@Casuals , do you think the message has gotten through?

[FuturePastNow]

They didn't delay the ultimate because of feedback. They just can't get things done. Yoshida has stated he wants content to be harder. They had to choose between normal and savage Forked Tower and chose savage that only 10% of people will do. Theres no indication they will focus on casual content going forward.

Then what they're going to get is Wildstar without the great housing system.

[Uncle_Jafar]

I thought casual meant people who dont do PF content. Anyway, no amount of apology means anything if the story in the next expansion is like this.

[Carin-Eri]

I thought casual meant people who dont do PF content. Anyway, no amount of apology means anything if the story in the next expansion is like this.

This.

The next expansion needs to, basically, be Shadowbringers II. They really can't afford for it to be anything less than exceptional.

[Laphael]

The message got through loud and clear that it was time to unsubscribe.
...

It's literally WOW in its shadowlands period, if by some miracle they pull a redemption arc then I'll come back but I doubt it.

Same.
After over 10 years subscription i canceled it last saturday.
I felt insulted as a casualplayer or (since casual means something else all the time) i felt insulted as a "long hours (i have all relics)"-"lower difficulty (maximum Ex1/Ex2)" player.

Funny enough, since I obviously cannot just stop playing i reinstalled WOW... never thought that would happen.

You would think SE would have seen the mistake WOW made by only catering to the top raiders, but i guess not.

[OdinelStarrei]

This.

The next expansion needs to, basically, be Shadowbringers II. They really can't afford for it to be anything less than exceptional.

I'm afraid that's almost impossible. The circumstances that made Shadowbringers an unmitigated success was not attributed only to Shadowbringers quality. Even looking solely at the story, Shadowbringers had 1.0, ARR, HW, and SB to pull off of. Now that the developers have cleanly (I'll even say preemptively) cut a lot of the connecting tissue with decisions made in Endwalker, that 10 year investment is gone for the primary plotline. Then you have the major external factors, of the pandemic, of community sentiment and trust being incredibly high, people were dragging all sorts of new blood in. I couldn't see myself recommending XIV in it's current state to anyone.

In hindsight, the "Have you heard of the critically acclaimed etc etc" narrative was an Icarus flying too high moment.

And that's if you take the most...positive leaning on Shadowbringers. I liked it, loved it even sometimes, but for some, that really was the beginning of the end, and regardless of where you place the shift (5.0, 5.3, 6.0, 6.X, DT), I believe we are past the event horizon, since I don't trust the team to knock it out of the park in either gameplay or story anymore.

[LaylaTsarra]

They fooked it up big time. Sorry but many of us waited for something interesting with another instanced relic zone and we got a light version of Bozja which was better with a sprinkling of Eureka. And Eureka before the nerfs had zones with real danger and challenge to get things done. Instead we got the cherished atma (/sarcasm) to keep those who love that happy and another tomestone relic for other jobs once you're had your fill of dealing with demiatma. Running from fate to fate and CE's is also a bundle of fun given the queueing for CE's in Bozja was so disliked.

So much for repeatable content to keep people happy. Guess it'll take seeing additional steps before making a final determination but honestly after this I'm not very optimistic. I will always have fond memories of Castrum, Delibrium and Dalraidia. Those were really special and a wonderful part of what made those zones and relics special.

Guess I'll finish up Bozja and getting real field notes for alts I have who haven't yet gotten their bikes or cleared the content.

[Gurgeh]

Not the case. I do actually still enjoy the game, and - as posted in another thread - recently cleared my first Ex (Recollection Ex) which was quite an achievement for me considering I'm a really poor performer overall.

However, the fact that I still enjoy the game doesn't suggest I think it's perfect and YoshiP can do no wrong. I found the Liveletter disappointing and don't feel the Q&A truly addressed any of the concerns that were raised. You shouldn't watch something like that and come away from it asking yourself why he even bothered taking those questions.

I'm not clear though on whether you think anything has now 'changed'.
Yes yours happy-ish. But I'm getting you already were. Well savage and ultimate raiders were hardly the most dissatisfied either.

This is about those who aren't happy. They will need a change.
Do you detect a change?
(I'm not clear. Also I haven't asked why they did it at all, most of that is obvious and needn't have 'anything' to do with change. That's more their independent agenda. I'm looking for a shift agenda 'that overlaps with our' as agenda.)

[FuturePastNow]

This.

The next expansion needs to, basically, be Shadowbringers II. They really can't afford for it to be anything less than exceptional.

Shadowbringers is what you get after three story arcs of setup. What they need to make is Heavensward II

[Gurgeh]

So I've got one 'maybe' and... that's absolutely it.
:-|
Oh I did think it was better than that. I can't have any trust in my own objectivity, and was looking for legitimate balance, which can only come from someone who is experiencing the problem first hand. (If you've been filling your time with criterion, savage , ultimate, chaotic and now FT since endwalker, or going nuts for non-playable tribe quests and cosmic gathering that's just not you in afraid.)

[Khryseis_Astra]

Shadowbringers is what you get after three story arcs of setup. What they need to make is Heavensward II

Yes please! Meracydia is right there!