Quote Originally Posted by ObsidianFire View Post
Yoshi-P has said that he purposely designs the game so that people don't have to play it all the time and can still not feel too far behind. In my opinion, people who play it quickly and then feel like there's not a lot to do are feeling exactly like they should be. I don't think SE thinks that people who ditch the game a few weeks after new content hits only to come back for the next round of content are something to be concerned about. That's exactly the kind of play behavior this game is trying to cater to and I think it does so very well.
I disagree with this assessment, actually.

Setting aside the question of whether SE's goal for FFXIV is a good one, I actually see FFXIV as being quite unfriendly to sporadic players. The second you don't cap Tomestones for a week, for instance, you're almost permanently behind those who did. The first week that you don't get an item from the end-game Raids, you're behind. Hell, even the first day you miss a Roulette bonus, it's easy to feel behind the 8-ball a bit. Even Gardening - a casual activity if e'er there should be one - requires you to log on daily to water your plants (to say nothing of the House demolition timers, which I suspect are a significant reason why people don't unsub more regularly).

I'd also argue that FFXIV releases so little content, it's incredibly difficult to pace oneself. Content updates tend to offer, what, at most 20-30 hours of new content before boiling down to repetition? Content that, lest we forget, is so similar to what came before it, that we've effectively been repeating it already for years? I don't think many people will argue with the idea that people playing 25 hours a week probably shouldn't feel like they always have new stuff to do. But on the other hand, that same player also shouldn't be bored within a week of a new update releasing.