I'm concerned for ffxiv's future

[Jaywalker]

I don't think you need to be so alarmed tbh.

Saying that Hrothgar and Viera are probably the last races was very smart. I suspect we'll see them unlock them down the line, at their own pace, but probably not after too long because the longer they wait the more new pieces of gear get added and the more work sits in front of them. Following that, they do not have to add more races, have mitigated expectation of more races, and have more room to make decisions on whether or not to go there according to resources available.

I'm not a game dev or programmer, but on jobs I'd imagine that's more of a puzzle in a way. I do think we're approaching a point where they're going to start saying "this is probably the last new job" but I don't think we've hit it yet. With how they talked about advancing existing jobs alongside creating new ones, it makes sense that at some point they're going to need to limit how much the workload expands with each expansion.

I might end up incorrect, but if I had to guess what will probably happen in the future it's that they say "done" after each job subcategory has four full jobs available. I'm not talking DPS as one big category here. With how things will stand after Shadowbringers, I suspect this means one more healer, one more caster, one more ranged DPS. If they choose to continue adding any new jobs, I suspect it'll be limited jobs and I suspect it'll be a situation where they try to add further fun and incentive toward limited jobs.

They hit that phase where Hrothgar and Viera are complete and unlocked + jobs are all equal as SE judges them, they'll be in a situation where their main focus will be adding fights, dungeons, glamour, MSQ content, quest content (including job quest content), and building upon existing mechanics. They might test other types of new content as well to get players excited. Ex. Romancing NPCs, creating further facilities for the RPers (since they mentioned being very impressed and pleasantly surprised by that activity), so on and so forth. I think they'll probably try to look very closely at the various play styles that have evolved out of this game and shift focus to a different form of player demand, if that makes sense.

I really think they'll be okay. Making the game infinitely bigger with limited resources might not be feasible but I think they've been preparing the player base for a point when they'll have to shift approach.

[Amarande]

Workload is definitely the limiting factor for races, and it probably is something SE has struggled with for a while (notice how many of the models in Stormblood were reused, even if it was nice to be able to get dyeable versions of some of the older gear like WoD and Void Ark).

As for jobs, I'm not sure how much of it is really the workload; the biggest issues facing the addition of further jobs to XIV are IMO:

- the fact that we're running low on ideas (particularly there being not many classical FF jobs left to implement after considering that many of the jobs in the older games either were more or less duplicates mechanically such as Monk and Black Belt, or two or more were essentially combined into a present XIV job such as Bard and Ranger),

- there are limitations to what ideas are viable (e.g., Chemist is probably a limited job at best because something that would have to spam consumable items just doesn't work in a high APM MMO, alternately it would use items as abilities a la X-2 but that's got its own issues that probably would also require it be limited?; the missing fourth healer falls into this category as well as the existing fight mechanics more or less expect X Y and Z to be true of all healers so coming up with an idea for another one that isn't mostly a copy of WHM/SCH/AST without breaking in previous content is probably a toughie)

- perhaps most of all, the small party size (especially we already have more than twice as many DPS as DPS slots, and the fflogs DPS job statistics already show that several are nearly falling off the radar, those Monk and Machinist memes unfortunately exist for a reason).

[Gemina]

"I'm concerned for ffxiv's future"

Translation: "I am disappointed that the new races are gender locked."

This isn't an inflammatory post. Having recently gone through your posting history, it is quite easy to see that this is the focal point that drives your comments on the forums. If you were really concerned about the future of FFXIV, you'd have a diverse perspective that covers a wide range of topics, which include but are not limited to: FATEs, leves, Guildheists, Crafting/Gathering/Fishing, Gold Saucer, Companions, BLU, job balance, raid content, NM difficulty, ilv progression, dungeon content, lack of outer world activity, mentor program. The list goes on and on and on and on.

These are what make FFXIV an online mmo. These are what the players do, and players with a genuine concern about where the game is going are concerned about. Your race choice at the end of the day is just glamour, and it is an aspect of the game that the devs have allocated a crap ton of resources and money towards all for the sake of appearance because we have vehemently expressed how important it is to us when in fact, it is not all that important to the actual gameplay.

Instead of thanking the devs for their endless nights, no weekends, sacrificing time with their families, and not getting paid anything extra for their above and beyond efforts; many choose to take this wonderful game they have brought to us for granted. All because you're not getting a male bunny. You can't see the forest for the trees. Grab a fishing rod. Seriously. Go to Eastern Thanalan, The Dravanian Forelands, or the Ruby Sea and cast your line. Take the time to take in all those small details. The sun setting and the moon changing phases; the small breeze of wind that brushes your hair; the sound of the crickets and owls; your character's random blinks of his/her eyelids; the music and weather changes along with reflections in the water; all those flickering stars that come out on the clear nights.

