Post-Honeymoon SHB thoughts?

[Ranhansha]

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.

I'd also say it could be a final try to prevent some people from playing the new WoW Classic.

[Xariann]

I liked the beginning and the end of the story, and some bits if the story in the middle.

There were some parts where I really couldn't wait until they were over.

I think – because I am not a Final Fantasy universe fan – I don't enjoy the story as much. It has good parts.

I have this problem with FFXIV in every single expansion. And I am never interested in anything Final Fantasy related beyond the MMO, although I tried a couple of other games.

However, the jobs are really fun to learn. The dungeons are fun to do. The trials are fun when they are new. I like the customisation options offered to characters, although I wish we did not have any gender locked races. I like the raids when they are new. I absolutely love the Amaurot instance.

Roulettes: I like some, couldn't care less for others, but I feel I have to do certain ones to get enough tomes with the limited play time I have. The MSQ roulette is particularly annoying. Don't care about Alliance raids, but at least they are relatively short and you are actually doing some playing.

The ShB world design is nice especially when compared to previous expansions. However, in general FF world design can feel bare for me at times, and seeing mobs that are absolutely still on the spot does feel a bit off-putting.

Okay so jobs. I find them really fun yet I also dislike the button bloat. That said, Yesterday, I resubbed to another game I play to find I was pushing two buttons and things died. So 5 minutes after that I came back to FF XIV. So I don't want something stupidly easy, but I would like at least a rotation that doesn't make me run out of key bindings something fierce.

TLDR: I like the gameplay in dungeons. I am not so taken with some of the fantasy elements of this game but I like others. I have never just liked any of the stories from start to finish, and Shb is no exception. Although I really liked the end and some bits in between. I find there is some button bloat, but otherwise the jobs are fun. Due to the fact that I am not as taken as others are, this expansion will probably fail to retain my subscription like the ones before did. But I have the bigger group of friends in this game so who knows?

[Billythepancake]

TBH, because of how they did SCH this expac, I missed out on the honey moon phase, and that upsets me so much. I had to listen as everyone around me was going on and on about how good this expansion was, but I was too focused on how bad my class felt, and still feels, to have that same level of excitement. Now I'm less upset, because I've gotten more used to it, but I wouldn't say that it's a good thing. I'm sure overall the expac is great, and for the people that actually paid attention to the story, have heard it's great.

[grinkdaboy]

the chinese monk guy was pretty boring. i can't even remember his name in spite of the cool fight you have with thancred and later when you sieze eulmore. he was supposed to be vauthry's darth vader so to speak and he lacked any sort of presence beyond being strong and dedicated to vauthry

[Insertcoins]

I loved this expac - SO FAR- Best plot in this game ever in my opinion. Sony got to matter for one, She actually went thur hardship as a character and that alone akes this story the best in XIV. One of my biggest complaints was how I as the WOL never seem to have a voice.... I got it this time. I'm withholding judgement overall cause we just STARTED tho. So while the beginning could've been aawesome the rest of the 5.0 series could suck... I mean already we still have to deal with - I'm lonely Zenos- so there's a point taken away there. So I'm waiting for a full review. Call me in 2 years.

[Seoulstar]

Quite fun, it made me question myself a few times though which is something I thought that would never happen.

[Nariel]

the chinese monk guy was pretty boring. i can't even remember his name in spite of the cool fight you have with thancred and later when you sieze eulmore. he was supposed to be vauthry's darth vader so to speak and he lacked any sort of presence beyond being strong and dedicated to vauthry

Then you totaly miss how he was training precedent incarnation of Minfilia and how he succumb to despair seing them die again and again to the point he finaly joined forces with sin eater to protect them from any harm.

Ran'jit is the name, and he was a great character.

[chokoanders01]

i really enjoyed this expac
the story was good though it had its downs too (mainly sylph 2.0 and trolley) it had some good charaters and then it had ranjit...

i like the class changes i like how alot of jobs got alot of qol changes and fragoon has quickly become my favorite dps in the game

the dungeons and trials were fun i liked all the dungeons except malikahs well since it was slow boring and dull for once i actually like all the expert roulette dungeons though i still find the twinning to be the weakest of the ones the music and final boss was good but the rest of the dungeon was just boring and the first 2 bosses were just boring aoe dodge akadaemia is really fun an no matter how much i run it ill never get tired of it (and its music) amaurot quickly became my favorite dungeon in the game the music visuals and fights just made it feel really satisfying (although the final boss was abit to the easy side compared to the other bosses this expac)

the music was amazing highlights being shadows withal and civilisations

the first tier of eden was ok the fights were fun but it didnt feel like it wrapped up enough like the od raids did

overall i really liked this expac and its propably my favorite yet (followed shortly by heavensward)

[Sloprano]

The story had me hooked, pacing was great, new zones varied and colorful, music incredible, twists and turns in the narrative still have me thinking about them. Overwhelmed by the amount of sidequests, but enjoyed them for giving further depth on how things worked on the First and the daily lives of those inhabiting the zones.

Only thing I didn't look forward to, was going into combat with my favorite job, Scholar. The even further removal of different damage, support and fairy skills since 4.0 and with the lost skills potencies baked into a couple instead of several. Having an disproportionate number of damge vs healing skills dampered the enjoyment for me in the parts where I'm having an exciting showdown and I'm just spamming Broil III. Had it not been for the great people I'm playing with I'm not sure I'd play much after the MSQ.

[Misutoraru]

the chinese monk guy was pretty boring. i can't even remember his name in spite of the cool fight you have with thancred and later when you sieze eulmore. he was supposed to be vauthry's darth vader so to speak and he lacked any sort of presence beyond being strong and dedicated to vauthry

he is disappointing, he could be a great villain in this expansion like Zenos, but we dont even get a Trial fight with him...Waste a great back story of that guy. However, I do get some inspiration from him, I could see SMN mechanics rework to more like him, that's another story thought