Disappointed With XIV Direction

[Bonoki]

One of the biggest betrayals in FFXIV's supposed identity is how it's touted as the ultimate social MMO, yet to me, it feels more anti-social than ever. The community and dev team prioritize fostering social interaction, but where? Finding an active Free Company that RP doesn't consume feels like searching for a needle in a haystack. And once you find a group, what can you do together? Raiding and treasure maps – that's about it. Beyond that, the game practically plays like a single-player RPG, with Limsa Lominsa reduced to nothing more than a glorified AFK lobby.

Party Finder is overrun with what can only be described as businesses masquerading as community activities—venues more interested in boosting a DJ's Twitch viewership than creating real, meaningful connections. It doesn't feel like community bonding; you're just another number.

Social platforms like Twitter/X and Reddit don't help either. Instead of fostering discussion, they're dominated by echo chambers where you're either fully aligned with the hive mind or silenced for fear of stepping out of line.

Even raiding, the supposed pinnacle of community collaboration, has become a mixed bag. Statics fall apart when content is cleared, leaving behind a trail of burned bridges. Most of the time, I never see those people again—because we're too busy resenting each other. Maybe I killed their parse. Perhaps they think I dragged us down. It doesn't matter; the result is the same. FFXIV feels less like a social haven and more like an isolating, segmented experience where connections are fleeting and shallow.

FFXIV is starting to feel shallow in its single-player aspects, which used to be its saving grace. Patch cycles are growing longer, yet the content we're getting feels like a downgrade, getting less per patch. The story, once the game's crown jewel, is starting to falter with questionable writing and pacing. Even something as simple as hairstyles isn't appropriately handled when we finally get a new style.

Jobs? They're being gutted and oversimplified, stripping away the depth and complexity that once made them engaging to master. This isn't just a gameplay issue; it's an identity crisis. The game offers plenty to do, but there's little to no incentive to do any of it. Take Extreme Primal mounts, for example: why should I bother grinding them now when I know that by 8.0, the drop rates will increase, unsync will make it trivial, and patience will reward me more than effort ever could?

This creeping sense of hollowness in both multiplayer and single-player experiences is undeniable. For all the game's talk of being a vibrant, dynamic world, it feels like the soul that once drove it is slowly slipping away.

[Ritsugamesh]

This creeping sense of hollowness in both multiplayer and single-player experiences is undeniable. For all the game's talk of being a vibrant, dynamic world, it feels like the soul that once drove it is slowly slipping away.

This is the most important line there. What makes this MMO vibrant or dynamic? Literally everything is copy/pasted timelines and exact mathed out 'this is the best statistical dungeon layout so EVERY dungeon is the same design'. There's literally no moving parts in the world outside of hunts/fates (no thank you, I've done more than enough mindless fates and hunt trains for a lifetime) - everything else is as static and regimented as can be. Even the fight design is the epitome of static and unyielding, do the dance the right way and win. I know fights are only beat with the right strategy in every game, but imagine playing FFIX and the only way to win a fight was to sequence the perfect combo of attack/spell/attack/attack/defend/back row/etc. - it's hyperbole, but you get the concept.

There is just no room for anything other than the designed scope. Jobs have no identity and have been boiled down to the bare essentials. No room for expression, I mean even look at things like AST cards - the long vaunted discussion I know - but like, they're not even cards anymore. They're just additional crap oGCDs that are worse than other AST oGCDs.

FFXVI unfortunately felt exactly the same. The combat was flashy but was ultimately pointless, not challenging, and the whole effort lacked soul. I'm no longer sure this dev team have the creativity to escape the tightening of the noose.

[Kaecilius]

Literally everything is copy/pasted timelines and exact mathed out 'this is the best statistical dungeon layout so EVERY dungeon is the same design'.

At this point I'm BEGGING them to take another look at the old ARR dungeon design where you actually had to do things in the dungeons, and they were not just a long hallway. I understand that this might not be possible in the standard dungeons because of Roulettes, since you are expected to beeline for the next boss, but they have variant dungeons where they could get even more experimental with the branching labyrinthine paths and do interesting puzzles.

[Daralii]

At this point I'm BEGGING them to take another look at the old ARR dungeon design where you actually had to do things in the dungeons, and they were not just a long hallway. I understand that this might not be possible in the standard dungeons because of Roulettes, since you are expected to beeline for the next boss, but they have variant dungeons where they could get even more experimental with the branching labyrinthine paths and do interesting puzzles.

They'll look at them, but only to turn them into trash -> trash -> trash -> boss hallways for trusts.

