The bigotry of low expectations

[Reap00]

Who cares about the tail clipping the armor? Most armors are like that.

Who cares about the relic being a tome grind? Anima weapon was like that.

Who cares about EW SMN being simplified? You also spammed ruin 3 in ShB

Isn't this a sad state of affairs when 90% of defenses of this game are now just "it was always like this"

I agree. Who cares about anything you stated. I certainly don't.

[Avoidy]

Troll topic, but to the OP's point if you do not like it vote with your wallet.

In a perfect world this would work, but recently I've learned about the sheer extent to which the average fan spends in this game and it's kinda nutty. There are so many people playing this game right now who don't care about the actual video game aspect of it and just play to /beesknees in a dance club or textfuck strangers, so whenever a new cash shop outfit or mount comes out, they buy it immediately. No questions asked. It's new, they can afford it, they open their wallet to get it. And when there's serious downtime instances like during covid where we went a year with no updates because of the pandemic shutting the office down, they just stay subbed anyway despite the literal maintenance mode scenario because for them the content is the social/community stuff. And some of these people spend hundreds of dollars every day on just fantasias. Making constant micro changes and stuff. Spending ten dollars on a minor eye color change and then realizing they hate it so they spend another 10. And another. And another. I've watched people do this. I actually have met several people firsthand who would drop hundreds of dollars on fantas when they went on sale and then burn through them all in like a day, turning themselves into meme transformations for 20 minutes before getting bored and fantaing to something else.

The point of this post isn't to shit on people who enjoy spending money on a hobby. Rather, it's to demonstrate how, like... okay, let's say I think the newest dog mount is ridiculous and should've been in the game as a reward for doing Eden on BLU, so I don't buy it to "vote with my wallet." I'm protesting a scummy practice by refusing to support it with my wallet. But it doesn't matter, because for every person like me who takes that principled stance, there are thousands of people who haven't thought that much about it and don't give a shit and will happily just buy whatever's thrown at them even if enabling scummy sales tactics makes the game scummier in the long run. They don't care, literally they don't care as in they haven't even considered it, and they far outnumber people like us who do, so the "vote with your wallet" philosophy fails to achieve results. The game's just got too many of these "ride or die" fanboys who refuse to think critically about how their purchases shape this game's future. I had this revelation for myself when I watched a new cash shop update drop while the game was in a particularly bad content lull. I remember wondering aloud why that item wasn't added into the base game as an event to tide people over through the content drought, and the community basically asked me if I was poor or something and then they all proceeded to just buy the item without a care in the world. I went to limsa and everyone had it on, and that was when I realized like, holy shit, these people are going to get the game they deserve and it won't even bother them since they don't even play it; half of them are just on to idle in a dance club and then fondle some balls.

Basically whales and moderate spenders who turn their brains off outweigh the sensible consumer's vote 1000 to 1 so nothing matters. Even if you unsub as some act of mega protest, yoshi or one of the producers, I don't remember tbh, basically confirmed in an interview that their cash shop being so successful is why they don't mind people unsubbing to play other shit. So basically all these people who hated the game and left didn't even make a blip on square's radar because this game's just got that many people buying these shitty mounts that they don't even use in game because 95% of their time is spent in a town or in a house lol. And posting here won't matter because nobody important reads these boards. Basically if you hate the direction this game's going, just give up 'cause it's over fam. Enjoy what you can while you can and dip once you can't stand it anymore.

[Bobby66]

Snip.

That is pretty much why I stated in the rest of my post, that SE has very little to reason to change how they are doing things. Pretty much agree.

The issues we face as gamers are 100% our fault as gamers. If people did not buy into microtransactions to the insane amount as they do, did not let their desire to fund their hobby overshadow the warnings from people that this will not be good for the future of gaming maybe just maybe we would not be in this situation. Truth is we are here, whales are here to stay and they will become the focus for devs, the ones that want to play a good game will be on the back burner.

[Zanarkand-Ronso]

Except he might be a troll per say, he still makes a good point in this particular case

Yall need to stop trying to deny any sort of complaint because it's Titanmen, he might be a troll he can still make very good points.

When did I deny any Complaint? When did I say at all he didnt make any good points?
Ive agreed with complaints on several occasions. I didnt even state an opinion for or against any of his points.
lol. @ing me for literally no reason.

[Aword3213]

When did I deny any Complaint? When did I say at all he didnt make any good points?
Ive agreed with complaints on several occasions. I didnt even state an opinion for or against any of his points.
lol. @ing me for literally no reason.

Hypocritical, isn’t it?

She urges you not to read into the origin of OP’s identity, but the point OP is making.

But she was doing the exact opposite.

[Koros]

Basically whales and moderate spenders who turn their brains off outweigh the sensible consumer's vote 1000 to 1 so nothing matters. Even if you unsub as some act of mega protest, yoshi or one of the producers, I don't remember tbh, basically confirmed in an interview that their cash shop being so successful is why they don't mind people unsubbing to play other shit. So basically all these people who hated the game and left didn't even make a blip on square's radar because this game's just got that many people buying these shitty mounts that they don't even use in game because 95% of their time is spent in a town or in a house lol. And posting here won't matter because nobody important reads these boards. Basically if you hate the direction this game's going, just give up 'cause it's over fam. Enjoy what you can while you can and dip once you can't stand it anymore.

It's very very sad because your post just described the economy and attitude in the typical F2P gacha game. And you're completely right, this game is basically in F2P gacha game maintenance mode now.

[OM3GA-Z3RO]

Hell, Gacha games are releasing better quality content than XIV lately.

[Carin-Eri]

Troll topic, but to the OP's point if you do not like it vote with your wallet..

Sadly, whilst the theory is sound, it doesn't work in practice.

There are plenty of Free to Play games committed to business models that revolve around lootboxes. And the disgruntled element of the playerbases of those games will say the same thing. And yet those games continue, and in some cases even thrive - which suggests that either those players who suggest "voting with your wallet" don't follow their own advice, or the number of players who do follow that advice don't prompt a shift in metrics that give the company in question any cause to be concerned.

[Hurlstone]

Again, I feel like there is a level of strange gaslighting here. I rarely see people give the blanket statements OP is describing. Most would agree that you can still enjoy the game whilst also acknowledging the flaws it has, and you are not some sort of sycophant if you do not happen to agree with every flaw an OP has. Would it be fair to say that everyone who had objections about the game should just quit and play something else? Only trolls (And Sith) deal in absolutes most of the time.

[Jojoya]

This has been my principle since forever, and one that I applied to ffxiv as well, especially in EW. But damn, I'm surprised that they manage to beat my expectation. I was coping that this relic step will at the very least won't use tome grind again.. joke's on me.

At least you get to do the content you enjoy instead of being forced into repeating content you don't like. There's no one way to get tomestones.

Hell, Gacha games are releasing better quality content than XIV lately.

Gacha games also tend to make more money than FFXIV.

They aren't making more money because they offer better quality to attract more players from the start. They make more money because they prey on those with poor money management skills, gambling addictions, or an obsessive desire to "collect them all" by using tactics that encourage players to spend more real money rather rely on currency earned through game play (limited time loot being one of the most common methods).

Gacha is a great deal for those with the self-control to not spend the money but a lot of players are spending hundreds or even thousands a month compared to the $15/mo we have to pay for a subscription here.