Been seeing a lot of doomsaying in forums/in-game lately

[Ryaz]

I think the Doomsaying is really just on the forums. I don't see it in the game at all. Not in NN, linkshells, FC, parties I join for farming, BLU, maps or hunts. They are all having fun.

I've seen people talk about their frustrations about healers in the game for years but that's about it.

Pretty much. It's pretty much a bunch of disgruntled people threatening to quit every other day and talking about how the game is failing so horribly and is getting worse by the day... yet everything else indicates that the game is growing, most people are enjoying it.

But it's very normal for any official forum. Any change, outside of big damage buffs, is met with trepidation, fear and loathing most of the time, and anything added to the game usually gets fully ignored to focus on what may be missing. Aka, everyone here is a cynic.

I just put the worst of them on ignore. There are some good discussions that happen, but there are unfortunately too many who just end up being condescending or attack people for actually enjoying the game, flaws and all.

[Thaciscokidd]

Snip

I like your take, but i think it goes both ways. The official forums is like the medium of FFXIV discussion. Both sides can talk it out a little bit more than the other platforms. Not as spicy as 2/4 chan but not as defensive as Reddit/twitter.

You're easily get piled on for saying something negative here as you will saying something positive. Its just here you have a chance of running into someone that has the same viewpoints.

[Ryaz]

I like your take, but i think it goes both ways. The official forums is like the medium of FFXIV discussion. Both sides can talk it out a little bit more than the other platforms. Not as spicy as 2/4 chan but not as defensive as Reddit/twitter.

You're easily get piled on for saying something negative here as you will saying something positive. Its just here you have a chance of running into someone that has the same viewpoints.

I agree that the positive people can be bad at times as well and ignore the problems the game does have. Fanboys are around for every title, unfortunately. As I said, I've seen some good discussions, but things definitely skew to the negative a LOT more here. And so much of it is literally about the game being bad, the devs being lazy, things being changed.... and it's not "I'm not a fan of this change" type of discussion, but instead is always "OMG THE WORLD IS ENDING! THE GAME IS A DUMPSTER FIRE THAT WILL NEVER GET BETTER!" type hyperbole. Those are the ones I tend to call out. Because there is, unfortunately, a lot of it. For example, I don't agree with the removal of Kaiten as I liked using the ability myself and felt it flowed nicely. But losing it and the change to more consistent damage over burst isn't make or break for me. But you go into the DPS forums and the entire front page is about how Samurai is now garbage, act like its completely unplayable and people are quitting over it.

A lot of comments also seem to be people reminiscing over the old days and how much better the game was than it is now... which happens every single expansion and frankly, I'm glad the game is changing. If we were still like we were in 2.0, HW, SB, etc, we'd be stagnant and the game would probably die even more quickly. Things will never be the same in an MMO as they were previously. They are constantly evolving and changing. I just tend to adapt with the times and try to see all the good things, even if I don't agree with every change.

As for the Healer issue, I agree they should have more to do. I always felt healers should be more of a healer/support, giving various buffs along with heals and some dps. That would help mix things up a bit. I'm also hoping the Criterion Dungeons help give us some more challenging 4 man content where healers are actually needed more.