Yoshi P's Ominous Statement About the Future of XIV

[DiaDeem]

Mobile games? Maybe this means they'll hire the Star Rail writers and give us something really cool like Amphoreus

[Aidorouge]

It's so bizarre to me that SE keeps straddling the line between the game being an MMO and being a single-player experience, like they can't figure out how to choose a side. I personally think it was a mistake to start converting everything to single-player modes; dungeon quality has definitely suffered thanks to both current and past dungeons needing to be dumbed down so their terrible NPC AI can manage mechanics for the single-player experience...
I mean financially it's obvious they want to tap into a previously under-tapped market in MMOs since players that are single-player rarely go for them, but you basically taint the MMO well in the process, so I feel in the long run it was a massive mistake. But it's one they're not backpedaling from any time soon.

Unfortunately NPCs started to become a necessity when they would have new players show up but found the number of veterans willing to run older content to help them get through the MSQ lacking (to the extent that several veterans routinely ask to be able to avoid a critical part of getting out of ARR; The Crystal Tower), and then there's the sorry state of Dynamis and Materia where low populations make it difficult to get a lot of group content done.

Even now the game is hemorrhaging players to where one wonders how far it can drop before the MMO aspect becomes disingenuous because there's not actually a massive amount of people around anymore.

[Voidmage]

There are still people everywhere, you can still interact with them and you still need them all for your roulettes and especially higher difficulty content.
The market board is still player driven as well and all that.
I am an old player who experienced GW1 or SWTOR but I don't want to go back to the old days without a duty finder or the forced need for guilds or such things even when I loved Eureka.
Most people in the game are completely happy to chat actually.

MMO's aren't dead but their definition has changed and no longing for the old ways will bring them back because even those old school MMO veterans are adults with kids and all that now.
Nowadays an MMO is a world you share with others, have an multiplayer you group up and the rest is optional and that Multiplayer aspect you simply jump in without preparation and simply...have fun.
A big reason why this game was even successful in the first place was because it wasn't as focused on the MMO aspect and the "FF first, MMO second" was a thing since I started this game. It has always been extremely single player friendly through it's narrative structure alone.
FFxiv isn't the only MMO that has changed. Others are more accessible for solo players as well, even WoW or FFXI (and those solo players have always existed "raises hand"). Elite Dangerous for example has an entire Solo Gamemode where you only share the galaxy with others.

Trusts aren't destroying the MMO aspect, the roulettes are still as active as before and they don't destroy dungeon design because they could do the old mechanics, it's a dev choice so blame them and not trusts or Duty Support.
Veterans as well are completely willing to do old content, we are simply sick of the same three raids in roulette the entire time and hate the job gameplay at low levels.
We already saw what happens when you need to coordinate to enter content and when you are inside it's simply callout following without thinking because Discord is where people nowadays go for everything. That's what a return to older MMO ways would end up.

I can understand the heartache for the old ways, I really do because I also miss the community aspect of Eureka or the community feeling of when I started but even I have to say that this thread has devolved a bit too much into nostalgia.
The old MMO's will never come back and frankly they would fail anyway. We can miss them all we want (I only do half heartedly tbh) but at some point it's time to simply accept it and go on.

[RedLolly]

I also find the heat against mobile games odd when you look at the markets in South Asia or South America. They never got to experience console or PC gaming on the same level as us if at all, and so gravitated towards mobile gaming, but still demand and expect high fidelity content just like we do. It's what everyone has access to.

They're the reason why FFXIV has a mobile remake and why we've not gotten it (yet). It's a different market but they still want good games.

[Aidorouge]

There are still people everywhere, you can still interact with them and you still need them all for your roulettes and especially higher difficulty content.
The market board is still player driven as well and all that.
I am an old player who experienced GW1 or SWTOR but I don't want to go back to the old days without a duty finder or the forced need for guilds or such things even when I loved Eureka.
Most people in the game are completely happy to chat actually.

MMO's aren't dead but their definition has changed and no longing for the old ways will bring them back because even those old school MMO veterans are adults with kids and all that now.
Nowadays an MMO is a world you share with others, have an multiplayer you group up and the rest is optional and that Multiplayer aspect you simply jump in without preparation and simply...have fun.
A big reason why this game was even successful in the first place was because it wasn't as focused on the MMO aspect and the "FF first, MMO second" was a thing since I started this game. It has always been extremely single player friendly through it's narrative structure alone.
FFxiv isn't the only MMO that has changed. Others are more accessible for solo players as well, even WoW or FFXI (and those solo players have always existed "raises hand"). Elite Dangerous for example has an entire Solo Gamemode where you only share the galaxy with others.

