Can we stop pretending that 7.4 is magically going to fix the state of FFXIV?

[SkizzleAbernath]

The copium levels around 7.4 are honestly impressive, as usual. It’s like every time the game hits a big patch, the loud “Yoshi-P can do no wrong” fanclub collectively decides that this is the patch that’s going to save everything. We’ve been doing this dance for years now.

You’re going to log in, pretend everything is fine and “saved,” and within one week fine, I’ll be generous within two weeks, you’re not logging back in anymore and the game is right back to its boring, stale state.

Don’t get me wrong 7.4 has some cute changes, but that’s as far as it goes. Acting like it’s going to fundamentally fix the deeper issues with Dawntrail shows a certain detachment from reality.

The core problem isn’t a lack of things to do. It’s that almost everything funnels into the exact same formula: log in, do the patch content, clear it in a week or two, then wait. If you’re not raiding, the game increasingly feels like a checklist MMO where the long-term systems barely evolve. If you are raiding, the rest of this patch just feels like filler padded out with copium.

Music is still top tier, sure. But working with a drummer from Rage Against the Machine fixes… what exactly? No one is saying it isn’t a cool collaboration, but it doesn’t fix Dawntrail’s problems. Pretending that compensating with collaborations will somehow last forever doesn’t change the fact that the underlying gameplay loop remains largely unchanged.

A patch can’t fix direction. It can’t undo years of design philosophy that prioritizes predictability, especially when the dev team has grown comfortable knowing the loud minority will accept almost anything presented to them.

So yes, enjoy 7.4 for what it is. But maybe we stop pretending it’s some kind of reset button. The game isn’t “dead,” but it’s also not being saved by this patch. If anything, it just keeps highlighting how players keep getting the short end of the stick while development time goes into things no one really asked for.

By the way the all jobs can wear anything glamour thingie was turned down over and over again (check previous QA from years ago) but now they decided to fix it when the ship has already sailed.
The contradictions and hypocrisy are there but the community loves to just ignore it.

[Reinhardt_Azureheim]

Jesus, just let people be happy with an upcoming patch if they think it's exciting. Not every patch in it's entirety must be evaluated whether or not it fixes the game's direction right from the get go. That's what expansions are for.

[Hanzz96]

We get it. People can't have fun if you're not.

[Carin-Eri]

Am curious as to who said this? The general consensus, from what I've seen, is that 8.0 is where they need to make a big difference.

Again - from what I've seen the trailer generated some hype and plenty of players appear to be looking forward to the content 7.4 is bringing moreso than they did with 7.1 - 7.3 but are viewing it as a probable good patch (and an improvement on the previous) rather than something that's going to fix anything.

[XtremePrime]

Does it not get tiring to be bitter about patches that in no way suggested they're the going to majorly fix the game?

- Some people are excited to see where the story is going because the Dawntrail base arc finished in 7.3
- The conclusion of the Arcadion is almost here so people are excited to see who the president is and how the battles are going to play out (or the race for the world first for others)
- Others are excited because of the glamour restrictions being lifted
- Some are waiting the new variant dungeon because of how colorful it is and unique it looks
- Others the new crafting planet since it does give a strange star wars-y feeling
- Many more

People have their reason to be hype for 7.4, if there's nothing that excites you right now, you can play other games until something fun for you gets added!

[Jeeqbit]

The copium levels around 7.4 are honestly impressive

Are they? Not seen much really, to be honest with you.

everything funnels into the exact same formula: log in, do the patch content, clear it in a week or two, then wait.

Fundamentally there isn't a problem with that. This is how it should work for the casual players. A normal gamer's behaviour is to login to whichever game had new DLC, play it, then move on to another game. If they don't finish that game's DLC within a week, they usually stop playing that game anyway, so it's in a developer's interest to make it only last a week.

However, it is fair to make optional grindy content or long-term replayable content for those who want to "live" in the game, and they do, it just doesn't necessarily interest all players. For example, there are typically long-term mount or minion grinds, weeklies, or new RP features for those that "live" in the game doing RP, but if a player is not interested by these things then, for them, there is nothing more to do.

Music is still top tier, sure. But working with a drummer from Rage Against the Machine fixes… what exactly? No one is saying it isn’t a cool collaboration, but it doesn’t fix Dawntrail’s problems.

They didn't try to collaborate. The band just sent them the track out of the blue and offered it for free. They didn't expect it, and understandably felt so honored by it that they felt pressured to base a raid around it. This is apparently common with collaborations - companies approach Square Enix, not the reverse, Square Enix doesn't usually approach them, but out of respect they collaborate with them when they do.

By the way the all jobs can wear anything glamour thingie was turned down over and over again (check previous QA from years ago) but now they decided to fix it when the ship has already sailed.

That is true. There are people saying that the glamour change is to "save the game", but it's not. It's a direct response to the lodestone post Yoshi-P made after shutting down a certain glamour-related mod. That was what led to the decision.

[Brandr]

SkizzleAbernath, why every single one of posts in this game's forum boils down to "I'm not happy so you all can't be happy too and here's why"?

[Hanzz96]

SkizzleAbernath, why every single one of posts in this game's forum boils down to "I'm not happy so you all can't be happy too and here's why"?

Because these people get off on paying their sub just so they can come here and tell everyone why they're stupid for paying their sub to actually enjoy the game.

[Tizzy_Tormentor]

No one thinks that anything will be 'fixed' in the next patch, but the QoL improvements look nice, people who enjoy the glamour aspect of the game have a lot of reason to be excited and the trailer made the final tier of the Arcadion look really cool, there's also new Frontlines which is great because I enjoy the PvP.

I know what I'm expecting from this patch and I'm looking forward to it, I don't expect any underlying to magically be 'fixed'.

[Gwenkatsu]

Please show me on this puppet where the Yoshi P Can Do No Wrong fanclub touched you.
I'll wait.