Wow, Wuk Lamat is really single-handedly ruining the DT story...

[DiscoDuck]

Good god...

Just won the lvl 95 solo duty by doing absolutely nothing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGtY1aPrOMQ

This is worse than participation trophies...this is pathetic....now to see if a duty support with Mary Sue can be won by doing absolutely nothing. Regardless of the results I'll just do dungeons with real people to get thru faster.

[Voidmage]

I'ma be real, despite a few hiccups along the way I was having a blast with the majority of Dawntrail. I switched my brain into "Saturday morning cartoon" mode and enjoyed it for the shallow experience it was.

I enjoyed the majority of the succession competition (even the Pelupelu trading sequence gave me a laugh each time the pointless UI for it popped up) and I had a great time hanging out in the wild west with Erenville and teaching a gang how things are done in Eorzea. I was even happy to hang out with Wuk Lamat again beyond the dome and find out the mysteries of Heritage Found and Solution 9 despite how obvious some of the twists were.

Then the crisis with her brother happened, I was ready to get pumped up and have a final showdown with the resilient son after it had been built up from the beginning of the expansion. The WOL, one of my favourite scions and the fun new character were lining up for a hero pose. I had my finger hovering over the screenshot key in anticipation, and...

It honestly felt like the biggest **** you from the devs.
I was really trying to be charitable and give the devs the benefit of the doubt, that there'd be SOME kind of payoff with Wuk Lamat. But there really wasn't. In the end it felt like they didn't even want to be making an FF14 expansion.

I thought it was pretty obvious the WoL was a thorn in the writers side the entire time.
Throughout the story I got the impression they actually didn‘t want to write a ff14 story but a standalone one with Wuk Lamat as the central character.
In an mmorpg you can’t get rid of the player character though so they did it like this.

Really spiteful especially with the trailers and all else.

This one with the axe also isn’t on the writers alone but on the team that does cutscenes.
They knew exactly what they were doing there.
Everyone there did.

I’m just glad the Japanese seem more bothered by the entire “sidelining the WoL” thing than the western players.
At least I can have hope they actually listen.

If this continues though I’m out. Fuck this game then.

[lolnotacat]

I thought it was pretty obvious the WoL was a thorn in the writers side the entire time.
Throughout the story I got the impression they actually didn‘t want to write a ff14 story but a standalone one with Wuk Lamat as the central character.
In an mmorpg you can’t get rid of the player character though so they did it like this.

Really spiteful especially with the trailers and all else.

This one with the axe also isn’t on the writers alone but on the team that does cutscenes.
They knew exactly what they were doing there.
Everyone there did.

I’m just glad the Japanese seem more bothered by the entire “sidelining the WoL” thing than the western players.
At least I can have hope they actually listen.

If this continues though I’m out. Fuck this game then.

There's quotes where Hiroi said something along the lines of "Writing for a game is a lot different than writing for theater."

And yet he cleary can't do either since his theater shut down.

[Rakdar]

The ironic part is that mecha otis is effectively the perfect endless. He doesn’t need soul energy too ruction and remember everything from his last life and did life for over 200 years and then somehow they did realise how fukked this is for the entire living memory plot so he dies saving a drone that has sphenes data echo on it. As we later see she can just jump drone bodies like a ascian does. Also don’t we forget they said endless are the most happiest memories of these people only for endless Otis to get memory ptsd for whatever reason.

Like the entire endless plot would have worked when they would never be forgotten by the Alexandrian people and they could have visited them in living memory. With the forgetting part what goal do the endless serve even ??? They are just computer programs same as Sphene and there is no empathy situation happening, it’s just use effectively pulling the plug on a soul vacuum that is used for something the living can’t even rember.

I have so little faith that Dawntrail's writers put any thought into what they wrote that I don't think they actually realized Otis' existence fucks the entire premise of Living Memory "needing" to end the way it did. I think they did it just to bait a cheap emotional reaction out of us when he dies, all so they could do it with him again IN Living Memory. Because between Namikka, Krile's parents, and Cahciua, there weren't enough cheap cry moments in there I guess.

But that's why I brought up the Omicron. They reshaped their entire civilization to house actual souls inside robotic shells. Otis was an example of an Endless that worked without the soul sucking issue, but he was one example that while I think it's unlikely, could've been a fluke. But even assuming there's some inherent difference between storing souls vs storing memories(it's all just aether so...lol I doubt it), just give the Omicron some data about the Endless and Alexandria's tech and I'm sure they could work out a solution in a day or so.

[lolnotacat]

I have so little faith that Dawntrail's writers put any thought into what they wrote that I don't think they actually realized Otis' existence fucks the entire premise of Living Memory "needing" to end the way it did. I think they did it just to bait a cheap emotional reaction out of us when he dies, all so they could do it with him again IN Living Memory. Because between Namikka, Krile's parents, and Cahciua, there weren't enough cheap cry moments in there I guess.

But that's why I brought up the Omicron. They reshaped their entire civilization to house actual souls inside robotic shells. Otis was an example of an Endless that worked without the soul sucking issue, but he was one example that while I think it's unlikely, could've been a fluke. But even assuming there's some inherent difference between storing souls vs storing memories(it's all just aether so...lol I doubt it), just give the Omicron some data about the Endless and Alexandria's tech and I'm sure they could work out a solution in a day or so.

