Yoshi-P is still right about taking breaks to play other games

[Johners]

I'd feel much more comfortable taking longer breaks if I knew my FOMO house was protected. Or maybe just give us instanced large housing that won't be destroyed when we leave.

Unfortunately that won't happen considering how predatory SE is in general.

So the answer to Square Enix being predatory is to continue supporting Square Enix? Is a FOMO house really worth it over your time, money and enjoyment?

[remiff]

I'd be willing to take longer/more extended breaks if it didn't mean I'd lose my house lol

that's exactly the problem they should put the counter of the houses at 120 days,
Yoshida is absolutely right when he says that there are other games than final fantasy 14, but suddenly devs should increase the delay before losing the house to allow people to go elsewhere if they temporarily cannot find their fun on ff14.

[Raven2014]

I take regular break from the game.

That's why I still like it.

[R041]

So the answer to Square Enix being predatory is to continue supporting Square Enix? Is a FOMO house really worth it over your time, money and enjoyment?

Yes, because of the sunk-cost fallacy. I can't let go of something that took me years to get, knowing that sometime down the line I may actually start to enjoy XIV again. It's just that simple, and SE plays into that predatory practice.

I will lose ownership of a built-up FC, Large FC House, Personal House. All because I didn't login for a month?

Then people want to say that Blizzard is more predatory, yeah with fun gameplay maybe. But this? This is actually taking my XIV SOCIAL life hostage in an MMO where everyone says the only thing that matters is the SOCIAL aspect of it. LOL

You may as well just delete my whole godamn character, if I'm gonna up and lose all that because my sub lapsed.

[angienessyo]

I'm fine with taking breaks but I feel like outside the savage tier I'm pretty much taking breaks for 4-5 month periods because I don't really have anything to do in the game. That changed a little with the deep dungeon as I want to get 4 clears, but I'm pretty much just waiting for the next patch after that.

[OdinelStarrei]

Yes, because of the sunk-cost fallacy. I can't let go of something that took me years to get, knowing that sometime down the line I may actually start to enjoy XIV again. It's just that simple, and SE plays into that predatory practice.

I will lose ownership of a built-up FC, Large FC House, Personal House. All because I didn't login for a month?

Then people want to say that Blizzard is more predatory, yeah with fun gameplay maybe. But this? This is actually taking my XIV SOCIAL life hostage in an MMO where everyone says the only thing that matters is the SOCIAL aspect of it. LOL

You may as well just delete my whole godamn character, if I'm gonna up and lose all that because my sub lapsed.

Mate. Look. I was last here, what, five or six months ago, having a conversation with you about this, I think. I was also having a pretty fulfilling conversation with Shurrikan as well. But I also suffered from the sunk cost fallacy. I had over 400 days of playtime over most of my adult life, if I'm remembering correctly.

Some of the suggestions I and others made actually got to the developers ears and were implemented. Some DRK changes and the phys/magic split on attacks.

But I still pulled myself away, I had to. I'm not saying it'll be the same for you, but these last few months away from FFXIV have been so, so liberating. The months away from this garbage forum have been so nice. Aren't you sick of repeating the same things over and over again? Don't you heavily dislike these people yet? Aren't you sick of being insulted and repeatedly misunderstood and gaslit over what you believe is legitimate feedback born out of a concern for the game's future? What about your future, man? I put more time into my Steam Deck, I went to therapy, went back to Destiny 2 of all goddamn things to get my MMO fix because at least the gameplay doesn't put me to sleep, I'm looking for a new, better place to live and I still keep in contact with my XIV friends, to the point of where sometimes they'll pitch in to buy me a sub for new content that they think I'll enjoy. Like this new deep dungeon. But the spark is gone, and there's no point in trying to light a fire with wet materials. I still don't like the story. I still don't like the combat changes. I still don't like Island Sanctuary, or really, most things implemented in the last few patches. If people want this game to be Second Life/IMVU at the expense of actually playing the game for any reason, let em'. Pick battles you know you can win, there's no glory in a resistance movement in the face of a tsunami.

There came a point where the negative feelings I was having towards FFXIV, and the people who play it were so intense, that they actually started to overwrite my positive memories of the experience. One day, I looked at the icon on my desktop saying FINAL FANTASY XIV, and I didn't feel the longing or excitement, just a mild feeling of disgust. If you also feel that way, which I think you might, that's a sign the lamentations are taking their toll.

Hell, the guy I carpool with, great IRL friend, we put for tickets for Fanfest, he thought that I might come back to the game if I went to Vegas with him and get in on that XIV hype, and when we didn't get in, he was crushed, really disappointed. But I reminded him, when was the last time HE was happy in XIV outside of his UWU prog, or the friend group I brought him into, which he now plays Minecraft, Terraria and Phasmophobia with? We hate the raid tier. We don't like the combat anymore. The only tangible value-add this expansion had for us is cooking some stuff in the cookbook and laughing at both the asinine drama that this game and it's community produces, and the decisions made by CBU3. We don't need XIV to be friends together, we can play Monster Hunter instead.

