Does 14 Promote a Culture of Mediocrity?

[Caurcas]

You have no evidence of that, it's impossible to tell. Current raid tier is at 1.5% completion, if jobs are insanely easier as you state it should be much much higher. Easier jobs would directly corelate to clearing content easier.

Last tier of Eden had a ~18% clear rate on Aether, and around 30% on most JP DCs.

[Silver-Strider]

It's more a hot take than a troll post really and I find myself in agreement honestly.

While the player base has grown as a result of the streamlining of classes and mechanics, the fact is, there's a lot more bad players as well and the community actively defends them for whatever reason, or at the very least sits in silence as people screw up the same mechanic over and over again, not bothering to ask for advice or learn at all. We all complain on the forums about people running away with stack markers, tanks that don't mitigate, healers that don't DPS, etc all day long and the "Tales from Duty Finder" thread has been going strong since 2015 filled with it but y'all are going to come in here and say that the community is NOT promoting this mentality of defending those people that are active screw ups with their refusal to vote kick or anything really besides silence.

OP, I 100% agree with you.

[VelKallor]

The player base deflects criticism consistently and that is a fact.

I am perfectly happy to listen to any and all criticism and suggestions.

Then again, I am more likely to listen to someone who can offer such advice, when said person does so with respect and courtesy.

For me to want to listen to you, you need to convince me I want to hear what you have to say. Ever stop to think and ask yourself "If people arent willing to listen to me.....could I be the reason?"

[IdowhatIwant]

Jobs and roles have been simplified and the playerbase has grown. One could argue this means this is better for the continued survival of the game.

So devs continue to focus on content for the more profitable and consistent playerbase with a more manageable appetite (bleeding edge challenge content consumers require CONSTANT new content).

Does 14 promote a "culture" of mediocrity? No. It caters to the tastes and habits of a large player base. It makes the entertainment available to those who wish to engage in it. (snipped the name calling)

FINAL FANTASY XIV Online (not complete player base this is based off steam only from around the last exodus)
Month Avg. Players Gain % Gain Peak Players
Last 30 Days 35,706.0 -908.8 -2.48% 65,565
January 2022 36,614.8 -17,114.4 -31.85% 65,565
December 2021 53,729.2 +27,967.7 +108.56% 95,102
November 2021 25,761.4 -970.0 -3.63% 42,433
October 2021 26,731.4 -4,783.1 -15.18% 42,623
September 2021 31,514.5 -8,787.1 -21.80% 52,541
August 2021 40,301.6 +2,635.4 +7.00% 65,329
July 2021 37,666.2 +13,948.3 +58.81% 67,019
June 2021 23,717.9 +2,406.8 +11.29% 40,067

Does not look like casual content is maintaining a player base to me. It looks like a lack of content is loosing play base as you can see even after the exodus the player base was roughly the same a month before the expansion with it quickly peaking and dropping 30% after the first month. Now you can blame the launch for this how ever this happens with every expansion The game constantly cycled between a large number of players returning for an expansion launch to that number dwindling back with small spikes happening on patches with raid content.
Shadow Bringers:
Month Avg. Players Gain % Gain Peak Players
February 2020 13,055.7 +2,395.6 +22.47% 25,612 (New Raid Content 5.2)
January 2020 10,660.1 +967.1 +9.98% 17,465
December 2019 9,693.0 -1,661.7 -14.63% 15,898
November 2019 11,354.7 +1,661.3 +17.14% 19,876
October 2019 9,693.4 -1,720.5 -15.07% 17,309 (5.1 casual content)
September 2019 11,413.9 -5,303.2 -31.72% 21,636
August 2019 16,717.1 -6,388.3 -27.65% 30,359
July 2019 23,105.4 +8,766.2 +61.13% 38,909
June 2019 14,339.2 +3,411.5 +31.22% 41,190

Storm Blood:
Month Avg. Players Gain % Gain Peak Players
February 2018 7,635.9 +1,672.8 +28.05% 12,637
January 2018 5,963.1 +514.2 +9.44% 10,322 (4.2 raid content)
December 2017 5,448.9 -442.6 -7.51% 9,105
November 2017 5,891.4 -1,177.9 -16.66% 10,329
October 2017 7,069.4 +326.3 +4.84% 12,435 (4.1 casual content)
September 2017 6,743.0 -1,701.5 -20.15% 12,412
August 2017 8,444.6 -3,692.4 -30.42% 14,218
July 2017 12,137.0 -309.4 -2.49% 22,824
June 2017 12,446.3 +5,898.2 +90.07% 25,599 (Launch)

[Jin-]

Mediocre would be too high standard for the game. It promotes culture of people who don't even want to put any effort in to anything

[linayar]

It saddens me that anyone has to ask if the devs promote a culture of mediocrity.

Well, even if it did, that's not necessarily a bad thing because mediocrity is about being mediocre, not about being bad.

[VelKallor]

this is based off steam only from around the last exodus)

STEAM is a TINY fraction of the playerbase, as the vast majority are via the main FF 14 launcher system.

Funny..I seem to recall a WOW player using that very same argument. i couldnt stop laughing when said player used TWITCH as a metric.

Heres the thread.

Enjoy :-D

https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wo...ker/1146287/13

Need I also remind you that Square had to SUSPEND SALES of the game as they had major congestion issues?? I find it hilarious that you say the playerbase is dropping when they had to stop selling the game because it was being deluged with purchases??

[AbysmalDuck]

I am perfectly happy to listen to any and all criticism and suggestions.

Then again, I am more likely to listen to someone who can offer such advice, when said person does so with respect and courtesy.

For me to want to listen to you, you need to convince me I want to hear what you have to say. Ever stop to think and ask yourself "If people arent willing to listen to me.....could I be the reason?"

This 100%. Most of the people I run into trying to offer advice come at it from an angle of anger or annoyance. If you make it a friendly suggestion and it comes off as sincere, then I'll listen. "BLM, you aren't using "---" enough" doesn't come off as sincere.

[LisSquid]

This thread is not the vibe.

[Krotoan]

The game currently has more "active" player accounts than it has ever had before. this is growth. There are larger player pools than this game has ever had before. The game is also designed to encourage periods of boom and bust. Play when content you want to engage in comes out and leave when you're done.

What did you expect? just a line graph going up?