How is anyone fine with the 4-month patch delivery schedule?

[Illmaeran]

6.1 will make or break the game for me. I'm tired of running old content, tired of paying a sub for that stupid CT roulette. I bough EW to play my jobs at 90, do level 90 content. Not doing low level dungeons with trusts, or to play a more solo focused MMO. After 3,5 years, I've come to the point where I'm ready to let go my house and unsub for a long while.

This is a fair point of view. There were things in Heavensward post-MSQ that I couldn't get behind and decided to take a break for a year and try other games. I hit a point in Stormblood that I simply couldn't get past due to medical issues, so I stopped playing for a year or so. Since returning a couple months before Shadowbringers' release I've been playing every day. As much as I adored ARR; it's still the best time I've had in the game, the changes to classes and systems in EW has hit my sweet spot and I've played the game nearly every day since near the end of 2019.

I think part of what's kept me going is the extended breaks I did take let various things like Beast Tribes and other Take-it-Easy content build up. Now I've got a ton of things to do when I feel like doing them. One of the things that contributed to burn out in this, and previous MMOs I played, was thinking I always needed to be working toward a goal every day, to the exclusion of other things. Once I gave myself permission to be a butterfly and do whatever I felt like at any given time, my satisfaction with the game improved and my enjoyment of the time I spent in game increased quite a bit.

I'm not telling you that you need to play the way I do; this is our individual hobby and everyone needs to partake of it how they want. Please know that taking a break, whether it's long-term or a couple months between content patches, may be a net positive for you in the long run. Losing your house may suck; it's happened to me twice, but in the end I'm glad I did as I no longer had the pressure to stay subbed and therefore participating in something I was paying for to get something out of my money. I recently started an alt to play through ARR and HW again and found it to be quite refreshing and a lot of fun. Once I finish Shadowbringers I'll likely put her in stasis and get back to focusing on my main. The best thing is, she's an alt, so there's no pressure to continually advance her. If I feel like putting her aside for months or years, it won't impact my overall progression through the game. Perhaps this might be an option for you, too?

Giving yourself permission to simply derp around doing random things at times rather than being laser-focused on one or two aspects may improve your experience. It may not, and that's ok too. If you do choose to suspend your sub, I hope you come back in the future and enjoy what's available at that time.

All I'm asking for is a fun time waster in the current, relevant patch. Why did they stop implementing relic grinds in x.1 patches?
It's really hard to stay subbed when we're always given the bare minimum and it pains me to unsub for a long period of time because I risk losing FC friends. (And my in-game house but I could live without that.)

Honest question, are there other activities you enjoy that you can do for hours upon hours for $15 or less for a whole month? I can go to a night of karaoke and have a blast for a few hours, but two beers with tip will run at least $20. I've been in financial situations where I had to be extremely thrifty with my money so the MMO I played was the only leisure activity I had outside of 100% free things. If you're also in that situation, I can fully understand how it could pain you to feel the need to unsubscribe. If that's not the case, perhaps playing a different game and XIV would help? In relative, real world terms, even if you played only three to five hours per month, you would still be getting more enjoyment-time per dollar than many other possible activities.

Why not give this a try? Keep your sub going, pop in for a few hours here and there to see your FC friends and maintain your house but spend the majority of your leisure time on something else. As I mentioned in the reply above yours, this may be all you need to increase your enjoyment of the time you spend in the game rather than forcing yourself to log in every day or two.


Regards,
IQ