Post-Honeymoon SHB thoughts?

[Windsun33]

Overall feels like a rehash of past expansions with different colored monsters and tomes. Same formula. Story is better, but the gameplay seems to be just another endless cycle of grinding.

[JWag12787]

Overall feels like a rehash of past expansions with different colored monsters and tomes. Same formula. Story is better, but the gameplay seems to be just another endless cycle of grinding.

I felt there was less grinding than usual, but I'm not sure how you can develop a game story, while using a leveling system, without some form of grinding though..? It sounds like it'll be eternally cursed simply for being a hybrid game like this, but overall, I felt the story was well worth any grinding I had to do, but it definitely felt more minimal than usual.

[MonteCristo]

Overall feels like a rehash of past expansions with different colored monsters and tomes. Same formula. Story is better, but the gameplay seems to be just another endless cycle of grinding.

Been saying this for awhile now /cosign

[Nicodemus_Mercy]

Overall feels like a rehash of past expansions with different colored monsters and tomes. Same formula. Story is better, but the gameplay seems to be just another endless cycle of grinding.

See... I actually LIKE the fact that there's a formula that SE generally sticks to. I LIKE the consistency of knowing what to expect in general. Unlike some MMO's that feel the need to reinvent the wheel EVERY. DARN. EXPANSION. and either abandon or change for the sake of change, things that were perfectly fine as they were, I am happy that when a new FFXIV expansion comes out, I know there will be tome gear that my non-savage raiding butt can eventually get, that there will be lots of story for me to engage in, basic raid content with weekly rewards, etc.

Heck, I was sorely disappointed that SE made the change in Stormblood to lock the relic behind Eureka instead of it being a long chain of quest content like previous relics. I am hoping (though realistically expecting disappointment) that the next relic will not be locked behind Eureka 2.0 style content because I absolutely detested Eureka and the lack of that content (because if I hate it that much it may as well not exist) caused me to unsub for stretches at a time in Stormblood because there was "less content" for me to do, that I wanted to do, that felt worth doing.

[Ranhansha]

See... I actually LIKE the fact that there's a formula that SE generally sticks to. I LIKE the consistency of knowing what to expect in general. Unlike some MMO's that feel the need to reinvent the wheel EVERY. DARN. EXPANSION. and either abandon or change for the sake of change, things that were perfectly fine as they were, I am happy that when a new FFXIV comes out, I know there will be tome gear that my non-savage raiding butt can eventually get, that there will be lots of story for me to engage in, basic raid content with weekly rewards, etc.

Heck, I was sorely disappointed that SE made the change in Stormblood to lock the relic behind Eureka instead of it being a long chain of quest content like previous relics. I am hoping (though realistically expecting disappointment) that the next relic will not be locked behind Eureka 2.0 style content because I absolutely detested Eureka and the lack of that content (because if I hate it that much it may as well not exist) caused me to unsub for stretches at a time in Stormblood because there was "less content" for me to do, that I wanted to do, that felt worth doing.

Not liking Eureka has nothing to do with predictability. They could have 3 expansions in a row with relics locked behind Eureka so it wouldn't be unpredictable anymore. Would you like it then? Even you say you are expecting something like that to happen in ShB and are not happy about it. Maybe, that's exactly what other people feel after years of doing the same stuff over and over again. It's a matter of what will get them more money. The same formula with small risks or great changes to the game? I understand both points of views.

[Nicodemus_Mercy]

Not liking Eureka has nothing to do with predictability. They could have 3 expansions in a row with relics locked behind Eureka so it wouldn't be unpredictable anymore. Would you like it then? Even you say you are expecting something like that to happen in ShB and are not happy about it. Maybe, that's exactly what other people feel after years of doing the same stuff over and over again. It's a matter of what will get them more money. The same formula with small risks or great changes to the game? I understand both points of views.

The difference between my disappointment and your example is that Eureka is still a "new" concept that wasn't injected into the formula until Stormblood. And that change to the formula is what I didn't like. What other people "feel after doing years of the same stuff over and over" is a disappointment in a lack of change to formula while my disappointment stems from a specific change to the formula in the previous expansion. Those are two different things.

I'm not saying that those people are wrong to feel the way they do. I merely wanted to express that I like the consistency of a formula that works and is stuck with and attempts to deviate from that formula (Eureka), end up hurting the game experience for me.

[Ranhansha]

The difference between my disappointment and your example is that Eureka is still a "new" concept that wasn't injected into the formula until Stormblood. And that change to the formula is what I didn't like. What other people "feel after doing years of the same stuff over and over" is a disappointment in a lack of change to formula while my disappointment stems from a specific change to the formula in the previous expansion. Those are two different things.

I'm not saying that those people are wrong to feel the way they do. I merely wanted to express that I like the consistency of a formula that works and is stuck with and attempts to deviate from that formula (Eureka), end up hurting the game experience for me.

But that formula works for you, not for them. Could we say it is a successful way of doing things if people run it but they don't have fun? That happened with Eureka too. Most people didn't think it was fun at first, but got used to it and went through it for the rewards. Which, in my opinion, is what is going on with a lot of players who love this game and the current formula.
As I said, I think it depends on the money they make. If it's still profitable to them, they consider it is successful. If people started to flee from the game, devs would start making changes no doubt.

[ChaoticCrimson]

In terms of story, dungeons, soundtrack, and trials/raids at this point I have to say overall I'm relatively pleased with what we've gotten so far this expansion. This is honestly starting to shape up to be one of the best FF games we've had in a while in those regards imo. As far as gameplay goes, some jobs definitely need some tweaks, some more considerable than others. I'm hoping 5.08 and 5.1 will take the appropriate steps towards these though, but only time will tell.

[Nicodemus_Mercy]

I'm quite happy with ShB right now... even if I'm overly eager to see more MSQ. I am still leveling jobs, doing side quests I left unfinished, and leveling my trust npcs.

While there's always going to be little things to nitpick about, it's really a novel feeling not having much, if anything, of consequence to complain about in an MMO...

[Raldo]

As far as looking back on the story, I liked the characters, but I was not pleased with the direction that they took the story (I expected to "harness darkness" or something). However, I fully concede that my opinion on that front is in the minority.

What am I doing in game? Back to the ol' grind your weeklies. Level other jobs. Yawn. Oh, what a surprise, it seems that I'm playing Fire Emblem more than this right now.