FFXIV population decline continues

[Paintedtarget]

I lost 5 friends this xpac in 7.1 because of Wuk and how bad the story has been. A few have said they might comeback if the next Xpac has nothing to do with that character and they can buy a skip to never have to deal with her. Couple that with content being poor compared to pre Endwalker and its a recipe for losing people. They also felt all the best talent went over to work on FF16 and we had all the junior devs and junior writers for this xpac.

[NamiRocket]

Objectively, they aren't wrong. For every one hardcore raider there's probably over a dozen casuals. Statistically, the casual audience has a way larger stake than the combined hardcore audience; objectiveness aside, if the majority of people who play this game for super super casual content, the story, some roleplay, maybe fishing? then suddenly amping up the difficulty is obviously going to see people unhappy.

Do you ever feel compelled to put your own face in your hands after reading the things you type or is that just the rest of us?

[BigCheez]

And how, pray tell, did Endwalker achieve this? Reviewing patch notes, here's what I see:

Patch 6.01 and 7.01:

• Normal raid

Patch 6.05 and 7.05:

• Savage raid
• Treasure hunt

Patch 6.1 and 7.1:

• MSQ
• Alliance raid
• EX3
• Unreal
• 6.1 only: Final role quest, Crystalline Conflict
• 7.1 only: Pelupelu society quests

Patch 6.11 and 7.11:

• Ultimate

Patch 6.15 and 7.15:

• Capstone Studium/Wachumeqimeqi quest
• Hildebrand
• Custom deliveries
• 6.15 only: Omega and Tataru quests, Arkasodara society quests
• 7.15 only: Chaotic alliance raid

At this point in the patch cycles, the only content Endwalker has over Dawntrail is a few one-and-done quests and… Crystalline Conflict.

The difference was that most people still had old content to fall back on during Endwalker.

People remember having a lot more to do during Endwalker but what were they actually doing? Finishing off in Eureka/Bozja, Firmament/Diadem, maybe getting their crafters and gatherers sorted out if they didn't have those done already, BLU stuff, etc.

I can tell you what they weren't doing, and that's playing Endwalker content, because it was barren as hell.

[brinn12]

I pointed out in another thread, FFXIV steam charts look really concerning. The peak for EW launch was pretty much replicated for DT. People gave the expansion a chance, there were graphic updates. But the peak for the release of FRU was almost 50% lower than the peak for DSR. Someone mentioned that FFXIV has players outside of Steam, but I don't see why this wouldn't be replicated on other platforms.

Most people in this game don't do Savage or Ultimate, so they are getting close to 0 content for months. One Alliance Raid which they don't even have to reclear, as the next crafted gear will be better than anything we have right now. A (very) small number of MSQ quests — the same MSQ so many people hated. What else? Developers are asking for more time between patches, which means even more time without content.

[BigCheez]

I pointed out in another thread, FFXIV steam charts look really concerning. The peak for EW launch was pretty much replicated for DT. People gave the expansion a chance, there were graphic updates. But the peak for the release of FRU was almost 50% lower than the peak for DSR. Someone mentioned that FFXIV has players outside of Steam, but I don't see why this wouldn't be replicated on other platforms.

Most people in this game don't do Savage or Ultimate, so they are getting close to 0 content for months. One Alliance Raid which they don't even have to reclear, as the next crafted gear will be better than anything we have right now. A (very) small number of MSQ quests — the same MSQ so many people hated. What else? Developers are asking for more time between patches, which means even more time without content.

We have complete player numbers now and don't need to guestimate based on Steam numbers (Google translate required if you can't read weebdings).

https://luckybancho.ldblog.jp/archives/58883226.html

"Concerning" is correct but voting with your wallet and time is the best way to get developers to actually address an issue, so this is probably a blessing in disguise.

It's also worth noting that Lucky Bancho are notorious for trying to make XIV look as good as possible, so the 7.1 numbers were taken during a free login campaign and the number of returning players will be slightly inflated.

[SWATomega]

I feel this is being quite dramatic, i have seen a lot of doom and gloom, but to be honest the game will be fine, the population will be fine, we will be fine. We have received a lot of good content over the years and for an expansion initial launch not being the best to people's eyes is bound to happen, expecting to excel past Shadowbinger and Endwalker was going to be no easy feat. Coming off the climax of the conclusion of it all wanting more of the same when starting anew i can see expectations being dashed and writing faltering when trying to start from new.

We still have 4 major content drops remaining for the expansion more story, side quest, trials, yada yada. I still love the game, i will still play it, i will acknowledge what isn't great in it. Maybe because i don't have a full opinion until all the content drops, but im sure we will be fine and the game will be fine.

[Lilapop]

Do you ever feel compelled to put your own face in your hands after reading the things you type or is that just the rest of us?

I do, purely for the fact that any of it has to be said.

[RaideDuku]

For folks that claim they "love the game and are concerned about it's direction", seems to me that they're REALLY OBSESSED about it ending. Just enjoy the game if you enjoy it and don't sweat the sub numbers. Less people playing does not invalidate your enjoyment, and if it dies, it dies, and at least the game provided you with good memories while it lasted. There will be, and are, other games.

And if you don't enjoy the game, and just get some sort of cathartic pleasure of watching every single subscription the count lowers, cackling madly like some hag that just had some long term curse that they laid on some person that mildly wronged them has come to fruition, your righteous anger finally made manifest... ... ...ok.

[BigCheez]

For folks that claim they "love the game and are concerned about it's direction", seems to me that they're REALLY OBSESSED about it ending. Just enjoy the game if you enjoy it and don't sweat the sub numbers. Less people playing does not invalidate your enjoyment, and if it dies, it dies, and at least the game provided you with good memories while it lasted. There will be, and are, other games.

And if you don't enjoy the game, and just get some sort of cathartic pleasure of watching pleasure of every single subscription the count lowers, cackling madly like some hag that just had some long term curse that they laid on some person that mildly wronged them has come to fruition, your righteous anger finally made manifest... ... ...ok.

No one wants the game to die. I think a lot of people just feel vindicated in their dissatisfaction with the state of the game being echoed and are glad that the developers are receiving a clear message that change is needed.

[Velthice]

And if you don't enjoy the game, and just get some sort of cathartic pleasure of watching pleasure of every single subscription the count lowers, cackling madly like some hag that just had some long term curse that they laid on some person that mildly wronged them has come to fruition, your righteous anger finally made manifest... ... ...ok.

Why you gotta call me out so specifically?