This game used to have a fun playerbase. What happened?

[Araxes]

Mass WoW Migration happened and brought their streamers with them.

[Andevom]

I dunno, I've been playing with some pretty cool random people these past few days.

[Rolder50]

We currently have the healthiest playerbase in the history of FFXIV, from my point of view. Watching it continue to grow and become more diverse is quite inspiring

Not growing any more, unfortunately. The peak player count on Steam for Dawntrail is lower then it was for Endwalker launch.

[Vahlnir]

Not growing any more, unfortunately. The peak player count on Steam for Dawntrail is lower then it was for Endwalker launch.

The reviews for DT are also mixed, so the data probably reflects this.

[Remilia_Nightfall]

Is this a low-key passive aggressive reaction to the flak that DT is getting?

If so, the problem is not the playerbase.

[AnnRam]

ERP/Modbeast/Mare happened.
Now you have a divided community where:

-A very small group does content/raid etc and play the game as a MMORPG but they have to deal with the bigger community aka the second life one who don't play the game at all and stay online 24/7 doing erp spamming venues, advertising modding etc, basically they are playing a version of FFXIV like Skyrim with 2500 mods installed etc, so if you aren't part of that they won't talk to you.

-The new players or returned ones that doesn't fill in both communities and quit as long they are done with current content and comes back after a big patch.

[Rolder50]

Hey now you can both be a modbeast and do content / care about gameplay. Those are not mutually exclusive.

[Khet_Fyth]

No shade or insult intended: But maybe this just isn't the game for you anymore? It's perfectly natural to outgrow things and you shouldn't feel bad for letting it go if its clearly making you this unhappy.

[VerdeLuck]

There is a definite shift in the community into a polarized state, the hardcore raiders get more hardcore and gatekeep more based on their websites, 3rd party tools, required gearing, etc.
Then on the social side it becomes more and more gated by mods, discord servers, social groups, linkshells, etc.

It's sad to see but the casual MMO gamer who comes in after work to play a few hours and chip away at some goal or duty while they talk is a dying breed. Either you play for the story and unsub or you go fully into one of the hardcore groups.

[sharknado]

Mass WoW Migration happened and brought their streamers with them.

WoW players showed up during Sproutbringer, some stayed till Endwalker, and then most that still wanted WoW went back to WoW Dragonflight. Those that got sold 100% on the game stayed, but not sure if it was that much in the end (the game tends to create plot watchers rather than constant subscribers).

And if anyone is wondering what happened - the same thing as what happened during WoW Shadowlands - at some point people got so fed up with the game that it blew up. MMO playerbase always has some level of addictive relationship with the game and will not quit or even react when signs of bad content show up. The bad experiences have to pile up to create a reaction but when they do it will be on a much higher level, backend by emotions and the relationship nature of it.

Also, both MMOs (if not all in existence) have the same problem with expansions - they become a template and everyone gets used to a template while still expecting more. Devs want to innovate and prepare the game for the next 10 years, yet they are bound by the template - wherever it's planning, ideas pitching... Players want a cool new expansion yet they want to optimize, they want to get the best experience so they prepare based on the template, and if they get exactly that they may feel disappointed from their overoptimisation and also lack of surprises in the content. And when an MMO sneaks in something new outside of template walls not only does it have to be really good content but it has to fight against the template - like we got Island Sanctuary which got recked by an Excel sheet to then not rapidly react to players feedback - and in the end players requested more of templated solutions (which may or not be actually better, but players related to a known thing they liked which is pushing devs from trying out new things that are risky vs going for what was, is safer, but less exciting, less likely to grow the game).