I just don't get it.

[Deuce]

Actually, I'd say the biggest criticism that 1.0 had was the horrendous buggy launch. They literally took something with blatantly obvious UI and communication lag, then decided it was ready to go. Maybe it was a little more complex than them just thinking the public will love anything they crap out, but that is pretty much what killed 1.0. Those of us who played it, particularly any beta players, experienced the same exact problems during the testing period, yet there it went... up for sale. QoL and things that remove them (like UI lag) affect enjoyment far more than people may realize. It's a form of displeasure that slowly builds, which is actually one of the more detrimental forms of it when involving products that aim to keep them there for long periods of time.

The UI problems and server lag was certainly 1.0's biggest flaw and ultimately its downfall. I believe to this day that if 1.0 was launched with a better UI, little lag, and more content such as quests we may never have received 2.0 and Tanaka would still be at the helm to this day. Regardless of widespread complaints about the initial combat system it is in my view not what killed the game. However, I would argue that FFXIV received a lot more mainstream criticism for the copypasta terrain while the actual playerbase were more concerned with the fact that they couldn't claim mobs let alone see them in order to do their guildleves at launch. Most people who bought FFXIV in 2010 probably didn't make it past level 15 because of the lag. Nevertheless, memes were made about the copy pasting and actual complaints were more focused on the shoddy server infrastructure and code. I believe a lot of us can remember how poorly something as simple as a launcher was implemented for 1.0. Patching that game was a whole entire nightmare by itself.

The FATEs mention, for the time, really was a great addition to the MMORPG format. ...There's a difference between something being objectively bad, and something being bad because someone is bad at how it's used.

I wasn't trying to argue that FATEs were a completely flawed design. There is a lot of merit behind the idea of wanting to populate your open world zones with players, but I believe concentrating them on FATEs was perhaps a bit short-sighted.

That having been said though, the devs have proven time and time again that they just suck at execution. Ideas are great... usually... but how they envision the player base to receive it or take part in it without destroying it, is where they fail consistently. Despite whatever Yoshi-P says about learning from their mistakes, they haven't had the reality of the situation sink in yet about their overall philosophy behind content.

I believe that this is the crux of the problem. The developers are in my view out of touch with the actual playerbase. Lord of Verminion is a perfect example of that. I remember when Yoshida mentioned that for the Golden Saucer he wanted to make sure that the minigames were actually good ones. LoV was probably the first minigame where he actually felt that it could be good. Unfortunately, its release was poorly timed and only served to grow discontent among subscribers.

"This is what they decide to spend developer resources on? A mini game?"

"We're only getting two hard mode dungeons a patch and in return we get this?"

Those aren't exact quotes, but I'm paraphrasing a lot of what the playerbase has thought and continues to think. Many people are in disbelief that LoV was given so much attention meanwhile diadem, something that players would be more likely to be interested in is implemented poorly.

It will be interesting to see what gets put on display in less than 6 or 7 months at fanfest, but if there aren't improvements or even any new conceptual ideas brought forth I can already see people groaning about the next expansion. I fear that if 4.0 is a repeat of 3.0, which insofar has been a repeat of 2.0 with more quality of life adjustments than this game will be in trouble. If you had the best console on the market when it comes to cost vs performance, but it lacks actual fun games to play, it'll fall flat on its face. Plus, if you continue to push out garbage titles a la Atari in the 80s, then the whole entire system will suffer as a result. These are simply analogies, but it's important to note that FFXIV can suffer the same fate, regardless of how good the game's systems are if the actual content is not fun or rewarding to play.