JP Official Forums are also criticizing the Dawntrail MSQ.

[E4EO]

JP: "Devs only listen to NA and EU!"
NA & EU: "Devs only listen to JP!"
Perhaps with us both complaining, something will be done

[Raven2014]

・You can go to a new area! → Wuk Lamat is kidnapped and held up
・You find the Golden [City]! → You are sent back in front of the entrance
・Let's get on the train! → It's broken and not working → We fixed it! → A mysterious dome appears and you can't get on after all
If you go through these kinds of situations that kill your momentum many times, it also kills your motivation to progress

This is probably one of the most important criticism. There is a reason why story telling have things like ramming up the momentum. FF14 has a really bad habit of just yanking you off the highway without an off ram.

[Sotaris]

JP: "Devs only listen to NA and EU!"
NA & EU: "Devs only listen to JP!"
Perhaps with us both complaining, something will be done

That's new to me. I thought it was well documented that they primarly listen to the JP audience.

[Mcg55ss]

Wow. Crazy. You know how to look up old posts.

I mean, if that makes you look better to your forum friends, be my guest.

what funny is most the complaints is people unable to deal with NOT being the protagonist for a story and people with Main Character Syndrome can't possibly have fun if its not 100% about their character even tho really after Stormblood, Shadowbringers and EW being so focused on world / universe ending threats their characters would have seen the 1st half as a nice relaxing vacation compared to what they had dealt with for so long and been relaxing.

[Larirawiel]

JP: "Devs only listen to NA and EU!"
NA & EU: "Devs only listen to JP!"
Perhaps with us both complaining, something will be done

The JP players lie. Everyone knows, that the devs only listen to JP players.




Cheers

[AnotherHighlander]

what funny is most the complaints is people unable to deal with NOT being the protagonist for a story and people with Main Character Syndrome can't possibly have fun if its not 100% about their character even tho really after Stormblood, Shadowbringers and EW being so focused on world / universe ending threats their characters would have seen the 1st half as a nice relaxing vacation compared to what they had dealt with for so long and been relaxing.

You were literally accusing me of that and when I showed you hard evidence that that's not actually the real issue I had you just pretended as if you never said it. And now you're accusing others of the same exact thing, constructing this imaginary strawman when the OP clearly shows that people's concerns are not just limited to the WoL not being the protagonist, in fact that's not even majority of the complaints if you can even count.

Sounds like you just don't like there is no the big looming threat a entire expansion or the fact the WoL is not the main character. We are the side characters; this expansion is about Wuk Lamat, her people and her journey to being the leader they deserve we are just their as support. People need to understand Warrior of Light story is over...we do not have to be the main character going forward and im fine with that.

Sounds like you didn't even bother reading the OP.

"It is not just the Warrior of Light that has turned into a prop. It's also the rest of the Scions. Most of the Scions have been relegated to 'cheerleader' status. " Literally one of the last things you posted was you complaining about having to take a back seat to other characters.....maybe you just wrote so much you don't remember.

Please read. This was literally in the OP.

It would be fine if we were a side character in this arc, but we are less than a side character... we are an extra on the set.

It would be fine if we were a side character

You're welcome to re-read the OP to find what the issue actually is.

Or actually don't because I have a feeling you deliberately took out that part of the quote to do a "gotcha".

And just to repeat my own opinion (and others have various different opinions on this issue), abridged for your convenience since you don't seem to be able to read more than a few sentences:

We're playing a prop in the story.

The Warrior of Light has virtually zero agency in this story. It would be fine if we were a side character in this arc, but we are less than a side character... we are an extra on the set.

Not only do other characters barely acknowledge us other than giving us menial tasks, we also have no agency of our own, not being able to criticize Wuk Lamat or Koana, not being able to express hesitance at what we're doing, et cetera.

What's even more insulting is that during the precious few times we are able to express disapproval, we immediately get overriden and treated like a child... "But you love adventure don't you? Fuzzy little WoL, you love adventure! Who's a good boy, you are, you are, go get that adventure!"

The one character that treats us as more than a prop was Gulool Ja Ja, who invites us to a duel, asks us what we think of Wuk Lamat, and treats us like a friend. I think that's about all the agency you'll ever get in the story.

[Tsumdere]

I think the only difference is no one in JP is criticizing the VA, as the JP VA is very experienced and did a good job conveying the character and her emotions. It might be also why Wuk is less hated by JP

Wuk is not liked by JP side anymore than our side. I've seen JP say much more vile things about Wuk than anyone has said on these forums/reddit/twitter.

The Wuk dislike is literally just because of her character, not her VA.

what funny is most the complaints is people unable to deal with NOT being the protagonist for a story and people with Main Character Syndrome can't possibly have fun if its not 100% about their character even tho really after Stormblood, Shadowbringers and EW being so focused on world / universe ending threats their characters would have seen the 1st half as a nice relaxing vacation compared to what they had dealt with for so long and been relaxing.

Literally who has said this. EVERYONE is saying it's fine to take a step back to not being front and center, but functionally WoL has been erased from the game. Other characters (Erenville/Krile) who were also supposed to be mainlining this expansion were sidelined. Everyone became extras in "Wuk's Grand Adventure".
If the WoL was removed from the story, nothing would change and that's a bad thing no matter which way you spin it. We had less impact on the story than Mablu.

[Roshidon1]

Well she is basically a Mary Sue, from what I have seen so far.

[Amenara]

This is probably one of the most important criticism. There is a reason why story telling have things like ramming up the momentum. FF14 has a really bad habit of just yanking you off the highway without an off ram.

I 100% agree with this, and it has been a problem that just continues with every new expansion. I am currently feeling it in that transition into the last zone where once again it feels like I should be in a rush to save the day but now we are stopping to chit chat with everyone and have fun instead of acting like we are on a time crunch. It has been really hard to get that motivation to press through the story because I just am not feeling it in the last zone so far.

[ForteNightshade]

The whole story has been like this for me. The Warrior of Light had no business being involved. Krile and Erenville could have gone off and done this by themselves and given us a brief synopsis when they got back while we went and actually had our vacation somewhere else. We should have told Wuk Lamat "no," since unlike every other "Warrior of Light enjoys helping the powerless" quest, Wuk Lamat wasn't even that. She was a literal princess with no actual problems, all the resources she needed at her disposal, who ended up somehow always having the right answer despite her naivety. She literally went across the ocean to turn the world's most powerful hero into a show poodle so she could skip around the continent with us sitting patiently on a leash by her side like a status symbol.

The irony is despite having us at her beck and call, we're literally never needed for damn near anything. We just stand around like a flower ornament while she gets the "POWER OF FRIENDSHIP" whenever the story needs her to win a fight. It speaks volumes some of the best segments of Dawntrail--few and far between as they were--all conveniently didn't involve Mary Sue Lamat. Having now completed the story, I'm more convinced than ever they simply didn't have enough of a story to tell and just padded the living heck out of the MSQ to make it work.

This is probably one of the most important criticism. There is a reason why story telling have things like ramming up the momentum. FF14 has a really bad habit of just yanking you off the highway without an off ram.

The pacing is absolutely horrendous. Time and again when the story finally had some sort of momentum, it crash to a complete halt because our resident Mary Sue wanted to go talk to everyone again. Even the very end couldn't keep itself together without being all about her.