What the devs have put into this game is nothing short of amazing, and if there is a reason why I am concerned for the future of FFXIV; it's due to the abundance of players who choose to overly critique the game's shortcomings. The game is not perfect. Never will be. Neither are you. Nothing lasts forever, and the game will die at some point. I'd enjoy the here and now instead of shedding tears when looking out to the horizon.

[SerLuke]

"I'm concerned for ffxiv's future"

Translation: "I am disappointed that the new races are gender locked."

This isn't an inflammatory post. Having recently gone through your posting history, it is quite easy to see that this is the focal point that drives your comments on the forums. If you were really concerned about the future of FFXIV, you'd have a diverse perspective that covers a wide range of topics, which include but are not limited to: FATEs, leves, Guildheists, Crafting/Gathering/Fishing, Gold Saucer, Companions, BLU, job balance, raid content, NM difficulty, ilv progression, dungeon content, lack of outer world activity, mentor program. The list goes on and on and on and on.

These are what make FFXIV an online mmo. These are what the players do, and players with a genuine concern about where the game is going are concerned about. Your race choice at the end of the day is just glamour, and it is an aspect of the game that the devs have allocated a crap ton of resources and money towards all for the sake of appearance because we have vehemently expressed how important it is to us when in fact, it is not all that important to the actual gameplay.

Instead of thanking the devs for their endless nights, no weekends, sacrificing time with their families, and not getting paid anything extra for their above and beyond efforts; many choose to take this wonderful game they have brought to us for granted. All because you're not getting a male bunny. You can't see the forest for the trees. Grab a fishing rod. Seriously. Go to Eastern Thanalan, The Dravanian Forelands, or the Ruby Sea and cast your line. Take the time to take in all those small details. The sun setting and the moon changing phases; the small breeze of wind that brushes your hair; the sound of the crickets and owls; your character's random blinks of his/her eyelids; the music and weather changes along with reflections in the water; all those flickering stars that come out on the clear nights.

What the devs have put into this game is nothing short of amazing, and if there is a reason why I am concerned for the future of FFXIV; it's due to the abundance of players who choose to overly critique the game's shortcomings. The game is not perfect. Never will be. Neither are you. Nothing lasts forever, and the game will die at some point. I'd enjoy the here and now instead of shedding tears when looking out to the horizon.

I just want to say I always love reading your posts, you are always so rational against all the negative hyperbole here, its really encouraging I wish more people were able to think though these issues like you are. The forums would be a lot better if we had more people like you.

[AngeliouxRein]

"I'm concerned for ffxiv's future"

Translation: "I am disappointed that the new races are gender locked."

This isn't an inflammatory post. Having recently gone through your posting history, it is quite easy to see that this is the focal point that drives your comments on the forums. If you were really concerned about the future of FFXIV, you'd have a diverse perspective that covers a wide range of topics, which include but are not limited to: FATEs, leves, Guildheists, Crafting/Gathering/Fishing, Gold Saucer, Companions, BLU, job balance, raid content, NM difficulty, ilv progression, dungeon content, lack of outer world activity, mentor program. The list goes on and on and on and on.

These are what make FFXIV an online mmo. These are what the players do, and players with a genuine concern about where the game is going are concerned about. Your race choice at the end of the day is just glamour, and it is an aspect of the game that the devs have allocated a crap ton of resources and money towards all for the sake of appearance because we have vehemently expressed how important it is to us when in fact, it is not all that important to the actual gameplay.

Instead of thanking the devs for their endless nights, no weekends, sacrificing time with their families, and not getting paid anything extra for their above and beyond efforts; many choose to take this wonderful game they have brought to us for granted. All because you're not getting a male bunny. You can't see the forest for the trees. Grab a fishing rod. Seriously. Go to Eastern Thanalan, The Dravanian Forelands, or the Ruby Sea and cast your line. Take the time to take in all those small details. The sun setting and the moon changing phases; the small breeze of wind that brushes your hair; the sound of the crickets and owls; your character's random blinks of his/her eyelids; the music and weather changes along with reflections in the water; all those flickering stars that come out on the clear nights.

What the devs have put into this game is nothing short of amazing, and if there is a reason why I am concerned for the future of FFXIV; it's due to the abundance of players who choose to overly critique the game's shortcomings. The game is not perfect. Never will be. Neither are you. Nothing lasts forever, and the game will die at some point. I'd enjoy the here and now instead of shedding tears when looking out to the horizon.

Preach.
So many things I am happy for and can’t wait. It really bums me out that there are so many complaints even with the dev giving an explanation.

It’s just a game.

Doesn’t matter how much you spend on a game, it should never affect you to where you can’t even function in real life. There are some people on here like clockwork, constantly voicing their complaints and I’m just like “ don’t you work?”. Family? School? Enjoying the retired life offline?

Not trying to start a fight but this is beyond ridiculous.

[Jaywalker]

Preach.
So many things I am happy for and can’t wait. It really bums me out that there are so many complaints even with the dev giving an explanation.

