Ok, lets do it, WHAT is wrong with this game?

[Dzian]

I think the biggest problem is generally the game is so limited by it's very own design. you cannot have genuine long term progression or goals because of the super fast treadmills and that then creates the major content draught because despite the game theoretically having bucket loads of content players still have bugger all to do because 99%of said content is obselete and not worth doing.

everything is ultra repetive and mundane and there's never anything new or inspired.. eureka was apparantly all new content.. but its just a rehashed diadem. HOH is just a rehashed POTD. content is all incredibly static and stale. it's like people have all said dungeons are all the same, raids are all the same trials are all the same.... nothings ever different.

and by the games design it can't change.. it's all designed to be done solo pretty much. which only suceeds in causing problems really. take a look at HOH even in matched parties it causes problems because you might want to be hunting around for all the horde sacks. another guy might not care about horde but only want silvers and then you get guys who ignore everything and just want to go straight to the passage to the next floor as fast as possible. sometimes i find this ironic because thesse players that are trying to go as quick as possible are the same ones that will sit there fully loaded on pomanders of strength frailty petrification. or the same people that stand in the chamber of passage for 2-3 minutes while everyone runing around for silvers.. the whole run would be faster if they helped out and used pomanders. but it's an example of how you can't create new and inspired content when everyone in there is going to have different objectives it just creates a huge clash.

It also does everything it can to force you to play solo or not build bonds. all content is so strictly tailored around 4 or 8 people that it becomes impossible to find things you can do with your friends that you can do together. if you got 5 6 7 9 10 11 people that all want to play together you're screwed there's nothing you can do... you either get some random people to help that might then interfere with your plans. even savage discourages it. if you've cleared it that week. you cannot go and help your friends because they'll be punished and get no loot.. even on the most fundamental story level. "You cannot progress this quest because your in a party this quest must be undertaken alone"..... it's an MMO not a single player game.. people WANT to play with there friends. especially when all your friends are clicking the same npc trying to enter the same story instance at the same time..... WHY the hell cant we just play together....

the combat itself is dull bland and lifeless. as ive said before it's too fast and lacks any form of weight or substance. nothing has any power or impact to it. its just flash bang sparkle.the 1.23 system was much better and had a lot more substance to it. i mean in the current system all your skills are basically just glorified auto attacks that have a few sparkles and buffs attached. I couldn't tell you the dfference visually between gekko and kasha for example 2 of samurais combo finishers and they just look dull and boring. hell most of the time you dont even see them because you're popping an ogcd attack or something else... it all just makes it bland and weightless. even worse in group play because your flashes bangs and sparkles are just masked by everyone elses. you cant actually see anythingthats hapening in the combat.

1.23 also had a lot more depth in its combat with pacifications stuns heavies all of that stuff actually doing something meaningful and even had the incapacitation system. break chimeras tail and now he cant tail swipe the party or crack a mobs head and he cant smack you with gaze attacks or anything. where now combat is just smash buttons while dodging telegraphs what the boss is actually doing is rarely actually matters. slow the pace down add some substance and weight and it'd be much more fun..

I think the player skill arguement is largely down a huge lack of player motivators... basically there's no reason for players to rise up to a challenge when the challenge will be dumbed down and nerfed to them to a point they can face roll it. and the lack of value or prestige in any of the rewards also demotivates many people from bothering. no point in going after that weapon when it'll be a crap weapon and therell be a better one next week... if the treadmill was slower and rewards actually held value or prestige i think a good amount of players would step up there game that little bit to try and strive for them.. but when its going to be crap tomorrow why even bother?

this is the same with things like the materia system where so many players just don't bother melding there gear because why bother melding somehting you'll replace in such a short period of time.. melding gear is see nas a waste of money by many players. especially many who do cap tomes each week and already overgear the content. like 370 players running 335 lighthouse raid...

everything is so oversimplified and dumbed down its ultimately boring and bland. even hunts were meant to be notorious monsters poses a challenge kinda thing but all they are is zerg fests. all you need is to keep throwing bodies at them till you win. stats are pointless and worthless. you could quite easily remove every stat from the game except I-Level and the game would not really be any different. because the rest of those stats are practically worthless. if you look over time for example the average crit rate of a bard hasnt changed at all from having 300 crit to smashing over 2,000 crit.... spell or skill speed is another one. my ninja has 1600 skill speed and still the exact same gcd it had when i first levelled it in ARR. blackmage is the same. doesnt matter how much spell speed i have my flare cast at 70 is no differetn to what it was at 50...there all just meaningless stats..

the game has been simplified so much in every aspect thats its just bland and boring.. the only thing that keeps me playing is the social connection to some of my friends. but hell even the most mundane things are more fun with friends.

The thing i find interesting though is over the years the critisisms havent changed much. even on a personal level everything i say now is the same stuff i said as far back as alpha/beta. and the threads you read on the forum back then are much the same as t he threads you read now. the only thing that changes over time is the amount of people that are opening there eyes and seeing the problems for themselves.. if you made a complainet about the treadmill in ARR for example then you'd probably get a ton of flack for it. yet that same complaint now gets a lot more support and empathy... the more time goes on the more people open there eyes and see the problems for themselves.

ive also said before i think the player numbers show the problems the game has quite well.. they keep bragging about all these mile stones and millions of players they have yet they still have almsot the exact same server capacity they had in 2.0. maybe increased slightly with eu datacentre but thtat was done for latency reasons more than over population... if you combine that with things like the various lodestone sweeps it suggests that very few of all those millions of players stick around because the game just isnt that good