No Community

[LunaFaye]

There's no game design that can force you to make friends.

Actually there has been. Someone remember the good old FFXIV x-primals? To that time and we all know that, you needed to beat the previous X-Primal if you wanted to move on. If you didn't have friends, static or tons of money you weren't able to beat these trials. DF was a disaster when it came to Titan X and Ifrit X. Even PF's struggled to clear it and as than the the ilvl 90 weapon quest was released, and you needed to farm these primals once a week, everything went into chaos mode.

I still find people nowadays that quit because they couldn't beat that content, and now decided to finally come back. I find people everyday on DF that still can't beat it lol. Same was with old coil, I am not sure if you have experienced it or not, and I am not talking after all the nerfs, I am actually talking about the times as that content was still relevant. The forum and not only the forum were flooded with people being unable to beat T5, and if that wasn't even bad enough already, with the introduction of T9 and T13 all hell broke loose. Anyways, long story short, to that time SE forced you to make friends if you planned on playing endgame content. Nowadays not so much anymore, DF/PF and RF are your friends.

[Nixxe]

Actually there has been.

It forces you to network, not make friends. Those people you add to your friend list can remain veritable strangers who you only come together with for the sole purpose of killing this, that, or another boss. There is still hard content in the game though, so it's something of a moot point. As I said in my post, there are still plenty of opportunities to make friends in this game if that's what people want.

This character cap is ruining my life.

[Atoli]

This character cap is ruining my life.

Write a few words, then edit your post and you have unlimited character count..^^

[LunaFaye]

It forces you to network, not make friends. Those people you add to your friend list can remain veritable strangers who you only come together with for the sole purpose of killing this, that, or another boss. There is still hard content in the game though, so it's something of a moot point. As I said in my post, there are still plenty of opportunities to make friends in this game if that's what people want.

This character cap is ruining my life.

You can call it whatever you want, at the end it still forces you (your word choice not mine) adapting a specific play style that you might not agree with, or wouldn't chose if there were an other option. I yet have to see the "hard" content you're speaking off and let's not list stuff that has been nerfed to the ground, that clearly doesn't fall under hard content.

[Parisstilton]

P.S.
SE went with the "WoW" business model because it appeals to all the 14 year olds with their parents CC's. Evidence of the preferred demo is apparent in the new art direction IMHO. The “end game” is catered to feeding the aimless 20-somethings using game progress in lieu of real life progress, they need a constant stream of new content (however empty and thin) to shield them from any terrifying moments of introspection. There were legitimate reasons people frowned upon the "Xbox noobs" and "WoWzers”. They're the lowest common denominator and simultaneously the largest market

...

Wow! And you wonder why you can't find a friend?

[RaijinSupreme]

P.S.
SE went with the "WoW" business model because it appeals to all the 14 year olds with their parents CC's. Evidence of the preferred demo is apparent in the new art direction IMHO. The “end game” is catered to feeding the aimless 20-somethings using game progress in lieu of real life progress, they need a constant stream of new content (however empty and thin) to shield them from any terrifying moments of introspection. There were legitimate reasons people frowned upon the "Xbox noobs" and "WoWzers”. They're the lowest common denominator and simultaneously the largest market

...

...so you have a problem being an older person and playing games with younger people who know nothing of your older experiences... and not being able to find other older people that share your disdain for how younger people decide to play their own video games...

ok.

[Newmanxeno]

...so you have a problem being an older person and playing games with younger people who know nothing of your older experiences... and not being able to find other older people that share your disdain for how younger people decide to play their own video games...

ok.

That's what it sounds like, a "Well back in my day..." Isn't FFxi still going, OP? You can always go back.

[RaijinSupreme]

Well back in my day...Isn't FFxi still going? You can always go back.

EXACTLY.

Instead of coming here complaining to young people about how young they are, just go back to all the old people, and have this discussion with them.

[Callinon]

P.S.
SE went with the "WoW" business model because it appeals to all the 14 year olds with their parents CC's. Evidence of the preferred demo is apparent in the new art direction IMHO. The “end game” is catered to feeding the aimless 20-somethings using game progress in lieu of real life progress, they need a constant stream of new content (however empty and thin) to shield them from any terrifying moments of introspection. There were legitimate reasons people frowned upon the "Xbox noobs" and "WoWzers”. They're the lowest common denominator and simultaneously the largest market

...

And there went all your credibility.

When your entire complaint boils down to "get off my lawn," perhaps it's time to re-examine what you're trying to get out of a game.

For the record I played FFXI for 7 years back in the early 2000s and I've been playing MMOs in one form or another for over 20 years. You're looking for the game to force you to make friends with people and it just doesn't work like that anymore, but complaining about younger people playing in your MMOs is just asinine and I think you know that.