What keeps you playing ?

[Palourde]

Hello guys,

First, i warn you that i'm french and that i may make some mistakes. Secondly, i don't want my position in this topic to be seen as a " rage topic copy paste ". I'm just asking a simple question in this topic.

So today, i asked myself one simple question : why do i play and what makes me enjoy every moment i spend in FF XIV. You see where i'm leading this topic because, generally, when you ask yourself the purpose of your actions is because you may need to change these actions for a specific endeavour.

Personnally, i spent many hours each night during the 3.2, farmed some glamour stuff, tried to have the best gear but then, i wondered why do i want to do that if :
a) I'm not able to find a competent free company to make savage raids
b) No one gives a f*** about mounts and glamours you would like to show
c) Even though crafting is fun as hell, why doing that if the stuff crafted here has no purpose instead of the glamour ( then we return to point b ) because i can play casually and get awesome stuff to kill every fiend i may fiend in this cute world.

Some people may say that they have fun just logging in to chat with friends or to help people and that's nice, i understand. But regarding the purpose of the hours of farming you spend if you play casually, considering most of the playerbase is casual and do not touches the raid scene because of this vertical progression, how do you justify these hours you lost ?

And in fact, this question concerns mainly the casual scene which i'm part of because no one is interested about making engaging content.

Did i try to create " retro " guild to make old content on a minimal synched level ? Failed

Did i try to integrate a [insert stereotype adjectives ] free company to be able to clear engaging content ? Failed

Did i try to create a free company from scratch with a couple of friends to at least clear the actual hardest content ? Failed


As much as it may sound pretentious, i know due to my experience on previous games that i'm a really good player in general. Gaming is my passion and the MMOS have a special place in my heart. But in this game, i find it extremely difficult to find skilled players who can understand and apply the advices you give them. I think there are enough topics complaining why people are embarrased by bad players so i'm not leading this topic there.

But when you're aware about these problems, how do you enjoy this game anymore ? Why would spend 4 hours of farming materials for your relic instead of reading a book or watching interesting documentaries since you know it's not even necessary to make the new raids, especially if you are not into the savage raids scene. I don't have this problem with farming if i know that in the end i would get some challenge but now, spending nights on " experts " roulettes or primals ( considered to be hard - huh - ) is worthless regarding the FUN criteria.

That's essential to keep in mind, even in the real life, to have FUN while you're following your PASSION.

I feel like i made it too long but i just wanted to know if we could debate about this topic. Thank you and have " fun ".

[AskaRay]

I just like Eorzea. I like the story overall, even if I disagree with certain actions...but whatever. Sometimes I wander around and take screen shots of the maps. I spent an hour last night doing that.
I like to gather too, it's (sometimes) not too stressful...sitting away and hacking at a rock is a good way to wind down.
I also like to play Final Fantasy Dress Up Simulator...haha. Gotta always look good. Always.
I also like doing my relic. Why? Even if I don't savage raid at all? Well...I like to know where it's going. My Yoichi Bow Zeta was absolutely gorgeous (I think) and I'm really interested in the story for the anima spirit. I want to see what happens, so I don't mind grinding hours away to find out. It's no different to me than grinding out those 10+ levels in a SMT game between the last area and the final area because someone thought it was funny to have all the new monsters oneshot you...anYWAY I'm getting off topic.

I still feel like the game is worth my sub. Once I feel otherwise, I'll stop playing and paying for it. There's a lot the game could fix, but hopefully it's just at the beginning and the game will continue on~
If you feel that it's not worth paying for and playing anymore, there's nothing wrong with that.

[Palourde]

Yeah, a friend of mine also likes to gather while chatting with me on the chat party. He has fun doing some RP stuff and gathering, that's all he does.

But in my case, i don't think i wanna leave because i want to live the first awesome MMO experience i found since the slow death of WOW these previous years..... It would be sad, i think :/

[Anienai]

What makes me enjoy every moment

Low self esteem
No friends
Poor social skills
Tons of self loathing
Massive amounts of insecurities

[Nayout]

If you feel that it's not worth paying for and playing anymore, there's nothing wrong with that.

That answers your question, you do not have to feel obliged to play something you no longer fun, the problem is that you're playing an MMO alone.

[Morzy]

If this was a single player game i would have been out a long time ago.

I stay for my friends. Of course i make long term goals and i do have a passion for gathering.. what is special to me is the kind of people u meet.

[Inori-Yuzuriha]

nothing

no money for dlc :/

[Morzy]

Low self esteem
No friends
Poor social skills
Tons of self loathing
Massive amounts of insecurities

Dont self loath. The rest is fine, but u need to understand and accept urself.

[Palourde]

Low self esteem
No friends
Poor social skills
Tons of self loathing
Massive amounts of insecurities

I like your honesty. In fact, the first experience i had on a MMO ( Archlord online ) was the consequence of all of these facts you just stated. But in the end, MMOS can destroy you more than anything if you keep avoiding these problems into a virtual world. I hope someday you will play it for the fun of playing it and not for avoiding problems, as i managed to do recently. I really hope so mate.

But thank you for responding.

[Palourde]

If this was a single player game i would have been out a long time ago.

I stay for my friends. Of course i make long term goals and i do have a passion for gathering.. what is special to me is the kind of people u meet.

You're totally true. I still have the chance to keep in touch my friends because we play on PS4 and we just need to integrate a chat party already integrated into the interface.