EW may be one of the worst expansions for raiders but was one of the best for casuals

[AurisNix]

Lol peak casual experience was in SHB, the peak casual experience in EW is just /lean in some random city, Adventure Plates were better in beta same as portraits, Island Sanctuary is just a snore fest, Post-MSQ and Alliance can be pretty much done with a blindfold with no rewards.

Peak casual content was stuff you could do in long term that didn't involve Savage or Extremes, and EW has nothing of that, if anything EW was more interesting for raiders than the rest of the player base. I had way more fun as a casual in SHB than EW, im not gonna do hardcore prog on my portrait for hours how is that actual content lol. Oh and the best adventure plates are locked behind Ultimates lol so yeah cool for casuals

[Arkdra]

It's both a win and a lose for casual players. It's a win for the casual players who have very limited playtime. The dad gamers who can maybe play 10 hours a week. Most of them aren't going to be missing any kind of long form grind they didn't have the time to engage with anyway.

For all the casuals who have too much time on their hands (like me), the content cycle has been pretty meh. I think variant dungeons are great! Maybe the most fun content they've added to the game. But it has no longevity, it's a 6 hour grind.

I have no love for bozja or eureka and did not miss them, nor am I excited for their return in 7.0. But what I did miss was having a 20-40 hour relic grind to do. The ew relic being just tomestones is fine! That's ideal really, it lets people grind a relic however they want. Where the screwed it was making the relic only cost 1500 tomestones. This is is an amount of tomestones I can literally show up with on patch day.

Eureka Orthos was a big disappointment. Not for any quality reason, I just literally cannot queue up for it and get it to pop. I ignored it at release since I was busy playing something else and I am kinda tepid on deep dungeons regardless. Figured I could get it done later on since potd never really died off. But nope, now if I want to do it I'll have to use PF. Which means I will just never do it.

Island Sanctuary decidedly a flop. The only real gameplay is the workshops but those have been awful to interact with until just this very last patch. But the gathering you do in there fuckin sucks so badly. I hate it so much. If I could just gather normally as a btn, min, and maybe fsh I would hate it less. But I have literal hours spent grinding laver and salt at this point so fuck the island. Terrible content.

They did have a couple hits though. PvP series I hate in concept for fomo reasons, but I can't deny that it's a good motivator to get my ass into some frontlines and cc's, which is content I enjoy but have little reason to engage in unless I need tomestones since I got all the wolfmark rewards I want ages ago.

While the combat relic has failed as longform content this expansion, the doh/l relics have not. About 4 hours per relic, I do one a week, it adds a nice bit of longevity.

[CNitsah]

Wow! Who taught you to misquote and take things so out of context? Strawman much?

I swear, the more I read on this forum, the more I think alot of people need to work on simple comprehension.

Nowhere did I claim that people should, or shouldn't for that matter, ask for more content. I was expressing an opinion, my opinion, that not everyone feels the same. I'm not anything, purely venting on a thread that has no purpose besides venting.

Perhaps you missed my last line, where I said

Because the line between "I'm fine with it" and "generally it's a good thing" (which imply that every argument about that is false) is small . And in the context of a thread about the state of the content in EW, one is nearly always used for the other. I'm sorry I misinterpreted you, but it made sense in the context of the thread.

[AnotherPerson]

EndWalker seems pretty good for raiders and casuals alike. It's just the quantity of midcore combat content / exploratory zones was lacking to keep replayability. Everything else about Endwalker is decent or good for the most part, other than job design direction (120s burst windows) and some encounters being much easier.

We got:

Casual content
- MSQ Dungeons + Trials
- PvP Revamp (+Frontline is a lot more active than before even without tomestone event and Series Malmstones are a thing)
- Island Sanctuary
- Variant Dungeon (Casual but it's more of a once-and-done unlock so replay value is limited)
- Deep Dungeon
- Relics & Hildibrand (Completely casual from doing daily roulettes to get tomestones)
- Alliance Raids being a mixed bag since they had newer features and mechanics, but was so undertuned that it didn't feel any more difficult than your standard trial bosses compared to pre-nerfed Ivalice/Nier on release (and those alliance raids was definitely was a step above casual)
- Adventure Plates & Portraits (Overall good update, but needs a bit more work when portraits break due to glam changing)
- Duty Support (Reworking old dungeons to have trusts and some mechanics for previous fights reworked, doesn't really add much replay value but fights are now slightly different)

Midcore content
- PvP (Crystalline Conflict Ranked Climb to Diamond / Crystal)
- Unreal
- EX Trials (Mixed bag honestly, sometimes it feels casual and sometimes it feels hardcore, difficulty depends on how much you need to prog)


Hardcore Content
- Savage Raids
- An extra Ultimate (DSR to make up for ShadowBringers not having one, Omega Protocol for EndWalker)
- Criterion Dungeon
- PvP Revamp (Crystalline Conflict Ranked Top 100)
- Criterion Savage (Hardcore but without a good reward structure)
- Deep Dungeon (Solo, doesn't hit as hard as previous Deep Dungeons but tires you out mentally because you have less room to be careless due to a bigger focus on consistent mechanical execution)

Did I miss anything?

