Having fun. =D

[exilio]

I see all these posts and people seem unhappy about this and about that.

I wanted to say I'm happy and having fun. No game is perfect, but I enjoy playing FFXIV. It allows me to escape and I think SE does a pretty damned good job.

Life is too short, and there are too many MMOs to play. Why stay here, be miserable, and tell other people they should be miserable too?

Just wanted to say I'm having fun and I hope you are too. Cheers.

[AppleJinx]

How is telling people to like everything no matter what different than the group of people you complain about.

[Gralna]

I'm enjoying the game too, nice place to escape and relax for a couple hours at a time.

Glad to hear you're enjoying the game, and likewise hope more people out there are too

[HyoMinPark]

While there is nothing wrong about posting something positive, and while I do enjoy FFXIV as a game, there is also nothing wrong with providing criticism when things are falling short or feeling stale.

Some of the complaints that I have seen have some validity to them: such as the game’s formula for patches/expansions—2 new expert dungeons one patch, 1 the next; Savage/Normal Mode 8-man in even-numbered patches, 24-man in catch-up patch; new tomestone every other patch with 450 weekly limit; etc.. It gets to be a little stale after being the formula for 4 years. So I can understand the complaints there.

I can also understand complaints about trying to force certain mindsets on the entire playerbase when that doesn’t exactly work. I’ve heard that the Greed-Only for Alliance raid loot stems from a JP mindset of how JP players play their main jobs in content so as to not hinder the other players with lesser geared jobs, and then cannot roll Need on items not for their main, but that they want for the purpose of gearing up their alt jobs. Meanwhile, the NA/EU side has had an almost unanimously negative reaction to the change (though I have also heard that JP is not exactly thrilled about the change either).

Positivity is nice to have; but so is constructive advice. Blatantly negative threads aren’t constructive, but when people post well-thought out complaints and/or criticisms, I wouldn’t necessarily call them a bad thing, nor say that the poster is being deliberately miserable. They would just like to see an improved experience for themselves (and other like-minded players, too).

[Canadane]

Just dropping my hourly "still subbed, enjoying the game" post.
See you guys soon!

[Iscah]

Some of the complaints that I have seen have some validity to them: such as the game’s formula for patches/expansions—2 new expert dungeons one patch, 1 the next; Savage/Normal Mode 8-man in even-numbered patches, 24-man in catch-up patch; new tomestone every other patch with 450 weekly limit; etc.. It gets to be a little stale after being the formula for 4 years. So I can understand the complaints there.

This is a complaint that always puzzles me when I see it brought up - because what is the alternative? Would the game be better (or worse) if the patch content came out in a different sequence?

Admittedly I'm still "new" and I've only just reached the point of catching up to the current content, so haven't been around to watch the patch cycles play out over and over, but... still. I can't personally understand it being any more exciting to get things in a slightly different order.

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding though. When people say this is an issue, what are they thinking should happen instead?

[Paladinleeds]

OP: Glad you're having fun. However please understand that some of the criticisms being made do have merit to them, as others have mentioned. It's okay to enjoy it, but the "Why stay here, be miserable, and tell other people they should be miserable too?" comes across a bit aloof I won't lie. A lot of the people making these criticisms are doing it because they love the game and want it to improve. I know every criticism I give FFXIV is because of that. I love the game, think it really well made, but it definitely can be improved. Like you said, no game's perfect.

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding though. When people say this is an issue, what are they thinking should happen instead?

The formula tends to feel very stale...
.0 patch - new expansion launch, new 8 man raid, 2 new primals, etc
.1 patch - new 24 man raid, expansion final boss ex mode
even patch - new 8 man raid, new primal
odd patch - new 24 man raid, new primal
(plus dungeons)

That's been the formula since HW and I think the formula was still there to an extent even in ARR! And that's the main way to manage gear. It gets to a point where you know exactly what to expect. I think people want more content that breaks this mold. I have to admit, for all its flaws, I do like that Eureka completely changed up the relic formula (I just hope it ages well). I think we want more things like that, stuff that's new and different. Stuff that changes how we gear up.

[Asiragan]

Life is too short, and there are too many MMOs to play. Why stay here, be miserable, and tell other people they should be miserable too?

Because people who complains about the game actually want to stay but the devs not showing any will to change the formula they hold since ARR doesn't help them to stay?

And no, don't feel miserable. If you enjoy the game, that's fine. It's really fun when you still have leveling and craft to do.

[HyoMinPark]

This is a complaint that always puzzles me when I see it brought up - because what is the alternative? Would the game be better (or worse) if the patch content came out in a different sequence?

Admittedly I'm still "new" and I've only just reached the point of catching up to the current content, so haven't been around to watch the patch cycles play out over and over, but... still. I can't personally understand it being any more exciting to get things in a slightly different order.

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding though. When people say this is an issue, what are they thinking should happen instead?

When people can actively predict what sort of content is coming out in the next patch, it doesn’t add any sort of excitement to the context of the game’s content as a whole. Because it is always the same thing: 2 new expert dungeons, MSQ, new 8-man, new Savage (which, unless you raid, you don’t care about, and if you do, it tends to be the only thing you do care about); next patch is 1 new dungeon, 24-man catch-up; the entire 2-patch cycle is 450 tomestone that’s capped weekly.

Things like Eureka and PotD break the monotony. PotD was hugely successful when it was released because it was different, it offered something challenging at Floors 101+, it offered another leveling alternative other than spamming the same dungeons over and over again. It was different and new. It made the game feel less stale. But the current formula of 450 tomestones/week, 2 expert dungeons that less difficult than leveling dungeons, 24-man every other patch, etc., has been a thing since 2.0. Something needs to be changed to give more life to the patch cycles, or else people will complain like they did in 4.1 when there was nothing but niche content, and 1 new dungeon for the majority of the playerbase.

A lot of people that I know that have been playing since ARR take months-long breaks (or have just quit outright) because the formula is always the same. It’s stale to them, so they have moved on to other games. I’m glad that the patches are frequent, but they don’t offer anything new and exciting for me outside of the Savage raids. Because the other content it just not interesting enough for me to enjoy it. I haven’t done Expert Roulette or 70 roulette in 2 months.

[Gemina]

While there is nothing wrong about posting something positive, and while I do enjoy FFXIV as a game, there is also nothing wrong with providing criticism when things are falling short or feeling stale.

Agreed, which is why it ruffles my feathers a bit when someone starts off their positive thread with something negative. There is an air of condescension in the OPs post that kind of dismisses genuine concerns of the playerbase that will likely rub some people the wrong way, which I am sure is not the intention of the OP.

Admittedly, there are times when I feel the negativity around here is a bit too much, which can weigh down my own desire to play the game. So it's not the game I take a break from; it's from here.