FFXIV population decline continues

[Mawlzy]

The raid itself is amazing quality. The atmosphere, textures and music are amazing quality.

The entry system is a problem and can be argued to be a quality issue. But there are people on the forums spinning what SE said to be an admission that every single thing they make is "slop", including models, textures, environments, music and raids. That was obviously not what SE meant and that's obviously what Striker was trying to convey as well.

Really systems design and stories are the most contentious issues people have, but that's only a percentage of the overall development, and saying everything across the board is slop is also saying models, textures, music, animations, sounds, environments are not good quality when they clearly are.

Again, my subjective opinion, but for me dungeon/boss design has been getting steadily worse.

I absolutely loved the ambience of early dungeons and the integrated visuals and music, as well as the variety in combat. CT gets a lot of hate, but LotA is a visually stunning experience with some unique mechanics. The Vault is a masterpiece IMO, not only for the visuals and vibe, but also for the way it sits seamlessly in the story, getting you where you need to go.

SE still does this well in some cases, but is ruining it for me with this absurd visual clutter. I don't want to have to squint or look away from the screen during a fight.

[Altina_Orion]

Again, my subjective opinion, but for me dungeon/boss design has been getting steadily worse.

I absolutely loved the ambience of early dungeons and the integrated visuals and music, as well as the variety in combat. CT gets a lot of hate, but LotA is a visually stunning experience with some unique mechanics. The Vault is a masterpiece IMO, not only for the visuals and vibe, but also for the way it sits seamlessly in the story, getting you where you need to go.

SE still does this well in some cases, but is ruining it for me with this absurd visual clutter. I don't want to have to squint or look away from the screen during a fight.

Objectively, they aren't getting worse. They are exactly the same as they've been since at least SB and that's actually still a problem. It's bland and we're all over it.

[Mawlzy]

Objectively, they aren't getting worse. They are exactly the same as they've been since at least SB and that's actually still a problem. It's bland and we're all over it.

I just gave a specific example in how they differ.

[Altina_Orion]

I just gave a specific example in how they differ.

I didn't play HW, but I will say that today the vault is just clunky. Story wise, its great. Otherwise, its still entirely too easy and its clunky as heck. It's also 10 years old.

[Jeeqbit]

CT gets a lot of hate, but LotA is a visually stunning experience with some unique mechanics. The Vault is a masterpiece IMO, not only for the visuals and vibe, but also for the way it sits seamlessly in the story, getting you where you need to go.

SE still does this well in some cases, but is ruining it for me with this absurd visual clutter. I don't want to have to squint or look away from the screen during a fight.

It's true that they added more clutter. This began in Stormblood, when they dropped support for PS3. It was easy to notice, because the Ala Mhigo dungeon was full of NPCs fighting, which was unprecedented in prior expansions and tanked FPS on machines that couldn't handle it.

In Shadowbringers, they dropped official support for 32-bit and DX9, so the effects clearly increased a huge amount. You need no greater example of this than the first dungeon, Holminster Switch, which not only had NPCs everywhere but was full of light particles and rays.

Obviously with the release of Dawntrail they did a Recommended Specs increase allowing for even greater capacity and detail in these effects. I haven't personally noticed a difference since Shadowbringers, but I don't have any of the issues others do with eye strains or migraines.

Obviously, they got away with good quality dungeons with the examples you gave, such as The Vault. But I wouldn't say that the visual effects represent lower quality. Given it's a fantasy game, they want to create the vibe of magical effects and particles and things going on in the background, after all.

I can understand that a lot of people may want some settings to reduce such effects or adjust them but as someone with no accessibility needs in this area, I don't really notice any issues myself. Probably the worst issue I have is when a ranged DPS does LB3, but that's been there since ARR.