What is going on with Square Enix and the 14 team?

[KizuyaKatogami]

Between the healer problems for 6 years being ignored, the recent Hrothgar problems where they waited patiently for 3 years and got literal shit, to the horrid job design in 6.1, the pretty controversial story of EW, to now the housing system just imploding on itself. Do the devs just not care anymore? The game is seeing it’s peak, the game is bringing in more money than ever, and yet we’re somehow getting more broken systems. I guess this is what happens when they let the popularity get to their head? They start thinking they can half ass everything and people will continue to stay and kiss up to them. Seeing this community’s history i don’t blame them for thinking that way but…my god. The game is taking such a downward spiral. At this point i’m expecting Ultimate to have some major errors and that would be the icing on the cake.

[SturmChurro]

Some of us have seen what was happening, and talking about it for years. It seems "Endwalker" was aptly named.

I'm not sure what is going on, but it does feel like they have become complacent with the game's success. Apparently, siphoning funds to other projects, moving devs over, etc. Yoshida being "surprised" at negative feedback, gives me the feeling that much of our feedback here simply isn't getting to the devs unless it's a very big issue, but not only that, a lot of players themselves were satisfied enough with the game that they wouldn't speak out.

I hope a lot of this is a wake up call for SE. The playerbase does look to have their limits.

[StriderShinryu]

I hope a lot of this is a wake up call for SE. The playerbase does look to have their limits.

I mean, do they though? We keep hearing about issues and problems that have been around for literal years. The game going down the toilet for years. The developers ignoring the players for years. And yet, those same players with those same complaints are still playing (and paying).

I'm not saying there isn't some sort of breaking point or, more likely, a slow leakage of players, but it's a little laughable to imply that all of a sudden there's going to be some sort of mass exodus due to the recent (and very real) issues. There's just too many players who are too addicted and obsessed with the game to quit regardless of what they believe the developers are doing with the game.

[Vahlnir]

I mean, do they though? We keep hearing about issues and problems that have been around for literal years. The game going down the toilet for years. The developers ignoring the players for years. And yet, those same players with those same complaints are still playing (and paying).

I'm not saying there isn't some sort of breaking point or, more likely, a slow leakage of players, but it's a little laughable to imply that all of a sudden there's going to be some sort of mass exodus due to the recent (and very real) issues. There's just too many players who are too addicted and obsessed with the game to quit regardless of what they believe the developers are doing with the game.

That's what people said about WoW. However, a series of bad decisions can cause subscription bleeding on an unprecedented scale eventually. One final straw is all it takes to break the camel's back and then they're gone forever.

[Misplaced_Marbles]

I mean, do they though? We keep hearing about issues and problems that have been around for literal years. The game going down the toilet for years. The developers ignoring the players for years. And yet, those same players with those same complaints are still playing (and paying).

It's most likely going to be the good old rousing round of complaints and then people proceed to do absolutely nothing about it. Can't stop paying (even though they most likely avoid actually playing the game to the best of their abilities since they're bored out of their minds) after such a heavy investment of money and time. Or whatever...

[Evogolist]

Some of us have seen what was happening, and talking about it for years. It seems "Endwalker" was aptly named.

I'm not sure what is going on, but it does feel like they have become complacent with the game's success. Apparently, siphoning funds to other projects, moving devs over, etc. Yoshida being "surprised" at negative feedback, gives me the feeling that much of our feedback here simply isn't getting to the devs unless it's a very big issue, but not only that, a lot of players themselves were satisfied enough with the game that they wouldn't speak out.

I hope a lot of this is a wake up call for SE. The playerbase does look to have their limits.

This so much. A lot of us have voiced our concerns and suggestions over the years, just to be met with negativity. I was talking to a friend who also plays XIV and we both agreed that one of the game's biggest issues is that a lot of the content is recycled content, just with a fresh coat of paint thrown on it. It really makes me worry about the future of the game going forward.

Assuming that they'll cap the leveling process at 99, what happens going forward post 7.x? Do we just keep spamming dungeons for tomestones for the next set of higher item level gear? What about our actions/weaponskills/spells? And while I'm sure they're looking into that stuff, how many times are they going to keep pushing out the same recycled, grindy stuff before players get tired of it and finally move on to something else?

[Skiros]

Some of us have seen what was happening, and talking about it for years. It seems "Endwalker" was aptly named.

I'm not sure what is going on, but it does feel like they have become complacent with the game's success. Apparently, siphoning funds to other projects, moving devs over, etc. Yoshida being "surprised" at negative feedback, gives me the feeling that much of our feedback here simply isn't getting to the devs unless it's a very big issue, but not only that, a lot of players themselves were satisfied enough with the game that they wouldn't speak out.

I hope a lot of this is a wake up call for SE. The playerbase does look to have their limits.

Yoshi P has spent so much time lately asking for players to give "calm" feedback and states that he personally shields his devs from feedback and absorb the blunt of the criticism.

As if that's somehow a noble act?

If the developers of the game are not reading player feedback how are they going to know what to improve on? Yoshi P isn't capable of reading every single feedback and transmitting it to the developers.

The fact that he is "surprised" at negative feedback is honestly extremely shocking. I hope they get out of their stupor soon because this game is very much going the same way as WoW.

They cannot keep using negative feedback that are mean-spirited to justify ignoring all negative feedback in general.

Also, the streamers and content creators in FF14 are doing the game a grave, grave disservice. A lot of them kowtow to Square Enix and when interviewing Yoshi P literally ask the most useless questions at the level of inanity like "what is your favorite pancake color". Barely anyone asks Yoshi P hard hitting questions. I must at least applaud Zepla for asking Yoshi P about people being dissatisfied about healer job design (or something else, I can't remember, but it was a popular complaint that she asked). But so many others waste their interviews and look like they are just second-hand ads for SE.

I'm not surprised if Yoshi P is surprised at negative feedback because the people he interact with from the community - the streamers and content creators - never even voice such complaints to him. I hope they realize that a lot of these streamers and content creators' views do not align with the community at large.

[SturmChurro]

...

Just means the feedback getting to the developers is completely curated. From what I've seen, like Theodric was saying, what actually gets to Yoshida himself is curated. So it's several layers before select feedback even makes it to them, at least from the western playerbase.

I think they can and will continue to ignore much of the "negative feedback", and even much of the playerbase themselves refer to any feedback as "mean-spirited" or as players just trying to "ruin the game". All we have to do is look at the situation surrounding hrothgar hair. Hrothgar players here are still wondering when they will really be acknowledged.

I can't say I am surprised to read that about the FFXIV content creators or streamers. They need to keep their viewerbase. It's very much in their best interest to remain positive when it comes to FFXIV.

[Sclair0]

For a serious attempt at an answer... I think its mostly feature creep, they're moving forward with multiple pieces of content at once and not giving them enough attention individually. Which is why I think we get lower quantities of things (smaller maps, less dungeons, less gear etc.)

Not to say that excuses anything. Just that I think thats the reason, attention divided between fixing ongoing issues and systems and producing new content at the same time.

[Clover_Blake]

(smaller maps, less dungeons, less gear etc.)

We... don't get less gear.
We definitely get more than back when the game started.

We get 1 dg instead of 2 (thanks god), and because of that, they add other different kinds of cool content.

(Smaller maps? What do you mean?)