Why telling people to unsub is a horrible defense of the game.

[dapperfaffer]

I'm sure that went so well for WoW.

It did. For well over 10 years.

[Midareyukki]

troll post anyway

Mate.

You did that to me.

[EgilTheStressedMage]

Mate.

You did that to me.

"It's okay when we do it."

[Jaquan]

I hate getting into semantics but whatever... Allow me to share one truth that comes with way to many years of gaming - you will burn yourself out. No matter how good the game, how varied it content you WILL burn out after playing it day after day. Maybe you're right telling someone to unsub is a bad idea but there's nothing wrong with taking few days, week or hell even month of break if you feel tired of the game. And that's something WoW failed to understand. That's something many F2P games fail to understand - that it's not a crime if a player wants to take a break. And so they punish them. Whenever they take a break they're left behind never again able to catch up. Over my times with gaming I can safely say - no game MMO or otherwise will ever keep a player's attention and enjoyment forever. And that's alright. I feel people take the "unsub" advice too strongly - too personally taking it as "Unsub and don't come back" rather than "Unsub - take a break and come back when you want to".

As for the other arguments you've given... Fallacies. All of them. Frankly it reminds me of people staying in toxic relationships because of "children". They're miserable with one another, they'd likely be better with someone else but they stay together due to some sort of external pressure and by doing so they only make one another more miserable. Ask yourself - "Do I really want this house?" "Do I really want to keep progressing those ultimates and so do I really need that gear?" "Will my circle of friends fall apart because we won't play every day?" "Does any of that bring me any satsfaction?"

[MomomiMomi]

1. The game is deliberately designed in a way that disincentivizes players from unsubbing.

Precisely why I have started unsubbing. They decided I can't keep my house without continuing to sub, so they get less of my sub money now.

The game is much more enjoyable playing it once in a while instead of all the time.

So I will continue to suggest people unsub.

[hydralus]

The implication is that smart veteran players saw the problems WoW created miles away and spoke up in an effort to try and convince the development team to take a step back and reconsider their plans. Instead they doubled down on questionable design choices and the game began bleeding active subscriptions over time. Any feedback, no matter how constructive, was shot down there as well with the 'jUsT uNsUb BrO' declaration. As if people who are passionate and invested in something should just up and leave rather than fight to try and see a different trajectory embraced.

Eventually even many passionate fans left as well and all that is left today is a soulless husk. A shadow of its former glory.

I can safely suggest that FFXIV is likely to go the same way if recent rends continue. Do you really think those of us who have seen this song and dance before can't see the exact same issues arising here?

If people didn't care about FFXIV then they wouldn't speak up about how it can improve - and before the inevitable 'gotcha' arises, the development team do not need to take every bit of advice on board. However it's pretty clear that they're pretty far removed from player tastes given how things like the housing lottery and Hrothgar hairstyles have been playing out.

So is the intent to make the game have a better active subscription base? Because so far what they've been doing has been working pretty nicely for them.

What if the changes to a more dynamic style of gameplay ended up making them lose a lot of subscribers rather than gain? Would that still be considered better because now the players who bitched for more long-lived content got what they wanted?

Frankly I couldn't give a rat's ass if they lose subscribers because my self worth isn't tied to a videogame company doing well. But if I were a developer whose choices have resulted in record active subscribers for the last 7 years and someone tells me the way to save my company from future disaster is to make <nondescript dynamic content that will cost millions in development time and resources>, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't listen either.

Also as an aside, I dunno what OP was talking about with 'whistle' because nobody used it unless they didn't meet basic meld requirements and makes me think they never seriously touched crafting until recently. Crafting has been heavily macro-based since HW and probably before even then. Yeah, it IS even easier now. But aside from requiring less materia to HQ stuff, the actual gameplay involved hasn't changed. About the only time dynamic crafting was relevant was for scores in the Firmament and it had so little engagement you could win the Saint title just doing the regular crafts in a super casual manner. I sure know I did.

[hydralus]

Precisely why I have started unsubbing. They decided I can't keep my house without continuing to sub, so they get less of my sub money now.

The game is much more enjoyable playing it once in a while instead of all the time.

So I will continue to suggest people unsub.

Yeah their housing system is a joke. I had 2 houses at one point and I sold them when I wanted to take a break. It is THAT easy, people. Don't let a stupid virtual house hold your wallet hostage.

[GaiusDrakon]

Mate.

You did that to me.

That's sarcasm. Notice how I'm just quoting you verbatim in 60% of that comment.

The intensity of the impact that Hrothgar hairstyles have is minimal in the long run.

what really matters is the intensity of the impact they have in the long run

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The Hrothgar hairstyles you have right now is not unsatisfactory.

But it doesn't mean that what we have now is unsatisfactory.

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It doesn't hurt to be a bit realistic to stop asking for better Hrothgar hairstyles.

I understand your concerns with content not being given on a regular basis, but it doesn't hurt to be a bit realistic.

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It doesn't hurt to be a bit realistic to stop asking for better Hrothgar hairstyles.

I understand your concerns with content not being given on a regular basis, but it doesn't hurt to be a bit realistic.

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I'm just using your own stupid argument against you. The fact that you got offended by it should hopefully stir you to consider your own hypocrisy. But the fact you didn't understand that it was sarcasm means the point was completely lost. Oh well.

(another thing they need to fix is the archaic 20-per-day post limit on these forums).

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

That's sarcasm. Notice how I'm just quoting you verbatim in 60% of that comment.





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I'm just using your own stupid argument against you. The fact that you got offended by it should hopefully stir you to consider your own hypocrisy. But the fact you didn't understand that it was sarcasm means the point was completely lost. Oh well.

(another thing they need to fix is the archaic 20-per-day post limit on these forums).

It works when you aren't busy trolling

[Gemina]

Wanting content that lasts in *this game* means we want to play *this game* not another one, especially for us veterans who've been here since the beginning.

Wanting more of what you enjoy in the game isn't the same as being dissatisfied with it. This is so much different than players who come here basically wanting a completely different game. When a poster gives off that impression, the response is, "Unsub and go play something else." If the poster is unreasonable and spouting just a bunch of hate, the response is. "Unsub and go play something else." If the player is clearly so dissatisfied with the game that they aren't even enjoying their time online, the response is, "Unsub, and go play something else."

If you were to grab some reasonable joe or jane off the street with a firm head on their shoulders and ask him/her, "Would you pay to do something you don't enjoy?" What do you think their response would be? You know that this doesn't make any sense. People will pay for a gym membership, or streaming service they are not using for many many months long before they will actually pay for something they are dissatisfied with. People just don't work that way.

So the only conclusion to draw up is that even the most disgruntled players are finding something or multiple things they still enjoy about the game. Threats to unsub mean nothing when there is at least one thing about the game they are attached to. This is why I consider a player truly hanging it up due to dissatisfaction a very serious ordeal, and shrug my shoulders at posters attempting to gaslight the forums. The former, you don't hear anything from. They're just gone.