Post-Honeymoon SHB thoughts?

[Alexandre_Noireau]

Story Presentation: Well narrated, brilliantly directed (very cinematic takes to have actual impact, my film addict was kinda pleased) and finally very well paced in general.
Story Narrative: A stupid multidimensional travel that is already done to ad nausseum and back, everything in this storyline i've seen in all other forms of media already, ShB was to me, a pretty long and not that interesting anime chapter of a not so interesting anime chapter. Something ill hold forever. Multiversal storylines are just BAD. Ex Machina all over all the time at will. Then again seems to be the trendy topic for our generation, hopefully it will be overcome in a few years. Everything well sour since Nanamo Ul Namo was retconned. Really. All these reflection and shard jumping and stuff is just bad. Hydaelyn was good enough.

Graphics: Bad, as usually, and aging terrible. At least for PC standars. Textures and Shaders are a mess. This should be number 1 top priority. In fact is affecting the very narrative by now, cause is really easy to break suspension of disbelief if you start noticing how block characters textures and shadows are in cutscenes, they actually hurting the directing effort on the narrative.

Enviroments and Designs: Beautiful as usual. Hindered by poor graphics.

Design Mechanics: Same old. Hey, do something diferent for once maybe? Oh right, the diadem happens. Wonder what does it feel for the team to not have a single good original idea since 2012 when they decided on making ARR. Everything has been constant copypasting of content, models and designs. And no, changing colors and names do not make things "new". Neither does rising "iLvLs". Tomestones are not "content".

Sound Design: Brilliant.
Music: Masterfull. Soken just keeps going beyond and beyond.

Gameplay (New-Player): Boring ass slow still. Really dragging and unnecesarily tutorialish in general.
Gameplay (Old-Player): Boring. 6 years of the same. Seriously. SPEED THE GAME UP. REWORK THE FIRST 50 LEVELS, UPDATE THE SKILL SYSTEM TO NOT BE LINKED TO LEVELS SO WE DON'T LOSE ALL OURS SKILLS IN A BORING 1 SKILL PRESS DUNGEON.
Gameplay General: Lacking a proper learning curve, leading to difficulty spikes that just segregate the playerbase. Early game needs more bite, end game needs a LOT more bite.

Class Design: Pretty good with such an strict trinity system.
Class Variety: Not too good, every class is looking pretty similar in function time and time, adding a repetitive slow combat, yeah, is aging.

Player Customization: Nonexistent outside cosmetics. Play right or play wrong, no custom builds.

Social Aspects: Just release a single player mode already. Literally no reason to have any social interaction at all.

Overall: Pretty amazing expansion, pretty good MMORPG. Once you stop holding it to dirt low MMORPG design standars. It just an awful non-reactive, boringly repetitive and poorly paced way too streamlined and way too slow of a gaming experience.
MMORPG: 8/10. Videogame: 6/10.

Hopefully one day they release a "single player" mode where you actually play an interesting storyline (like going into garlemald with Estinien and Gaius, im pretty sure that MSQ was AMAZING) instead of constantly being deviated from any significant development by some bad attempt at totally tiring and totally overdone "multiversal narratives".

So in general i give the game 7 ardbert axes with cool main theme sounding on the background out of 10. One day we would be part of something interesting. Meanwhile, we are just the shonen manga protagonist going into endless filler episodes cause no one has bothered to write the actual storyline for the conflict presented at the beginning of this story. I beat Garlemald must be really cool this time of the year, with high chances of black rose. Oh that was solved, off camera, cool.

I guess ill just go back to play XII and Tactics and Vagrant Story for a proper dark and intriguing storyline.

PS: Get over it. I should too. But i cant. Riding home, finding hope. For some stupid reason, i still have hope this game will one day have a proper storyline with a proper resolution. And again, Nanamo should be dead. Reflections shouldn't exist. All of Shadowbringers could have done by visiting Meracydia, New World, Thavnair, Ilsabard. Screw multiversal narratives, they are stupid. Emet-Selch is nothing but a cheap rip off of the Han-Rasen from Tengen Toppa. I already saw this storyline a few hundred times.

[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.

[Xatsh]

Same old same old with a much better story and solid world design. Best way I can describe it atm.

[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.

[Niyuka]

Great story, good music, good world design.

Bad dungeon gameplay, EX primals were solid, Raid is too simplistic, Savage barely better. Lack of challenge overall is a real problem, lack of any new game system AT ALL, while leaving past game systems behind without updates for years at a time.

Catering to the conservative playerbase with repeating the known and expected formula is also a bad design decision. WoW was at its most successful when it challenged the playerbase, and people expected more of that (end of BC, start of WotLK).

I think the panicky moves like fantasia to a 60 days sub, and the welcome back campaign already, show people are done with 5.0 and they are bleeding subs badly.

