Game Getting DULL

[Starlord]

Up until 2.1 there was an obvious decrease in players lol. As with all MMOs big updates brought people back. Don't say "that is your opinion" because my cousin plays on Masamune and even said the population started thinning out last month. Note: Thinning doesn't necessarily mean they quit, it means they likely took a break or hopped servers to one that is more populated.

I will say it lol "That's your opinion" XD

Edit: We are almost 2 weeks into 2.1 and every time I log in "including today" there's a horde of people on my server doing stuff. ( That's is my perspective).

[Peptaru]

Up until 2.1 there was an obvious decrease in players lol.

22 people on my list of peeps haven't been on for over 40 days. Not even 2.1 brought them back. They stopped. Poof. No mas. FC's and statics are constantly having to fill slots because of these incidents.

Well 22 is not a lot! It's over half the list of people i talk ... see: talked, to.

To the folks pointing at the influx of fresh meat, yes there are new players. Always will be. Give them 3 or 4 months and many will already be gone. This thread has the perspectives of people who've already been here that long, or longer.

[Hyrist]

22 people on my list of peeps haven't been on for over 40 days. Not even 2.1 brought them back. They stopped. Poof. No mas. FC's and statics are constantly having to fill slots because of these incidents.

Well 22 is not a lot! It's over half the list of people i talk ... see: talked, to.

To the folks pointing at the influx of fresh meat, yes there are new players. Always will be. Give them 3 or 4 months and many will already be gone. This thread has the perspectives of people who've already been here that long, or longer.

Mn. I don't agree with your assessment. 22 people may seem like a lot, but to the game itself it's a drop in the bucket. We've more coming and going by the hour in those numbers than you noticed in that span of time.


Now, do I believe the population is in decline? Yes. I believe the initial swell of people who leaped to a new thing hoping to find a home is finally deciding the game is not for them and are moving on. Is this unhealthy for the game? No. It's the natural flow for any MMO. We just not got over the point where our servers were buckling under the strain of the number of people we had, and SE predicted far few numbers than we are currently maintaining. I feel we will continue to decline for perhaps one more patch cycle before our numbers stabilize again and the signs of a slow climb or slow decent will be made clear.

Someone just joining the game now? Is going to have a lot to do. And when the backlash from the Housing fiasco settles, we'll see a good number of players return with new content down the line.

Your assumption about how I receive people in the game is incorrect. I spend a lot of time helping new players through their content. I'm always welcoming and offer my assistance to random people in need, and I am almost never rude to any fellow gamer unless they are extremely rude towards me or my companions. The part that frustrates me, is that I've seen so many good people quit this game because of the elitist attitude that is dominating the landscape of the current community. If you say I am indignant towards the social climate in today's gaming community, perhaps I am, but I am this way not because I no longer 'feel special' for being part of a niche, I am indignant because the cooperative, inclusive atmosphere has been replaced with a colder, competitive attitude towards fellow gamer.

I can't say that I haven't noticed that as well, and it is disheartening, as I've stated before. And knowing now what you shared with me makes me feel the sting of you leaving the game, as we would need more people standing as pillars of the community.

If I may go so far as to presume once more - would you say it is hardship, in that the mechanics being as unforgiving as they were in games like Ultima Online, Everquest, and FFXI that caused the communities to bind together? If so, I came up with a much different assessment, watching those communities through the years becoming increasingly narrow-minded in scope, creating a very homogenized span of opinions as players began to bleed out of groups.

Regardless, should you reconsider, I do know of a few welcoming communities on different servers I would recommend joining, if you are interested, which may serve to better your experience in the game.

[Eldryan]

I've been playing since the launch of 1.0 and found myself becoming disappointed in ARR. MMOs nowadays are all about instant gratification, designed to appeal to the lowest common denominator and not targeted at the old-school mmorpger who's past goal was to build a community rather than raise their iLvl.

Many white knight will say, "well you haven't done such and such, so you can't say the game is dull" or if you have done those things, their response would be, "well you shouldn't have rushed through everything!" Either way you can't win.

I'm going to take this time to say I will be cancelling my subscription after 3 years because I don't see this game going in the direction that would appeal to me.

To the development team, thank you for your hard work and best of luck with the future of FFXIV. I don't regret playing my small part in the development of ARR with my support through the past 3 years, but I'm afraid the Legacy ends here for me.

Take care everyone, and play nice!

[Hyrist]

Eldryan I find it difficult to even engage conversation with such a definitive statement that expresses both a distaste both for the current state in the game, and the majority of the game's base in one swift stroke.

What I will state is that in the 'old days' of gaming. MMO players, and gamers in general were a very small niche of society, isolated and ridiculed. Though for what they were to one another was welcoming and accepting because of this.


