FF14 player count reached the lowest point in 4 years. We lost 75% of the playerbase.

[JMadFour]

gawd, I cannot wait until we finally get into the 8.0 cycle so we can move on from pretending like Dawntrail was The Worst Expansion That Has Ever Been Released In The History Of Gaming(tm) because of one character and a corny gospel song.

[MsMisato]

gawd, I cannot wait until we finally get into the 8.0 cycle so we can move on from pretending like Dawntrail was The Worst Expansion That Has Ever Been Released In The History Of Gaming(tm) because of one character and a corny gospel song.

this way we can focus on next worst expansion being worst?

[Striker44]

this way we can focus on next worst expansion being worst?

Exactly - and watch how the people who don't like whatever that expansion is about will trash it while at the same time praising DT, the same way EW gets praised around here now but was *****ped all over when it was current. This forum is just perpetually a negative echo chamber where the worst expansion ever is whichever one happens to be current.

It is frightening to see the game that empty. Even on popularted data centers amount of activity is very low.

What? I'm on Aether. Evening and weekend hunt trains I've done have still been averaging ~125-150 people on Greg, compared to ~200 at expansion's start. The regular dip, but nothing out of the ordinary. I still queue for very specific raids and dungeons while doing WT each week and have the same rather quick queues (a few minutes at most) I've always had. This comment just doesn't seem to match reality.

[Maltothoris]

What? I'm on Aether. Evening and weekend hunt trains I've done have still been averaging ~125-150 people on Greg, compared to ~200 at expansion's start. The regular dip, but nothing out of the ordinary. I still queue for very specific raids and dungeons while doing WT each week and have the same rather quick queues (a few minutes at most) I've always had. This comment just doesn't seem to match reality.

How bout checking Primal and Dynamis which are pretty dead??


EDit: That being said, is the game in a bad spot? No. On the other hand, it is not in a good spot either, especially with the latest census out and how abysmal OC and FT rates are.

[Rein_eon_Osborne]

How bout checking Primal and Dynamis which are pretty dead??


EDit: That being said, is the game in a bad spot? No. On the other hand, it is not in a good spot either, especially with the latest census out and how abysmal OC and FT rates are.

If you're talking about LuckyBancho's, to me it's also jarring that the blue graph representing the new players trying the game during Dawntrail diminishes rapidly. And yet, the amount of people who go "Psssh! Fake covid & WoW exodus padding...! We don't need 'em!!" as if losing interest from hundred thousand players that was thrown at you for free is any signs pointing toward your game is (un)healthy has been laughably depressing.

[Supersnow845]

If you're talking about LuckyBancho's, to me it's also jarring that the blue graph representing the new players trying the game during Dawntrail diminishes rapidly. And yet, the amount of people who go "Psssh! Fake covid & WoW exodus padding...! We don't need 'em!!" as if losing interest from hundred thousand players that was thrown at you for free is any signs pointing toward your game is (un)healthy has been laughably depressing.

No no no no no don’t you know? We were never going to keep those players anyway so even attempting to do anything at all is completely futile something something or some such

[Striker44]

How bout checking Primal and Dynamis which are pretty dead??


EDit: That being said, is the game in a bad spot? No. On the other hand, it is not in a good spot either, especially with the latest census out and how abysmal OC and FT rates are.

Dynamis pretty much never was alive to begin with, and the real issue with Primal there is how the DC travel system has effectively shunted so many people to Aether even if they're based on Primal. It does reveal a problem with DC travel, but not the game's population.

If you're talking about LuckyBancho's, to me it's also jarring that the blue graph representing the new players trying the game during Dawntrail diminishes rapidly.

Not surprising...FFXIV is over 10 years old and finished it's main story arc. How many gamers that are potentially interested in a game like FFXIV but haven't ever tried it are actually left? At some point, there just isn't really a pool of "new blood" left.

as if losing interest from hundred thousand players that was thrown at you for free is any signs pointing toward your game is (un)healthy has been laughably depressing.

