Discuss : is ffxiv in trouble

[Ozzmal]

The game is not in trouble in the sense that the current status quo will cause a massive flux of players to cancel their subs. If that is the focus of this thread or any thread, it is misdirected. Players have shown time and time again that they will remain subbed regardless of their complaints and criticisms. Sure, some players have left but for each sub lost the game has acquired two more, and many players who no longer play are still subbed.

The true concern I see is if the game can stay away from political agendas that are affecting western games. The problem is SE is one of the eastern companies conforming to ESG standards, and its influence has already infected FFXIV. Right now, it is a contained infection but it is there none the less. If there is anything that would cause players to leave the game in droves, it's this. SE could easily be Budlighted if they are not careful.

Considering in the states we have about a 50% voter participation, I don't think politics could sway it much one way or the other (unless it was super obvious to the point of annoyance). But who knows.

[Gemina]

Considering in the states we have about a 50% voter participation, I don't think politics could sway it much one way or the other (unless it was super obvious to the point of annoyance). But who knows.

Assuming this figure is correct, should the game lose 50% of its subs, that would be bad. Really bad.

[Niroken]

As long as this game is profitable, it will continue but that doesn't mean they will attempt to expand on the formula they crafted over the first few expansions. Even in a low population scenario, I believe they learned from FF11 and crafted a MMORPG that could be turned into a single player game when needed. So FF14 should be available in some form even if we don't recognize it years later.

[LilimoLimomo]

It's silly to think the game is in trouble considering it's doing financially better than it was in its earlier expansions, when it also wasn't in trouble.

[Tehmon]

The game is not in trouble in the sense that the current status quo will cause a massive flux of players to cancel their subs. If that is the focus of this thread or any thread, it is misdirected. Players have shown time and time again that they will remain subbed regardless of their complaints and criticisms. Sure, some players have left but for each sub lost the game has acquired two more, and many players who no longer play are still subbed.

The true concern I see is if the game can stay away from political agendas that are affecting western games. The problem is SE is one of the eastern companies conforming to ESG standards, and its influence has already infected FFXIV. Right now, it is a contained infection but it is there none the less. If there is anything that would cause players to leave the game in droves, it's this. SE could easily be Budlighted if they are not careful.

Uh, the game already has people of color, women in positions of power (excelling in combat and/or politics), people who are interested in the same sex romantically, and people who claim to have no gender. The game is already as '' woke '' as Japanese games come.

[Colt47]

The game isn't in any trouble. All the chaos of the forums is pretty typical at end of an expansion since everyone is sort of in this sobering up thing after the MSQ glitter wears off and they got smashed into a wall the previous night while drunk.

It's more like a lot of confusing job changes were made that technically simplified the combat, but also alienated some people who previously were playing those jobs. Like one job change that just felt very weird to me is reducing Goring Blade on paladin into a GCD skill that is not attached to a combo. If a skill gets reduced to that state it begs the question of why it exists, since typically a skill typically wants to fit into a logical flow. Originally it was used in a combo that applied a dot so there was a flow to it.

The other confusing change I noticed was simply slapping a shadowbringer OGCD onto dark knight and calling it a day, along with oblation sort of showing up because they can't attach the buff from oblation to the Blackest Night due to Blackest taking MP to use.

The summoner changes took just about everyone off guard because they nuked it to the floor from being a super long combo chain into a basic set of attacks. Yes the job is easier to play but holy smokes is it boring to play it pre-80 because of how bare bones the kit is.

[Absurdity]

Provided they don't do the same as EW, where they are at a replay deficit then it will be OK, and I think given they are looking at a 'new form' of combat content in addition to exploratory content, then I think there's not really much to worry about.

At this point it's not actually just the replay value of content anymore, even if they come up with "new forms" of combat content the question is how said content will play out.

You can only do some variation of dynamo, chariot, proteans, towers, meteors, exaflares, stacks or tethers so many times before it gets stale, doesn't matter how they're arranged.

[OdinelStarrei]

Eh...

Is FFXIV dead/dying? Objectively, this isn't true. Still brings in money, still has the same cult fanbase, still has developers working on stuff. Now, is the FFXIV that YOU personally like dead/dying? Probably, but that really depends on when you started the game, and what you actually liked about playing the game. It's certainly alright to think the game is stale, too safe, out of ideas, ignorant/dismissive to the wants of several subsections of it's own playerbase, bogged down by sluggish response to issues, and a story that literally shot itself in the face after a decade of investment. It's also certainly alright to think that the game is comfortable, full of people that you consider friends, has a wide array of content to complete, and has an engaging storyline that made you cry at the end.

It is possible to reconcile these outlooks, because they're just two different lenses on the same, objectively profitable product. But it's not the same "game" so to speak.

