What's the point with that quite lackluster story in Endwalker?

[jameseoakes]

It's just another aspect of the cult of personality surrounding this game that makes me really cross my fingers and hope that one of the upcoming MMO's proves to be a smash hit. The more I think on it, the more it certainly feels like anyone who wants FFXIV to have a thought provoking story with solid game play is being 'pushed out' despite many of us criticising the current direction having played for far longer than the newcomers.

Has 14 always been like this? I always use to find the 14 community to be decent if maybe a little defensive, but though I don't like the terminology it seems to be getting more like cult in a lot of online spaces

[Theodric]

The forums and those sites aren't that different, from my experience. The main difference being that the short-text Twitter format and cross-your-fingers-and-pray moderation consistency of Reddit make those areas a bit harder to parse.

Zepla can think whatever she wants, since she never actually read the the thread and just looked at the title.

Too many social media sites promote fly by commentary rather than deep discussion, unfortunately. I don't bother saying much on Twitter and instead use it for fan art/watching game trailers. I don't think the downvote function on Reddit promotes healthy discussion, either.

Has 14 always been like this? I always use to find the 14 community to be decent if maybe a little over defensive, but though I don't like the terminology it seems to be getting more like cult in a lot of online spaces

I'd say it was pretty relaxed back in ARR and HW. SB was a bit divisive and did Ala Mhigo dirty but I don't recall much vitriol being spewed at anyone who criticised the game. ShB and EW both have progressively more hostility aimed at anyone who suggests that something could be better.

On some level I think it's due to the game's age. It really should arguably be doing more to shake off the rust but we're still getting more of the same.

[CrownySuccubus]

Too many social media sites promote fly by commentary rather than deep discussion, unfortunately. I don't bother saying much on Twitter and instead use it for fan art/watching game trailers. I don't think the downvote function on Reddit promotes healthy discussion, either.

I don't disagree about Twitter, but Twitter is a lot less niche of a community than here. This place settles into its own division of cliques and echo chambers, doesn't allow people who aren't currently playing the game to comment, and has an annoyingly restrictive post limit system. And I'm not any more of a fan of upvotes than downvotes.

I'd say it was pretty relaxed back in ARR and HW. SB was a bit divisive and did Ala Mhigo dirty but I don't recall much vitriol being spewed at anyone who criticised the game. ShB and EW both have progressively more hostility aimed at anyone who suggests that something could be better.

On some level I think it's due to the game's age. It really should arguably be doing more to shake off the rust but we're still getting more of the same.

ARR and Heavensward were largely positive because people were "wow"ing over how improved 2.0 was over its predecessor, and HW was an almost universally-beloved expansion. That latter is also true of ShB to an extent, and Stormblood was nearly the opposite, with most people finding it lackluster.

EW's "problem" is that it's super polarizing. People either absolutely love it or absolutely hate it and revile anyone who doesn't agree with their personal opinion. I personally think the people who dislike the expac have more thought-out opinions than those who do not, but the hate train bandwagoning doesn't take long to go full steam.

[Xirean]

Has 14 always been like this? I always use to find the 14 community to be decent if maybe a little defensive, but though I don't like the terminology it seems to be getting more like cult in a lot of online spaces

Considering you can get banned from certain 14 discords for expressing a critical view of nearly any aspect of the story/characters; it's pretty frustrating. Not sure if it's always been this way, but theres' A LOT of varying types of people that play the game. Imo that's part of the reason for the hyper defensiveness. Also to be fair, a number of people have even commented that people in this thread push de-scenting opinions out that aren't critical. Regardless if that's actually the case or not, people get that impression. Being critical or debating can easily be construed as trolling or looking for a fight/drama; quite sad if you ask me.

Edit: On the note of discords though. Is there one for this sort of discussion or would people in here be interested in forming one? There's clearly a lot of people interested in the general topic.

[Brinne]

Considering you can get banned from certain 14 discords for expressing a critical view of nearly any aspect of the story/characters; it's pretty frustrating. Not sure if it's always been this way, but theres' A LOT of varying types of people that play the game. Imo that's part of the reason for the hyper defensiveness. Also to be fair, a number of people have even commented that people in this thread push de-scenting opinions out that aren't critical. Regardless if that's actually the case or not, people get that impression. Being critical or debating can easily be construed as trolling or looking for a fight/drama; quite sad if you ask me.

To be perfectly honest, for me, it's true that sometimes this thread and others like it become so embroiled in raw negativity and kind of weird ways of talking about the devs that I have to bow out for a while. I know it's the nature of the beast, especially a discussion that's gone on for this long, and, you know - given that the very premise is being a complaint/vent thread. But hey, as far as public forums for this game go, they're also one of the only places that don't feel entirely futile to post a tl;dr when the urge for vomiting words hits me, so.

[CrownySuccubus]

To be perfectly honest, for me, it's true that sometimes this thread and others like it become so embroiled in raw negativity and kind of weird ways of talking about the devs that I have to bow out for a while. I know it's the nature of the beast, especially a discussion that's gone on for this long, and, you know - given that the very premise is being a complaint/vent thread. But hey, as far as public forums for this game go, they're also one of the only places that don't feel entirely futile to post a tl;dr when the urge for vomiting words hits me, so.

Same. That's why I don't hesitate to speak up when the echo chamber of salt and negativity gets started. Eventually it becomes a contest of "who can say the most negative-sounding words about the game/plot/characters/devs for the highest upvotes"?

Ninety percent of the time, the topic and the people in it are chill. But that ten percent rolls in quick.