Quote Originally Posted by DPZ2 View Post
frankly, the only one who can be critically objective is that professional game critic, who does not play the game after assessing it.
"Professional game critics" aren't special. They're just people hired to work for a specific website. They don't have unique skills differing from you or I when it comes to game critique.

In fact, listening to them over your own fanbase is never a good idea. People who have no vested interest in your game aren't going to be able to provide nuanced feedback or even pick up on flaws they aren't outright apparent. Someone just starting out isn't going to realize how little actual healing is required, and thus how the jobs actually spend the overwhelming amount of time pressing one button. Listening to people who don't play the jobs is precisely Bard has been completely gutted. Instead of listening to players who actively played and enjoy Bard. They were more concerned with convincing people who didn't like it to play it. Guess what? They didn't. And Bard has dropped from being the most popular DPS in Stormblood to one of the least since.

"Professional game critics" are about the last people the devs should be listening to. They aren't playing FFXIV more than they have to for a review.