What's the point with that quite lackluster story in Endwalker?

[Teraq]

Did somebody order one extra long post? Coming right up with uncut quotes!

Quite frankly, a lot of people have little desire to discuss the lore until we get some clearer indication of where things are headed in the future and whether it's even something worth taking an interest in. There's already some good posters on there who either have quit or are on the verge of doing so, including amongst them those originally receptive to Venat as a character, so coupled with the fact that it's a quieter period, I am not surprised.

Out of curiosity, have these posters quit because the main storyline is done so they've decided they are as well? Did some quit because of discontent with Endwalker specifically?

Having lurked on the lore forums from time to time for patch reaction threads, I like reading it sometimes but it's always seemed a little niche to me. I find it a little intimidating too, it's often the same long time posters engaging in long discussions and I feel like I would contribute nothing the lore buffs haven't already said, beside just giving my unrequited opinion (take a shot every time I say "I feel / It feels like ...").

And yeah, the current period is a very particular one. We just finished The Story Arc 3 months ago. I'm guessing things have been discussed to death already, and it's unclear if they're going to go back to dwell on some specific points relating to The Story Arc (e.g. YoshiP isn't quite sure if the remaining Ascians are going to get involved or not), so I suppose what hasn't been disclosed in 6.0 is now conjecture until further notice. The recent Q&A probably ... livened things up a bit.
But so far I feel like there's little to discuss given how little we know about where we're going, bearing in mind the constraints that come with the next 2 years being only patch content. Which means most likely no new continent involved; at most we're getting a couple of instanced zones like Bozja/Eureka, and I am willing to bet at least one region we've heard of but never been to is going to end up as a dungeon (e.g. Xelphatol and Paglth'an), which at least one person is going to be massively disappointed by. I am not sure how engaging the story is going to be with bite-sized pieces every 4 months or so. I am hoping they will give us a lot more info in the next LL, because I just can't imagine 6.1 will be mind-shattering enough to warrant completely hiding the new dungeon. A teaser would have fostered more discussion.

I think people are just more passionate about FFXIV's characters quite simply because of how much better they are and how much more time is sunk into them.
I mean what is there to be passionate about with WoW's characters for example outside of '' I like Garrosh cuz red muscle man Orc cool ''.
Or uh, the complete nothing that is the Jailer?
Sylvanas never says anything her monologues are a bunch of nothing lets be real here she gets carried ultra hard by the voice acting ( which is incredible, I love her voice ) and Jaina basically just stands around looking mad and says '' Anduin '' sometimes.
Whenever they talk it's either pointless nothingness or them doing the usual vidya gaem talk of just pointing out what's happening as if the player is brainless and has no eyes.

Completely agreed here, I've played WoW uninterrupted from 2006 to 2016, then on and off since then but always keeping up with news, but its story has always been just bland background noise to me. Which characters have ever even been an actual hit with the player base? Off the top of my head, recently, I can think of Runas in Azsuna who was pretty universally liked, but he's a minor quest NPC. Arthas was done a long time ago, and them dragging him out just now only to have Sylvanas preach at him without much of a peep from Jaina and Uther literally standing there is, I would say, the opposite of fan service.
Personally I enjoy the Warcraft universe mostly for its setting and world building (when it is/was coherent, I suppose), but specific plot lines and characters have never appealed to me. It's telling that the most involved (and toxic) WoW discourse that most readily comes to my mind is the Great Playable High Elf debate; something that is purely about immersion and in-universe fantasy rather than any particular character.

It is truly astonishing how empty the Jailer feels. As a presence, as a character, even in terms of visual design. He has brought nothing, and even made prior content worse by retcon, like some sort of negative energy. Perhaps he has been the true Void all along.

It's not really so much that '' FFXIV fandom = toxic '' in that sense it's that a particular type of person just might be drawn to FFXIV, they were already toxic to begin with.

That is an interesting thought. I'm not sure what it is about FFXIV in particular that would draw in this brand of moral policing.
You've compared it to WoW as they are both the same genre, and it is true FFXIV is quite in the unique situation of being a narratively-driven MMORPG written well enough to actually engage the audience. On the subject of them being a genre in which you completely create your character, may get immersed in the setting and invested in headcanons, I admittedly don't know much about western RPGs but I can't imagine, say, the TES fanbase getting this weirdly preachy about the Empire / Stormcloak narrative in Skyrim for example.
One particularity of MMORPGs is the time investment and serialised content – combined with the decent writing of FFXIV, it makes it so you've grown to know these characters for a while and have expectations for where the story is going. In this way, it's sort of like a long-running TV show, but I personally don't remember fans of the Lannisters or Littlefinger getting personally attacked for liking villainous characters. But I suppose in the case of non-RPG media, the hero isn't your creation, specifically, so it's less personal.

Or maybe there is just something in the water of Limsa Lominsa. Truth be told, I fear there might be a lot of things in the water of Limsa Lominsa, some less savory than others...


Just so my post isn't completely off-topic: the MIN/BOT quest NPCs discussing Ancient culture was so bizarrely wholesome it gave me warm fuzzies. On one hand, of course a couple of Sharlayan scholars would absolutely love the concept. But on the other hand, aw. Ancient positivity in Endwalker! In game!