Based on NA FanFest 2026, Do You Think Friends/Players Will Return to FFXIV?

[Moonsprite]

WoW is doing better than before not because they added a lot of content but because they gave solo players something in the form of progression. Delves are solo content that players can do to get gear. Variant/Advanced/Criterion content in FFXIV doesn’t give meaningful rewards at a good pace. The drop rates are too low for cosmetics and the content offers nothing else so it becomes pointless. They just try to prolong it by making drop rates lower, but that isn’t fun so people just quit.

For me, the new relic content was a miss too. The cosmic exploration isn’t fun to me either. It’s just grinding again. I liked Ishgard and I did expert crafting. I would rather do a garlean restoration or something like it.

I also felt the dungeons and content in Dawntrail were too much running around and it didnt feel fun to me to never be still long enough to cast a spell. I dont find it fun to run around for 15 to 20 minutes non stop. I want to use my abilities. We will see if evolved combat helps with this.

I used to be a FFXIV player who also played WoW. Now, I am becoming more like a WoW player who plays FFXIV. My life has changed and I don’t like wasting time on endless grinds that are designed to keep me subbed rather than giving me fun content to do. Truthfully, the new UI with the bars to fill has me concerned that we are not going to be able to target what we want and its going to be alot worse missing a couple weeks than it used to be. One of the things I liked about FFXIV was having a vendor to buy what we want for gear. WoW has recently added a vendor at the end of delves to do just that. So if FFXIV takes that away I think it’s a step backward.

[Veritas-Ancora]

You don't play but you do have a house? in wow? Don't you have to pay sub and actually play to do that though?

Oh I pre-ordered the expansion and unsubscribed immediately. As long as I stay a low level I can keep signing into the account and build up my house. It's genius, no subscription.

ffxiv fans are way more unforgiving with square enix and it's not even close. Not that i think thats a bad thing. You absolutely should hold them to a standard and expectations. But in this context, I was talking about online narrative and word of mouth.

Depends on where you look. Some of the Facebook groups have massive copium for the game. Reddit tends to be kinder than these forums. And these forums, typically, are very negative. I'm not saying you have to be negative to be constructive, it just seems to come with the territory.

I think the personal Discords are where you find the most conversation. You can talk to people without needing to insult or belittle other people, which is another big problem in these platforms.

[Anwar]

WoW is doing better than before not because they added a lot of content but because they gave solo players something in the form of progression. Delves are solo content that players can do to get gear. Variant/Advanced/Criterion content in FFXIV doesn’t give meaningful rewards at a good pace. The drop rates are too low for cosmetics and the content offers nothing else so it becomes pointless. They just try to prolong it by making drop rates lower, but that isn’t fun so people just quit.

For me, the new relic content was a miss too. The cosmic exploration isn’t fun to me either. It’s just grinding again. I liked Ishgard and I did expert crafting. I would rather do a garlean restoration or something like it.

I also felt the dungeons and content in Dawntrail were too much running around and it didnt feel fun to me to never be still long enough to cast a spell. I dont find it fun to run around for 15 to 20 minutes non stop. I want to use my abilities. We will see if evolved combat helps with this.

I used to be a FFXIV player who also played WoW. Now, I am becoming more like a WoW player who plays FFXIV. My life has changed and I don’t like wasting time on endless grinds that are designed to keep me subbed rather than giving me fun content to do. Truthfully, the new UI with the bars to fill has me concerned that we are not going to be able to target what we want and its going to be alot worse missing a couple weeks than it used to be. One of the things I liked about FFXIV was having a vendor to buy what we want for gear. WoW has recently added a vendor at the end of delves to do just that. So if FFXIV takes that away I think it’s a step backward.

Interesting... Your my mirror oppesite. WoW player playing ffxiv. And i quit wow because i felt the same way you did about ffxiv. That it had unrewarding and no meaningful content besides m+ and raid/pvp. and that all the game was, Was either grind M+ and delves on repeat. I find ffxiv offers so many different things to prusue and do. and the rewards are unique and feels rewarding to get. I don't know about you but i got all the gear i needed from delves in a mere few weeks.. then it was back to the m+ grind. Felt an mmo experience should offer more than just be a M+ matchmaker dungeon grinder. And no before you ask... Pet battles and furniture hide and seek is not my thing.

[Moonsprite]

Interesting... Your my mirror oppesite. WoW player playing ffxiv. And i quit wow because i felt the same way you did about ffxiv. That it had unrewarding and no meaningful content besides m+ and raid/pvp. and that all the game was, Was either grind M+ and delves on repeat. I find ffxiv offers so many different things to prusue and do. and the rewards are unique and feels rewarding to get. I don't know about you but i got all the gear i needed from delves in a mere few weeks.. then it was back to the m+ grind. Felt an mmo experience should offer more than just be a M+ matchmaker dungeon grinder. And no before you ask... Pet battles and furniture hide and seek is not my thing.

