Current State of End-Game Contents - A Blog Post from A Japanese Player

[Gormogon]

snip

I would like to add to that. I can have all the time in the world, but I'm not gonna give up, abandon, seclude myself, and/or replace the people I play with just to join a group capable of doing and gaining the best "digital" loot the game has to offer because it isn't possible with the people I do play with. I did it in WoW and by the end of the month I realized that it was not worth it.

Personally I would rather use that time I have enjoying it with the people I play with regardless of their skill level and if I have so much extra time when they are not around then I'll use it elsewhere such as playing another game on my PC, my handhelds, or on my consoles until the people I play with want to content. Especially when MMO's end-game content is secluded to a number of players and lockouts.

Yet the way I handle my downtime is not the same for other players. Clavaat's expectations, as well as others here in this thread, of what players should do just to experience end-game is an unrealistic one when it comes to what the majority will actually do. Players "can" potentially do it but you "can" expect just as many hardcore elitist to downgrade their gear and remove the echo buff as a group to keep content hard for them. The norm reaction has been present since the very day MMO's were accessible and I too have taken that approach before if not I would still be playing Ragnarok Online.

During downtime players would rather take their group of friends and seek out another experience since they have been blocked from experiencing content or can't experience content anymore until the following week. In the case of FFXIV ARR and the old FC I was in players would log off to play LoL, Smite, Diablo 3, check out other MMO's such as TESO, Black Desert, and enjoy Wildstar to the point that they switched over since Coil was roadblock and the 2-3 month wait for major patches and the content that it offer was not appealing to them.

I know some people will want to believe that it is impossible to please everyone. Sure you wont appeal to 100% yet that shouldn't mean that one should give up trying. A consistent schedule that delivers equally rich and diverse content that is appealing to as many players as possible is better than a schedule that only appeals to a specific demograph and tries to slowly branch out to the rest with no rewards and goals.

[Clavaat]

In the case of FFXIV ARR and the old FC I was in players would log off to play LoL, Smite, Diablo 3, check out other MMO's such as TESO, Black Desert, and enjoy Wildstar to the point that they switched over since Coil was roadblock and the 2-3 month wait for major patches and the content that it offer was not appealing to them.

They would have done that anyway, though. Look, I've done my time with FFXI, and while I don't regret it, I truly spent way too much time playing. To the point that it was borderline unhealthy. I would play when I was offered other games and RL things to do. When I approached FFXIV, I realized that I could get a lot done in not a lot of time, thus making it easier to pace myself and balance what I wanted to do with my RL schedule. I don't have a "hardcore" amount of time to play this game, but I am satisfied logging on and practicing with my LS/FC for a little while on scheduled days. After that, there are other things I could do, and I often do, but I somehow also find time to play other games in my backlog, catch up on shows I enjoy, see movies, hang out with friends, etc. If FFXIV became or becomes too much like FFXI, I would probably have to leave simply because I don't want that again. And I think, through the years, other people have realized that's not what they want either. They know that MMO's are a commitment and welcome a more relaxed commitment that allows them to play other games and do other things.