Looking at other Regions playing XIV

[LianaThorne]

I wouldnt get my hopes up. Screencap this but 7.0 will be the final straw for the playerbase and this game will be dead

I rarely agree with you but this is one that I will with. If the content itself isn't improved (i.e. the massive downgrade from ShB content to what we've been getting from EW) then I could see the game bleed users. I played this game religiously up until the most recent .5 patch and seeing the 1-2 hour content we were given was the first time I honestly considered quitting the game.

I don't think the NA playstyle is going to cause the company to lose money more than the content itself not being amazing would. Those who operate on NA are used to it and still continue to play, the content is what is actually making people take breaks or fully leave (as we can see with several high profile Twitch streamers abandoning the game for others because lack of things to do/stream and the overall lowering of PF ads for content even in more populated DC & regions).

[SannaR]

I'm not sure when the shift happened. I know it happened gradually though. Would it be nice if it shifted a little bit back towards how it was? Sure. I think part of the problem is too many good people got burnt out. Or felt that trying to care, teach, or expect more from their fellow players than just using one skill/spell over and over wasn't worth their time. Let alone worth the slow erosion of their sanity. At some point the mind set of doing the "bare minimum" and expecting everyone else to also do that gained the label of being toxic. That the mind set of why should I bother to try when I can just get carried by 3, 7, 23 or fewer people over time became the norm. After all it is just a game it shouldn't be a job. Why should I need or have to put in any effort to play my role or my job after coming home from work?

It's a fine line to try and stay on as on one side you have what we have now. On the other it becomes a challenge to get anything done if you've somehow managed to step on one too many toes. Do I wish the community would move a little back towards at least the feeling of the majority are actually trying and would do better if there were ways in game to figure out how to do better? Heck yeah. I also know that the game has strayed away and probably won't get anywhere close to going back to making things have any kind of bite. People say that there are no dps checks in most of the game. Yet I don't get the impression from most that they've had many runs of anything that feels like someone is trying to shred you like cheese with a slab of concrete as the grater. Or they would know there are a lot of fights where the game mercy kills you. If not has a soft enrage that you only see cause the fight has been going on as long as your average dungeon run.

[Atelier-Bagur]

I rarely agree with you but this is one that I will with. If the content itself isn't improved (i.e. the massive downgrade from ShB content to what we've been getting from EW) then I could see the game bleed users. I played this game religiously up until the most recent .5 patch and seeing the 1-2 hour content we were given was the first time I honestly considered quitting the game.

I don't think the NA playstyle is going to cause the company to lose money more than the content itself not being amazing would. Those who operate on NA are used to it and still continue to play, the content is what is actually making people take breaks or fully leave (as we can see with several high profile Twitch streamers abandoning the game for others because lack of things to do/stream and the overall lowering of PF ads for content even in more populated DC & regions).

Your first mistake was thinking the downgrade happened in Shb. When in reality, the game was rigged from the start in 2.0

The game's overall design is so painfully average that every expansion starting from Heavensward slowly peels off the layers mediocrity when many other MMOs do many of this game's aspects such as combat, quests, dungeons, raids, housing, exploration much better.

The only reason it wades by is because FFXIV tries to do everything other MMOs do just plain "fine". Its only saving grace is the story being the best presented out of all other MMOs but MMOs are much more than just story

[Themarvin]

EU and JP may complain about a lack of content, but they are playing what they have and making the most out of it, teaching people old content, clearing people through ultimates who wanna learn, etc.

I've come to realize NA is the only region for XIV thats struggling with playing this game, NA would rather crowd together in discords over populating the worlds, doing content, and actually working together to make this feel like a normal MMO. And thats kinda sad.

I used to think FF was just in a poor state, and thats not denying all of its flaws. But NA just refuses to be normal.

If NA is struggling with the game then it is more a cultural problem than FFXIV as itself, the game is really not in a poor state... usually people play the game in JP and EU.. learn from it then move on from there instead of yelling at each other as in why can't you do it better and my method is best... no mine... and then after 1 hour not even touched the boss in whatever EX trial or whatever else content because there is 4 people discussing wildly which strategy should be used instead of just picking one and getting on with, and if not work try the next.

Complaining about lack of content is EVERY SINGLE MMO's biggest problem even WoW, and it can be solved with if we all pay like 50-75 dollars per month in subscription to have more paid staff for neverending content and you will still eventually hit the wall.

[TaleraRistain]

What content are you referring to? I queue with randoms every day on Aether for roulettes and I don't see anyone refusing to do their role or refusing to participate. Most runs are quick and simple.

