Is the community wrong?

[Baingoleth]

Someone who is upset is far more likely to complain than someone who is happy is likely to commend. I heard a statistic one time that on average 7 out of 10 people who don't like something will tell others whereas 3 out of 10 people who like something will tell others. I don't know how accurate that is but I think there is truth to it.

[Dzian]

Someone who is upset is far more likely to complain than someone who is happy is likely to commend. I heard a statistic one time that on average 7 out of 10 people who don't like something will tell others whereas 3 out of 10 people who like something will tell others. I don't know how accurate that is but I think there is truth to it.

there's 2 angles to this. firstly the business angle.
generally speaking though for every person that doesnt like something and complains there are 26 people who also didnt like it but did not bother to complain.
yet for every 14 people who do like something only 1 will commend you.

this is why its wrong when people spout out "vocal minority" crap. like here on the forums for example. people assume that because only a fraction of players use the forums and complain about things that everyone else is happy and loves the game. which is never the case. because statistically for every person whos come to the forum and made a complaint about the game. 26 more have just stopped playing and not bothered to tell the devs why.

in more recent times its widely accepted that the once dubbed "vocal minority" is actually an accurate representation of consumer opinion of your product. this is exactly why 1.0 tanked because the complaints were originally shrugged off as vocal minority and most players loved the game... which simply wasnt true.

it also happened with the division which had a record breaking successfull launch and an incredibly quick demise (well i say demise its still going to some extent) because everyone shrugged off the complaints as vocal minority. and the player base numbers plummeted incredibly fast. so much so the devs issues a massive apology and even invited players to go to the studios and help them make it better and paid all there expenses. shame it didnt work so well..

what this means then is the overall forum view isn't the hyperbole and drama players often make it out to be. as its proven that those people who will express there opinions actually represent significant numbers of consumers that won't.. so if the forum is mostly percievedas negative then you can bet your bottom dollar that the average consumer opinion isnt much different. player numbers kinda indicate this. over 10 million players and yet only a fraction of them still play. if the forums were hyperbole and everyone else thought the game was great. then the active portion of that 10 million would be significantly higher..

the other angle is more public interest (there's a buzz word for this but i cant remember it)it's basicall public opinion and word of mouth and stuff.

and this is where numbers on both sides can go exponentially. for every person that doesnt like something they will generally tell 6 people.
and for every person that does they will generally tell 8 people. and that can grow exponentially if each of those 6 people tell 6 more and 6 more and 6 more etc etc. or 8 in the case of commends. it varies a little depending on the nature of business but in a general sense the numbers arent to far off.if you go to the cinema and see a movie and its amazing your more likely to tell your friends about that than if you went to a coffee shop and had an amazing coffee for example.

[TheMightyMollusk]

This isn't a forum so much as it's a salt mine. Don't take it too seriously.

[Wolf_Heartnet]

Whoever is saying that the subs are as highest as its ever been is not telling the truth. Give me a source to that cause as far as I know from the census reports is that the playerbase is dropping. The highest I recall it ever being was 200k+ more than now and with Square spreading out the content of a patch by taking out the content and then spreading them out monthly is done to retain subs due to the falling number of it.

[Theodric]

This isn't a forum so much as it's a salt mine. Don't take it too seriously.

I feel like that's a deceptive assessment. This forum has players from all over the world and brings them together due to their shared interest in the game. I've made quite a few friends here. Do some people complain about anything and everything? Yes - though they're very much a minority and the bulk of feedback is constructive. Even when it isn't, it's usually understandable as to why people are frustrated.

[micropanther7]

I've taken a break from FFXIV to enjoy Warcraft, but I still enjoyed FFXIV when I played, and like to check in with the community from time to time.

I remember reading reports that FFXIV's sub numbers are the highest they've ever been, and that the game is massively successful. Yet when I try to see how everyone is doing--it's all complaints about Eureka or the companion app, or something else.

I guess I'm confused as to why the sub numbers would be at an all time high if people were actively unhappy with the state of the game and its direction.

Because that small wedge of complainers you see in the reports all come on the forums :P Seriously though, the official forums is kind of the only place where people will feel their voices will be heard, so I kind of expect to find posts discussing aspects of the game that they feel aren't up to scratch. LOL seen Mahrze's post, this is truth

[JackHatchet]

Sorry, I don't have the source for the current subscriber numbers. I just remembered at one point people were claiming that FFXIV was very close to overtaking Warcraft. It might have been at the beginning of the expansion for Stormblood, but I'm not sure. I'd be curious to know if anyone did have a source for that.

[Nixxe]

Sorry, I don't have the source for the current subscriber numbers. I just remembered at one point people were claiming that FFXIV was very close to overtaking Warcraft. It might have been at the beginning of the expansion for Stormblood, but I'm not sure. I'd be curious to know if anyone did have a source for that.

FFXIV has never been close to overtaking WoW. Their lifetime number of subscribers was catching up to WoW's number of active subscribers.

[Rymm]

Their lifetime number of subscribers was catching up to WoW's number of active subscribers.

Does WoW even make the distinction between the two? I remember there being some grumbling when they made their big "11 million subs" announcement that they were counting all subs whether they were active or not.

Anyway, as to the OP's question- People like to complain. A lot. The playerbase here even more than average. If half the people who raised a fuss about something on the forums were to actually quit the game, it would be a ghost town. I take most of the complaints with a grain of salt and my personal viewpoint on most of the issues boils down to this attitude:

Can the game be improved by x, y, z?
Yes, certainly.
Would I like them to do x, y, z in the future?
Sure!
If x, y, or z doesn't happen, would the game suddenly become unplayable for me?
Nope, I can live without it.

There are a few things, of course, which I'm less cavalier about. Priorities depend on what is more important to each individual person. But I've yet to personally reach any game-breaking points in FF14, unlike WoW (why I quit there and am now here.)

[Nixxe]

Does WoW even make the distinction between the two? I remember there being some grumbling when they made their big "11 million subs" announcement that they were counting all subs whether they were active or not.

Yes, because the numbers were reported for the sake of investors, not players, up until they chose to discontinue reporting that metric in favor of ones they felt were more meaningful given how the game has changed. Per Blizzard's last self-report, over 100,000,000 World of Warcraft accounts have been created since the game originally launched. The active subscriber count peaked at 13 million in Wrath of the Lich King, fell to about 5.5 million as of the last official report, and is in all likelihood hovering around the 4-5 million mark now.

Granted, the number means something a little different than it does in FFXIV, as there are hard barriers between accounts in different regions. In FFXIV, you can play with the Japanese players or the European players from North America, though it may require selecting certain language options. In WoW, that number is divided between several service regions that are mutually exclusive with one another for the most part. There are some exceptions, such as OC and LA being grouped with NA, but NA can't play with EU can't play with CN.