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

[SturmChurro]

Some people really need to take a step back and take a break. I just did for 2 months. Works wonders.

I have taken a break, I do take breaks often. I haven't played the game much since mid-January, and I've barely played this patch. Doesn't make the problems go away. It might help with burn out, but I was not taking a break due to burn out in the first place.

[Cithaerias_pyropina]

Some people really need to take a step back and take a break.

Already did. Subscription ran out late January and had a long 4 month break. I have only been resubbed for 5 days and I'm back to being bored as hell with barely anything to do ingame as it's all the same threadbare chores day in and day out; grind weekly tomestones and weekly raids (which I never do anymore because they're the same scripted dance over and over with no change in pace). The only reason I resubbed in the first place was the PvP rework and I already got bored of that within the first 3 days. Wish I could spend 1 dollar to resub for 1 day and do the MSQ and then be done and be out of here for the next 4 months.

[Yeul]

The real problem here is only the healer that they are still unsure to what to do, but its not bad. Class design and the story is marvelous and no game can compare with the 14 storywise, its too good.

[Hanayumi]

Post expansion is the slowest and least content anyway, for the most part. If you arent too keen on getting bis and such right away, best time to come in on Ffxiv is mid to end expansion cycle since every patch basically adds an entirely new content while updating existing ones.

[Fhaerron]

Lol the tags for this thread.

Anyway the main issue is the fact that there is no competition, that and way way too many players, the succes has gone way over their heads and they've become lazy.

I really hope that WoW becomes better again once Microsoft takes over and that FF gets some serious competition again.

[Theodric]

I do think there's a decent amount of competition. It's not so much what we, as individuals, may play but rather what other people might be inclined to play. That's likely the same thought process for the development team and investors given their obsession with trying to 'poach' players from other games and appeal to completely new players altogether.

Guild Wars 2 recently launched a new expansion and although I'm not aware of how popular it is, I imagine it has enough people playing to justify further investment.

Elder Scrolls Online has been putting out content on a steady basis for almost as long as FFXIV. It's due to launch another expansion within a couple of months focused around Bretons. I'll be checking it out myself, since I play it occasionally and they're one of my favourite playable races in the setting.

Lost Ark recently launched in the West. I've been playing that occasionally as well. There's a lot of content and although it has some F2P elements that I dislike, it's still pretty generous with how it handles giving players free items and the like. I was surprised by how beautiful the game world, character models and music are.

The elephant in the room is World of Warcraft. A beloved IP mired in controversy with an uncanny ability to lean on fanservice in order to bounce back from even the gravest of scandals. I've long since washed my hands of the game, though there's still people who play it and a new expansion was revealed just today. Perhaps most importantly, there will be a relaunch of the game's most beloved expansion in the 'Classic' format. Wrath of the Lich King had roughly ten million active players back in the day - and if even 10% of them are inclined to check it out due to nostalgia? Well, I daresay that qualifies as 'competition'.

I'm pretty much at the point where I no longer take anything in FFXIV for granted, or just accept whatever is pushed out. I want to see the development team tap into the same passion and loyalty to their fans that they displayed during the transition from 1.0 to 2.0. Because the games I mentioned above are all MMO's and there's plenty of single player games/pseudo-MMO's I could bring up as well that are also competing for people's time and attention. Such as Elden Ring.

[BrokentoothMarch]

Snip

End of Dragons? It's great. It actually got me to reinstall GW2 and play with my friends. There's just nothing to do in FFXIV right now and Endwalker having been such a big deal as an expansion invalidates the excuse of "well it's normal!". But should it be? Why is that okay? Why do I have to go to an entirely different game made by a different company to have a solid fill of an MMO and only come on FFXIV for the occasional fight and mostly just doing Second Life stuff? This is not what I signed up for all those years ago.

Also Yoshi's comment of "Take a break and play other games" doesn't hold on a sub-based game that punishes you if you have a house. Even GW2, incidentally, silently says this better because, well, no sub. You're always welcome back and only pay for the expansions you play.

Eugh, I feel like a shill, but this is what it's come to.

[Theodric]

The biggest issue with streamers is that they primarily seek to make money off of whatever it is they are playing at the time. The vast majority will predictably put out a video with a thumbnail showing their shocked reaction to something complete with a title that reeks of bait. Some of them are better than others when it comes to providing feedback but it just isn't as authentic to me as someone who has no financial incentive to hold back when it comes to pointing out the perks or flaws of a game. Furthermore, a vocal portion of the FFXIV community is notorious for harassing streamers to react the 'right' way. Some received death threats for not praising the game at every turn. Others were insulted for liking or disliking the 'wrong' characters or accused of 'sUpPorTiNg GeNoCiDe' for sympathising with the Ascians.

So, yeah, I take anything streamers have to say with a hefty pinch of salt. Especially when it's of benefit to any business leaning on them to keep them appeased and with plenty of perks/free merchandise in exchange for positive promotion of the game/products being sold in relation to it.

End of Dragons? It's great. It actually got me to reinstall GW2 and play with my friends. There's just nothing to do in FFXIV right now and Endwalker having been such a big deal as an expansion invalidates the excuse of "well it's normal!". But should it be? Why is that okay? Why do I have to go to an entirely different game made by a different company to have a solid fill of an MMO and only come on FFXIV for the occasional fight and mostly just doing Second Life stuff? This is not what I signed up for all those years ago.

