Dear developers, and writers, please stop playing it safe.

[KikiTia]

I'll start by admitting I've been a firm advocate for Dawntrail so far, and I've genuinely enjoyed it. But I've started noticing a problem, one that I think has existed all the way back in SHB but hasn't really manifested itself fully due to the popularity of the story. Too much is the same.

I know it's been said to death that there's nothing to do in endgame but I want to speak up and add my own words to it, too. There are no new systems in Dawntrail. All the content is either content we've already had for at least one full patch cycle, or a variation on an existing system that doesn't fundamentally change it. Even the new classes, this has bothered me since SB, are just variations on existing rotations and philosophies. There is no innovation. That's a serious problem, for an expansion meant to sustain the game for two years, having nothing fundamentally new or novel to bring in is extremely dangerous for the game and unfortunately it's shown in the very vocal feedback of the player base.

And, of course, the story. We've seen this story before, in different colors and tones but fundamentally the same one. It's the same story as ARR, just painted a new color. I understand that slow and steady wins the race, and I respect that. But they're trying to expand on a theme, hope, that has already been expanded upon in depth. We're treading the same ground, seeing the same things happen only with less stakes. I know it's important to respect the development of the world and the characters. But my God, the story needs life. Kill someone off. Take precious things away. Put the Scions in danger, put everyone in danger, make bad guys who show us that we can still lose, and that we can't get it back. The story desperately needs that because there are no stakes, there is no question whether we can handle this, no question as to how we beat the bad guy. We're strong enough now that we can spring the trap and just deal with the consequences because we are so powerful. That has to change. Even when we lose, we can recover fully and end up thriving from it. This diminishes the impact of a serious blow. When we lose big, there has to be permanence. Otherwise, there's no reason not to lose, if we can just get it all back.

It's been said that FFXIV is a Final Fantasy game first, MMO second. That's not a problem. The problem is that, right now, it's Final Fantasy game first, MMO last. The parts of this game that sustain long term engagement have been painfully neglected for too long, all the way since SHB there's been little to no innovation on the gameplay loop. The overarching plot carried the game through SHB and EW but now that it's over, DT is showing all the cracks for what they are. We don't need perfection, as much as people might make it sound that way, we just need a breath of fresh air. Many of us still love the game and want it to succeed, but this has become stagnation, not success.

[hydralus]

I swear I could ask chatGPT to write an essay about what's wrong with FFXIV and this would be the output.

[CapaxInfiniti]

I swear I could ask chatGPT to write an essay about what's wrong with FFXIV and this would be the output.

Pretty ironic when you consider I could ask ChatGPT, or any of the models, to "create an FFXIV expansion story" and end up with a story better than whatever Dawnfail was supposed to be.

[Kaurhz]

I may get fairly mixed responses in saying this but I would honestly have something new... Like a completely new concept introduced into FFXIV, and for it to be just... OK, than to feel like every expansion and patch is just a classic run of the treadmill, doing the same thing I did last time albeit a fresh coat of paint.

[Underscore]

And, of course, the story. We've seen this story before, in different colors and tones but fundamentally the same one. It's the same story as ARR, just painted a new color.

I'm genuinely confused by this comment. I can't think of a single thing Dawntrail and ARR's stories even have in common. What do you mean by this?