This game has lost it's identity again.... (Ranting Thread)

[Kaedan]

Welcome to the world of MMOs.

It's expected that at a foundational level that everything is going to be the same. That's how MMORPGs work.

What separates a good MMO from a bad one is how well they can "dress it up" and make the presentation of the (admittedly) repetitive content interesting. And IMO, they have done a very good job of it for ShB.

[MrKusakabe]

Everyday my dislike for Lalafell grows ever stronger.

Awww.... Here, take this juicy carrot right from my Lalafell-only FC's garden; it can help calming your anger issues for a while! *pat pat*

Anyways,
I am glad FFXIV is what it is right now. Granted, the fan service is somewhat over the top in some regards (this ridiculous Yo Kai Watch crap was a no-go or gigantic Shanttotos walking all over the place) but this kind of feel, the vibes this game dragged and still drags me in is what other games, especially western MMOs, is missing.


There is a certain profession design that is so FF and exclusively found here, coupled with a fun gameplay and a great community that FFXIV has. And apart from FF Tactics Advance, I can not stand any other Final Fantasy game, they are awful. So if I want to get the sweet of talented artists of this franchise, XIV is a constant deliverer!

If you want to have changes over and over, see how terrible League of Legends and Guild Wars 2 handles their design principles for their professions. They manage to shift solid roles, like tanks, all over the place until they go into the jungle... FFXIV was the first game since a decade to me that actually made valid and purposeful changes (to Red Mage in my example), so they get many Kudos from me in that matter.

Balancing is fine, even though I wonder where the cool stuff for the Scholars is supposed to be as mentioned by some, but I can't say it's unplayable.

Sincerely,

[MomomiMomi]

What separates a good MMO from a bad one is how well they can "dress it up" and make the presentation of the (admittedly) repetitive content interesting. And IMO, they have done a very good job of it for ShB.

??? The only new thing we have to come to that conclusion is FATEs. Well, I guess dungeons, but there's nothing new in those. All they did with FATEs is add a new layer of reward.

I fail to see how they've dressed up anything.

Or are you just wearing rose-tinted glasses? That's fine if you are, I'm just curious how you came to that conclusion. I'm definitely not seeing what you are.

[noxen]

Don't let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya.

[foussi]

Isn't that the way every mmo works sweaty.
No shade

[Xau]

People are missing the point. I didn't say the graphics story were bad. I'm saying the games identity is turning generic you can see it with the jobs!!

to me this game identity is not on how the jobs is played, is on in its story, and this expansion is very final fantasy to me
in fact, sb wasn't very final fantasy at all, it was a generic war story whit a final fantasy spin

[shawnaus17]

Here is my thing #1 for any paid content I expect good not great customer service. Call right now and ask any question and they will lie, hang up on you, or not even resolve the problem. This has been going on since launch and it is unacceptable. The player base has gotten more toxic with logs. I play for content not story. I have never watched any part of the story because it is not what I enjoy. I enjoy content and we are getting the same content over and over. Omega was not a good raid and that's all they focused on for 2 years. 2 years of bullshit sorry it's not acceptable. I am not ok playing 60 for a story or graphics I want content. They completely gutted all the classes to make it generic content to fit the masses and it stopped feeling like final fantasy. They want your money if people do not understand it, you are buying into crap sorry I just realized it. I'm here for discussion. I wasn't the one that started the attacking but w/e yall can believe these lies something new and shiny will have the people of Rome running to something else.

[Bearded]

Oh have I missed something? I thought the storyline was content?

Maybe you are only interested in the fabled "end game" stuff - if so then I am pretty sure it has been said time and time again that will come with the next patch.

[ScarboroughFairy]

Here is my thing #1 for any paid content I expect good not great customer service. Call right now and ask any question and they will lie, hang up on you, or not even resolve the problem. This has been going on since launch and it is unacceptable. The player base has gotten more toxic with logs. I play for content not story. I have never watched any part of the story because it is not what I enjoy. I enjoy content and we are getting the same content over and over. Omega was not a good raid and that's all they focused on for 2 years. 2 years of bullshit sorry it's not acceptable. I am not ok playing 60 for a story or graphics I want content. They completely gutted all the classes to make it generic content to fit the masses and it stopped feeling like final fantasy. They want your money if people do not understand it, you are buying into crap sorry I just realized it. I'm here for discussion. I wasn't the one that started the attacking but w/e yall can believe these lies something new and shiny will have the people of Rome running to something else.

>I play for content, not the story
>it stopped feeling like Final Fantasy

But Final Fantasy's primary focus has always been...the...story??? And are you telling me you don't like the consistency of when the raid tiers are introduced and a consistent major patch schedule they have? Other MMOs don't have this, little brother. Also, they didn't gut all the classes. The Healers and Monk are not "all the classes". Machinist has never played better, Black Mage has the biggest, swingingest d**k when it comes to DPS and it's comfy, and Dark Knight is fun again. These recent QoL adjustments made for better playability across the board and we are, given SE's track record, likely to see more adjustments in the future with the more data they gather.

[Paladinleeds]

Story is the main set of content for this game, and for a lot of players (from my understanding, though I could be wrong on this), they do indeed enjoy the story. Not everyone is going to enjoy the story and that's OK, but instead of trying to get Square Enix to turn Final Fantasy into something it's not, maybe it's time to look elsewhere like you've said. I've absolutely loved the ShB story so far (not quite finished yet though). Dancer is a lot of fun, and I'm going to be picking up my healers after. Are there areas where they can improve? Certainly. But, I will vehemently disagree on it losing its identity. One of the things that keeps me coming back to FFXIV: I feel immersed in the world through their storytelling. I played WoW, and I couldn't get immersed in the world there. Now that's not a knock against WoW (its focus is more the endgame content, and that's fine), and things could well have changed since I last played (Pandaria), but WoW just wasn't for me.

With regards to the parsers, that's a twofold thing to refute.
1. If you're seeking a casual static, they don't really care about logs for the most part (if they decide to become midcore, then yeah, they'll start caring, but that's a player phenomena), and casual statics exist in droves from my experience. Have been in them and indeed run one myself.
2. Parsers are a thing in every game. But if someone mentions actual numbers to you saying "You did this much damage", you can report them, as SqEx operate a "Don't ask, don't tell" policy. Parsers aren't going away anytime soon. Not unless they find everyone making the parsers and fire legal action at them. The amount of bad PR that would generate though would be astronomical and be the equivalent to shooting themselves in the foot, with a nuclear rocket launcher (not just a standard rocket launcher). But most people don't give two hoots about DPS, as long as the content gets completed. A lot of those who do, also do not care outside of Savage/Ultimate (where it matters more, they may slightly care in Extreme primals though), so your casual content will still be very much OK. Only a few will cause issues in casual content and that's just donkeys being donkeys.