[Berteaux_Braumegain]

I loved Shadowbringers' story. Off the top of my head:

- The Scions feel more interesting this time around, but Thancred still feels pretty boring. Ryne also feels a bit too melodramatic.
- Too many fake-out deaths. Y'shtola living I can deal with, but Thancred using his forbidden anime technique multiple times, falling to the ground covered in blood while the camera pans to the sky and sad music plays, only to show up just fine again five minutes later was jarring.
- Zorn and Thorn being turned into waifus was unsettling. Vauthry felt like a good homage to Queen Brahne without just being a repeat of the character, though.
- I'm kind of disappointed Lyna and the Crystal Exarch don't stick around as Trusts after the first dungeon!
- The Crystal Exarch's identity felt really obvious for something they tried to hide the whole expac; I recall people figuring who he was back in Stormblood. You even get an option to ask about what happened to G'raha Tia early on if you've done the Crystal Tower Raid! They also laid it on really thick with the Crystal Tower battle theme against the Sin Eaters in the lead-up to Mt. Gulg. That aside, I didn't dislike the reveal. I was just surprised they held off on it so long.
- Everything from Mt. Gulg to the Dying Gasp was 15/10, aside from that bit of stalling with the Ondo that felt a bit like a pace-breaker.

[Alleo]

Story was one of the best ones and Eden fights are fun.

Other than that I am leveling some jobs slowly by using trusts and after having all crafters and gatherers now at 80 I gather the necessary scrips to equip them.

Otherwise nothing much has changed and the true success of the expansion will depend on future content for me. How the Ishgard restauration will turn out and what other new content we will get.

So story is the best part right now but there has to be more to keep people subscribed than that because after all its still P2P MMO.

[Lynesse]

I loved everything.

Class design I'm a little mixed on. I think it's the right direction but needed more time to bake. Some of their ideas were really good. Some were questionable to say the least.

Hi, I'm WAR. I do a single target combo in an AoE pull because no one at SE thought this was dumb for some reason.

Or PLD, with my way-too-many-attack-buttons and my-better-instant-cast-Cure-II Clemency that allows me to solo bosses. Atonement also hurts my ears.

Speaking of hurting my ears, GNB is that way ---> (although, I kind of like the new GNB sounds more than the old ones? Please don't hurt me.)

I like how SCH got Energy Drain back. It completely revitalized the class for me. I love it.

I'm eagerly anticipating WAR changes.

That said, I still love playing these classes. Just they all have these things about them that make the gameplay feel a little sloppy.

[Jimsvaliant]

Great story, good music, good world design.

Bad dungeon gameplay, EX primals were solid, Raid is too simplistic, Savage barely better. Lack of challenge overall is a real problem, lack of any new game system AT ALL, while leaving past game systems behind without updates for years at a time.

Catering to the conservative playerbase with repeating the known and expected formula is also a bad design decision. WoW was at its most successful when it challenged the playerbase, and people expected more of that (end of BC, start of WotLK).

I think the panicky moves like fantasia to a 60 days sub, and the welcome back campaign already, show people are done with 5.0 and they are bleeding subs badly.

I wouldn't say it's a panicky move like offering a "limited time mount" for buying a 6-month sub after quarterly earnings report show huge loss of monthly activity. I think a month after an expansion release is too early to claim they're bleeding subs when their steam and twitch numbers are higher than they've ever been.

Personal anecdote: I was the only person on the personal discord I share with my friends that played Stormblood. I never push my friends to play FF:XIV because I know it doesn't appeal to everyone. We are all Vanilla WoW raiders and we all played WoW during Beta for Azeroth and quit two short months after. After the huge amount of hype ShB generated post-launch 6 of my friends have just started playing it again or for the first time. One of them only had to purchase ShB while three others have bought the complete editions after playing for 2 or 3 days. Just a few hours ago one more buddy and his roommate hopped on their inactive accounts because of the welcome back campaign. A less cynical person could look at the welcome back campaign as an interest bait rather than an emergency response.

Obviously no one has the numbers but Square Enix; however, based on 3rd party sources and my personal experience, I would say it's too early to cry bleeding subs.

[Misutoraru]

So now that what I consider the honeymoon phase is over, what are your honest thoughts about shadowbringers? Yes I know I could’ve waited till 5.1 but I personally feel like this is the best time to ask.

Depends

Story/Lore wise, I think ShB is the best expansion so far, way better than SB and even on top of HW. If give us more insight of both Zodiark and Hydaelyn, give us another point of view of Ascian. Slightly disappointing of how Varis line go.

Game mechanics, Dungeon and Trial are pretty much the same formula as previous expansion, it have good and bad. Trust system is a good design but should limit it availability to leveling dungeon only and not as effective as DF.

Music, was great but could we have a way to disable mount theme music? It is very annoying everything I mount and dismount the music change.

Job, very disappointing about healer change, not the lose of DPS skill, but the flood with powerful low CD oGCD heal. while do not give us anything other than dps during downtime, not a fan of new AST card effect which I use to main healer back in SB. Love the change to MCH and Tank especially the remove of DA spam on DRK. Some job could use more love like RDM and NIN.

Some scenery are refreshing like Il Mheg and Lakeland some are quite boring such as Rak'tika. Rak'tika being Viera focus like Azim Steppe for Au Ra are nice, but the up coming expansion I would like to see some of those love putting on old ARR race