It's very apparent that you so badly want XIV to succeed and be better in every aspect that you believe WoW failed in. This all reads like someone left WoW, then watched the XIV NoClip Documentary and formed their fanfic based on that.
Yes we're all AWARE of what happened, I was there too, I have the stupid 1.0 Collector's Edition to mock me for it. But you can't say SE doesn't chainsaw stuff while also praising them for chainsawing stuff in a good way. Because at that point it just makes your arguments seem dishonest and flip-floppy to fill the narrative of XIV good, WoW bad. (I personally enjoyed the old Gathering system)
XIV is not in a good spot after all of the culling, and we should be criticizing that - We're not HATING, but we need to actually stop and talk about what's going on instead of ignoring it all.
The absolute worst offense I think XIV has done is compartmentalize every aspect of the game to force playstyles in certain directions instead of embracing the world they've created. They've effectively turned every system into hallways just like our dungeons are now, and they refuse to iterate on systems they create. Their dev cycle is to create, forget, and never discuss.
We've been slowly bleeding combat mechanics every expac, and while I agree that our major fights as a whole have gotten better, our core mechanics have been culled and gotten worse since Stormblood. Every single class gutted, some completely butchered, and I wear this Soul Crystal as a memory of old systems that they've destroyed but still put on display.
There are a LOT of little things that just add up over the years, things we thought were annoying were actually pretty engaging and offered more player to player interaction. For every bad mechanic removed, we've also lost some good ones. There's no reason for us to even TALK in dungeons anymore because it's too streamlined.
Saying I can still do all of the old content and story FF has to offer is like telling me I can still pet my dog after I've taxidermied the poor thing. So like technically sure? But gross, not even remotely the same as before.

Reply With Quote


