Quote Originally Posted by Theodric View Post
Yeah, it's not just limited to the story either - the mere suggestion that something about the game could stand to be improved is treated like a deeply personal attack by some within this game's community. Then, in turn, they see it as justified to launch actual personal attacks towards whoever is providing that feedback.

A lot of people also seem to be under the impression that we're obligated to ask 'permission' to voice our thoughts. I've put a handful of posters on ignore precisely because it is clear to me that they're not here to debate or discuss but merely to police what is liked or disliked. I'll admit that my concerns with the game go beyond the story itself as of its current trajectory though there are still elements of the game that I enjoy and I have friends who still play it. So the whole 'just quit if u don't liek the story' that some like to trot out doesn't really work either.

I'm mostly waiting to see what 6.2 brings and if it wasn't for being lucky enough to own a house then I wouldn't be logging in at all lately. Admittedly most of my gaming time is spent on other games lately simply because there isn't much to do in FFXIV between patches once you're all caught up.
Frankly, I haven't seen that. There's entire threads dedicated to ideas for improving the game, some for specific races, some about general QoL improvements, etc., and there's a lot of constructive, respectful discussion happening there.

People take things as personal attacks, when...well, they are personal attacks. Which, sadly, is the only MO some people seem to know around here when it comes to "criticizing" the game. I'll give an exhibit from another recent thread:

"This story is not constructed as well as more recent single player titles, and if they want to regard FFXIV as one then they need to do better than what we're seeing now with this party."

The poster acts as if they are the ultimate arbiter of what is good or bad, and then directly attacks the dev team if they don't change their approach in some way to suit the whims of the poster. That's not productive (or mature for that matter). Present something as your opinion and discuss things you'd like to see, and people react respectfully to that around here. Go about demanding things or calling other players or the dev team incompetent, terrible, fanboys, etc. and that gets treated as an attack - because it is.