Please stop simplifying and homogenizing the game. Please.

[Xirean]

The game uses a monthly subscription model to make money, so it's within their interests to try to keep players around. Their continued success is closely tied to their ability to retain players.

With their current 4 month patch cycle, players are potentially spending around $48-60 usd per major patch if they remain subscribed between.

And yet the director of the game flat out stated that he doesn't mind if people don't play all the time. He wants people to play multiple games.

[Haruka_R]

That's because the forums are a place for the community to chat with one another. They're not and never have been a direct line to the Devs.

People always seem to think that posting game change requests here will get them heard by the development team. This is literally just a place for players to chat with other players about the game without having to use third party websites like reddit.

Ahh. The crippling truth.

[LittleImp]

And yet the director of the game flat out stated that he doesn't mind if people don't play all the time. He wants people to play multiple games.

Ah yes, Yoshida who has said things like "We will never force you to stay subbed for housing", "We're planning to add more egi glamours", or "Hrothgar and Viera will get additional race specific hairstyles over time". His entire job revolves around trying to create positive optics for this game, which in many cases is completely divorced from reality. Clearly people swallow it whole with how often this nonsensical talking-point gets parroted.

Ahh. The crippling truth.

It's only really true because the developers don't seem to care; The forums are absolutely promoted as one of the primary places to give the developers direct feedback, by the development team itself. It ends up being nonsensical to shutdown people sharing feedback here in the hopes that the forums will fulfill their intended purpose.

[Xirean]

Ah yes, Yoshida who has said things like "We will never force you to stay subbed for housing", "We're planning to add more egi glamours", or "Hrothgar and Viera will get additional race specific hairstyles over time". His entire job revolves around trying to create positive optics for this game, which in many cases is completely divorced from reality. Clearly people swallow it whole with how often this nonsensical talking-point gets parroted.

Do you think my bringing up his stated opinion on people subbing and unsubbing is defending those other points? Cause it's not. I just really don't see an issue with fluctuating game populations.

[LittleImp]

Do you think my bringing up his stated opinion on people subbing and unsubbing is defending those other points? Cause it's not. I just really don't see an issue with fluctuating game populations.

No, I'm pointing out that things Yoshida say tend to reflect very little about the reality of running a game as a business. He says things about player retention not mattering because his competition in the genre are publicly known for being too heavy-handed in their attempts at creating retention systems, not because players taking breaks is a genuine objective of SE as a business. He wants to create the perception among potential and current customers that this game retains players organically, and is going so far as to publicly pretend it isn't a major internal objective.

It is absolutely not within this games interest as a business to have a decreasing retention rate. A game that makes 12-15 usd per person that is subscribed makes less money when there are less people subscribed. Regardless of what Yoshida tries to say, this game absolutely aims to hold onto as many players as possible. Housing demo, loot lockouts, tomestone caps, long relic grinds, expert delivery, etc.

[Xirean]

No, I'm pointing out that things Yoshida say tend to reflect very little about the reality of running a game as a business. He says things about player retention not mattering because his competition in the genre are publicly known for being too heavy-handed in their attempts at creating retention systems, not because players taking breaks is a genuine objective of SE as a business. He wants to create the perception among potential and current customers that this game retains players organically, and is going so far as to publicly pretend it isn't a major internal objective.

It is absolutely not within this games interest as a business to have a decreasing retention rate. A game that makes 12-15 usd per person that is subscribed makes less money when there are less people subscribed. Regardless of what Yoshida tries to say, this game absolutely aims to hold onto as many players as possible. Housing demo, loot lockouts, tomestone caps, long relic grinds, expert delivery, etc.

Why exactly do you care so much about what this game does as a business? I don't care if that statement he made is genuine or not. It's a statement I agree with. I don't want a game that expects me to log in literally every day. I don't care for those kinds of systems and I don't understand why it's a problem that people sub when content comes out then unsub when they are done. You're making this sound like it matters more than it should.

[SylviaCrystal]

Here are my thoughts as someone who started playing XIV a few months before the release of EW.

I played most of it as a BLM, without leveling any other job. I love how BLM is centered around movement: knowing when to move and where's safe to stand still so I can cast my entire Fire phase. The game gives me several movement tools like Xenoglossy and Triple Cast. Endwalker even fixed a minor issue I had, that at lower levels you have to use Fire I between both bursts of Fire IV to reset the timer, but Fire I didn't really FEEL like a proper intermediate skill... until they made Paradox. My only complaint is that Scathe is useless... That's it.

In Endwalker I decided it was time to try my hands at healing, so I became a SGE. It was fun when I was still learning how to heal properly, how to cycle through the names in the party list during combat and everything... but things started to get boring once I got the hang of it and realized that tanks barely needed my help and I spent most of my time just spamming Dosis and occasionally putting my DoT on the boss. Later I moved to Astrologian for the cards system... and it was basically the same thing.

The only times I ever have fun when playing as a healer are when my party is playing like crap. The tank not using his mit correctly, the DPS keep getting hit by avoidable AoEs and dying, so I have to rez them... That actually gives me stuff to do. But if my party is even slightly competent, I ask myself why I'm even there in the first place. WARs don't need me, and I keep throwing Celestial Intersection and Exaltation at them during tank busters for no reason just so I get something to do.

Then I moved to tanking, my choice being Dark Knight for the edgy aesthetics... and all I do is repeat the 1-2-3 combo, mindlessly weave anything that comes off cooldown and use TBN on tank busters. I don't even pay attention to my job gauge cause it's not necessary as long as I don't overcap on MP. Things got worse when I looked into the history of DRK and found how the job used to be focused around MP management, how Living Dead has been garbage for 7 years and they never fixed it despite the constant complaints from DRK players, and how many cool animations were removed from the job (Power Slash).

The only jobs I have fun with right now are BLM and RPR. Reaper isn't particularly complex, but it has some fun tools at it's disposal and the edgy aesthetics plus fast gameplay I was looking for in DRK. Arcane Crest is a nice little support that I can give my party during stacks, weaving Blood Stalk feels just right and fusing with my inner Grim Reaper with Enshroud feels badass, unlike the glorified DoT that is Living Shadow.

I thought very highly of the combat in FFXIV due to having played most of it as a BLM, but after trying other jobs and roles... I'm kinda disappointed. It's like only Yoshi-P's job has the right to be engaging and fun to play. I fear RPR will end up getting the same treatment SAM is getting now.

[ClaudeHerel]

Inb4 FF14 is dyin—
Oh.

Yes, I'm sure that the sky is really falling this time. For reals.

Sounds a lot like the wow forums in BFA

[KizuyaKatogami]

Why exactly do you care so much about what this game does as a business?

I’d imagine it’s blatantly obvious. How well the game does dictates how much money the game will retain and put towards new things. People should care, we’re paying customers lmao.

[Chasingstars]

Well if this isn't the place to post feedback, where is?

https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...6-Classes-Jobs