The people who expect too much from a monthly subscription kill this game

[MasamuneBranford]

$10 to $15 will buy you a movie ticket for 2 hours of entertainment. It doesn't need to buy you 100+ hours of game content per month. A user on Reddit recently conducted a large-scale analysis of Lodestone (check for yourselves). There are over 7M characters that exist in FFXIV - yet only 385K have reached 60. People aren't quitting because there isn't enough content. They are quitting because it takes too long to get to the content.

I'd like to experience the challenges in this game. But by time I get there - they are all nerfed. Heck - I'd like to play Alexander Normal right now - but I have a boat load of grinding to do. The reason for all of this grinding? Because a minority (that just so happens to be the majority on these forums) will throw a hissy fit if they don't feel like they have a plethora of content to occupy their time with. The joke behind all of this - is that it's not additional content. It's repetition.

To get your first job from 50 to 60 (assuming you're actually playing the job, reading the text and not rushing to endgame) will legitimately take you roughly 50 to 60 hours if you're clearing the sidequests along the way. I'm almost there. I'm about to hit 60. But having a corporate job (60 hour work weeks) a family and other miscellaneous to-dos; I'll average a good 5 hours of videogame playtime a week. Believe it or not - but that's more closer to your average person.

50 to 60 hours for a videogame RPG story is completely fine. It's when you get there that the real grind begins. I'd like to beat a dungeon and move onto the next. Then move onto extreme primals and then move onto Alexander, etc. Admittedly I probably don't have the time to coordinate with others to ever do Savage - but I'm glad that content exists. It's good content for those who do have the time.

What do I find to be the bad content? Daily repetitive quests. Tomestone Caps. Re-running dungeons. Once, twice or maybe three times is enough for me. Except I'm forced to run them dozens of time if I want to unlock the new content. Give me all the content at once and I'll continue to support you month after month. I just want to enjoy the challenges before they get nerfed. I'm more than fine getting as little as 10 hours of content a month for $10 to $15. Just let me move onto the newly available content once I've beaten the old content. Life should not revolve around a game. People are realizing this. 5 million + registered users...yet only 385K are even at 60.

[StrejdaTom]

5 million + registered users...yet only 385K are even at 60.

Registered =/= active, 385K could easily be 90% of the active players in this game and no one would know unless SE releases numbers (I know we have Lodestone survey, which is unfortunately unnofficial and happened a few months ago, so 800K players it claimed might be already gone for long time). Just wanted to add this to your post.

According to the guy that posted the Lodestone Census Data on Reddit earlier today, there's only 11,000 players that have a character over 50, but not a single level 60 character...

So your point about players not reaching level 60 is not right at all... 11,000 players is very low, the players that are below 50 haven't played in 2.X and/or doesn't have Heavensward.

Also, leveling to 60 doesn't take long, even if you don't play much at all.

EDIT: 5 hours a week is not even close to average MMO player playtime, actually it's 20.
http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/archives/000891.php

[TouchandFeel]

EDIT: 5 hours a week is not even close to average MMO player playtime, actually it's 20.
http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/archives/000891.php

I would just like to point out that the data and information used there appears to be from January of 2005. That's over a decade ago and MMO's and gamer habits have drastically changed since then. At that time, MMO's were considered more "hardcore" and "niche", where a smaller group of more dedicated players would spend more time playing these games. Since post Vanilla WoW and with the rise in popularity of MMO's and the resulting adjustments to the genre to cater to a larger player-base demographic (i.e. becoming more "casual" friendly and oriented), the average MMO gamer has changed as well and tends to be more "casual" a player than in years past.

Case in point, while 5 hours a week may or may not be less than the average playtime of a MMO gamer today, 20 hours a week is most likely not the average anymore and it is probably much lower.

[Melocke]

Sounds like you don't have enough time to play MMOs, you should probably try single player games.

[kuma_aus]

I think the game is doing fine really. Looking at Lucky Bacho's lodestone surveys, it's clear the game is increasing in popularity. No we don't have millions upon millions of people playing the game, but every server has a large amount of players that it doesn't seem like there is no one around.

Bancho's information says we had 301744 characters clear patch 2.5 before April 19th. On the 9th of August we had 452958 characters clear patch 2.55. In the time between April 19th to August 9th, we had 281302 new characters that hit level 21+. And a total of 824556 (including new players) that had their HP changed or got a new mount or minion since April 19th.

And to compare Bancho's information with your new information, there was 285378 characters that finished the level 59 quest to get the dragon mount before August 9th.

[Risvertasashi]

I'm struggling to understand the OP. It seems like he is complaining about a lack of meaningful content, while at the same time saying that people complaining about a lack of meaningful content are killing the game?

[Kurogaea]

I'm struggling to understand the OP. It seems like he is complaining about a lack of meaningful content, while at the same time saying that people complaining about a lack of meaningful content are killing the game?

Nahh, he's just too smart for us.

Lol jking. I think he's trying to say players are being too easily discouraged from this games massive slope to funner content. Like my nephew for instance, he was all like, "Oooh I like how this game looks!" So I had him make an account and bought the game for em. I ran around with him for a bit, and had to leave him to story quests for a bit. About 15 minutes past and he (smart little tike that he is) said when will I be up there with you? And he bailed.

You know what I feel about this game: I feel like the only reason I worked so hard to get where I was, was for my friends so I can keep up and have something to do with them (btw where not actively friends lately) and some other players joined for a challenging MMO experience and some are feeling some sort of way for having their hard worked content nerfed for newer less experienced players. Boohoo. Just record you beating it normally, there, you still triumphed, now go stand on your imaginary throne. -_-

I think as a sign to new players that this game isn't fun is that if the story and gameplay doesn't click or interest you by the time your free trial is up, don't get it. Not for your friends, not because your a fan of the series, but because you shouldn't have to force yourself to play a game. treat yourself better and play something you'll enjoy. "XIV is great social experience" Well you know what else is? Real life, facebook, Cellphone, take your pick. :/

[SonKevin]

But having a corporate job (60 hour work weeks) a family and other miscellaneous to-dos; Believe it or not - but that's more closer to your average person.

It's not. The average person usually works less than 60 hours a week and even then the average MMO player usually doesn't have a family. 5 hours a week is about an hour a work day. Most people play for more than that. Not only that, but what you're complaining about literally doesn't matter. Why are you complaining about Tomestone Caps if you only play 5 hours a week? That's about how long it can take to max all that out according to your 5 hours a week. Not only that, but what new content are you planning to unlock that you can't already do? Savage? You said it yourself that you wouldn't be able to do it anyway.

[Risvertasashi]

Not only that, but what new content are you planning to unlock that you can't already do? Savage? You said it yourself that you wouldn't be able to do it anyway.

Yeah, raids (even regular ol' coil) weren't meant for the 5hr/wk crowd. But if he really wants to experience it mostly unnerfed... minimum ilvl sync, click off echo. Yes, it's not exact, but it's close enough that those really hard core people do it to train.

[StrejdaTom]

It's not..

Yeah, 5 hours a week is nothing in a MMO and is not anywhere close to "your average person" as OP says.
Sorry OP, but if MMOs had the same time requirement as single player games, no one would pay after 1 month. While most single player games I played got me 30 - 60 hours of playtime, I expect from my MMO to take atleast 200 to get to the max level and other thousands on it. I don't like using following phrase but if the time commitment this game asks from you seems to be too much, MMOs probably aren't for you.