Me as a newbie after skimming through the forum be like

[Stormpeaks]

By visiting the forums? yes.

The game is fine. Only unhappy people will complain. A huge part of the play base are happy and you won't see them posting about how happy they are.

Ah the good old "muh majoritah", it had been a while

I am sure no one that plays the game has any sort of complaint or thing they dislike, they obviously are so happy and like everything that's in the game

also lol @ "only unhappy people will complain"

duh ? Unhappy people complain, that's the entire point, you can be happy about the game and still have complaints about it though or suggestions for improvements

[Mosha]

Okay? You still don't play them the same way.

You're just looking at cooldowns, not gameplay.

It plays like any other tank. you do your burst in your Yoship-mandated burst window

[SilversLyu]

Apart from the fact both have a skill that every 60secs you get 3 stacks of free uses on your heavy attacks which a normally generated through your 123 combo. It's almost like people are upset that DRK uniqueness got ripped out and transplanted by WARs Inner Release.

DRK: "who are you?"
WAR: "I am you but better"

[Eorzean_username]

Me: Did I just make a grave mistake?

Very few people think, "Wow, I'm happy and everything is fine. I better go inform the company that made this product!"

So methods of company contact and communication are going to be predominated by complaints, because unhappiness is a much more powerful motivator to engage with feedback mechanisms than happiness.

There's also just generally less feedback to provide when you're happy. Someone can only say, "I like this. Don't change anything!", so many times before it begins to feel pointless.

In contrast, being displeased opens up hundreds of avenues to begin highlighting grievances, criticising choices, and suggesting adjustments and modifications. So unhappiness is also a more productive source of content.

——————————————

Historically, game forums also had "fun threads", general "I love Moogles" type discussions, memes, gameplay guides, etc.

But over time, all of those have been socially-outsourced to places like Reddit, Twitter, Discord, IcyVeins, etc.

So when you boil it down, what the Forums still have going for them is that they are, ostensibly, a channel of communication to the developers. And that means that they become filled with the primary kind of communication that most people are motivated to actually spend time typing: Complaints.

——————————————

However, being quite blunt, you could pick literally any slice of FFXIV history, and construct a complex list of grievances, balance issues, Job identity problems, design flaws, content issues... etc. FFXIV has never been a very "perfect" game, it's been a clunkfest from day 1. The selling point is that it's a comfy, approachable, rather-endearing clunkfest.

As for right now, the trend of design choices for a while now has been particularly off-putting to a certain segment of veteran players, so they're magnifying their displeasure about it through the lens of their own preferences. It's not exactly objective.

Of course, that doesn't automatically mean that the current criticisms are inaccurate or false — but keep in mind that they may be exaggerated relative to how much it actually matters to you personally.

The best approach would be to keep playing if you're currently enjoying yourself and your character, and see if you ever begin to notice or agree with the complaints, and whether you're still having fun, if so. And if you are still having fun, then I wouldn't worry about it — entertainment is what you paid for, after all, not a Platonic Ideal of game design.

[Absurdity]

Okay? You still don't play them the same way.

Except you do. Only difference is that instead of pressing Upheaval once during your burst you spam "Upheaval of Shadow" 5 times before going back to 1-2-3 for 45 seconds.

So the big difference between Dark Knight and Warrior is whether you want carpal tunnel followed by mindnumbing boredom or just mindnumbing boredom, incredible.

[Saraide]

Except you do. Only difference is that instead of pressing Upheaval once during your burst you spam "Upheaval of Shadow" 5 times before going back to 1-2-3 for 45 seconds.

So the big difference between Dark Knight and Warrior is whether you want carpal tunnel followed by mindnumbing boredom or just mindnumbing boredom, incredible.

You can also just sometimes miss a mitigation for no good reason because SE didnt make a tankbuster magical damage. Current drk is so well designed, am i right? /s

[Godzillaxpowerrangers]

Run. Run from the forums too save your sanity and purity. After visiting the diablo 4 forums this place seems like a dream land minus the kirby.

[Rein_eon_Osborne]

Mistake? Probably no.

Enjoy what you can see—but you probably won’t be able to understand them until you play the game more. The experience starts out like a rollercoaster on the dawn of gameplay & gets rather stale later on. When you reach that point, perhaps all the discussions you read today will start making some sense to you.

"Jobs are totally fine!" is an opinion espoused exclusively by people who don't play them skillfully.

Oh noes. Exposing the true intelligence.

[Alleluia]

Except you do. Only difference is that instead of pressing Upheaval once during your burst you spam "Upheaval of Shadow" 5 times before going back to 1-2-3 for 45 seconds.

So the big difference between Dark Knight and Warrior is whether you want carpal tunnel followed by mindnumbing boredom or just mindnumbing boredom, incredible.

You hatin', but I like playing my blue melee healer.

[Carin-Eri]

Subbing to the game? No.

Looking at General Discussion? Possibly. lol Its currently full of complainers (some valid, some trolls, some bitter beyond recovery), people complaining about the complainers, and it just generally may bring down your mood.

On the other hand, the rest of the boards are fairly ok, so if you have a specific thread or question in mind that can fit in one of those, I'd encourage you to post it there.

This.

When I was new I posted a thread admitting that I was struggling with the game and questioning whether someone with my lacking talent for the gameplay should persist with it or not. I received a lot of support, encouragement and advice in that thread and opted to struggle onward - something that, in hindsight, I really don't regret. And consequently, have always been grateful for the support I received in that thread.