It's just the sensible, logical approach. People who were "thrown at you for free" but aren't at all your intended audience just aren't going to stay unless you radically, fundamentally change your game...in which case, most of them will probably still leave, and you'll also have alienated a huge portion of your intended playerbase in the process. Games have intended audiences; changing your game to suit other people is what is ultimately unhealthy.

We were never going to keep those players anyway so even attempting to do anything at all is completely futile something something or some such

You don't have to like reality, but it doesn't make it any less real.

[Yeonhee]

Dynamis pretty much never was alive to begin with, and the real issue with Primal there is how the DC travel system has effectively shunted so many people to Aether even if they're based on Primal. It does reveal a problem with DC travel, but not the game's population.



Not surprising...FFXIV is over 10 years old and finished it's main story arc. How many gamers that are potentially interested in a game like FFXIV but haven't ever tried it are actually left? At some point, there just isn't really a pool of "new blood" left.



It's just the sensible, logical approach. People who were "thrown at you for free" but aren't at all your intended audience just aren't going to stay unless you radically, fundamentally change your game...in which case, most of them will probably still leave, and you'll also have alienated a huge portion of your intended playerbase in the process. Games have intended audiences; changing your game to suit other people is what is ultimately unhealthy.



You don't have to like reality, but it doesn't make it any less real.

So... What's the excuse for the game losing its "intended playerbase" as well ?

[Striker44]

So... What's the excuse for the game losing its "intended playerbase" as well ?

I've already responded to that claim a few times, but here's a quick summary:

-FFXIV has finished its main storyline. Games naturally will see a portion of their population leave after that point. It just happened with Destiny 2. It happened with WoW years ago when the Lich King expansion ended. They had an active playerbase at the time of ~12 million. It cratered right after when Cata released, and it recently took two solid expansions in a row just to get back up to ~2 million (meaning over 80% of its one-time playerbase has left). It'll naturally happen to some degree with FFXIV, too. Game studios end up in a lose-lose situation...they'll get trashed if they put a game into maintenance mode at the height of its popularity, and if they keep going instead, it'll never be "as good" as the culmination of the main story. DT is basically the new ARR. It's entirely possible that FFXIV will have another major hit of an expansion a little ways down the road - the question will be if the naysayers bring themselves to acknowledge that it took installments like DT laying the foundation for that future one to really fly.

-The game also hasn't lost anywhere near the portion of its "intended playerbase" as the negative echo chamber on the forums would lead you to believe. If you want the best data, just look in-game. I'll point out again that Hunt Trains on Aether started DT with around 200 people in the big trains, and I'm still estimating ~125-150 people in them now (harder to tell with no instances currently in play, but based on how quickly things melt compared to when there were instances, I think it's a reliable estimate). That's nothing out of the ordinary compared to the usual cycles that happen over the course of an expansion. Same goes with queue times when I do WT and queue up for very specific dungeons and raids that aren't the "typical" ones people run - queues are still popping within a few minutes like they always have. I think the "negative" or doomer viewpoint has been amplified more in DT than usual because there's a particular portion of the gamer population that tends to be more vocal on forums, reddit, etc., and they are most certainly not the intended audience for DT. But just because those voices are louder doesn't mean they're more numerous.

Just because the MSQ doesn't have an explicit multiplayer mode doesn't mean you can't make your own fun.
I'm afraid people have become too dependent on the game holding their hand for everything. I treat this game like a sandbox to find my fun in and I've never been bored so far.

I think this is huge. The reality is that it's physically impossible for developers to create content anywhere near the rate players will consume it. A good MMORPG instead provides players with the tools and the spaces to make their own fun, and I believe FFXIV excels at that. It's a role-playing game; it's expected that you use your own imagination and the tools available to create your own experiences with your friends or even just within mini-communities of like-minded people.