The current state of the "MMORPG" FFXIV is unsustainable. Here's why

[magitekLuna]

Except by "mess" you mean "a ton of casual gamers absolutely enjoying the game and giving it the highest playerbase ever while the select few wannabe hardcore gamers throw temper tantrums that a game always designed for casual gamers is continuing that trend." There's no "mess" here - there's just playing a game intended for a different audience and complaining that it's not changing its very nature to suit you personally.

absolutely enjoying the game is a bit overstatement if you ask me. there players that like the things as they are but do the PLAY THE GAME or are they the one that just AFK in a city . as most raiders are not happy. most what you call "casuals" are not happy. when was the last time you did see some one say "yes i love to run the same 2 dungeons i have for expert for 8 month" or any other roulette. the mentality is "lets rush this thing so we finish it and move on" . now the people that are not the top raiders at last have this something other. but what the "casuals" do after they finished roulettes? they afk. and before you ask yes i normally ask the party members i get in different roulettes how they fell about the game. at first most say "yes i love it" but when i ask them "even the same 2 dungeons for expert" " even the cornet stat of most jobs" " the way the msq is" most starting to say "well not this parts". but then it comes to what you do but this parts.
so in game try to talk to people and show them first you are not a yoshi fan boy. then you will start to get what they really fell. and yes there players that genially love they way things are.

to be fair, the actual good "hardcore" players ask for more harder content. But I didnt realize Savage, EXs and Ultimates arent enough for them? I sure hope Criterion becomes a big thing for them. Sucks we only have one of it and the rewards are lacking. They should add unique dungeon sets for them imo

only if you look at the current trends most of them stopped playing. for the time or over all.

[KhudusQestir]

Except by "mess" you mean "a ton of casual gamers absolutely enjoying the game and giving it the highest playerbase ever while the select few wannabe hardcore gamers throw temper tantrums that a game always designed for casual gamers is continuing that trend." There's no "mess" here - there's just playing a game intended for a different audience and complaining that it's not changing its very nature to suit you personally.

Ok, see. . . this is only focusing on ONE group of players while ignoring the rest. Just like how you ignored my point. By mess I mean people wanting to quit FFXIV because they don't find it as exciting as it use to be. The game was more challenging that gave competitive gamers something to look forward to.

to be fair, the actual good "hardcore" players ask for more harder content. But I didnt realize Savage, EXs and Ultimates arent enough for them? I sure hope Criterion becomes a big thing for them. Sucks we only have one of it and the rewards are lacking. They should add unique dungeon sets for them imo

How many savage contents are there? Yes, they are difficult and great and that's probably the only fun challenging content there is. So speaking personally, I'd say no it's not enough.

Edit; To help explain better why this isn't enough; there are 4 savage per two patches leading to 12 savage content in each expansion. In a way, this is exactly like I mentioned before being a rinse and repeat. They are fun, I do love and enjoy them but they are nothing new to help keep the game feeling fresh and fun. The varient dungeon was fantastic! I loved that! I would like more things like that honestly. It's different and challenging.

That's still an issue. The game shouldn't rely on players to fix their issues like this, especially since there's always the possibility of players losing interest in running those discords.

I responded to this on page 5 if you'd like to take a look. Very bottom.

[NekoMataMata]

I really like how you said this, because I totally feel that. A lot.

"Playing the game to not play the game."(1)

And yes, I get that this might be a "me problem."(2)

But, like recently, I had mentioned to a friend that I didn't really mind Island Sanctuary just so long as I was listening to an engaging podcast--essentially playing the game (Island Sanctuary) to not play it (listening to the podcast "Carmudgeon"--with Jason Cammisa and Derek Tam-hyphen-Scott).

There are other examples: macro crafting (i.e., tabbing out while the macro is running, and watch an interesting video about the B18 engine), Diadem gathering (granted, Diadem is not new, but once again, listening to podcasts while mindlessly flying from node to node), and sometimes even roulettes (mostly "Main Story" roulette--like I appreciate the MSQ rework, but it's still very much afk-city; CT/ST raids are podcast fodder; and a large portion of the Lv. 60-80 dungeons--the "trash packs" feel very much like "autopilot"--i.e., turn my brain off and push two or three buttons--in fact, the Lv 90 Troia dungeon just exasperates this, because it's literally "trash packs" upon "trash packs" until the second boss), etc...

That said, I do enjoy certain aspects of the game like some of the latter Alliance (24-man) raids (Ivalice--especially "Math boss" & Mustadio, NieR--love almost everything, the Twelve--mostly because it's new & fresh and my friends goad me to get my weekly coin), Critical Engagements and Delubrum Reginae (although, the Bozja-content, I felt, could have used some tweaks/improvements and, perhaps, been iterated & improved upon)--mostly because I'm actually playing the game--without podcasts or videos running in the background--I'm actually engaged.

I want to continue enjoying Final Fantasy XIV (3), but it's become increasingly difficult, because more and more I feel like it's become a daily/weekly chore/checklist to "play" a game that I'm trying to find new ways to actually not play. I just want more reasons to actually play FF14.

