What keeps you playing ?

[konpachizaraki]

raid is the only thing keeping in this game
i am lucky to finally found a good group
if not i maybe already unsubs and not coming back after 3.1
i used to do it back in 2014, came back in 2015

[Ronivan]

What I used to enjoy in FFXIV was the freedom of being able to do anything I wanted. Now I can't, I'm tied to 3 Specialization jobs only. Not that I could not purchase anything, the fact is, it was not made by me. Everytime I see all the recipes that I can't do I feel regret to pay my sub, but it was ok until patch 3.3 I realized something very sad, the game itself is a waste of time. The only moment I'll be able to craft these gears is when I don't need them anymore. I hate so much this futile specialization system that I'll give up this game, until I don't see this cursed word in any patch, may how long it take. My account will remain defunct after my sub ends. I just hope SE is earning a lot of players with this system, but for me, its over.

[FunkYeahDragons]

I play for PVP and my PVP friends. My old FC left, and it's too hard to find a new one that's any good. However, I had to move servers to find a good, endgame PVP community and join in with others because my old server just did not have the population or the interest.

Having people who challenge you, who can share insight, and who'll have fun with you is key. I think if I start raiding later in 3.3. I'll probably try to wiggle in with these people, too. I'd rather it be someone from my Linkshells than some strange FC or static.

[Kosmos992k]

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 ?

I think that your question here explains why you are asking.You consider leisure hours to be lost because players do not participate in progression (or at least that appears to be your point of view). That's a faulty point of view. Leisure time is not lost if it's spent doing something you want to do and enjoying yourself. Not to mention I have to wonder who we are justifying our leisure time to and why. As I've said to people before, it's my time, I'll waste it however I want to.

[Shurrikhan]

...how do you justify these hours you lost?

How does any gamer, hardcore or otherwise, justify the hours spent on a game that falls into obsoletion, let alone a raid the gear from which doesn't exclusively best aid one's attempts at a further raid? Because it was fun at the time. Or at least fun enough to warrant playing it over doing something else.

On topic:
I play because I largely enjoy the combat here much more than in most other MMOs. I can spend hours at a time on a striking dummy trying to perfect a rotation, and enjoy when a fight forces me to make a compromise and my figuring out how best to make it.

Aside from that, I play in hopes that we'll eventually see more interesting mechanics and undermechanics to the game, along with certain reasonable QoL features.

In part, I also play that I have the right to voice my opinion on the game's progression, as small a drop in the barrel as it may be.

[FinaSel]

My biggest reasons for why I started playing and continue playing is that I work from home in a countryside area and don't have much opportunity to get out and talk to people.
Even "real life" friends, I talk to mostly on the phone. We are all very busy with work...
Most of the people I talk to are family and clients.

So I play to talk with people and go on adventures together!

The world is also very beautiful and the game provides unique challenges that I can't experience in my daily life.

I try to give myself goals in the game. Like "Craft these items!" and "Get this achievement!". But I try to only do things I want to do. I don't raid too much because, honestly, it's not what I want to do. I will only go if I can do it with friends.

Also, I play this game because it is a very cheap hobby! Compared to other things like snowboarding or taking classes to play an instrument, this is SO much cheaper!

[AlphaFox]

At the moment, its just my raid group that keeps me playing. For the most part I login and do my roulettes for ESOs for my relic then logout until raid time. Monster Hunter Online finally came out with an english patch so been enjoying that in my downtime along side the Dead by Daylight Beta

[Colorful]

Daily roulette? Not entirely sure, none of my friends play anymore so it's definitely not that. Guess it's the story and content, before I tire of it anyhow. Just a bit relaxing to jump in when you've got not much else to do, do an expert roulette, maybe a few other things and then log back out. Besides that, it's cheap entertainment and doesn't lead to frustration like CSGO/Overwatch would. I "quit" shortly after 3.2 (was still subscribed though) and came back shortly before 3.3, and I'll likely do the same with 3.3 until 3.4.

[Seoulstar]

The fact that while I'm in Eorzea. All my problems fade away.

[Zfz]

I like how the game feels, but quite frankly I'm not up to the treadmill anymore. I don't log in everyday and sometimes I skip whole weekends. I've realized that a lot of single player games that weren't designed to occupy player time, but designed to entertain players, actually make me more satisfied than capping my Lore tomestones.

I still love it when I get an upgrade, and I love the graphics and the music. That's really what's keeping me playing. But with FFXV getting closer and other games like Horizon that I'm eyeing, I may cancel my subscription again soon.

I don't mind spending time on games, but that time needs to be an experience. Farming the same content for days and weeks just because the developer don't want to give it to us too quickly, isn't good enough anymore. I actually don't mind grinding for hours at a time, but grinding the same 2-3 things for months on end isn't fun anymore.

I'm playing really casually now. I'm still playing, but I'm also ready to drop it anytime.