And believe me, nothing would make me happier than the entire game being deleted and my memories of it wiped, so I don't say that to be a shill.

If you expect Dawntrail to do anything different, or even 8.0 to do anything different fundamentally, you're just giving yourself more rope to hang yourself with when SE inevitably fails to meet what you might consider reasonable expectations but SE says are impossible. They have no need to innovate, they have no need to shake up the game, because that's against their own interests. And if the argument is "People will get bored and leave!" it doesn't hold much water, because the game does not really need a large playerbase. You have trusts, you have DC travel, you have a 100+ hours MSQ for 2-3 months per new player + resubscriptions for patch cycles, and a very profitable online store. FFXIV could have a quarter amount of the players it does now, and still be a complete success with no noticeable effect on the average player, because the average player doesn't care, and you got plenty of whales and new players to offset any potential discontent.

For me, I've come to terms with the fact that best days are behind us, and have been for awhile now. And If I expect anything else, I'm a fool. The developers just aren't to be trusted to perform otherwise. And that just doesn't matter.

[Jeeqbit]

No /thread

• The persistent population has grown every single expansion by 200,000 or more.
• There are 30 million characters that could (and do) return/resubscribe at any time to replace anyone who quits (you see these returners in the novice network constantly and in roulettes and even returners still freshly progging savage raids).
• It is this "pool" of 30 million former players that is part of the game's strength now. It's the same reason Runescape is still around - it's held up by its millions of former players taking it in turns to "return".
• Basically the game is past the point of being a flash in the pan. It has enough former players that it won't go the way some new MMORPGs go.

Given the way the game currently works right now using stb/shb and ew as a point of reference. And what we've seen on dawntrail thus far. Do you personally think the game is in trouble or in danger of failing/deing due to it.

No, because many people you meet in the game (ie. not on these forums) are content with how EW works.

Moreover, Dawntrail looks like it will be awesome. The trailer gives you the impression it's just a holiday, but if you looked to the pictures and videos of the new areas and dungeons you can see it is a very interesting expansion and not a holiday at all. It will also be better than EW in terms of content because of the exploration content being social unlike Island Sanctuary and getting a social Field Operation. Not to mention, a new limited job and a reimagining of the deep dungeon concept to work in a new way.

What do you predict will happen to 14 in 3 or 5 years. Do you think it can change?

1. The formula is very unlikely to change ie. each patch in Dawntrail will have almost identical changes to the same patch in Endwalker, and remain very predictable in this way.
2. The game would take more than 3-5 years to "decline" due to attachment to the game, so the question would need to be "how will it look in 10 years" and nobody can really answer that.
3. I could see the game changing a little. For example, we could see: removal of the 2 minute burst window, removal of party damage buffs entirely to end this issue, a level squish (in 8.0), a switch to linear progression to prevent the level cap endlessly increasing, a solution to the story bloat (such as a free story skip or not requiring the previous MSQ to start 8.0).

What could the devs do to improve the game? Or are people blowing things out the water? I'd love to hear your thoughts

You've been on these forums enough to know everyone's thoughts and to assess whether people are blowing things out of the water or not.

[Vyrerus]

So the context is a little self explanatory but if requested I can explain in detail.

Given the way the game currently works right now using stb/shb and ew as a point of reference. And what we've seen on dawntrail thus far. Do you personally think the game is in trouble or in danger of failing/deing due to it.

What do you predict will happen to 14 in 3 or 5 years. Do you think it can change? Or will. Do you think the games health is impacting the mogstation too?

What could the devs do to improve the game? Or are people blowing things out the water? I'd love to hear your thoughts

FFXIV has kind of grown too big to fail.

This means that it can afford to lower its quality and content amount year after year, relying almost entirely on churn and inertia to main subscriber counts, not too mention its prodigious cash shop.

Financially it will probably turn a big profit for another decade at a minimum. It might even take the crown someday as longest running MMO.

However, its quality has degraded and it will degrade further.

When a game relies on churn, it relies on the uninitiated to get into the game, and they always have a mountain to climb. This mountain tries to get them addicted, and this can keep them around for years once hooked. Every XIV player goes through a honeymoon phase, if they stay, and many players attempt to make this their, "evergreen" game.

The novelty makes XIV's flaws unapparent to most new players, and so they only have secondhand information to go off of, and that's only if they look for it. A lot just don't care and don't realize the quality of the game has been sliding down into a pit for years now.

This results in a lot of people unabashedly loving XIV, which reinvigorates those who have never wanted to stop loving it, as more voices echo around that the game is fine. The game is fun. The game has only been improved.

It's the same cycle that happened to WoW, humorously now happening again with a large portion of their old playerbase. And just like WoW, all it'll take for XIV to fail is to continue to let its quality slide while taking churn for granted, and another big, well made at first MMO coming out that does all the things it does but with a few refreshing novelties.