting at a table in the quicksand at Balmung.

Ain't going get that chair back, fem roe will get me, jumps on my Fenrir mount and flys through the front door busting it up and gives a lalafell thumbs up as I fly away to my au'ru neighbor.

[IdowhatIwant]

I don't really think they should look into speeding up the MSQ, not unless they intend on doing a rework on ARR... That being said I think the correct -- Or better course of action for that matter -- Would be to develop more meaningful open-world content, something that can bring players together regardless of their level, or progress in the MSQ, open-world dungeons of sorts that scale to the level of the zone/area would be fantastic, especially if they can give apt rewards for it. That way players can always get involved in something. Regardless of the pacing of the story, whether it be slow or fast, is still plagued with the fundamental issues in that there's a lack of support or encouragement for substantial/significant grouping up and socializing, which is an integral part of an MMO, especially one to leave a good starting impression. Heck even expanding some of the newer systems like Gemstones into the older zones would do well in breathing some life into the game.

TL;DR: I don't think speeding up the MSQ resolves the fundamental issues that people actually have and they should invest in something that breathes life into older content and zones, as opposed to them being a barren husk. Speeding up the MSQ would be a constant and ongoing endeavour that eventually seeps to the degree that it detracts from some of the more important world-building quests to accommodate people getting to relevant levels as quickly as possible. They would do themselves justice if they can develop something that makes lower-level zones more relevant even to higher-level players all the same. The shameful part is, that many of these systems which can be utilized to make this effective already exist within the game.

Don't get me wrong, it absolutely would bring more players to the game, or at the very least prolong their interest, but the method of speeding MSQ is akin to a band-aid on a fairly deep issue.

I think allowing people to move onto the next expansion when they are at the right level resolves a lot of issues as well.
Or allowing players to not do the MSQ and level through other means if they choose to.

[Skiros]

but in reverse there is a such thing as toxic negativity, where people drown out all positivity and where they can only ever be negative about everything, never providing any praise for aspects that are done well or understanding of why a feature or change can't be made.

How is it toxic to never praise the game?

Why should people, as customers, need to praise the game once in a while to not be toxic?

If there is overwhelming negativity, and hardly any positivity, look into the game itself for problems rather than accusing the players as toxic.

[Payadopa]

I'll give you a good example. Harry Potter. I could sit and watch it from the first one till the last one, but, I can also watch it from Deathly Hallows part 2 and watch it backwards. I can watch it in whatever sequence I want to, I have options. This doesn't devalue the story, at all. What it does is give people the option to view it how they want to view it, even if it just makes more sense to watch it from the first part.

It absolutely devalues the story. That's like rearranging every chapter in a random order in a book. lol Yes, now you're reading it *your* way.
You honestly lost me, man. But to each their own.

I'd never start with [part 2] if [part 1] was available. Nor do I read the last page to see who the murderer is. That absolutely devalues my experience.

[Thorio]

Excuse you! It's Best Community BTW since we won that award!

/s

It's not bad but looking at these forums would tell you otherwise.

[Kaurhz]

I think allowing people to move onto the next expansion when they are at the right level resolves a lot of issues as well.
Or allowing players to not do the MSQ and level through other means if they choose to.

I don't think they would tread into the realm of doing something that potentially compromises the profit they could otherwise get from selling job skips and level skips. It's a nice idea, but I think actually giving people something to do on their journey is much better. Players should have the chance to feel a 'true' MMO right out the gate, and shouldn't be put in a position wherein they're forced to essentially make that decision between either skipping straight to group content, or enjoying the MSQ. They shouldn't be treated as mutually exclusive systems, which largely they currently are -- And what I feel the latter proposed system would be in your post.

Give open world dungeons, perhaps similar to how the EM was in Diadem if anyone remembers that, tie in a separate levelling system similar to either Eureka or Bozja levelling, and give lower level players a simplified job kit with higher output to compensate, or just give them the outright finished job kits. Allowing them to practice the job in its endgame state. This alone whilst significant on developmental resources would very easily increase player retention since they will have a better idea of the game, aside from clicking 1 button every 2.54 seconds, or whatever. Tie in substantial rewards, include a token system to give players a weekly, or even much more grindy method of obtaining endgame-level gear as a way to incentivise those at endgame to job. That alone solves a lot of problems for both newer players and veterans alike, I think.

There are nuances to this, but I don't see why something like this couldn't work. If I'm to be frank they could even tie the relic system into it and kill not just 2 birds with 1 stone, but several birds.

[LalaLlama]

It absolutely devalues the story. That's like rearranging every chapter in a random order in a book. lol Yes, now you're reading it *your* way.
You honestly lost me, man. But to each their own.

I'd never start with [part 2] if [part 1] was available. Nor do I read the last page to see who the murderer is. That absolutely devalues my experience.

How does it devalue the story for you? If I went and read the story backwards, does it do ANYTHING to the story for you, or just for me? THAT is what I am getting at. Just because I experienced the story differently to YOU does not mean it devalues it.

The MSQ being FORCED for me devalues the story, especially when it takes 150-200 hours to get through it. Giving new players options as to how they get through the game, how they experience the game and how they tackle the game does NOTHING to you, it just brings in more players. But, giving options for levelling also ALLOWS others to play the game how THEY want to play it. FORCING people to tackle the game your way is not a good design for MMO's. it cuts off a good portion of the playerbase, especially when you take into consideration that this game is "about the story" but the first 50-60 hours (ARR + the quests between ARR and HW) is seen as some of the worst gameplay by a lot of the community. If I hadn't spent a long time (20+ years) playing Final Fantasy games, I would have walked away from the game a lot earlier.

I have currently not touched the game in about 3-4 days, because the thought of going back and tackling the MSQ again makes me not want to play it. Am I playing the game differently to others? Yes, I am. But, am I playing it wrong? No, I'm not. I am playing it how I want to play it, and how I want to play it get's ruined by the MSQ because of it being forced.

[LalaLlama]

And yes, I can just "go and do other things", sure. Let me just pause the story (Which is supposed to be the main part of the game) to go and do other things because I'm bored of the pacing of the story. Because, you know, that tells you how great it is. It's that amazing, that the MAIN advice people give you is "Stop doing it and go do other things". The BIGGEST thing Final Fantasy games has going for it are it's stories, and, in my experience anyways, in NONE of the other games have I NEEDED to pause the story to finally get enjoyment from the game. I can usually get to what's considered "end-game" before I start to do other things, such as grinding and getting 100% of everything.

It's exactly the same as "You don't want to play it, don't sub" when all people say is that the pacing of the MSQ sucks. I'm not saying the MSQ itself sucks, I'm not saying the story sucks, I'm not saying ANYTHING important in the game sucks. JUST the pacing. But, I should just unsub because of the pacing, even though I enjoy the majority of the game? What kind of backwards logic is that? "You don't like the pacing so you MUST hate the story" is one of the biggest things people throw at me, and it's just stupid.

The problem is, a good portion of the FFXIV community on Steam/Forums etc cannot take criticism of their beloved game. One of the big turn-offs for this game for new players is the MSQ, because of it's pacing. Because it takes so long. And yes, the game isn't "end-game oriented", but, it's not really story oriented either, when you consider the majority of old players are telling new players to "do something other than the story for a bit". If I wanted to do other things, I would go and do other things. I don't want to do that, I want to experience the story at it's fullest (Up till the newest patch) before I jump in to everything else and lose track of time in those things. But, this gameplay style seems to be hated by the community, and I just get told to "find another game to play and unsub".