sprouts, sprouts everywhere

[Jojoya]

Hmm, this is strange to me. Every other MMO I've played is more accessible than XIV. ARR is a really big barrier of entry and it's always a big reason I can't get people to try this game, meanwhile in say, WoW, you can be max level having fun in like 2 days, picking what story you want to experience along the way. Or ESO where you just kinda do whatever.

Different strokes I guess.

FFXIV isn't designed around end game, unlike many of the other MMORPGs (especially WoW). The RPG part also gets more attention here. The end game is still there to enjoy but it's not a focus by design.

That's going to be a big adjustment for anyone used to the "rush to end game" leveling meta.

[van_arn]

Walk into the middle of a sproutfield and cast Nightbloom or Self-Destruct. Much confusion.

[TheMightyMollusk]

Walk into the middle of a sproutfield and cast Nightbloom or Self-Destruct. Much confusion.

MCH's Flamethrower also works. Ain't good for much else, anyway.

[Anienai]

Now if they would stop toggling their tank stance on and off.....

[Hycinthus]

The amount of attention is the highest it has ever been.

With WoW streamers and content creators joining, the buzz from the new Expansion trailer, the buzz from Soken battle with cancer, the buzz from IGN top 10 MMO with FF14 sitting at #1, the buzz of the free trial and the twitch collaboration with new mount.

[Soge01]

"How do you do, my fellow sprouts?"

[Enkidoh]

I've been remarking to my friends a lot lately that the three cities are starting to look more like nurseries with all the new sprouts!

It says a lot for the health of the game seeing so many new players joining continuously, and not just because of WoW's inexorable decline into oblivion and irrelevance - we are still in a global pandemic that is forcing many countries into and out of lockdowns repeatedly and there are still many restrictions on travel around the world so that creates a large captive potential playerbase, in addition to the northern summer (especially the US summer break). I'm so glad to see so many people giving FFXIV a go and stepping into Eorzea for the first time.

[ryouma17]

the buzz from Soken battle with cancer

i dont know what that is

"How do you do, my fellow sprouts?"

https://i.imgur.com/9G1jAHk.gif

[Elkanah]

i dont know what that is

For context:

Soken originally spoke about his battle with cancer (and now in remissions) while working on Shadowbringers expansion music during FanFest this year. He was in the hospital for 5-6 months while also writing "To the Edge" (the Seat of Sacrifice ost fight), and hadn't told the development team except for Yoshi-P and the CEO of Squeenix at the time. This came out as shocking news to everyone across the community, but has since earned even more love and respect for his work and dedication to his love of music and us, the players.

[Fredco191]

Cool, new players!