Friend, you don't need that house. You don't need your Free Company. I know you feel that those things are really important, and they are, you put a lot of time into them. But you can find other things that are important that also don't simultaneously make you feel like shit or that you're being chained down to this.

These people here, they don't care about you, you're something to be laughed at because you dared to care too much about something that is just a RP sim, or a money honeypot for garbage like Forspoken. That's what your money is going to. And if your money, and your time are both being wasted, there comes a point where you have to say "lmao, I'm outta here." I had great difficulty separating myself from my character, because I spent so much time as Odinel, but at least try. You can always come back if you change, or if the game stops being the equivalent of self-induced torture.

Treat yourself better, go play Outer Wilds or something. This isn't worth it anymore. You can escape.

[Masekase_Hurricane]

While this is a natural part of the content release cycle in any MMO, it's absolutely important to remind ourselves of Yoshi-P's own words regarding taking breaks from XIV if you're feeling burnt by the game... especially given the negative feedback regarding content such as the new relic "grind".

Aye but those breaks are getting longer and longer my last one was 7months.

[ReynTime]

Yoshi-P may have this fine-tuned PR to make you think he's your gamer buddy. But at the end of the day he's a producer, and a businessman. He says that, but he doesn't want you unsubbing during the time you're not playing. If he wanted, the way house demolition works would be way different.
He's over 40 years old, he's got experience not only managing video games and MMORPGs, but also playing them. He's very well aware of 'sunk-cost fallacy' and he knows despite the flowery PR most people are not going to feel comfortable to stay out that long.
Don't think for a second he's saying this out of his kindness. It's just a different way to shrug at complaints of lack of content.

Also using Yoshi P's own words and literal presentation powerpoint he made: Players complaining/criticizing/offering feedback is a good thing because they still care.

You don't get it. That was back when he needed those players. Now the game and their ego got so big they can act dismissively towards complaints unless it blows out of proportion or someone with 100k+ followers questions them.

[EgoCollective]

So let me get this straight
- Set up 4 month (~ 120 days) cadence between patches, with 2 months (~60 days) between 'sub' patches.
- Release content, content is not enough to keep me occupied for more than a few days, no longer contains the requisite grinds I found fun, etc.
-Tell me it's totally fine to take breaks from the game, this is the intention, after all.
- By the way, if you have a house, and do not log in/pay your sub, your house will be demolished in 45 days, which is shorter than the patch or subpatch cycle.

This seems like bad practice. More over, I am not looking for reasons to take a break, I am looking for reasons to keep playing, responding with "The purpose of this subscription based game isn't to play it" is asinine.

From a business perspective, however, its genius: Release low effort, low tier content on a sub regular basis, cater to people who are either into the hardcore raiding/world first, or into AFKing in Limsa/Roleplaying/Housing, tell them if they don't keep their subscription they lose their RP venue, run a PR campaign that generates some mad need to defend Yoshi P and hold him on a pedestal. Profit.

[Jojoya]

Does that mean you can unsubscribe then ? Oh wait you cant because then your house auto demolishes, so much for encouraging people to take breaks and play other games eh ?

You can unsub for up to 45 days if you want. You're just limited on how long you can do it if you want to keep a house that you're not using while you're unsubbed instead of letting it go to another player that would be using it.

As you've pointed out in many threads in the housing subforum, it's easy to get a house right now so there's no need to worry if you do unsub longer and lose your house. Just put your furnishings into your inventory or your retainer inventory before you unsub then buy a new house when you return.

Yes, because of the sunk-cost fallacy. I can't let go of something that took me years to get, knowing that sometime down the line I may actually start to enjoy XIV again. It's just that simple, and SE plays into that predatory practice.

I will lose ownership of a built-up FC, Large FC House, Personal House. All because I didn't login for a month?

Then people want to say that Blizzard is more predatory, yeah with fun gameplay maybe. But this? This is actually taking my XIV SOCIAL life hostage in an MMO where everyone says the only thing that matters is the SOCIAL aspect of it. LOL

You may as well just delete my whole godamn character, if I'm gonna up and lose all that because my sub lapsed.

You're not going to lose any of those things just because you didn't log in for a month. That's only 30-31 days.

FC master isn't lost unless you haven't logged in for 35 days and can always be returned to you when you do log back in. The FC itself only auto-disbands if there are no other members that have been a part of the FC for at least 30 days. Houses do not auto-demolish unless the owner (or a FC member in the case of FC houses) do not enter the house for 45 days.

Take your month break without worry (unless you can't trust your other FC members, in which case why do you allow them to stay in your FC).