What keeps you playing?

[KikiTia]

I appreciate that the game doesn't demand 100% of your free time. I didn't realize it at first, but it's really nice to be able to step away and play something else, come back for the next major patch and be caught up in a day or two. Which is what I'd recommend if you're feeling burnt out. While there is a lot to do in FFXIV, it's not designed to fuel obsession. Play at your pace, come back when you find something you want to do, and otherwise just do what you enjoy.

[Corbeau]

The only thing that keeps me playing is PvP. Despite all it's flaws, Crystalline Conflict is very good and has genuine class identities.

[Xuke]

It's good to take breaks from the game from time to time. I just recently it feels from a 3 week break after getting my battle classes to 90. I came back to finish up my DoH! First time I've maxed all classes which was a good goal to set. I also since Stormblood have streamed the game on and off of random things I do from weeklies and dailies to farming and raiding whatever. I usually give myself short term goals and long term ones as well. A good short term is doing Wonderous Tails and doing handful of it not undersized. I do that because I like to either relive a dungeon or check out who else is playing. Long term goal is to get the all the extreme mounts every expansion before next. I've been doing that since ARR really but have been streaming it on and off since Stormblood. Took me 396 runs in Stormblood going by totems, 581 runs in Shadowbringer and currently I'm sadly at 298 Totems(99+99+100) combined for Endwalker which is 248 runs. This long term goal is about a 2 year investment but I normally play almost everyday for about 4 to 5 hours at a time since I came back.

TLDR: Short term goals,long term goals, breaks and streaming.

[-Mira-]

Meeting ingame contacts is number 1

Progress on my 3 mains number 2 (or is that one main and my 2 main alts?)

Earning gil to spend on fun things is 3

Treasuremaps and hunttrains 4

Housing and decorating 5

Listening to audiobooks while gathering / crafting 6

[george357]

i pick projects to keep me busy ones i enjoy doing and that keeps me playing sorry no to pvp too many crazy people in that for me.

[Adamantini]

RP. The rest of the time, I play other games

[Sebazy]

The people I raid with.

Prog is always a blast, irrespective of how critical I can be towards some of the gameplay direction, the people make it fun.

[TsuchinokoPanda]

I'm invested in the story mostly. During the droughts between patches I either play other games or participate in my other hobbies. I've exhausted all the current available side content aside from ARR Tribes (and the Vanu Vanu, but they're almost maxed) + Savage content (which isn't really my thing) and once I start feeling the burnout, I just don't play for awhile or only do my weeklies on reset day.

It's like a minor part of a routine until the next big update drops. When it starts getting boring, I just give it a rest. if you're not having fun, perhaps just give it a break for awhile?

[weebtext]

I fell for the housing trap...

[TaleraRistain]

I still enjoy the game. I log in when I want to play and do what I want to do. I don't worry about Savage or higher and only occasionally do the random Extreme when I'm interested. Right now I'm working on my 590 crafting and gathering gear so that's keeping me busy. I was working on finishing old animas and resistance weapons for classes that weren't finished yet. I play almost every night doing something. If I'm not feeling it a given night, I do something else.