It’s just a game.

Doesn’t matter how much you spend on a game, it should never affect you to where you can’t even function in real life. There are some people on here like clockwork, constantly voicing their complaints and I’m just like “ don’t you work?”. Family? School? Enjoying the retired life offline?

Not trying to start a fight but this is beyond ridiculous.

This. Also honestly, whether the focus is more on MMO aspects of the game or on fight mechanics, jobs or aesthetic options, crafting or MSQ... I seriously think a lot of the complainers lack perspective on how far ahead FFXIV is compared to a lot of games.

I'm not saying compared to all JRPGs. I'm not even saying compared to every MMO. But I can think of a lot of games that just cannot compete in terms of versatility, detail, and playstyle options.

Life gets ugly sometimes. With the amount of love and effort poured into this game it's worth it to stop sometimes and just remember how lucky we are to have an escape as fun and beautiful as FFXIV. This was something created not to try and control players in other parts of their lives, but to inspire and move and promote connection with others. Not all media is like that today and it's really worth treasuring.

[Enla]

This. Also honestly, whether the focus is more on MMO aspects of the game or on fight mechanics, jobs or aesthetic options, crafting or MSQ... I seriously think a lot of the complainers lack perspective on how far ahead FFXIV is compared to a lot of games.

After living through the hell that was WB systematically cutting funding for the LoTRO dev team until we barely got any content updates for almost a year before selling the game off to the highest bidder, I very much appreciate the work that the FF14 team puts into their product. As well as what money they do get from SquareEnix that isn't siphoned off into other projects. Hell we could also be in the situation City of Heroes was in where it was successful, had a good team, but NCSoft didn't like it's sales numbers in Asia and then closed it down to focus on a MOBA that inevitably flopped. (Hilariously someone put up a not for profit server this last week and it has thousands of concurrents and met it's upkeep donation goal within hours.) Or Star Wars Galaxies which is probably the biggest example of tonal dissonance between dev team and playerbase I've ever seen. To the point the dev team's mistakes caused that entire game to tank.

That isn't to say I don't think people deserve to vent their frustrations or that there isn't room for improvement, but I think the people who are forecasting doom and gloom aren't really looking beyond our own little bubble to see how lucky we kinda are. Could things be better? Yes. Could things be infinitely worse? /YEP/. Does the bad outweigh the good and mean we need a full on reboot? I'm sorry but that's just catastrophizing in my eyes. Things are nowhere /near/ that bad.

[Selova]

snip.

Pretty much this. The demands that everyone wants obviously can't all be met and whenever someone is disappointed by any decision they make. People like to claim how it's somehow related to some downhill path the game is heading when in all reality it's not, it's just their emotions getting the best of them because their expectations didn't turn into realities. No one is saying you can't be upset but let's not reach for something that's not there to begin with.

[Azsuna]

"I'm concerned for ffxiv's future"

Translation: "I am disappointed that the new races are gender locked."

This isn't an inflammatory post. Having recently gone through your posting history, it is quite easy to see that this is the focal point that drives your comments on the forums. If you were really concerned about the future of FFXIV, you'd have a diverse perspective that covers a wide range of topics, which include but are not limited to: FATEs, leves, Guildheists, Crafting/Gathering/Fishing, Gold Saucer, Companions, BLU, job balance, raid content, NM difficulty, ilv progression, dungeon content, lack of outer world activity, mentor program. The list goes on and on and on and on.

These are what make FFXIV an online mmo. These are what the players do, and players with a genuine concern about where the game is going are concerned about. Your race choice at the end of the day is just glamour, and it is an aspect of the game that the devs have allocated a crap ton of resources and money towards all for the sake of appearance because we have vehemently expressed how important it is to us when in fact, it is not all that important to the actual gameplay.

Instead of thanking the devs for their endless nights, no weekends, sacrificing time with their families, and not getting paid anything extra for their above and beyond efforts; many choose to take this wonderful game they have brought to us for granted. All because you're not getting a male bunny. You can't see the forest for the trees. Grab a fishing rod. Seriously. Go to Eastern Thanalan, The Dravanian Forelands, or the Ruby Sea and cast your line. Take the time to take in all those small details. The sun setting and the moon changing phases; the small breeze of wind that brushes your hair; the sound of the crickets and owls; your character's random blinks of his/her eyelids; the music and weather changes along with reflections in the water; all those flickering stars that come out on the clear nights.

What the devs have put into this game is nothing short of amazing, and if there is a reason why I am concerned for the future of FFXIV; it's due to the abundance of players who choose to overly critique the game's shortcomings. The game is not perfect. Never will be. Neither are you. Nothing lasts forever, and the game will die at some point. I'd enjoy the here and now instead of shedding tears when looking out to the horizon.

Just logged in just to say i appreciate this comment. And borderline embarassed for OP. :s