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

[KizuyaKatogami]

I'm going to be honest, I have heard the "game will die" nonsense since ARR. I will not, nor will ever believe it until they pull something so idiotic that it will kill the game, because I've been here for 10 years and it still hasn't happened. There have been massive missteps yes, with the handling of Gordias Savage (almost killed the raiding community) and the handling of Eureka Pagos (the population for the relic grind dwindled to almost nothing within a week). But there has been nothing so widespread to where the game has almost died. Something may come some day from NEW content, but the problems we have had now for years won't.

Ignoring the problems just makes things worse though. As of recently they have made numerous blunders, major blunders back to back since EW release. It doesn’t bode well for the future at all. Things like job changes and healers etc are just the straw that will inevitably break the camel’s back for many players. I’m sure people said the same thing as you back in 1.0 and look what happened lol.

[Darthgummibear]

I'm going to be honest, I have heard the "game will die" nonsense since ARR. I will not, nor will ever believe it until they pull something so idiotic that it will kill the game, because I've been here for 10 years and it still hasn't happened.

People always said the same thing about WoW, look where that got them. It would be completely foolish to ignore the current state of the game, the game's direction, problems since EW launch, etc. Whether or not you think the game is "dying", pretending that it doesn't have major issues helps nobody.

[Havenchild]

People always said the same thing about WoW, look where that got them. It would be completely foolish to ignore the current state of the game, the game's direction, problems since EW launch, etc. Whether or not you think the game is "dying", pretending that it doesn't have major issues helps nobody.

Except WoW rarely catered to casual players and removed alot of said content or made it invalid. They instead chose the high end playerbase that was raiding and they listened to the raiders remarks above the rest.

The state of WoW is as is because they listened and overly bent over to the same types of players complaining on these forums now. WoWs issue is its complete and utter lack of casual content, something FFXIV has plentifully. The population of WoW has been decreasing for years while XIVs has been increasing. So it looks like the direction of XIV is just what the market wants. As others have already mentioned, these doom and gloom threads have been appearing since ARR. The direction of the game has been challenged since post ARR, its been challenged since HW, SB and SHB and despite said challenges, it continues to grow in popularity. Whether people choose to stay or not at this point is irrelevant as the game clearly is alive and well.

Now it's not to say some things can't be looked at ala PVP, which finally got a much needed revamp that received high praises all around. But there's very little focus on what the actual issue is, so devs have very few consolidated points to pull from, least looking at the NA forums.

[KizuyaKatogami]

Except WoW rarely catered to casual players and removed alot of said content or made it invalid. They instead chose the high end playerbase that was raiding and they listened to the raiders remarks above the rest.

The state of WoW is as is because they listened and overly bent over to the same types of players complaining on these forums now. WoWs issue is its complete and utter lack of casual content, something FFXIV has plentifully. The population of WoW has been decreasing for years while XIVs has been increasing. So it looks like the direction of XIV is just what the market wants.

Do we have exact figures on the population? I’ve heard that EW had the biggest drop off in history after the main surge came.

[Vahlnir]

Except WoW rarely catered to casual players and removed alot of said content or made it invalid. They instead chose the high end playerbase that was raiding and they listened to the raiders remarks above the rest.

The state of WoW is as is because they listened and overly bent over to the same types of players complaining on these forums now. WoWs issue is its complete and utter lack of casual content, something FFXIV has plentifully. The population of WoW has been decreasing for years while XIVs has been increasing. So it looks like the direction of XIV is just what the market wants.

Once upon a time, WoW catered to everyone. It's a shame that it has become the mess it is now.

[Lyth]

...

You were one of the people that I had in mind, actually! You just activated a trap card.

I think out of the three examples that you linked, Recon's post has always been hands down the best structured (I see that they've updated and tremendously improved on the OP a few days ago, although as I mentioned a month or so back in the thread itself, it would have a lot more impact if it were started up as a fresh thread - I didn't even catch that there was an update). Sebazy's thread is concise and makes an excellent point (they'd also have my recommendation, form what I've seen of their posts), but it's something that I would like to see incorporated in a broader 'design direction' thread like Recon's. I usually avoid multi quote-driven threads because I find them distracting, but I do like your posts in general.

I'll give you a couple of examples of how I like things formatted. This was our list of recommendations that was picked up by the Community Team and later became the basis of the 4.3 DRK changes leading in to the Shadowbringers rework, and this was a smaller, more focused thread on Living Dead leading up to Endwalker's media tour. There was a lot more to it than just that, of course, between Q+A sessions and reddit, but I think the basic point comes down to channeling your passion constructively into a well structured feedback thread that players can unite behind. Enjoy the discussion and do it out of a passion to make the gameplay more fun, rather than to gain a competitive advantage as many can be wont to do. I think the quality of the discussion dictates the effectiveness of the thread, much more than even raw upvotes.

If you have a genuine interest in this and are willing to put in some organizational effort, I'm more than happy to provide some recommendations and tricks from the sidelines, because I see it as a genuinely worthwhile cause. Although this is a bit of a tangent that's probably better suited for the healer forums.

[DBriggs304]

Is everyone okay, does anyone wanna talk, like for serious is everyone doing okay, need a break or anything?

Usual forum banter from the same avatars.
Like all general discussion boards.

[Nizzi]

Can't speak for anyone else, but my discontent comes from the state of healers. It's hard to feel excited for anything when faced with the reality that what I want to play is going to remain boring 1 button spam for another 2 years at least, and will likely remain that way far beyond that.

[IkaraGreydancer]

Can't speak for anyone else, but my discontent comes from the state of healers. It's hard to feel excited for anything when faced with the reality that what I want to play is going to remain boring 1 button spam for another 2 years at least, and will likely remain that way far beyond that.

If enough feel strongly in that regard why not form up some sort of boycott? If the forums arent working maybe another course is the way

[Vahlnir]

If enough feel strongly in that regard why not form up some sort of boycott? If the forums arent working maybe another course is the way

The only boycott that has guaranteed results in large enough numbers is closing one's wallet. I will be depriving them of mine in a few days, though it will admittedly be a symbolic gesture and likely a temporary stoppage unless they do something else to irritate me between now and then. But I'm committed to my principles, so I am going forward with my plan. I'm not foolish enough to think that it will make a difference, but perhaps if enough people take part, even temporarily, SE could potentially rethink a thing or two. Probably not, but anything is possible. Twitter is probably the most direct way to communicate with them, but I wouldn't wish that platform on anyone. They tell us to come here to give feedback, so I think that's what most people do who want to voice their opinions and concerns.