Genuinely, What am I missing?

[Illianaro]

Honestly, if you’re having fun, keep having fun! I have a lot of thoughts about the trajectory of the game, but just because I have opinions as a veteran player, that by no means means my feelings about the state of the game should impact yours.

Have fun, and happy adventures!

[Lizzit]

Honestly, if you’re having fun, keep having fun! I have a lot of thoughts about the trajectory of the game, but just because I have opinions as a veteran player, that by no means means my feelings about the state of the game should impact yours.

Have fun, and happy adventures!

I understand that, but I still want to hear about them as to why and get a better perspective. I've missed 10+ years of this game and just want to know more. I'm not letting others thoughts on the state of the game influence my own. I just want more context I suppose.

[Illianaro]

I understand that, but I still want to hear about them as to why and get a better perspective. I've missed 10+ years of this game and just want to know more. I'm not letting others thoughts on the state of the game influence my own. I just want more context I suppose.

Fair! Well I think the gist of what’s happening has been captured in your summary, but for some more context, a lot of the reception to the latest expansion, Dawntrail has been mixed. It has been, from all appearances, a divisive expansion. The expansion before this marked the end of a major storyline for the game and, while that was highly praised, many concerns about the story direction and game design decisions began to arise during the patches that followed - coming to a head with Dawntrail.

There has also been concern in the community over the past few years as the developers extended the time between patches while releasing either less content or, from some people’s perspective, lower quality or rehashed content.

Extensive job and encounter design changes have happened over the years, again often in the eyes of various community folks to the detriment of that job and encounter design.

There has also been a growing perception that the developers are not listening to feedback and haven’t been for years, and that has led to mounting frustration and increasingly aggressive feedback.

Regarding Wuk Lamat - that is the predominant character in Dawntrail. Her reception has, again, been mixed along with the mixed reviews of the story.

I have my own opinions on all of this stuff, but my preference here is to really just give context on where the “vibe” of the forum is coming from. I hope this helps.

[Auro_Seldaris]

Fair! Well I think the gist of what’s happening has been captured in your summary, but for some more context, a lot of the reception to the latest expansion, Dawntrail has been mixed. It has been, from all appearances, a divisive expansion. The expansion before this marked the end of a major storyline for the game and, while that was highly praised, many concerns about the story direction and game design decisions began to arise during the patches that followed - coming to a head with Dawntrail.

There has also been concern in the community over the past few years as the developers extended the time between patches while releasing either less content or, from some people’s perspective, lower quality or rehashed content.

Extensive job and encounter design changes have happened over the years, again often in the eyes of various community folks to the detriment of that job and encounter design.

There has also been a growing perception that the developers are not listening to feedback and haven’t been for years, and that has led to mounting frustration and increasingly aggressive feedback.

Regarding Wuk Lamat - that is the predominant character in Dawntrail. Her reception has, again, been mixed along with the mixed reviews of the story.

I have my own opinions on all of this stuff, but my preference here is to really just give context on where the “vibe” of the forum is coming from. I hope this helps.

This is all rational and reasonable summary, without unnecessary snark from either side. Thank you for that, Lannis. wish I could upvote more than once.

To the OP, I say.... just keep on trucking and have fun. If you're enjoying it at the moment, that's all that matters. Everything that's a "problem" is for veterans, not you, my sprout friend. Enjoy Eorzea and beyond!

[IndraSyngiwyb]

I'm not gonna trash the game or be like some people in this thread and disregard ALL criticism as just "people being buttmad the devs didn't do what THEY wanted." Because those two extremes are unhelpful. I can only give you MY perspective.

And for me, I just outright didn't much enjoy Endwalker's post-expansion patches. They were... okay. And after the highs that ShB and EW had, just 'okay' kinda brought down the mood. So when Dawntrail was finally announced, I got hyped, thinking, "Okay, the EW patches were kinda meh, but we got a new expansion. This'll be great"

Only for Dawntrail to deliver the worst story, worst characters, and worst overall experience out of every expansion I've played so far. Your character as well as the Scions you've grown to know and love are shoved to the background to make room for a new character who never shuts up, never gets off screen, and practically BECOMES the main character while you are basically her guard-dog/storage container.

Now this wouldn't be an issue if she were an enjoyable character, but she is not. She is lame. Over-the-top cheesy. She doesn't earn anything she gets, and she's honestly just obnoxious to be around. On top of that, her English VA is just not very good. So you have this character who is around ALL the time, AND she has a grating voice.

