Another "they quit" thread

[Ehayte]

There will be a lot of player churn at the beginning of any MMO, especially one that has a relatively short grind to 50, and relatively limited content post 50. I mean, don't get me wrong, if you go through end-game at a pretty normal pace, it will take A LOT of your time, but at the same time its pretty easy to shortcut through a lot of it and easy-mode your way to the upper echelons of the game.

That being said, I still very much like this game. I'm currently working on T5, and got my first X mode primal weap this week. My static isn't the greatest, but I enjoy hanging with them. I think I've left one linkshell (Hard Mode Group find, lol), and I've had to delete 5, count 'em 5, people from my friends list (out of roughly 150). I think what you will see is FFXI, EQ1, Ultima Online, etc type of people will eventually get disenchanted with this game if they are looking for a replication of that experience. The 54 man raids of EQ and the 60+ man raids of FFXI are NEVER going to be present in this game (IMO). It will be up to players to play together. For instance, my FC does 1 night a week outside of our single Coil group where we do Ultima, farm crafting mats, grind myth, get Titan HM kills for people's alt relics, etc. Probably 1/2 the static members show up and some other people from the FC get to have some structured fun : D

The 8-man clique thing . . . I kind of have similar problems in my FC. Not that the 8 regulars in the coil static are the best of friends and only group with each other, but that the members who couldn't commit to our times or joined late or didn't have their Relic are feeling left out. However, its mainly the people that are unwilling to PUG to gain experience, and the people who sit around crafting all day, not working towards X primal accessories or working on other jobs to be more diverse raiders. Not that that is what you HAVE to do to have fun in this game, but it certainly facilitates the likelihood you will become a raider.

I actually do come from 12 years (on and off, probably 7 years of playing on a weekly basis) of Everquest, played from the 2nd expansion to the...12th? Then led a progression raiding group on a time-locked progression server in the 9 months proceeding me leaving that game for FFXIV. I quickly realized FFXIV was NOT Everquest, and I would not get the same sense of being lost in a giant world I could never hope to fully understand or explore.

My opinion is that, given some time, a nice group of people will eventually settle in and call FFXIV home for a while. The people who are really looking for an open world endless possibility game from FFXIV will eventually realize that it won't happen, or that they can unsub for a few months while they wait for another massive plate of content to devour, and we'll get waves of population at each patch and expansion. I'd predict at about 12 months you will have a friends list that you can expect not to dissipate quickly, unless SE introduces a Competitive Eater class or something.

I know its sad for someone who had 20-50 friends from 1.0 or FFXI to see people leave, but just ask them where they are going, plenty of people will stay here to keep this game alive, go where you will have fun again - it will be a win-win for everybody!

TL;DR: If your friends list is full of people that loved FFXI or EQ1, they are probably going to leave to go play a game like that. FFXIV is not a game like that.

[ExKage]

Personally I started to play FFXIV because all of my friends were playing it. The player lockouts made it pretty hard to enjoy T1-5 and even Extreme primals with them. They are all much better geared than my main and so the only time I ever did coil with the actual group from my FC is when the 'static' couldn't get a good time set for most of them to do it together. It leaves a player feeling a little like they are just mere left-overs "oh we need a dps slot... eh close enough we can take that one with us for today." The amount of active members in the FC is so small that it can only support 1 static with just a one off or two to rotate when absolutely needed. I've basically pugged coil for the 4 weeks I've been geared for T1-2 (perhaps T4). The player lockouts are only a game mechanic but it sorta reinforces the idea within certain peoples' mindset that "we need to do this with this group and until 2.2 comes out we won't be helping our lesser geared friends to gain experience in coil, they'll just have to pug it"

I joined the Free Company that I am in because I wanted to be with my friends and enjoy the content with them which is sometimes hard to deal with when you're the one going off to pug it. Even once 2.2 comes out, who is to say that those people won't have moved on to trying T6-9 and forgetting about T1-5 and not working that out with their friends either? But the main problem is peoples' attitudes about working with and around the game mechanic than the mechanic itself.

[OrganizationXIll]

the TLDR: I'm basing experiences I had with 2 FC's and a few LS's/IRL friends to declare that the game is dropping users like flies without any real evidence.

What would qualify as "real evidence"? 3 free companies I have been in have died. Some of the best free companies on my server are down to half members because they are now bored due to having 4+ i90 classes.

