Are we destroying "our own" game?

[Rekh]

It's like forum's living in one world and people in game are living in another. Haven't encountered anyone who didn't like DT msq. I'm seeing the opposite in game, it's been a lot of fun so far.

Normally when msq/story/content is bad it gets expressed in all locations where the community exists, including in-game; but that's not what I'm seeing with DT.

[Turethir]

It's like forum's living in one world and people in game are living in another. Haven't encountered anyone who didn't like DT msq. I'm seeing the opposite in game, it's been a lot of fun so far.

Normally when msq/story/content is bad it gets expressed in all locations where the community exists, including in-game; but that's not what I'm seeing with DT.

Honestly, a lot of it is anecdotal - I've had the opposite experience, where I've had a lot of people in game complaining about it! At the end of the day I don't think anybody can deny that this expansion had a mixed reception, no matter what you think of it.

[Carin-Eri]

Welcome to why most modern game companies rely on cold, hard player statistics and data about player habits rather than actual feedback.
Doesn't matter if you have 100 John Does on your forums saying something in the game is bad when literally every point of data is screaming the exact opposite. Or more hilariously in the case of something like the recent Genshin Impact "boycott", claiming something is bad but continuing to engage with that system/thing over and over, thus telling the developers your opinion is irrelevant since you'll still interact with it anyway.

Though I almost resent saying it, I'm forced to agree.

This is why so many Free to Play games reliant on sleazy gamblebox marketing tactics survive - it doesn't matter how much the players of such games hate or gripe about such matters on the Internet because the gambleboxes continue to sell anyway. And I doubt there is a single gaming company out there that doesn't have a preference for communication via Credit Card above all else.

[Evergrey]

I like that we aren't the center of attention and doing all of the work.

I agree on this. It was a nice change of pace imo.

[Ruris]

It's like forum's living in one world and people in game are living in another. Haven't encountered anyone who didn't like DT msq. I'm seeing the opposite in game, it's been a lot of fun so far..

False. Preach and Zepla have been straight up laughing at dialogue choices in game, and not out of affection. Before you drag your fingernails down a chalkboard for BGM music when you tell me you don't give a care for streamers, guess who are the ones that the devs will have a better chance of paying attention to between this forum and them?

Steam reviews for Dawntrail are sitting on mixed and are dwindling by the day. This is as simple as checking by simply booting up Steam and looking for yourself. What was that again about all locations sharing the same opinion?

This is gaslighting levels of claim.

[Rekh]

Honestly, a lot of it is anecdotal - I've had the opposite experience, where I've had a lot of people in game complaining about it! At the end of the day I don't think anybody can deny that this expansion had a mixed reception, no matter what you think of it.

They've all had mixed reception in north america when it's not catered to hollywood-type narrative (shadowbringers) or medieval castles in europe (heavensward). Fortunately square enix understands that they can't just make heavensward part 2, 3, 4, 5 in every expansion and is attempting to give a new experience instead.

Dawntrail was like Stormblood; "mixed" reception in north america mostly but overall a high quality msq with great story and narrative objectively.

[chizLemons]

It's like forum's living in one world and people in game are living in another. Haven't encountered anyone who didn't like DT msq. I'm seeing the opposite in game, it's been a lot of fun so far.

Normally when msq/story/content is bad it gets expressed in all locations where the community exists, including in-game; but that's not what I'm seeing with DT.

That's really not the case at all, and hasn't been for a while. You seem to be judging only by your own personal bubble.
Different social media have certain tendencies, and hopefully the devs are already aware of that and able to balance it out. This forums tends to be mostly negative (but it IS the main place people are pointed to go and give feedback they really want to be heard), twitter tends to be mostly positive, different subreddits also have varying opinions and priorities. The influencers and their communities are also some indication. I've seen some be vocally unhappy about it, some liking it enough, and some having mixed feelings. In many opinion videos you can also see very mixed discussions going on in the comments.

It also varies a lot depending on what the person mostly values in the game. From what I've seen, people very invested in the story and writing from before, specially those that like Shadowbringers best or started playing because of ShB, did NOT enjoy it, and those are the majority that are complaining about the MSQ here right now.
People who mostly care about battle content, read the story casually but don't have it define their experience, are usually the people that say it's "mid" and move on. People that ONLY care about gameplay and don't really mind the story are having a blast.

It's up to the devs to see how much they care about everyone's opinions and how they're going to consider and balance them out and what to do about it.

[Isala]

They've all had mixed reception in north america when it's not catered to hollywood-type narrative (shadowbringers) or medieval castles in europe (heavensward). Fortunately square enix understands that they can't just make heavensward part 2, 3, 4, 5 in every expansion and is attempting to give a new experience instead.

Dawntrail was like Stormblood; "mixed" reception in north america mostly but overall a high quality msq with great story and narrative objectively.

I don't know why you feel the need to claim that it's only NA having issues with DT. You should see some of the absolute bile that JP is slinging at this joke of an expansion. I wish I could be as creative as the JP side is with their DT insults. It's absolutely a treat to read.

[Xellith]

I havent posted on the official forums in years as far as I can recall. Dawntrail was so bad I felt I had to come here and give SE a piece of my mind in the hopes that they wont ever sell us garbage again. From where I'm sitting, Dawntrail itself and the direction the game has been going is destroying the game. I get that SE can do whatever they want, but as long as I'm passionate about XIV, Im going to be fighting for better updates and releases.

[Rekh]

I don't know why you feel the need to claim that it's only NA having issues with DT. You should see some of the absolute bile that JP is slinging at this joke of an expansion. I wish I could be as creative as the JP side is with their DT insults. It's absolutely a treat to read.

jp has always had 4chan type of websites where they turn into asahi/fandaniel; that's nothing new. They've been doing that since A realm reborn.

False. Preach and Zepla have been straight up laughing at dialogue choices in game, and not out of affection. Before you drag your fingernails down a chalkboard for BGM music when you tell me you don't give a care for streamers, guess who are the ones that the devs will have a better chance of paying attention to between this forum and them?

You're clueless if you think game devs make their msq/story content based on twitch.

Steam reviews for Dawntrail are sitting on mixed and are dwindling by the day. This is as simple as checking by simply booting up Steam and looking for yourself. What was that again about all locations sharing the same opinion?

This is gaslighting levels of claim.

Steam reviews mean nothing in this day and age. Games like Elden Ring's DLC was "mixed" for a while because the game was "too hard" for the underdeveloped brain players. What ultimately matters in mmos in this day and age is the long term content; the real question is what will people do post msq until the next expansion? Will we have to wait until 7.3 for relics to give us long term content? Will 7.1 be devoid of long term playable content? That's what actually matters in mmos. square enix can't win when it comes to msq, there will always be some haters one way or the other; they shouldn't even care.