What's the point with that quite lackluster story in Endwalker?

[Vyrerus]

I think I remember him posting them in the lore forum at one point, which is a bit of a tricky one. Citing sources fully and clearly is important, but I can see that SE mightn't want the EE3 content online in such a fashion. Still, if you can't talk about official material in the official forum, then what exactly is one to do?

I guess you could quote the page numbers, but then only people who shelled out for the book in its entirety or pirated it somewhere else could be part of the conversation so... blegh.

[TheMightyMollusk]

On the one hand, I can see how posting full page scans from a paid product could be considered a violation, because SE is a corporation, and they want people to go buy the book themselves so they make money from it. On the other hand, reporting it, let alone going straight to a ban over it, feels like a dick move.

[Boa-Noah]

On the other hand, reporting it, let alone going straight to a ban over it, feels like a dick move.

Never forget a Corporation is not your friend, never, even a small indie dev company will do what's right for their bottom line, getting too cozy and forgetting exactly where this is was the problem that got them banned.

[Vyrerus]

I wish the 22 years I've been subbed to their MMOs, and the decade or so beyond that, that I've consistently bought their games meant a little more to them. But I guess the suits and devs change every few years anyway. *sigh*

On another note, there's this up and coming Youtuber with spray on eyebrows Highlander. I don't approve of his sprayed on brows, but I like where his head's at, and hope he puts up another video soon. He's starting his channel off with his disappointments surrounding Endwalker. Plot piece by plot piece, starting with Zodiark.

Zodiark: A Fumbled Finale

[Heroman3003]

Most vocal posters of this thread got banned because they are incapable of actually being civil and not insulting anyone not holding same 'objectively correct and intellectually superior' opinion as this thread's EW-hating circlejerk, be it directly calling someone stupid for liking it as is, or going through 10 veiled metaphors to do the same thing and say anyone who likes it is stupid. To which I say, good to see them gone and it'd be great if they stay gone.

[Supersnow845]

Most vocal posters of this thread got banned because they are incapable of actually being civil and not insulting anyone not holding same 'objectively correct and intellectually superior' opinion as this thread's EW-hating circlejerk, be it directly calling someone stupid for liking it as is, or going through 10 veiled metaphors to do the same thing and say anyone who likes it is stupid. To which I say, good to see them gone and it'd be great if they stay gone.

We are specifically discussing Theo because he was exactly not that type of poster

[Vyrerus]

Most vocal posters of this thread got banned because they are incapable of actually being civil

Actually it's an inverse of that, in every respect. Well, usually. Some folks do fit that bill, sadly.

Anyway, most vocal folks in this thread simply unsubbed or haven't logged in, in months, so they can't access the forum to post at all until they do.

These same folks would voice their opinions and participate in discussions as amicably as possible, and then get insulted dozens of times by different people. Sometimes directly, but more often through passive aggressive implications (I.E. those veiled metaphors you mention come from the crowd more than they do these people). Often with regards to the fallacy of Liking Villains in Fiction = Liking Real World Evil. Insults like this would go on for months, with few of the perpetrators ever given so much as slaps on their wrists. And it was endorsed to a worrisome degree, because people did not like their opinions on the story or characters, long before this thread ever existed.

They were just as invested, if not moreso, than the people who disliked them. And they were disliked because of a weird cognitive compartmentalization a lot of FFXIV folks do where liking the villains of the story is verboten and seen as an endorsement of villainous actions and intent. Rather than, you know, liking them because their gear is cool and they are hot or whatever.

They were largely alone in expressing their opinions until Shadowbringers greenlit villain enjoyers with Emet-selch (not too mention creating quite a few). And even then, it wasn't until the pandemic caused a surge in forum visitation that the ball really got rolling, bringing far more like minded individuals into contact than ever before.

Anyway, the banning of Theodric definitely feels like someone from the years of this back and forth finally fulfilling their vendetta, rather than a justified moderation action. The guy had over 10k posts, and had been a forum denizen since ARR 2.0. You know, back when the forum was ban happy, and you could get banned for the slightest heat in a disagreement. They were so ban happy back then, I didn't even bother posting on them with any regularity until Heavensward myself, and even then, usually for bug reports or things akin to that.

But he'd built a reputation as a forum boogeyman of sorts, which I still find strange, since he's fairly level headed every interaction and DM I've had with him. I honestly don't know how he maintained his sanity posting his honest opinion month after month when it was going to be interpreted in bad faith by half a dozen people, and get him insulted on top of that. If he thought a discussion was going nowhere he'd shrug and say, "Let's agree to disagree." And that, apparently, started to be considered a hostility.

And he wasn't all squabbles over lore and the game either. He'd post in the social threads and post photos of his nature hikes and things like that. He'd voice concerns over gameplay and participate in threads about most aspects of the game.

[Vyrerus]

Gotten up to the Aetherochemical Research Facility and Sohr Khai changes. And whooo boy. I know we talked about them before, but my replay feels are hurting. RIP Ascian Prime and Hraesvelgr.

[Rein_eon_Osborne]

Theodric got banned? That seems pretty strange, he usually sounded pretty level in his posts.

That's discouraging to know. I always enjoyed reading his posts despite never actually interacting with him in any meaningful ways. "Pretty level" sounds about right of a description of his posts that I've read so far.

[ReynTime]

Gotten up to the Aetherochemical Research Facility and Sohr Khai changes. And whooo boy. I know we talked about them before, but my replay feels are hurting. RIP Ascian Prime and Hraesvelgr.

I actually liked the ARF change. The fight actually puts pressure on new players, as it should as the last non-trial boss of 3.0.