Genuinely, What am I missing?

[Kaurhz]

Thanks for taking the time to actually try and relate or understand some of the issues that players have...

As much as I criticize everything, you would probably enjoy the game even after Shadowbringers, and well into Endwalker and Dawntrail, purely because you're in a state when you still have a lot to consume between expansions.. Realistically a lot of people that are complaining have been long-standing players... So they have consumed a lot of the content all across the board, and they will have been coming from a time and place where the game (in their view and mine) was much better. Not only that, having so much to do, means that you're able to do the story at your own pace (many people have only been able to do nothing but story, just by virtue on how long they've been playing and how much they've done)

As for why the community feels that way.. See the above...

For a little more of a detailed answer, for many players they had been playing when the game demanded a lot out of you, so it was capable of keeping you occupied for very extensive periods of time, and this was even without needing to diversify your content consumption. For instance in the days of HW/SB, you could comfortably just do crafting, and nothing but crafting (and it would keep you entertained and occupied outside of the number dopamine that consumes modern crafting). The game generally speaking would demand your attention a lot more, and for people looking for that, it was an amazing game, I am one such example.

The game since then has streamlined more, so activities like crafting no longer really demand what it used to, but is now a much more approachable content type.. Obviously this is something else where it's very much preferential.. Do you want something that you feel like you can drown in? Do you want something that you can maybe play a couple hours here and there on a weekday.

I sometimes say to myself that had I never started as long ago as what I did then many of my complaints would not be as stern as they are, just because it's by courtesy of having something to compare by, or having a reference point from how the game was.. At least as a newer player, then the only thing you really know is the current state. I know had I not been playing as long as I have (and since when I did), then my enjoyment of the state of the game probably would be a fair bit higher.

It's always difficult with this, because you're trying to get people to relate to you without ever having experienced it themselves.

Then you have the issue that the last exploratory content was over 4 years ago this is obviously something that has only happened once, and exacerbated by the absence of this content from Endwalker.

I think it's a decision you need to make for yourself, as a lot of the issues that people have and that people see (even if you may agree in principle) you may never encounter, just virtue of being a newer player.

[Alice_Rivers]

I've been in game for a few years now and I would parrot the people here saying stay away from the forum until you stop having fun in game - They will suck any fun you're having out of it. When I want guides (even as a mentor) I tend to go to youtube and Icy Veins or you can just pop up in one of the ARR cities with a shout about something and chances are somebody will get back to you.

Chances are (especially if you play healer a lot) you'll start to get a feel for a lot of the common complaints here after Stormblood and Shadowbringers.

[Nero-Voidstails]

stay out of the forums - Got it! lol

I do say you should keep going even if the story can be weird at time there is good in all expension and if you have friend to do them it's even better I will be saying this I always have said Endwalker was bad but Endwalker wasn't bad at all. I just missed doing msq with my friends I saw Endwalker as shadowbringer but alone so it left a bad taste in my mouth.


if you enjoy all aspect of the game don't leave and live the experience the best you desire! after all some stay for RP content or even social.

the other problem is when you are up to date with the patches you just see a couple month kinda lifeless yes the forum are the last place you should ask advice but not everyone have bad attention some does for sure! but some just wanna see the game they spent times on or even love thrive and not die.

I always have love 14 even if I complain but I just don't wanna find a new MMO to play because i feel none other will be like this one I dont have much friend but I do have a good RP group and people enjoying my dark joke around xx).


so just go and experience the game as it best! that is my advice find a group make memories have fun laugh and be the best you can be!

[Illianaro]

snip.

I wish I could like this twice. Really well said.

[Misutoraru]

That being said, what am I missing? I want to be filled in as to why the community feels this way. I want a better perspective so I can understand I don't want pointless baseless accusations; I want statements and I want a "i feel x way because of y," or "because of x change from however many years ago." I understand some players have been playing for over 10 years (which is a lot of time!) so I will be taking longtime players thoughts and criticisms to heart the most.

Thank you,
Ms. Emral

If you are having fun, then it is all it matters

I start out from 1.0 but I unsub between content from time to time. When the time you feel you need a break then just go for it. A break is always healthy that let you have a breath of fresh air.

Or you could keep the sub like my FC and just enjoy hanging out with friends.

It is when you turn MMO become a job you would start losing the fun.

Yes, there are some changes I dislike and I do not agree with. I simply move on to play something else.

I would also advice avoid the forum, if you want to discuss the game or the lore I found discord and the R forum better than here

[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!

[Basteala]

Most people's complaints come from Dawntrail, whether it's class changes in Dawntrail, or the dip in quality of the MSQ in Dawntrail--and occasionally things like the Blacklist fuckup. Most of this isn't really going to affect you as a new player: the class changes you'll never really know, the MSQ is great *until* Dawntrail.

Some misguided people played for only the story, and they felt that the most recent expansion's story wasn't up to par, so now their shoulders are in need of repair.

