Revelations from Patch 6.5: "Growing Light", Part 1

[Naraku_Diabolos]

Why is a vast majority of the players disgusted by how the Endwalker patches and dialogue has been? I don’t see nor understand this with people. This patch series has been fine, and I have greatly enjoyed learning about the Thirteenth and if it could be saved. I’m eager to see if any future stories have us going back to the Thirteenth to help it’s planet and people.

[Cilia]

Why is a vast majority of the players disgusted by how the Endwalker patches and dialogue has been? I don’t see nor understand this with people. This patch series has been fine, and I have greatly enjoyed learning about the Thirteenth and if it could be saved. I’m eager to see if any future stories have us going back to the Thirteenth to help it’s planet and people.

Since you're asking... (and bear in mind I do not agree with all of the following points...)

1. Lingering resentment over 6.0 not meeting expectations. (The "Endwalker SUCKS!!!" thread over in General is still there... with people still complaining... almost 2 years later...)

2. Bad pacing.

3. Trite, shounen "power of friendship trust" lesson.

4. Rough if not outright bad dialogue at points. ("That was what possessed me," indeed.)

5. No shakeup of the status quo (re: "consequences").

6. Leaning so heavily on IV fanservice for the MSQ.

... and the fact Dawntrail is shaping up to be a fun adventure instead of dark and gritty has the same people so critical of Endwalker very nettled, which isn't helping matters.

The worldbuilding around the Void was interesting, and Golbez and the Archfiends were good characters... but the rest was pretty terribad, to be honest.

[Lunaxia]

....

Lists all the valid reasons these patches have been pretty awful and agrees with a chunk of them... still feels the need to slate the thread.

But yes, pretty much this. I'd say the biggest sin is the quality of the writing, to be honest. You can forgive a lot of cheese and self-indulgent fluff when it's written reasonably well, but for some reason the quality has dropped off more noticeably lately than at any other time in FFXIV's history - and when the plot is that bland, it needs all the help from the writing it can get. The combination of both being disappointing and the lack of a satisfying pay-off for what has been nearly two years of some pretty lacklustre storytelling that most people assumed was building up to something worthwhile has left a lot of players feeling understandably let down.

The idea that it was supposed to be the trials side quest for the expansion that wound up fleshed out into the MSQ has been thrown around quite a bit, and you can kind of see why.