---
(1) Yes, I realize it's sort of a "min-max" to an extreme, but that's sophistry
(2) I've unsubscribed/voted-with-my-wallet
(3) I'll totally be back for 6.4/7.0, because I still really like FF14 and the friends I've made along the way

I don't really mind a lot of this.

I realize I'm going to be taking the casual's side on this, but I feel like the game needs a mix of content like this. I really enjoy that the game has content that I sometimes have to focus on, and content that I sometimes don't. It's nice to be able to run crafting macros while working on my schoolwork. It's just really nice to be able to get some of the content out of the way, and then later on be able to have free time to focus on the parts of the game that are actually engaging.

There's definitely times when it doesn't work out that way though. Sometimes I finish the more afk-able stuff in-game and just end up doing nothing while working on stuff irl, or sometimes I don't have enough irl to keep me occupied while I'm doing afk content like MSQ roulette, but I appreciate it.

[KhudusQestir]

Hey, guys. Please check previous pages just incase. I had someone respond to one of my posts about something to which I have already addressed due to being the very last poster on certain page and I just became the last poster of another page. So please tyt to read or check if someone has already mentioned something about what you're about to respond to.
This was on previous page. I'm just gonna repost to make it easier;
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Except by "mess" you mean "a ton of casual gamers absolutely enjoying the game and giving it the highest playerbase ever while the select few wannabe hardcore gamers throw temper tantrums that a game always designed for casual gamers is continuing that trend." There's no "mess" here - there's just playing a game intended for a different audience and complaining that it's not changing its very nature to suit you personally.

Ok, see. . . this is only focusing on ONE group of players while ignoring the rest. Just like how you ignored my point. By mess I mean people wanting to quit FFXIV because they don't find it as exciting as it use to be. The game was more challenging that gave competitive gamers something to look forward to.

to be fair, the actual good "hardcore" players ask for more harder content. But I didnt realize Savage, EXs and Ultimates arent enough for them? I sure hope Criterion becomes a big thing for them. Sucks we only have one of it and the rewards are lacking. They should add unique dungeon sets for them imo

How many savage contents are there? Yes, they are difficult and great and that's probably the only fun challenging content there is. So speaking personally, I'd say no it's not enough.

Edit; To help explain better why this isn't enough; there are 4 savage per two patches leading to 12 savage content in each expansion. In a way, this is exactly like I mentioned before being a rinse and repeat. They are fun, I do love and enjoy them but they are nothing new to help keep the game feeling fresh and fun. The varient dungeon was fantastic! I loved that! I would like more things like that honestly. It's different and challenging.

That's still an issue. The game shouldn't rely on players to fix their issues like this, especially since there's always the possibility of players losing interest in running those discords.

I responded to this on page 5 if you'd like to take a look. Very bottom.

[Shinkuno]

Except by "mess" you mean "a ton of casual gamers absolutely enjoying the game and giving it the highest playerbase ever while the select few wannabe hardcore gamers throw temper tantrums that a game always designed for casual gamers is continuing that trend." There's no "mess" here - there's just playing a game intended for a different audience and complaining that it's not changing its very nature to suit you personally.

Lets see how long people can enjoy spending a monthly sub to have a game running afk in the background. A pure hardcore game wont survive, but a game with no content for the sake of "casuals" wont either. Its no suprise the most popular games on the market are highly competitive games with enough casual appeal to have them stick around.

[KhudusQestir]

Lets see how long people can enjoy spending a monthly sub to have a game running afk in the background. A pure hardcore game wont survive, but a game with no content for the sake of "casuals" wont either. Its no suprise the most popular games on the market are highly competitive games with enough casual appeal to have them stick around.

[R041]

Playing Diablo 4 right now, and it feels more like a lived in MMO than XIV does currently.. lol

[EgilTheStressedMage]

You haven't played any other MMO in the past.. 5 years have you?

I have. They didn't hold my attention for long, had to force myself to keep playing one of them only because I wanted to know how the story was going and the game's been active since 2008. The rest either started becoming too easy, warranted zero player interaction, were ultimately not my cup of tea, or demanded too much from me/my machine.

[magitekLuna]

Playing Diablo 4 right now, and it feels more like a lived in MMO than XIV does currently.. lol

same. D4 is fun but lets find out what end game there be. if its old good just replay the same thing but a bit harder it wont last this day

[R041]

same. D4 is fun but lets find out what end game there be. if its old good just replay the same thing but a bit harder it wont last this day

I think they're going into a similar territory as Lost Ark, where bosses have more mechanics, there are a lot of world events, and we'll likely see instanced raids. (Hopefully not like their cash shop bullshit)

Currently I'm having blast with boss mechanics. Giving every class a free dodge was the best thing to happen to Diablo. Lets them design difficult mechanics without catering to classes that don't spec into mobility.

We just did one of the world raids, and it was insane. I died 14 times. lol

I have. They didn't hold my attention for long, had to force myself to keep playing one of them only because I wanted to know how the story was going and the game's been active since 2008. The rest either started becoming too easy, warranted zero player interaction, were ultimately not my cup of tea, or demanded too much from me/my machine.

Huh.. Sounds exactly like XIV Shadowbringers 2.0 lol