What are the largest issues plaguing XIV currently?

[linayar]

I think that's mostly a matter of XIV casual raids kind of splitting the difference of LFR and Normal mode in terms of the players likely to run them even -- it's the lower of two or lowest of three difficulty spans, depending on whether you call Ex Primals their own thing, as compared to the lowest of four as in WoW (Story, Normal, Extreme, Savage, equivalently) while being no harder, really, than WoW's easiest setting (LFR). The mechanics have fewer "well now I know, I guess..." one-shots but more coordination typically required, and in a subtler and more cumulative fashion. Despite this, the people you run with in LFR are those who are unwilling to do anything harder than Story mode, are painfully undergeared (especially, for anything but story mode), or are really bored (e.g. the kind who'd run normal modes after having already gotten all their weekly loot from them, and not via roulette). If you do even a mild amount of dungeon progression, for instance, LFR stands only as a niche, roll-of-the-dice alt catch-up mechanic once you've already used it to complete the MSQ. It's never really been sold as a gear source so much as just a last-resort way to see the story as it plays out via raid content. People complained they couldn't see the stories through to completion, and so they got LFR. Difficulty-wise, it's like our "normal mode" (if a bit more mechanics-laden, depending on the fight); just because it has three difficulty settings higher than it, rather than our one, doesn't mean it's going to actually be that easy.

To put it (perhaps overly) simply, you're used to a sort of bottom-half player span, but now you're seeing a bottom-quarter player span still attempting to accomplish the same actual difficulty as done by the bottom-half content in XIV. Naturally, it's going to feel a bit more... disjointed.

It's specifically those people who go through it weekly as if by obligation, despite it having a nearly nil chance of an upgrade, that most contribute to that "quitter" mentality, as if the run's not going perfectly, it's a waste of time for them... because they're way overgeared for story mode.

Ugh, I want to blame titanforge and world quest/emissary reward, but I foresee the problem continuing in Shadowlands. Then there's the fact that, even with 30 people and about 13 DPS spots, the two tank spots will still be the last to fill most of the times. It's kind of crazy and why I appreciate FFXIV making tanking easier even if some tank mains may not like the change.

Same. And that would probably help the "quitter" problem quite a bit... at least until they get the loot they want.

I hated not getting the minions in alliance raids, but maybe that's enough for people to not quit after getting their loot. And the tokens.

[KalinOrthos]

The biggest problem with FFXIV right now, in my eyes, is the PvE healing and tanking designs and gameplay.

• Healers actually have an incredibly robust healing kit, disregarding some trap traits you know which one I'm talking about. Unfortunately, for most of the game's content, you barely have to touch any of it, instead using exactly one ability over and over and over again, maybe interweaving a DoT every 30 seconds. As it stands, the way healing is treated is very much a shame. I would love for encounter designs to better utilize healer kits more than just a single AoE that requires a succor, helios, or medica before going back to single-target spell spam.
• Tanks suffer from "Blue DPS" syndrome, where they play just like dumbed down DPS classes. GNB has at least a bit of uniqueness, but even then, the tank jobs don't really have any incentive to reward themselves for doing good DPS, other than having still-subpar numbers to other DPS. One of the few things I still really like in WoW design that they could take from Blizzard is the usage of active mitigation, where active offense and damage will actually supplement their mitigation in more than just a tiny heal. For instance, brewmasters get a reduced cooldown of their mitigation buffs for using their high damage skills and filler. Something that gives a higher reward for actively DPSing would help make tanks feel a bit more whole. Also, give Warriors some love ffs.