Why do long time players play the game so differently?

[dspguy]

The veteran players played like the OP played back in 2013 and 2014. They did all the new stuff. They strived to play the best they possibly could, etc etc. Then they moved on. They realized that all that min-maxing doesn't usually add up to much. All that grinding for gear in content that you don't need the gear to clear it and just becomes moot a few months later when everybody can get an upgrade to better crafted gear on Day 1 of next tier... They don't play the MB because many have enough gil to last the lifetime of the game.

OP, you'll see for yourself after you become the veteran. You'll find yourself grinding old content for achievements, mounts, or whatever it is you find fun.

Mind you, there are still plenty of veterans out there doing all the things you claim they aren't doing such as trying to get better and relearn the job when the abilities change. However, there are also plenty out there where I think that statement does apply.

[Azuri]

Yawn. You could have at least posted from an alt that has some parses or something. Those hidden logs make the low quality bait even more stale.

[SeiyaSoiya]

Yawn. You could have at least posted from an alt that has some parses or something. Those hidden logs make the low quality bait even more stale.

funny how you immediately went to look up my logs
let's say I was a gray parser, would you then come into the forums to shame me for my logs, which is exactly what the code of conduct forbids you from doing ingame?

[Azuri]

funny how you immediately went to look up my logs
let's say I was a gray parser, would you then come into the forums to shame me for my logs, which is exactly what the code of conduct forbids you from doing ingame?

Yeah, cool. Don't care. Yoshida doesn't have the balls to enforce those "rules" because he knows endgame won't survive it.

Judging by the thinly veiled attempt to blame logs you obviously have some weird contempt towards parsing. Well... my condolences? I guess?

[Dzian]

I started playing this game recently, and I noticed that there is a massive difference in the way people who, like me, started playing after the wow death craze, and the people who have been playing since Heavensward, ARR or even have legacy accounts.

1. They don't seem to care about actively improving their gameplay: A few veteran players I know have been parsing and using ACT since 2015 (when it was first released for FFXIV), and they don't seem to have the same drive I and others like me have to continuously improve my rotation and gameplay and to become more skilled. Their job's kit changed drastically since the days they first raided, but they don't make an effort to learn the kit to its fullest, and sure as hell don't care about their parse.

Some of them are parsing green and blue and they only do the savage tier to get BiS and be done with it, even though checking their old logs they had high purples and many of them oranges.

Personally (and a pretty generalized concensus from a good number of friends who currently or used to play) "What's the point??"

When the developers don't take the game seriously and continuously dumb everything the "F" down to oblivion, why should players take the game seriously? Nothing matters anyways, which is why for more years than I can remember the common opinion is that "Glamour is THE only endgame!"..

Why clear a raid teir for the very best super duper gear when the moment a new tier drops you can EASILY craft or just buy gear thats better than all the Super Duper gear rewards you just got from the last tier??
Why even bother with BIS or anything, you can generally ignore EVERY stat that isnt I-level. Just equip the one that has the highest I-Level and you win..

This affects all content... Everything in the game is ultimately just trash.... Incredibly short lived.. Why chase an i700 weapon when next week you'll just get an i710 one with a fraction of the effort.... Certainly not the stats cos they're all dull and boring as stated above.. If its not I-level it doesnt matter....

Also there's just difficulty in general, or lack there of. Most of the time if anyone complains something is too hard it's not because its hard but simply the game does a crap job at explaining what they're supposed to do..

Hardest thing I did in endwalker for example level 90 tank quest.... interuupt that attack,, bam "Shield Bash!" nope, didnt work.. ok cover Kan-E nope, divine viel nope,,, passage of arms nope,,, "well it says interupt so Shield Bash should effin work!! stuns are interupts!!" turns out you need this role skill called interject that most tanks have never used and completely forgotten even existed since the days of coil.. a blms sleep spell has seen more life than interject... had the game explained that better that quest would have been much less of a pain...

Then there's jobs... they're all so homogenized and dumbed "TF" down that they're innevitably unrewarding and boring to play... they're all the same.. pld war gnb drk,,, no real difference all do the same all play the same all basically use the same cool downs at the same times........

healers.... NO COMMENT

DPS.. all the same...

anything a job could do that makes it stand out or feel unique is ultimately useless. blms sleep for example... or ninjas heavy,s binds all useless, all support and utility has become nothing more than things that raise or lower numbers a little bit how dull and uninteresting....

mobs are dull and uninteresting,, hell the generic term trash mob explains how dull they are... bosses too. why does every boss have the exact same defence evasion etc,,, your gust slash hits a level 90 boss for the exact same damage as a level 1 bug outside a starter city.....

Combat is bland and boring everytthing that made it fun gets scrapped hell evens dots are on the verge of extinction.. and generally the bar is set so low it may as well be on the ground.. there are battles in the game you can literally go afk and just leave yourself autoattacking and you will still win...

