Elitism is not only affecting the community, it is starting to affect the devs

[MilitaryVet123]

There are two communities in FFXIV. The first is the casual community that is by far the majority of players, who are either still leveling or are just playing the game casually and do a dungeon or 24-man raid here and there. The hardcore community, on the other hand, represents less than 5% of the player base. They usually play this game more than most and have completed high level content such as Extreme trials and Savage raids. Some even complete Ultimate raids, which takes 60 hours or so. For perspective, 60 hours is the amount of time you are expected to take to complete the main storyline of Cyberpunk 2077. That's right, these hardcore players dedicate the amount of time most spend on an entire game on just one fight. Obviously, such individuals must have a very hardcore world-view and will therefore not have the same mindset as the majority of the playerbase.

Because these hardcore players play the game so much, they also have the most presence in the game and in the community. Consider an idealized example where a casual player plays the game for 5 hours a week. A hardcore player might play the game for 15 hours a week to do not just daily roulettes but also their raids. Some might even play the game for 30 hours a week. Therefore it is reasonable to expect that, when you login to the game at any random time, you will see hardcore players being overrepresented simply because they play more. Casual players don't play as much so their in-game presence is lower. It doesn't take a big leap of faith to imagine that the same is true on forums and on Reddit.

Furthermore, hardcore players are overrepresented in the content creation community. Obviously, streamers and Youtubers will be inclined to do Savage raids and Ultimate raids because it fits perfectly into their agenda - which is to do a piece of content for as long as possible and so to get as many view-hours as possible. This isn't a bad thing, but it does mean that the content creation community overwhelming leans hardcore. Therefore, the hardcore viewpoint gets disseminated through the community. Accepted openers and rotations are primarily made by hardcore players (not that they are wrong). But acceptable ways to play the game and criticisms of the game are also mostly broadcasted by hardcore players. Casual players who only play the game 5 hours a week and would likely not even check Reddit or YouTube are very unlikely to be able to broadcast their views.

As a result, the FF14 community has become an echo chamber for hardcore viewpoints. I should note here that hardcore doesn't just mean people who do savage or extreme. Take the MSQ experience for example. Hardcore, dedicated players insist that the story is so good that everyone should watch all the cutscenes. Do people realize how long that takes? It would take a casual player playing 5~8 hours a week 3 months to half a year just to complete the MSQ if they watched all the cutscenes. Skipping the cutscenes can cut that down by nearly a third. For many years, the MSQ bloat was not addressed in any way because of the forums, Reddit, and media events, which are overrepresented by hardcore players, tell the devs that there are no issues. Thankfully, the devs must have finally looked at data showing how many casual players probably can't get through ARR without quitting and decided to take a first step towards addressing the MSQ bloat.

Another example is making Ultimate raids at all in the first place. Less than 1% of the community can enjoy this content. Yet they are constantly making new Ultimate raids while cutting more and more casual content. Do people notice the trend here? During ARR, there was only one level of hardcore raid - Coil, and there was also only one level of hardcore trial - Extreme. Then halfway through ARR they added Savage. In Heavensward they continued Savage and added PotD for hardcore 4-man content. In Stormblood they added Ultimate. Now they are adding Unreal. How many tiers of hardcore content do we have now? How many tiers of casual content do we have, on the other hand? And do you notice that casual content is the only content that gets cut, while they have only added hardcore content?

It all boils down to the hardcore mentality and elitism that gets broadcasted everywhere from every corner of the FF14 community. As I explained, because hardcore players play more and write more and make more videos, their views make them a loud minority. Casual players don't engage in the community as much and comprise the silent majority. The streamers and YouTubers who meet Yoshi P are hardcore players like Mr Happy and Work to Game. Therefore the feedback the devs get primarily come from hardcore players, and as a result, the game caters more and more towards hardcore players. The devs need to start looking at the data and make decisions based off of what casuals do. Since they're the silent majority you're not likely to get feedback from them passively. Square Enix needs to start actively asking what casual players think, like sending out surveys, instead of listening to hardcore-elitist forums like Reddit and this forum.

[MarniDawg]

So instead of just reaching out to your friends in game who play casually and let them know to voice their opinion on the game in the forums/reddit you decided to come complain that the people who play the game the most actually do care enough to voice theirs?

Seems silly. Just let your friends know the forums and reddit exist and to talk about the game with other people there.

[Nestama]

Easy way to tell this is a troll thread. OP in general and

Yet they are constantly making new Ultimate raids while cutting more and more casual content.

There's only three Ultimate Raids currently and the fourth was pushed back to 5.51.

[Waterscape]

Delete this thread already

[Floortank]

Casual players don't play as much so their in-game presence is lower. It doesn't take a big leap of faith to imagine that the same is true on forums and on Reddit.

Not a sound conclusion. If they spend all their time doing content, as you say, they aren't on the forums nearly as often as people who don't play. Forum studies have shown that the smallest demographic in any fan community is people who go to the forums of their fandom and talk about x fandom. Such posters can be hardcores, casuals, or dabblers. In the context of MMORPGs, they can be people who aren't even subscribed to the game, but still like to talk about it. Forum posters represent the smallest sample size of whatever different slice of the community they come from.

So your analysis here is wrong.

But acceptable ways to play the game and criticisms of the game are also mostly broadcasted by hardcore players. Casual players who only play the game 5 hours a week and would likely not even check Reddit or YouTube are very unlikely to be able to broadcast their views.

Think about what you're saying, here. Mrhappy and Xenosys are regularly streaming to 300~500 people, for hours and hours every day. Are the viewers then, casual or hardcore? They can't be playing the game and watching a stream, and nobody likes to try running content with someone else's game sounds in their headphones, so, which is it? Your arguments contradict themselves.

Hardcore, dedicated players insist that the story is so good that everyone should watch all the cutscenes.

Sure some of them say things like that. I've also watched Xenosys and many others log in on launch day, skip every cutscene and race to the endgame as fast as they can. Xenos in particular skips every cutscene. I've known ultimate raiders who do it. Not everyone is the same.

But every non raider I know watches all the cutscenes. In fact, they do mostly casual content, but are on the game for far more than five hours a week, so you've got another bad data point there, ergo, being online for 30+ hours a week does not make you hardcore.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

Guys, 1 he's a troll, 2 he has ultimate clears, and 3, he won't ever stop. Just ignore him

[Kiurai]

Only thing you can do is leave it up to the hand of God to smite them, whenever.

[Frizze]

Low quality bait, maths are wrong, logic is flawed. Not your best work. 1.5/10

[Nestama]

Guys, 1 he's a troll, 2 he has ultimate clears, and 3, he won't ever stop. Just ignore him

I wish to unlearn this information

[Wolwosh]

Think i'll stop going to this forum x) All these trolls making threads here is getting really old..