FF14 player count reached the lowest point in 4 years. We lost 75% of the playerbase.

[xbahax92]

It's amusing to see the discussion take this turn when the real issue is the lack of content. Keep attacking each other, it’s certainly a great way to distract yourselves from that.

[Connor]

It's amusing to see the discussion take this turn when the real issue is the lack of content. Keep attacking each other, it’s certainly a great way to distract yourselves from that.

/tinfoil hat on

What if the ‘trolls’ are actually paid SE staff / forum mods intentionally trying to stoke conflict within the community to undermine our efforts to see the game improved?! That way they never have to change anything and thus can push the game out super cheap for max profit. Whenever a discussion starts going anywhere suddenly it’s ’hey everyone look at the cash shop casuals made to ruin your game! Look at this hairstyle raiders are hoarding for themselves! Get angry at each other!!!’

/tinfoil hat off

It could be true lol

[Mawlzy]

/tinfoil hat on

What if the ‘trolls’ are actually paid SE staff / forum mods intentionally trying to stoke conflict within the community to undermine our efforts to see the game improved?! That way they never have to change anything and thus can push the game out super cheap for max profit. Whenever a discussion starts going anywhere suddenly it’s ’hey everyone look at the cash shop casuals made to ruin your game! Look at this hairstyle raiders are hoarding for themselves! Get angry at each other!!!’

/tinfoil hat off

It could be true lol

Oh, if we're wearing our hats...

You can identify the paid shills by the fact they're not subject to the daily post limit.

[Exmo]

If we're going by anecdotal evidence, haven't noticed any significant changes to queue times on Light.

[JohnLakeside]

People love to complain about player numbers when it suits them to bolster their own argument but really what difference does it make if there are 1 million or 2 million or 500,000 people playing the game? Does that make the game more fun for your personally to know that there are 1.9mil other people player over only 499,999 thousand?

The number matters for the people at square tasked with making money, but doesn't really matter to players unless it drops to the threshold where the game isn't profitable at all.

Yes, it does make the world more fun for me. Its an emotional thing that goes deeper than just "fun" and either you feel the same way or you don't.

[Red-thunder]

I just canceled my sub.

I will listen for how 7.2 and 7.25 are received. My prospects are not high.

It's so hilarious and so on the nose that many former white knights have now retired and joined the "dark side"

[Red-thunder]

Looks like Feb 2025 (last 30 days) has dropped to literal 2020 levels lmfao

https://steamcharts.com/app/39210

[Luca_]

Well, you guys are spot on with the speculations about WoW refugees for me personally. I've been playing WoW again and just let my FFXIV sub run out.

Btw, WoW's new expansion, which released in August, just got its x.1 patch yesterday. Added a whole new zone, new dungeon, new customizable mount system, new raid, new reps, new MSQ, and more stuff I'm probably missing.

Meanwhile FFXIV, uh... unlocked savage loot 7 months after the tier dropped.

It's a joke that people still defend FFXIV's perpetual content drought at this point.

[Connor]

Well, you guys are spot on with the speculations about WoW refugees for me personally. I've been playing WoW again and just let my FFXIV sub run out.

Btw, WoW's new expansion, which released in August, just got its x.1 patch yesterday. Added a whole new zone, new dungeon, new customizable mount system, new raid, new reps, new MSQ, and more stuff I'm probably missing.

Meanwhile FFXIV, uh... unlocked savage loot 7 months after the tier dropped.

It's a joke that people still defend FFXIV's perpetual content drought at this point.

Hey man, those 2 guys in Yoshi-P’s basement are still working super hard to bring us the next savage raid content in two months time! They could do all that stuff if they were part of a multi-million dollar company and not two guys tied to a desk!

/s

[Luca_]

When is FF14 NOT on a content drought? I swear I keep seeing this word throughout the years and its like.... did we ever have a time that wasn't considered a content drought?

That's exactly what I mean by "perpetual." I can't think of another game that markets its expansion features by saying "by the way, we're going to dripfeed all of this to you and 75% of it won't be available until a year or two after launch." I think it's only now becoming a real sore spot for a couple reasons:

1. The players that swapped over from WoW have long since reached endgame and had a few years to catch up on the backlog of available content, and are now finding that new content drops are few and far between.

2. FFXIV's main draw has always been its story and having such an excellent narrative let players forgive a lot of questionable decisions elsewhere, but Dawntrail's MSQ was divisive at best. When there's a constant lack of things to do and people don't like the MSQ, there's nothing to fall back on.

3. And finally, patch cycles are now just SO. LONG. They take twice as long to push out half as much content as other MMOs while having the most stringent and predictable formula of all.