[Jeeqbit]

it feels more anti-social than ever

I agree that finding social interaction in FFXIV is hard at first. It was for me when I started. But once you find the social spaces you realize it's massive.

• RP FCs, linkshells and CWLS. There are places listing RP events too.
• Venues (I separate these from RP, despite being connected, because some people enjoy these without necessarily being RPers).
• FCs that run events like map parties and extreme farms (but as you said these are a needle in a haystack). Like in any MMORPG, if everyone you see on the server is in that FC almost, it's probably the FC to be in for noise and activity. Often a good way to get an Eternal Bonding invite which are also community events.
• Hunt spawning and conducting communities are often small, close-knit and social on all worlds.
• Joining map parties in PF tends to be pretty social, since maps themselves are boring so you spend time just talking.
• Joining unsync farms is similarly social if the content is braindead to farm at that point, because all you have left is to talk while taking 2% damage.
• Really even content that requires focus in PF like Blue Mage clears or high-end raids can be social, depending on the party, because of talking while waiting for people to join, sometimes getting into discord and laughing together.
• Despite people's disdain for FATEs, completing Shared FATE ranks in PF is often social as well - being easy to fight them lends itself to just chatting with eachother between FATEs.
• Any large-scale content can feel social if people are chatting - Frontline, Field Operation shout chats, Alliance Raid chats, hunt train and S rank shout chats, occasionally city state shouts.
• To help people find social circles, SE created Fellowships. Despite the memes, people often advertise CWLS or discords for likeminded people in there - such as people who speak the same language, people from a certain region, people who want to do specific content (deep dungeons, MINE content, raids, etc), to advertise RP groups and events. Just got to scroll past the memes in there.
• A bit niche, but there is social interaction in Novice Networks too for those in there.
• Outside of the game, discord is massive for FFXIV. I'd say the easiest ways to find small FFXIV discord servers is to PUG raids or other content and you end up in small friend servers over time. Same if you join FCs - you end up in FC discord servers that way. But there are also hundreds of large FFXIV discord servers with social channels you can hang in.
• Another social area outside of the game is youtube and twitch. Lots of small and medium youtubers and twitch streamers grow from nothing if you look at the FFXIV categories or your homepage to see recommendations, and they create discords that grow over time and, often, people make friends in those. The FFXIV community team also stream sometimes or do PvP events.
• Though I don't use it myself, social media is also rather big outside of the game for FFXIV - reddit, ex-twitter, blogs, because people like to post their screenshots, art and crafts. The game is full of creative types so art and crafts are absolutely everywhere and etsy is full of people's FFXIV-inspired creations. Though it's not personally my thing it seems a very social space to me overall.

Party Finder is overrun with what can only be described as businesses masquerading as community activities

Only if you look at the Other category. I ignore that part of PF so I don't notice it.

Social platforms like Twitter/X and Reddit don't help either. Instead of fostering discussion, they're dominated by echo chambers where you're either fully aligned with the hive mind or silenced for fear of stepping out of line.

I suppose that can feel the case there, but fortunately it's not your only option.

Statics fall apart when content is cleared, leaving behind a trail of burned bridges.

I'm not gonna disagree that statics often fall apart. It's part of human social interaction, unfortunately. Even in real life you can burn bridges with people you worked with, get fired or fall out with friends and this is far more common when you do something that "relies on eachother" such as forming a band (I was in a few and fell out with all of them, despite being friends with them for years prior). It tests to the limit if you're really, emotionally, on the same page.

But when you find a team that doesn't fall out, it's great. Alternatively, it can be great in the time before it falls apart. If you all had a blast for a year, or a few years, before it went south, then at least you had a few years of joy?

story, once the game's crown jewel, is starting to falter

To me personally, it feels like what we've always got, it's just not my thing... this whole cyberpunk thing isn't really hitting for me. I do hope it'll move a bit back from the technology to traditional fantasy. The whole thing was great until Heritage Found where the technology just overdid it for me.

Jobs? They're being gutted and oversimplified, stripping away the depth and complexity that once made them engaging to master. This isn't just a gameplay issue; it's an identity crisis.

I don't particularly disagree with their identity crisis and uniqueness issue. My hope is they'll address this in 8.0 as promised with the ideas they mentioned such as skill trees.

Take Extreme Primal mounts, for example: why should I bother grinding them now when I know that by 8.0, the drop rates will increase, unsync will make it trivial, and patience will reward me more than effort ever could?

You're right and many people choose to wait and unsync, but here is why I do it when it's current: for the experience and the memories. Once the content is old, the mechanics have no punch and it's not the same. I want to be able to say to sprouts "in my day, it was like X" and after 10 years, I can and do exactly that.