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

[Amenara]

I think there is a difference between feedback and Live letters. Almost all the live letters act as a way of showing off new content coming and hyping it up vs providing feedback to player concerns and questions. I am not saying Blizzard's feedback is great but it does exist to some extent which doesn't on the FFXIV forums. I will agree that there is the occasional live letter that will discuss player questions (I think 2 in the past few years?) and SE started explaining some changes (how good the explanations are is debatable) so maybe one day we can get more responsive feedback in the future.

[Carin-Eri]

I think there is a difference between feedback and Live letters. Almost all the live letters act as a way of showing off new content coming and hyping it up vs providing feedback to player concerns and questions. I am not saying Blizzard's feedback is great but it does exist to some extent which doesn't on the FFXIV forums. I will agree that there is the occasional live letter that will discuss player questions (I think 2 in the past few years?) and SE started explaining some changes (how good the explanations are is debatable) so maybe one day we can get more responsive feedback in the future.

'Feedback' via Livestreams is a mixed blessing too though. The game I played prior to FFXIV did this and, to be honest, it was utterly pointless. The answer to pretty much any/every question was avoidant nonsense that sounded like it was taken directly from a book entitled 'First Steps in Politics: How to only ever provide indirect answers to any question'.

[strawberrycake]

The problem with XIV is that it acts as an Antithesis to everything WoW is in many ways. To many Ex WoW players and many who didn't like it for (insert reason here) this is fine and great.

As a WoW player myself I agree at times it's nice not having to log in all the time and feel left behind. But it's also not fun having a game that offer no real replayable content. You can add cosmetics, you can add titles, mounts, there so much non retention based rewards you can add to non retention based content that would keep players. but we don't get content like that anymore.

As a whole with the current expansion and how SE has handled many things, it's genuinely funny to me that so many turn a blind eye to it over talking about how mediocre it is.

Some of the more glaring issues present in XIV are things people have given blizzard shit for, so it's rather telling to what people are willing to tolerate depending on whos mouth it comes out of.

Edit : I also find it annoying af that we can't ever have good faith dicussions about XIV and its issues without people just saying take a break or saying how much better then wow it is. I just want both games to be better and the devs of both games to repsect its players time and money.

[VelKallor]

that so many turn a blind eye to it over talking about how mediocre it is.

Opinions are subjective. You call it mediocre, many dont.

saying how much better then wow it is

It IS better by a light year, the story alone is fantastic...Id comment on WOWs story but..it doesnt have one. SE also doesnt take a chainsaw and rip out entire sections of gameplay.

[VentVanitas]

SE also doesnt take a chainsaw and rip out entire sections of gameplay.

[R041]

It IS better by a light year, the story alone is fantastic...Id comment on WOWs story but..it doesnt have one. SE also doesnt take a chainsaw and rip out entire sections of gameplay.

SE is KNOWN for their chainsaw behavior.. We barely even have classes anymore, and open world is a joke. We praise the biggest chainsaw of them all! 1.0 to 2.0 LOL

And the 'Story' is just a thousand writers throwing random shit at a wall. I wouldn't doubt we have more Writers than Developers, and I think that needs to be shifted a bit. Fire some writers, let's get some more gameplay.

These are just discussions in bad faith.

[Raoabolic]

Don't talk to me about staying in a lane. You're the one accusing me of being some kind of pervert. This and other bullshit are the legit more toxic behaviours in this community. I was just having a chat with someone the other day and they were telling me how uncomfortable they were made to feel about progressing MSQ and being told how they should like this character and that quest.

My commentary and responses are not in the same category. I'm not telling anyone to assimilate. I'm telling people to think for themselves and look after themselves. Here, it all boils down to doing oneself a favor and knowing when to take breaks. Diadem: I was getting into the differences between zones and posing alternative for activities to do during queue times. If you actually have a legit difference of opinion, I'm happy to discuss it, but you and others just want to spew bullshit and try and paint me as something I'm not. At that point, I've lost all respect and have no care for civility or even continuing the convo. The only counters I ever see to any of my points tend to be something unrelated or a personal attack, but I'm somehow wrong for having a difference of opinion in the first place.

Listen, all I said is that it's okay if you want to defend erp. If you want to paint your personal issues as "anxiety" then wave that flag, but don't go using it as a weapon. Besides, if we are talking about midcore content then you have to look at the bigger issue of the fact that everything in the game seems to be instanced. They could make Diadem an actual zone but I have a feeling that if they could do it easily then they would. However, it seems like they are doubling down on instanced content so I doubt much will change since it would be too difficult for such a small company. If more content was open world or at least in a traditional zone then a lot of issues would be alleviated. I'm sure i'm not the only one who would love to queue while messing around Diadem or doing Bozja content.

[Zebraoracle]

Listen, all I said is that it's okay if you want to defend erp. If you want to paint your personal issues as "anxiety" then wave that flag, but don't go using it as a weapon. Besides, if we are talking about midcore content then you have to look at the bigger issue of the fact that everything in the game seems to be instanced. They could make Diadem an actual zone but I have a feeling that if they could do it easily then they would. However, it seems like they are doubling down on instanced content so I doubt much will change since it would be too difficult for such a small company. If more content was open world or at least in a traditional zone then a lot of issues would be alleviated. I'm sure i'm not the only one who would love to queue while messing around Diadem or doing Bozja content.

Do Diadem and Bozja really count as midcore content though?

[Raoabolic]

Do Diadem and Bozja really count as midcore content though?

I would say so in the sense that Diadem is midcore content for DoH/DoL if you throw in the Firmament, doubly so if you are going for your glowing crafter relics. Also, Bozja's duel system is essentially a solo EX fight. Any fight can be trivial once you figure it out but Bozja allows the individual some wiggle room to mess up in the form of your holster. It's a shame that CLL and Dalriada are really not solo/low man friendly unless you have a ton of Honor and some strong lost actions. As far as midcore content for DoW/DoM I would say that the southern front was a solid step in the right direction, too bad it's instanced. :/

[R041]

Do Diadem and Bozja really count as midcore content though?

I guess it depends on where you are with it - But I'd consider them midcore, yeah. If I could do Bozja content in an open world, while also being able to run around, mine, join the critical engagements at my own time, then that'd be perfect.

FATEs and Hunts as we currently have them are just 2 polar worst opposites of Critical Engagements. Not even talking about the Actions you get in these Duties, but just how they're setup and offer actual engaging content.

Edit: I think one of the main issues people have, or at least I have is how sectioned off EVERYTHING is. It's all pocketed away and nothing really feels like a consistent, lived world. It's just separated mini-games that all have really slow activities and menu systems now. At least in other MMOs, when I run around and do content, there's tangential content as well. Here? I don't think I've ever stopped what I was doing to go Gather or Craft something mid-content. Because those are so separated as systems that when I want resources, it's me just basically being a drone for an hour instead of naturally getting them as I wander and do things in the world itself.

When Eureka released, I was so happy that they were testing WORLD systems and we all assumed they were actually going to start using that tech in the game, not wall it off forever. Then they go and do it again, develop more walled content, forever, always walled content.