[Renathras]

...

You're fine. You like what you like. There are some people that do not and have a problem with others actually liking things and expressing themselves and their opinions, but you're fine. Some people just want everyone to be down on the game since they think it increases the odds of it changing, so if someone isn't, they go after that person to try and get them to join the herd. Don't worry about it.

Personally, I think the game needs more, but I can understand your position as well. I think where we need more is in the middle/midcore area, though.

[Tahbitha]

So you basically enjoy doing absolutely nothing, nice.

Also a majority of players from the WoW exodus have left, hence why the game is back at about 1 million daily players.

Most, perhaps, but I am here to assure you, not all.

I am into the post-Endwalker MSQ. I'm having a great time, and I don't care who knows it.

[Erzaa]

Because the line between "I'm fine with it" and "generally it's a good thing" (which imply that every argument about that is false) is small . And in the context of a thread about the state of the content in EW, one is nearly always used for the other. I'm sorry I misinterpreted you, but it made sense in the context of the thread.

All good. Apology accepted. I'm sorry too.

You're fine. You like what you like. There are some people that do not and have a problem with others actually liking things and expressing themselves and their opinions, but you're fine. Some people just want everyone to be down on the game since they think it increases the odds of it changing, so if someone isn't, they go after that person to try and get them to join the herd. Don't worry about it.

Personally, I think the game needs more, but I can understand your position as well. I think where we need more is in the middle/midcore area, though.

Thank you!

[Jojoya]

You confuse can't for not wanting to.

How dare people want to play the game they pay a monthly sub for. The entitlement.

People complain about the lack of content because they WANT content. And I mean meaningful content. Not "run around and click on things while occasionally opening menus"

This game makes a lot of money, we should be getting new interesting, engaging things to do. Criterion was handled extremely poorly, Island Sanctuary is objectively nothing, relic quests no longer exist, 24mans were incredibly nerfed (no lb3 day one??) while also introducing zero new mechanics), and the post MSQ is the worse one we've gotten so far (idc if you liked it, Pandemonium quests were way better and you know it).

All of these factors AT ONCE is why many people consider this expansion to be unwashed buttcheeks. They add a bunch of solo stuff while group content is sorely lacking. It has nothing to do with anyone being addicts.

They're able to play the game if they want. Nothing is stopping them. They don't even have to pay the monthly sub = the free trial exists.

The question is why are they paying a monthly sub for a game they call bad?

Why are they continuing to pay a monthly sub if there is no content that is meaningful to them?

What "bunch of solo stuff" did they add? Creating options for content to be done alone is addition to with others does not mean it must be played solo. There's still far more efficiency in playing though a dungeon with a party of players than a party of NPCs.

If you think this expansion is "unwashed buttcheeks". why are you still here paying a sub instead of cancelling the sub and walking away like a rational person would do? The game isn't going to change because you and others toss juvenile insults at it and the developers.

Either you are lying about how bad you think the game is, or you are addicted. In either case, you've got problems.

Be a smart consumer. Stop paying for something that you think lacks quality and put your money into products and services that deliver what you expect. By paying, you're saying you find the state of the product/service acceptable.

Basically this. FFXIV has been my "comfort game" for a long time. I enjoy playing it, despite how many out there who would throw around "addicted" or "something something, sunk cost fallacy." I guess I'd call myself a mid-core player who plays almost entirely solo at the moment, but I have a lot of issues with EW's approach to content.

The tomes-based relic is boring, imo. It doesn't offer anything new, I'm still just doing everything I would have been doing already.

Myths, despite being aesthetically amazing, makes me pine after the older approach to alliance raid design. In short, I wish raids were more punishing and engaging, and spent less time tutorializing their own mechanics. In the waiting period for ShB launch, I would q up for Dun Scaith on healer just for the fun challenge of it. I can't see myself doing that with Myths.

Eureka Orthos is... alright. It's a deep dungeon, for the third time. I've already exhausted my interest in it. I wish they'd stop recycling content types like Deep Dungeon, and approach new ideas for repeatable content for Dawntrail. As well as introducing them earlier so I can actually make use of them in leveling jobs.

Island Sanctuary is cute, but every aspect of it funnels through the workshop, which is a time-gate and is only as engaging as your desire to see numbers go up. I do not wish to see future cosmetic rewards gated behind a piece of content like this again.

Pandemonium (as somebody who has not done Savage) was good. Probably my favorite piece of content this xpac, but it's hardly going to tide me over for an entire expansion cycle.

Criterion is a thing I tried to engage with when Sil'dihn was released, but as a solo player on Crystal, progging it (with randoms) was such an immense pain I gave up with a sticky note to come back later. I didn't, and from what I hear, I wasn't missing much.

