Dawntrail Doomposting Megathread

[remiff]

I'm going to be very clear and explain why I have no hope for improvement — and even why we shouldn’t have high expectations for 8.0.
The answer is simple: just look at the current patch cycle and how much of the content released since Endwalker feels unfinished, poorly thought out, and excessively shallow
— like the cosmic exploration or Occult Crescent.

It's always the bare minimum, and they don’t try to develop mechanics beyond the tip of their nose.

Why is it like this? Simply because the 3rd Division is now understaffed, being spread thin across several other projects besides FFXIV.
That’s not inherently bad, but it’s definitely not good for FFXIV.
And they won’t change how they design content or adjust jobs.
Why? Because they operate on a tight schedule where they can only allocate a fixed amount of development time per feature.
And, as I said above, they’re understaffed due to these other projects.

Lately, this includes the console ports of The Fantasian by Sakaguchi (handled by the 3rd Division), the Final Fantasy Tactics remaster (also done by the 3rd Division), and another AAA game project with Sakaguchi, who returned to Square Enix to make a new game
— so Fantasian won’t be his last project after all.
He struck a deal with the 3rd Division.
And we don’t even know what other projects they have going on in the background.

Having multiple projects is fine, but this isn’t the largest division at Square Enix.
Even with some new hires, the resources allocated to FFXIV just aren’t enough.
So the patch cycle won’t change, and the amount of dev time per piece of content will always be limited. This applies to everything.

That’s why I don’t expect improvements to FFXIV until they restructure their planning, hire more developers specifically for FFXIV, and stop assigning so few people to job balance.
There might only be one or two people in charge of each job, with a limited amount of time to work on changes before an expansion launches — and that’s exactly why expectations should stay low.

Naoki Yoshida says a lot of things when they run out of time to deliver on promises, and then they delay changes — but often, when those changes finally arrive, they’re completely disconnected from player expectations.

We shouldn’t expect a return to strong job identity like in Stormblood, especially when we see some of the recent job changes, which are heartbreakingly uninspired.
This isn’t about doomposting — it’s the on-the-ground reality.
That’s why FFXIV has lost a huge number of subscribers since 7.0.

When you look at the minimalist design of the cosmic exploration content and Occult Crescent, it’s clear that the dev team is completely out of touch with player expectations.
They simply don’t do any player surveys, unlike their competitors.
They base their adjustments on a handful of content creators or random feedback they happen to see — and even when they address some issues, they’re often completely off the mark compared to what players are actually asking for.

I’m not saying they fail at everything, but they miss the mark far too often to have any real hope for the game’s future.

We don’t expect to see so many problems in the content they release — especially after 13 years of the game’s existence.
We don’t expect the same mistakes to be repeated over and over again, particularly after players have already voiced complaints.
There’s a clear lack of listening — but more importantly, a lack of allocated resources, which means the developers simply don’t have the time to properly respond to our expectations.

[Wyssahtyn]

the Final Fantasy Tactics remaster (also done by the 3rd Division)

damn, i was actually looking forward to that. probably going to be screwed up in some way. bet it'll be a bad port at the least.