Live letters have lost their magic - Zepla

[Daralii]

Brother, when people call them the Cult of Yoshida, they mean it. They absolutely engage in cult-like behavior. I actually used to think it was hyperbole, but after some of the behavior I have seen on the forums since I actually started posting here, I now fully believe it.

They act like a cult. They lovebombed Zepla to get her to join them, they praised her for "Seeing the Light" and leaving stinky-bad WoW (ironic considering Nadda now holds leaving WoW against her) , held her up as a living symbol of the game, then when she started to turn on the game, they felt "heartbroken and betrayed" by her EVIL!

And you're absolutely right... these people see FFXIV as being literally a core part of their identity. Liek it's a part of their actual soul. In a way, I get it. If you discovered you were gay here, if you discovered you love raiding, if you discovered you love to roleplay and be literally anyone other than your boring real-world self... believe me, as someone who used to desperately wish they were a Jedi, I get it. My message to these people is that, all FFXIV is....

is a video game. It's just a video game. One that ranges from pretty freakin great, to middling. It's not a part of your soul, it's just a part of your life. "An electric word, life. It means forever, and that's a mighty long time." And in that time, things come and go from your life. FFXIV is going to be one of those things, I guarantee it. Don't let it hurt too bad when it's gone. I'm not even being snarky or mean when I say that. It's honest advice. As someone who's been let down by things I used to love, I know that feeling, but... don't give something more power and influence over your life than it really deserves.

[Misutoraru]

If we desire the success of the game surely we can do it without driving our own people away.

Too late now. Used to love coming to official forum for any discussion about the game and lore. I took a break after EW and return recently, the forum become like one of the 90 dungeon. It is like a war zone between the two groups. There are no discussion, they just try to shut down each other.
I never thought I would say it but Reddit have a better and healthier community for both suggestions, criticism and discussion about the game.

[Veritas-Ancora]

Bud. We are not fixing anything. The only people who can fix this are the devs of this game.

I haven't heard people say they are quitting the game because the community is so bad. I don't have the impression that people are leaving because of other players. It's because the game is not in a good state. That's zero percent our fault.

The only reason people would be quitting due to the community is because of the absence of the community.

Free Companies are feeling it. You log in, nobody's doing anything, nobody's talking. It's dying.

The community isn't getting toxic, despite a few White Knights trying to call everyone else trolls. It's the Five Stages of Grief.

Denial.
Anger.
Bargaining.
Depression.
Acceptance.

You can feel it in the forum posts. People don't want the game to be in its current state, and so that's why we're on the forums more often than we are in the game.

[Mondschnee]

Free Companies are feeling it. You log in, nobody's doing anything, nobody's talking. It's dying.

I can confirm this, I have talked to multiple FC leaders and they find it incredibly hard to motivate players or even motivate themselves to do something together becaue of what I assume is still the aftermath of Endwalker's solo approach.
That for most people there has been no hype for the story doesn't help.

We will see how this is going to play out once more MMO-like content is finally being released.
As critical as I personally am of parts of the game rn, I do hope the community and FCs will find joy in coming together again soon.

[yesnt]

The only reason people would be quitting due to the community is because of the absence of the community.

Free Companies are feeling it. You log in, nobody's doing anything, nobody's talking. It's dying.

The community isn't getting toxic, despite a few White Knights trying to call everyone else trolls. It's the Five Stages of Grief.

Denial.
Anger.
Bargaining.
Depression.
Acceptance.

You can feel it in the forum posts. People don't want the game to be in its current state, and so that's why we're on the forums more often than we are in the game.

Can confirm. They are leaving to play other games (as Yoshi suggested lol). Most people are still pretty decent and that's great, but sadly, my FC also became victim of the silence. I can not blame them. We don't even do treasure maps anymore because of the atrocious RNG. We used to fill evenings with just that in EW, but SE even managed to ruin that for us.

[Fawkes]

I can confirm this, I have talked to multiple FC leaders and they find it incredibly hard to motivate players or even motivate themselves to do something together becaue of what I assume is still the aftermath of Endwalker's solo approach.
That for most people there has been no hype for the story doesn't help.

We will see how this is going to play out once more MMO-like content is finally being released.
As critical as I personally am of parts of the game rn, I do hope the community and FCs will find joy in coming together again soon.

Nothing changed in Endwalker, the game has always been that way. There's never been FC content, you've always had to self-motivate. It sounds totally normal to me for a FC to fall apart after 1-2 expansions. People quit or take breaks during lulls, some of the people who still play leave to try and find more active FCs. It sucks but that's how it is.

[Auro_Seldaris]

Nothing changed in Endwalker, the game has always been that way. There's never been FC content, you've always had to self-motivate. It sounds totally normal to me for a FC to fall apart after 1-2 expansions. People quit or take breaks during lulls, some of the people who still play leave to try and find more active FCs. It sucks but that's how it is.

"Don't worry that this game and its content cycle is so slow and bland that you can't keep a group together. That's just the way it is!"

Just because "that's the way it is" doesn't mean that it's right, or that it should continue.

[Veritas-Ancora]

"Don't worry that this game and its content cycle is so slow and bland that you can't keep a group together. That's just the way it is!"

Just because "that's the way it is" doesn't mean that it's right, or that it should continue.

Exactly this. We're uniting under a game that should be providing casual content. If this game truly is as casual as everyone paints it out to be, then why does it take over 6 months to find aforementioned content?

[NaoSen]

You know its bad when people are just accepting that there's not enough content to keep FC's together in a MMORPG and to actually speak up against it gets the white knights set on you.

[Supersnow845]

Nothing changed in Endwalker, the game has always been that way. There's never been FC content, you've always had to self-motivate. It sounds totally normal to me for a FC to fall apart after 1-2 expansions. People quit or take breaks during lulls, some of the people who still play leave to try and find more active FCs. It sucks but that's how it is.

My old FC that was basically built around running new casual content day one blind then disseminating strategies and fun optimisation techniques 100% fell apart from a reduction in content, a reduction in ability to do content any way than the on rails approach the devs desired and an increase in less core members ability to solo content without requiring the FC to help them

Acting the game hasn’t become more FC hostile for anything other than player generated social content is just wrong, this game has become so much more hostile to dedicated PVM FC’s, FC’s aren’t just your local book club in (insert generic large house)