Now that gaming is far more widely accepted, I have regretfully seen a reversal in such attitudes from the 'old school' instead of welcoming, they are instead very indignant, clutching to the days in which they felt their position as a gamer made them feel special, in spite of the world viewing them poorly. I find myself longing for the days that our community welcomed every newcomer, shared in the passion of the game regardless of whether or not it appealed specifically to them and still maintained a sense of wonder in the hard work and dedication that is provided for us to merely enjoy our free time.

Communities are still building, but what sort of example is the old-school gamer setting if we have forgotten the very fundamentals of the communities we bemoan are not being created?

I accept the fact that the game does not appeal to you, and respect your decision to leave the game. I hope that your future gaming endeavors are more fruitful.

However, I appeal to your better humanity in the future when it comes to your view of the modern generation of gamers, and the games that are being produced. Even if the carrot is reachable, it does not mean you cannot build a caring community or find joy in the individuals you share such times with.

[Eldryan]

I have regretfully seen a reversal in such attitudes from the 'old school' instead of welcoming, they are instead very indignant...

Your assumption about how I receive people in the game is incorrect. I spend a lot of time helping new players through their content. I'm always welcoming and offer my assistance to random people in need, and I am almost never rude to any fellow gamer unless they are extremely rude towards me or my companions. The part that frustrates me, is that I've seen so many good people quit this game because of the elitist attitude that is dominating the landscape of the current community. If you say I am indignant towards the social climate in today's gaming community, perhaps I am, but I am this way not because I no longer 'feel special' for being part of a niche, I am indignant because the cooperative, inclusive atmosphere has been replaced with a colder, competitive attitude towards fellow gamer.

[Beeraga]

The game design is great, but the fight mechanics and forced party structures are too formulaic. It's also getting irritating that most of the mechanics revolve around dodging AOE when people have to rely on laggy DF servers so they don't die.

Edit: Would also like to note the decline in logins in my FC as well. We had around 48 members, we have I've pared it down to about 38 now, the missing 10 had not logged in for 2 months. There is another 10-15 that rarely log in, like its not uncommon to not see them for more than a week or two between logins and these were friends from XI. Many of them spent time leveling crafting and looking forward to housing and were completely blindsided by the ridiculous pricing, and even more annoyed at the excuse for the pricing.

[Eldryan]

I do not believe it was the difficulty of the content itself, but rather the need to build a stable network of players in order to achieve anything in those games that made the community bonded. I know the debate about the Duty Finder content is old, so I won't get into it, but what we have to give up for the convenience of being able to do anything at anytime, is the strong network of players that used to develop through necessity, and the decency and cooperation that is required to strengthen that network. The current system attracts more players, but many of which do not share the same desire to reach out to their fellow gamers because they can replace a party member and have a new one queued up within minutes. Basically, we've begun to view each other as disposable units so there is no need for civility and courtesy for the most part.

Even in FFXIV 1.0, there was a strong community and bond that formed because there was no Duty Finder. Sorry for short posts, forum limitation.

[Despite]

I do not believe it was the difficulty of the content itself, but rather the need to build a stable network of players in order to achieve anything in those games that made the community bonded. I know the debate about the Duty Finder content is old, so I won't get into it, but what we have to give up for the convenience of being able to do anything at anytime, is the strong network of players that used to develop through necessity, and the decency and cooperation that is required to strengthen that network. The current system attracts more players, but many of which do not share the same desire to reach out to their fellow gamers because they can replace a party member and have a new one queued up within minutes. Basically, we've begun to view each other as disposable units so there is no need for civility and courtesy for the most part.

Agreed. The LFG/LFD tools have had quite a negative impact on the MMO genre as a whole.

[Hyrist]

I do not believe it was the difficulty of the content itself, but rather the need to build a stable network of players in order to achieve anything in those games that made the community bonded...

There has to be a way we, as a community, can work to increase the desire for such things in spite of the duty finder. I don't agree that making it an absolute necessity is a healthy thing for a community, even if it had a healthy byproduct. Keep in mind there were several communities formed that were quite exploitative of its members for the benefit of the few, and players, due to such necessity, felt the need to sit around for any chance of progress. Id say for every healthy community it encouraged, it also enabled an unhealthy one.


But it would be nice if we had more tools to community build and interact with each other one. A way to perhaps make a custom Leve that could be shared with Company mates, as one example. More non-progression based content that players can enjoy together casually for entertainment would also help players meet and get to know one another would also be very helpful (I'm anxiously awaiting Golden Saucer for this as well).

But I still feel we've come to rely too much on the mechanics of the game to do the work for us, no matter what on the spectrum of opinions we lie. Back in past, the need for a group to get any content or progression done meant we did not have to work as hard to build communities. And on the same token, we're also expecting the game mechanics to be our only source of entertainment within the game itself. I can't help but feel something of personal ownership and responsibility for our troubles has been lost over the years.


(As an added tip, you can edit your post to include more than 1000 characters within it. I draft my posts outside of the normal post box and just edit it in after.)