I could go on for a while but if i had to summarise I'd just say anyone thats played the game long enough basically just knows its a social chat room to interact with friends and very little more... Anyone newer or more recent is still taken in by that new car smell.... just a matter of time before it fades and the truth becomes clear.

This is why the vast majority of newer players never stick around,, because without the social connections to liven the game up its just mundane and dull. which again comes down to the devs dumbing everyrthing down so much that its no longer rewarding to play properly. You can see how much of the playerbase drops the game super quick just looking at how fast the login queues dissappear... one week your stuck in a queue of thousands,, a week later maybe 10... the game bleeds players incredibly quickly because its just mundane and dull..

When the devs don't care, Why should players?

I said years agio only thing that keeps me subbed is the circle of friends I have built up. some dating back 20 years at this point...
I've played mobile gamers with more engaging and rewarding gameplay than XIV... and thats just hillarious.

[SavishSalacious]

I started playing this game recently, and I noticed that there is a massive difference in the way people who, like me, started playing after the wow death craze, and the people who have been playing since Heavensward, ARR or even have legacy accounts.

1. They don't seem to care about actively improving their gameplay: A few veteran players I know have been parsing and using ACT since 2015 (when it was first released for FFXIV), and they don't seem to have the same drive I and others like me have to continuously improve my rotation and gameplay and to become more skilled. Their job's kit changed drastically since the days they first raided, but they don't make an effort to learn the kit to its fullest, and sure as hell don't care about their parse. Some of them are parsing green and blue and they only do the savage tier to get BiS and be done with it, even though checking their old logs they had high purples and many of them oranges.

2. They don't seem to want to play the marketboard: many of them refuse to engage in marketboard selling and buying, which is undisputably the most efficient way to make money, and prefer to earn money using passive methods like levequests, FC submarines and doing their weekly challenge log/doman enclave donation/retainer 18h ventures. Some of them often times complain about lack of money as much as newer players like me do, but they don't seem to want to put in the effort to earn it.

3. They are more interested in doing outdated content than current seasonal content: they do their savage raids, but they spend a lot more time doing older savage and extremes unsynched, the deep dungeons, side content like ocean fishing and diadem gathering, mount collecting, minion collecting and other things that don't increase their ilevel or their parse number.

I don't get it, does something fundamentally change about your gameplay once you spend a long time playing this game? These veteran players don't seem to be obsessed with the same things I and other newer players are obsessed with.

Is it really worth it for me to spend so much time improving my gameplay and skill and rotations and my parse number, if once I've played this game for 5 or more years, I will no longer care to do so anymore?

The community seems to put a lot of emphasis on being good at the job, but what it looks to me is that I will burn myself out optimizing and improving for one savage tier, maybe two, maybe for a whole expansion, but then never do it again.

Why do you care how I and others choose to play the game? None of it affects you and your ability to play the game.

[Illmaeran]

I'd written a long post that got messed up in the Cut/Paste/Edit process so here's the TL : DR

Reason 1: I've never used ACT or other parsing add-ons because they're banned in the ToS and I got tired of having my screen filled up with add-on stuff in previous games. This one's too pretty to cover up.

I did all my hardcore min/max playing in Vanilla through Wrath WoW. After getting tired of that I stopped and got into more relaxed content. I found XIV in 2014 and fell in love with the relaxed/casual design philosophy and stuck around. A lot of the people who I played with at that time had similar experiences and played the game for the same reason. A few of those folks are still around and still do their casual thing.

If I can get to the point where I'm good enough at a job to do the content participate in without issues, I'm happy. I don't need to min/max to get that extra half percent damage/healing/mitigation. All I need to do is hit my marks and keep up a rotation as best I can.

I do play the market board on occasion, but have no interest in babysitting my retainers to re-list things constantly. I'll toss things up as I get them and will occasionally purge my retainers inventories, but that's generally the extent of it. I've got enough money to buy anything I want, when I want, and make enough doing my regular daily activities to be profitable. If I REALLY need an influx of gil, I'll smash through a bunch of crafting leves. They're a lot less cumbersome and time consuming than playing the market board.

I don't enjoy doing cutting-edge raiding or trials, but I like the pets and glamours from them. Waiting for them to be soloable lets me get into those zones without worrying about dying and will net the pets, mounts, or glamour I want. Old content's fun to revisit for the memories as well.


It's that simple. I, and all the Old Timers I play with, have Been There, Done That in the past and don't want to do it again.

[Jennah]

Why do long-time players not play the marketboard?

... because we've had 999,999,999 gil for years, and don't need anymore.

[Pells]

Why do long-time players not play the marketboard?

... because we've had 999,999,999 gil for years, and don't need anymore.

I'm still waiting for something to spend it on.

[SyphinAes]

Why are we still feeding the various obvious troll?