Playing an expansion as current content has been a lacklustre MMO experience

[Rolder50]

The biggest limiter to this game isn't the amount of content, it's the people who refuse to play it because they view this game as a "cheap girlfriend". They plow through the story and the raids, and then go play something else. But the worst part? Those exact same people spend hours of their time extolling on forums like this one about how great FFXIV is BECAUSE it has no gameplay. Many of them unsub and tell others to do the same, as you can see in this thread. Out of some kind of twisted "love" for the game!

The remainder of us who long to continue playing have no one to queue with. Our FCs become ghost towns, our friends never log in, queues get longer and longer, and PF becomes deserted. New players, like OP, never get exposed to some of the more obscure content.

Perhaps it's best for us to adjust to see this game as a "cheap girlfriend"--not because of the game itself, but because that's how other players want to see it. They don't see FFXIV as an equal to something like WoW. Just some "side hoe". Perhaps that's what it means to be cheap.

I'd argue it's at least partially the game. The game design more or less caters to people who just plow through the story and unsub, because it just doesn't release new content fast enough to keep those people interested.

If there was enough meat on the bones to keep people from plowing through stuff in a week and unsubbing then we wouldn't be having this problem. To expand on the original analogy, the game is shallow and doesn't have enough depth for a proper relationship, hence, side hoe.

[R041]

I still have fun. Everything doesn't have to be a perfectly clean run, optimized out the wazoo.

This is why everything's a babytown hallway and the open world isn't dangerous. Can't slip up if you're not allowed.

[Deveryn]

I'd argue it's at least partially the game. The game design more or less caters to people who just plow through the story and unsub, because it just doesn't release new content fast enough to keep those people interested.

If there was enough meat on the bones to keep people from plowing through stuff in a week and unsubbing then we wouldn't be having this problem. To expand on the original analogy, the game is shallow and doesn't have enough depth for a proper relationship, hence, side hoe.

There will never be enough, certainly not without raising the cost of the service by a significant amount.

[DPZ2]

I'd argue it's at least partially the game. The game design more or less caters to people who just plow through the story and unsub, because it just doesn't release new content fast enough to keep those people interested.

You've just described every MMORPG I've ever played.

As an example, the only thing that kept me subscribed to World of Warcraft for 10 years was leveling alts both Horde and Alliance side. The actual "content" didn't change fast enough, or at all. How fondly I remember that period of time after Cataclysm patch 4.3 came out in November 2011 ... to be replaced by Mists of Pandaria in September of 2012. What an engaging period of constant content updates that was! Not.

[DPZ2]

The remainder of us who long to continue playing have no one to queue with. Our FCs become ghost towns, our friends never log in, queues get longer and longer, and PF becomes deserted. New players, like OP, never get exposed to some of the more obscure content.

You just moved to Seraph in the last month (as has everyone else who is currently on a realm of the Dynamis Data Center). Your experience may not be typical.

Friends not logging in? Schedule time with them via Discord ... or admit that players in-game may not be more than acquaintances regardless of what they call that List. FCs become ghost towns? If you see 10 or more people logged in at the tail end of a patch, consider yourself lucky. Thus has it ever been, thus will it ever be. (And remember, kids, that World of Warcraft just released their new expansion a grand total of 9 days ago). Queues get longer ... I have not noticed that problem on Aether or Crystal. I haven't experienced that problem on Dynamis either. PF becomes deserted? Again - tail end of patch cycle, plus Major Holidays, will do that.

The OP hasn't been interested in the major Things-To-Do. Savage raiding? "Tried it, died a bit more than I want, ditched it" isn't running out of things to do, it's deciding that Raiding isn't their thing. Criterion instances? "Haven't tried it, probably won't because they're not guaranteeing loot and major updates every patch cycle" isn't running out of things to do, it's deciding that Variant and Criterion instances aren't their thing. And that's all right.

Their solution is creative and, given their apparent playstyle, right in line with their comments. Purchase expansion, play through expansion, unsub until the end and play through the remaining patches leading up to ... Rinse. Repeat. They'll miss out on a lot, of course, but they don't seem that interested in the social aspects of the game.

If it isn't "doing it" for someone, my own recommendation is to "Go do something else that will". Note that this isn't a bad thing. It just happens to be the logical thing to do when you no longer get your money's worth of entertainment from something. It's certainly the reason I stopped playing WoW after 10 years ... I had been also playing this game for 4 of those 10 years. Guess which one I decided was worth continuing the subscription?

[Iscah]

Which alliance raid is mid-level difficulty?

Relative to Crystal Tower, most of them.

[Saraide]

Relative to Crystal Tower, most of them.

Wipes can still easily happen in crystal tower raids. For a wipe to happen in later raids you need entire alliances to just be allergic to dodging entirely. So I'm going to disagree that any of the later ones are actually mid level difficulty.

[Kaliesto]

I'd argue it's at least partially the game. The game design more or less caters to people who just plow through the story and unsub, because it just doesn't release new content fast enough to keep those people interested.

If there was enough meat on the bones to keep people from plowing through stuff in a week and unsubbing then we wouldn't be having this problem. To expand on the original analogy, the game is shallow and doesn't have enough depth for a proper relationship, hence, side hoe.

Much as it pains me, but that analogy is pretty accurate.

What is holding them back from making content be longer than a week? Eureka, Bozja, good ideas if not perfect, they should have kept going with that.

[Jettinson]

Wipes can still easily happen in crystal tower raids. For a wipe to happen in later raids you need entire alliances to just be allergic to dodging entirely. So I'm going to disagree that any of the later ones are actually mid level difficulty.

Hardly can't compare wiping to... Mr. Charging Energy Stones to anyone else, you have to intentionally not do dps lol

[ForteNightshade]

It's hard to enjoy anything other than the current expansion content of other games because the FOMO is real elsewhere. If you're not in there for the first month or so, you're out of luck later on. Just look at how the scheduling has lined up. Anyone that's taking a break right now is going to be on WoW for December and then they'll jump back for 6.3. It's easier to come and go here than it is elsewhere.

Yoshi's comment isn't a get out of jail free card, but a reality check. They cannot and will not be able to keep up with unrealistic demands. The game is there to enjoy at your leisure, not be a life partner.

6.1's entire patch cycle could be completed within a week excluding Ultimate. Criticising the lackluster longevity of content in this game isn't unrealistic. It speaks volumes when Yoshida is literally begging people to take it slow with Island Sanctuary. It isn't because the content is meant to be casual paced. It's because there's very little actual content available. I didn't even touch IS for two weeks and still finished it in a little over a week. And that's just with going to to the island and gathering for a little bit.

It never ceases to amaze just how far people will go to defend this game. The lack of midcore content has been a pretty major complaint for a while now.

What I really dislike though is the lack of a "midcore", the content between Normal and Savage in terms of raiding as an example. We've got Unreal and Extremes but those are single digit numbers of fights each patch and you farm them for a mount before stopping. There's also Criterion which is a new system and while I've not touched it so far, it does seem interesting but unless they're going to add new dungeons to that with EVERY major patch (and maybe more rewards), I don’t really see why I’d play this now versus waiting for the last patch to binge all of Endwalker.

Unfortunately, Criterion kind of missed the mark. It's weirdly scaled to be, arguably, harder than some of the Savage fights. Except it has virtually zero rewards. In other words, it's completely dead content for a majority of the playerbase while the raiders who would be interested only run it for a short while before abandoning it completely. The actual Savage version is even worse. Nearly everyone I know who completed has zero intention of ever going back because the rewards are non-existent.