Disappointments and regrets of FFXIV

[Blackheart]

This is slowly becoming a Casual vs Elite threat which i personally will have no part of, all i can say is:

I Enjoy XIV
You can call me elite or casual, i frankly don't care
For those who are enjoy the game continue to do so
For those who do not, i hope all gets better for you in the coming days OR you find something else that better accommodates your time.

[Mega_Man_U]

Oh please there has been an abundance of threads made the casuals complaining about the toxic player base, content too hard and threatening to leave. Personal favorite 'nerf coil so I can see the story that follows after beating it'

That's... wow. Yeah, I think I've seen some of those.

I guess it's just tiring to see so much negativity here. Some posters have legitimate complains and I understand them not being happy or outright disliking the game. What I don't get is the whole "I let my sub ran out but I still have 2 weeks left SO I'M GOING TO COME HERE EVERY SINGLE DAY AND LET YOU ALL KNOW HOW MUCH I HATE THIS GAME". It just seems so unnecessary, like, what do you expect to achieve with that?

[Eclipse]

I hope you're wrong Blackheart. I like the OPs thoughts and I would hate to see this thread derailed.

[Welsper59]

Its ironic. SE caved into every casual gamers' desire with Seekers of Adoulin and the game went from 2-3k people per server during prime time to 400-600.
The people that left were the ones who had played the game for a decade and had a lot invested into their characters. When SE hit the reset button, most took at is as an opportunity to quit. The majority of which would be classified as Hard core players.
Now the casuals who are left in XI wish for the days when trailblazers were around to breath life into the community.

It's a horrible mistake to look at players sticking around for a decade as anything concrete towards reasoning something being wrong with a game. We age, just as FYI. Things happen in our real lives. We grow older, we lose family members, we gain family members, friends come and go, we get new/different jobs, etc. Hell, we even have the capacity to just outgrow things, as farfetched of a concept as that is to some. The more sensible of groups, as we grow older and mature, will know when it's time to let go. It rarely has anything to do with content in that situation.

[Purrfectstorm]

Ultimately, it's up to developers to decide if threads like these are just standard "doom and gloom" fare or if there actually is some legitimacy to any of the complaints. Up until now, I've defended a lot of SE's decisions and tried to remain on the side of optimism. That I would find my faith faltering would say something to anyone who actually knew me. For what it's worth, I'll offer my own complaint list, though it differs somewhat from the OPs.

- Not enough customization. No subjobs. No real choice in cross class abilities. Every build is the same. No gear choice. Attribute points... Why? I take it back. I said "not enough customization." There's none. And that's the main reason I like games - theorycrafting and trying out ideas. Elder Scrolls Online looks promising in this area, even FFXI was a LOT better in this regard. FFXIV fails at this. Miserably.

-Toxic community. FFXI wasn't this bad. I'm not a developer so I'm not going to theorize about why this is. Unlike the OP, I don't think it's related to platform preference. Some people think it's because a lot of former WoW players play FFXIV. I don't know if there's any merit to either of these theories or if it even matters at this point. That it IS much worse is a demonstrable fact, however.

-Not enough content. At this point, I think this is a valid concern as even those of us who are completionists and have to run every dungeon at least once, do every quest, level every job, etc. are running out of stuff to do. AND I haven't been playing a lot either.

-Housing. Too expensive. Big mistake. It's casual content with a hardcore price tag. Sure the intent may be that an entire FC will chip in but that's just impractical because of a variety of factors: casual players with not enough gil to chip in, not wanting to spend so much on something that offers very little benefit, players coming and going so much, and so on. Compound that with different housing sizes (who wants the small houses?), not being able to upgrade, AND it being the biggest selling point of 2.1 and it's a disaster.

-Technical problems. Beta problems. Launch problems. Security problems. Lag problems. Server instability. Disconnects. Frequent maintenance.

-Grouping. Content is designed for non-ideal (for me) numbers of players: 1, 4, 8, 24. I'd love to be able to duo content even if I had to be overleveled/overgeared for it. Yes, it's an MMO and MMOs are social but I dislike mandatory group sizes, especially when people are doing Titan carries, that means some of the content can technically be done with less players but the matching system REQUIRES X number for Y fight. Or if you want to try alternative role set-ups (1 tank, 3 healers, 4 dps) for example, that option doesn't exist in Duty Finder matching. Admittedly, this part isn't all bad as Party Finder now can somewhat suit that purpose.

-Botting/Gilsellers. Kind of a problem in any popular game but it still seems like this could've been lessened right from the start: Right click blist/report. Done. This is such an obvious feature that in itself it makes me wonder what SE is even thinking.