NA does have lower clear rates for things, but that's because we don't have a culture where we feel we have to do content just because the developers put it out there. They gave us the choice to do it or not and we participate in the things we're interested in.

[Turnintino]

What content are you referring to? I queue with randoms every day on Aether for roulettes and I don't see anyone refusing to do their role or refusing to participate. Most runs are quick and simple.

I've had the same experience on Primal. If I notice any deviation, it's usually among sprouts and new tanks/healers in lower level content who are just learning -- and even then, it's rare that it's a persistent issue.

Granted, the hardest content I ever run are Extremes lol. Touching on your second point, I'm not personally interested in running high-end content, so I simply... don't.

[NekoMataMata]

What content are you referring to? I queue with randoms every day on Aether for roulettes and I don't see anyone refusing to do their role or refusing to participate. Most runs are quick and simple.

NA does have lower clear rates for things, but that's because we don't have a culture where we feel we have to do content just because the developers put it out there. They gave us the choice to do it or not and we participate in the things we're interested in.

Honestly, I care less about the quality of players and just wish more people would bother to do content on NA. I spent over 5 hours queued up for Euphrosyne yesterday evening to get my weekly clear. Even interest in current content seems to be dwindling. You can't play a multiplayer game alone.

And I know someone is going to lecture me on how it's my server(I'm not queueing for it on Dyna), or how it's the time(prime time NA) or the day of the week(okay maybe) or maybe it's your role(dps so probably not). To me it's unacceptable though. Regardless of all these factors, a multiplayer game as big as this should probably have people on at all times of the day queueing for different content.

I'm pretty much on the edge of just packing up my house and quitting at this point. The game isn't dead. The people playing it just aren't playing the content. Outside of roulettes, getting specific content, or even seeing anything interesting in party finder(actually seeing anything in party finder) is a rarity.

[Absimiliard]

This isn't an NA problem. It's a worldwide problem. Every region has seen a marked increase in queue times for certain content.

Euphrosyne isn't what I would consider a fair point of comparison, however. Its queue times have been surprisingly long since its inception, though they are undeniably much longer now than they were when it was new. The mere fact it had such long queue times at release tells us more than a few people didn't like it.

[Turnintino]

Honestly, I care less about the quality of players and just wish more people would bother to do content on NA. I spent over 5 hours queued up for Euphrosyne yesterday evening to get my weekly clear. Even interest in current content seems to be dwindling. You can't play a multiplayer game alone.

And I know someone is going to lecture me on how it's my server(I'm not queueing for it on Dyna), or how it's the time(prime time NA) or the day of the week(okay maybe) or maybe it's your role(dps so probably not). To me it's unacceptable though. Regardless of all these factors, a multiplayer game as big as this should probably have people on at all times of the day queueing for different content.

I'm pretty much on the edge of just packing up my house and quitting at this point. The game isn't dead. The people playing it just aren't playing the content. Outside of roulettes, getting specific content, or even seeing anything interesting in party finder(actually seeing anything in party finder) is a rarity.

I wanna be very clear that I'm not suggesting you're being dishonest -- I don't necessarily find it hard to believe lol. That said, that sounds insane to me. I regularly forget to get my clear till the end of the week (in fact, this reminded me that I still haven't yet...), and I tend to play late at night (PST), but I've never had to wait longer than maybe fifteen minutes, max, for Euphrosyne.

Regardless, you're infinitely more patient than I am lol. I probably would've withdrawn a half an hour into the queue at the absolute latest.

[DixieBellOCE]

Can you provide a recent example/the origin of this thread? I'm curious what actually happened to provoke this.

But I will say using the words "But NA just refuses to be normal" comes off like a way to start a hate thread to me. It could have been worded differently such as "What makes NA play so differently compared to other regions?". That's just my opinion and if you don't agree then that's fine. Not gonna ruin my day.

I wont call NA 'Abnormal' but i will say it has the highest density of casual players in any region.

That straight up affects everything to do with actual gameplay, Raiding was a nightmare for the 7 months i played on Seraph, and i will never go back again.

How a community cannot decide on a single strategy and use 300 different variations of something simply just to make it their own, is beyond me.
There were so many groups saying 'JP Strats' but then changing them to make the strats harder than they were originally just to be different.

It's Chaos, that is the only word i have to describe playing on NA.

It's not a bad thing for day to day stuff, but it's a terrible experience in the higher end gameplay.