Is the community wrong?

[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

[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.

[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.

[Magic-Mal]

The people who are saying it's just a salty minority are not telling the full truth. Yeah the game did have it's highest player count at 850k or something. But that was last year. Recent census shows a decline by the hundreds of thousands. And it's not just the Official Forum, it's the GameFAQs and Reddit who are all saying similar things.

[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.)

[Raldo]

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.

I don't think this is all that surprising.

1) The people posting on the forums will, unsurprisingly, be those with things to say. The people happily playing the game have little reason to post. Those here to complain, brash as some may be, tend to complain from a place of love. If you don't care about something, you generally won't bother to post complaints, you'll just leave. People want to stay, and because of that, they want certain things to improve.

2) MMOs will always have a natural resistance toward causing people to quit altogether. It's easy to stop playing a game because you're upset about something, but it's much more difficult to up and leave all your friends behind if they don't share the same sentiment. I assure you, I would definitely not still be here if it weren't for the (admittedly few) people I actually play with.

3) There's a lot of people still enjoying the process of leveling and other non-Eureka content. Even the people complaining may have other stuff that interests them. As someone at cap, it irks me that a majority of my FC is still in the process of leveling or gearing to endgame levels, but it does explain a lot about why they're still invested in the game.


I think Eureka is trash content. Yes, I'm still subbed, and yes I'm still participating in Eureka anyway. I am, however, not putting as many hours into the game as I would if Eureka was actually interesting/fun.

[RiyahArp]

It's big mostly because it has a large, captive JP audience, and its one of the few sub-only mmos in the west. It's also very well made, very stable, is the best MMO currently on console (Warframe might come close, but it isn't an MMO), and has a great leveling experience.

The main issues that spur complaints tend to involve capped endgame, and player retention at endgame. So a lot of veteran complaints deal with that.

[WhyAmIHere]

This community lives in hyperbole.

They literally can't even. Every. Single. Patch.

How dare you assume my evens! and my odds!

[Isala]

I question how many people stay subscribed so they don't lose their houses, honestly. Cause that's the point I'm at. I'd unsub until the game got better, but by that point, I'd lose my house, so I keep an active sub, and check in on my house just so it doesn't get demoed. Which makes me salty in the first place, since my server has more than enough houses we didn't need the stupid Demo option that the larger servers whined about needing.