-Game is 100% marketed to male gamers. Now it may be that more male gamers play and so that's why designers market to male gamers. Or it might be that more designers market to male gamers and that's why more male gamers play. Either way, I find constant panty/boob shots jarring, the most notable offender being the Breaking Brick Mountains event cutscene:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E69BTcJ7rZM This cutscene involves someone else's character. My own character is female but SE assumes that NPCs will act in the same infantilized, sexualized way to her as they would to a male character and that she would respond in the same way to their innuendos as a male character. I feel like SE thinks that vanity slots (coming in 2.2 I've heard), cute outfits, and cute minions are enough to appeal to a female player base. Maybe that works for some but it doesn't resonate with me. I chose a Roe, went as tall and chiseled as I could go, and rolled WAR so I could play a badass female character and I wish there were more badass female NPCs. Instead, most feel like oversexualized damsels-in-distress. I understand why SE might do this: http://howtonotsuckatgamedesign.com/2013/12/marketers-fear-female-geek-2/ but I still don't like it.

Anyone may disagree with me and that's cool. What we like and dislike is a matter of personal taste. However, I WANTED to like FFXIV 110% and yet it's still failing to resonate with me. I like MMOs and my plan right now is to stick with this one... but only until something better comes along. That won't take much.

[Blackheart]

I hope you're wrong Blackheart. I like the OPs thoughts and I would hate to see this thread derailed.

i will admit OP brings up some valid arguments, but thus far all i've seen in every other post is: you dirty casuals or you narrow minded elitists which is very arrogant for both sides of whatever category they wish to put themselves in. The main reason things like this happen is because either side refuses to actually listen to what each other have to say and would rather point fingers, also why "improvement or lack there of" is happening

[LittleArrow]

The biggest qualm I have with this game currently is the lack of immediate consequence. The kick feature in this game is laughable. A huge push to childproof the game to prevent hurt feelings.

I'm sorry, but the vote to kick feature has been in almost every major MMO. Will it get abused? Of course. Is the negative consequence of players running amok without any retribution for their actions a worse outcome? In my book, that's a 1000% yes. Players being held accountable is a direct tie in providing consistent quality players. Comments from party members doesn't mean anything if there isn't a direct and immediate consequence to bad playership.

[Purrfectstorm]

One of these threads again. Yet another case of me me me me me.

To be fair, I doubt anyone is paying a sub to benefit someone else

As an added point, consumers pay for something, quality is expected. For anything. Only in the gamer community do the consumers make excuses for why the quality isn't being delivered. Most consumers want something, they want it done right, and they want it done right now. If it wasn't a game product, it would be viewed as quite normal customer behavior. And it also helps explain why services do fall short sometimes. Quality is not something that comes automatic. You HAVE to expect it with your payment. Otherwise you ain't gonna get it.

[Chayala]

I'm trying to keep my reasoning and thoughts as unoffensive as possible, and as constructive. I hate elitists. At the same time a jerk who uses non class gear to up his item level to get into a group and then does terrible damage is also someone I hate. I dislike people who believe they should be carried, and others who support that. Everything I've said has to do with what I've seen. I don't view this as a casual vs elite thing. Casuals get to at least turn 2 in this game super easily. CT was downed a few hours after it was put in (Why not immediately? Because of those long fate respawn timers which I totally didn't do till they reduced them because I was like meh.) This is my first day posting anything about this and the day I have decided to unsub. I won't be coming back to the forums after this thread has tapered down. But we're on 8 pages already. That means people have some feelings on this both agreeing and disagreeing. A little thoughts behind what people think instead of "Dirty casual" or "Asshole elitist" would probably be more constructive but it is the internet. I may not be 100% right on this stuff. I don't think it's possible to be 100% right. These are my feelings and my personal experiences. If you have differing experiences tell us other than insulting people as elitist or casual. Anyone with enough time can be an elitist even if they are terrible. Anyone with too little time can be a "casual" despite how well they play. I prefer people who are pleasant and willing to learn even if they're not the best at their jobs compared to 'elitist' people who call out everyone on everything and are offensive. My general rule is correct gently the first time they make a mistake. If they repeat the same mistake tell em more directly. Third time? Be blunt. This is for each mistake made(IE failure to dodge the same thing. not a different mechanic each time.).

And honestly, due to the fact that a number of my friends are all in the armed forces and we all got sent to different bases an MMo is the best place for us to "hang out" when we're no wheres near each other.

[Cegiana]

1.0 was never truly fixed...

Yes 1.0 was never fixed, but 1.23 was fixed to the point of being one of the best online RPG games, it just had a bad rep cause of 1.0 so nobody new was starting with it's time being so limited until it would go offline forever. However, the rest of us that didn't bail on the game were treated to a game that was harder and more rewarding than ARR is, with a much better battle system than we have now. Not to mention months and months of seeing the world fall apart before our eyes, an experience that has topped most of my gaming experiences and I'm the type that buys a ton of games and systems. Don't knock on something you know nothing about just because a ton of negative press from people who bailed on the game before it was COMPLETELY fixed.