The fact we didn't even consider consulting the Omicrons for Living Memory or asking Alisae to rustle up a porxie help with the paralyzed kid proved to me Hiroi has an actual disdain for what was previously written. I would've grumbled but let it pass if both the Omicrons or Alisae were like "Sorry we can't help because (insert bullshit reason here)." Instead it was completely glossed over and either Hiroi doesn't understand the lore of the game he's been on for around a decade, or he actively is trying to ignore what happened before so he can make this about his Mary Sue furry character. Both situations are bad and prove he needs to be let go.

[Endy_Sinkai]

After now having played the raids we have and letting my sub lapse for the first time since StB. Honestly I can't find the motivation to play. The msq is my main driving force and talking focus that lets me then go and enjoy the rest of the game.

However everytime I tried to boot up the game I got more and more frustrated knowing how bad the msq pissed me off and how going forward its probably going to be insufferable dealing with WuK.

So two days ago my sub ran out and honestly Im ok with not coming back until the story is fixed even If that means loosing my medium house. I will say the raids where fun, however they where not interesting enough to keep me playing until the next patch. Not any of my friends. They have all quit the expansion before even finishing the msq. They just couldn't stand WuK or how bad the writing was.

I have however tried to encourage one of my friends who was trying to enjoy the expansion to not let others bring her down.

Like if you like the Expansion nothing wrong with that. If you love WuK fair enough. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise ya know. Just understand that alot of us have our criticism of the expansion and Wuk specifically.

Namely the voice inflections at times and the voice direction choices. Plus the astronomical amount of power rangers level writing in the game.

Compared to any of the other expansions and the down to earth writing that was 1.0 to 6.0

Not all of it is WuK. However the fact they try and shove her into almost every single second of this expansion. Is in fact a issue that needs to be addressed going forward.

Its bad writing and honestly its disrespectful to the players intelligence. We are not five. So why are you treating us like we are by repeating the same thing to the point of nauseam.

[Allegor]

The fact we didn't even consider consulting the Omicrons for Living Memory or asking Alisae to rustle up a porxie help with the paralyzed kid proved to me Hiroi has an actual disdain for what was previously written. I would've grumbled but let it pass if both the Omicrons or Alisae were like "Sorry we can't help because (insert bullshit reason here)." Instead it was completely glossed over and either Hiroi doesn't understand the lore of the game he's been on for around a decade, or he actively is trying to ignore what happened before so he can make this about his Mary Sue furry character. Both situations are bad and prove he needs to be let go.

In hindsight, a LOT of moments felt forced in the msq, the whole story arc could be summarized in "don't think too much about it." I guess it was our brains who were meant to take a vacation this expansion, not the WoL /shrug

[Mortex]

I have so little faith that Dawntrail's writers put any thought into what they wrote that I don't think they actually realized Otis' existence fucks the entire premise of Living Memory "needing" to end the way it did. I think they did it just to bait a cheap emotional reaction out of us when he dies, all so they could do it with him again IN Living Memory. Because between Namikka, Krile's parents, and Cahciua, there weren't enough cheap cry moments in there I guess.

But that's why I brought up the Omicron. They reshaped their entire civilization to house actual souls inside robotic shells. Otis was an example of an Endless that worked without the soul sucking issue, but he was one example that while I think it's unlikely, could've been a fluke. But even assuming there's some inherent difference between storing souls vs storing memories(it's all just aether so...lol I doubt it), just give the Omicron some data about the Endless and Alexandria's tech and I'm sure they could work out a solution in a day or so.

The problem is they tried too make the start of a new adventure while we have already a lot of lore that has to be taken into consideration when you right a follow up story. The problem is that sets us (the main character) up as a complete and utter idiot, like we are a azem the traveler a forger of bonds and friendships but for the sake of the story we don’t remember these when it’s plot needs it.

Like the new story writing team forgot a massive chunk of already existing lore. While also trying to be clever and get tear jerker moments out of us. But in the end we know how bad they fluffed it.

[Rakdar]

The fact we didn't even consider consulting the Omicrons for Living Memory or asking Alisae to rustle up a porxie help with the paralyzed kid proved to me Hiroi has an actual disdain for what was previously written. I would've grumbled but let it pass if both the Omicrons or Alisae were like "Sorry we can't help because (insert bullshit reason here)." Instead it was completely glossed over and either Hiroi doesn't understand the lore of the game he's been on for around a decade, or he actively is trying to ignore what happened before so he can make this about his Mary Sue furry character. Both situations are bad and prove he needs to be let go.

I'll give him the benefit of the doubt that it's more incompetence on his part than malicious intent since I'm not familiar with him or his work in general but yeah, the end result is the same kind of low quality that disrespects both what came before it and the player's intelligence.

That's the kind of shit Steve Danuser did to WoW as narrative lead, and I'd definitely put Danuser on the side of malicious intent. I won't go as far as saying Dawntrail is as bad as Shadowlands, but it's certainly made me realize that Dragonflight could've been a lot worse, because it was also supposed to be a sort of "reset" expansion with lower stakes.

[lolnotacat]

I'll give him the benefit of the doubt that it's more incompetence on his part than malicious intent....

I would too if he were a guest writer, but even then it wouldn't really be acceptable, it would just shift the blame entirely to the lore lead (Kate) instead of partially. The thing is, Hiroi has been around for almost a decade and has been knee deep in a lot of sidequests. There's no good excuse as to why the story should be ignored from someone in his position.