patch 7.2 or next expansion

[Kaurhz]

So, I will probably admittedly stay subscribed regardless, mostly because of friends, rather than the actual content itself. This is reason enough for me, personally. So I know the below may ring hollow for some..

But as far as looking exclusively at the content... 7.2 will really be the last chance for me, where the last sliver of optimism goes away. It's just generally not healthy to keep with the line of thinking "Maybe next expansion will be better". I would just rather treat this as something to hang with friends, whether that's helping them with content, or just having laughs on a mutual game... Rather than an actual game where I come here exclusively for the content.

I used to play exclusively for the content, regardless of what friends I may have made, but these days I am almost playing exclusively because of friends. It's just a state of... Not a very good game, but an OK social simulator (if you manage to make friends).

[Xapapetsu]

So, I will probably admittedly stay subscribed regardless, mostly because of friends, rather than the actual content itself. This is reason enough for me, personally. So I know the below may ring hollow for some..

But as far as looking exclusively at the content... 7.2 will really be the last chance for me, where the last sliver of optimism goes away. It's just generally not healthy to keep with the line of thinking "Maybe next expansion will be better". I would just rather treat this as something to hang with friends, whether that's helping them with content, or just having laughs on a mutual game... Rather than an actual game where I come here exclusively for the content.

I used to play exclusively for the content, regardless of what friends I may have made, but these days I am almost playing exclusively because of friends. It's just a state of... Not a very good game, but an OK social simulator (if you manage to make friends).

I think that's fair, if you don't enjoy the gameplay, just the social aspects of it, then it's not really worth the money for you. I think a lot of people need to ask themselves did they ever like the gameplay of FFXIV or we're they only playing because they liked the story and the social aspects. If it's the latter, it doesn't matter what content sqex puts in the game, they'll never really be happy content wise because it's not fun for them.

[Kaurhz]

I think that's fair, if you don't enjoy the gameplay, just the social aspects of it, then it's not really worth the money for you. I think a lot of people need to ask themselves did they ever like the gameplay of FFXIV or we're they only playing because they liked the story and the social aspects. If it's the latter, it doesn't matter what content sqex puts in the game, they'll never really be happy content wise because it's not fun for them.

I think I am able to make a reasonable decision on what is worth the money, frankly. But setting that aside...

There are plenty of people who enjoyed the gameplay of this game, far far more than they did the social aspect. This is the situation I was in for the better part of 6-7 years. I remember way back getting this game precisely because of how fun doing Coils looked when watching. The enjoyability of actually doing them myself, when I got the game, levelled everything up (albeit on another long-gone character). Then getting completely hooked on crafting, where it was not treated like a subsystem as a gameplay quota, but something with an engaging, immersive and frankly unique experience among other games that I've done crafting on. For them to slowly turn it into the most mundane experience ever, from removing ingenuity, to tossing WWYW down the drain, despite it actually being one of the most advanced and interactive systems this game had. Just for them to go back and make changes under the most inane logic ever such as "We want people to explore this a little more, rather than looking up other peoples' macros, etc.,", whilst simultaneously neglecting the very fundamental aspect that people are and will watch guides, no matter how simplified the system.

Story was secondary to me for a very long time, then as everything else just got reduced to a hollow existence, of only being because of gameplay quota, rather than any actual depth or meaning with it.. Then I started to appreciate the story more, when I wasn't, for example rushing crafters... Then we eventually met the story of this expansion, where at every avenue it feels like the writers are trying to insult the intelligence of people consuming the story at every passing opportunity, because apparently we need the story reiterated to us several times within 6 cutscenes, despite the very fact they pulled this off well with the Endwalker recap at the start. Then story took a back seat and I just appreciated the social element more.