No Community

[LunaFaye]

snip!

lol not that it matters but this isn't my main character and kinda irrelevant. I pointed out a couple of things in this thread, that others have commented on. Some people are not aware of old content since they haven't played to that time, and I am seeing it everyday on these forums, suggestions/requests from newer people or people that took a break. And while there's nothing wrong with that, most of these topics are pages long with veterans trying to explain how the game used to be. It doesn't mean we all want the old times back.

I've never even questioned or made any bad comments about people playing the game solo, with friends or anything like that. I however did say that, there have been times, were a game design indirectly forces you to adapt their play style. Nothing else, I don't understand how we got to the "but the majority of player base" kind of discussion here. But I am willing to explain it once more, and it has nothing to do with my personal opinion, just pointing out a different side of view based on your guys own written replies.

You have listed quite a few things here, saying that nowadays we can enjoy the content solo, under sync'd, min ilvl and with friends. I absolutely agree with that, having more than one option is something players appreciate in any kind of game. That means that you can play the game with the play style you enjoy the most, whatever that might be, I am not going to judge that.

But if you're looking at the current raid content for an example, you have only one option and that's to find friends/network. It doesn't matter how you do that or get there (DF, PF, RF, FC, LS, Forums, Reddit, Facebook, local ad in the news paper, you get the point) at the end you need 7 other people that enter the instance with you. Again I won't comment if that's a good or bad thing, or if the content is impossible to be completed under any other circumstances, since that's not the part of the discussion, but I will point out that this is the only way. There's no other option a player can choose from, because at this point of time, it wasn't made available (yet) with other options or intended differently.

Not giving a player more than one option means that someone "forced" a play style on you that you might have not picked for you personally, given there would have been different choices. Again I am not saying it's a good or bad thing, I was just pointing that out, since a lot of comments were based on the current content the game has to offer, not seeing that for new or even older players this can be a bit frustrating. Telling others to just get out there and find friends, solo content or skip it all along, isn't the right way either. I think we all need to understand were someone is coming from and maybe give out some pointers in the right direction, that might make it a more enjoyable environment for people that are having problems with the current and upcoming content.

My 2 cent, I don't know how I constantly seem to trigger people, but hey why not... maybe this post made it a bit clearer and understandable were I was coming from.

[Magic-Mal]

For the people comparing XIV to XI, XI forced you to play with people so of course you'd get to know them sooner or later. It's not XIV's fault if you are in an FC and LS and you have no friends. You have to step up and talk to people and get involved. It shouldn't be up to someone/something else to help you get friends. It's on you. FFXIV doesn't force you to be with people all the time so if you are choosing to not talk.. When its so easy to do so, who's fault is it really?

Also XIV is still new so to me, I don't believe they can be compared to XI friends that you probably knew for years before going to XIV. Bond with people and maybe they'll bond with you.

[CookieMonsta]

I think thats part of the problem though, there is alot of come and go mentality in this game. Only so many people want to be social and once they have formed their inner circles, its hard to join them. Maybe I'm just old and jaded I dunno.

I find that so many people come and go (because this game allows you to easily do both) you start to wonder if its worth bonding with people anymore.

[Parisstilton]

Pong in monochrome on a 12 inch screen, that's nostalgia.

This absolutely! And everyday I yearn for the adulation my peers had for me when I was the first person in our street to 'go round the clock' in space invaders

[Nixxe]

I’m speaking more to cohesions, culture and camaraderie. So many of you have challenged the notion that bonds are forged under pressure. I think you’re young and naive.
...
Such severe game play allowed for powerful acts of altruism and true feelings of gratitude. The point I’ve been trying to illustrate is that when everything is vanilla you’ve limited the range of possible emotions.

What people have primarily challenged is that pressure is a necessary ingredient, which it most certainly isn't. You're immensely oversimplifying things and projecting your personal feelings on to the entirety of the playerbase though. One of the proudest moments I had in WoW was when my crappy little 10 man guild killed H Deathwing against all odds. Similarly, when my crappy 25 man guild first killed Gruul. Neither of these kills were impressive and no doubt the content was trivial to many players, and it even would have been to me had I just played in a guild that was at my level, but it didn't matter. It didn't change how I felt about it. It's a different type of pride than I felt when I moved on to a much better guild that put me in a position to rank really well, even getting a few rank 1 parses or when top 50 world guilds actively tried to recruit me, and it certainly happened, despite the chorus of despair from the wannabe elitists who fancy themselves experts in game design. Different people enjoy different things and they are quite capable of not only having a diverse array of emotional responses to even seemingly mundane events, but managing their own fun and knowing what they do and don't enjoy, what makes them feel good and feel bad, without some third party to micromanage those things for them, same as you can.

[AmalonStar]

You are right OP. It's because this game is crossplay with PS4. Console players aren't meant to socialize (pretty casual they are), just do quests, dungeons and enjoy their little limited fun they have been enforced to. Then also there is no massive PVP which is very important thing for a MMORPG. Too casual i say, too much.

A lot of the friends I've made on the game all play on the ps4, I have them on both my in game friends list as well as my psn friends list.

Yes in the game there is a lot if players that are more the 'solo' kind of players and they're on both PC and console. At the same time there are a lot of players that like the social aspect of online gaming like myself, and that is why I'm addicted to online gaming.

Perhaps try making a post in the FC section describing the kind of FC you would like to join and I'm sure someone would be able to point you In The right direction.

[AmalonStar]

Also pvp has nothing to do with it, there are a lot of ppl that dislike pvp. I don't usually play pvp games because I don't want to be out doing something just for someone to come around trying to kill me. Pvp in XIV is optional and you don't have someone trying to kill you.

[Magic-Mal]

.

Your whole post can simply be summed up simply as nostalgia. You repeatedly said "In XI", "In XI", "In XI". Understand that this is not XI. And it isn't XIV's fault that it isn't XI. That kind of gaming just isn't successful anymore(I don't actually have proof, but I feel 100% certain). You said "Severe gaming"... in FFXIV, besides raiding(like 3% of the player base), there is no hardcore content. This is a casual social game. You liked being forced to interact, well this game just isn't that. I'm happy it isn't that. It's accessible and that's what makes it successful.

You have to deal with it. Have to deal with the fact that this isn't 20-30 years ago anymore. If you can't.. well FFXIV just isn't for you and should just go back to XI. Cause in FFXIV, nothing is stopping you from making friends yourself but you.

[DynamoAce]

I'm sure it's hard for a lot of people to try to make friends/conversation and stuff with others through a game, but sometimes it doesn't come to you just out of nowhere.
I found a lot of friends I made simply came to be through me just continuing to play the game. I'd say there is a community but a lot stick to their own corners. It's tough but it doesn't hurt to reach out a little. Sometimes it just takes the smallest thing to make a difference, like commenting on a person's glamour. : D

[AmalonStar]

No this isn't FF XI and in my opinion it is better in a few different ways. The duty finder makes it easy to do things on any job, on XI if ppl deemed a job worthless you wouldn't get a party to be able to level it at all.

The party finder makes it easy to build a party for something, on XI you had to search and try to find the jobs you need for a party yourself.

Having players from all servers on the data center available for the duty finder and now the party finder, XI you were limited to the ppl on your own server which made it hard on low populated servers to get enough ppl for something.

Those are just a few examples, yes there are some aspects I do miss about XI but for the most part XIV has been set up fairly well for community. Making friends that's something each player has to do for themselves, waiting for ppl to come to you and say do you want to be my friend doesn't work so well unless you're like 6 years old and younger.