Don't do chaotic raid again

[BigCheez]

I don't think its in Square Enix's best interests to let 'slower folks move on' and frankly that's an awful mindset for an MMO. I don't want my casual friends leaving, I want them to have content to do too, I don't want FC's filled with just Raiders, I want an FC filled with all kinds of players.

Raiders aren't sticking around either. You get a savage tier that takes about a week to clear once per year and an ultimate that takes about a month to clear every 18 months.

The core audience for FFXIV is MSQ Andys. I think they've basically realised that they make more money by catering to a huge audience who buy an expansion and sub for 1 month than they do by catering to a smaller audience who pay their sub for the full 2-3 year cycle.

It's definitely worse for the game but I don't think SE care.

[Darnath]

Raiders aren't sticking around either. You get a savage tier that takes about a week to clear once per year and an ultimate that takes about a month to clear every 18 months.

The core audience for FFXIV is MSQ Andys. I think they've basically realised that they make more money by catering to a huge audience who buy an expansion and sub for 1 month than they do by catering to a smaller audience who pay their sub for the full 2-3 year cycle.

It's definitely worse for the game but I don't think SE care.

I'll agree. They need to finally decide which group they're going to cater to and tell the rest "Sorry, this game isn't for you". Like how the Souls games have the courage to tell slower player "We aren't for you, play something else."
When you try to give attention to everybody, especially with how long content is taking to develop now, nobody's happy.

[Daralii]

I'll agree. They need to finally decide which group they're going to cater to and tell the rest "Sorry, this game isn't for you". Like how the Souls games have the courage to tell slower player "We aren't for you, play something else."
When you try to give attention to everybody, especially with how long content is taking to develop now, nobody's happy.

FromSoft's games can carry the company without trying to appeal to everyone with a pulse. XIV is already struggling to carry SE because almost nothing else they make turns enough of a profit to make up for all the failures.

[BigCheez]

I'll agree. They need to finally decide which group they're going to cater to and tell the rest "Sorry, this game isn't for you". Like how the Souls games have the courage to tell slower player "We aren't for you, play something else."
When you try to give attention to everybody, especially with how long content is taking to develop now, nobody's happy.

MMOs can easily cater to and provide content for both hardcore and casual players. It doesn't have to be one or the other.

I think the current extreme, savage and ultimate release schedule + an improved version of criterion would be enough to keep raiders playing if there was also some more casual battle content to play with friends in between. That gap should be at least partially filled by the exploration zone but that never starts until way too late in the expansion cycle and the majority of the playerbase have generally already given up and moved on by the time it releases. IMO the exploration zone and relics should start in x.1 at the very latest and there should also be some other form of more casual content as well. I think SE would benefit from looking at what WoW has done with delve recently and doing something similar but better.

I think SE are hell bent on taking the profits from FFXIV and dumping it into doomed projects instead of reinvesting the money into the development of FFXIV. They're just doing the bare minimum to keep people buying expansions every few years and don't really care what happens in between.