State of the Game prior to Liveletter

[KizuyaKatogami]

Not quite. The difference there is that feeling was everywhere. Talk to your guildies in-game and there'd be frustration. See guilds disappear because nobody logged on anymore. Watch more and more servers become "dead."

Here? The forums are the only place you see this negativity, and then you read the various threads and recognize it's the same small group of names over and over. Meanwhile, in-game guilds are flourishing, servers are strong, people are happy. WoW changed its very nature to focus on eSports and made decisions openly spiting large swaths of its playerbase. FFXIV has done neither of those, and in fact one of the biggest "complaints" from the naysayers are how the devs are giving people what they want in the form of fan-service.

90% of the people i used to play with have quit the game. They’re over it. The lack of content, the nothing new or changed aspect of it all, the devs not listening etc have all been contributing factors. 4-5 statics i’ve been in all broke down due to people not wanting to play the game anymore and being disappointed with the raids. Servers are strong? Meanwhile they broke down on EW launch and the devs tried to pin the blame on players’ internet at first. You’re lacking to mention that Endwalker has seen the worst player retention among all expansions.

[Jeeqbit]

You’re lacking to mention that Endwalker has seen the worst player retention among all expansions.

Evidence? The game usually grows by 200,000 consistently active players after an expansion according to years of Lucky Bancho statistics, yet it's grown by either as much or more than that this time. It's double the increase we were seeing since Shadowbringers during patch lulls.

[Lauront]

Evidence? The game usually grows by 200,000 consistently active players after an expansion according to years of Lucky Bancho statistics, yet it's grown by either as much or more than that this time. It's double the increase we were seeing since Shadowbringers during patch lulls.

He is referring to the Steam figures - which Lucky Bancho himself refers to in both this most recent survey and the previous one.

[Jeeqbit]

Extensive adjustments to Dragoon have been postponed. Looks like there are plans for it like with Samurai.

He is referring to the Steam figures - which Lucky Bancho himself refers to in both this most recent survey and the previous one.

A lot of people recommend against Steam now and others have moved away from it because of the changes.

[Lauront]

Extensive adjustments to Dragoon have been postponed. Looks like there are plans for it like with Samurai.

A lot of people recommend against Steam now and others have moved away from it because of the changes.

The former will impact new sales, but we're discussing retention - as to the latter, are you saying they've dropped the Steam version to buy the same game i.e. EW, to play outside it? Do we have anything but anecdote confirming this? Asking out of genuine curiosity here.