So is it a bad game you don't enjoy, or is it a game you still enjoy but has room for improvement?

"Not wanting to quit" a game you genuinely think is bad and don't enjoy is a sign of addiction.

If it's just a matter of "I think things could have been better this expansion", I can agree with that. There are some things I felt could have been better. But I don't think it's a bad expansion. It just wasn't their best effort and coming on the tail end of what was arguably their best effort to date, the difference stands out more.

Imagine complaining because you like the game and want it to be better. Or you liked the game and contemplate its current state (*wink* healer gameplay *wink*).

If anything complainers are barely playing the game, they're actually complaining here (usually because they want it to improve, sometimes because they're bored trolls that have nothing better to do).

All in all, it's been the same for years and has become even more prevalent since the homogenization became strong in ShB.

My comment about addiction isn't addressed at those who think there was room for improvement.

It's addressed to those who have repeatedly called it a bad game but still won't unsub.

"I'm fine with having less content, so people who were fine with the amount of ShB of patch content should not ask for that amount of content, so I can catch up".

What less content in Endwalker? We got the same content as usual with the exception of an exploratory zone, that was replaced by a Deep Dungeon and Variant/Criterion that we didn't get last expansion.

Stop confusing "nothing I'm interested in repeating" with "less content".

ive been pretty casual this xpac and i'm severely let down, islands are a farming sim, i didn't buy a mmorpg to play a solo farming sim..

there is really nothing to do.. farming tomes is not content its filler.
the relics are boring as all heck, the story is 40 mins of filler every patch while wasting time till we start the next 70$ expansion, the time between patches was increased and the ammount of content decreased, but the price hasn't changed.

why do i care about farming a glam if i have nothing to even do when wearing it?
the game is so bad that its main draw is that players made their own content with RP.. your paying square to make up your own story or have your weird chat-roulette fantasy..

if your judgment of this xpac being good is because you had good RP then good for you, but thats not content, thats creating your own fun in the lack thereof. everyone loves socializing with friends but being in a discord lobby using addons does not equate to content...

So what were you doing in previous expansions that didn't amount to farming tomestones and isn't available this expansion?

[Stormpeaks]

They're able to play the game if they want. Nothing is stopping them. They don't even have to pay the monthly sub = the free trial exists.

The question is why are they paying a monthly sub for a game they call bad?

Why are they continuing to pay a monthly sub if there is no content that is meaningful to them?

What "bunch of solo stuff" did they add? Creating options for content to be done alone is addition to with others does not mean it must be played solo. There's still far more efficiency in playing though a dungeon with a party of players than a party of NPCs.

If you think this expansion is "unwashed buttcheeks". why are you still here paying a sub instead of cancelling the sub and walking away like a rational person would do? The game isn't going to change because you and others toss juvenile insults at it and the developers.

Either you are lying about how bad you think the game is, or you are addicted. In either case, you've got problems.

Be a smart consumer. Stop paying for something that you think lacks quality and put your money into products and services that deliver what you expect. By paying, you're saying you find the state of the product/service acceptable.

TLDR : "why complain and give feedback ? just quit bro lmao"

[Avoidy]

I enjoy mostly casual content and I was bored out of my mind through post-ew. It was so lacking in replay factor or even baseline enjoyment for me. Island sanctuary was just a boring cookie clicker. Adventure plates are a nitpicky mess, liable to fail if even one thing is out of order. Variants were actually pretty fun, but getting people to run them with you after like... the first two days? Forget it. People finish the content in like a day and have no incentive to go back. The alliance raids were a snore. Aglaia was a breath of fresh air after nier, but euphrosyne and w/e the new one is called were forgettable. The post-story was bland and felt like a filler mission. The relic was a joke. I was holding out hope for dawntrail, until I watched the devs actually doubling down on this crap going forward, citing engagement metrics like blizzard used to do. "The relic was a success because a lot of people got a relic!" Yeah, okay bub. And in the background of all this, they keep ruining every job I enjoy; they ruined ast, they ruined bard, I'm sure in dawntrail they'll ruin ninja and whatever's left of scholar too. And every new dungeon they come out with is dumbed down so trusts can do it. You just run down hallways until you meet a boss that dies in 90 seconds. And nine times out of ten, the glams are recycled from other sets! This sucks, man.

For the first time in years, I've actually cancelled my recurring subscription and don't plan to renew it. I guess in time I'll lose my house, but I don't really care anymore. I was bored at work and saw this thread and actually started laughing when I read the title, because it couldn't be further from the truth for me. The only people who ate well in post-ew were sweaty raiders who got to enjoy multiple ultimates, and, I guess, some decent savages? I don't even know; all I saw them do was complain about prog, so maybe they were hating it too. But yeah no, as a casual this patch was ass, miss me for Dawntrail unless Magnai joins the scions and personally apologizes to me for the last two years with a kiss or something; I'm out.