Something I noticed this weekend...

[BluexBird]

Woke up on a Saturday morning, wanting to play something, have some some fun. So I open FFXIV, because... hey, why not?

So I get on and open the Party Finder™, hoping to jump on some raids. Having cleared O8S and gotten my axe by this point, I was really down to just doing whatever. Maybe even help some people clear. Except... what's this? Only 6 parties? And what's THIS?! "2 chests."

...

Welp! I guess that's out of the question, then. Let's just do the new alliance raid and chop up some things.

So I queue up for Ridorana, and when I still hadn't found a party in over 30 minutes, that's when it happened. It's like a piece fell into place inside my head, and I was suddenly able to see clearly.

This game is dead. There is like a tiny margin of time where it is active. Except, even during that window, the game punishes you for wanting to play it more than once a week (2 chests). And the thing is... there isn't a single piece of single-player content that you can do during the dead times. There is no open-world content, no fun events and mini-games, no real jumping puzzles. Once you get your best gear, what do you do? Gear up another character? By what, raiding once a week (lol) and/or grinding tomestones? Oh wait, I forgot... you can PvP! Oh wait, that's dead too. Or how about everyone's faaavorite thing to do EVER - Eureka?!

...

It's pathetic. And this is on top of the fact that the game is charging us over 10 bucks a month, too.

So I guess I'm done. This is my good-bye thread. I don't know why it took my so long to get to this realization, but looking back I can kinda see I was already on the way, here. I guess I just didn't want to admit it.

I really hope this game ends up changing its ways. It's got a lot of potential, with its current raids and the whole Final Fantasy theme. But punishing players who want to raid more than once a week, or who want to play the game more often by gatekeeping gear progression, will ultimately be its downfall.

PS: I logged back into GW2 and got PoF (50% was almost as much as a FFXIV sub). Pretty much proceeded to have more fun this weekend than I can ever remember having in FFXIV (except maybe when I cleared Savage). And the best parts were... I didn't have to rely on parties to do it, AND there was nothing in the game that was like: "OK, you got too many items right now - come back next week."

But I guess the best part is I will no longer have to wake up on every Tuesday and wait out the maintenance they keep on (disrespectfully) putting on top of the weekly reset, just to make sure I do my mandatory raids, and farm dungeons to cap my tomes. I'm finally free, to play a game as often as I want, and whenever I want, without it billing me every month.

[Kurando]

All I can say is every single player will go through periods where they must need a break from the game. Even if there is lots for them to do or nothing at all, some time away can work wonders. Definitely there are some quiet times though as they can't be avoided, not to mention activity can often dwindle during the last few weeks of a patch. But with the next big content coming in just over a week (July 3rd?) you can guarantee it'll be busy again (even if it's short-lived depending how well the content is received).

[Abelfei]

1. There isn't maint. EVERY Tuesday, your exaggerating only makes your feudal sob story even more embarassing. 2. You think you're the 1st person to get tired of this game or any other mmo or game for that matter? Not even close. This game has millions of players, not just you, and the numbers say this game ISN'T dead. Like everyone else looking for attention when they're going to unsub, you came to the forums with the victim card, and it's hilarious and embarassing for you just like it has been for everyone else. You are looking at the game through a pinhole,and it sounds like you are only playing 1 % of overall content i.e. dungeon/raiding.

[SannaR]

I just want to know what time were you queing for lighthouse? If your datacenter let alone your server doesn't seem to have many early morning types then yeah your wait times are going to be huge because everyone else is getting ready for work, at work, or just getting off from work if they had a graveyard shift. Or if they have kids getting them ready for school or taking them to school. It's why unless a patch just dropped I normally don't call out or try any S rank hunts or some of the tougher As that I'll see. Or you know not que up for certain things because it's waaay too early.

[BillyKaplan]

Except, even during that window, the game punishes you for wanting to play it more than once a week (2 chests).

While I concede that point for Savage, as someone who doesn't care much for that content, I can attest the two chests thing never punished me once for the 2+ years I've been playing. Sounds like you just don't care much for anything other than Savage, which is legit but also paints an unfair picture of the game when presented as an objective fact.

It's pathetic. And this is on top of the fact that the game is charging us over 10 bucks a month, too.

They also encourage players to take breaks and come back when the bigger patches hit.

So I guess I'm done. This is my good-bye thread.

Works as intended. Best of luck o/

[Abelfei]

Sounds like you just don't care much for anything other than Savage, which is legit but also paints an unfair picture of the game when presented as an objective fact.

Exactly,looking at game through pinhole.

[HyoMinPark]

I won't deny that players get burnt out, but this game does not have millions of players. Between the 3 regions, I'd say 700,000 to 800,000, and that's probably a bit generous.

I can't speak for raids since I run with a static and not PF, but queues for other duties do seem longer even at peak times. And off-times are a nightmare--leveling an alt, I waited 30-40 mins each for Praetorium and Castrum Meridianum (around noon CST on a Saturday), and the level 50 dungeons are upwards of 30 minutes. Yes, she's a DPS, but even then queues were never that horrible before. Some friends of mine waited 40 minutes for Ridorana to pop the other day.

I think people are taking breaks, since 4.3 proper didn't offer any content for the general masses outside of the 24-man and TsukuEx; and Savage has not been unlocked yet, so raiders that aren't doing UwU are more or less raid loggers now. HoH and Pagos were both delayed until 4.35 and 4.36 respectfully. There's just not much to do short of leveling different characters in terms of content, in my opinion, so people are taking breaks.

Maybe the developers can see this "staggered release" they do cannot work with the content created--none of it offers any long-term life, much less enough life to carry a patch 5-6 weeks until a sub-patch is released with more content. Hopefully HoH will follow its predecessor and stay relatively active, but it being locked to level 60+ and Stormblood access may not be the best thing.

[Paladinleeds]

These posts of "I'm quitting" don't really do anything. By all means quit the game, but if you're gonna do it, do it quietly. When I quit RuneScape did I make a fuss about it on the OF? No, I just let my sub lapse and moved on. Same for WoW, etc. I'm all up for discussing the pros and cons of what's going on, and I can be very vocal about it. But if the game has stopped being fun for you, just quietly leave. It's OK to leave. But the post like this one just makes it look like you're after a pity party. That might not be what your intention was, but that's how it will come across to a lot of people. As a result, you'll get people being very firmly worded with you about it.

Now, there are definitely some good points in your post, but I feel they get drowned out by the "I'm quitting" rhetoric in the post.

[Bacent]

It's also summer time. I know some people who are on vacation IRL and not gonna be in game for a few weeks at the least.

[Doozer]

My partner and I have weird sleeping habits and often find ourselves playing between 12am and 5am in NA (depending on time zones) and we've never had issues getting into duties despite not being peak hours.

If you're only looking to do one type of content in the game and get impatient because you're just sitting there doing nothing while queued, maybe find something else to do. If you find it boring and tedious to try to cap tomes every week and stay alive on the gear treadmill, maybe bin that and find a way to make it fun. You don't have to play that way. And you're clearly not having fun doing it. I resigned from doing that long ago because I get too burnt out, so instead I play for a few hours every day just doing whatever I feel like doing at the time, and leave it at that. It's a lot less stressful that way. I don't even know what the max ilevel is and I don't care either. People who reach it just idle and afk. Because that's a better use of their sub money.