Oh you're right. In a story driven roleplaying game, the real meat and potatoes is in the 1, 2, 3, W, S, A, D gameplay. You're right, of course.

[Azurarok]

There's a ton of things to do in this game and a lot of it is still genuinely fun to experience. The problems discussed in here don't really get felt until you catch up and run out of stuff you want to do (or when they change a job in a way you don't like)

As a ShB baby I recall someone shout chatting in Eulemore one night about the patch cadence during 5.4-5.5 and thinking "don't really see what's wrong with it, dude maybe needs to take a break", but nowadays I get what they were talking about.

The game's probably better as a place to visit, not to live in.

[PyurBlue]

That being said, what am I missing? I want to be filled in as to why the community feels this way. I want a better perspective so I can understand I don't want pointless baseless accusations; I want statements and I want a "i feel x way because of y," or "because of x change from however many years ago." I understand some players have been playing for over 10 years (which is a lot of time!) so I will be taking longtime players thoughts and criticisms to heart the most.

A game community, or any community, is rarely homogeneous. Different parts of the community will also be more or less visible at different times. While there is a lot of dissatisfaction being expressed at the moment, there are also content players like yourself.

My opinion on FF14 is that while I've found it worth playing it has always had design choices that I've disagreed with. I would like the game to move in a direction that appeals to me without aliening the people that enjoy the game as it is but I also accept that the game can't be built around my expectations alone. Unfortunately most recent changes take the game further away from what I'd like it to be, reducing my interest in it. I don't like heavily scripted encounters, which is essentially the only combat content that the game offers. You can memorize your way through anything and that hurts replayability and content engagement. With it being such a heavy part of the game's original design it might be unrealistic to remove it completely, but I'd at least like to have some place where I can go to get less scripted content. If the content has to be scripted then it would be nice to at least have interesting and varied classes to make up for the lack of content variety, but classes have been simplified and homogenized repeatedly. Making this worse is a lack of proper difficulty balancing. Healers feel redundant especially. Tanks are now almost entirely self sufficient and I find myself forgetting to even check their HP while running content. In dungeons I barely have to heal during pulls unless the party is first timers or very casual players. Bosses are hit or miss. Some dungeons bosses do so little damage that natural regen along with passive healing is enough to cover their attacks, though even the ones that do deal damage often only need an OGCD or two. In raids the presence of a second healer makes healing requirements trivial. The higher difficult content like savage and ultimate are supposed to offer an alternative to this, but after a while they fall victim to the scripted encounter design. At this point they just feel like repeating the same thing over and over until you clear. There is no excitement of real feeling of accomplishment anymore. They also require more commitment than duty finder which you can jump into at any time. I want to have dynamic challenges that make me think and react to things in real time without needing to gather 7 other players ideally.

So my opinion of the game has become that it is too scripted, lacking interesting content, and lacking interesting classes. I don't expect new players to have the same view as often as older players do, especially those with different gameplay goals like story, or achievement hunting. I still remember my new player experience. Early game was boring due to very simple low level classes but I looked forward to endgame raiding and when I got there it was a lot of fun at first. Very quickly the scripted nature of FF14 became apparent, but I still had room to optimize my own gameplay and try new classes which were more varied at the time. This could only last so long as I learned the other classes while they were also simplified over time and nothing was done to address the lack of replayability of content itself.

[AnotherPerson]

Most people's complaints come from Dawntrail, whether it's class changes in Dawntrail, or the dip in quality of the MSQ in Dawntrail--and occasionally things like the Blacklist fuckup. Most of this isn't really going to affect you as a new player: the class changes you'll never really know, the MSQ is great *until* Dawntrail.



Oh you're right. In a story driven roleplaying game, the real meat and potatoes is in the 1, 2, 3, W, S, A, D gameplay. You're right, of course.

I'd go and add to this saying it really started a couple expansions ago prior to Dawntrail too. For instance, the healer problem started ever since they changed up job design in Shadowbringers and healers who eventually get to max level get more irked with each passing expansion with these job design choices. It's just a bunch of different things that SE screwed up on, and with each consistent screw up, players have been getting increasingly dissatisfied to how they handle and resolve things. Some of that leaks into the forums overtime in small amounts, usually not enough to change the atmosphere of the forums from a positive to a negative one. However, some can be seen akin to a volcano erupting -- where players had enough of it. It just so happened that we had multiple of these happen back to back, so practically every single group of players have been affected in some way and are expressing dissatisfaction as none of these problems really get solved, but swept under the rug. I guess this is mainly why the forums are so negative lately when it was more chill, with players sharing their fun experiences maybe 5 years back?


Anyway, sprouts don't have to worry about the complaints veteran players have as they won't feel the problem until much later on. Most of the problems are only really felt when you run out of "new and shiny" things to do after finishing the story, and that's when players usually start focusing on the problems that the players on the forums talk about.