Also Yoshi's comment of "Take a break and play other games" doesn't hold on a sub-based game that punishes you if you have a house. Even GW2, incidentally, silently says this better because, well, no sub. You're always welcome back and only pay for the expansions you play.

Eugh, I feel like a shill, but this is what it's come to.

I might check it out at some point. I tried GW2 back when it first launched and enjoyed playing my Mesmer. He's off gathering dust somewhere but I didn't hate the game or anything - I just ended up falling in love with FFXIV back in the days of ARR and HW.

As someone lucky enough to own a house, that is definitely not in alignment with the advice to just go and play other games. I very much do, but I still need to log on every now and then in order to keep my house because if I lose it, I'm unlikely to get another. Especially not another mansion.As for combat related content, it did annoy me that the dungeon was the only bit of combat in the MSQ's this time around. The Scions have overstayed their welcome for me so I was looking forward to a genuine fresh start and life as an adventurer - but now we're right back to doing favours and errands for the Scions. Exploring a treasure vault and not seeing a single bit of treasure in the process is also pretty weird to me.

I'm easy to please. In many games I'll just pick a direction and run to see what's there - and if even half the effort put into the 'slice of life' elements was channelled into giving me reasons to interact with the game world in the same way as how other MMO's handle it then I'd be very happy.

[KizuyaKatogami]

It's interesting to see the disconnect on the forums to what I see ingame and what Streamers reactions are ( especially old WoW Streamers ).

On the forums '' omg I can't believe this patch so little content worst ever '', ingame and Streamers '' wow there's so much content I am amazed I love all of this it's incredible ''.
I get the disappointment with Job changes/ lack of in some cases and the Hrothgar ears or housing stuff ( altho people who got ultra mad were also for the most part wrong about what even went wrong too... ).
But there's a pretty insane level of discrepancy between what I see on the forums and basically everywhere else.

I just dunno what it is, I have problems with some stuff too the SAM changes are still completely baffling to me.
But in the *grand* scheme of things it's minor issues especially compared to problems other MMO's are having.
PvP In FFXIV isn't exactly my jam either but based on what I've seen at least it has been overwhelmingly positively received and every time I go to the Wolves Den I can't load in everyone it's perpetually overflooded with people PvP:ing.

In the end of the day if you're not having fun with the game then maybe it's time for a break or rethink because some people here just seem miserable and like playing for them is a chore.
And people who play other MMO's have a lot of the same thoughts too or even worse, I think a lot of this is a grass is always greener type of situation.
I mean holy hell especially when it comes to balance in GW2 it's a complete nightmare and has made me quit so many times before, there's issues that have been around since day 1 of the game that goes totally ignored and even gets made worse at times.



I really feel like healing fluctuates wildly, I healed P3S last week on SGE for the first time healing in Savage and it felt easy.
Today I did it with WHM and it felt like a complete nightmare and we kept wiping because the SGE just didn't shield at all I literally got one shot by the fountain lol and it happened multiple times.
That wasn't the only issue tho I dunno wtf people were doing but there were people dropping a lot and very suddenly.

I don't rly have a problem with that if people are actually screwing up, but if people aren't then it often feels like you don't have much to do other than spam 1.
Not gonna lie tho, part of me is also scared to death of what it'd be like if healing was actually more difficult and involved.
Especially towards the end of P4S it often feels like we're moments from wiping constantly with A LOT of PF healers.

PvP wise, i’m actually incredibly irritated. It is very fun yes, however the amount of bugs there are is beyond ridiculous, and it isn’t even really the amount, but the severity of the bugs that just shows combined with the housing problems this patch just doesnt seem to have been tested at all. Bard is virtually unplayable currently because of a bug that renders you in permanent slow walking mode that persists even after death. The way i know they didnt even test this whatsoever is because its caused by YOUR MAIN DAMAGE ABILITY. They just had to use it once to find the bug and they couldnt even do that. Theres also the major bug of the crystal just moving on its own as well. Things like this shouldnt have made it past QA.

As for content, im not sure what was added this patch thats so much more content than say....4.1. 4.1 on release gave us beast tribes,hildibrand,shirogane housingwhich might i add, didnt have major problems like this housing addition does, a whole new pvp mode in rival wings, as well as primal weapons for the new jobs.

[Hurlstone]

I think ESO should be considered competition, especially in regards to those who like to play for story. I can only speak for myself, but thats the main thing I look for when playing a game, even MMOs and its one of the reasons why I adore this game. It feels like a numbered Final Fantasy rather then a spin-off, and the actions of Yoshi-P/the devs seem to suggest that is its intent. The game welcomes players who want to invest in its lore. ESO is where I hug my hat for the years I stopped playing FFXIV many years ago. It has really good lore the large majority of its quest content can be done solo, and its similar helped by the fact its part of a large popular franchise (With the difference that its much more interconnected being a prequel. Whilst FFXIV has nods and story beats from past games its main focus its its own world and cast of characters.)

I suppose SWTOR could be added there too, but I have not played that in a long time and am unsure what the communities opinion is on its current story status.