Add to that serious story beats and plot points that are handled in such an overly-simplistic, juvenile manner and it's a recipe for disappointment. Dawntrail felt like what would happen if modern day Disney tried to make Hunchback of Notre Dame. We all know they'd soften every story beat to keep from 'discomforting' people too much, and that's how Dawntrail felt. Soft. Safe. Corporate.

My advice to you would be to keep playing but temper your expectations when you get to Dawntrail. Don't hype it up like I did because you might be disappointed. Just take it for what it is, and I think you will be able to find enjoyment in it that I couldn't find after months of hyping myself up.

And just as a more positive note for the end of this, I finally actually played 7.1. And I mostly enjoyed what they were starting in that patch (except for the "find my parents" sections which I thought were kinda unneeded). It seemed like they were starting to take their own plot points a bit more seriously and maybe steer away from the "friendship conquers all" messaging that permeated 7.0. So, for my part, I think there is hope that the patches might redeem 7.0.

Take my opinion how you will. I don't think the game is beyond saving or that you are wasting your time if you keep playing. I think the devs just need to keep a better eye on their writers and do better quality control for future patches/expansions.

[Nero-Voidstails]

I'm not gonna trash the game or be like some people in this thread and disregard ALL criticism as just "people being buttmad the devs didn't do what THEY wanted." Because those two extremes are unhelpful. I can only give you MY perspective.

And for me, I just outright didn't much enjoy Endwalker's post-expansion patches. They were... okay. And after the highs that ShB and EW had, just 'okay' kinda brought down the mood. So when Dawntrail was finally announced, I got hyped, thinking, "Okay, the EW patches were kinda meh, but we got a new expansion. This'll be great"

Only for Dawntrail to deliver the worst story, worst characters, and worst overall experience out of every expansion I've played so far. Your character as well as the Scions you've grown to know and love are shoved to the background to make room for a new character who never shuts up, never gets off screen, and practically BECOMES the main character while you are basically her guard-dog/storage container.

Now this wouldn't be an issue if she were an enjoyable character, but she is not. She is lame. Over-the-top cheesy. She doesn't earn anything she gets, and she's honestly just obnoxious to be around. On top of that, her English VA is just not very good. So you have this character who is around ALL the time, AND she has a grating voice.

Add to that serious story beats and plot points that are handled in such an overly-simplistic, juvenile manner and it's a recipe for disappointment. Dawntrail felt like what would happen if modern day Disney tried to make Hunchback of Notre Dame. We all know they'd soften every story beat to keep from 'discomforting' people too much, and that's how Dawntrail felt. Soft. Safe. Corporate.

My advice to you would be to keep playing but temper your expectations when you get to Dawntrail. Don't hype it up like I did because you might be disappointed. Just take it for what it is, and I think you will be able to find enjoyment in it that I couldn't find after months of hyping myself up.

And just as a more positive note for the end of this, I finally actually played 7.1. And I mostly enjoyed what they were starting in that patch (except for the "find my parents" sections which I thought were kinda unneeded). It seemed like they were starting to take their own plot points a bit more seriously and maybe steer away from the "friendship conquers all" messaging that permeated 7.0. So, for my part, I think there is hope that the patches might redeem 7.0.

Take my opinion how you will. I don't think the game is beyond saving or that you are wasting your time if you keep playing. I think the devs just need to keep a better eye on their writers and do better quality control for future patches/expansions.

Endwalker post patch could have made a great expension in itself they felt rush like way to rushed to be enjoyable

[Mawlzy]

I understand that, but I still want to hear about them as to why and get a better perspective. I've missed 10+ years of this game and just want to know more. I'm not letting others thoughts on the state of the game influence my own. I just want more context I suppose.

I think the context is quite complex and has various branches. Some key ones include:

The game had a large influx of players around COVID. The bulk of those players have now hit endgame and discovered that the release of new content is on such a slow cadence that they have run out of stuff to do that interests them.

Players who have been around for longer that that have multiple issues related to the gradual evolution in game and job design, and frustrations that have been building for a while have now burst the dam.

A significant fraction of veteran players had an extremely negative reaction to the Dawntrail story.

Patience has run out on several issues and requests that have received the "we're working on it" response from SQEX for several years.

Unless you no-life FFXIV, I imagine and hope you have a couple of years of enjoyment at least before you run into these problems. Or depending on your personal preferences, you may find you have no issues at all.