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

[Skyborne]

I've felt this way since SHB. I was an AST main back in StB and ended up switching to WHM because I hated the AST changes. Then I got tired of Glare spam and started playing more dps. I think I was distracted by the story in SHB and it wasn't until a little while after I finished the story that I started realizing the game just felt different. I'm not sure how to explain it but I could feel that the game was headed in a different direction.

Coincidentally, ShB seems to be around the time when "journalists" reached a fever pitch of praising the game for being perfect and amazing and there was more shilling and advertising than ever more. The streamer shill boom, too. StB was getting there (they even had a... wrestling promo? ads in NY Times Square, fast food promos with the holy Zenos chalice, etc.)

[Lauront]

Coincidentally, ShB seems to be around the time when "journalists" reached a fever pitch of praising the game for being perfect and amazing and there was more shilling and advertising than ever more. StB was getting there (they even had a... wrestling promo? ads in NY Times Square, fast food promos with the holy Zenos chalice, etc.)

Yes, with a new article about how he "saved" the game every few months or so. Like they really had to hammer the point over and over.

[OhNooo]

I miss the halcyon days of Stormblood and gameplay driven content. Now all we have is people going "....but muh story good!". You have to have a gameplay loop in an videogame, but SE has been making that worse and worse with each expansion. All flash and frivolous features over meaty gameplay. Now they can't seem to even QA a simple system. Shameful.

I was literally thinking something similar to this the other day when I was running through Orbonne for fun. I just love the mechanics. And look at Ridorana too - Construct 7 is my favorite boss in that raid. It's funny how so many people complain about the math, but I think it's genius. It seems like all the mechanics people complain about are my favorite. StB had the most fun gameplay for me in this game. Back then the story didn't matter much because I was having so much fun actually playing the game. In SHB my focus shifted a little more towards the story because of that trailer. But by the time the story hype was over, I realized there wasn't much I was excited about as far as gameplay.

I think my gameplay style is more...unconventional? Like running content without a healer or any type of non traditional party makeup, or soloing things. I want more content with prenerfed TG Cid type mechanics or just anything where you have to pay attention - some type of harder midcore content. But it looks like this game is going to be 2 extremes - easy msq level content or savage/ultimate and no in between.

I do have some hope for the newest alliance raid and I'm interested in seeing the other 2 raids in the trilogy. But other than that the only thing I'm remotely interested in is dragging myself through solo potd until I either clear it or rage quit again.

[Kuritzkale]

why even bother? You should actually do something sensible and vote with your wallet by unsubbing this game, right now. There's no value here anymore.

You morons are genuinely incapable of understanding that someone can have significant criticisms with a game and still enjoy it for what it is. From what I've seen, it seems like most people don't think the game is in a bad place RIGHT NOW, but that the game is trending towards a bad place. Don't think that means they need to unsubscribe to stick to their convictions or something like you seem to think, not until the devs have finally shown they don't care at all, which I don't think most people believe, and I don't think is true.

[Lauront]

I was literally thinking something similar to this the other day when I was running through Orbonne for fun. I just love the mechanics. And look at Ridorana too - Construct 7 is my favorite boss in that raid. It's funny how so many people complain about the math, but I think it's genius. It seems like all the mechanics people complain about are my favorite. StB had the most fun gameplay for me in this game. Back then the story didn't matter much because I was having so much fun actually playing the game. In SHB my focus shifted a little more towards the story because of that trailer. But by the time the story hype was over, I realized there wasn't much I was excited about as far as gameplay.

I think my gameplay style is more...unconventional? Like running content without a healer or any type of non traditional party makeup, or soloing things. I want more content with prenerfed TG Cid type mechanics or just anything where you have to pay attention - some type of harder midcore content. But it looks like this game is going to be 2 extremes - easy msq level content or savage/ultimate and no in between.

I do have some hope for the newest alliance raid and I'm interested in seeing the other 2 raids in the trilogy. But other than that the only thing I'm remotely interested in is dragging myself through solo potd until I either clear it or rage quit again.

TG Cid and the High Seraph, especially with that phase where she spits all those mechanics to you at once, are probably my fave 24 man raid fights to date (alongside Nald'Thal.) I can't really fault the 24 man design, as although the Nier stuff wasn't to my tastes, I've enjoyed the 24 man raid content every expansion between HW and EW. It's so much better than the design of their normal content in every other area. At least as far as the 24 man stuff is concerned, and especially after the Nald'thal fight, I have few concerns for that line of content.

[NanaWiloh]

Yoshi and the team have been stuck in this shell of theirs for too long time to crack it open!!! * Pulls out massive hammer*

[Caurcas]

Dragonsong Ultimate has to go off without a hitch and PvP needs to be frequently updated as those are the only two things SE has going atm.

[SlobKnob]

I was literally thinking something similar to this the other day when I was running through Orbonne for fun. I just love the mechanics. And look at Ridorana too - Construct 7 is my favorite boss in that raid. It's funny how so many people complain about the math, but I think it's genius. It seems like all the mechanics people complain about are my favorite. StB had the most fun gameplay for me in this game. Back then the story didn't matter much because I was having so much fun actually playing the game. In SHB my focus shifted a little more towards the story because of that trailer. But by the time the story hype was over, I realized there wasn't much I was excited about as far as gameplay.

I think my gameplay style is more...unconventional? Like running content without a healer or any type of non traditional party makeup, or soloing things. I want more content with prenerfed TG Cid type mechanics or just anything where you have to pay attention - some type of harder midcore content. But it looks like this game is going to be 2 extremes - easy msq level content or savage/ultimate and no in between.

I do have some hope for the newest alliance raid and I'm interested in seeing the other 2 raids in the trilogy. But other than that the only thing I'm remotely interested in is dragging myself through solo potd until I either clear it or rage quit again.

Aglaia is so much more fun to run then Nier riads, Rhaglr and Nald'Thal fights are really fun and fresh feeling. Pandæmonium is solid 7/10 although I wish the first wing was a little bit more mechanically heavier. It seems like they are trying to recreate SB feel in post patches now that the big bad is done and gone.

Roadmap looks promising so I pray that they won't repeat ShB and cut some content out for the sake of steadier patch releases.
There are glaring issues with new PvP system but it is a step up from what we had, class have their own identity, they don't feel homogenized.
PvE balances on the other hand are understandable but also head scratching, seems like they are a band-aid solution until they can come up with something better in x.2.

The only major issue I saw people talk about outside the forum is housing and hroth ears, which yeah SE should be crucified for but I really doubt they will risk their cashcow and not fix it.

[Elucesta]

you don't "need" a house to play. anyone whining about it just leave.

Can we please stop saying this "Just Leave" stuff? It doesn't make anything better all it is an attempt to invalidate someone else's opinion. And frankly, I think the turning of blind eye is what leads to more discontent.

[Vahlnir]

Can we please stop saying this "Just Leave" stuff? It doesn't make anything better all it is an attempt to invalidate someone else's opinion. And frankly, I think the turning of blind eye is what leads to more discontent.

Yep. The same thing happened with WoW. "Just leave!" they said. "Can I have your stuff?" they commented sarcastically. Eventually they did leave and in increasingly larger numbers, most never planning to return, resulting in dying or dead servers like mine. Rip Turalyon.