Thread: 4.25 and beyond

I feel like a lot of complaints are valid, but the people who post on this forum tend to be the most dedicated (if not hard-core) players. We're also the most likely to become burnt out because of that. Just some personal observations and complaints...

- "I wish there was more to do" usually means "I wish there was more content that I enjoyed doing". Explaining what you like and want to see more of is great! Devs love that kind of feedback. And it's a valid complaint too, since not all types of content appeal to all players. I have a huge beef with people who come back at people who ask for more things they like to do with "well have you done EVERYTHING? No? Then STFU and get on with it!"... that's not the point. If someone doesn't want to craft or raid or do side-quests then that doesn't make their plea for more 24-mans or Deep Dungeon instances invalid. We all play the game differently and have a right to express what we'd like to see more of. And that kind of feedback is very good for the company to look at since it gives them clear indicators of what their players would be appreciative of. Happy customers are continuously subbing customers after all.

Personally I'd like to see more midcore and/or large-scale content myself. More 24 man raids, more 8-man content on the level of Shinryu NM, more fights that challenge and engage me without killing all of us if one person messes up. Harder dungeons would be good too. I'm glad the dungeons we have exist, but they aren't particularly challenging unless a tank or healer is practically AFK.

- "SE needs to be more creative" usually means "dang it to heck I feel like I have deja-vu every time I step into a new instance"... we've seen tons of repetitious mechanics without any significant changes for four years now. New mechanics have been added but how they are used and presented has not changed. Even EX and Savage fights rely heavily on old mechanics and only introduce one or two new concepts to mix things up. Death walls, stacking, prey markers, killing priority adds, boss jumping away to charge while we deal with some more DPS/coordination checks... been there, done that. The way we approach, learn, and complete these encounters has largely stayed the same since 2.0. That's a long time to go without giving your players new ways to challenge themselves.

Encounters themselves are tightly scripted as well so that one mistake will cost the whole party in high-level content. This is makes the encounters challenging but not particularly satisfying to me. I always feel good when I finally clear but getting there is a chore - Deltascape Savage was the last time I tried to raid for fun. The O3S fight was interesting at first but as soon as one person messed up the whole run went to pieces and we had to start over from square one. Getting through it at last was more of a relief than anything since we could finally move on. Then the same process continued with ExDeath... it was almost a blessing that I got a job that demands so much of my time that I can't raid any more. I like to be challenged. I don't like to be killed because one guy out of seven forgot to do the right thing at precisely the right time. Every single end-game raid has been like this since Coil and it's gotten to the point where not even the promise of having the best gear is enough to get me to do it any more. Which brings me to...

- "There needs to be more gear variety"... I think the biggest problem is that gear doesn't change how we play or interact with the game- it's just mindless statistics and glamour. It's a weekly chore to log in and check off so we don't fall so far behind that we are locked out of future content, or a carrot to entice raiders who want to have the very best numbers. I would like SE to make gear worth thinking about in some way. When all types of content play the exact same way, it might be prudent to at least look into ways of changing how players consider approaching the content. Also, another way to think of this... if the only gates to doing content are story and combat stat numbers, do we need equippable gear sets? At this point it's just an obvious sub hook, much like the threat of losing housing.

There are other complaints I have about the difficulty of balancing DPS jobs with party utility, how healing and tanking in this game function at a very basic level, and SE's approach to the trinity in general but they're kind of outside the scope of this thread. Eureka seems like it might be something genuinely new for the game and I'm hopeful that it's engaging and long-lasting. But if it isn't, and 5.0 looks like yet more of the same, I will probably say good-bye after playing since 2.0. XIV has been doing things right for a long time but doing the same thing over and over again is getting stale. I feel like SE needs to reconsider playing it safe with their approach to content. XIV has grown and earned some respect, now it's time to start innovating again.

I suspect a lot of the discontentment comes from people simply fed up with the "play it safe" model FFXIV has adopted. Whereas in the past, it's been accepted due to 1.0. That excuse rings a bit too hollow nowadays. There lacks any sort of meaningful innovation. Stormblood touted some bigger changes and all we got were mostly pointless job gauges and a less used flying equivalent in swimming. 4.1 is, arguably, one of the worst patches. And this is coming from someone who progged Ultimate. If you weren't interested in a super challenging raid or PvP there was simply nothing to do. What I don't get is the odd swift in niche focus they've taken. Ultimate, Rival Wings, Perform and Replay are all features primarily for very small audiences.

In many ways, it almost feels like they're more concerned with coaxing new players in than placating veterans.

I'm playing the game less than I used to, not saying this is a bad thing. I have more time to do other things. All I'm doing now is logging in for raid. Sometimes I'd stick around to craft but I made enough Gil during 4.1~4.15 so i'm not motivated to craft more. Mount farming is something I do during the last three months of expansion. I'll for sure be more active during 4.25 with Eureka because I want to make 2 relics.

Originally Posted by Hestzhyen

There's no harm in letting SE know what we want to see more of. Especially since there are a lot of people ITT who are feeling like it'll be time to unsub soon since we've been getting almost the exact same core content since ARR. Seems like Eureka will be make-or-break for more than a few. It's not about doing everything the game has to offer, it's about wanting a reason to keep coming back.

Maybe you should take a break from the forums -or at least threads like this one- if you're tired of people sharing ideas on what would keep them invested in the game. (See how condescending and irritating that sounds?)

And we want the most,content that after 1 clear , do not get irrelevant.