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

[Carin-Eri]

In absolute seriousness though it’s a legitimate tragedy to see the result of this decline from the end of Endwalker. To see a lot of people drift away from the title if not completely lose faith in it after Dawntrail failed to live up to what was promised to await us. It’s one thing to hate something in its totality and in sincerity, but it’s another thing to watch yourself and others fall out of love with something that you’ve treasured and cherished close to your heart, and that is what Dawntrail unfortunately was for FFXIV. And Dawntrail IS Wuk Lamat.

That's a good point in retrospect, because I don't think that any of the pre-launch promotional material gave the impression that Wuk Lamat would take centre-stage through the entirety of the expansion.
Heck, it's pretty telling that most of the Scion-scenes from those first "Open Sky" cinematics actually occurred in the finale cutscenes of 7.0!

[SongOfTheWind]

That's a good point in retrospect, because I don't think that any of the pre-launch promotional material gave the impression that Wuk Lamat would take centre-stage through the entirety of the expansion.
Heck, it's pretty telling that most of the Scion-scenes from those first "Open Sky" cinematics actually occurred in the finale cutscenes of 7.0!

She also did not get to be on that promo building. G’raha did, along with WoL and Erenville

[sylphlands]

That's a good point in retrospect, because I don't think that any of the pre-launch promotional material gave the impression that Wuk Lamat would take centre-stage through the entirety of the expansion.
Heck, it's pretty telling that most of the Scion-scenes from those first "Open Sky" cinematics actually occurred in the finale cutscenes of 7.0!

This is what makes me think some MASSIVE rewrites happened very late into production. I don't think she was originally planned to be nearly as centralized as she ended up being. I'd do anything to find out what happened in that writers' room that led to this being the final product, because if my hunch is correct, it was ugly.

[ZXN]

That's a good point in retrospect, because I don't think that any of the pre-launch promotional material gave the impression that Wuk Lamat would take centre-stage through the entirety of the expansion.
Heck, it's pretty telling that most of the Scion-scenes from those first "Open Sky" cinematics actually occurred in the finale cutscenes of 7.0!

She also did not get to be on that promo building. G’raha did, along with WoL and Erenville

This is what makes me think some MASSIVE rewrites happened very late into production. I don't think she was originally planned to be nearly as centralized as she ended up being. I'd do anything to find out what happened in that writers' room that led to this being the final product, because if my hunch is correct, it was ugly.

If we go based on just the promo building stuff, the WoL and Erenville being there make sense. G'raha though does not make ANY sense. If anything, people would assume the three on the promo building would be WoL/Erenville/Krile, given how much Krile was hyped up in the fanfest keynotes as well as pushed near the end of the Endwalker to really be preparing herself to finally fight alongside everyone properly and was going to have a big part to play in the story [and of course we all saw how shit that turned out to be]. The other assumption would obviously be WoL/Erenville/Wuk Lamat given Dawntrail is just Wuk Lamat's expansion and she was introduced at the end of Endwalker and is our ticket to Tural for a new adventure. Yes you could say that "G'raha is just there to build people's interest in Dawntrail" to which I say that's cool and all: but putting Y'shtola, who is essentially the "face" of FF14, would've drawn in even more if they just wanted to put a face up that more people recognized to "build interest."

But they instead ultimately chose G'raha, even though he only appears during the second half of the expansion.

Of course it's all speculation in the end, but I wouldn't be surprised if there was actually a huge re-write of some sort sometime during development.

[MoiraTerrwell]

G'raha could have acted as a foil for Sphene since he was also the leader of one of the last bastions of civilization on a shard that was on the brink, but obviously went down a very different path. It'd make more sense than her foil being a freshly appointed co-leader of a near-utopia.

That's actually such a good point. The entire Alexandria line could've been done with G'raha, yet he got fully sidelined instead. While he would've made so much more sense than madam in charge for 5 minutes

[BabySneed]

That's actually such a good point. The entire Alexandria line could've been done with G'raha, yet he got fully sidelined instead. While he would've made so much more sense than madam in charge for 5 minutes

Almost any character other than Wuk would've been better to focus on for the Alexandria part of the MSQ, why they felt the need to force Wuk in the players face so hard in the second half remains beyond me and was probably the single worst decision the writing team made in Dawntrail

[Zaniel]

This is what baffles me the most about DT's defenders. DT needs the audience to have poor literacy for the story even to work.

Sometimes I just wonder if people read anymore. How anyone can consume ANY literature during their life and then defend the writing in Dawntrail is beyond me (or watch any part way decently written TV series). Hell, your average X-Men crossover series makes more sense than Dawntrail.

[lolnotacat]

Sometimes I just wonder if people read anymore. How anyone can consume ANY literature during their life and then defend the writing in Dawntrail is beyond me (or watch any part way decently written TV series). Hell, your average X-Men crossover series makes more sense than Dawntrail.

Honestly, I think a lot of the defense (and some of the hatred) of DT is ideological, which is why so many of the arguments are nonsensical or pure deflection tactics. "Group X (dis)likes this game because they're on the wrong team so I have to defend/attack it!"

The game also has a lot of weird toxic positivity where people get very upset if you criticize the game at all so they'll just defend it reflexively.

But, for some reason, there are people who genuinely like the story. There's someone on my friend list who reads fantasy fiction voraciously and thinks Dawntrail is the best expansion by far. You can't account for taste I suppose.

[Allegor]

This is what baffles me the most about DT's defenders. DT needs the audience to have poor literacy for the story even to work. The moment you pull at a single thread, the whole thing unravels. It's bizarre that actual critiques of the story, of which there are an endless amount, get accused of being a product of "low attention span" as if the writing doesn't beat you over the head with the same point again and again juuust in case you forgot anything from two lines earlier.

The writers seemed to assume we're all stupid and would either not notice or intentionally ignore blatant plot holes, poor dialogue, and zero solid character arcs. There were so many points I felt outright scorn from this team - I looked at my partner at one point and was like, "Do they hate us for playing this game?"

I'll take a pick from the jar:

Zoraal ja spent 30 years preparing to invade Tuliyollal and he was still beaten by his old, officially retired, literally half dead father.

[EchoingPulse]

Honestly, I think a lot of the defense (and some of the hatred) of DT is ideological, which is why so many of the arguments are nonsensical or pure deflection tactics. "Group X (dis)likes this game because they're on the wrong team so I have to defend/attack it!"

The game also has a lot of weird toxic positivity where people get very upset if you criticize the game at all so they'll just defend it reflexively.

But, for some reason, there are people who genuinely like the story. There's someone on my friend list who reads fantasy fiction voraciously and thinks Dawntrail is the best expansion by far. You can't account for taste I suppose.

Unfortunately, that first reason is the most potent and accurate.
I wouldn't say I like it for XYZ reason. I must be on the wrong side of the lake and hate the golden child Wuk because of it.