Ya I don’t do pet battles or furniture hiding either. I like delves because I can do them in 20 minutes and then go do something else. To me, FFXIV used to be fun. I did Bozja and got a lot of the relics. I don’t enjoy FFXIV anymore because it’s just grinding for the sake of grinding because this is now “hard content”? It’s not, it’s just boring. Hundreds of fates for one item to drop when you need several. How is this fun? In previous expansions people stayed subbed to do relic content, I bet they didn’t in Dawntrail. I think there is a big disconnect between time value here. I don’t play WoW for hours each day, I won’t in FFXIV either. If I have an hour to play and I have to choose between a game that I know I will get at least something or a game where I waste an entire hour to get absolutely nothing, then I’m going to choose the game that feels rewarding.

[Anwar]

Oh I pre-ordered the expansion and unsubscribed immediately. As long as I stay a low level I can keep signing into the account and build up my house. It's genius, no subscription.



Depends on where you look. Some of the Facebook groups have massive copium for the game. Reddit tends to be kinder than these forums. And these forums, typically, are very negative. I'm not saying you have to be negative to be constructive, it just seems to come with the territory.

I think the personal Discords are where you find the most conversation. You can talk to people without needing to insult or belittle other people, which is another big problem in these platforms.

Sorry if i came across as insulting and beliteling.. i speak and wear my feelings and thoughts on my sleeves.. unfortunately. I am still adjusting my self from my previous online enviorment, I shall correct my self in future replies. I am glad you seem to have a more posetive reddit experience than me.. I seem to only see the worse

Ya I don’t do pet battles or furniture hiding either. I like delves because I can do them in 20 minutes and then go do something else. To me, FFXIV used to be fun. I did Bozja and got a lot of the relics. I don’t enjoy FFXIV anymore because it’s just grinding for the sake of grinding because this is now “hard content”? It’s not, it’s just boring. Hundreds of fates for one item to drop when you need several. How is this fun? In previous expansions people stayed subbed to do relic content, I bet they didn’t in Dawntrail. I think there is a big disconnect between time value here. I don’t play WoW for hours each day, I won’t in FFXIV either. If I have an hour to play and I have to choose between a game that I know I will get at least something or a game where I waste an entire hour to get absolutely nothing, then I’m going to choose the game that feels rewarding.

I see.. i haven't reached dawntrail yet but. is the effort to reward ratio really that bad up there? 100 fates for one item drop? Is that in general across all dawntrail where the effort to reward is that severe?

[Moonsprite]

Sorry if i came across as insulting and beliteling.. i speak and wear my feelings and thoughts on my sleeves.. unfortunately. I am still adjusting my self from my previous online enviorment, I shall correct my self in future replies. I am glad you seem to have a more posetive reddit experience than me.. I seem to only see complain and hate comments.

I see.. i haven't reached dawntrail yet but. is the effort to reward ratio really that bad up there? 100 fates for one item drop? Is that in general across all dawntrail where the effort to reward is that severe?

The relic content this time is a lot more grinding than recent expansion relics. I my opinion, they took the worst parts of previous expansion relic grinds and combined them into a hot mess of frustration. It was an overcorrection from the Endwalker relics that were tied to quests and tomestones. The variant/advanced content has really low drop rates too. For me, this is a huge miss in content that could have lasted longer if rewards were worth it. Keep in mind that it’s low drop currency to buy things from a vendor. It’s frustrating and doesn’t feel rewarding.

The cosmic exploration is more grinding for DoH/DoL tools and leveling. It’s basically leves and limited time fates. It’s also grinding too much in my opinion. It’s too bad because it looks like a lot of time was spent on the exploration. It’s just a miss for me. I liked Ishgard, I don’t like the exploration. The rest of dawntrail is the same get tomes, twine, glaze, coins, totems for gear it’s always been. It’s the side content for Dawntrail that I think isn’t that fun. For some people maybe they love it, I don’t.

[MayuAmakura]

My entire friend list is empty and offline people. FC's have been crumbling down, Chaos is dead and I went to Light. When I started Endwalker during the hype, it was all fine and good. Then the hype started to slowly die out and people just started to leave. They didn't want to play anymore and found patch cycle too boring and long. DT came and only 1,2 from 80+ came back and then quit fast afterwards. They simply weren't satisfied. So no, nobody will come back because they have settled down in other games.

The changes in new expansion are OK but if this means more easier jobs with even harder fights then I don't think most will ever want to play this ever again.

[Gember]

I feel sort of out of place after reading 5 pages of the comments here, but my friends are excited to come back. A few have even resubbed to start casually getting through the rest of Dawntrail. Will they stick? No idea, but the fanfest left a very positive impact on them.

[Veritas-Ancora]

I feel sort of out of place after reading 5 pages of the comments here, but my friends are excited to come back. A few have even resubbed to start casually getting through the rest of Dawntrail. Will they stick? No idea, but the fanfest left a very positive impact on them.

I've been telling my friends about it. They don't seem too enthusiastic to return, but I'm hopeful that we'll be able to get 1-2 back. It's really stressful trying to have players buy-in to the idea of the game.