Dawntrail appreciation for those who enjoy the story so far

[Sacae]

I wish there was more discussions about what the expansion is doing well, because the dungeons and trials are peak. I don't think they've EVER made better dungeons or trials. And I haven't touched EX yet.

It excites me for the raids, and for the rest of the content they have lined up for the patches. Yoshida did say they wanted to focus more on innovating when it came to mechanics and it's nice to see he wasn't blowing hot air.

You're in the wrong place if you're looking for posts about what the story did well. The forum hasn't been that place for years.

[Embran]

You're in the wrong place if you're looking for posts about what the story did well. The forum hasn't been that place for years.

I'll admit, I have been blissfully ignorant of the forums and have stayed away for many years, but morbid curiosity got the better of me. It's kind of crazy to see how rampant the negativity is here. I don't want to be childish and say it's not valid, but nobody ever talks about the things they like. I have to wonder why some people are subbed at all.

It wasn't like this during SHB, was it?

[Sacae]

I'll admit, I have been blissfully ignorant of the forums and have stayed away for many years, but morbid curiosity got the better of me. It's kind of crazy to see how rampant the negativity is here. I don't want to be childish and say it's not valid, but nobody ever talks about the things they like. I have to wonder why some people are subbed at all.

It wasn't like this during SHB, was it?

If you go back, you'll see this stuff at least as far back as Stormblood. It was there for Heavensward too, but that had more to do with the raid scene than the story.

[Malthir]

I'll admit, I have been blissfully ignorant of the forums and have stayed away for many years, but morbid curiosity got the better of me. It's kind of crazy to see how rampant the negativity is here. I don't want to be childish and say it's not valid, but nobody ever talks about the things they like. I have to wonder why some people are subbed at all.

It wasn't like this during SHB, was it?

Not really no during SHB it was complaints about class reworks and queue times, server outages,. duty instancing breaking. But overall people like SHB, if you're enjoying something you're not likely to stop doing it to talk about how you're enjoying it. The nature of all forums is generally going to lean towards negative, that's not a bad thing it's the best way to get an understanding on what's not being well received. If their sub figures drop in the west, they will need to find out why. If 90% of the forum post from before the max exodus are about a specific thing, you know that's where you messed up.

Personally I think the forums been great in that regard, because it's people complaining about a specific thing, it's not. I don't like change this sucks meh, it's people articulating they do not like one specific character that was forced upon us and takes up 90% of the cutscenes dialogue and all of the action. Whether you agree or not, for once the forums have been pretty consistent about a specific thing.

[LucienFaust]

I personally wasn't enjoying it much in the beginning but that was simply because Wuk Lamat character being rather annoying and weak. However I did start appreciating her more once I realized we are her mentor. Her character improves more as you progress and once we reach the second arc of the story I really started to enjoy it a lot more.

Dungeons are the best they've ever been, The new graphics with this new zones are much better on the eyes no more washed out colors everything finally looks more colorful and vibrant and alive. Personally the music is also the best I feel like Spoken really channeled Uematsu in this expansion but still made it his own.

[Carin-Eri]

Pleased to see a thread discussing the positives!

I'm enjoying it thus far.
Firstly, I feel it has delivered on exactly what was 'promised' during the later stages of Endwalker: made us less 'Warrior of Light' and more 'Adventurer'.

Secondly, I actually quite like Wuk Lamat. The voice acting doesn't bother me. I'm enjoying the fact that she's absolutely nothing like the Scions in terms of personality, intellect or competence. All of which lend themselves very well to character development - something that can only be done to a limited degree with the Scions at this point.

Thirdly - I don't have 'Main Character Syndrome'. I don't think everything has to revolve around my character, particularly not in a setting where no-one really knows her history. I'm actually okay with my character playing more of a 'mentor' role in this story - it makes a nice change of pace in my opinion.

Atop that, the world building has been great, the dungeons and trials I've played so far were actually pretty fun and whilst am still, presumably, just over half-way through I am looking forward to seeing where this story takes me.

Honorable mention to how gorgeous the actual maps are too - the scenery is stunning. And the music is superb as ever.

Another interesting point for me is that I've been pretty much solo playing through the new MSQ. I didn't start FFXIV until shortly after Endwalker launched, therefore by the time I reached Endwalker my friends had already finished it and were able to join me for dungeons etc. 6.1 - 6.55 I was running the new content alongside said friends.
Dawntrail though - pretty much all of my friends opted to level either Pictomancer or Viper before starting the new MSQ content and I'm therefore - for the time being at least (my online time is pretty limited) a little way ahead of them.

[Sonoskay]

If you go back, you'll see this stuff at least as far back as Stormblood. It was there for Heavensward too, but that had more to do with the raid scene than the story.

Given how the majority of posters just seem to want to complain, but a sentiment i haven't seen anywhere else is kind of telling. I originally came here to ask how every single wiki expected the Fuma set of gear to be glam for viper, But somehow isn't, but Honestly after seeing the state of the forums, i don't care about that anymore. its got enough complainers. So far the expac seems fine. a little slow maybe, but i don't think an expac has had a real exciting start since heavenward. Maybe SHB if you thought going to the first was super exciting. I personally found it a touch confounding....

[Voidmage]

The story has a really slow pacing the first half and the dawnservant trials are not really spectacular but I quit like the story so far.
In contrast to Stormblood it is good written and Wuk Lamat seems to grow and not stagnate as Lyse.
So far it is Stormblood in better for me.

I like the other candidates and they seem to have really good character development and the big two headed guy (forgot the name, Gulol Jaja?) is awesome.

The dungeons are great so far and the zones really pretty.

I‘m only halfway through yet.

My main criticism is this:

Overuse of cliches and forced comedy (sea sickness and some conversations).

Our WoL is useless and has no role, not even adventuring. We are just the bag of holding for Wuk Lamat. A downgrade from Shb and EW.

The scions also have no role. New characters would have served the same use. Erenville and Krile have great development though.

The pacing of the first half is really bad.

Last but not least: Mablu is great.

[Valorak]

I've been super enjoying it so far. Just up to the first Trial at the moment. I like Wuk Lamat, playing the role of mentor/protector, the premise of completing the feats, the rivals, and the mystery and mythology around the golden city have all been fun "adventurer"-ish tasks to me that are also fittingly above what you'd expect from an actual newbie adventurer. Also enjoying the pretty unique setting as far as fantasy AAA titles are concerned. Kozama'uka is pretty much what you always expect to get from fantasy jungles, but Urqupacha is something that's much less seen. Both have been great to be clear, but I do always enjoy seeing new things.

Speaking of which, the second dungeon was super awesome. Totally loved the music and the level design (and took a minute to stop and appreciate those fabric streamers whipping around gloriously in the wind.)

The music and ambiance has been great throughout Urqupacha and Kozama'oka. Thanks to the new graphics, weather and time of day really makes the zones feel way different. The views have been all around gorgeous especially from high up.

[angienessyo]

I haven’t had too many complaints about the story aside from frequency of cut scenes. But I’ll be real, Stormblood is my favorite expansion specifically because of its content and that expac has a meh story. Thus far I’ve been really impressed by the content so if we have another SB on our hands, this’ll be a great expac. I’ll always take an okay story if the content blows me away.