Trusts aren't destroying the MMO aspect, the roulettes are still as active as before and they don't destroy dungeon design because they could do the old mechanics, it's a dev choice so blame them and not trusts or Duty Support.
Veterans as well are completely willing to do old content, we are simply sick of the same three raids in roulette the entire time and hate the job gameplay at low levels.
We already saw what happens when you need to coordinate to enter content and when you are inside it's simply callout following without thinking because Discord is where people nowadays go for everything. That's what a return to older MMO ways would end up.

I can understand the heartache for the old ways, I really do because I also miss the community aspect of Eureka or the community feeling of when I started but even I have to say that this thread has devolved a bit too much into nostalgia.
The old MMO's will never come back and frankly they would fail anyway. We can miss them all we want (I only do half heartedly tbh) but at some point it's time to simply accept it and go on.

Admittedly, it was my own fault coming into FF14 expecting an MMO experience like I had in other games within the genre, but after my time on Dynamis, I eventually accepted that this is an ORPG and don't concern myself with trying to make friends or even getting into an FC anymore. If anything I hope they ramp up the Trust system so I can do more than just dungeons with NPCs, because aside from the forums, I've given up on the social element of this game. I'm on Primal now to get healthy PVP queue times with people that may as well be NPCs when nobody talks and just goes through the motions.

[NegativeS]

Yet you have not provided a counterargument to what I said. If you actually think trust and duty support systems actually provide an MMO experience in the game, you would be very much wrong in that regard.

Eh... I may have misread what you said. I despise the addition of trust and duty support, subverts the entire point of the genre.

[Absurdity]

Eh... I may have misread what you said. I despise the addition of trust and duty support, subverts the entire point of the genre.

I couldn't care less about trusts or duty support existing if it were just an option for solo players to use. The problem I have with that system is that it affects all content it's implemented in for non-solo players as well.
Because they're not building the dungeon first and then making trusts work within it, they're building the dungeon around the trust NPC's very limited capabilities.

[Veritas-Ancora]

I also find the heat against mobile games odd when you look at the markets in South Asia or South America. They never got to experience console or PC gaming on the same level as us if at all, and so gravitated towards mobile gaming, but still demand and expect high fidelity content just like we do. It's what everyone has access to.

They're the reason why FFXIV has a mobile remake and why we've not gotten it (yet). It's a different market but they still want good games.

So because they never received the content, we shouldn't either?
I don't understand this logic.

I bought this game because this is the content I wanted to play. I'm assuming everyone else did, too.

[Connor]

I mean, would changing FFXIV to a ‘mobile game’ model even change anything? Like we’re already 3/4 of the way there. Super condensed, streamlined and shortened rotations for all jobs (like 3 skills and an ult as most mobile games do), main reason for subscription/playing is completing daily/weekly tasks (I.E roulettes/normal raids/savage+). Hell we even have the ‘premium cosmetic items that are purchasable with real currency’. Trust gatcha incoming?

Honestly wouldn’t be surprised if they start making ‘premium subscriptions’ where you get exclusive glamour rewards or extra raid loots or something ridiculous if you pay an extra 15 monies a month.

…they really want FFXIV players to suffer , don’t they…?

[Aidorouge]

I mean, would changing FFXIV to a ‘mobile game’ model even change anything? Like we’re already 3/4 of the way there. Super condensed, streamlined and shortened rotations for all jobs (like 3 skills and an ult as most mobile games do), main reason for subscription/playing is completing daily/weekly tasks (I.E roulettes/normal raids/savage+). Hell we even have the ‘premium cosmetic items that are purchasable with real currency’. Trust gatcha incoming?

Honestly wouldn’t be surprised if they start making ‘premium subscriptions’ where you get exclusive glamour rewards or extra raid loots or something ridiculous if you pay an extra 15 monies a month.

…they really want FFXIV players to suffer , don’t they…?

They've already admitted as much that if any feature from the mobile version proves popular enough that they'll see about trying to add it to the PC version. Of course, what constitutes "popular" could also be "what people spent the most money on" and it just so happens that the mobile version has gacha boxes for cosmetics including hairstyles with variants. I couldn't tell you how well they're selling, but given we've already had people begging for some of those cosmetics to be added to PC... it's only a matter of time before the current cash shop becomes even more aggressive.