[Ehayte]

...certain peoples' mindset that "we need to do this with this group and until 2.2 comes out we won't be helping our lesser geared friends to gain experience in coil, they'll just have to pug it"

That attitude is what I am dealing with right now and it is grossly unfair to the people in your FC's static group. They probably worked really hard to get Coil on farm like they have it now, what do you want, for your FC's BLM to say, "You know what? I've worked hard and paid my dues, but I'm going to let someone else have the fun, loot, and tomes I've earned for this week." I mean, I could see someone doing that once in a great while, while feeling extra-charitable one evening, but you have to understand that strats get tailor specifically to groups, work is put into those strats and those players, and people want to get out what they put in. Getting a chance at 4 loots from T4/T5 is not a just reward for having figured out how to beat it with your group.

What I am trying to encourage my people in a similar situation to do is to make friends while pugging, generate some interest in your own FC, take the bull by the horns and help your FC leaders get another static going! I know its rough and it seems like they are shutting you out because they are selfish/elitist, but its like of like going to college or vocational school - they worked to get their Coil Farm degree, and it would be extremely silly for them to not put that degree to work to pay them a loot-salary.

[ExKage]

...but you have to understand that strats get tailor specifically to groups, work is put into those strats and those players, and people want to get out what they put in...What I am trying to encourage my people in a similar situation to do is to make friends while pugging, generate some interest in your own FC, take the bull by the horns and help your FC leaders get another static going!

Oh I'd agree it's definitely something that needs to be compromised by those in the statics and those who are catching up. But how do you expect people to gain experience with T4 when it seems so group dependent through Pugging and failing each week? You don't get a feel for a group's composition through pugging and most times the group falls apart by the 3rd wipe. In essence, people should make their own statics and see if perhaps those people can boost the FC themselves by making a group that started with... oh 1 person. Essentially making one's own FC. It's essentially what apparently happened to the OP's FC and their FC(s) broke apart.

That's not what I'm promoting when I say that because I know very much how hard my friends have worked on T1-4 (having been on vent and doing T4 once with them as they tried to get through it) and I don't resent them for wanting to keep that group together. But the way to the least resistance is once you find a group you stick with it. I don't come from any MMORPG experience and certainly not any type of raiding experience, but if I joined up with a group's static, I don't see what the point of the FC is when you're not doing end-game content with them and not just staying in a LS with them.

[shanvhere]

I do not like how FF14 is heading, already canceled.

[Akiza]

For everyone that don't like myth cap and the lockouts think about the alternative of grinding out one dungeon 500 times to have a chance at one item dropping pretty sure people will leave this game in masses then

[Hairo]

similar story as the op, started playing ffxiv with mates i had played eqoa with, had a FC around 40 members over time that broke down and we merged with another FC with approx 110 members....... over time that broke down.

Now am in a new FC, currently been clearing t1-5 for the last 1.5 months (monday raiding i call it).

Respect to those individuals that have been doing it for 3 month+ since turn 5 was first downed....... but how the hell do you guys keep your self motivated.

Am hoping 2.2 reinvigorates my love for the game but am reaching the end of the road as one says.

The one person that is actually happy is my wife..... shes noticed me playing alot less lol ^^

I did make a topic on the forums a while ago saying this is the most unfriendly guild/FC game i have ever played.

[OldGeezer]

Disclaimer -This isn't a "I quit thread"...

Well first off, you should have swapped out your 1.0 buddies with your static. I have the same issue in my FC. I get invited to the static when there is a vacancy, but it's rare. You are correct, your static was a tad selfish because they didn't want to mess with their farm system to help its other members out. That's a problem with immature FCs when the gear outweighs the comraderie. I was in a guild in WoW for almost 5 years. We weren't the best raiding guild, we certainly weren't the first to beat new content, but we survived all the AA-type personality guilds out there because our focus was people and not loot. When an FC's focus becomes loot and not people, the path to destruction has started and it can't be stopped. This isn't a FF-problem, it's a problem with all MMO's because it's an issue caused by the players and not the games.

[Eisah]

I know a LOT of people who are subbed, but don't log in, and are waiting to see if 2.2 gives them a reason to log in again or if not: a reason to unsub.

One of my FCs entirely disappeared. On my LS there is a difference in how many people come on now compared to a few months ago.
They're still listed but you don't see them on.

I'm in the same boat.
For me it's the "AOE dodging fight system". Everything revolves around it, and it doesn't work on my computer. I've been hit by AOEs I was never inside as well as AOEs when I was on the opposite side of the room.
It emphasizes the weakness of the game and has people memorizing and dodging stuff before it happens to compensate.

My friend logs on and says she doesn't know what to do because she's not interested in the dungeon runs.

I wish they emphasized gimmicks instead of "AOE and more AOE". I don't remember having this kind of issue in FFXI no matter how much it lagged.