Future direction of FFXIV

[KageTokage]

I feel like this "The game is great, but it could still be better" is the prevailing "negative" mentality that's going around, not "This game sucks and I'm leaving if they don't fix/improve this".

[Lauront]

I don't know what this is supposed to mean.

Players are actual people. If you make a statement like, "most players think X," you're making a statement about the actual world that is actually true or false. If you make a statement like, "most players think X, and I know that because the small, self-selecting group of players who post on the forums mostly say X," you're making a statement about the state of the world, but your evidence for that statement is very week.

I don't think that any of these things are controversial statements, but I'm open to the small, self-selecting group of FF14 players who post on the forum to suggest otherwise

I am curious - when people try use Metacritic, Reddit or Twitter as "proof" that the game is fantastic, would you maintain in that instance that we're dealing with a "small, self-selecting group"? I would hope so.

It's not like SE bothers to orchestrate any other means of soliciting feedback. So we've exhausted the main areas where it gets it from - reddit, Twitter, the forum. For all intents and purposes, if SE doesn't undertake any work to obtain more representative & systematic feedback from elsewhere (e.g. via surveys) - and to my awareness, it does not - what is the functional difference between that and the actual truth of what most players believe? It may - and probably - differs, but if you're not asking them and SE isn't, what real notion of it do you have above anecdotal evidence? Sales figures and profits going up? Great, now get to the bottom of why.

I feel like this "The game is great, but it could still be better" is the prevailing "negative" mentality that's going around, not "This game sucks and I'm leaving if they don't fix/improve this".

I'd say for me it's more of an "it has been decent enough to warrant the sub fee but I'm ambivalent as to whether that will continue to be the case."

[Imoye]

I think some of the people like you in these forums are the ones that need the chill pill.

I'm here to discuss and exchange perspectives. This is my 2 cents and how I see it. I don't claim to hold the ultimate answer.

If that's too much heat for you then maybe a chill pill is more up your alley than mine.

You know how yoshi p addressed healer concerns recently? He basically told healer mains to shut up and go play ultimate content if they want engaging gameplay. 10/10 response.

I never disagreed with that. I literally said they need to be adressed. His reply was extremely dumb.

As far as the story goes, do you just go up to random people in game and ask them their opinions on the story?

Sure thing. This is an MMO after all. Talking with people on a wide range of topics is a daily occurrence.

[Jeeqbit]

if SE doesn't undertake any work to obtain more representative & systematic feedback from elsewhere (e.g. via surveys) - and to my awareness, it does not

Then you are unaware of the fact they have sent me a survey which said it was asking veteran players their opinions as recently as late last year, right before Endwalker released. All companies of Square Enix's size do surveys and market research.

[Lauront]

Then you are unaware of the fact they have sent me a survey which said it was asking veteran players their opinions as recently as late last year, right before Endwalker released.

Yes, I am unaware of that, because as a person who has now been playing for a number of years - enough to qualify as a 'veteran' - I did not receive it, nor is there any reason I'd be aware of a survey you got, so I'm curious what definition of veteran they're working off. The sole survey I have received in the years of playing this game was one around the SB time on my general thoughts on another MMO. Though it's curious to me that they did one just before EW released, after any significant design work on it was complete...

What sort of questions did it ask?

All companies of Square Enix's size do surveys and market research.

Pretty sparingly by the looks of it when it comes to XIV. Though it's good that they're doing that for it - I'd still question how systematically.

[Nekokaori]

I feel like this "The game is great, but it could still be better" is the prevailing "negative" mentality that's going around, not "This game sucks and I'm leaving if they don't fix/improve this".

id say the game is.. "Decent" getting attached to something having fun with something though which is how i game, when i play a class or job i look for one with things I enjoy, but on here as ast after stormblood showed me and anger me to the point i broke a controller, is they don't see what we are having fun with honestly they will strip it down, make it brain dead just to please people who lets be honest if they cant read a skill set they have no place in playing period..

its a decent game to kill time with thats about all anymore I use to feel good upon leveling up and learning how to correctly play what i was given.

In fact heres a story, I played when arr was new when steps of faith was hard when the demon wall in the dungeon summoned bees it was hard it made you feel something rather u failed or scudded it felt good to accomplish a clear and go on, as does many of the new alliance raids when they come out, so did mastering a job finally not just playing it but really knowing how to use it.

now i feel nothing playing this game at all, i feel like im just there to pop in and pop out and nothing else matters legitly. It doesn't feel good playing anymore and if im being honest, I play more out of an addiction to final fantasy than the game being worth a fuck. I love the nekos and playing a cutesie lalafell that feels good because its a way to express my irl self without judgement (well mostly) .. but if im being honest in 2 years when i go through a move to be closer to friends, I may never touch this game again because it just feels terriable to play.

Idc if ast does max damage or how hard some end game static is, it really doesn't fucking matter if I can't enjoy the job i play. I really enjoyed ast when unlocked on day one, when i played it through stormblood it felt amazing knowing that bole goes to the tank, arrows are either better casters or yourself dependng on situation, balance was great so was every other card in ur toolkit and when you learned that you felt good, now it doesnt feel like anything but a chore "pop this do this use this" yawn and sleep through things wow big bad had one move that was hard oh well we will clear it either way

[HyoMinPark]

Then you are unaware of the fact they have sent me a survey which said it was asking veteran players their opinions as recently as late last year, right before Endwalker released. All companies of Square Enix's size do surveys and market research.

I have to echo Lauront here. I’ve been playing this game for over 6 years, and I have never received any survey outside of when I contacted SE’s Customer Service regarding an SE Store order. What definition of veteran do they even use here? And if they’re conducting marketing research, I would think it would be far more prudent for them to send these survey emails to all active subscribers. Not just some.

Assuming this survey actually exists, or is from SE themselves and not a third party.

[AngeliouxRein]

Huh? I thought everybody got those surveys xD. I mean, I was shocked when I randomly checked my email and saw two of them there. One was more of a "thanks for playing so long!", along with what I enjoy about this game, then the other was more to business on what would I like to see in the future of this game. Both were around the time of Endwalker about to release. I definitely went into a healer rant in one of them (probably won't get another survey due to that lol) but the other I was asking for more forms of endgame instead of just raids. Curious on why only some of us got it.

[Jeeqbit]

What definition of veteran do they even use here? And if they’re conducting marketing research, I would think it would be far more prudent for them to send these survey emails to all active subscribers. Not just some.

Assuming this survey actually exists, or is from SE themselves and not a third party.

"We’re always looking to improve FINAL FANTASY XIV, and deliver the best experience possible. As a FFXIV player who has subscribed for a significant period of time, we would like to know how we can make your adventures in Eorzea better."

It was from Square Enix and not a third party. It was signed with "The Square Enix Team".

What sort of questions did it ask?

They wanted to know how the veteran players feel about the game and what they would like to see.

[HyoMinPark]

"We’re always looking to improve FINAL FANTASY XIV, and deliver the best experience possible. As a FFXIV player who has subscribed for a significant period of time, we would like to know how we can make your adventures in Eorzea better."

It was from Square Enix and not a third party. It was signed with "The Square Enix Team".

They wanted to know how the veteran players feel about the game and what they would like to see.

As I said, seems like poor marketing research if they only send it to some veterans and not all. And I have to ask what their definition of “veteran” is. My sub hasn’t lapsed once in over six years, so I don’t see how that isn’t significant. And if the pool of participants is already questionable, makes any data collected just as questionable.